> New browser tested with tcpdump: Konqueror
Please beware of KDE family!
I was a KDE user for maybe 10 years until I saw this:
(Well, I had already had it with bloatware. Now I'm on LXQt)
https://cmollekopf.wordpress.com/2013/02/13/kontact-nepomuk-integration-why-data-from-akonadi-is-indexed-in-nepomuk/#comment-176
I am running the following command in a cron job:
06 * * * * /usr/bin/akonadictl stop 2>&1
My firewall logs show that every time this command is executed, the PC
running the cron job attempts to contact 198.105.254.114 using SPT=56445
DPT=512
Why does the running of “akonadictl stop” via cron initiate outgoing
traffic to a remote site?
---------------
As a side note, your thunderbird test also showed covert chatter in
background. Browsers can give the weak excuse of "service integration" talk.
Then what business can a mail/news client possibly have with "Amazon, Linode,
Comodo, Akamai and other hosts etc."?
Do you see a characteristic pattern here?
This is one of the reasons why I prefer refraining from large suites backed
by large organizations (apart from bloatware associated problems).
I have several concerns, in terms of privacy and security, about large suits:
1) The software is big and complex, so
1a - it is relatively easier to smuggle in a piece of malware, and
1b - it is relatively more difficult to audit the code.
(1a and 1b are both true separately on their own, and they also make use of,
and augment the effect of, one another - i.e. there's a good synergy between
them)
2) The organization is big and complex, so
2a - it is a larger and easier target for infiltration, and
2b - it is relatively more difficult to audit them.
(same remarks go here)
Simple programs produced by small teams present far less such risks.
