I am so tired of having no privacy, being tracked all the time 24/7, social media designed for addiction, manipulative algorithms, being forcefed ads down the throat... Like i had enough of this I feel like no one is looking out for the public and everything revolves around corporate interests. Feels like we're in some parallel universe version of the future where things went wrong. Whatever the next era is im SO ready to move on cuz im done with this bs
You're tired of it already? This is just the beginning! Going by what the future holds, we're living in the best of times and every subsequent day takes us in the other direction. Value these days as much as you can because soon we'll be looking back at this very moment and we'll miss all the freedom that we have now. :(
What I think about are the people who have been born in the past ten years or so. By the time they are adults, they may not even be able to conceptualize a world without all of this technology being an integral part of everyone's life. Will they have any urge to change it if that's the case?
We're already there. People post their entire lives in Instagram voluntarily.
Years of reality TV conditioning like Big Brother's diary room
I miss the hobbyist internet of the 1999s
I disagree. I think there’s some efforts being made for better privacy practices. I think that the more people get educated on this topic, the more push back there’ll be against these unethical invasive practices, and possibly, more laws will be made to stop those in power from abusing and manipulating the public and consumers.
We already live in the Matrix bro
This is pure copium imo. The average normie doesnt care about privacy as long as they get to use free apps. We have lost this battle already and are seeing the effects in realtime
I feel like no one is looking out for the public
I t can feel that way, but there are groups that are fighting back and pushing for change, EFF, Fight for the Future and Restore the 4th are three US based organizations fighting the good fight. It is an uphill battle but slow progress is being made, and more and more people not in the know are realizing the cost of all the privacy invasion.
Whatever the next era is im SO ready to move on cuz im done with this bs
Be careful what you wish for, there is some push for web3 which would be even worse. There are a few ideas for better options inrupt and The fediverse come to mind.
Hi! I just want wanted to say thanks for posting this information. I have actually reached out to “Restore the 4th” to volunteer in my area.
Thanks, again!
Awesome! Glad to hear the info I shared helped someone! Thansk for sharing.
That's a solid list you've shared there. Let's include the FSF in it.
It's a conspicuous omission.
Why is web3 bad? Isn't it a solution? Thanks
Everything is on the blockchain, there is a permanent record of every interaction you have done with it. Sure you can use different techniques to hid it, but if those are ever broken, permanent record.
Everyone owns every part of it, and it becomes much much much more a pay to use thing want to update your blog? you've got to pay, want to tweet? you have to pay.
The three main selling points are often that it would be decentralized, immutable, and code as law. Crypto currencies as a whole have become more and more centralized due to market pressures and energy cost, there is no reason to thing this would stop. A move to proof of stake just shifts the resource from energy to money which is problematic. As for immutable, a number of blockchains have had transactions undone because people with controlling interests didn't like them, see the Ethereum hard fork in response to the DOA hack. Code as law is great, if people wrote perfect code, and the law never changed... but that's just not true. There was a "hack" of a cryptocurrency a while back (can't recall the name so finding a source is hard), where someone took out a micro lone, a loan that lasts a few seconds, used that money to buy a controlling share of the coins, put forward a measure that they should own all coins, voted yes, and boom they owned all coins. They paid back the loan and made in theory millions.
There are the environmental costs.
This sounds like a terrible foundation for a future internet.
What is the alternative then? The open source of crypto and I internet so to say.
What is the alternative then?
No one knows yet, there are lots of ideas out there, the two I'm the most familiar with, I already mentioned, inrupt and The fediverse. Of them I give the slight edge to the Fediverse, as people are running thousands of federated instances, it has a long way to go and some known issues that folks are working on.
The open source of crypto and I internet so to say.
Ethereum is open source, as are many Crypto Currencies and other systems that underlie NFTs, that doesn't stop any of the issues. One cooed argue it leads to some, as it vastly lowers the barrier to entry, on the flip side maybe someone will come along and find a way to use the tech as a solution... it hasn't happened yet and I'm not holding my breath.
The underlying tech for much of the internet is open source, that hasn't stopped anyone from building a surveillance empire atop it. Adding an anti corporate surveillance clause might help, but there are some real downsides. Corporations won't use it, and will stop contributing, the small pittance, back to open source.
TL:DR sorry there are no real answers at this point, we are still very much in the fuck around phase.
Adding an anti corporate surveillance clause might help, but there are some real downsides.
That would prevent it from being a FOSS license.
There is that
An open source license can't limit these:
Who
What
How
When
GPL effectively limits some of those.
