Unblocking User Freedom: the right to use adblockers - FSFE
d-RLY? @ dRLY @lemmy.ml Posts 1Comments 226Joined 4 yr. ago
d-RLY? @ dRLY @lemmy.ml
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A messaging app/service that can work via both regular stable connections but also via non-online. Briar is kind of similar to what I am talking about. But it can't/doesn't go as far as I mean. It can send messages via cell data, WiFi, and Bluetooth but as far as I am aware, it can't do a mix of them. And it would still require the person being messaged to be within range of my phone's Bluetooth if not on cell/WiFi. So it doesn't do the hopping I am really interested in (to my understanding).
So I am wanting to be able to have basically zero cell or WiFi signal on my phone, but be able to just have shit be able to bounce around via all methods to get to the person I am trying to reach. So like I could be in a no service spot for my carrier but maybe a friend that also has the app and does have a signal be used to bounce my message from Bluetooth to their cell or WiFi that is working. Then it either get to the final person from that bouncing, or maybe still get it if they are also in a no-signal area but still near another friend that does and is also in their Bluetooth range.
So the message would just hop whatever chain of devices and connections even if it takes a little more time (like if it just had to keep hopping from a number of phones completely through Bluetooth jumping. Would also be cool if it could jump even if the other devices didn't have the app and was just encrypted text-only blobs hopping like how data hops around various servers when online. But aside from the fact that data costs money and would mean basically everyone's shit would get used at all times. The nightmare of how the messages/service would know how to get places, or if maybe it already arrived via one method while a different chain was still trying would be massive. In addition to literally all the other things that would have to be figured out. And that is all before making sure it could be still private in any real way.
For real! One of the things that made using Signal a non-issue for me was due to it being able to use SMS as a fall-back and therefore didn't need me to push friends to also install another message app. I really only first installed it because it was the messaging app my local chapter of the SRA was using. I was excited that it did the shit I loved about the old Google Hangouts before they unnecessarily chose to break shit back out into three replacements. Being able to use a more feature rich messaging service when the people I am messaging also have it is awesome. But being able to still send a basic SMS from the same app without leaving is super nice. It is the main thing I always envied about how iMessage has worked basically forever.
Fortunately some of my friends and co-workers also have needed to install Signal for similar reasons I did or for remote therapy stuff. But it is so hard to get others to just install it just because it is privacy focused and since we already have Facebook Messenger/Discord/Snap/IG/Line and of course SMS. Also hate feeling like I am being pushy or annoying unless I am directly asked about apps to try or some specific reason.
I also have fond memories of using Gaim/Pidgin back in the day for being able to just have one IM client that could work with basically whatever any of my friends/contacts liked using. A universal chat/message client really seems like something that would be cool to see come back.
I think the only reactions from the west will sadly be just endless propaganda about how they are "actually just using it as cover for making enough nuclear weapons for there to be one for every person in the US". Or some other BS that just serves the military industrial complex and contractors that stand to make even more mad profits from this new cold war we are groomed into more and more daily. Just look at how freaked out the federal government that won't shut the fuck up about how fucking perfect our "free market capitalism" is, has made damn sure to tell companies they can't sell lots of shit to any Chinese company.
Doesn't matter if those companies can pay. Just matters that they are artificially kept from having the most current tech at all costs. Also how our government also legally blocks certain Chinese products over here for additional BS reasons and even shown to not be issues by our own allies (before those allies also had to ban them because we said so).
Fortunately for China, they have said "fuck you, we will just do it then" and are closing the gap pretty fast. So all the sanctions/bans will just mean that China has the most to gain from being able to offer cheaper but similarly working (or close enough) tech to more places. But it will all just be used to bring back the "good old days" of history that really doesn't need to be re-lived.
True, it is really up to the instance to decide if they want to stay small and turn off registrations or big and keep them turned on. So long as the instances of all sizes stick to the official standards of the Lemmy codebase and respect the specs of the various other federated systems. It is not really an issue that the average user should have to worry about (for most issues at least).
TamperMonkey is one of the "recommended" add-ons when I look at the list on my Android version of FF and I am not on a beta or dev build.
