diff options
author | thing 1 <thing1@seacrossedlovers.xyz> | 2024-12-12 12:51:39 +0000 |
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committer | thing 1 <thing1@seacrossedlovers.xyz> | 2024-12-12 12:51:39 +0000 |
commit | 264a116f9d9a90faadac082443969e0bff565253 (patch) | |
tree | 82230068b1b2c265e45d7d02f462afab1d098dcc /writeup | |
parent | ae3b44f860c15f00ab8865a5c939c298cd3602d8 (diff) |
made changes to the writeup, mostly grammar checks and other such things.
Also made changes to the timetable noting my work.
Diffstat (limited to 'writeup')
-rw-r--r-- | writeup/ref.bib | 2 | ||||
-rw-r--r-- | writeup/writeup.tex | 27 |
2 files changed, 22 insertions, 7 deletions
diff --git a/writeup/ref.bib b/writeup/ref.bib index 1112df2..d4ddd05 100644 --- a/writeup/ref.bib +++ b/writeup/ref.bib @@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ } @online{LESSIG, - title = "Lessig on "Aaron's Laws - Law and Justice in a Digital Age", + title = "Lessig on Aaron's Laws - Law and Justice in a Digital Age", url = "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HAw1i4gOU4", addendum = "(accessed: 10/12/2024)", keywords = "Lawrence Lessig, Aaron's Laws, law" diff --git a/writeup/writeup.tex b/writeup/writeup.tex index 97097ee..e021ad4 100644 --- a/writeup/writeup.tex +++ b/writeup/writeup.tex @@ -20,7 +20,8 @@ \titleformat{\section} {\Huge} {} {0em} {}[\titlerule] \geometry{a4paper,total={170mm,257mm},left=25mm,right=25mm,} -\author{Lucas Standen} \title{Why are FOSS tools preferred in the development and privacy space?} +\author{Lucas Standen} +\title{Why are FOSS tools preferred in the development and privacy space?} \begin{document} \maketitle @@ -53,6 +54,10 @@ science, and as such it makes sense to provide a brief overview for those who do \item[Open Source] This term refers to a piece of software, where the original code for it is publicly available. This too will be covered further in the next section. \item[FOSS] An acronym for \textit{"\textbf{F}ree and \textbf{O}pen \textbf{S}ource \textbf{S}oftware".} + + \item[IDE] \textit{An \textbf{I}ntegrated \textbf{D}evelopment \textbf{E}nvironment}, is a tool used by developers + to write code, it can be thought of as a text editor like Word or Docs, but instead of spell checking, + it instead has syntax checking. \end{description} \section{What is Free Software?} The Free Software movement is one that has been active for over 40 years @@ -72,6 +77,7 @@ it was originally written that software that allows the following freedoms is Fr It is important that one does not confuse Free Software with software that is monetarily free, this is known as Freeware. Free Software defends the users rights to use and modify software and is not focused on its cost. +However free software often is also free as in cost, so the confusion is easily made. One should also note the differences between Free Software and Open Source software. In Open Source software, like Free Software, the original code for a program is available to anyone, however in Open Source, this is to @@ -86,7 +92,7 @@ permission. This kind of software intentionally restricts the users freedom, usu control of the software. Some common examples of Proprietary Software, are Microsoft's \textit{Windows}, Apple's \textit{iOS}, and Google's \textit{Chrome} web browser. -Many people don't know that they already use Free Software\cite{COMMONfoss}, but often the tools they use most +Many people don't know that they already use Free Software\cite{COMMONfoss}, but sometimes the tools they use most often are Free Software. A few examples of this are, Krita\cite{KRITA}; a graphics design and art tool that is used frequently in animation, and other digital art, is made and managed by the KDE foundation\cite{KDE}, who make exclusively Free Software. Dovecot\cite{DOVECOT}; an email server used by many major email providers and is Free @@ -168,7 +174,7 @@ least one of these, and thus will be familiar with them. \textit{An \textbf{IDE} is an \textbf{I}ntegrated \textbf{D}evelopment \textbf{E}nvironment} The main IDE's used by developers are Free Software, but there are a few Non-Free ones that are used according to -the stack over flow developer survey\cite{IDEusage}. To compare text editors, one can look at \textit{Vs Code} as +the stack over flow developer survey\cite{IDEusage}. To compare text editors, one can look at \textit{VS Code} as an example of open software, with 73\% of developers claiming to have used it at some point, and \textit{IntelliJ}, as an example of Non-Free