PrivacyGithub has made it impossible to create an account when using a VPN and a privacy browser with fully spoofed hardware identifiers. (Use Firefox or Firefox-based Privacy Browser, VPN, install Canvasblocker to test this.) I create an account with Google or Apple (both requiring hardware identifiers and numbers and birthdates) or I can use an email. When I use an email, it comes back with this horrible test, and even if I do it completely correctly, it tells me after I didn't do the test right, gaslighting me with a picture of what I chose (which I didn't choose) and showing me the correct picture (which I did choose and it claims I didn't select).
It's fucking bullshit and it's more corporate control of open source software. For people who have their discussion or issue tracker, I can't even participate without hardware identifiers likely linked to me some other way and phone numbers. It's fucking bullshit. If anyone from Microsoft is reading this, FUCK YOU!!!!!!!!!!
I am so tired of this bullshit. I just want to post an issue about a piece of software. You don't need my fingerprint, hardware or personal, or biometric shit. This is a slippery slope. Fuck them.
I really hope more developers just get the fuck off Github. Honestly, if you are developing privacy-oriented software and using github, there's a mistmatch and it's bullshit, and I know it's time consuming and annoying to move, but please do. This is fucking bullshit and it's not like it's going to become LESS annoying over time. FUCK THIS.
a coworker invited me to his company GitHub team or something recently, and I tried to join several times. each time, I got stuck with a 10 question test to "verify I was human". it was not quick. eventually, I had time to actually complete it without timing out.
after completing it correctly twice without success, I gave up
Git is a DECENTRALIZED version control system. It doesn't even need a server. So for someone so privacy focused to be using VPN software etc this is kind of a weird rant to go on.
You can literally store or self host a git repo anywhere in any form.
How would they post an issue as described in the post?
Can you email a patch to a project hosted on the Github?
I’m curious when this happened. I literally created a new account for GitHub this week, only using an email address, and on Firefox. No wonky tests or anything needed.
If you want a cloud alternative to GitHub run by a non-profit and hosted outside of the U.S.
- https://codeberg.org/
If you want to get your data out of the cloud entirely, or at least under a VPS you control, self host your own git repo (Using the same software as Codeberg)
- https://forgejo.org/
I can't figure out if Free software projects don't know or don't care that GitHub is run by Microslop.
Codeberg for the win.
Bro literallly posted a photo of a pile of shit, lmaoo
Tell me how you really feel 😅
They also own Visual Studio Code, control VSCode, and effectively control the VSCodium soft fork.
I keep Zed and, ideally Lapce, on my system and use them where possible. VsCode is my backup.
This is why you use Emacs, Kate, Neovim and so on. Never understood how anyone could use a software as confusing as VSCode.
You dont need hardware verifications with vscode, nor an account, it works with a vpn, u can disable copilot.
Those aren’t the types of control I alluded to, as you can see upthread.
This is why I use Zed as an alternative with the added upside that Zed runs about 500x better than VSCode
They decided they wanted to own software development and here we are ;/
Fuck ms
What do you mean about VSCodium? Obviously it's just a differently compiled version of Microsoft's text editor, but what does Microsoft have to do with it, otherwise?
it's effectively the same as chrome vs chromium. google/microsoft invests the resources to develop it, and someone simply comes and forks it without the closed source parts or telemetry.
which is fine, but means they still get to dictate how the software works. the best real world example i have is chrome and adblockers, or google-made web "standards".
Yeah. Your example: How many forks of Chome/Chromium have rejected Google’s Manifest v3 changes? Zero, because they’re all soft forks and don’t have the resources to hard fork.
“Otherwise” is doing Herculean lifting here when the code is nearly 100% Microsoft. The way they control it is by changing VSCode’s code, which is then dutifully incorporated into VSCodium, with the exception of telemetry code.
I wonder how this potential diaspora of repos from Github may affect some package distributions that are merely pointing the application to be compiled like is the case in some AUR application. Will it generate quite a lot of overhead for AUR maintainers?
Use codeberg. I stopped using github for my projects a while ago.
It's the same story for basically anything MS touches.
Agree completely, these shenanigans are a big reason I'm on a selfhosting rampage at the minute. Speaking of, does anyone have favourite self-hosted alternatives?
I've been enjoying using FreshRSS, RecipeSage, Kavita (ebook library/reader) and Flatnotes. My server OS is OpenMediaVault which i've been very happy with.
Seconding this. I recommend OMV if you're new or inexperienced with Linux and self hosting. I started my server when it was a gaming PC running Windows and OMV has felt like an easy transition for me.
But Docker is all but required in my opinion. I like working with Docker Compose files and I keep OMV on a separate drive in case I want to move to pure Debian or other distro.
https://project-awesome.org/awesome-selfhosted/awesome-selfhosted
Tangential to the main point you're going for: when you say fingerprint or biometrics I think you're referring to passkeys.
Passkeys don't share any of your fingerprint or other biometric identifiers with anyone.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/10/passkeys-and-privacy
One of the major design criteria of their creation was to be an increase in security without sacrificing privacy. It's made them more finicky to get working but there's a very good reason they're very popular with security professionals.
They are not referring to passkeys. They’re referring to deterministic algorithms for uniquely labeling a particular device or person, despite any privacy enhancing features that device or person employed. It can be as simple as sampling various hardware specs, hashing the result, and using that as an ID for the person. So, if you switch browsers, they know it’s still you. More complex techniques exist, obviously.
I know how device fingerprinting works, thank you though.
You don't need my fingerprint, hardware or personal, or biometric shit.
To me that sounds like hardware identifiers, but also quite specifically the things passkeys use. Hence I mentioned it as aside from their main point, which was "don't track me", because the biometrics GitHub or any website is going to ask you to use can't be used for that.
No need for that massive pile of shit
Been that way for a long time. They rejected me years ago. Much like Google, MS is in the ad business, and they want your personal details to sell to advertisers. Letting you sign up with fake account is contrary to their interests.
It infuriates me to no end that so many FOSS devs are still using Github. No one fucking cares about privacy or sovereignty until it personally fucks them.
Btw, CanvasBlocker actually doesn't do much more than default Firefox nowadays but breaks more things.
