I'm in the process of deleting my entire messages, both from channels and threads. I'm not brave enough to use XMPP, so I'm moving over to Matrix. I've tried removing the phone number multiple time from my Discord app, but it keeps asking for verification, after which, it asks for another phone number. So basically, there's no way out.

And design-wise, I think it's pretty shit. By chance, if I were to reuse a phone number that's been used by another person before, who also happens to have abandoned their Discord account, then there's no way to sign in.

If you were to try accessing the abandoned account, how does that go? Try logging in with your phone number, request for password and then what? It will still send link to the email for account recovery. What if your Discord your email was stolen/abandoned or/and your account was stolen? You're going to be stuck with a phone number that cannot be used, and the malicious actors gets a free pass to do anything.

Now I just want to know if Discord will comply with the GDPR laws, even if I'm not from Europe? Because as of now, I do not want to stay a minute longer over there.

So far I really like it, anyone else using it? I'm really considering setting up the discord bridge and just using revolt

"Unless your data is fully encrypted or stored locally by you, the government often can get it from a communications or computing company.

Traditionally, that required a court order. But increasingly, the government just buys it from data brokers who bought it from the adtech industry."

"this corporate-government surveillance partnership has mostly evaded judicial review."

"Police can also track people whose devices have been inside an immigration attorney’s office, a reproductive health clinic, or a mental health facility"

"The Fourth Amendment is Not For Sale Act is bipartisan, commonsense law that would ban the U.S. government from purchasing data it would otherwise need a warrant to acquire. Moreover, with the invasive surveillance law Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act set to expire in December 2023, Congress has a chance to include a databroker limits in any bill that seeks to renew it."

Hey

I am planning on putting graphenos (or another os) on my pixel (currently using a pixel 6 but will have a pixel 8 shortly). I have a few questions about using then new os. Mainly are there any apps that don't work. I use my phone for work being a OTP to logine daily etc is that still possible and reliable. There is one game I play on phone downloaded from the play store is that still possible? Lastly how do updates come can I download an update regularly from phone or do I have to plug into PC each time and know there is an update ready and how would you revert back to Google os if needed.

Sorry if that is a lot I just feel scared to take the "leap" into what is for me unknown. Thanks

If you have the Brave Browser installed on your Windows devices, then you may also have Brave VPN services installed on the machine. Brave installs these services without user consent on Windows devices.

Brave Firewall + VPN is an extra service that Brave users may subscribe to for a monthly fee. Launched in mid-2022, it is a cooperation between Brave Software, maker of Brave Browser, and Guardian, the company that operates the VPN and the firewall solution. The firewall and VPN solution is available for $9.99 per month.

Instagram is one place I can't avoid as most artists post there and I'm always in need of inspiration

This list, also known as BADBOOL, was started on September 29, 2017 and was most recently updated in October 2023 to add PimEyes and to remove TruePeopleSearch and Cyber Background Checks, since those sites will automatically remove your data if you successfully opt out of Intelius and BeenVerified.

Some of these opt-outs take a long time to go through. Sometimes, information is pulled from other sources, and you’ll need to opt out multiple times for the same site. Data brokers come and go (and are bought out by others), and they also often change their opt-out pages.

In many US states, real estate data and voter registration information is public (or easy to obtain). And, of course, location data can be found by physical means (e.g. following you home) and through other people who know it (i.e., social engineering). That said, removing your home address from data broker sites can significantly lower your attack surface and make it harder for people to find it.

This is mostly US focussed, but does give some idea of all the data brokers tracking users' data and behaviour, and that it is not easy to just opt out. The list is being managed as an open source project that it has community participation as well. So, it may also be possible to suggest adding resources for other countries too.

Unfortunately, if you're on the Internet, you do leave many traces. Very few normal users actually boot clean from a Tails Linux on a USB stick in read-only mode, and use Tor Browser without any saved logins etc. Most users also carry a mobile phone with apps installed (no more needs to be said about that).

Your best defence is though to do some basics like using a privacy based browser with fingerprint protection, script bocking, unique secure passwords per site, sandboxing (or not using) Facebook and Instagram type sites, etc.

