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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Is the "Year of Linux" actually a trap? (the.unknown-universe.co.uk)

submitted 1 day ago by TheIPW@lemmy.ml to c/linux@lemmy.ml

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I’ve spent years championing Linux as the only escape from Big Tech, but I’m starting to get twitchy.

While we’re distracted by the Steam Deck making Linux "mainstream," the corporate players and politicians are busy building a digital cage. Between California’s AB-1043 mandates and Microsoft’s "Face Check" infrastructure, I’m worried we’re heading for a hard schism: "Sanitised Linux" vs the "Free Rebel" distros.

If the compliant, age-gated version becomes the industry standard, where does that leave the rest of us? Digital exile?

I’ve put some thoughts together on why the "Golden Cage" is closing in and why education, not mandates, is the only real fix.

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[–] Tenderizer78@lemmy.ml 0 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

Your response again doesn't really follow from what I wrote. It retains some key words but not the ideas.

Browser fingerprinting which exists because the average person can't be bothered concealing it and the theoretical sharing of your ID with the sites you visit due to a government mandate are two entirely different things. The relevant difference is that the government doesn't mandate browser fingerprinting, it exists because it is technologically possible and the mitigation measures are more inconvenient than the average user is willing to deal with.

As for normalizing OS-level ID checks as a slippery slope towards sharing your full ID as part of a HTTP request ... firstly that is not something you can get around with an alternative distro anyway, because it would involve all major websites. Secondly, that is a hypothetical within a hypothetical. Thirdly, if that really is the path that we're on, now is not is not the most effective time to oppose it, because the slippery slope argument is far more persuasive from the bottom of the slope.

EDIT: I think I just did the same thing I accused you of, talking past you. My response basically just rejects your core conceit, that being a distinction between the private power-user experience and the non-private normie experience, and nothing else. I'll need to edit this.

EDIT 2: Okay, fixed.