You can find something more specific here:
https://opensource.org/osd
the whole appeal of GPL over BSD/MIT is that corporations can't steal your code and use it in proprietary software. another anti-corporate clause would be, ideologically speaking, a natural evolution.
technically not FOSS, under whatever definition you prefer? maybe. but more morally correct.
federation is the only answer.
Due to Reddit deciding to sell access to the user generated content on their platform to monetized AI companies, killing of 3rd party apps by introducing API changes, and their track history of cooperating with the oppressive regime of the CCP, I have decided to withdraw all my submissions. I am truly sorry if anyone needs an answer I provided, you can reach out to me at redditsux.rpa3d@aleeas.com and I will try my best to help you
For those who haven't seen it I highly recommend watching Line Goes Up – The Problem With NFTs
To quote wikipedia on the video
Economist and Web3 investor Tascha Che rebutted in an article for Time's Into the Metaverse series, arguing that while Olson's contemporary assessments were mostly accurate, Web3 would "not stay stupid forever," in contrast to Olson's negative outlook of the space's future. - wikipedia article
I've opened the inrupt website but it's just a bunch of buzzwords that don't tell me what it's actually supposed to do.
It's co-founded by Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Bruce Schneier is the Chief of Security Architecture.
It's Berners-Lee's project to reimagine the internet, basically users store their data in a pod, and then can use that as a point of control and have more fine grained controls over who can access what and so on.
There are a number of articles out there talking in more detail about it, techcrunch and wired to start with.
Is it the be all end all solution? I don't think so, but it is something of a start in the right direction.
Due to Reddit deciding to sell access to the user generated content on their platform to monetized AI companies, killing of 3rd party apps by introducing API changes, and their track history of cooperating with the oppressive regime of the CCP, I have decided to withdraw all my submissions. I am truly sorry if anyone needs an answer I provided, you can reach out to me at redditsux.rpa3d@aleeas.com and I will try my best to help you
Quick question since I don't really understand SearXNG fully.
If you self host it, won't your queries be sent to the upstream search engine from your WAN IP anyways? And since only you are using it, someone will have an easier time pinpointing what you have been searching for?
This is the Technocratic Oligarchy that we live in, there hasnt been any democracy in the US in over a decade. I mean the cops are going to Google for search engine data and GPS location pings to catch criminals. The cops are going to Amazon getting them to release Ring doorbell footage. So law enforcement is now beholden to the Corporations to fight crime!
Theres already been reports of cops in states like Mississippi and Georgia getting Google to give them search engine results and IPs for people who've searched for abortion clinics, after the overturn of Roe Vs Wade.
We are one of the most surveilled populations in the world and most people dont even know it.
I watch a lot of Forensic Files and its amazing how much video footage is used in criminal cases against people.
And, if Klaus Schwab and the WEF crew get what they want, things are only going to get worse.
Eric Schmidt, one of the founders of Google, not only attends those WEF/Davos meetings - he and fucking Henry Kissinger wrote a book together called AI: And Our Human Future.
How was the book?
I refuse to pay any money for that book to read it. If I can find a free pdf/ebook then I'll check it out.
It is accessible on the most famous free online library. This book is certainly just a huge ad for transhumanism.
yeah I figured it was
The next era is being a data slave to huge corporations I bet u no one that uses oculus devices has read the privacy policy
There is essentially no party in the US with the desire, ability and funding to prevent ever-increasing data harvesting and profiling.
Places do exist in the world where data privacy is considered a basic right, where courts and legislators are actively fighting the collection and sale of their citizen's data, and are not yet completely beholden to the money and influence of data brokers.
It is not easy to move from the US to the EU/EEA, but paths do exist.
Let go of the idea of a perfect world and meanwhile do your part of contribution in an easygoing, non-paranoid manner. ⚖️. Occupy yourself with family, hobbies, work, charity, whatever...We're all going to die anyway :) use your time wisely!
This is also true.
And I'm STILL tired of all these motherfucking snakes, on this motherfucking plane
Welcome to the embryonic stages of an Orwellian World. When this rock is spinning off its axis, it's best to get lost ( vacation) for a few in the deep paths of mother nature, camping, cabin or whatever to recharge your mind. Lest I say, Silence is Golden!
To be fair, life has always been shitty for the average human in many ways, especially after we began developing civilization to make our lives easier. Our current society is just a continuation of what people were doing 6,000 years ago. In the past, we had slavery and serfdom, but now it's been replaced by a data surveillance society.
In developing civilization, we were able to develop agricultural surpluses, develop technology to treat various ailments and prevent disease, and reduce the amount of manual labor needed to do everything over time. But in that, we have also become a lot more dependent on other people to ensure that we can survive.
