Listen "Free & Open Source Software"
Episode Synopsis
You may not know it, but our world has already been basically taken over by free and open source software, or FOSS – specifically, the Linux operating system. Just about every single electronic appliance or device today, from your smartphone to your smart toaster, is running some flavor of the Linux operating system. Furthermore, open source software projects are the bedrock of many for-profit software applications, operating systems, mobile apps and web apps. It’s everywhere, and yet you probably know very little about it. Today, Sean O’Brien will give us a little FOSS history lesson, explain why supporting this movement is so important, and even tell us how we might replace some pricey and user-hostile popular software with top-notch free and open alternatives.
Sean O’Brien is a lecturer in Cybersecurity at Yale Law School and Chief Security Officer at Panquake.com He is a Visiting Fellow at the Information Society Project at Yale Law School, where he founded and leads the Privacy Lab initiative. He has been involved in Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS) for approximately two decades, including volunteer work for the Free Software Foundation and FreedomBox Foundation.
Show Links
Panquake: https://panquake.com/
Yale Privacy Lab: https://privacylab.yale.edu/
It’s FOSS website: https://itsfoss.com/
Free Software Foundation: https://www.fsf.org/
Intro to Linux classes: https://itsfoss.com/free-linux-training-courses/
Windows Subsystem for Linux: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/about
System 76: https://system76.com/
Purism: https://puri.sm/
Lineage OS: https://lineageos.org/
Graphene OS: https://grapheneos.org/
Calyx OS: https://calyxos.org/
F-Droid: https://f-droid.org/
LibreOffice: https://www.libreoffice.org/
VLC Media Player: https://www.videolan.org/vlc/
Audacity audio editor: https://www.audacityteam.org/
GIMP photo editor: https://www.gimp.org/
Inkscape illustrator: https://inkscape.org/
CryptPad: https://cryptpad.fr/
Further Info
Become a Patron! https://www.patreon.com/FirewallsDontStopDragons
Subscribe to the newsletter: https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/newsletter/new-newsletter/Would you like me to speak to your group about security and/privacy? http://bit.ly/Firewalls-Speaker
Generate secure passphrases! https://d20key.com/#/
Sean O’Brien is a lecturer in Cybersecurity at Yale Law School and Chief Security Officer at Panquake.com He is a Visiting Fellow at the Information Society Project at Yale Law School, where he founded and leads the Privacy Lab initiative. He has been involved in Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS) for approximately two decades, including volunteer work for the Free Software Foundation and FreedomBox Foundation.
Show Links
Panquake: https://panquake.com/
Yale Privacy Lab: https://privacylab.yale.edu/
It’s FOSS website: https://itsfoss.com/
Free Software Foundation: https://www.fsf.org/
Intro to Linux classes: https://itsfoss.com/free-linux-training-courses/
Windows Subsystem for Linux: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/about
System 76: https://system76.com/
Purism: https://puri.sm/
Lineage OS: https://lineageos.org/
Graphene OS: https://grapheneos.org/
Calyx OS: https://calyxos.org/
F-Droid: https://f-droid.org/
LibreOffice: https://www.libreoffice.org/
VLC Media Player: https://www.videolan.org/vlc/
Audacity audio editor: https://www.audacityteam.org/
GIMP photo editor: https://www.gimp.org/
Inkscape illustrator: https://inkscape.org/
CryptPad: https://cryptpad.fr/
Further Info
Become a Patron! https://www.patreon.com/FirewallsDontStopDragons
Subscribe to the newsletter: https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/newsletter/new-newsletter/Would you like me to speak to your group about security and/privacy? http://bit.ly/Firewalls-Speaker
Generate secure passphrases! https://d20key.com/#/
More episodes of the podcast Firewalls Don't Stop Dragons Podcast
Honoring Auto Privacy Rights
19/01/2026
Private AI Chat
12/01/2026
Decentralized Messaging
05/01/2026
Best of 2025 Bonus Content
29/12/2025
Replay: Stop Reusing Passwords
22/12/2025
Best of 2025!
15/12/2025
40 Years of Phrack
08/12/2025
Be Wary of Holiday Scams
01/12/2025
Best & Worst Gifts for 2025!
24/11/2025
Erasing Your Online Data
17/11/2025
ZARZA We are Zarza, the prestigious firm behind major projects in information technology.