Re: [GNU-linux-libre] Status of google chrome and chromium

[jaromil]

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hi,

A.J.! very much agreeing on all your line. just few additions:

On Thu, Jan 07, 2010 at 02:35:52PM +0200, A.J. Venter wrote:
> If Iron  had been  forked for because  chromium didn't  WANT privacy
> patches that would be a different matter,

yes. and not having those patches documented is a dead end.

funny i  was so naively enthusiastic  about Iron at a  first look, but
well just consider that - due  to all the distrust I generally nurture
about corporations - I've never tried Chrome before that.

<OT>
i'm now so happy to get out of Firefox kludge ! ! !
(was even using  links2 and elinks before.. 
 links2 is still a great project BTW, those Hungarians deserve more)
</OT>


> That being said, I agree that  private mode should not be a "select"
> option, it should  be a default which those users  who so desire can
> opt  out of.  Presumably  some  people trust  google  (or any  other
> corporation  for that  matter) more  than we  do, I  don't  think we
> should deny google  the right to let people  send them information -
> that  would amount  to  censorship on  our  part, but  I do  believe
> harvesting it should require EXPLICITE consent.

as of now browsing on Chrome: I notice that every time there is such a
possibility the  browser asks  if you like  to share  information with
Google. It's a  little check button, even hard to  hit.  i'm fine with
that, still (old issue) i'm not so fine with all the cookie mess going
on   already   since   long    (which   Firefox   didn't   made   much
better)... that's a practical reason why Incognito should be default.

> So a  patch to  make incognito  the default and  have the  option to
> disable it  in the  settings may well  be accepted (possibly  with a
> dialog  to ask  permission to  disable it  during the  initial setup
> wizard,  gray area  but  one I  can  live with  -  thoughts ?)   For
> kongoni, because  do source based  ports, we could probably  apply a
> patch  like that  at install  time for  the users  without chromiums
> explicite agreement - but it would  be better to have it in upstream
> in the first place.

I'm still on  the task of understanding more  about Chrome extensions,
however now  it comes to  me in  mind that this  can just be  a simple
extension:   shared  as   such  and   included  by   default   in  our
distributions.

surely we are more familiar  with autoconf switches, still having this
change made at  runtime and by including a file  in a directory sounds
much easier and doesn't even  needs to deal with upstream (eheh, sorry
for being such an atheist...)


> It's  worth  noting  a   major  movement  within  google  that  aims
> specifically to address the problems  RMS has pointed out with cloud
> computing and ensure their web apps are not problematic for users in
> these ways  (for example requiring  all google web-apps to  have the
> capacity to easily  export your data to a format  you can easily use
> offline  or take  to  another  provider), that  keeps  track of  the
> progress of various google projects on these matters.

that's great to know!!

We have  also petted  this argument within  the Free Culture  Forum, a
recent initiative  held in Barcelona  a few months ago  (RMS virtually
present),  calling it  "Migration Rights"  - be  it that  we  are very
affected by such issues IRL as migrants.

Digital migration rights is just one among many issues now included in
a  FCF Charter  that is  also endorsed  by the  Brasilian  ministry of
culture, among  the others. circulate  it, join it  and use it  if you
like http://fcforum.net

in case there are suggestions / comments / criticism / additions i can
play liaison to the current FCF editors


> It's  important   to  criticize  the  non-free   status  of  popular
> applications like  picasa (or for  that matter, their web  apps) but
> it's also important to recognize where the work they do benefits and
> supports us - that is, after  all, how we create motivation for them
> to benefit and support us more.

right on!

ciao

- -- 
jaromil, dyne.org developer, http://jaromil.dyne.org

GPG: B2D9 9376 BFB2 60B7 601F  5B62 F6D3 FBD9 C2B6 8E39


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