13 April 2018

Apple Malware



Apple's software is Malware (malicious software).

Apple is a company that thwarts technological advances.

Apple is a tax evading corporation seemingly untouchable by the Australian government.

We do not recommend the purchase or use of Apple products.

If you are using Apple products, here are some reasons not to, as documented by stallman.org under the headline;

Reasons not to use Apple

Censorship
Spying
Worker abuse
Right to repair
Tax avoidance
Other reasons

Censorship

Spying

Apple spies on its users, and helps others spy on them.
  • If you carry a cell phone, it tells Big Brother where you are. Apple wants to hand out the information too.
    Using the lever of "You have a choice, but unless you say yes, your old activities will stop working" is something that Apple has done before, with malicious "upgrades". Apple ostensibly doesn't force people to accept the new nasty thing; it just punishes them if they don't.
  • Apple left a security hole in iTunes unfixed for 3 years after being informed about the problem. During that time, governments used that security hole to invade people's computers.
  • Apple's Capitulation to China's VPN Crack-Down Will Return to Haunt it at Home.
  • Apple has outsourced its user data storage in China to a company controlled by the Communist Party of the province of Guizhou

Worker abuse

Tax avoidance

Apple practices tax avoidance using loopholes and lobbying.
  • Apple pioneered techniques for avoiding the US corporate tax (even though it is far too low) in order to pay next to no tax.
    The loopholes that Apple uses would be closed, if not for the political power of business. "Free trade" treaties give business increased power to block such changes, so we must abolish them to break business's power.
  • The Apple CEO met with the troll and said: "Tim Cook from Apple, I'm here to talk to the President-elect about the things we can do to help you achieve your stated goal."
    This text was transcribed from a video recording. I can't offer a reference because the web site requires nonfree Javascript code.
    Cook was angling for a big tax cut for multinational businesses.
  • Apple Avoided $40 Billion in Taxes (by lobbying for a tax cut). Now It Wants a Gold Star?

Right to repair

Other reasons

  • Apple iThings pioneered a new level of restricting the users: they were the first general purpose computers to impose censorship over what programs the user can install. Apple practices Digital Restrictions Management in many other ways too.
  • Ebooks with DRM won't work on an iThing that is jailbroken, due to intentional sabotage by Apple.
    E-books with digital handcuffs are products designed to attack your freedom, much like the iThing itself.
  • Apple doesn't trust, or respect, those who use its products.
  • Apple exploits the app developers mercilessly, aside from a few stars whose role is to give a misleading impression of what developers can expect.
    I can't sympathize much with those app developers, since they are making proprietary software. They all deserve to fail. However, that doesn't excuse the way Apple treats them.
  • Apple lures people into the business of developing apps with visions of the great wealth that a few of them get. Most just fail, often losing a substantial investment.
    Anyone who intentionally develops proprietary software (i.e., does not respect users' freedom) deserves no sympathy, but that doesn't excuse Apple for luring people into it. Some of them would not have tried to develop proprietary software if not for Apple.
  • Apple is a major patent aggressor. Here's a rather absurd patent that Apple will surely use against other mobile computers. This joins many other patents which Apple is already using to attack free software.
  • Lots of iThing users complained that they did not want the U2 album "gift" that Apple stuck them with — and that it was hard to delete.
    These complaints focus on a superficial problem, reflecting the shallow thinking that Apple instills in its users. Ironically, though, this superficial problem reflects a much deeper problem that the complainers have failed to notice: the unjust power that Apple has imposed on whoever uses an iThing or iTunes.
  • Apple turns a blind eye to environment in China.
    Although Apple has joined EPEAT again, it does not cover the iThings — only the Macintosh.
  • Apple practices planned obsolescence for the iBad — in just two years.
  • Apple store staff are taught twisted psychological manipulation.
    The mere practice of referring to service staff as "geniuses" is dishonest already.
  • Apple devices lock users in solely to Apple services by being incompatible with all other options, ethical or inethical.
Copyright (c) 2012-2018 Richard Stallman Verbatim copying and redistribution of this entire page are permitted provided this notice is preserved.

12 April 2018

Australian Government forcing you online



Once choices are removed you are no longer living in a democracy but rather a totalitarian state.

The people in the Australian Government (herein referred to as the ‘administration’) are removing options for the general population in the way they are able to conduct their business.

