Improve Your Privacy Setup
I’m not worried about my ISP since it only operates in my city, so it’s unlikely they’re selling my data
Websites can see what your ISP (or IP address) is, and geolocate you based on that. Also, even small ISPs sell data, and being small is all the more reason to do some sketchy things to grow the business.
I’d like a replacement, but it’s hard getting people to switch
I hear that. The easiest thing you can do is try to convince people closest to you to move to something at least a little more privacy respecting. Signal (Molly is a hardened version) has been easiest for me to convince people with.
YouTube and Twitch with ad blocking on desktop
Try Invidious or Piped! It's not for everyone, but it's worth trying! Also, you should think about adding SponsorBlock to your setup, in case you didn't know about it.
AI - hard no
Fair.
Gmail (gasp!)
😱 B-But!!1 /s
I want an Alexa alternative for playing music
Would love to hear the alternatives people have! Keep me posted :)
Ouch! Sorry that happened. I will take that into consideration. Thank you!
Do you host your SearXNG instance? It should not be very hard to do on the cloud.
No, that's fingerprintable (i.e. Google can see which API key you use to correlate traffic)
Which DNS resolver?
Currently NextDNS, may switch to Mullvad DNS soon
Didn’t hear about SecureBlue before this, good distro in theory. Thanks.
It's certainly different from others, I would read up on what Atomic distros are
Ever thought of getting a 10-year old Thinkpad yet to get rid of that pesky BIOS? \s
I know that was sarcastic, but when I have the money I will be purchasing a QubesOS certified laptop.
Do you have DoT and DNSSEC set up for your “private” DNS? Also, is this something like Quad9?
I don't know how. And no.
With the combination of flight mode and a Faraday bag along with not having a SIM, I’m assuming that people don’t reach you using traditional means (calling). How do you stay in contact with others?
Through Wi-Fi (messaging apps). NBTV has a video on how to "survive" without cellular
Define “locking down” of public accounts.
Turning as much as I can private, using fake emails, disabling telemetry, etc.
I have been thinking of AI for a bit, and you can get a P40 with 24GB VRAM for about $100-$150 on Ebay. Put that in an old computer and fight with licensing for a bit (Craft Computing has a good video on getting VFIO working on Nvidia cards by tricking the software) and you’ll have a great setup for AI.
Thank you! My GPU runs AI fine, I'm more interested in certain apps that provide open source models.
I’d stop with the subscriptions and start sailing the high seas, personally, but I understand if the sentiment does not sit well with people here. Piracy simply gives you more control and privacy. Look at LocalMonero to try and get monero without leaving a trace (directly converting fiat to XMR and exchanging for gift cards online after churning).
I plan to move away from Spotify (my only subscription) when I get GrapheneOS
You must be using an old TV, but if you really need to purchase a new TV at some point (and it’s very likely to be “smart”), you can simply disconnect the WiFi antenna from the back of the device. If you’re really good at embedded systems, you could find the flash chip that holds the BIOS/OS of the TV and remove it (and edit the boot sequence) or flash it with something else. This is true for everyone who has a smart TV
Something I will deal with when laws force me to upgrade ;)
Holy shit this guy programs games to play them what a chad.
😅
Please switch to Codeberg, Gitlab is annoying.
Why?
How do you coordinate local time with other people if your clocks are set to UTC?
Math. Add or subtract the offset. Or ask what time it is. My (non-smart) watch is set to the correct time, however.
Does iOS have a good KeePass option?
I have them separated to reduce attack surface (and because I'm lazy)
My local gas station charges extra for using a credit card
Fun fact: This is my favorite comment in all of Lemmy, and I've been monitoring Lemmy for months. This is my favorite simply for the one question of "Why do people have such a weird attachment to Chrome?"
I will find an answer one day.
Whonix is a unique operating system focused on privacy, security, and anonymity. Rather than being a standalone operating system, Whonix is unique in that it needs a "host" operating system to run Whonix as a virtual machine within the operating system. That means that if Whonix got compromised, the rest of your system stays untouched. Whonix isn't like a standard VM, however, but I don't know the specifics on how to properly explain that. Anyways, one cool feature of Whonix is that, like Tails, it routes all traffic through Tor.
Can you think of any that may not be on my list? It's always good to try making your own, even if they're on my list!
Alright, thank you!
An example would be getting in contact with a stranger over the internet; wouldn't want to share your phone number with just anyone!
On a related topic, Insecam is a website that shows live streams from insecure cameras. It's a great example on why privacy matters in every aspect of your life, even if you don't think it affects you personally.
I included Lemmy, so I think it counts ;)
Nevada: If we spy on our residents we will collect so much data!
The 3 people living in Nevada: yuh whatever when does Stranger Things air?
Edit: That was unintentionally a joke about Area 51
Btw, how is secureblue going?
Thanks for asking! I haven't switched yet, because I want to run it on a separate SSD that hasn't arrived in the mail yet. The SSD will not only be an upgrade from my current one, but it will make my Linux journey a lot less painful down the road.
By donating I am wanting to support specific projects within the company that align with my privacy values, and a donation would directly target that. By donating, I can help more than simply buying a product, especially if there is a low profit margin for products. For example, if a company sold a product that cost them $45 to manufacture for $50, buying that product would only give the company $5 in profit, compared to if I had donated all $50. That maximizes the impact of my donation. Furthermore, I may support a certain initiative but not personally have the need to buy their products. For example, I support Nitrokey's implementation of the Nitrokey, but I already have a Yubikey, and so I wouldn't have a need to buy a Nitrokey. Not to mention, donations are taxed less heavily on the company than sales are in some places. Donations also help raise awareness for a company, and helps me push my personal beliefs about privacy.
Discriminating services based on location would be a flaw. For example, the Tor Project is based in Winchester, New Hampshire (United States of America), which is a location not regarded highly in terms of privacy.
the community was more absolutist when privacy was concerned.
Yeah, after the Rexxit (heh) started the whole r/privacy community lost a massive amount of quality in the community. Even before then, they pushed to tell people the clear disconnect between privacy and security (which, while there is, a threat model is a threat model, privacy or not). !privacy@lemmy.ml has a much nicer community and is very open to the idea of services that are designed for security and not privacy. In my eyes, c/privacy is the more "mature" version of r/privacy. I used to occasionally check up on r/privacy after the Rexxit, and always left feeling very mad about a lot of the posts and responses.
If Firefox no longer got maintained, it would be very difficult for downstream projects (Librewolf, etc.) to keep up, because they would be doing the work of hardening the browser AND fixing bugs that are upstream (that Mozilla would otherwise fix). This is one of the reasons GrapheneOS is as good as it is, Google does the heavy lifting of developing AOSP, and GrapheneOS hardens it and makes it as private as they can.
It really is a great choice! :)
Thank you, I'll check it out!