privacy

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Tum, in Two minutes of DuckDuckGo rearranging & dropping results for the same search; Bing, Startpage, & DDG all unreliable vs. Google :(

I am not a search engine engineer.

Here are some things it might be though:

It could be that the results you see first are cached on their servers, and expiring from that cache between your searches. however usually when something requested is pulled from a cache, the items lifespan in the cache is usually refreshed so it lives a bit longer.

It could be that certain they are NOT cached at all, and certain sites are rate limiting the DDG crawler hitting them and returning info to you, so DDG takes them out of the results as they cannot confirm the site is alive. I noticed reddit disappeared from the results and we all know about Reddit and their APIs here.

It could also be their ranking algorithm for results is not as deterministic as they want it to be, it could also be that way by design. Page ranking is a closely guarded trade secret, especially at big places like Google. DDG results will never match 1:1 with Google. Personally, I prefer DDGs results to Google.

brbposting,

Excellent analysis. Caching came to mind for me as well. Thank you for the interesting speculation!

jman6495, in Signal Facing Collapse After CIA Cuts Funding

This article sounds extremely fishy and borderline conspiracy-like to me.

Imho the only guarantee of privacy I need is the source code.

niisyth, in Simple Mobile Tools apps

FFS, I moved from Quickpic for the same reason and now Simple Gallery Pro.

Ugh

e_mc2,

Yeah, exactly the same here. Oh well, time to switch again.

Predator,
@Predator@feddit.uk avatar

FWIW, QuickPic Pro ad-free is available by Cheetah Mobile the company who bought it. Also a modded fork of the last verion before it was bundled with ads is available from github.

niisyth,

Cheetah Mobile aren’t exactly well known for their business ethics. Partly why a lot of folks bailed.

ragica,
@ragica@lemmy.ml avatar

Aves is really good. Used Simple Gallery Pro for years and it was great. But switching to Aves is painless for me.

jlow, in Kuketz Custom ROM Review: /e/

Non-Google-Translate link for the German speakers (or readers):

kuketz-blog.de/e-datenschutzfreundlich-bedeutet-n…

kpw, in Simple Mobile Tools apps

Anyone knows what F-Droid will do? Will they switch over to a fork? Maybe the people who installed it via F-Droid don't have to switch at all. @fdroid

possiblylinux127,

I don’t think they need to do anything. As long as an app meets the F-droid rules it should be fine. Only time will tell of the F-droid version becomes unmaintained

inson1, (edited )

They stoped the updates That is enough for now

shortwavesurfer, in Simple Mobile Tools apps

Once the fossify apps are on fdroid i will be moving to them

Longmactoppedup,

Same.

I use simple calendar widget’s agenda and monthly planner. Glad to hear they are being forked.

jlow, in Kuketz Custom ROM Review: /e/

Mh, that sounds less bad that I thought it would be judging from the headline.

It’s basically Lineage with MicroG and a bunch of preinstalled apps (like one of the many Linux distros based on Ubuntu ^__^).

I think I’d still go for Lineage and install MicroG myself if I have the option, though.

And that name … it’s just so bad …

Squizzy, in Two minutes of DuckDuckGo rearranging & dropping results for the same search; Bing, Startpage, & DDG all unreliable vs. Google :(

Can anyone explain what happened DDG? They used to have very objective searching and now it is really targeted, which they claim they don’t do.

For example if I search a random term or product I will get a niche buy and sell website that only serves my country and with results from my immediate region. I do disable the location functionality and it just stays the same or switches them up but they’re there close to the top.

KarnaSubarna, in Two minutes of DuckDuckGo rearranging & dropping results for the same search; Bing, Startpage, & DDG all unreliable vs. Google :(
@KarnaSubarna@lemmy.ml avatar

If possible, self-host SearxNG using Docker/Podman to avoid all of these.

mahony, in Kuketz Custom ROM Review: /e/

Good info. I use e/OS on my old Samsung phone as a daily driver. I consider the phone to be a communication device, so have just couple of messenger apps there. All else is done on a PC so dont consider the security to be an issue. But its good to be aware of it. However, I think privacy is orders of magnitude bigger thread to a common person than an attacker spending resouces and targeting a random person. Sure, someone could attack me, but to get what? While google attacks privacy 24/7.

