privacy

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miss_brainfart, (edited ) in What the actual fuck?!
@miss_brainfart@lemmy.ml avatar

They might not know know, but there sure can be a lot of meta data one can use to determine that a person goes to school, where it might be, and what school it most likely is.

Or someone else straight up posted the information publicly. That’s always a possibility you have to consider.

Either way, isolating certain websites and services from each other and/or the rest is certainly a good practice to limit what they can gather about you. If you don’t do that already, that is.

woshang, in Safeguard your privacy: Global Encryption Coalition

An add on: WireMin, Session and SimpleX.

possiblylinux127, in Tor isn't as decentralised as we thought?

Tor is the best but it is dated

EunieIsTheBus, (edited ) in Feeling like Privacy is a lost war.

Comfy EU noises

random65837,

LOL! That’s the lie of the century. I’m thinking you dont pay attention to the last handful of years and the legislation the EU is trying to pass? The EU is NOT privacy respecting. They just have a half descent data policy with GDPR, which many US states also have.

Time to look at the larger picture.

possiblylinux127, in Time to ditch #duckduckgo

Try ddg lite

demesisx, (edited ) in Proton Mail CEO Calls New Address Verification Feature 'Blockchain in a Very Pure Form'
@demesisx@infosec.pub avatar

I’d absolutely use this. I’m glad to see people using this incredibly powerful concept to solve problems that would literally be impossible to solve without it. It is especially encouraging that they used Monero since it has an extra layer of untraceability built-in. Blockchain is experiencing kind of a backlash in public perception, but like tech closely related to it like NFT’s, it is a VERY viable idea that just so happens to be tainted by greed and disinformation.


Voting is another concept that would become unhackable overnight…but would also probably:

A. enable the creation of a CBDC (which would also allow the state to REVOKE ownership of your own money)

B. force a state to pick a technology/crypto of choice (and tip the scales toward that crypto)

both of which I somehow am vehemently against yet moderate a (ghosty) community on blockchain voting. 😅

!blockchainvoting

sturlabragason,

Yeah my most downvoted comments mention Blockchain 🤣 Capitalism turns everything to shit 💩

cheese_greater, (edited )

What does Monero do? Why don’t they emulate whatever it is that Monero achieves its reputation and functionality with?

demesisx, (edited )
@demesisx@infosec.pub avatar

What does Monera do?

it is a crypto currency that:

Monero uses three different privacy technologies: ring signatures, ring confidential transactions (RingCT), and stealth addresses. These hide the sender, amount, and receiver in the transaction, respectively. All transactions on the network are private by mandate; there is no way to accidentally send a transparent transaction. This feature is exclusive to Monero. You do not need to trust anyone else with your privacy.

IMO, as a software engineer, leveraging the network effect of Monero was a wise choice. In decentralized systems, the network effect (the amount of unique, separate nodes on a network) is directly correlated to the security of that network. If I were to transact with you in a public place (like a mall food court), you could correlate the presence of other parties in the food court as unique nodes in a network. The more eyes you have witnessing you transaction, the more intrinsic security that transaction has.

Another concept that actually comes into play in cryptocurrency-based systems is that the intrinsic value of that token directly relates to the security of the data in its network. That could be another reason that they chose Monero. Since it already has stable value, it offers a pre-existing and stable security solution.

cheese_greater,

How does it address the issues with like money laundering, KYC, etc? Wouldn’t you, in practice, basically need a lawyer to help make sure you “use” it correctly and legally?

demesisx, (edited )
@demesisx@infosec.pub avatar

I could be wrong (since article is paywalled) but as a DApp dev, Proton probably has a wallet with enough Monero to run this smart contract without anyone needing to add any money at all. So you wouldn’t be getting a Monero wallet in it. It would simply mint an NFT that you could then refer back to for verification that this is the same address that I say it is. It would simply leverage the monero chain every time an account was created and mint that as a unique ID (NFT!).

cheese_greater,

A valueless NFT? Not sure I can conceive of such a thing ;)

chicken, (edited )

Wouldn’t you, in practice, basically need a lawyer to help make sure you “use” it correctly and legally?

Using private cryptocurrency is not illegal, at least in the United States, nor should it be. This is like worrying if it is legal to pay for things with cash.

