As I said in the post, I made the decision to switch beforehand. One of the issues that made me finally do it was mysterious load spikes that would happen on my machine, and I couldn't figure out what was up. Like, "Why are my fans running? Top says my load is at 2, but no process is using more than 2% CPU."
With software that is Free, I can be pretty damn sure that there isn't something that's sending something somewhere behind my back.
That said, it would not help _directly_ with the NSA situation. They're related because everyone was asking me to write this post up, because they care a lot more about privacy and information freedom in light of recent events. Taking control of my own computer is just one step, it's not 'foolproof' or 'secure' by any means.
If anything, the NSA situation just confirmed what I already knew: the executive branch doesn't give a care in the world as to the intent of the law, only the letter. As someone who has... generally unacceptable political views, and expresses them in front of a reasonably large audience on a regular basis, I constantly wonder about things like some of the other stories on the front page.
With software that is Free, I can be pretty damn sure that there isn't something that's sending something somewhere behind my back.
That said, it would not help _directly_ with the NSA situation. They're related because everyone was asking me to write this post up, because they care a lot more about privacy and information freedom in light of recent events. Taking control of my own computer is just one step, it's not 'foolproof' or 'secure' by any means.
If anything, the NSA situation just confirmed what I already knew: the executive branch doesn't give a care in the world as to the intent of the law, only the letter. As someone who has... generally unacceptable political views, and expresses them in front of a reasonably large audience on a regular basis, I constantly wonder about things like some of the other stories on the front page.