15 Comments

I made the leap to Linux in 1995, back when it was a bit of a challenge to get things running. Nowadays there are plenty of user-friendly distributions, like Linux Mint, that novices should be able to install and use.

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I played around with a couple last year, need to get properly stuck into it

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Nov 5Liked by Ben Rubin

Great article. You should look at Start9 - they are trying to make it easy for people to be self-sovereign and have a home server rather than use cloud services. StartOS includes a packaged up Element service too.

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Thanks Ian I will take a look

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May 14, 2023Liked by Ben Rubin

Ben what is your opinion on the appointment of the new wef member CEO at Twitter?

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just did a short video on this :) thanks for your question Flowie

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yes i watched it - thanks for doing it - so helpful. im pushing you with all my network as i think youre on it! i am a retired nhs director - left in 2013 when i refused to comply…

so loved your delingpole interview.

huge huge thanks to you for your strength , your intellect, your determination and your humility.

so impressed

keep it going!!!

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Great summary, thanks. Would add two more

- Messaging: Session app. Extremely good anonymous E2EE both mobile and desktop

- Phone: GrapheneOS. Grab a cheap old Pixel phone and install this OS. Very good control of more or less all data leakage. There's a French company sells something like this (I think IODE?), but this is very easy to install, and a free download

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thanks will check those out!

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Apr 27, 2023Liked by Ben Rubin

Excellent article, many thanks.

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thanks for reading Robert

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I think we're long past the point at which we could withdraw from Big Tech because it is impossible now to get Big Tech to withdraw from us. Have you seen the film Forbidden Planet? One of the few science fiction films I think worth watching. Another is the Disney Pixar film Wall-E. I can't see our problems ending as simply and neatly as either of the endings in those films.

Wall-E surprised me because it's message, or the message I read in it, seems antithetical to the Woke Technocratic ethos Disney are working to impose. The image from Forbidden Planet that impressed me when first I saw it and has stayed with me is that of the vast subterranean Krell data processing machines that sustain Walter Pidgeon's monstrous and destructive Id.

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This reminds me of a bbc documentary from 6 years ago (Aug 2017) called:

The Disruptors / Secrets of Silicon Valley - presented by Jamie Bartlett

Here it is, 2 episodes:

Ep1: https://peertube.fr/videos/watch/43b4145f-503c-4ad7-b94a-aa86319db532

Ep2: https://peertube.fr/videos/watch/a6c6feda-780d-40c3-8062-62cab26f0fe9

They aren't too shy on their plans, its the general public who doesn't seem to care.

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Both videos 'failed to play'.

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