LWD, (edited )

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  • demesisx, (edited )
    @demesisx@infosec.pub avatar

    Thanks for lazily puking a couple of reductive, bankster-funded, cherry-picked, neolib rage-bait videos at me. Did you want to discuss this issue or do you want to lazily let the videos do it for you while forcing me to write essays that will be brigaded by the hivemind?

    andruid,

    I like Dan Olson’s video but I don’t think it’s truly unassailable. There is some real use cases for block chains in low trust networks. One of those being global monetary policy. Another critic is that web3 applications (like Mastadon and Lemmy …) I think is moving forward even more so as the age of easy money comes to a full close.

    LWD, (edited )

    deleted_by_author

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  • andruid,

    It’s the coordinated decentralization that really defines web from web2 and 1. Cooperative vs competitive coordination is just a sub strategy within that, but I don’t think either strategy is always best for all problems.

    ssokolow, (edited )
    @ssokolow@lemmy.ml avatar

    Moxie Marlinspike’s My first impressions of web3 is also a very relevant thing to share.

    As a sampler of the points made, web3 is already re-centralizing around gatekeepers because the average person doesn’t want to run their own server (or, in the blockchain case, host their own full copy of the blockchain) and, if the supermajority of users can’t see you because the gatekeepers block you, then it doesn’t really matter that you’re technically still up.

    The takeaway on that particular point is that pushing for more and easier data portability is probably the best route in the face of how real-world users behave. (eg. anything stored in a git repository, including GitHub project wiki contents, is a great example of that. You’ve got your data locally with a simple git clone and you can upload it to a competing service with a simple git push.)

    Atemu,
    @Atemu@lemmy.ml avatar

    Voting is another concept that would become unhackable overnight

    No. Voting on the blockchain is an even worse idea than money on the blockchain.

    In many cases, there are good reasons why these things are done they way they are. I have yet to see a software system that is better at preventing voter fraud than humans looking at your government-issued ID at a poll site and humans overseeing other humans manually counting votes.

    A single actor might be able to commit voter fraud in the order of dozes or hundreds of votes perhaps but with a digital voting system based on blockchain, they could do so on the order of thousands or even millions by compromising end-user devices used for voting or buy enough work/stake/whatever to perform a 51% attack.

    Same goes for money btw. Our current system is by far not a perfect one but removing the ability for governments to i.e. freeze accounts of bad actors is not a boon.

    demesisx,
    @demesisx@infosec.pub avatar

    I have yet to see a software system that is better at preventing voter fraud than humans looking at your government-issued ID at a poll site and humans overseeing other humans manually counting votes.

    have you seen any of the research that the US government did on it? Homomorphic encryption enables votes to be both public and obfuscated at the same time. I don’t want to write an essay right now but are you truly up to date on this?

    Our current system is by far not a perfect one but removing the ability for governments to i.e. freeze accounts of bad actors is not a boon.

    I COMPLETELY DISAGREE. It should be exactly as hard as it is to freeze the cash of bad actors. That’s the point of it. I, of course, happen to be a libertarian socialist/anarcho syndicalist. You happen to be a capitalist. You seem to want be in the camp of “you will own nothing and you will like it” but I just so happen to not trust governments and their decisions. I believe in socialism but have seen it co-opted and destroyed by corruption. Anyway, I don’t think that those same clearly corrupted governments should have the unilateral right to prevent me from attemtpting to claw enough back from their corruption and greed to feed my family.

    LWD, (edited )

    deleted_by_author

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  • demesisx,
    @demesisx@infosec.pub avatar

    If you dislike corruption and capitalists, then why do you like cryptocurrency?

    Because properly-implemented cryptocurrencies make corruption impossible. Even the shitty, scammy FTX project had a decentralized ledger, allowing the FTC to quickly and easily forensically untangle SBF’s tangled web of lies and fraud. Even Do Kwan’s TerraLuna hack would have been possible to detect had the project been open source (like any viable crypto project) but regardless of that, it will still now be quite trivial for the regulators prosecuting him and his co-conspirators with fraud.