As an example the late Department of Social Security, now a business called Centrelink has removed from its website the rental assistance form, therefore making it difficult for people to obtain, where they must physically attend an office to obtain such a form.

This may not be a practical or even possible scenario for many disadvantaged people.

The rental assistance form known as the Centrelink Rent Certificate for (SU523) is available for download at:


With the recent very public affair regarding Facebook’s so called ‘data breach’, which in reality is part of their internal business model, attention has been drawn to data collection by companies, organisations which also includes governments, as documented by Edward Snowden.

Very briefly;

Despite what governments say about data being securely stored, people should be aware that their private and personal data which is stored on hard disks on various operating system platforms is very vulnerable to exploitation.

One of the largest culprits in ‘data breaches’ is something called apps on user’s smart phones.

To make it even worse (with regards to the user’s privacy and security), the current technology in GSM ‘feature’ phones or dumb phones and smart phones is not designed for user’s privacy, but rather conversely as a surveillance device.

The current smart phone operating systems duopoly dominated by corporations Apple and Google, do not value your privacy, where data is harvested from your device and sent back to those companies, where it is later passed on to various organisations without your knowledge or consent.

In an effort to monitor and later control the people’s movements the administration will be forcing people to use ‘plastic’ rather than cash in the form of a card called Indue.

The administration is also taking away the choice for people to pay cash for their motor vehicle registration in certain branches of VicRoads.

Many other ‘government’ departments are forcing you ‘online’.



If you are told to download an app from either Apple or Google by a government department, in order to conduct business with them, where there is no paper alternative, you are being forced by them to put your private and confidential data on your phone at risk.

By creating an app. (e.g.) Centrelink is forcing you to conduct business with either Apple or Google, where in reality the same task can be undertaken within the website, therefore being independent of your device’s operating system. 

There is no legitimate reason for apps of this calibre to exist.

Officeworks does not value your privacy

Officeworks is another 'data collection' company.

What they do with 'your' data is something you have no idea about.

The screen capture below is taken from a standard configured Internet browser, where when you type in the address to the officeworks website, you obtain the address you requested.


When you type in the same address into another browser that is configured to protect your privacy, then the Internet address you asked for does not appear, but your browser is redirected to another website that looks like it has ties to Amazon, where an Officeworks looking website is displayed informing the user of an 'error'.



There is no factual 'error' but rather misleading information supplied to the user.

We do not recommend purchasing from Officeworks with a credit card nor giving them your email address so that they can send you your receipt via email.





09 April 2018

Microsoft Malware


Microsoft's Windows operating system is literally malware (malicious software) and has been so for quite some time at least 'officially' since Vista, even though malicious code was injected into the operating system even earlier than Windows 2000.

For those who 'just' surf the Internet and use their personal computer for basic word processing spread sheet, presentation or multimedia purposes, there is no legitimate reason to have this operating system on a personal computer, where there are many other (mature, stable and less intrusive) options available to the general public.

See article from gnu.org of the headline:


Microsoft's Software is Malware


Other examples of proprietary malware
 
Malware means software designed to function in ways that mistreat or harm the user. (This does not include accidental errors.) This page explains how Microsoft software is malware.

Malware and nonfree software are two different issues. The difference between free software and nonfree software is in whether the users have control of the program or vice versa. It's not directly a question of what the program does when it runs. However, in practice nonfree software is often malware, because the developer's awareness that the users would be powerless to fix any malicious functionalities tempts the developer to impose some.

Type of malware

Microsoft Back Doors

Microsoft Insecurity

These bugs are/were not intentional, so unlike the rest of the file they do not count as malware. We mention them to refute the supposition that prestigious proprietary software doesn't have grave bugs.

Microsoft Sabotage

The wrongs in this section are not precisely malware, since they do not involve making the program that runs in a way that hurts the user. But they are a lot like malware, since they are technical Microsoft actions that harm to the users of specific Microsoft software.

Microsoft Interference

Various proprietary programs often mess up the user's system. They are like sabotage, but they are not grave enough to qualify for the word “sabotage”. Nonetheless, they are nasty and wrong. This section describes examples of Microsoft committing interference.

Microsoft Surveillance

Microsoft DRM

Microsoft Jails

Microsoft Tyrants

Microsoft Subscriptions

As this page shows, if you do want to clean your computer of malware, the first software to delete is Windows.