The only real path towards freedom is back to a hunter-gatherer model of society, but that's not feasible when we have billions of people on this planet already.
I'm not sure I'd rather do hunter gatherer and have my whole village murdered by a neighboring tribe than deal with the modern world...
Next stop will be student scores and work performance metrics tied in to this mess. We must resist that.
student scores
Already a thing and those places that implemented that are currently partly imploding due in part to the utterly dysfunctional outcome so... that's a thing.
I also hate how corporations and money rule the world. As long as someone can pay, any crime can be forgiven, unless there’s massive public push back. It’s fucked. We’re already living in a cyberpunk-ish world, but thankfully not everything is lost. There’s still room for people to make a change. Maybe not a massive one but I do think there could be a near future where our privacy starts being treated with respect. I feel like the more people learn about privacy, the more they’ll push for freedom from the clutches of mega corps. I think our future can be bright.
Feels like we're in some parallel universe version of the future where things went wrong.
It kind of started with free-paid-by-advertising radio and TV. People like to get "free" stuff. It's just accelerated and gotten more personal now.
Whatever the next era is im SO ready to move on
I doubt we'll get major changes to the "free" model. I don't see people willing to move to a model where, say, they pay $5/month for Facebook with no data-harvesting or advertising.
So, it will continue to be an arms-race, where we consumers get better tools (technical and legal) and the corps get better techniques and continue to be invasive and exploitative.
yeah Looking back this free-for-all thing was too good to be true and now we're paying the real price for it. Really teaches you a lesson damn.
I miss the hobbyist internet of the 1999s
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Op mentioned social media in the first sentence...
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You can sign up without email?
You can look for decentralized track-free alternatives, there are plenty.
I’m sick of the shit too. I want to buy Google and have it become the most privacy respecting company ever. Instead of making money by selling user’s data, we would make money selling services such as Gmail, Drive, etc. for a very small monthly cost. Android and other Google products could be made insanely private and encrypted, only accessible by the users themselves. It’s time for a new internet.
Yes we are being assaulted. I only recently found out that hackers hack into corporations networks and bribe them for millions of dollars to fix it. Russia is responsible for most hackers and bots and corruption as they’re known as a propaganda run state
Next stop will be student scores and work performance metrics tied in to this mess. We must resist that.
We must resist that.
Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated and your uniqueness if any will be dismissed and replaced with rudimentary concepts, tiktoks and lessons from Klaus.
If you have a computer that you can leave on, a spare raspberry pi, or another computer I invite you to check out /r/pihole and take back your privacy, your safety and your time. Block ads/tracking/malware at the source for all the devices on your network. You can even run your own DNS and cut out your ISP entirely.
Pihole is great, but what about your phone, pad, work computers, car, camera etc.
Hotels sell info about who stayed, for how long, and what they left behind like empty bottles, newspapers, tickets etc.
Grocery stores are selling our shopping lists.
Data harvesting is far more that what happens on your home computers. Its everywhere.
it is futile worrying about things that you can't control.
we all make a choice between modern convenience vs data privacy multiple times a day, 24/7.
I block port 53 globally so nothing can use its own (hardcoded) DNS. It forces all my devices to failover to my PiHole, I also run Unbound so I am the DNS, I do my own routing. For outside of my house, I connect to my personal VPN and route all my data though my home network. I am never not on my network, if I can't use my VPN I have sub with a global host VPN with built in adblocking as a backup. I want to eliminate this by building a PiHole/VPN in the cloud I can route though when needed.
wow this blew up lol. It's cool to see everyone is feeling the same way. See this was what was cool about internet. Having these deep discussions with ppl all over the world. Now only if we could do without the big brother corporate manipulation part lol I can't believe how these corporations took this awesome technology and somehow managed it to make it so lame and uncool...I just know that they will ruin space and AI and make them lame as hell in the future lollll
just use calyx os, proton mail, simple login, organic maps with web view strict gmaps on fdroid (if needed)
dont use fb or other weird social media.
use brave, use brave tor mode as well.
for pcs, just use windows ame with apps like simplewall or an alternative to it (whitelist firewall mode)
if needed ofc, if you dont require windows, just try linux, i do have linux and windows dual boot
This sounds terrible. Is that private online life?
Despite the "use tor mode in Brave,"(Tor should only be browsed with the official Tor Browser) it actually is somewhat decent entry level advice. Idk what you're talking about.
isn't proton a honeypot?
