Privacy

This is straightforward with browser addons like uBlock Origin where you can add and choose blocklists, but I did searches for doing so system wide and using a VPN but didn’t find clear answers. I could use a DNS service that provides blocklists but isn’t it best practice to leave DNS to the VPN provider? I looked up blocklists and VPNs but didn’t find relevant results.

On Android, I didn’t find any apps that let you filter blocklists and using your own VPN other than Rethink, but the blocklists feature requires using Rethink’s DNS.

So what’s the best way to filter ads and trackers on both 3rd party apps and on OS’s like Android (specific Samsung phones) while still using a VPN?

Found a great site with info about privacy focused OSes written for non-technical readers. It lists basic things to know about several different mobile os options, and there are also pages that list what open source and privacy focused apps from F droid (the alternative to play store) are good to use.

There is also, wonderfully, a page that specifically lists user friendly and nice looking ones. This site is a goldmine. Had to post as I was looking for this exact thing yesterday and I know I am not the only person on lemmy looking for alternatives.

I've had a Galaxy S22+ for 2 years and still want to use it. When I look up how to maximize privacy on Android, many results say to install custom ROMs which I can't since its a US model and the bootloader is locked. I just want to minimize tracking and sharing of personal information. I could use a firewall app like RethinkDNS to block trackers, but could I completely block tracking from Google and Samsung? Are there any lists of packages to uninstall to improve privacy? (I've used ADB to remove a bunch of bloatware. Ex: pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.arzone)

Opening statements before District Judge Leonie Brinkema of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia start later today. The BBC notes that the Justice Department plans to argue that Google's parent company, Alphabet, illegally operates a monopoly in the online advertising market. However, Alphabet denies the allegations, claiming that its success is due to the "effectiveness" of its services.

The Justice Department claims Google established its monopoly through the anti-competitive acquisitions of smaller ad-tech rivals and even bullying website publishers into using its ad products. Google is also said to have unethically controlled key businesses in each part of the advertising supply chain, thereby driving up ad rates for advertisers while reducing the payouts to website owners.

Pointing out Google's systematic abuse of the online ad business, the DoJ will ask the court to break up the company's ad-tech monopoly. The agency believes a breakup would create new opportunities for Google's smaller competitors and incentivize new players to enter the market. It will also be better for both advertisers and publishers.

Google is under investigation by Europe’s privacy watchdog over its processing of personal data in the development of one of its artificial intelligence models, as regulators ramp up their scrutiny of Big Tech’s AI ambitions.

Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, which is responsible for enforcing the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, said it had launched a statutory inquiry into the tech giant’s Pathways Language Model 2, or PaLM 2.

PaLM 2 was launched in May 2023 and predates Google’s latest Gemini models, which power its AI products. Gemini, which was launched in December of the same year, is now the core model behind its text and image-generation offering.

The inquiry will assess whether the company has breached its obligations under GDPR on the processing of the personal data of citizens of the EU and European Economic Area.

Under the framework, companies must conduct a data protection impact assessment before embarking on handling such information when the nature of the way it is used is likely to pose a high risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals.

New EU #ChatControl proposal leaked +++ Governments to position themselves by 23 September, will be very tight... +++ Will messenger services be blocked in Europe? https://www.patrick-breyer.de/en/new-eu-push-for-chat-control-will-messenger-services-be-blocked-in-europe/

Help pressure your government now to defend privacy and secure encryption: https://www.patrick-breyer.de/en/take-action-to-stop-chat-control-now/

The commission's punished the Silicon Valley giant in 2017 for unfairly directing visitors to its own Google Shopping service to the detriment of competitors. It was one of three multibillion-euro fines that the commission imposed on Google in the previous decade as Brussels started ramping up its crackdown on the tech industry.

“We are disappointed with the decision of the Court, which relates to a very specific set of facts,” Google said in a brief statement.

The company said it made changes in 2017 to comply with the commission’s decision requiring it to treat competitors equally. It started holding auctions for shopping search listings that it would bid for alongside other comparison shopping services.

“Our approach has worked successfully for more than seven years, generating billions of clicks for more than 800 comparison shopping services,” Google said.

European consumer group BEUC hailed the court's decision, saying it shows how the bloc's competition law “remains highly relevant" in digital markets.

