spyware, the new normal [was Re: tracking what files are being accessed by a process?]

D. Hugh Redelmeier hugh-pmF8o41NoarQT0dZR+AlfA at public.gmane.org
Mon Jan 7 19:08:03 UTC 2013


| From: Matt Price <moptop99-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org>

| > huh, that does seem intresting.  In particular, skype seems to be
| > going through all the files in my .mozilla/firefox profile, espeially
| > the zotero storage directory, which is rather large.  hmm. I don't
| > really like that at all!  not sure though what  I can do to stop it,
| > or why it would ever happen in the first place!
| 
| just for the archive:  I solved this using the apparmor profile pasted here:
| http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=b1dicunW
| 
| now skype startup is much faster and my system far more responsive
| when skype is up.  and skype/microsoft are no longer tracking my
| internet usage, or whatever it was they were doing before.

I'm shocked and appalled.

There is a convention on Linux, and to a lesser extent, all desktop
OSes, that programs only do what you want them to.  They don't spy on
you and feed back information.  If they do, they ask specific
permission.

The web doesn't work like that.  It's almost a given that a website
will try to squeeze as much out of you as possible.  But generally we
try to keep that circumscribed.

General rule: what's on your device stays there; what's on the web
goes anywhere.

Smart phones have blown big holes in this.  They are devices but act
like web sites but have an enormously greater amount of what I would
want to be private.  Starting with tracking where I am physically and
where I've been.

Almost by default, "apps" spy on you.

Bad news: apps are arriving on everyones desktop.  Win8 is all about
apps.  Ubuntu's Unity Desktop search, by default, sends your queries
to Canonical and thence to Amazon.

Skype on Linux has just shown that it too is as evil as a web site but
has more powers.

Matt blocked a bunch of files
  deny @{HOME}/.mozilla/ r,
  deny @{HOME}/.mozilla/*/ r,
  deny @{HOME}/.mozilla/*/*/ r,
  deny @{HOME}/.mozilla/*/*/bookmarkbackups/ r,
  deny @{HOME}/.mozilla/*/*/chrome/ r,
  deny @{HOME}/.mozilla/*/*/extensions/ r,
  deny @{HOME}/.mozilla/*/*/prefs.js r,
  deny /etc/passwd r,
(I think that I understand the first and last; why are the others not
redundant?)

Could you not turn it around and list what you are OK with having it
access?  Like: its own dotfiles and the dynamicaly linked libraries.

Maybe we need a branding, like GPL or CC*, one that designates "only works
on your behalf, not someone elses".
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