In an unexpected mask off "secure" email and VPN provider Proton took the stance of siding with the fascist MAGA Reps. Proton's services are no option for me and many others any longer. Let's collect and discuss alternatives (E2E encrypted email and VPN) here 🔐👇

Always try to provide:

-Server location (jurisdiction)

-Governance

-Integrity/trustworthiness/transparency

-User experience/ease of use (grade 1 to 10, lets take Proton as a benchmark with an 8)

-Pricing and links

If you know alternative setups, feel free to share, too.

#ProtonExodus

Background: https://lemmy.ca/comment/13913116

Edit:typo

Unnecessary and deeply concerning bow to the new "king"

App: https://chat.positive-intentions.com/

A p2p encrypted file transfer and messaging app. Here are some features below:

• Open Source
• Cross platform
  • PWA
  • iOS, Android, Desktop (self compile)
  • App store, Play store (coming soon)
  • Desktop
    • Windows, Macos, Linux (self compile)
    • run index.html on any modern browser
  • Decentralized
• Secure
  • No cookies
  • P2P encrypted
  • No registration
  • No installing
• Messaging
  • Group Messaging (coming soon)
  • Text Messaging
  • Multimedia Messaging
  • Screensharing (on desktop browsers)
  • Offline Messaging (in research phase)
  • File Transfer
  • Video Calls
• Data Ownership
  • Self Hosting
  • GitHub pages Hosting
  • Local-Only storage

Check it out!

• App: https://chat.positive-intentions.com/
• More info: https://positive-intentions.com/blog/introducing-decentralized-chat
• GitHub: https://github.com/positive-intentions/chat

(I apologize if this is not the right community for the question described in the post title.)

My problem with setting up Mollysocket is that my knowledge and competence with such things is very limited (I have MSc in natural sciences) so the instructions on their Github repo are not clear enough for me to resolve the issues I've faced. I have a strong passion for these though, and there are still lots of things I do understand.

However, none of the three alternative methods to install Mollysocket worked. First I tried using crates.io, but hit the wall when trying to perform "cargo install mollysocket" because it ended up giving a feature error which I couldn't pass regardless the given instructions of using nightly version and enabling such unstable feature (+ I've no idea where to find Cargo.toml file).

So next I tried the precompiled version, but then the issue was that I couldn't start mollysocket via systemctl. Troubleshooting by myself was impossible because I couldn't find anything from the search engines related to this.

And the Docker option, well, I think I understood everything until the step where I should generate VAPID key. I copy-pasted the given command from their Github, but this results in a error that such command does not exist.

The instructions given on their Github are, in my opinion, not so beginner friendly, thus I would be very grateful to those who could help with this.

There used to be some application named vigilante that had alert when microphone or camera was activated. Then it's dev stopped updating it and that was that.

I know android should show some small icon when camera or mic is active, but that doesnt help me if i'm not actively looking at the screen at the time.

Do you know of anything that could still do what vigilante did? I'd prefer to know if something was trying to be sneaky. Or is it pointless even trying to do that due to something?

I didn't liked it because of their proud claims "we are better than Tor" talking about their blockchain-based "incentives", and their venture capital small start-up model. VC always means you're product is doomed to be sold, abandoned or screwed. Apparently they also proudly claimed "we are better than Signal". Good luck.

I recently learned that my company prefers closed-source tools for privacy and security.

I don't know whether the person who said that was just confused, but I am trying to come up with reasons to opt to closed-source for privacy.

Allstate, through its subsidiary data analytics company Arity, would pay app developers to incorporate its software to track consumers’ driving data. Allstate collected trillions of miles worth of location data from over 45 million consumers nationwide and used the data to create the “world’s largest driving behavior database.” When a consumer requested a quote or renewed their coverage, Allstate and other insurers would use that consumer’s data to justify increasing their car insurance premium.

Now that Mull is no longer being supported, what are some recommendations to tweak fennec so that it matches Mull in terms of privacy and security?

