this post was submitted on 14 Oct 2024
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My car was Hecho en Mexico so long ago they didn't know cars could even connect to anything other than OBD2, phone was wiped for graphene, and my light switches don't have proprietary blobs that can phone home, they have screws and wires and absolutely no (internet) connectivity. Hell even my computer is Taiwanese, and runs Fedora anyway, though I am already bitching about Intel ME and AMD PSP.
Honestly, the concern around privacy is nothing new for lemmy, the only problem is that instead of worrying about corporate or US GOV spying in this case the worry is the CCP, and that's bad because criticising anyone but "western propagandists блять" is a no-no here.
You're quite the outlier, so congrats on that. I'm pretty privacy conscious myself, so I understand that part of the attitude. What drives me crazy is the irrationality of people making hysterical claims about China that at least as accurately describe their own country.
The claims are neither irrational nor hysterical, they're totally grounded and based in reality, and we should be just as suspicious of them as we are of The West™®©. What's more, being critical of china in a context where it's relevant while not mentioning The West™®© doesn't mean you never criticise anyone other than China and Russia, it means the current conversation is regarding China. If this were a story of an American dev being sketchy and including proprietary blobs, me and you, probably would be in here wondering if the NSA or CIA is involved rather than saying "but the CCP." I remain critical of proprietary software regardless of it's origin.
The user above was essentially saying "never trust a Chinese developer". That is irrational and hysterical. I would say the exact same thing if I heard someone saying "never trust a Russian/American/Indian/English/etc developer".
No he wasn't, he was saying never trust Chinese proprietary code (blobs), because they can compel citizens. If you can audit the code you can audit the code, the country becomes irrelevant.
Furthermore in this instance even if he was saying "don't trust chinese devs," not because they're bad people, but "because they live under an oppressive regime that can force them to do the bad thing," that's still not racist, it's still a criticism of the regime itself that very well could be rectified (well good luck.)
Chinese blobs are no more or less trustworthy than any other blobs. The Chinese government is not more or less willing or capable to force a Dev to do the bad thing.
Exactly, but being that this thread involves the country known as China, the reason to distrust those proprietary blobs is the CCP. If this thread were about an american dev, the threat would be NSA/CIA, if Russian FSB, on and on, as such.
It doesn't "involve the country known as China". The country has nothing to do with it, which is why it stood out to me for someone to be fearmongering about China. If it was an American or Australian dev, I doubt very much that concerns would have centered around their nationality.
What country did the guy travel to? I thought they said it was China, if not then my mistake, but if so, "yes it does."
If there was an american national dev in a country where america couldn't touch them, and they suddenly traveled to the US and dropped contact, it would certainly be suspicious that the NSA or CIA could be involved.
Chinese guy goes to China and doesn't push any commits for awhile. Simplest explanation is that "the CCP" has abducted him.
It's definitely not impossible. Whatever it is I hope dude is ok. And I still encourage the use of FOSS whenever possible.
Russia is currently involved in a big-ahh war and actively threatens the west. I don’t see why the CCP would be a greater concern.
Did he travel to Russia? I thought you said he traveled to China. If so aaah "because he's there?" If he was in Russia I'd be inclined to agree regardless of his nationality that Russia would be the be the bigger threat, in my opinion "the country he's in" would be a step above "a separate country that is at war with another separate country."
I misunderstood you.
No worries!