Yeah I'd never use proton for my actual personal email... I have a few aliases I only access via VPN, but no trace of my real ID.
no, not a honeypot. you can always use tor only for proton mail so basically your proton mail account only live in tor network and dont sign it up with any data that can be linked back to you. or even if you do it with your phone number, they delete the sign up data like verification phone number/email after two weeks, but still you're able to use a temporary email like temp mail tm
https://futo.org/
Was going to post this, have a look at their videos on Odysee.
100%
Other people have provided good advice in response to you. I wanted to emphasize the psychological aspect.
Do you remember Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange, specifically the part where the protagonist has his head clamped in a brace and his eyes pinned wide open so that he cannot help but watch what he's being forced to watch? That is not you.
Edited point 4.
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A “corporate apologist” that is in favour of blocking all advertising possible while using cyberspace.
Yeah :(
There was a different comment/post here, but it's been edited. Reddit's went to shit under whore u/spez and they are killing its own developer ecosystem and fucking over their mods.
Reddit is a company where the content, day-to-day operations, and mobile development were provided for free by the community. Use PowerDeleteSuite to make your data unusable to this entitled corporation.
And more importantly, we need to repeat that u/spez is a whore.
migrate it to private services
it doesn't really guarantee anything
There was a different comment/post here, but it's been edited. Reddit's went to shit under whore u/spez and they are killing its own developer ecosystem and fucking over their mods.
Reddit is a company where the content, day-to-day operations, and mobile development were provided for free by the community. Use PowerDeleteSuite to make your data unusable to this entitled corporation.
And more importantly, we need to repeat that u/spez is a whore.
I don't expect to have any of these services for free. I rant and rave all the time about wishing there were a paid version of Google products where my data was private and encrypted. Extort me for 5 years up front, idc, just gimme an option.
Yes, that would only help those fortunate enough to pay but it's better than nothing as we approach some kind of anti surveillance revolution.
But obvs big Data have no interest in that and it's much more profitable to mine and sell our data and/or deliver it nice and tidy to authorities and law enforcement in exchange for weight in corporation friendly legislation.
The reality is that most privacy alternatives suck to use bc they can't compete with the resources of the big guys. And they are also terribly inconvenient and beyond the tech ability of the avg person, esp when you've gotten used to an ecosystem like Google. Imagine non tech ppl trying to run their own NAS.
And besides, just simply having a smartphone with a network provider gives them your location, contacts, and likely so much more. I just read a report on the absurd amount of data Verizon, ATT, T Mobile etc all collect and gladly sell to 3rd party or hand over to law enforcement and do not need to inform customers. If one participates in digital society in just a few basic and often necessary ways, the surveillance and data mining is unavoidable unless you make it your biz to go off grid and the avg person can't/won't do that. It's too late. Have to find some way to adapt or join the ones doing the surveillance.
"And I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords and would like to remind them I could be useful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves!" -Kent Brockman
One little way I try to fight the non stop exploitation of our data is to use the decentr browser. It’s a chrome clone but without the google. Basically they pay you a little crypto for using their browser. It ain’t much right now, but it’s a paradigm change that I support. Just one little way to take back control of our data. There are better solutions than just going cold turkey in everything. If you’re interested, use my referral link. It’s gives me (and I think you too) I little crypto bump. I’d appreciate if the info is helpful.
https://referral.decentr.net/?referralCode=jmRBXPIZ
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I was going for more of an alternative option to the limited choices that we have. The concept being that if we are being harvest for our data, at least we could be reimbursed. It at least attempts to give back the value of our data, which these companies profit enormously from, to the actual user.
Use computer/smartphone only for work and activities, which save time like online banking, also for contacts with family&friends etc., not for an entertainment or other stupid things, that waste time. Pay with cash when possible, read books written by wise men and privacy websites to stay updated, and don't feed corporations with your data, because the live of it. And don't forget not to get crazy!đź––
Its really not that difficult to avoid most data harvesting. Read terms of service and if a free app sounds too good to be true, it is. I also run a VPN 24/7 to prevent ISP snooping.
Aaaaaand you’re on a list lol
I just get sick of feeling like corporations have found a way to commodify every single aspect of our lives. Exploitation doesn’t end with data, and it seems as if there’s just no real way for most to “opt out” anymore.
…and you stated this by typing into a device that tracks what you.
I don't like any of that stuff either. One thing I did that helped a lot was quitting social media (also wiping as much personal data off social media sites as possible), and installing add blockers.