software, with 26\% of developers claiming to have used it at some point\cite{IDEusage}. @@ -265,7 +271,7 @@ can seem overwhelming, or too complicated, with little gain at face value. As le Software, it is easier to single out that developers are the only people who use it. It is also worth pointing out yet again, that most people, even without trying use exclusively free software, will end up using some anyway through common tools, like VLC, Notepad++, and through libraries that power the software they use. However these -people would not be deemed as \textit{in the FOSS communality}. +people would not be deemed as \textit{in the FOSS community}. \subsection{Conclusions} Overall it is clear that developers prefer free software for the simple reason of it works better to their @@ -274,6 +280,8 @@ as it simply is not designed to be modified beyond original use cases. It can al not go out of their way to use free software on a main stream basis, as it currently doesn't follow their exact needs. \section{What makes Free Software so appealing to privacy enthusiasts?} +The reason that FOSS is preferred can be put up to many reasons, many of which are hard to say/know as privacy enthusiasts are +usually quite good at hiding, however a few known reasons, methods and individuals can be studied. \subsection{Who are privacy enthusiasts and why do they do what they do?} % needs an edit, why do they do what they do" is clunky Privacy enthusiasts are simply people who care for their privacy very heavily, they like to keep themself completely anonymous when using technology; there are many reasons one may want to do this, for example, individuals in politically @@ -307,7 +315,7 @@ or another. is one of many steps needed to achieve this\cite{LESSIG}. \end{description} \subsection{What free software do they use?} -While many tools come to mind when thinking of privacy, the most prominent ones have to be Tor and some form of private messaging. +While many tools come to mind when thinking of privacy, the most prominent ones have to be Tor and Linux. Tor (\textit{\textbf{T}he \textbf{O}nion \textbf{R}outer}), is a free software tool that allows a user to encrypt their network traffic, and send it through three other computers first. This is similar to a VPN (\textit{\textbf{V}irtual \textbf{P}rivate \textbf{N}etwork}), @@ -318,13 +326,20 @@ This \textit{connection masking} as it is called, can be used to hide website tr traffic, to someone trying to spy on the user, they will never know where they are connecting too, how often they are connecting, or for how long. -Linux \textit{(GNU/Linux)}, as previously mentioned is a free and open source operating system, this is frequently used by privacy enthusiasts +Linux \textit{(also known as GNU/Linux)}, as previously mentioned is a free and open source operating system, this is frequently used by privacy enthusiasts as it has been vetted by countless individuals to ensure it contains no malicious code that could effect a users individual privacy. GNU/Linux is split into many different distributions that are all individually maintained, some of them are designed for general use, while others are meant for more specific use cases. All of them will be more private than non-free alternatives as they are so rigorously checked. Some privacy specific ones exist such as tails OS\cite{TAILSOS}, and some are designed for more offensive privacy and security such as Kali Linux \cite{KALIlinux}. \subsection{Why is this better for them?} +For privacy experts and enthusiasts, Free and open tools are preferable for the fact that they know what is happening internally. If a user were +using non free tools, it would be impossible to know weather the code running had their privacy in mind, or if it would be sending data to a large +corporation or other such entity. For this reason free and open software is perfect, there cant be any hidden malicious intentions as they would be +seen by all who vet these tools on a daily basis. Another reason that one can draw as to why someone would want to use free tools is that they are +less restricted in what they can do; non-free tools are limited by corporate law and other such things, free software on the other hand is less limited +as restricting what individuals make and share, would end up making many things in common life illegal. Its under these rules that tools such as +Tor can exist. \section{Where else is Free Software used and why?} \section{What's next for the Free Software space?} \section{Final thoughts} |