Everything just seems so out of control. The US seems to be tearing itself apart. The world is on fire. We seem to be going backwards when it comes to freedom and human rights. We’ve turned our backs on each other. How do you cope with all this without just giving up?
Unlike most, I don’t believe its possible (or even a very good idea) to ignore the news. What I do is limit my news source to two places a day, BBC and The Guardian which I know are not perfect but I believe they can be largely trusted. Other than that, I read the odd link on here but I won’t doom scroll.
I also do things that have a tangible effect for people who have it worse than me. Hands on in my immediate locality, and via donation nationally and/or internationally. I have a list of charities that I support and donate to two for 6 months then switch to another two and repeat. Doing this means that most importantly, people are helped in some small way and less importantly it offsets the shitness of life a bit. If I can feel a bit happy that I’m doing something, that’s a good thing.
I’ve been grappling with a concern that I believe many of us share: the lack of privacy controls on Lemmy. As it stands, our profiles are public, and all our posts and comments are visible to anyone who cares to look. I don’t even care about privacy all that much, but this level of transparency feels to me akin to sharing my...
Lemmy is, like a lot of Fediverse platforms, about as private as it can be. There’s no trackers, you’re not forced to use real names or any other identifying information, no adverts follow you from site to site, no browser fingerprinting and no instance owners are trying to sell your data.
Beyond that, what you choose to say on Lemmy is your responsibility and yours alone.
Awhile ago, a user on r/casualuk posted a list of UK based stuff that was either free or cheap (food/entertainment/etc). They mirrored it in a few places and I bookmarked the github mirror. Doesn’t look like it’s been updated for a year or so though and I ain’t prepared to head to reddit to check the original.
(if you don’t want to go through all my strident words) Thus, after this rant, my question is: where do I start from to build my surviving kit and my right to be private and disclose personal information to who and when I want to. How I become the actual owner of my device?...
Depending on the make and model of your Android phone, you might be able to use GrapheneOS which will vastly improve your situation. Use it together with privacy respecting apps and you’ll be a long way towards reclaiming your mobile privacy. You can also buy Android phones that are pre-configured with Graphene on them on ebay but you are obviously a running a risk.
Desktop/laptop you will need to move to Linux. Mint is (in my opinion) a very good option if you’re new to Linux as it is privacy respecting and looks/acts in a very Windows type way. Like most Linux distributions, you can even try it without installing it by downloading and burning an ISO to a USB pen/stick drive. Here’s a YT tutorial on doing that (also covers going on to install Mint).
Switch browsers to Firefox and install uBlockOrigin, LibRedirect and Firefox Multi Containers add-ons. Switch to a privacy friendly search engine such as DuckDuckGo, Startpage or a SearX instance.
Migrate your email to an encrypted privacy respecting provider such as Tuta (recently changed their name from Tutanota) and stop using things like OneDrive or Dropbox, instead use a service like ProtonDrive or Filen.
Use a decent VPN like Mullvad on all your devices. This not only protects your ISP from seeing what you’re doing it also means you’re using their DNS, which you can configure to block trackers, adverts and a few other things (at DNS level, you’ll still need uBlockOrigin in your browser). It doesn’t offer as much control as PiHole or AdGuard but it’s a lot less complicated to set up.
“More than half of the websites in the study accepted passwords with six characters or less, with 75% failing to require the recommended eight-character minimum. Around 12% of had no length requirements, and 30% did not support spaces or special characters.”
You can easily switch back to stock Android if necessary :)
I switched a couple of years ago and the process then was pretty straightforward to the point I can’t really recall much about it, I can’t imagine its got trickier since then. I’m due a new Pixel sometime this year and I plan on putting Graphene straight on to it.
Process is simple;
Backup everything you want to keep and move the backup off your device.
Identify FOSS equivalents for all the apps you currently have (but maybe you already use them)
Read the installation instructions. Re-read until you understand exactly what every step entails and means. Any step you’re at all unsure of, ask. Much better to ask questions before you start than be stuck needing an answer halfway through.
If it goes bad (which it won’t) or you don’t like Graphene you can, as I said, revert back to stock Android.
It’s an isolationist policy. The US military doesn’t have military bases/presences across Europe (and elsewhere) out of the goodness of its heart or to protect Europe. They also do it because their military realises that its much, much better to have bases somewhere where they can strike an international enemy quickly from. It’s a militarily mutually beneficial arrangement.
So, the US would lose that early strike capability. They’d also lose all the intelligence benefits having people on the ground brings with it. Also, should it happen and Europe was successfully invaded, US businesses would either temporarily or permanently lose access to one of their biggest trade export blocs and a large amount of access to imports too.
" three researchers have crafted a long-sought version of private information retrieval and extended it to build a more general privacy strategy. The work, which received a Best Paper Award in June 2023 at the annual Symposium on Theory of Computing, topples a major theoretical barrier on the way to a truly private search."
Started in mid November and despite repeated requests from Tuta(nota) and reassurances from MS, it’s still happening and MS have gone silent on the subject.