Other things that help:
All of these steps made it so much more bearable in my life. I still get personalized ads from time to time, but its really generic or very obvious where they got it (since its very specific). The good news is being aware of it means you are in a good position to ignore it and hide it as much a possible. If they want your info., they WILL get it. But you can do things to prevent them from getting more info. and/or at least being able to do anything with that info. Shoving a Google Pixel 6 advertisment in my face is all they can do now beacuse they don't have my cookie info. And when I do get a personalized ad its really obvious where the source is and it makes it easier to cut the roots off from the source.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee_uujKuJMI
You will always be targeted if there is a reason to market individuals like you.
Data collection has existed long before the internet and will always exist because it can correlate you to something. Therefore, you need to keep what you do, what you use and do with it, and whom you share with segmented if not segregated from each other. The more you share, the more data they can cross-examine. Then there is the reality that while we think we are unique, the data shows that we are not and can easily be herded into buckets where preferences can be construed.
You also need to level set expectations. The fact your name and address or phone can be found to correlate with you on a public search isn't a big deal. You should be more concerned with what you do and what is being tied to that information if it's not innocuous sales related.
And you need to know how to break your data trails and not be nervous when your data is in the open - ie: hiding in plain sight.
The economy of personal data is what it is. Like banks over bartering or PCs over Macs.
The shit that is private is being forever eroded by those looking to take/regulate and those who wish to burn the system down. Much like cities installing CCTV on every street corner on every block, the world suspects one another, and companies want to know everything about everyone they can identify for XYZ reasons.
Privacy is dead when you share physical awareness and visibility with another intelligence: whether it's human or machine.
Dont worry! I'll find a way. :)
Stop voting for politicians that allow these types of things to continue and get worse. What do you think the whole pandemic response was about? Them trying to push mandatory global digital ID QR codes that once in place would be used to do more of what you are fed up with.
I think we should start over the internet, through to trash everything above the TCP/IP layer: HTTP, HTML, and DNS. As that we could think about low-level protocols that would avoid centralization and most importantly, we should avoid convoluted technologies as they all finish into being controlled by oligopoly.
Isnt that what makes it unusable? I dont look at ads anymore..
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Banks still share a lot of purchase data. And retail companies send CC purchase data to Google, who then match it up with everything else they’ve got on you and send it back to the retailer so they can all track what you buy (source: I worked on a data pipeline team that was all about customer data tracking at one of the largest retailers in the US (I never asked to work on that bullshit. They cancelled my original project and put us on that. I quit.), and we did this).
I’m not saying all this doesn’t help. I just feel hopeless, like no matter how far I go I’ll still be tracked. I have a new car too. I’m sure all sorts of things about it are tracked.
Also: Cars. Iot devices. Cameras with face recognition. Cameras with license plate recognition.
Just your device camera these days (MS, anyway), no permissions, no excuses, object and text recognition on your kitchen table. Scary
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Also plate reading systems in most cases could be designed in a way that does not collect or expose the data. But they are not. A strong push for better privacy is required or we really risk the nightmare scenario.
In addition, some states (looking at you CA) sell your DMV information. They’ve been doing it for decades.
Entire medical systems across the US are alleged to have trafficked patient data.
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And whenever you’re asked “Do you want an email receipt?“ they don’t give af about saving paper. It’s about tying your purchases to your profile
Until that's gone.
Right, even the neighborhood ice cream trucks take credit and debit cards.
Huh? Ka-ash?
Downvoted because your comment is silly and disconnected from the real world.
I read a long article about 10 years ago that I can't remember now, but the take home message was to just relax and let it all go. It was titled: "Privacy is Dead". But, if we have to live like that, then we should benefit in some way too. And I remember the other message that this article held within it, which was that at some point in the not too distant future the most valuable asset any of us will have is our personal data file. And they meant it economically, not just spiritually. So the way I figure it, the people with the most amount of data still unrevealed to the world will have to be the wealthiest.
Idk, seems hard to believe now, but then you never would have convinced a Roman soldier to invest their wages in coffee futures, either. Sayin' 🫤
Yeah it’s financial so if you come into an inheritance you need to protect it very carefully
Can you elaborate? What are your recommendations to protect inherited funds?
I’m just saying some people are not aware of how dangerous the Internet can be, and to change your passwords often -especially if you come into an inheritance and other people know your password. Because if I had a ton of money I’d be a bit afraid?
Use cash. Don't buy online.
Come on, man. Be realistic.
I do it with relative ease, what's the problem?
My bank is 1.5 miles away, the grocery store is right next door, which also has a gas station and home goods. It's not unrealistic. Last time I bought something online was before March 2020.
You're living in a walkable neighborhood, probably with mixed-use buildings too. That's entirely unrealistic for large swathes of the population (which is a problem that needs fixing, of course).