"Google harmed millions of European consumers by ensuring that rival comparison shopping services were virtually invisible," director general Agustín Reyna said. “Google’s illegal practices prevented consumers from accessing potentially cheaper prices and useful product information from rival comparison shopping services on all sorts of products, from clothes to washing machines.”

Google is still appealing the other two EU antitrust penalties, which involved its Android mobile operating system and AdSense advertising platform. The company was dealt a setback in the Android case when the EU General Court upheld the commission's 4.125 billion euro fine in a 2022 decision. Its initial appeal against a 1.49 billion euro fine in the AdSense case has yet to be decided.

cross-posted from: https://reddthat.com/post/25352295

🇬🇧🚨#ChatControl is back on the agenda: As soon as next Wednesday representatives of EU governments will resume work based on a secret document. https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/documents-publications/public-register/public-register-search/?DocumentNumber=12319%2F24

This is what you can do now to help: https://www.patrick-breyer.de/en/take-action-to-stop-chat-control-now/

Git records the local timezone when a commit is made [1]. Knowledge of the timezone in which a commit was made could be used as a bit of identifying information to de-anonymize the committer.

Setting one's timezone to UTC can help mitigate this issue [2][3] (though, ofc, one must still be wary of time-of-day commit patterns being used to deduce a timezone).

Cross-posts:

• https://sh.itjust.works/post/24495692
• https://sh.itjust.works/post/24495795

cross-posted from: https://fedia.io/m/Thunderbird/t/1140808

Plan Less, Do More: Introducing Appointment By Thunderbird - The Thunderbird Blog

Thunderbird has a new project under its wing: Appointment. Learn all about our approach to appointment scheduling, and try it yourself.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/12736887

Just stumbled upon this project, seems rather new as my DNS blocked its domain by default for being too new hehe.. Anyone had a chance to try it yet? Its got some hefty promises, like having equally strong privacy features as Librewolf. I'll be giving it ago at least, almost sounds a bit too good to be true...

I'm starting to like this news outlet.

Hi all, I'm looking into ways to protect my privacy while using WhatsApp, particularly in a professional setting where separating personal and work-related communications is crucial. I'm thinking of buying a dual SIM phone and am considering strategies to sandbox my personal contacts, pictures, and media from those associated with my work profile on WhatsApp.

Has anyone successfully done this using two SIM cards on the same device? I'm staunchly anti-Facebook and its obtrusive privacy-related practices, so ideally I want to prevent cross-contamination of personal and work-related data, including contacts, photos, and media shared through the app. Will this be a good strategy? Are there any known risks or precautions I should take to minimize the risk of my data being shared or accessed by third parties? - Thanks all, I'd appreciate any comments.

Just found out about Zen Browser, has someone used it already? Its Github repository looks to be under very active development and growing fast in popularity.

Zen Browser's website claims to have features that Floorp and LibreWolf do not. I'm not that tech savy so I would know how to evaluate the browser fairly, does anyone here knows something about it?

noyb files two complaints against EU Parliament over massive data breach

In early May 2024, the European Parliament informed its staff of a massive data breach in the institution’s recruiting platform (called “PEOPLE”). The breach affected the personal data of more than 8,000 staff.

@privacy

https://noyb.eu/en/noyb-complaints-against-eu-parliament-over-data-breach

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/18741586

Recently looking into the multiple android alternative offerings like CalyxOS, e/OS/, etc and came across these few issues which point towards privacy/security concerns.

• microG Push notifications still go through Google's servers just like with Play Services

• microG uses proprietary Google Binaries for some of its components such as DroidGuard

• Choosing a network location like Mozilla to use with microG provides little to no privacy benefit over Google because you are still submitting the same data and trusting them to not profile you.

Are they true and how can I circumvent them?

Using cheap samsung android phone, ive noticed for the last few years and so have my friends, that whatever we discuss during out signall phonecall, appears very blatantly obvious on my youtube recommended feeds.

I thought Signal was supposed to be private and automatically sandboxed?

If it is, then google clearly bend their own rules and peer into the app.

Does this happen to you? what is the explanation?

PS The Official Signal Reddit sub removed my post thread when I asked this question there.