Open Source thoughts...

It would be impossible for me to summarise at the moment all my thoughts on Open Source in a single post but one aspect of the newest applications that are growing under the open source umbrella are ones that attempt to replace or supplant the Big Data Cartels, in the role of allowing you the ultimate control of the software which runs on your own server etc.

The truth sometimes is that while the code is open source and theoretically someone could go in and alter the code to their liking... the default configuration often favours the software producer in the matter of sharing or submitting data to themselves. This is in a sense part of the price of the development of the software. And many of these software apps do allow a finer grained choice in information sharing so the user can choose the information price for continued development of the software.

Ultimately though there is always that nucleus of software though that runs in favour of the software maker. That module that checks on the values of the sharing settings and is subject to change as the updates roll in.

I think all open source software should have the ability to have even this little phone-home engine switched off entirely so that all communication between the software and the maker terminates completely.

I see this as important as ultimately some information that is being stored on systems deserves security that requires termination of any unnecessary outgoing communication about the data stored. I say this in the context of my own needs to preserve medical data and I have systems that have two levels of routing as the most basic setup and in my test labs I have other security measures in place to act as a buffer between the public internet and patient data.

So I would personally like to see a full termination of communication option available on all open source software at least. I think even consumer devices and IoT should have this mandated as a condition of sale to unsuspecting populations who could easily come under the control of malicious software that exploits these pipelines to software companies. Though the open source software may seem like a more independent choice as compared to hosting your data off-site the software that maintains and serves this data is running on your machines with access to all the data within. Even with the data seemingly more secure in your hands, malicious software could potentially encrypt this data like the many bitcoin ransomware attacks have shown, making the choice a very poor one for the victim.  

I think people need to think carefully about these things and make sure they are in a position to be flexible and move their data to safer and more secure systems as circumstances dictate. Watch out in particular for corporate takeovers etc where the ground rules can change at any moment and what is open is closed all of a sudden.