I live in Texas lol
Then you probably chose one of the very few not-yet-ruined areas there, and probably paid a pretty penny for it.
Haha what are you on about?
Basically, USA has been destroying living infrastructure and land which used to be present in order to accommodate a car-centric living, ignoring all the resulting negative effects, which has consequently inflated the price of living in those few areas that resisted this without being redlined (which instead get flak for being gentrified or otherwise rich-only instead, since the supply of walkable and pleasant areas gets artificially limited thereby greatly increasing their cost). That destructive process is still ongoing today.
And unlike what the Accessibility and land value section suggests, that doesn't actually lead to reduced costs in the mid to long term, it's just a false impression created by externalizing the cost.
edit: A large number of the non-redlined areas were chosen not to be rather than resisting, as far as USA goes. A lot of other countries just jumped on the bandwagon after for some incomprehensible reasons.
as an australian, this sucks, slowly see it starting here but i agree with the original poster a lot, of course there is social media and all, but cash payments in person are most of what i do, if not card payments in person, ordering online can be done through most stores and then paid with cash upon pickup, this seems to be a mostly american thing maybe?
A lot of places have few or no local stores (and many stock too few, overpriced & poor quality), this is very common in commuter towns and even worse in SFH-only suburbs, so if you're lucky you can have the stores order things for you and deliver them to your home by phone... but the overwhelming majority will ask for your credit card number at that point.
Same even if they get it delivered at the store, they'll still ask for your credit card before ordering, and then you'll have to drive because there is no way to get there besides highways and stroads. That problem, I can attest, is sadly not exclusive to USA.
The pandemic also made the proposition of interacting with other people with physical tokens a rather unappealing proposition, to make matters worse.
edit: I can also personally attest that banks are unwilling to do remote/by-mail withdrawals, so if you have no nearby ATMs and you're crippled by some injury or surgery, temporary or otherwise, you're pretty much fucked as far as offline options go.
fuck yea i didn’t know about them asking for credit cards and stuff upfront, id use cash bought visa gift cards if that was the case, but then again it’d be getting really convoluted, and compiled with the need to drive to some where and get on highways and all that maguffin just to get a bit of cash, it’s a bill a bit too steep for me, im honestly thinking about exiting from modern society as a whole and enjoying bits of it from a distance
What does that have anything to do with banks tracking your purchases and using cash to circumvent them from doing so?
It has to do with the impracticality of using cash because practically nothing is within walking distance (including ATMs), making the suggestion of using cash to buy from the grocery next door (which if it's a small neighborhood grocery like people open in mixed neighborhoods might well have little if any electronic surveillance & deanonymization equipment) entirely impractical.
And having to use a car means you're more easily surveilled, through the car itself if you're using a recent car that incorporates spyware, but also through whatever license scanners and security cameras might be on the way (or at your destination, given facial recognition), which will all be selling that information unless (and often even if) it's illegal.
Much of my post was related to the "not ruined yet" aspect. But it's also interesting how some of the indirect side-effect of all that also contributed to the normalization of more surveillance tooling.
Consider yourself lucky. You know as well as I the entire state's infrastructure is designed around vehicle transportation. Good example is Austin's public transit, or lack thereof. The system is horrible.
As an European that had to go to Texas for work and lived on a corporate apartment, it blew my mind that there was no way to get any kind of food (store, restaurants...) without a car. I mean, i could walk on the side of the road for a while and cross what I would consider a highway, just to get to a fucking Subway. Ended up having to Uber to a supermarket once a week.
Do you have any idea how unrealistic this is for the vast majority of the country? Why even offer suggestions like this if it’s not helpful to almost anyone?
I live in rural Canada and I made a decision to not buy anything off Amazon about 2 years ago. It's made my life vastly shittier. The amount of things I can't buy within 500km is infuriating.
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I forgot about Ebay. I just might do that. I try to buy off Canadian company websites directly but like 1/2 the time they cancel the order because they don't actually have it. Canada sucks, so bad.
I like Ebay because even though the company is getting a cut of this, some of the merchandise is more interesting than Amazon's and while Amazon has some small sellers, Ebay sellers are more likely to be regular people. I like the idea of supporting someone's side gig that might be paying for someone to afford a home instead of funding another Bezos vanity spaceflight.
I haven’t purchased off of Amazon in years. Maybe it helps that after leaving Amazon, I stop buying shit
OP was complaining about banks tracking their purchases. Using cash is the only way around that. And the vast majority of people live within the city. How hard is it to go to the ATM, withdraw a few hundred dollars and use that at the grocery store, home depot or restaurants?