The stock Graphene SMS app sucks, it lacks basic features and customization that standard SMS apps have.

I see no real need to keep it for security and privacy reasons unless someone can share legitimate information about the application for a need to keep it that is note worthy I am all ears to be educated.

I'd like to explore other privacy focused SMS alternative apps. Not services. Just the app. Thanks! I hope this helps others too. I can't be the only one! I chose top 3 because I would rather not try 50 apps. Just the cream of the crop.

In my local community, we have a WhatsApp group for mutual help and services / goods exchange, the rule is no money, so it's mostly populated by leftists more or less open to understand the problematics of internet privacy (for context). There are a bit more than 350 persons.

Today, someone sent a message telling everybody that he's leaving Meta products for good, thus this group. A few other persons complained about meta, then I suggested that we could all leave WhatsApp and go on Signal and I briefly explained the network effect by saying that if no one uses signal because nobody is on it, then no one will ever use it if nobody takes the first step.

And this argument worked because an admin just created a signal group! More than 50 persons already switched!

Obviously the WhatsApp group will not be abandoned right away, but it has been decided that both groups will be used for now, then we'll see at the end of the year which group we abandon.

I really see hope in that kind of events, because if I managed to make more than 50 people switch, a portion of them will do the same for their other groups and family / friends.

I plan on hosting little conferences with this group on the libre culture and the attention economics, so hopefully I'll convince all of them that it's the right thing to do!

As the title says I'm looking for a good alternative for Heliboard. I've tried a few of them and:

• Heliboard is my favorite but the suggestions are a bit meh, sometimes it doesn't suggest correctly or does not auto correct me. Sometimes it does but sometimes it doesn't
• Futo is goat in suggestions compared to Heliboard but it doesn't have an much personalization as Heliboard (even if Heliboard isnt goat on that aspect). I can't change symbols layout based on my taste (or muscle memory tbh), themes are a nothing crazy IMO, I wish I was able to make my own but its currently set to "coming eventually"
• FlorisBoard was my first ever open source keyboard but at that time, it didn't have suggestions but placeholders so I uninstalled it because I need them

I'm looking for a few things (ordered by importance):

1. Multilanguage support for correction. Is it even possible? Before switching from Samsung Keyboard to Pixel + Foss keyboard, I think there was something similar but I could be wrong (Top priority but at the same time is optional if not possible/hard to have)
2. Great correction for multiple languages (IMHO Futo is superior to everything I've tried)
3. Customization: Symbols layout, I want to set my own symbols and "subsymbols" (? The hold to show more)
4. Customization: Themes. I want to be able to change the colors of the keys/background/etc basically how Samsung Keyboard is customizable with the Keyboard plugin in Good Lock (or some nice themes with limited personalization but I would love to set my own colors

Thanks!

Let’s say I live in a police state. How can I publish a blog with complete anonymity? If I am found out, there is a high chance of imprisonment or death. What can I do so that the government cannot discover my identity?

I need a blog or website where I can publish articles, with a mailing list feature so I can send those articles out to subscribers.

What tools should I use? What steps should I take to protect myself?

I would greatly appreciate any information or resources that can help me with this.

I am seeking recommendations for alternative free and privacy-focused AI chatbots that can be accessed via a web browser or utilized as offline software with a user-friendly installation process, not requiring extensive coding knowledge.

Specifically, I am interested in exploring options similar to DuckDuckGo or Venice, which prioritize user data protection and anonymity. Additionally, I would appreciate suggestions for offline AI chatbots that can be easily installed on various operating systems without requiring technical expertise.

It is notable that while there are numerous resources available for evaluating proxies and privacy-focused software, there appears to be a lack of comprehensive lists or reviews specifically focused on free AI chatbots that prioritize user privacy. If such resources exist, I would appreciate any guidance or recommendations.

I am looking for new jobs as a Cloud Engineer. Being privacy conscious makes the job hunt relatively hard. I don't use LinkedIn. But most companies publish their openings on websites like this and almost all of them are a privacy nightmare.