Key word is "proposal", which will be used for the election. But will not be actually fought for, or if somehow makes it through will likely be gutted to give corps money and just retain the name. I am thinking it would be stopped just like all the bullshit was on technicalities that we never hear of except when shit that would help people is brought forward (the shit involving that stupid-ass parliamentarian a few years ago being a great example). And the mass public of liberals or otherwise the "um I really don't care about politics" folks will just remember it was mentioned at some point and assume it was done. Just another failure of our larger problem of mass amnesia. Similar to how so many idiots voted for Biden over Bernie because they thought they both were for Medicare for All, since Biden had stated multiple times that "healthcare is a right". Fuck him, his party, the Republicans, corpo media, and especially the capitalist ruling class that owns both parties!
Even Google was giving people full refunds for all games that were bought on Stadia when they gave up on that. I can't imagine that the total refunds would even be that bad for Sony given the increases they made for PSN prices. Would at least come across as at least pretending to "do right" to keep some level of trust from the people that have been buying non-game media from them. It would all be just a PR thing with some loss of current money for future money. Maybe even just offer a free amount of credit for getting some shows/movies from the Sony owned studios.
But since Sony is currently the number one, they will keep on their fuck shit until Microsoft or Nintendo are able to pull some big push. Playstation really only does kind of cool shit for customers when they aren't in the lead.
Cruz introduces bill to limit using preferred names, pronouns; critics note he uses a preferred name
Jump
I think it is due to it not really being any loss for them if they fail to get something like that passed. It serves the purpose of the cheap "pops" of "sticking it to them libs", and if it passes then that is just a bonus. The whole point is like so many really stupid laws that "look/feel" like something was done but actually just wasted time or makes things just more annoying. So they are "seen" to be "fighting" the other team. Where as if they were to actually push something that requires real functional effort or could lead to massive loss of seats. They would then be seen as big losers and seen as the ego trippers that they really are. It is honestly shit that should just lead to them being put against a wall for all the intentional fucking around they are doing.
They aren't using any concrete, it is basically just hemp stalk cores and lime mixed with water. It is just similar in how concrete can be mixed and used along with a marketing term. Seems to be better in function given that it can be used as blocks similar to concrete or bricks, while also being able to use in place of other insulation materials inside walls or in the attic spaces.
Here is the problem with changing the user agent (IMO). It just re-enforces the idea that Chrome/Chromium browsers are the only browsers and therefore sites should just be coded for them. Which they are currently the most common for people to be using since even Microsoft gave up on IE and the original Edge. But the fact that Microsoft and Google are still the most dominate OS'es means that we are just seeing IE all over again. With sites being coded to only expect Chromium, then they are just set to not even allow them to be loaded by anything else.
The fact that so many of the sites do in fact work with Firefox/Safari when the user agent is set to falsely report that it is Chrome/Chromium should be kind of concerning. Just leads to false narratives that other options are not worth using due to being bad products. Kind of like how in the US we are conditioned to believe that there are only two parties to choose from and all other options shouldn't be allowed or are never okay to support.
Just going to just preface this with a heads-up that it is all just a rant about how much I hate that the "reopen everything" box is defaultly checked.
Also it being the default setting for Mac OS means that people just never actually quit out of programs (though being fair most normie Mac users don't even seem to know that just closing a window doesn't quit the program). Which leads to just massive slowdowns and weird errors that they just turn around and pay way too much money to "fix".
I have had so much success with just immediately restarting them and just making sure to uncheck that stupid box so most shit finally is fully closed out when it powers back on. Which I also make it a point to tell everyone I help to actually reboot their shit even just a couple times a week (since most users also seem to never use either the shutdown or reboot and just always close the lid) to keep things more or less okay. I also educate them on how to actually quit out of programs.
I shit you not that I once just did the whole "uncheck the box and reboot" shit and completely fixed a weird webcam not being detected problem within less than 2mins total. Made my boss happy that I was able to help that fast, but was very frustrated to hear that the person had actually been to the Apple Store before coming to us. They (the Apple Store) ran some super quick diagnostic and it came back as not seeing the webcam. To which they had quoted the person like $500~$600 to for the parts and labour.
