this post was submitted on 29 Mar 2025
57 points (96.7% liked)
Privacy
36475 readers
241 users here now
A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.
Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.
Some Rules
- Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn't great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
- Don't promote proprietary software
- Try to keep things on topic
- If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
- Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
- Be nice :)
Related communities
much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Limitations
Debian with XFCE: I want all of my Linux machines, both older and newer, fast and slow, to be consistent, with the GUI customized to my taste. I accept that I will miss out on whatever security benefits Wayland or distros like secureblue may provide.
Networking: In the grand scheme of things, I know jack shit about networking. OPNsense, Pi-Hole, VPN, etc. would probably help my cause but I have yet to implement many network-based measures.
Corporate conveniences: There are colleagues I need to reach with Whatsapp or SMS and there is software for my job that requires Windows. I try to sequester all of this among my work devices.
All of my frequently-used computers on Linux have "hardened Debian"
Personal devices
Desktop: The usual software. Non-FOSS components are mostly gaming-related.
Server: Jellyfin, NAS, Local LLM / Stable Diffusion, and secondary workstation, each hosted on LAN in their own VMs. SSH password authentication disabled. Would like to set up a VPN so I can access it away from home someday.
Backups: weekly to server, which is pulled to an offline encrypted 8TB disk about monthly. Repeat for the off-site disk that I store in a drawer at work.
Phone:
The "DMZ"
Tablet: Samsung Tab A7 Lite received as a gift. Installed an AOSP GSI ROM (no Google Play services or GApps), mostly used as a NewPipe and travel device.
Laptop: ThinkPad X230 with Coreboot and soft-disabled Intel ME. Also hardened Debian with the usual software, nearly all FOSS components with the exception of intel-microcode and the VGA option BIOS. I say it's the DMZ since personal stuff resides here, but most of my work also ends up here. Logged in to work-related websites and email in a separate user profile for LibreWolf.
"Work" devices (for context, work has BYOD policy and does not provide devices for us to bring home)
Laptop: can't be bothered anymore to fuss with Windows VMs or debloating that go stale twice a year, so I just bring a separate lightweight ThinkPad with full-fat Windows for everything that requires it. While some proprietary software packages support Linux, I'll also just throw the Windows versions on this laptop.
Backup Phone (unused for now): Samsung XCover Pro with removable battery, waiting for the day I encounter apps that demand a stock version of Android. When not in use, the battery is removed.
Occasional check of social media also takes place on one of these devices, though through the browser rather than an app.
Phone: