I use ProtonVPN for everything, and I've started noticing more and more sites simply blocking me if I try to connect to them through ProtonVPN. As much as it sucks, I've more or less become acclimated to having to deal with an increased number of captchas while using a VPN; but I'm pretty angry about being blocked outright. There are at least two broad blocking tactics. First, some sites will say that my network traffic looks suspicious and/or that they simply block traffic from certain IP addresses. But second, and far more maddeningly, some sites tell me that my username and password combo are incorrect when I'm using a VPN. But I know this to be a blatant lie because (1) I use a password manager that auto-fills login forms with credentials that match the domain name, and (2) such sites accept my credentials when I visit them without the VPN connection.

What the hell can we do about this shit? Do I have to run my own VPN to avoid sharing an IP address with other people and thus getting blocked? I really don't want to do that because I have neither the time nor expertise, and I like that connecting through a VPN provider makes my IP address much less significant. I'm aware that this is connected to the broader conversation about WEI and other methods for determining whether requests are legitimate or not, and I'm sure that businesses of all sizes are reeling from massive increases in bot and AI activity. But solutions that end up punishing legitimate users are not good or valid solutions.

Title says it all. Do you use custom filter lists in uBO? If yes: Which ones?

Here are the ones I use:

• Block-EU-Cookie-Shit-List
• Fanboy's Annoyance List
• EFF Cookie Blocklist
• I don't care about cookies
• I'm OK with cookies
• OISD (big)
• PUP Domains Blocklist

Also great website to find many more filter lists: filterlists.com

I am trying to block all connections to microsoft ip addresses. I only occasionaly boot windows and don't want it phoning home. I tried disabling the net interfaces in device manager but windows just re-enables them and send god only knows what back to their servers. I don't like relying on disconnecting the ethernet cable each time I boot windows because I forget to.

So I got the message from instagram about either paying or using it free (at the cost personalised ads) just now.

Doesn't this go against the GDPR? Either way, is there a FOSS alternative for instagram like piped is to youtube? It seems like a good opportunity to stop using the official app, even though it would be better to not use instagram at all (sadly not an option for me right now).

Any suggestions, and if so, are there any that provide functionality for: stories, posts, dms? Those are the 3 things I use instagram for.

Many thanks!

Edit: For messaging I do use beeper, though some media like carousels and posts sent to my dms cant be shown in there, so for those cases I open the official app.

Edit 2: many people have suggested pixelfed. Ive heard of it, and want to use it, but unfortunately the only reason Im still sticking with instagram is because I have very dear friends who would never change to anything non-mainstream. Theyre important enough that im willing to not delete it just yet, but I dont want to agree to either pay or pay with my data.

What im looking for is more like a piped for youtube, thing. So a frintend that has instagram content/features, but isnt the main app and avoids the problems I listed above

Edit 3: I ended up installing the site as a PWA on my phone as thats the only device I use it on, and uninstalled the official app. Thanks to everyone for all your input!

Greetings fellow privacy enjoyers,

Short of blackout curtains or storm shutters what’s a good way to make sure the window is secured?

Thank me in advance

I've been using veracrypt for the past 4 years to create container files in everything from thumb drives to external hard drives. After upgrading one of my backup drives, I decided that I will switch to a different filesystem altogether going on, from ntfs to ext4, since I havent really used windows in those 4 years. With the reasoning behind using veracrypt and ntfs in the first place being for compatibility, should I switch to LUKS? Veracrypt is dramatically more feature rich but I dont really take advantage of those. I just encrypt my drives in case of burglars and other unwanted eyes. I do already have a disaster plan in place so I would have to do a total overhaul of things, but I'm not sure if this is a wise decision. My gut says no but what do you think? What would I gain?

Edit: shouldve added that these drives are for warm storage for my weekly manual backups of files.

Edit 2: the general opinion is to use a tool that supports encryption but I dont really feel comfortable with that but do appreciate it. It's just I've been manually updating my backup drives for a while now and like how simple my routine is. Think my decision is to just stick with veracrypt but format every future drive (including a new one I ordered) as ext4. My current drives wont be reformatted in order to reduce unnecessary wear on them. Thank you all for your help

Permanently Deleted

An Annapolis, Maryland-based company, Berla Corporation, provides the technology to some car manufacturers but does not offer it to the general public, the lawsuit said. Once messages are downloaded, Berla’s software makes it impossible for vehicle owners to access their communications and call logs but does provide law enforcement with access, the lawsuit said

Is what the second top last paragraph says. Can someone explain in simple terms to me : why is the car downloading the data but not giving access to the owner of the car? What is the data being downloaded for?

