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Comment by thedangler | Hacker News Reader

Is Ollama model I can use locally to use for my own project and keep my data secure?

Ollama is an easy way to run local models on Mac/linux. See https://ollama.ai they have a web UI and a terminal/server approach

I would not explicitly count on that. I’m a big fan of Ollama and use it every day but they do have some dark patterns that make me question a usecase where data security is a requirement. So I don’t use it where that is something that’s important.

Examples?

like what? If you're gonna accuse a project of shady stuff, at least give examples :)

The same examples given every time ollama is posted. Off the top of my head the installer silently adds login items with no way to opt out, spawns persistent processes in the background in addition to the application with unclear purposes, no info on install about the install itself, doesn’t let you back out of the installer when it requests admin access. Basically lots of dark patterns in the non-standard installer.

Reminds me of how Zoom got it start with the “growth hacking” of the installation. Not enough to keep me from using it, but enough for me to keep from using it for anything serious or secure.

Show me the code

Install it on MacOs. Observe for yourself. This is a repeated problem mentioned in every thread. If you need help on the part about checking to see how many processes are running, let me know and I can assist. The rest are things you will observe, step by step, during the install process.

Send me a MacOS first, we don't use mac here.

If you can't find in foul play in code you can't prove.

That's a ridiculous requirement.

These are some fair points. There definitely wasn't an intention of "growth hacking", but just trying to get a lot of things done with only a few people in a short period of time. Requiring admin access really sucks though and is something we've wanted to get rid of for a while.

I am running ollama in the CLI, under screen, and always disable the ollama daemon. It's hard to configure, while CLI it is just adding a few env vars in front.

We're planning to make it so you can change the env variables w/ the tray icon. The CLI will always work too though.

Please, as an old guy with great thanks for Ollama and great admiration for your abilities, I do feel creating an autorun login item should be something you tell the user you're doing, while giving a nutshell explanation, and opt-out.

Opensource project so you can find evidence of foul play . Prove it or it is bs

Ollama team are a few very down to earth, smart people. I really liked the folks I've met. I can't imagine they are doing anything malicious and I'm sure would address any issues (log them on GitHub) / entertain PRs to address any legitimate concerns

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