It wasn't that long ago where we were happy and didn't order every useless shit online.
99.9% of businesses accept cash. If it were unrealistic, they wouldn't be handling cash at all.
In a car dependent city or town like those which are common in USA? It can be pretty difficult to do without endangering your life on a common basis, with things built at a scale that assumes everything is done with a car and then there's the problem of food deserts.
Yes, and in the meantime a lot of those businesses have since closed down, downsized or entirely stopped keeping local reserve stocks and zoning been remade so that you couldn't even bring back the ones in residential areas even if you wanted.
The pattern of disastrous development that led to this isn't all that old, indeed (yes it starts with cars, the internet just greatly accelerated the pattern). Things can go downhill really fast, particularly when it's a willful pattern.
Also, would you really bring your heavier purchases home with a bike if you had to do it alongside a stroad or highway for a significant part of the way?
Not to mention too that ATM machines take your fucking picture or even video of you when you use them!!!
That is indeed an issue, and even going into the bank to withdraw at the counter has the same problem (a problem that also applies with shopping in person in places where facial recognition in security cameras isn't outlawed and enforced). Which leaves for little in the way of good options.
exactly
What a waste of time writing all that out.
Because some people can't imagine a circumstance outside of their own - if it's easy for them, it must be easy for everyone.
I'm not sure why people would be downvoting you for this (???). If that lifestyle works well for you and gives you peace of mind, then keep doing what you're doing.
all these downvotes are idiots, this is definitely possible, in a lot of places around the world, it’s also possible to not be in one of those places, weird to see all these downvotes for calm, reasonable responses to questions
Maybe the downvotes are Google bots (???).
at this point im not 100% doubtful, it’s something for sure, i keep seeing it everywhere
Okay I guess I will only buy groceries and nothing else because that's all you need in life right,, no specific parts that can't be found at a hardware store, no rare ammo for firearms not at local gun stores, no custom graphic t shirts, no weights for home gyms, no specialty ingredients not available at your local grocer, no medical supplies at your local pharmacy that can only be bought online etc. Etc. Etc.
this is the way, if you need something order online, order it through a store and pay cash on pickup, send cash via postal transactions, or alternate methods than moblie phone transfers, im struggling to see the issue here?
It was only a suggestion. I still use my debit card everywhere, but have stopped online purchases. I'm fully aware all my transactions are being tracked. The only way to circumvent that is to use cash only. Simple as that. I'm not sure where all the downvotes came from, considering this is a privacy sub.
yea fr, guess they’re too busy sucking amazons dick to realise how easy it is to buy online, in an offline fashion, even using like click and collect from shops or delivery to a residence from a different IP works, but for some reason, it’s not possible in these peoples minds
None of which will work in the next generation of PCs with Pluton...VPN provider "we don't keep logs". MSFT, Qualcomm, AMD, and Intel Pluton "we do! And we have higher privileges on your own/vpn providers servers and PCs!" " And your vpn won't matter at all anyway to begin with because our chip to cloud technology will funnel all your data immediately from your local hardware!....and you won't be able to boot nor disable nor access Pluton, it's essentially a black box, all for your security!"
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Hahahahahaha...you think services are not going to require it?.....hold on im laughin brother...ahahaha.
How is it going to fail? Its already a part of new processors...and is just the first iteration like others won't follow...its also not just MSFT, its all the companies that make PCs, mobile and server hardware...
Isn't Pluton exclusive to AMD processors?
I do all these things except I have LinkedIn. But I really only use it on a separate profile in Grapheme so MS only gets so much data outside of what I post.
If you use the LinkedIn app, even in its own sandbox you may reveal (leak) information without thinking about it.
IP addresses you connect from,, when you're online, how you use the app, etc. You also need to beware of background traffic happening without your awareness.
Most apps today also have a web login, as the app is essentially just a web app. Use the web browser with containers for each service to separate better and turn off location tracking in the browser. Once you close those browser windows, there is no way to track things in the background.
...which refuse to allow login once they detect that you are using a VPN
... And/or require 2-3 factor authenitcatiin
I rather recommend people to host their own VPN server themselves instead of trusting the wild west consumer VPN market. You will most likely end up with more privacy this way. And web services less often detect it as a VPN connection.
OpenVPN Cloud has integration with at least one VPS provider (might be more now), so getting started shouldn't require that much efforts. This even hides your whereabouts better, as the IP address you connect to isn't the same as your traffic exits from. The free tier of Cloud allows 3 connected units at the same time, so the cost would be the VPS.
For the MFA, I have yet to see a service not having an alternative if your physical token is unavailable.
