A free VPN app called Big Mama is selling access to people’s home internet networks. Kids are using it to cheat in a VR game while researchers warn of bigger security risks.
Not really anymore. People pay subscription fees for all types of software and most collect and sell your data. FOSS software is free and doesn’t spy on you most of the time. The tables have turned
FOSS is kind of an interesting case, because it sometimes operates with donations or grants just to improve development times and outcomes.
Anyway, the sentiment is still something to consider, even in the world of FOSS. It’s less likely, mostly because people do it as hobby or communal projects, but that kind of trust can be abused. However, the original sentiment was intended more for endeavors where it costs money to maintain and operate a service, not anticapitalist software projects.
“If a product is free that should otherwise cost money, you are the product.”
Not really anymore. People pay subscription fees for all types of software and most collect and sell your data. FOSS software is free and doesn’t spy on you most of the time. The tables have turned
Yup, paying for something doesn’t guarantee good behavior, but not paying for something that most charge for almost guarantees bad behavior.
FOSS is kind of an interesting case, because it sometimes operates with donations or grants just to improve development times and outcomes.
Anyway, the sentiment is still something to consider, even in the world of FOSS. It’s less likely, mostly because people do it as hobby or communal projects, but that kind of trust can be abused. However, the original sentiment was intended more for endeavors where it costs money to maintain and operate a service, not anticapitalist software projects.
FOSS projects aren’t aiming to sell a product though
They’re not aiming to sell software. That does not mean they don’t have a product or service to sell.