WARNING: This video contains flashing lights and visual effects that may trigger seizures for people with photosensitive epilepsy. Viewer di
“The whole case against him was based on the idea that privacy itself is criminal. This is his story.”
Governments are moving forward everyday with their fight against basic rights, such as privacy, going so far as to frame privacy itself as criminal. So if you don’t want AI spying on everything you do and monitoring every second or your life or giant corporations collecting your data, you’re just a criminal….
They want a future where privacy itself is illegal.
They are targeting privacy software developers to erode privacy online from the ground up.
How to Protect Your Privacy and Become Inconspicuous Online
In the ever-connected world we live in, maintaining online privacy is becoming increasingly challenging. From social media platforms to e-commerce sites, every action we take online leaves a digital footprint. This collection of personal information can be exploited by hackers, advertisers, and even government agencies, putting our privacy at constant risk. Thankfully, there are steps you can…
Location history and Fitbit’s cycle tracking will be updated.
"Google says it’ll start automatically deleting visits to abortion clinics, domestic violence shelters, weight loss clinics, and other potentially sensitive locations from users’ location histories in the coming weeks. In a blog post on Friday, the company says that the deletion will happen “soon after” the visit, once its systems have identified that a trip was made to one of the locations. This change is happening in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and the moves several states have immediately made to outlaw abortions.
You can also turn off Google’s location logging altogether by following its instructions here.
Read the full piece here: https://www.theverge.com/2022/7/1/23191965/google-abortion-privacy-policy-location-history-period-tracking-deletion
You are being watched. PrivacyTools provides knowledge, encryption, and software recommendations to protect you against global mass surveillance.
another good internet privacy and security site, this one is more of a list of resources and tools but it has plenty of information to read and explain the problem behind the “but i have nothing to hide” argument as well
Protect your photo privacy with this free local image compressor
Tired of uploading private photos to unknown third-party servers for compression? This handy browser-based tool processes all JPG, PNG, WebP images locally on your own device. No file transfer, no sign-up, no hidden cost, batch compression supported for bulk pictures. Perfect for graphic designers, content creators and office workers to shrink image size safely. Try it here: [Local Privacy Image Compressor](https://compress.calcfincepro.com)
➤ SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce advocates for privacy-enhancing crypto technologies, arguing they can support compliance and investor protection without compromising national security.
➤ The article discusses the ongoing debate between crypto advocates and regulators regarding the use of privacy tools, highlighting concerns about illicit finance versus user protection from surveillance and hackers.
➤ New developments in privacy-focused blockchain applications from companies like Aptos and Polygon are mentioned, alongside regulatory discussions in the EU concerning AML rules for anonymous accounts and privacy-preserving cryptocurrencies.
With all the shitfuckery going on in the world, I thought I'd drop some recommendations for online safety, security, and privacy.
Below the cut, it'll be long.
VPN
Get you a VPN. They hide your online activity. Where "Incognito" or "Private" modes on your browser don't cache your browser history, VPNs (reputable ones, anyway) keep no logs of your browsing activity. At all. If you truly want privacy, get a VPN.
This chart from Techlore is a really good comparison of the functions for all VPNs: https://vpn.techlore.tech/
A couple of important points to look at on the chart are:
- Does the VPN provider have 2FA?
- Does the VPN provider have audits?
- What are the maximum simultaneous devices you can use?
- What jurisdiction is the provider in?
For explanation of what some of the terms are:
14 Eyes is an intelligence sharing network of 14 countries, including the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Denmark, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Italy, Belgium, New Zealand, Netherlands, Norway.
Warrant Canary is something companies use to inform users the company has been served with a subpoena.
MFA/2FA
Levelling with you guys - if someone's trying to get into your account, chances are they already have your password. It doesn't matter how complex it is because they already have it. I'm not saying that you shouldn't have complex passwords (I'll get into that in point 3), but in this day and age, you need MFA. Regardless of how annoying it can be.
The best MFA options are biometrics (facial/fingerprint), security keys (such as Yubikey - though keep in mind these are limited use as not every site has this set up), an authenticator app (Google, Proton, etc).
If you can avoid it, don't use email or SMS passcodes - they're pretty weak as security goes. But also, they're better than nothing. So if they're the only option, use them.
Password Managers
Numbers, letters, special characters, your first born, and a sacrifice to the old gods. Who the hell can remember all that?
A password manager will do that for you. And it will create complex passwords. Many of them let you set the default complexity and length, so when you're creating a password it's easy to generate. Then the manager stores it for you, and you can recall it from an extension in your browser to paste in.
You'll still need to remember your password manager's password, but that's not as bad as remembering a new password on every site - or, worse, using the same password.
My advice on creating a password? Make it long, but easy to remember. That xkcd comic had it...mostly right - something like "CorrectHorseBatteryStaple". Don't use that, though. Guaranteed it's first on any hacker's list now, lol.
So, what would make that better? Complexity.
Corr*ectHors*eBatterySta*ple
Anyone trying to find your password using actual words would struggle. But you? You've picked a few words or a sentence you can easily remember and broken it up randomly. If you need a number on top of that, don't pick 1, don't pick 2, don't pick your birth year. And don't use number substitutions instead of breaking up the words.
Do not use the password manager on your browser.
If you can't afford to pay for one, companies like Bitwarden and Proton offer free versions to use. You'll lose features like breach monitoring and alerting when your password is in a breach, but you'll still have the manager.
Do not write your password down.
Do not reuse passwords.
And, again, use 2FA/MFA.
Secure Browsers
This one's important. A lot of browsers are designed to track your every movement, and build a profile on you for marketing.
The Electronic Freedom Foundation have created a tool called Cover Your Tracks. You can use this to test your browser for security.
Safari and Brave are some of the best free browsers for privacy out there. And Firefox, though it doesn't have a randomized browser fingerprint like Safari and Brave, also doesn't track you. Vivaldi is similar to Firefox in that respect, and it has an option to block trackers and ads when you do the initial installation.
I'm not here to talk about ethics of each of these companies, but I do know many people are looking for a company with a firm stance against AI to support.
In that case, you may want to consider Vivaldi. Their CEO has been very outspoken about remaining human, and not turning into an AI browser: https://www.pcworld.com/article/2892582/vivaldi-rejects-ai-browsing-humans-over-hype.html
There are many other recommendations I could make, but these are really good starts to privacy and security.