“I’ll be interviewing Andy Yen, the CEO of #Proton in early December, and I’d like to ask them the questions YOU have about Proton Mail, Drive, Calendar or VPN, or security and privacy in general.”...
I’ve been using them for nearly 3 years now and never used (or even knew they offered) email support.
Not ideal they use GMail of course but they could be using private keys (as most business users do I believe) which means Google couldn’t see a thing anyway.
Meta has officially confirmed its decision to introduce a subscription plan for ad-free access to Instagram and Facebook for users in the European Union, EEA, and Switzerland. This move comes a few weeks after Meta first considered the idea, amidst regulatory pressure from the EU regarding the company’s ad targeting and data...
I don’t know if this is 100% strictly privacy related but I think it does fall in the sphere of protecting one’s right to express oneself privately....
How do you cope with the state of the world today?
Everything just seems so out of control. The US seems to be tearing itself apart. The world is on fire. We seem to be going backwards when it comes to freedom and human rights. We’ve turned our backs on each other. How do you cope with all this without just giving up?
Piers Morgan gets owned (lemmy.world)
Privacy Concerns on Lemmy: A Call for More User Control (github.com)
I’ve been grappling with a concern that I believe many of us share: the lack of privacy controls on Lemmy. As it stands, our profiles are public, and all our posts and comments are visible to anyone who cares to look. I don’t even care about privacy all that much, but this level of transparency feels to me akin to sharing my...
Americans - I Need Help Choosing A Bourbon
I’ve got a mate whos a big fan of Bourbon. He’s tried all the standard brands like Buffalo Trace, JD, Jim Beam and Wild Turkey....
What free things online should everyone take advantage of?
What free resources do you know on the internet that everyone should use?...
Police across Britain equipped with live facial recognition bodycams (inews.co.uk)
cross-posted from: lemmy.nz/post/3829409
Community note pointing out fake news once again 🫡 (sh.itjust.works)
The desire to build a self-defense kit from Google and the Internet as it is today
(if you don’t want to go through all my strident words) Thus, after this rant, my question is: where do I start from to build my surviving kit and my right to be private and disclose personal information to who and when I want to. How I become the actual owner of my device?...
Largest Study of its Kind Shows Outdated Password Practices are Widespread (www.cc.gatech.edu)
“More than half of the websites in the study accepted passwords with six characters or less, with 75% failing to require the recommended eight-character minimum. Around 12% of had no length requirements, and 30% did not support spaces or special characters.”
What's the best strategy for changing to GrapheneOS?
I have a google pixel, and I know I could install grapheneOS on it. But I’m very, very hesitant, since I depend so much on my phone....
Tailchat - The next-generation noIM Application in your own workspace (tailchat.msgbyte.com)
Haven’t seen much of this around, but I’ve spun my own instance up and suffice to say it fits my needs.
If Trump wins the election
Let’s say Trump wins and Europe loses its security guarantee from the US....
Why do you think they don't show Brave here? (lemmy.ml)
Firefox updated today and I’m wondering why they don’t put Brave in this table, what’s your opinion on this? 🤔
Cryptographers Just Got Closer to Enabling Fully Private Internet Searches (www.wired.com)
" three researchers have crafted a long-sought version of private information retrieval and extended it to build a more general privacy strategy. The work, which received a Best Paper Award in June 2023 at the annual Symposium on Theory of Computing, topples a major theoretical barrier on the way to a truly private search."
MS Outlook Blocking Tutanota Emails As Spam (tuta.com)
Started in mid November and despite repeated requests from Tuta(nota) and reassurances from MS, it’s still happening and MS have gone silent on the subject.
Nick from The Linux Experiment will soon be interviewing Proton CEO Andy Yen And Wants Your Questions For him (mastodon.social)
“I’ll be interviewing Andy Yen, the CEO of #Proton in early December, and I’d like to ask them the questions YOU have about Proton Mail, Drive, Calendar or VPN, or security and privacy in general.”...
Mullvad uses Gmail (simplifiedprivacy.com)
Just an idea to make the Fediverse better, what do you think about it?
I have this proposal for ActivityPub...
Bitwarden Privacy Software Stack Survey (forms.bitwarden.com)
From their Masto acct:...
Police to be able to run face recognition searches on 50m driving licence holders | Facial recognition | The Guardian (www.theguardian.com)
cross-posted from: lemmy.world/post/9812294
Mullvad Convert Encrypted DNS Servers To Run From RAM (mullvad.net)
“We recently announced the completion of our migration to remove all traces of disks in use on our VPN infrastructure.”...
Meta Confirm Charging EU Users For Ad-Free Access to FB and Insta (alternativeto.net)
Meta has officially confirmed its decision to introduce a subscription plan for ad-free access to Instagram and Facebook for users in the European Union, EEA, and Switzerland. This move comes a few weeks after Meta first considered the idea, amidst regulatory pressure from the EU regarding the company’s ad targeting and data...
UK Government Drawing Up Proposals To Criminalise Dissent (www.theguardian.com)
I don’t know if this is 100% strictly privacy related but I think it does fall in the sphere of protecting one’s right to express oneself privately....