    More learning for those listening in that haven’t already made up their mind like you have: youtu.be/J5xegDJphvc?si=x3tJw9s1c1WL_WNy

    LWD, (edited )

    deleted_by_author

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  • demesisx,
    @demesisx@infosec.pub avatar

    It’s interesting that you can identify cherry-picking on my part but fail to identify it on your own. I merely mentioned situations where fraud (which I didn’t fall for because I follow certain principles about transparency and auditability of the crypto technologies that I prefer) was easily detected because the nature of the technology puts all transactions on an immutable ledger.

    What valid criticisms of THE TECH have you offered so far? You’ve simply pointed to situations where stupid people failed to protect themselves from clear frauds then went and used that brush to paint the entire crypto space. You’re not really the intellectual heavyweight you seem to think you are.

    LWD, (edited )

    deleted_by_author

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  • demesisx, (edited )
    @demesisx@infosec.pub avatar

    Here’s some easy ways to spot fraud in a crypto project:

    • not open source
    • not decentralized
    • anonymous team (not always a sign of sketchiness)
    • the crypto is locked in someone else’s wallet (not your keys, not your crypto)
    • promises of ROI that are too good to be true (like TerraLunas 20% guaranteed return or the unsustainably high return promised by FTX)
    • not formally verified
    • an actual use-case rather than leveraging buzz-words to sell a utility token (looking at you IOTA and AGIX)
    • initial token allocation is all insiders (Ergo had one of the fairest launches in the whole space, for example so I’d be shocked to see that one be a pump and dump)

    I didn’t predict the failure of FTX or TerraLuna but they also didn’t smell right to me because they ticked MANY of the warning boxes above. I’m fairly centered around Cardano ecosystem projects but even in that ecosystem there’s bound to be some fraud. I protect myself by sticking to my gut feeling and using that small checklist. I have yet to be defrauded and I’ve been investing the space since 2017. It’s not hard and I am not Nostradamus but thanks for the compliment.

    LWD, (edited )

    deleted_by_author

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  • demesisx, (edited )
    @demesisx@infosec.pub avatar

    This video only mentions ERC-20 tokens as NFT’s. Are you so ignorant that you don’t realize that Ethereum is not the only crypto currency project? Do you realize that many projects have entirely different tech stacks? Actually, if you wanted to, you could go through my history and find me criticizing Ethereum’s badly flawed accounts model at least 20 times.

    I’m not wasting any more time trying to have an intellectually honest debate with a person that blindly writes off an entire class of technologies yet doesn’t even understand beginner level things about it.

    LWD, (edited )

    deleted_by_author

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  • demesisx, (edited )
    @demesisx@infosec.pub avatar

    “You drink water and breathe air. Peter Thiel drinks water and breathes air too. Therefore you are just like Peter Thiel!”

    You’re a troll. I literally hate Peter Thiel. He is invested in so many technologies that it’s VERY likely that we’re invested in the same tech somewhere. Pretty sure he doesn’t give a shit about Cardano which is the project I develop applications for.

    Spreading your investments out is kind of how investing works when someone is a billionaire, dipshit.

    Anyway, that’s enough feeding the trolls for today. Have a good night, intellectually dishonest hiveminder.

    LWD, (edited )

    deleted_by_author

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  • demesisx,
    @demesisx@infosec.pub avatar

    Nice. He recognized a good technology. You sound SO stupid.

    Atemu,
    @Atemu@lemmy.ml avatar

    Homomorphic encryption enables votes to be both public and obfuscated at the same time.

    That’s nice but has nothing to do with voter fraud prevention.

    I will not reply to the stupid ad hominem. You have made it exceptionally clear that you have no idea what my political views are.

    sibloure, in Michael Bazzell's Irish Exit

    I’ve listened to every single episode of his podcast for years, bought his books, and honestly his material was kinda life changing for me. Went from using Facebook and Apple ID everything to using Graphene OS, Linux, got friends and family using Signal, masked cards, VOIP numbers, etc. I’m sad to see it go but I understand sometimes it’s time for new chapters in life and wish him well. Maybe one day someone else on staff can create some new episodes.

    Paragone, in Nick from The Linux Experiment will soon be interviewing Proton CEO Andy Yen And Wants Your Questions For him

    What are the security-recommendations you have for Linux, Wine, & Proton users,

    that we simply wouldn’t, or don’t commonly, think of, given your abnormal expertise/view?

    Salut, Namaste, & Kaizen, eh?

