Re: [libreplanet-discuss] Free as in Freedom Hosting/Cloud_Services

[r. siddharth]

On Monday 03 December 2012 11:04 PM, Patrick Anderson wrote:

Hi Patrick Anderson,

I must make it clear that, I am pretty naive. With that in mind, here is 
my response.

> What should users who care about freedom look for when trying to find
> a cloud/hosting provider?

The host must respect the user's anonymity, privacy, and have concrete 
rules as to how the data of the user is handled.

> For example, how does noblogs.org differ from Wordpress.com ?

Their policies on how they handle user's data.

WordPress.com is a commercial site which uses free software. While 
noblogs.org is run by folks[1] whose fundamental aim is "to provide free 
communication tools on a wide basis, while pushing people to choose free 
rather than commercial communication modes." and they[1] are doing this 
a decade. That seems really commendable.

[1]: http://www.autistici.org/en/about.html

> How does Gmail and Facebook differ from other email providers and
> 'social' networking.

As for Gmail:

+ They keep track of your IP address from which you accessed you mail 
box. Please correct me if I am wrong on this.

+ You need reveal you sex to Google to get a Gmail account.

+ The default Non-free JavaScript web interface is another concern.

+ Is it a good idea to keep your emails on the server(s) of a "Search" 
giant?

I don't think the email service provided by autistici.org[2] entails 
such things you'll face when subscribe to a Google service.

[2]: http://www.autistici.org/en/services/mail.html

As for Facebook:

 + They are not federated. You _must_ watch/read Eben Moglen's speech, 
pointed out by Jason Self.

 + P. J. McDermott has written a good essay[3] on this, you may want to 
read it.

[3]: http://www.pehjota.net/essays/social-networking.html

> We cannot just be angry with them because of their size; what
> *exactly* are they doing or not doing to respect user freedoms?

The Internet seems good when it is federated (or de-centralized). No 
harm done, when we move our mailboxes out of Google's servers.


> Sincerely,
> Patrick Anderson
> http://ImputedProduction.BlogSpot.com (is BlogSpot evil?  Why or why not?)

I cannot really say whether blogspot is "evil" or "good". I think, it is 
a matter of "where you wished to store your data?".

Thanks for paying heed.
--
rsiddharth
http://rsiddharth.ninth.su/