As soon as you make an account on them, you are bombarded with thousands of emails and targeted ads. But if I made a temporary email for this purpose, I feel I might get blacklisted.

Honestly I feel kind of sad about today's corporate field.

The following is a cross-post from my mastodon thread

In the wake of metas enshitiffication I have seen people recommend Signal and Matrix as private open source alternatives to meta products. In the following thread I will outline how if your goal is software freedom anti surveillance and anti censorship the best option for direct and group messaging is neither Signal nor Matrix but instead the up and coming https://simplex.chat/

Signal is centralised meaning its vulnerable to censorship it almost got backdoored by uks online safety bill and that bill still has a damocles sword clause hanging over signal. Signal is also not anonymous, your account is linked to you through your phone number, if your contacts are compromised then your conversations can easily be linked back to you and your contacts all be correlated. In contrast simplex is like having "a burner phone for every contact" meaning even if one contact is correlated you have no consistent identity that can be compromised by default. Also simplex has a custom onion routing protocol to hide your ip from relay servers by default and it makes it very easy to connect over tor if simplex is blocked in your country im pretty sure signal doesnt do that. Matrix has been floated as potentially being a decentralised and e2ee open source alternative to Signal, but Signal shares one massive pro with SimpleX which is that both have post quantum encryption meaning that quantum computers that many researchers say are a few short years away from being able to decrypt all historical data that is encrypted using classical techniques ie not post-quantum encryption - such as the private messages you are sending across matrix today Afaik Matrix currently has no plans to add post quantum (PQ) encryption today and previously they were relying on it being implemented in MLS a standard that Matrix has been trying to adapt to their decentralised framework for years with stagnant process. Whats more afaict the motion to add PQ to MLS quietly expired and wasn't renewed so it's likely not coming any time soon. SimpleX has PQ on top of their classical encryption implemented and working today and you can download the app and have PQ rn (the additional classical encryption is insurance in case it turns out PQ has some classical attack vector, hybrid encryption is recommended by sec researchers at this stage) In conclusion both Signal and SimpleX are PQ unlike matrix but SimpleX and Matrix are decentralised and less vulnerable to censorship than Signal, while only SimpleX supports Tor connections and protects ur IP with or without Tor, and has no persistent unique identifier creating a "burner phone for every contact" scenario where compromised contacts cant necessarily be used to correlate ur other contacts/groups simply by looking at ur phone number/username in those groups

Heres some evidence and argumentation to support building post quantum encryption now, state and capital are hoovering up encrypted data rn to decrypt for profit as soon as it becomes cheap enough to do so with quantum computers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UrdExQW0cs

And here's the best explainer of SimpleX on youtube, sorry about the racist thumbnail the guys a right winger but his knowledge on OPSEC is valuable. If you don't know why the thumbnail is racist search "Terry Davis glow in dark" (the search results for which I have to give a racist slur cw for but theres no slurs in this video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cRu98XSap0

edit: see whitepaper for technical privacy details https://github.com/simplex-chat/simplexmq/blob/stable/protocol/overview-tjr.md

So, you know commercial spyware? No I'm not referring to ads or things like pegasus. Talking about those weird providers that market to schools, employers and shitty partners

What measures could be taken to mitigate these threats? When physical can be assumes but the attacker isn't skilled, just using one of said tools? How would this vary between phones and laptops for example?

Thoughts?

No I'm not in danger, just get curious about this subject once in a while

I have loads of files and paperwork that can be scanned into files. I would like to have AI scan all the data, compile results and recommend options. For instance.

A large list of 176 food items ranked based on ones immune system response to each food item compiled into a diet plan. I can strip the identifying information for privacy reasons.

I just want to know how to have AI do more advanced tasks. While also respecting privacy. These concepts seems reasonably possible. However Chat, and other LLM do not scan files as they cannot be uploaded or scanned and input.

Self hosting possible but not necessary for this as I can strip personal info before uploading or inputting.