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[Introduction After seeing an attempted comment thread survey on /r/Linux I thought it'd be neat to conduct a real survey using Google Docs. I created the survey and posted it as this thread. I definitely got a better reaction than I expected! Overall I'd like to thank those who took the time to respond to the survey. You guys did a pretty good job of giving me only good data. There were surprisingly few garbage responses that I had to filter out. Stay classy guys & gals.]

"File transfer between Linux systems (and perhaps all POSIX systems in general) is in some ways a neglected subject. The arcane protocols in common use are far from secure, and the SSH replacements offer too much power and complexity. Servers holding highly sensitive data... "

"1 Introduction Encryption is the process of encoding messages or information in such a way that only authorized parties can read them. With almost no privacy in this digital generation of our's, encryption of our data is one of the most required tools. "

"1 Introduction Encryption is the process of encoding messages or information in such a way that only authorized parties can read them. With almost no privacy in this digital generation of our's, encryption of our data is one of the most required tools. "

"As part of the contest we conducted recently, we got 160+ comments from the geeky readers who choose their favorite firewall. Based on this data, the top spot goes to.. drum roll please.."

TAILS anonymous Operating System- excerpt: "When NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden first emailed Glenn Greenwald, he insisted on using email encryption software called PGP for all communications. But this month, we learned that Snowden used another technology to keep his communications out of the NSA's prying eyes. It's called Tails. And naturally, nobody knows exactly who created it. Tails is a kind of computer-in-a-box. You install it on a DVD or USB drive, boot up the computer from the drive and, voila, you're pretty close to anonymous on the internet. At its heart, Tails is a version of the Linux operating system optimized for anonymity. It comes with several privacy and encryption tools, most notably Tor, an application that anonymizes a user's internet traffic by routing it through a network of computers run by volunteers around the world. Snowden, Greenwald and their collaborator, documentary film maker Laura Poitras, used it because, by design, Tails doesn't store any data locally. This makes it virtually immune to malicious software, and prevents someone from performing effective forensics on the computer after the fact. That protects both the journalists, and often more importantly, their sources. "The installation and verification has a learning curve to make sure it is installed correctly," Poitras told WIRED by e-mail. "But once the set up is done, I think it is very easy to use." An Operating System for Anonymity Originally developed as a research project by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Tor has been used by a wide range of people who care about online anonymity: everyone from Silk Road drug dealers, to activists, whistleblowers, stalking victims and people who simply like their online privacy. Tails makes it much easier to use Tor and other privacy tools. Once you boot into Tails - which requires no special setup - Tor runs automatically. When you're done using it, you can boot back into your PC's normal operating

Ubuntu Enterprise to ship with Zimbra, Alfresco, and Unison in easy-to-install packages, plus IBM Notes-related collaboration software packages.

"Opt out of PRISM, the NSA's global data surveillance program. Stop reporting your online activities to the American government with these free alternatives to proprietary software." A designer named Peng Zhong is so strongly opposed to PRISM, the NSA's domestic spying program, that he created a site to educate people on how to "opt out" of it. According to the original report that brought PRISM to public attention, the nine companies that "participate knowingly" with the NSA are Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, and Apple. Zhong's approach is to replace your workflow with open-source tools that aren't attached to these companies, since they easily stay off the government's radar. If you want to drop totally off the map, it'll take quite a commitment.   Are you ready to give up your operating system?  The NSA tracks everything on Windows, OSX and Google Chrome.  You will need to switch to Debian or some other brand of GNU Linux!  Like Mint!!!!! Personally I have switched from Google Chrome Browser to Mozilla Firefox using the TOR Browser Bundle - Private mode.

