The lawsuit argues that Google has effectively ‘bought’ the UK mobile phone search engine market. Google forced mobile phone handset manufacturers to pre-install the Google Search and Google Chrome browser apps on devices that use Google’s Android operating system in order to obtain a licence to use Google Play.

Google also unlawfully paid billions to Apple to ensure that it was the default search engine on iPhones and other devices that used Apple’s iOS operating system. In 2019, Google paid £1.2 billion to Apple in the UK to be the default search engine on the Safari browser.

It is claimed that Google has used its market dominance to effectively charge advertisers over the odds. Costs were then passed on to such an extent that all consumers ended up paying higher prices for goods and services sold by brands that have advertised on the platform.

I aways wondered if the communication channel between my wireless keyboard and the usb receiver-antena is secure. I never bother to reseach this. Today I figured out the practical way. I turned on my pc at work and I tried to type the first letter of my password. Nothing hapened. Then I started spamming that letter. Still nothing, until the person next to me said "my keyboard is typing all by itself". It turns out she has a wireless mouse with a seemigly identical receiver-antena usb.

The moral of the story. If it was so easy to almost leak my password unintentionally due to this flaw of wireless keyboard communication, imagine wad a bad actor can do intentionally. Why try to brute force, social engineer e.t.c. when your password can be stollen in transit from your keyboard to your pc.

I wish to convince my friends and family to avoid using privacy-invading ad-based services and apps. Seeing people discuss how much data these companies collect off of us, I want to know if there is a way you could get a sample of that data by yourself and show it to them for them to realize the gravity of the situation themselves.

The closest thing is Google's ad personalization panel in the Google Account Dashboard. It literally lists out the information of the account holder by the things they've browsed, including their gender, age, occupation, interests etc. I could've used it to show to my family but I turned off ad personalization for all their accounts a few years back so they aren't even aware of it.

The next closest thing to this could be browser fingerprinting tests but they wouldn't be able to understand the tech jargon from the results anyway. Also I am not planning to go to the 'deep web' for this. Is there any other way I could get this done, like a website/app specifically designated for this purpose, for opening some sort of userlog in the accounts page?

4get is a metasearch engine, similar to Searx and SearXNG

You can find the source code here: https://git.lolcat.ca/lolcat/4get

And use it here: 4get.ca

Honestly the lack of ad blockers in Vanadium pushes me towards Firefox even though the devs say that Firefox is far less secure. So many web sites are just hard to use on mobile without an ad blocker so I'm curious what the rest of you are doing.

I heard a lot of bad stuff about Brave and their CEO lately and am now unsure if the search engine is any good? Do they censor stuff? Is any data collected? Can it be considered private?

If you'd not recommend it, what are good alternatives and why? I was a long time duckduckgo user before, so anything similar to it or brave search would be great. I'm not into self hosting.

From the article:

Since Tailscale was founded in 2019, customers have been forced to choose between either Tailscale or Mullvad without the ability for them to co-exist.
Today we announce a partnership with Tailscale that allows you to use both in conjunction through the Tailscale app. This functionality is not available through the Mullvad VPN app. This partnership allows customers of Tailscale to make use of our WireGuard VPN servers as “exit nodes”. This means that whilst connected to Tailscale, you can access your devices across Tailscale’s mesh network, whilst still connecting outbound through Mullvad VPN WireGuard servers in any location.

Announcement also on Tailscale blog.

Haven't seen any posts about this and it's a pretty big thing. From DMA website:

Examples of the “do’s”: gatekeepers will for example have to:

• allow third parties to inter-operate with the gatekeeper’s own services in certain specific situations;
• provide companies advertising on their platform with the tools and information necessary for advertisers and publishers to carry out their own independent verification of their advertisements hosted by the gatekeeper;
• allow their business users to promote their offer and conclude contracts with their customers outside the gatekeeper’s platform.

Example of the “don'ts”: gatekeepers will for example no longer:

• treat services and products offered by the gatekeeper itself more favourably in ranking than similar services or products offered by third parties on the gatekeeper's platform;
• prevent users from un-installing any pre-installed software or app if they wish so;
• track end users outside of the gatekeepers' core platform service for the purpose of targeted advertising, without effective consent having been granted.

We'll see how this plays out but this is first move in a very long time that could open up platform like WhatsApp to 3rd party clients and force Google and Apple to open their mobile OSes to other apps. Maybe we'll see stock Android without play services? One can dream...

P.S. https://digital-markets-act-cases.ec.europa.eu - page about the legislation

Link to the post: Link to the original post

Edit: Link to the post

I'd like to start a discussion about TV privacy in 2023. I've never been interested in having a TV, but recently I was thinking of getting one. Looking into it, the privacy implications seem horrible. All the major brands seem to have cameras, microphones, and content recognition software. I can't believe how dystopian it is.