The last paragraph says

Many car manufacturers are selling car owners’ data to advertisers as a revenue boosting tactic, according to earlier reporting by Recorded Future News. Automakers are exponentially increasing the number of sensors they place in their cars every year with little regulation of the practice.

But if you read the two paragraphs logically, it isn't really saying berla is selling the data. It's saying some of the car manufacturers are selling the data. So I'm at a loss.

I saw today the infamous pop-up of YouTube again that they will block the video player after 2 more videos if I keep using uBlock Origin. ** Google.

Link to discussion on the Signal community forums

Heard some sketchy stuff about duckduckgo recently, found out about start page.many users?

I am fully aware of what vpn services to use and not. I am not using Express VPN, I am simply doing research for a master thesis, when I came across these results from Express VPN. If you have any ideas or corrections, please let me know why a VPN provider would need to have access to these permissions.

Screenshot is from Exodus service, which let's you view what exactly perimissions and trackers each app uses. You can check out the results and the tool for yourself here: https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/en/reports/com.expressvpn.vpn/latest/

Link to Image

Hello!

Are there more sites like https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/articles/ that would do privacy focused reviews? Maybe there are some more crowd based?

Thanks!

Edit:

• https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/articles/
• https://privacyguides.org/
• https://tosdr.org/

Below is a disturbing amount of information data brokers have ammased from buying your data from trackers in ads and apps.

"a staggering amount of sensitive and identifying information about consumers," alleging that Kochava's database includes products seemingly capable of identifying nearly every person in the United States.

... can access this data to trace individuals' movements—including to sensitive locations like hospitals, temporary shelters, and places of worship, with a promised accuracy within "a few meters"—over a day, a week, a month, or a year. Kochava's products can also provide a "360-degree perspective" on individuals, unveiling personally identifying information like their names, home addresses, phone numbers, as well as sensitive information like their race, gender, ethnicity, annual income, political affiliations, or religion, the FTC alleged.

... target customers by categories that are "often based on specific sensitive and personal characteristics or attributes identified from its massive collection of data about individual consumers." These "audience segments" allegedly allow advertisers to conduct invasive targeting by grouping people not just by common data points like age or gender, but by "places they have visited," political associations, or even their current circumstances, like whether they're expectant parents. Or advertisers can allegedly combine data points to target highly specific audience segments like "all the pregnant Muslim women in Kochava’s database," the FTC alleged, or "parents with different ages of children."

To escape from the big corporations of the USA, as a user we have two options, either to use OpenSource alternatives, although not all of them they are free of influences from Google, MS, etc., or using products and services of European companies, which in general are rather more aimed at protect privacy (GDPR), although only a few are known to most. This is why I thought of using this thread to complete a list of the better European alternatives, starting with the link I put opening this thread.

For all you USA peeps:

A bipartisan team of U.S. lawmakers has introduced new legislation intended to curb the FBI's sweeping surveillance powers, saying the bill helps close the loopholes that allow officials to seize Americans' data without a warrant.

The bill follows more than a decade of debate over post-Sept. 11, 2001, surveillance powers that allow domestic law enforcement to warrantlessly scan the vast mountains of data gathered by America's foreign surveillance apparatus.

I had turned targeted ads off, on Facebook and Instagram. I still got ads but they were not targeted based on my data. I could live with that

Today I got a popup requiring me to pick an option of either accepting targeted ads or pay the equivalent of €13/$14 for an addfree experience across all meta platforms.

After years of promises of implementing playlists and quietly removing it from their featured to do list, id like to see what alternative yall could recommend thats equally permanent and allows you to create playlists?

By permanent i mean that with freetube, i dont have much fear that it will suddenly go dark like an invidious instance, id like to have something similar with an alternative if possible.

any help is highly appreciated.

Privacy (for robot vacuums) isn't cheap. via the Verge.