"Published on Dec 18, 2012 Alicia Gibb got her start as a technologist from her combination in backgrounds including: informatics and library science, a belief system of freedom of information, inspiration from art and design, and a passion for hardware hacking. Alicia has worked between the crossroads of art and electronics for the past nine years, and has worked for the open source hardware community for the past three. She currently founded and is running the Open Source Hardware Association, an organization to educate and promote building and using open source hardware of all types. In her spare time, Alicia is starting an open source hardware company specific to education. Previous to becoming an advocate and an entrepreneur, Alicia was a researcher and prototyper at Bug Labs where she ran the academic research program and the Test Kitchen, an open R&D Lab. Her projects centered around developing lightweight additions to the BUG platform, as well as a sensor-based data collection modules. She is a member of NYCResistor, co-chair of the Open Hardware Summit, and a member of the advisory board for Linux Journal. She holds a degree in art education, a M.S. in Art History and a M.L.I.S. in Information Science from Pratt Institute. She is self-taught in electronics. Her electronics work has appeared in Wired magazine, IEEE Spectrum, Hackaday and the New York Times. When Alicia is not researching at the crossroads of open technology and innovation she is prototyping artwork that twitches, blinks, and might even be tasty to eat. In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual

"For years, Linux and free software were perceived as threatened by cloud computing, the online storage of data. However, over the last few years, something ironic happened -- free software became a major player in cloud computing."

Amazing must read!  BackBlaze offers unlimited cloud storage/backup for $5 per month.  Now they are releasing the "storage" aspect of their service as an open source design.  The discussion introducing the design is simple to read and follow - which in itself is an achievement.   They held back on open sourcing the BackBlaze Cloud software system, which is understandable.  But they do disclose a Debian Linux OS running Tomcat over Apache Server 5.4 with JFS and HTTPS access.  This is exciting stuff.  I hope the CAR MLS-Cloud guys take notice.  Intro: At Backblaze, we provide unlimited storage to our customers for only $5 per month, so we had to figure out how to store hundreds of petabytes of customer data in a reliable, scalable way-and keep our costs low. After looking at several overpriced commercial solutions, we decided to build our own custom Backblaze Storage Pods: 67 terabyte 4U servers for $7,867. In this post, we'll share how to make one of these storage pods, and you're welcome to use this design. Our hope is that by sharing, others can benefit and, ultimately, refine this concept and send improvements back to us. Evolving and lowering costs is critical to our continuing success at Backblaze.

"Most of us use cloud storage like, Dropbox, Gdrive, Copy etc. to be able to use our synced files anytime, anywhere and from our any devices. "

"ownCloud is perfect for use inside your company. Your data on your servers, under your control. ownCloud Inc offers Business and Enterprise editions with extensive support. "

"Essential techniques to improve the performance of your Android phone, including avoiding Android slowdown and data overages."

"Essential techniques to improve the performance of your Android phone, including avoiding Android slowdown and data overages." [# ! While you migrate to a real open source Tizen powered phone...]

The internet continues to fight back against the Dark State. On the unsettled nature of the law in regard to use of warrant canaries in the U.S. see EFF's faq: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/04/warrant-canary-faq (it needs a test case).

And of course, Google would never succumb to a subpoena requiring it to turn over the audio stream to the NSA. The Tor Browser just keeps looking better and better. https://www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser.html.en

[Privacy Badger blocks spying ads and invisible trackers.]

I've been using it for about a month as a Chrome extension, which at least at the time was still in beta. It hasn't caused any problems on either the Linux or Windows boxes. It appears to be working as intended on both systems. The sliders discussed in the article only appear if you are viewing a page that has identified or candidate cookie tracking characteristics. Some it blocks itself. Others, you have to use a slider on to set whether it will be blocked or wait until the program acquires enough data about that site to make a decision to block. The program does not use a blacklist of sites, although it comes with a white list built in of sites that honor the do not track browser setting. But once a tracking cookie is blocked, it's blocked for all sites you visit. So this isn't instant complete tracking cookie security. It's designed to improve your experience with the number of sites whose tracking cookies follow your tracks around the Web. But this is not a mature program. Its effectiveness will improve with each update.

Lots more in the interview that I didn't highlight. This is a must-read.