I also notice that most of the articles about this are from a few years ago. Are things better now? Do they still collect an Orwellian amount of data?

As I understand it, there are a few mitigation options:

1. Leave it disconnected from the internet and use a separate device for streaming. But it sounds like some brands have incessant nag screens, or disable features until connected to the internet. I was looking into the Samsung Frame TV, but I'm not even sure you can use the art mode without internet. Does anyone know?
2. Pi-hole set up with a blocklist. It's disheartening that such a technical solution would be necessary.
3. Get a commercial "dumb" display. These are more expensive, and usually thicker.
4. Go through the menu and disable privacy violating settings. Does this work? I'm doubtful.

edit: Just to be clear, I am NOT talking about the normal sort of ad tracking that happens when you use streaming services. Netflix knows what you’re watching regardless of what device you use. I’m talking about stuff like a hidden camera recording your facial reactions, microphones recording your private conversations, and screen recording of your viewing activities. This is sci-fi dystopia level creepy.

TL;DR

The new system will have state encryption and WhatsApp will no longer be used for communication.

(local source: 1,2)

I keep hearing on VPN ads that you have to use a VPN to not have your login information stolen. So far I have been using Cloudflare WARP to be safe enough. However, if I am using an HTTPS website, do I really need a VPN or WARP? Will an attacker on the same network as me be able to access passwords transmitted over HTTPS?

Gmail prompt to provide phone number sounds like a threat

Mozilla released their studies, and I'm seeing a growing number of posts on the Internet about cars and the privacy nightmare they entail. I remember how this issue wasn't talked about earlier because "just buy an older car" was still prevalent. I'm so happy that people are taking notice. Thank you to this community and Mozilla for the work they are putting in!

Rossman is on form. A delightful rant about his experiences with gyms. And his promotion of privacy.com and their virtual credit card numbers that he can cancel remotely.

The article is AdGuard centric but it sheds light on the whole process where Google suddenly decided to ban ad blockers.

I have been slowly degoogling my life by reducing my use of Google apps and switching to FOSS alternatives. I recently created a Proton account and tried to keep it completely isolated from my default Google account so as to not let it know what my Proton mail identity is. I have finished my transition in my desktop to the best of my ability and am planning to start the same with my mobile. The only thing I have done in my Android phone related to Proton is having downloaded ProtonVPN and signed into my account within the app. However I fear by downloading ProtonMail and signing into it, my Android phone would identify the email account, which could make this entire transition useless. Is there a way to avoid this situation or has the damage already been done. What does Google know about my Proton account, if at all?

We're happy to announce that, for the first time ever, BusKill cables can be purchased in-person in Leipzig, Germany.

The BusKill project has partnered with ProxyStore to make BusKill laptop kill cords finally available from a brick-and-mortar location. You can now go to the following location and purchase a BusKill cable with cash or cryptocurrency.

Bernhard-Göring-Straße 162
04277 Leipzig
Germany

About BusKill

BusKill is a laptop kill-cord. It's a USB cable with a magnetic breakaway that you attach to your body and connect to your computer.

Watch the BusKill Explainer Video for more info youtube.com/v/qPwyoD_cQR4

If the connection between you to your computer is severed, then your device will lock, shutdown, or shred its encryption keys -- thus keeping your encrypted data safe from thieves that steal your device

About ProxyStore

ProxyStore has, among other things, a proxy ordering service where you can:

1. order items from the Internet anonymously,
2. pay anonymously, and
3. get the goods forwarded to you (by mail) or pick them up (in-store)

ProxyStore accepts cash in-store or anonymously via-mail (20 fiat currencies accepted), cryptocurrencies (Monero and Bitcoin), bank transfers, Paypal and more. In addition to their ordering services, ProxyStore offers key community services at its physical location in Leipzig, including high-security paper shredding (P-7/F-3), MIC-free printing, and a cabinet with TAILS for anonymous Internet surfing.

Resellers welcome!

If you operate a shop selling open-source security hardware and you'd like to sell BusKill cables, please contact us about our wholesale pricing :)

Buy BusKill in-person in Germany

Order at shop.proxysto.re or stop by in-store to purchase a BusKill cable.

Bitcoin, monero, and fiat (cash) are all accepted payment methods at ProxyStore.

Stay safe,
The BusKill Team
https://www.buskill.in/
http://www.buskillvampfih2iucxhit3qp36i2zzql3u6pmkeafvlxs3tlmot5yad.onion

The new fairphone 5 came out, it looks cool but the price is really, really high..

If it's a phone that can really last 10 years it could be good, but is that true? Is it worth it? I could get the one with /e/os from Murena because i want a degoogled phone with a bootloader locked, but is it usable on a daily basis?