Coming to us was just a last attempt to make sure and the MacBook Air had been at least turned off and not just put to sleep before coming over. But the main factor was that stupid box being defaultly checked, and just everyone ignoring it and just keeping the problem around. The average person I can understand either just not really noticing or just being scared to uncheck it for fear of somehow messing something up. As they just assume that it wouldn't be already checked if it was "correct".
So at least I was able to fix an issue that really wasn't an issue, and the person walked away not having to spend a dime. And they learned to only check the box if they need it and will just uncheck it the rest of the time. Which also makes me happy to have helped and have taught them something they didn't ever think to question.
There is a pretty similar looking and function called Revolt that could be useful for getting people that are used to Discord to switch. I think they also have a long goal of being able to send and receive messages and calls with Discord. Obviously they don't have that atm, but it is open-source and nice to at least know about in the event a quick exodus of Discord is needed.
Not providing any channels (the ones I know the most about are listed by OP and commenters), but more about non-YT versions of channels about privacy being on YT. For people that use YT but are open to LBRY/Odysee/PeerTube. I have found these extensions to be great for quickly seeing if a channel is also on those services. If anyone knows of others like these, I would like to know about them. And for anything that isn't also on them of course Invidious instances are great for at least having some amount of privacy while dealing with YT (at least until Google finds some way to stop them from working).
Disclaimer: I am not a dev (or these or anything) or an auditor of security, so I can't say how good or bad these are outside of personally finding them useful. I also am not affiliated with them and again just find them good for seeing if non-YT versions of channels exist.
For LBRY:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/watch-on-lbry/
For Odysee:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/watch-on-odysee/
For PeerTube:
It doesn’t definitively prove openAI didn’t pay for the works.
But since they are a business/org and has all of those works and using them for profit. Then it kind of would be provable if openAI did or didn't pay the correct licenses as they and/or the publisher/Stephen King (if he directly were to handle those agreements) would have a receipt/license document of some kind to show it. I don't agree with how copyrights are done and agree that things should be public domain much sooner. But a for-profit thing like openAI shouldn't be just allowed to have all these exceptions that avoids needing any level of permission and paying for ones that ask for it to use it. At least not while us regular people that aren't using these sources for profits/business also aren't allowed to just use whatever we want.
The only way that (I at least) see such an open use of everything at the level of all the data/information being fine is in a socialist/communist system of some kind. As the main concern for generally keeping stuff like entertainment/information/art/etc at a creator level is to have money to live in modern society where basic and crucial needs (food/housing/healthcare/etc) costs money. So for the average author/writer/artist/inventor a for-profit company just being able to take their shit and much more directly impact their ability to live.
It is a highly predatory level of capitalism and should not have exceptions. It is just setting up a different version of the shit that needs to also be stopped in the entertainment/technology industries. Where the actual creators/performers/etc are fucked by the studios/labs/corps by not being paid anywhere near the value being brought in and may not have control over it. So all of the companies and the capitalist system are why a private entity/business/org shouldn't just be allowed to pull this shit.
Kind of a funny "shower thought" to think about. Well if it were an iOS or Android device, the "jailbreak" is rooting since root is highest level access for *nix systems. So that is what is technically happening with the Steam Deck as you now have sudo access and most/all read-only restrictions are off. But at the same time Valve doesn't start banning your deck or punishing you for doing it, and even tell you how to do it in an FAQ on the official Steam Support page. Which means it isn't technically a "jailbreak" either and more of a "advanced settings" with some warnings and specific instructions that aren't defaultly turned on. So it is both technically "jailbreaking" and not "jailbreaking."
I think the main issue here is that the very simplified rhetoric of ending use of personal cars in favor of public transportation. I don't think that their issue is about it being better to get as many cars out of use. When the idea of ditching personal cars for a much better system of public transport is brought up it is presented as if everyone is in urban or a large suburb. Which are the areas that such public transportation is a great and needed goal. But the same words that are used never present that people in rural areas aren't to be considered assholes for still needing personal transportation. Which also allows for right-wing outlets and politicians to spread the constant feeling of rural folks and their live are being attacked by libs. Those same right-wing folks will of course always find stuff to make this argument. However the lack of any mention of farmers or other rural folks as being an exception until we can make usable alternatives is a simple thing to sort out for the movement towards public transportation.