Imprint9816, (edited )

I think people assume most attackers are targeting a specific person when in reality they cast a large net and take as much as they can find.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR8SmnVSLCg

Thats why iOS exploits are so valuable because iphones run on such a narrow band that an exploit is likely to work on all iphone users, regardless of model.

mahony, (edited )

The video you posted 100% proves my point. Nothing in the video is security related, Its all privacy points. Getting attacked by scammers, phishing emails, phone calls etc are privacy threats, because you provided your main email, phone number etc where you should not/did not have to. I am saying again privacy is orders of magnitude bigger thread to a common person than an attacker spending resouces and targeting a random person. Please recognize that privacy and security are different things, people obsess with security when its a smaller threat to them.

Non of the threats in the video would happen if people didnt share their lives, emails, phone numbers etc all online in plain sight. Non of the threats required an attacker to use a vulnerability to enter into pc/phone/network etc.

Privacy - use email aliases for different websites, different phone numbers for 2FA, do not use social media or at least do not post all your life , real identity, email and a phone number on there etc

Security - dont use no longer supported software, use an offline password manager, you still have no chance against 0 day vulnerabilities

/for a good measure, i copied the link you posted and entered into piped.video, example of privacy.

mahony, in Signal Facing Collapse After CIA Cuts Funding

Just dont stop at starbucks one morning and send those 5 bucks to Signal. One coffee a year will make a difference. I have my rocket emoji already.

Efwis, in MS Outlook Blocking Tutanota Emails As Spam

This is just another attempt by Micro$uck to make everyone use their email services. Micro$uck doesn’t want any competition, they want to rule the computer world

maxprime,

I wonder if this is anticompetitive or anti-privacy. I doubt that Microsoft is even remotely concerned about the “competition” that tuta poses.

Efwis,

You’re right, it is probably an anti-privacy thing. God forbid they can’t do the telemetry and other nefarious that they do

DangerousInternet, in Apple Confirms Governments Using Push Notifications to Surveil Users
@DangerousInternet@lemmy.world avatar

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  • cheese_greater,

    Fuckin metadata strikes again but also they likely have access to it all unless the app dev specifically and painstakingly implements it 🤯

    DangerousInternet,
    @DangerousInternet@lemmy.world avatar

    deleted_by_author

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  • cheese_greater, (edited )

    Nah, it can be encrypted. Fuck this bullshit, we have the technology, I shouldn’t need to log into everything or open every 1/5000 apps to get quick cues/updates. Apple needs to fuck off with the spying bullshit, even the governmen itself (lawmakers like Wyden are saying fuck this shit and shining a light+exposing it) is saying enough in the way it can.

    Republicans/Democrats/humans who don’t want all their private data becoming endless Kompromat should be united on this, they have a hell of a lot more to hide than any of us singular private citizens

    Edit: 💡on second thought, I switched to Never for “Show Previews” and I kinda like the way it keeps me on my toes and attentive to what it could be (anticipatory and curious). Maybe its just as well. Time will tell

    Zerush, (edited ) in Librewolf but like... for chromium?
    @Zerush@lemmy.ml avatar

    I use Vivaldi, I don’t know a better Chromium for privacy nor because other features (made in the EU by a employee-owned cooperative, no extern investors, gutted Chromium base (no phones to Google), no tracking, no logging, inbuild ad- and trackerblocker with customizables filterlists, encrypted sync, feed reader, mail client, calendar, reader list, reader view, splitscreen, full customizable UI, command chains, etc…). Apart with your account an own blogging platform, mail service, included an Mastodon account in the Vivaldis own instance, which you can use with your account. vivaldi.com

    sir_reginald, (edited )
    @sir_reginald@lemmy.world avatar

    Vivaldi is not private. A good browser? It surely is. But it’s not private.

    It’s also proprietary software, which is unacceptable. And yeah, don’t repeat to me their marketing techniques. Yes, they release some partial source code. In practice, that’s the same as releasing nothing. Just a marketing trick.

    Zerush,
    @Zerush@lemmy.ml avatar

    No, it isn’t, try and see it yourself.

    vivaldi.com/blog/vivaldi-browser-open-source/

    sir_reginald,
    @sir_reginald@lemmy.world avatar

    didn’t you read my comment? That whole post is marketing excuses for not being free software.

    Try compiling the “source code” they release and tell me if you get a usable version of Vivaldi.

    LWD, (edited )

    deleted_by_author

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  • Zerush,
    @Zerush@lemmy.ml avatar

    Where do they say it?

    spez,

    Yeah, but it is closed sourced.