Just yesterday, I received a phishing mail that had spoofed my own private domain e-mail address (to imply they had hacked my e-mail). I realised that, although I had activated DMARC and SPF on my e-mail service, I had made one copy-and-paste mistake in the DNS records, and no error was shown. I'd not properly checked that the DMARC indicator was showing as verified green on my service. Doing it, and actually checking it, are two separate actions one needs to do. It's the little things that trip you up.

So why are data brokers a threat to you? Well because they also collect a lot of related information which is often used to verify your identity to a call centre to have your password reset (one example).

See https://github.com/yaelwrites/Big-Ass-Data-Broker-Opt-Out-List

#technology #optout #databrokers #privacy

Lyft disabled scheduling rides through ride.lyft.com, I used that quite a bit but now in forced go use the app. The problem however, is that their app just doesn't work. It launches, says the Google API is necessary and then continues to close.

Does anyone know of an app that use their API that doesn't shut itself down without installing Google SDK?

Vechev and his team found that the large language models that power advanced chatbots can accurately infer an alarming amount of personal information about users—including their race, location, occupation, and more—from conversations that appear innocuous.

Possibly another scummy behavior from fucking Meta.

So I try my best to avoid url tracking. I set the default browser on my android phone to this app: https://github.com/TrianguloY/UrlChecker

I also made sure to turn off the "Open supported links" settings from aps like Instagram.

So usually, if someone shares Instagram links to WhatsApp, usually with the url tracking, I can clean them up first using UrlChecker before opening it in Instagram app.

Recently I noticed if I tap on Instagram links, WhatsApp will immediately open it in Instagram, ignoring Android's default browser setting to open the link with UrlChecker first.

I thought something was broken, but if I open non-instagram links, those will open UrlChecker app.

Can you please help check if the behavior is the same on your side? So I can be sure that I'm not crazy. Thanks!

Quick shout-out to Grayjay: An app to watch videos on any platform - reducing the power of individual services. The Software is open-source and can be found here: https://gitlab.futo.org/videostreaming/grayjay

I will test this out for myself and hope someone here finds this useful.

Hello everyone, I have a few old pictures I was hoping to get scanned onto my phone, I know that Photo Scan by Google does a good job, but I was hoping for a libre alternative to use first. Would anyone know of any?

Worst case scenario, I don't give Photo Scan internet access, but was still wondering what else is out there. Thanks!

Image text:

@[email protected]

This week we will be renewing the OpenVPN certificate on all our OpenVPN servers.

This will cause intermittent reconnects during early hours in each timezone. This is routine maintenance that we perform once per year.

signal requires a phone number to sign up. a phone number could be used to trace your signal account back to you. so why do people, especially privacy enthusiasts and experts (like edward snowden), still use it and endorse it when it lacks anonymity in that sense? i get that people could use a voip number or something to sign up, but still.

On the side bar it lists the following:

• [Matrix/Element]Dead
• Discord

"Discord" is an active link, but the Matrix link is completely inactive. Not only is it inactive (which could have be excused as a broken link), but it is also manually labeled as "Dead", as if there is no intention of making it work. How can a community that is focused on privacy willingly favor a service that is privacy non-respecting when a perfectly functional privacy-respecting alternative exists?

I have seen recommendations for Joplin. I downloaded it for Linux and Android (GrapheneOS). I created a note on desktop and transferred it to phone. I can't find how to import the .jex file into the mobile app. That seems really dumb.

Am I the dumb one?

Hey everybody I was wondering if anyone could provide any tips or sources of info. Anything will be appreciated. :)

SelfPrivacy is in "Open beta" and promises to make setup and use of email, messager, password management, video chat and other services simple by leveraging the likes of Hetzner, Cloudflare, and Backblaze.

I stumbled on the app while browsing the F-droid app "store" and had never heard of them. I think the proposition is neat and while I'm comfortable hosting most of these services myself, my curiosity has been piqued. Searching for it elsewhere on the web as far as privacy rating, reviews, etc has left me empty handed. I dont' know if they're just too new or not. So I'm curious if anyone has tried them out or looked into it further.