Good to know that I can mess up other devices than Samsung’s too xD

Sweet! This taught me some about those modes. Do they perhaps also reside on their very own eeproms or similar chips so that they are not easily erasable?

Is it? I just assumed it was Samsung, since the download mode was displaying an error saying something like “failed to verify Samsung recovery checksum” as if it was expecting a Samsung image.

Personally, I don’t hate this book:

https://tldp.org/LDP/intro-linux/intro-linux.pdf

It’s somewhat outdated, for instance, it still assumes that your first process is init while most of us have transitioned to systemd, but I still find to book very educational in terms of… “Linux mentality”? Give it a try! :)

UPDATE! Got an email from my ISP saying “the fiber owner has resolved your issue, we are closing the ticket.” I immediately called my ISP out of curiosity, since they earlier had told me that they need to change my ONT for me to get my full speed. Well, it turns out, the fiber owner (don’t know the English word for them) can manage speed per port on the ONT. Sic. So for some reason, they had limited the speed to 100 Mbps.

Yep, that is my conclusion as it stands. For switching between devices, you need MAC addressss. For routing you need IP addresses (and MAC addresses?). For inter process communication, you need port numbers. Although, I do have to read up on where and how the VPN draws the line between what to encrypt and what not to encrypt in a packet.

At the very least, it requires an informed choice.

No judgment at all. I mean, I work for a government agency and - while resisting unlawful or immoral directives maybe somewhat harder for me (?) - I do try to stay humane and at times blatantly go against policies or orders that violate certain human rights.

Then, if I understand it correctly, the data portion of the packet is encrypted but there are unencrypted headers or whatevers necessary for inter device communication? MAC to MAC, IP to IP, port to port, etc., that stay unencrypted even when they go through the VPN interface? Which in turn is how the VPN interface or software or protocol is programmed?

I see. Well, now I understand why I see vendor names of connected hosts in my AP’s GUI. The vendor name of my robot vacuum, I will never be able to pronounce… (Something Chinese.)

While I do - genuinely - appreciate the effort and the post, I disagree with its general implications. I may be too much of a sad libertarian, but I believe that education is the way to go, directed at both kids at risk and at the general population who are all potential perpetrators. Control is not the way to go. Thanks again for taking your time!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MwJbRq3-rM

Also, there is nothing noobie about Linux Mint. Everything that you can do on, say, Arch Linux, you can do on Linux Mint, with some minor adjustments. That’s what’s Linux is all about. :D

Amazing! I had no idea that you can grab the vendor off of the first three octets. I shall try to refrain from - for academic purposes, of course - identifying devices and their vendors around me next time I’m at the coffee shop…

Thank you for such a detailed answer! I learned a lot! :D this inspired me to do some research on the capabilities of the new ONT that they are providing soon. Assuming that those probing capabilities that you spoke of are built into the ONT and not some peripheral add-on equipment?

Cool! Found this bundle. Goes for about €54. (Swedish site) https://www.kjell.com/se/produkter/natverk/installationsmateriel/verktyg/dibotech-verktygsvaska-for-natverksinstallation-p38194

I knew there had to be some truth to the “have you tried rebooting” trope…

I was mentally prepared for anything at this late a time on a Friday when all I wanted to do is to grab some sweet Linux ISOs to enjoy. So I explained every single step that I had taken, described every piece of hardware and exposed any and all quirky software that I had turned off for the final speed test. They were extremely polite and kind when they said, “you are exactly right, sir, the ports on your ONT can only deliver 100 Mbit/s. We’re getting you a new one.”

I was so goddamn relieved.

Thanks for sharing! I was also surprised and even tried to “provoke” an explanation as to why it wasn’t changed a long time ago, or at the very least, why they allowed me to electronically sign a contract that they would not be able to live up to…

And your story reminded me, that I really should try to remember to tell the technician that they are sending out sometime next week to check my cables! I’d hate for them to leave me a gigabit ONT with who know what ancient category Ethernet cables in my walls…

Is this something that you were able to do? I unfortunately don’t have the necessary skills for that… YET!

Thanks! In that case, I am proud :D

Apart from how unethical it is for a government to target activists instead of inviting them for dialogue, this could have been avoided with decent opsec. Be kind, be educational! ✊❤️‍🔥

It would also be nice to see the Commission reach out to and making good use of all the talented software engineers that reside in the member states, perhaps even trying to evenly distribute outreach, not just focusing on states that produce economic wealth. It would be even nicer to see the Commission realize the benefits of and invest in open source software and hardware in creating the EuroStack.