    Zerush,
    @Zerush@lemmy.ml avatar

    Yes and no, 5% of the script, corresponding to its unique UI is proprietary, but 100% auditable and even moddeable by the user (in the Forum they show you even how to do it, at own risk, logical). And its better so this way, making it OpenSource too, Chrome and Edge are the first in forking it, which will be the end of Vivaldi and any other Chromium. Anyway, with more than 100 browsers curretntly in the market, OpenSource or not isn’t the most important poiny, more important the ethics and transparency respect the user of the company. Respect privacy it is irrelevant, it depends only of the manufactor of the product, not if it OpenSource or not, all spying APIs of Google, Facebook, MS & cia are all OpenSource and included in a lot of the FOSS in the market (also in Firefox, eg the “save” browsing API is from Google, not really needed if you use an adblocker (uBO), which contains a similar function, this API send your browsing data to Google who host the list of phising sites but also logs your activity, If you can, desactivate it, in Vivaldi you can do it in the privacy settings)

    Pantherina, (edited )

    Opensource is a very important point. If its only the UI that is a different thing though.

    Save browsing in Firefox is anonymized and afaik even proxied. In FF you can also deactivate it but shouldnt. No personal data is sent and it is not identifiable. But you may really not need it.

    Zerush,
    @Zerush@lemmy.ml avatar

    FOSS nowadays isn’t the same anymore since BigBrothers entered this world, first Google and Microsoft, the latter even acquiring GitHub, FOSS is no longer the same as it was a few years ago. Many companies no longer focus on communities, developing their products tangentially to the user more in their own interests. In the world of browsers, there are already more than 100 on the market, forks of Gecko, Blink and Webkit, some exotic ones aside, like Otter, which is also fighting for its life to avoid passing to the more than 70 browsers that were abandoned and discontinued in this Browser war that exists, where everyone fights to survive against the great Mainstreams Chrome, EDGE, or the Chinese Opera.

    I have been using Vivaldi for more than 7 years and I have seen Google’s tricks to eliminate it, even leading to the point that the Vivaldi team removed the Vivaldi UA, disguising it as Chrome, against their own interests, so that the user not getting blocked by Google services and related pages with the argument “browser not compatible” which was absurd. Since then there has been a continuous war against Google’s attempts to control this browser, which has until now always resulted in Google coming to hit the teeth on a rock, (IdleAPI, FLoC, and other crap)

    Meanwhile Mozilla made a contract with Google, for using Google as main search, apart from sending Data of the accounts to Alphabet, googletagmanager and googleanalytics to survive. That is the value of FOSS today, not the user or the community, nor the ethics or transparency of the company.

    FOSS is important, yes, for devs who want to launch another fork more, but not so much for the normal user, for this it counts excellent support, an active community, a real interaction with the devs and the team, honesty and ethics of the company. But yes Vivaldis 5% of the script of its unique UI is proprietary, to avoid that Google, EDGE or Opera can fork it, same with Brave, it also isn’t fullOpenSource for similar reasons (see its TOS about copyrights) Other engines are easier to go OpenSource, because Chrome or EDGE can’t fork it for the own browsers. It’s not the same problem.

    Not all what is proprietary soft is crap nor all FOSS is the panacea, it’s by way not so simple, with ugly surprises when you walk with fixed ideas

    Pantherina,

    Do you have sources what Data firefox sends to Alphabet etc?

    Zerush, (edited )
    @Zerush@lemmy.ml avatar
    Pantherina,
    Zerush,
    @Zerush@lemmy.ml avatar

    You make your account in Mozilla.org, you even download FF and some forks from Mozilla.org, you also sync in the servers of Mozilla, what you are testing is the app store and the specific account site, which are only subpages and it’s data are stored in Mozilla.org and from there to Alphabet, as say, to Google. As say, Firefox is a good and private browser itself, but only if you download it from source instead from Mozilla, without an account and sync with own server, if not Google will recieve your account data. That’s the lack when a company depends on external investors and makes a contract with the devil, thereby losing its independence, since the investor can dictate the rules, this was Mozilla’s big mistake. Now they are certainly trying to free themselves from this contract and I sincerely hope that they achieve it next year as they proposed. Depending on surveillance advertising, it is not a good idea, not for the company, especially if it wants to be used in the EU, and even less so for the user. Mozilla deserves to be able to regain its independence from Alphabet (advertising company), which it has lost with this contract with Google.