    /

    KpntAutismus, in My "Smart"TV keeps connecting to Netflix, and i don't even have Netflix

    do. not. connect. your. TV. to. the. internet.

    i would recommend using an SBC as a video input device (single board computer) and using whatever service through that. (ideally under linux)

    Kir,

    Why, exactly? Honest question

    retrolasered,
    @retrolasered@lemmy.zip avatar

    Maybe overkill, but I had an unused dell optiplex usff, KDE plasma with connect, and chromium web apps for the streaming 🏴‍☠️ services I use

    chevy9294, in Helping others privacy through self-hosting?

    You can run a monero node, tor relay/bridge, etc.

    TofuWater,
    @TofuWater@lemmy.world avatar

    Already running a monero Node in two locations along with a Tor Relay on the one that allows it :D

    chevy9294,

    Nice :)

    Illecors, in How private am I?

    This is a very simple question to answer:

    Rez,
    @Rez@sh.itjust.works avatar

    I don’t think the answer is that simple. I can’t access my computer at the moment to test with the websites you provided, but yesterday I wanted to find out the resolution of my browser and I went to some website that prints it. It didn’t work at first because it used some third party script for that which uMatrix blocked. I wouldn’t be surprised if most websites don’t do a lot of “first party” tracking.

    Illecors,

    What you’re saying here is very different from what you’re saying in the OP.

    How private am I?

    how easy do you think it still is for big tech to track me?

    most websites don’t do a lot of “first party” tracking.

    These are all very different questions. I guess my bad for only answering the second one.

    Rez,
    @Rez@sh.itjust.works avatar

    I sorry if I came off confusing, I’m not a native English speaker so putting my thoughts into English writing is a bit of a barrier for me. I guess I’m just looking for people to point out flaws in my setup and have a discussion on best practices while keeping the comfort factor in mind.

    Illecors,

    In short.

    • You’re fairly private, I don’t see maths just getting broken - i.e. the stuff you do is not visible to the outside.
    • You’re very easy for big tech to track. They don’t know what you’re doing directly, but inference engines are very powerful nowadays.
    • Most websites do not, indeed, do first party tracking.
    Aspaldiko,

    Hey, i used a fresh version of Tor, Mullvad and on moblie the browser Vanadium. Every time it says I am unique. How do you become “not unique”?

    Rez,
    @Rez@sh.itjust.works avatar

    As far as I understand, if you wanted to not be unique you would have to not use any special privacy tools. Use default Chrome installation and Windows 10/11. There will be millions of people using the exact same setup as you.

    Aspaldiko,

    Ok so that will defeat my goal of Not getting ads.

    Rez,
    @Rez@sh.itjust.works avatar

    Yes, it would.

    Illecors,

    @Aspaldiko This is what I would’ve said. Hiding in plain sight is the solution. It gets tricky when you want to send a message and not leave a trail at all, but in essence - privacy != anonymity.

    mindbleach, in Michael Bazzell's Irish Exit

    Unpublishing is the opposite of what copyright is for.

    If he doesn’t want to host the old stuff - that doesn’t mean he can make it go away.

    Rehost everything anywhere you can. Information wants to be free.

    JeyNessuno, in Deciding between Fairphone 5 and Pixel 8

    Is the fairphone’s battery as easily replaceable as old phones were? I’d think that would make waterproofing really difficult

    nottheengineer,

    Yes and it isn’t rated IPX7 for that reason, just IP55. I wouldn’t hold it under the faucet but it should be perfectly fine for daily use.

    Fun fact: It’s still entirely possible to make a phone water resistant even if it has a removable back. Samsung did it in 2014 with the S5. Glass backs are just there to make it easier to break a phone, not for any technical reason.

    JeyNessuno, (edited )

    Ah nice. I’d have assumed it was replaceable with screws or something, not pop out and replace. This idea of having a phone and two batteries is really interesting and is definitely raising the possibilities I buy a fp5.

    Edit: would be even cooler if you could charge the second battery independently.

    mraniki, in Is this VPN comparison breakdown trustworthy?
    @mraniki@lemmy.world avatar
    Jonnsy, in Most private app for Lemmy

    I use Eternity it’s foss and a fork of infinity for reddit

    theDutchBrother,

    I feel like I’m on Infinity but was transported to a better version of Reddit.

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