It just needs to be mentioned at all and can bring in better solidarity in reducing the vast majority of unnecessary personal ownership and use of cars. As someone that does live in a rural area and is very much in agreement about getting enough public transportation to get rid of so many cars. As it stands it just sounds like just another thing needed for daily work and life being "taken" from folks that don't have the chance at other options. It would be good to not turn having a car into being a "rebel". So many other efforts in protecting the environment have shown a similar divide between urban/suburban vs rural. Shit like "rolling coal" is an active effort to say "fuck you!" by people that really do feel like they are being attacked. It is a very stupid and stereotype re-enforcing thing to do in addition to being an asshole to others and the planet. But it is a divide that needs to be closed as much and and fast as possible if we want to be able to have any chance at un-fucking the global disaster. There is a difference between having a big truck with four wheel drive and actually needing it for farm work or other jobs that need that kind of thing. Vs the urban/suburban folks that get them and will never need to use it any different than they would a basic small two wheel drive car.
Also doesn't help when rural folks constantly hear about all the stuff cities and suburbs get for infrastructure (especially stuff like telecommunication/real high-speed internet access), but they get left behind and charged even higher rates for the bad options that are there. The whole closing down of schools and offices for COVID meant that so many people literally just couldn't do those things. It is much easier to deal with needing to suck it up and just stay home if you aren't constantly fighting a shitty and laggy connection. Dial-up is still a real thing and unless the communications companies are forced to get shit for real out to these folks, then they will always just leave them out because profits.
And this one particular example of the massive divide is something that could be used in addition to the push for rolling out more rail options. The cities and suburban areas could benefit from taxes being used for public mass transit and rural areas could get massive modernization of internet access. Get more fiber laid while building the high-speed rail and other lines while the construction teams are already digging things up to get the tracks installed. I don't know, but it would build a better feeling of connection instead of the current division of "city slickers and country hicks".
It might be a good idea to get a good VPN for any of those sites (even the streaming ones). No hate if you ran into an issue with FF. Every now and then I do see some PCs act weird with FF DNS options. Never able to figure out what causes them to not work correctly while most other PCs are working fine on the same local network. Opera and Opera GX "feel" too "busy" for me personally with just all the random things on the UI and features. I support people using anything that isn't official Chrome at this point.
If you don't already have a VPN, here is a list article with more than a few options and give some basic info on stuff like if they keep logs of IPs and for how long. Some of them also have additional DNS options for removing ads. https://torrentfreak.com/best-vpn-anonymous-no-logging/
There are .deb and .rpm versions of Edge for Linux. Doesn't get mentioned on the main download site until you scroll below the Mac/iPhone/Android options.
Being completely honest, I can deal with ads for free tier level things. I would also be okay with ads on sites for articles, social media, etc.. The main problems just keep coming down to gross levels of tracking, adverts that are formatted to look exactly like real articles/posts and presented as such, and the just overwhelming level/length of them. If I can't read a an article because there are so many auto-play/overlay/massive ads all hitting me. Then I both can't take the site/outlet serious and refuse to bother. It is wild how dramatically different sites look with all or most ads removed. I am normally prepared for more adult sites to just go nuts with ads and shit. But all the mainstream sites are making the pr0n sites seem somehow restrained by comparison.
The streaming services have learned all the wrong lessons from cable/satellite providers. Shows and content are always just some added bonus after the adds even when paying. YT is its own special Hell for both the channels and the viewers. The big win for the internet was that things could be much less filtered and even real compared to TV/radio. But now channels are scared to go seemingly 5mins without bleeping out or blurring things that are the whole point of the upload done. Even if they are being 110% tasteful or telling facts, they have to cheapen the message as if they are trying to sell a CD with "bad words" to Wal-Mart or scared of the FCC fining them.