    Vivaldi does not have external investors, precisely to preserve its independence, they have a different business model, based on their own conditions. They use different links and search engines that include by default in the browser when you download it, they pay a commission when used with the Vivaldi browser and the user is free to use them or delete them, if they do not want to use them. Apart from this, they have a Webstore with Merch and, after requests from many users over the years, they now also accept donations, which was not the case before. Now with the inclusion in the automotive versions in Renault, VAG, Polestar and Mercedes will also receive commissions. All this does not commit user data to advertising companies by Vivaldi at all, it only does so if the user uses a search engine that is not private, but this is then their own decision, Vivaldi cannot prevent you from using Facebook, search with Google or Bing.

    Pantherina,

    They load google Javascript right? Does that proof “your account data” is sent to Google or Facebook (hate these hide-away company names)

    I think this is not true. Mozilla doesnt send user accounts to these sites.

    Even though the plain existence of these javascript tracking scripts is absurd. But dont spread fake news please

    Pantherina,

    I dont think Mozilla sends your account data to Google. And because the main homepage uses tracking, that is not a sign that the internal account database is shared. These are completely unrelated.

    Zerush,
    @Zerush@lemmy.ml avatar

    Mozilla clearly send data to Alphabet, googleanalytics and googletabmanager, I don’t believe that this data are only christmas greetings to the sponsor. But I also think and hope, that this will cese if Mozilla finish the contract with Google in 2024 as they say. Mozilla does not deserve to be under Google’s control and there are not many alternatives in the market.Yes, there are a lot of forks of Gecko and also Blink, but mostly with bad maintance, poor support or even contract with the devil, well with surveillance advertisings (Chrome, Edge, Opera (this one the worst)), with shady crypto companies (Brave), or direct filtering data to Gov and security services (Safari). Some exotics wit Qt or Goanna engine (Otter), batteling to survive or are discontinued.(Falcon) As said, Vivaldi and Firefox (or maybe one of the better forks, like Floorp or Midori), there are not much more.I’ve both.

    sir_reginald,
    @sir_reginald@lemmy.world avatar

    Not all what is proprietary soft is crap

    You’re wrong. For privacy, being proprietary is one of the biggest red flags.

    nor all FOSS is the panacea

    That’s absolutely true tho.

    Zerush,
    @Zerush@lemmy.ml avatar

    Not at all, proprietary soft or services from big corporations are certainly a red flag, but not necesarly from small ones or startups. Which search engine do you use? If FOSS, which engine do it use? VPN? Drivers? eg IrfanView or SSuite are crap? Not so easy and always wrong to globalize.

    sir_reginald,
    @sir_reginald@lemmy.world avatar

    Which search engine do you use? If FOSS, which engine do it use? VPN?

    There’s a relevant difference here. If the proprietary software runs on the server side and everything on the client side it’s free software, that’s very different than running a proprietary web browser on your own machine.

    So as long as my search engine does not execute proprietary JavaScript and I can connect to my VPN using the OpenVPN or Wireguard client, it’s okay.

    Nonetheless, it’s of course very much preferable that the server side is free software too.

    I don’t care if the proprietary software comes from a mega corp or a small startup. It’s still proprietary.

    Zerush,
    @Zerush@lemmy.ml avatar

    In proprietary soft the risk of privacy flaws is greater in online services, than in local apps, just the other way arround as you said. In FOSS yo can only stay secure selfhosting it, but not all people have the possibility or the money to pay an own server and must trust an more o less stable public server. Well, as VPN you can use Proton, which is Freemium OpenSource, like also some others, but even so, are you sure about the hundreds or thosends of public servers which connect the VPN? As said, don’t use some pink FOSS glasses with “the wonderful FOSS and proprietary soft very bad” Mantra, the awakening of these idealizations can be unpleasant, I know… Ask a dev of the lot of work which must be done, to convert Chromium, which is 100% FOSS, in something private and usable and how many FOSS in GitHub, GitLab and others, are full of APIs from Google, Facebook, Amazon, MS…, all of these are also 100% FOSS. The risk is online, not locally in your PC (malware apart, often also FOSS), outgoing traffic from an app, you can control, outgoing traffic in an online server you can’t.

    clot27, in Governments spying on Apple, Google users through push notifications -US senator
    @clot27@lemm.ee avatar
    TheAnonymouseJoker,
    @TheAnonymouseJoker@lemmy.ml avatar

    …after many years, when Google confirmed it long ago. Apple once again tells us they are a fake bastion of privacy.

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