On Fri, Nov 25, 2022 at 12:28:00AM +0000, Andy Smith wrote: > Hello, > > On Thu, Nov 24, 2022 at 09:03:00PM +0000, mick.crane wrote: > > I love open source, more than you might think, but I have a niggling feeling > > it's been infiltrated to make user control difficult. > > If I was a spook it's what I'd do. > > Please prove me wrong. > > Conspiracy theories aren't falsifiable so there is no way to prove you > wrong.
I don't think it's productive to shout the C word yet: there /are/ spooks (not a conspiracy theory) vs. "the whole world is made of spooks" (definitely one) vs "all those spooks work for THEM and are out to get ME" (probably a medical condition). > We can come up with rational arguments as to why any such > conspiracy is unlikely, but if you want to believe it you'll find a way. Note that mick didn't go so far. You may read that insinuation in his post, but then, you may also not. > > I think the most obvious counter-argument is that it would be a waste of > effort and human assets to put exploits in open source software where > they stand a good chance of being found [...] Even this has been done in the Linux kernel. There was one case which made quite a splash. > Frankly, this whole "the software is designed to take away my control > and must be made that way by the concerted effort of dark forces!" thing > sounds lke a thinly-veiled reference to one of Gene's favourite rants. Sometimes it is. It would be foolish to deny that. Humans are like that, trying to exert power on others, using every tool we can get hold of. Even (GASP!) software. Most of the time it ain't. And "THEM" is a very diverse bunch. Things become conspiracy theory whenever I start to think that "THEM" are all conspiring, i.e. all together. Again, all generalizations suck :-) Cheers -- t
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