I probably wouldn’t bother. I can think of two scenarios you might get spied on.
Through your browser you’ve granted a website access to your webcam (Zoom etc.) and left a tab open. Maybe it could activate it when you weren’t expecting?
Someone has used a vulnerability to take control of your computer to the degree it can access your webcam directly. Desktop linux software doesn’t usually have meaningful isolation between software running as the same user, so at this point they can grab all your data, passwords, take screenshots, etc. and the webcam is just the cherry on top.
I expect most people don’t do (1) very often, let alone for sketchy websites, so IMO it doesn’t make much difference either way.
Smart fridges are one thing but there are many innocent folk relying on internet services to do normal and important things involving sensitive data - talk to family and friends, access healthcare, attend work, do their banking, school and childcare enrolments, even insurance. Should these things be replaced by rooms full of filing cabinets? Maybe, I dunno, that’s a big call. Short of substantial collapse that renders the internet unavailable, these sort of things will continue to be online and ordinary people deserve all the security they can get. If you’re working in cybersecurity to help people like this, then that is totally ethical in my view.
If you’re lucky maybe you can land a role with some direct permacomputing aspects - reduce hardware requirements, simplification of systems, maintaining old hardware to maximise lifespan. But just avoiding roles where you or your organisation is encouraging people to view more ads or buy more stuff would be a good start.
It’s best not to think of SDF admins in binary terms like “present” or “absent”. They are an undulating force which makes changes here and there and we’re all along for the ride.
I was comparing frozen diced veggies a couple of years back (in Australia) and noticed that the store-brand version was approximately 1/3 broccoli stems by volume, which certainly explained the cost difference.
That is the discussion. Microsoft is pretending by making it the upgrade path for two products which actually are local, and hoping users won’t notice.
Honestly I’m glad they highlighted the telemetry. I went through the local report about what’s included and while it’s not an upsetting level of detail, it’s more comprehensive than I would have opted in to if asked.
Still, as sibling points out it’s in a completely different league from slurping up your IMAP creds, something which has always been local-only data. This is the second time I know of recently where MS has trampled on this kind of local-only expectation - the other was Edge defaulting to sending the contents of textboxes you’re filling out on webpages to the MS cloud for spelling and grammar checks. Thunderbird is still a sound recommendation, and unlike Microsoft, I trust that if I uncheck the telemetry box they’re not going to try to get me some other way.
Nothing in tech stands still. If you want a glimpse of a possible alternative future check out Pijul. And I don’t know an example off-hand but the idea of doing version control on ASTs of program code rather than flat text is an interesting concept that hasn’t taken off yet.