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<p>Hello</p>
<p>This email started as a reminder of the PLUG meeting on Tuesday
night at SpaceCubed (see Events and a mobile number will be on the
door if you can't arrive until later) but the ABCNews article I
posted on the weekend has got me thinking about
Linux-in-everything and whether that has limits to usefulness.</p>
<p>We planned to get the official business out of the way and close
the meeting promptly. It would be great if past committee members
can make it so we can offer a vote of thanks. Volunteering can
feel like a dry landscape and we need to acknowledge the work
everyone does. I wondered if, post-meeting, we can talk informally
about "when Linux might not be the best choice".</p>
<p>What I took away from Giese's talk in the Robots thread is that
Linux has clear steps to boot. If he can penetrate and re-purpose
the device then that is proof that other actors can. Attempts to
obfuscate the booting steps won't help if methods of access can
still be discovered.<br>
</p>
<p>So the next thing I did was search for YouTube videos about
unplugging the microphone. I figured if I had one of these then I
wouldn't need to command the vacuum robot with my voice or in any
way. It is an expensive and pointless thing if it isn't
ubiquitous.</p>
<p>There was nothing I could find and, after Greg's comment in the
Robots thread that:</p>
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">> More broadly, we stopped talking about IoT as being ridiculously insecure.</pre>
<p></p>
<p>can we point out issues with the security of things (or at least
ways to reduce risk) ?<br>
</p>
<p>This might be simply creating an "unplug the microphone" session
if someone has a device we can "adjust" (reversibly!) so we can
upload a video.</p>
<p>It might be a more complex task like rooting the device and
setting up <span
class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap"
dir="auto" role="text">Valetudo</span> if anyone on the 200+
strong mailing list has done this.<br>
</p>
<p>As a committee, we have had to consider the association's role
for tax status reporting. What we do is educate (mainly each
other) about Linux and all its applications through regular
meetups.</p>
<p>Can we, though our usual activities, extend what we know to a
wider audience ? <br>
</p>
<p>All the best<br>
Harry</p>
<p>ps A pull-out from a page I was reading recently: Learning
Together - A Defense and Analysis of Cooperative Learning By Alfie
Kohn <br>
</p>
<p>there was a quote:<br>
</p>
<p>INTERVIEWER: What is it like to work in a group?<br>
JUSTIN (age 10): You have four brains. <br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
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