Who really does hope something from the "DnT"

While the ruling against LinkedIn is a welcome development, I'm skeptical it will truly move the needle on respecting user privacy. Do Not Track has been around for years, yet sites continue ignoring it without consequence. This case may set a precedent, but it's one isolated judgment in Germany.

Chromium (Cromite) - no sync of any kind. Otherwise, no complaints except the menu item bloat.

FF Stable - no about:config, comes with a ton of things that need turned off.

FF Beta/Nightly/Mull - has FFSync, but missing Chrome's rotate-to-fullscreen functionality.

All Android Browsers - too many menu items.

FF: Customize, What's New, Help, Addons should all be under Settings. Chromium also has full menu that mostly is never used. View Source on a mobile browser...really why?

It doesnt make much sense to have a movable toolbar if you still have to use both hands to get to the bookmarks button/menu. I'd be happy with either an organized, uncluttered menu, or one where certain items could be hidden/removed from the main menu.

Brave - I wish I could stick with them. Everything works and they have it all. Full non-Google sync, better video playback control, nicer UI, dual toolbars. I just can't with the way they operate, adding bad features and then saying oops every time.

How do we get the perfect browser?

In my mind, it looks like Cromite, has the internals of FF (gecko engine), FOSS, can rotate the phone into full screen video, with sync implemented. And of course all privacy settings setup like Mull.

Anyone else spot this unicorn?

cross-posted from: https://discuss.tchncs.de/post/5707453

The Chrome team says they're not going to pursue Web Integrity but...

it is piloting a new Android WebView Media Integrity API that’s “narrowly scoped, and only targets WebViews embedded in apps.”

They say its because the team "heard your feedback." I'm sure that's true, and I can wildly speculate that all the current anti-trust attention was a factor too.

Many said we couldn’t stop it. We, like many, applied pressure, and they backed the fuck off.

We have no room for complacency now though. Google cannot be allowed to dictate web standards. Firefox needs to eat into that Chromium market share.

Never forgive. Never forget.

This year we made good progress. You know, Linux gaming becoming better, Reddit fucking up, Metaverse failing etc. But on the other hand Big Tech has or are planning to make some moves. Such as, Google's Web Enviroment Integrity API (EDIT: they backed off), UK's encryption bill, etc.

So what do you think of the future? I'm currently optimistic. I think the best recent event was Reddit fucking up. Obviously one of the biggest information sources going down that path isn't something to celebrate. But it was bound to happen. I believe decentralized social networks becoming more popular is what Aaron Swartz would have wanted if he saw how Reddit was being managed.

I don't see refenece in this article or any others, but how did prosecutors get access to SBF's Signal messages?

Was it simply a court order that he unlock his phone (and agreed), or a codefendant who flipped to the prosecution and handed over the thread?

Hi !

I'm a privacy enthousiast. I have pihole running at home, I use it as my DNS resolver, and I use wireguard on my phone to connect home and use pihole on it. Never been happier. No Facebook, no Instagram, no social media at all.

Thing is, I'm making big changes in my life. I'm moving from Paris to the countryside and I need, I badly need to advertise my services as a freelancer (sound engineer and wedding photographer).

Of course, I'm in the process of building my website (almost there), but I am nothing if I don't post on Instagram and Facebook (in particular for my photo work). I've seen what other successful wedding photographers do with social media, and I need to do something alike.

I deeply despise meta, but I'll have to make a sacrifice at some point.

I've already found something like hootsuite to schedule my posts without having to login into fb or insta, but I'll have to login at some point for the interactions. So I'll install some secure OS on an old phone I'll use only for that purpose, but damn, I already feel dirty.

How would you feel about this ? What would be your approach ? For those of you that are in a similar situation, what's your method ?

Tencent's WeChat and Kaspersky's suite of applications have been removed from government-issued mobile devices effective October 30, 2023. Going forward, users of these devices will be blocked from downloading the apps.

WeChat is the super app in China with over 1 billion monthly users, and is a ubiquitous part of daily life in China. You can essentially do everything through WeChat, which is convenient.

However, this convenience comes at a cost. WeChat has monopolized the market to the extent that users have little say in front of the app. Identity verification is mandatory, and the app can suspend accounts at any time. And WeChat has always had the support of the central government, receiving funding, and the government has often restricted or banned competing apps.

I'm not a technical person, but I found these connections, Dropbox and Bitly weird, since I don't use any of that.

Can anyone clarify if these are normal connections or is there something unusual?

I recently saw Alex's video about XMPP and I got curious.

I am using Element and Schildichat a bit, trying Element X and curious about the new Development here. It seems vibrant, they rewrite stuff in rust, the Apps are fancy and all.

But I tried Conversations and it seems based too, has transparent encryption, it is damn fast, usable, supports groups and files and all. Probably doesnt use the latest fancy Android SDKs but it seems solid.

I was surprised about how fast it was, as Matrix drastically varies per server. But also I found many dead communities, and in general I dont see XMPP at all, while many Projects (if not using Discord, bruh...) have a Matrix room.

How secure is OMEMO in todays standards? Or OpenPGP, compared to Matrix or Signal Encryption? I heard it also has rotating keys and all.

There are other things, like permission systems, chosen federation, privacy, bridge support and more, that are interesting. Are there advanced modern WebUIs for XMPP you like?

I saw that it uses up waaay less resources, why is that? Really, is "simply encrypted mail" somehow worse in an important way?

Similar to IRC, where I never found nice usable apps for my taste, I thought XMPP was deprecated, but that doesnt seem so?

What can you tell me about XMPP, is it modern, secure, privacy friendly?

Recently discovered this. Molly supports link with existing device just like on signal desktop. It even has benefit of getting entire chat history unlike signal desktop. Just restore the signal backup file during setup and then click link with existing device. Then scan with you primary phone. Beauty of open source. Molly: https://molly.im/

Recently a European Court has judged that Meta's way of collecting and using people's data in Europe has been in violation of privacy regulations between 2018 and 2023. Now Meta announced an option of Facebook and Instagram without personalized ads for 120 euros per year. European users would have the option to pay or agree to personalized ads. But is your right to privacy for sale? Let's find out!

What score does your browser(s) get?

I'll start: I got:

one in ~25000 browsers have the same fingerprint as yours

• Allow this website to send notifications?
• Privacy badger stopped 652 trackers on this page
• "Let us enable cookies? Yes or 19 step cookie configuration wizard?"
• "Ads are how we keep our service free. Please disable your adblocker"
• "you've reached your daily free limit. Please upgrade to a pro account for just 29.99 USD/month (the price of a cup of coffee)"

I fucking hate the modern web

A Verge story on hacking your robot vacuum so it doesn't phone home.

https://www.reuters.com/world/graphic-pro-israel-ads-make-their-way-into-childrens-video-games-2023-10-30/

Politicizing children is just not acceptable, no matter which side you're on.