Are there any subreddits or sources you would recommendto learn moreabout doing this?
This is so far the best guide I found on this:
https://github.com/zilexa/Homeserver
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I was only giving a counterpoint, reminding the other person that a web login does not solvethe issue many times.
But MFA for fantasy sports, triggered because i use a VPN, is pure dystopian nonsense. Same for LinkedIn ... Linked in DGAF about my security, what is there to hide in a LI page? Nothing of value to an attacker. Yet logging in by vpn triggers MFA. Itis silly nonsense.
Try different vpn. I had the same issue until I switched
Good insight. I use a VPN and kill my session taking all of the other profiles offline when I'm not using. I know I can't block 100% but I can do what's balanced between privacy and convenience.
LinkedIn was alleged to have been selling data since day one.
Not surprised.
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I appreciate that, and that's true, but at least they don't get data from the other apps on my phone.
Why is iCloud bad? If I may ask.
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I see, personally I agree with you 10000 percent, but luckily I'm not really hiding anything, but once I figure out a way to leave my kids the millions of photos, I will dump the cloud for sure.
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Very true, gotta love technology but man is it costing us.
You may have nothing to hide, but you have everything to protect. It's your life, not theirs. They should not be snooping around you at all for any reason whatsoever.
For privacy? They have all your data you put there, and you have absolutely zero control over them.
Any service that you have no control about, and you can not see to its inner working is unsafe and probably sell your data (you have to expect the worst always)
I generally am not for total privacy to the point I would stop using services, I take my data as a payment for the free or cheaper service I am using, and I am personally fine with that, but you can not expect any company to play nice.
Apple is not a privacy-friendly company, they are not keeping your data safe, and I hate that people have this mindset of Google bad Apple good. They are both bad and having an iPhone instead of an Android phone won't help you (if anything you can put a custom privacy centric ROM on Android and be miles ahead of an iPhone).
Its not secure by any means or have you not heard of all the celebrities that have had their iCloud accounts hacked? Then lets not forget the Hunter Biden, the presidents own son had his iCloud account hacked... so yeah iCloud aint so bad ...
That was from an era where iCloud didn't have 2FA and breaking into an account was as simple as finding their reused password from a leak. Today 95% of iCloud users have 2FA enabled.
Hunter Bidens account was just hacked recently, and he's the current sitting Presidents' son.
i think this is what OP is tired of
its a constant drain on our coping energy, which is already at rock bottom due to all the other BS going on in the world.
ya I feel like we passed the point of tradeoff and now it's just sacrifice. But it is very difficult to opt out because these companies are so big, influential, and so deeply entrenched in our lives. I started deleting my socials and getting all these apps and stuff for data protection but I don't really see everyone being able to do this.
Looking back it seems like they shouldve been put in line before they got so big and laws should've been updated with it but politicians and legislators didnt understand the technology(still don't, as we saw in Zuck hearing with congress) and they got this sweet loophole where they can just do whatever they want
It's sad cuz like 10 years ago I was involved with tech scene, startups and VC and all that and we were all genuinely excited and optimistic about this technology. Now internet feels like a corporate machine with no ethics or boundaries it just doesnt feel to be good on it. I resorted to practicing digital minimalism which makes me life happier tbh
we let tech have a portion of our rights without so much as a peep.
and we need to reclaim the balance of our rights.
this is how i see it
Digital Bill of Rights to protect our 4th Amendment rights to privacy in the digital age.
#DigitalBoR
Original #4A Language:
At the time of its writing the only places personally identifiable details could be found were on their person, in their house, or among their papers and effects. Cloud storage, digital medical records, financial databases or stock exchanges, and certainly social media – did not exist.
Today, private details can be as widely scattered as social media and shopping habits. Digital bread crumbs trail behind all aspects of our modern life. These modern effects reveal much about our inner thoughts and habits and deserve protection by law.
To protect our Constitutional rights, these personally identifiable effects we create need to be secured from unwarranted examination by others. They do, after all, belong to us. Our digital existence belongs solely to We the People who created them by our actions in the world.
#digitalBoR :: Specifically:
@skyfishgoo
Even Edward Snowden doesn't practice this level of OpSec. Be realistic, folks.
This is a great tip that literally everyone should do though, since Private DNS is on Android and you can change DNS in any OS and most routers.
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Yeah. The only reason he does that is that the US and its allies probably still specifically target him with zero-days for RCE for spyware. For the vast majority of people, a software-level toggle will suffice. DoD specced machines tend not to have integrated microphones or webcams anyway.
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Being “the same” is underrated, I totally agree. In these cases, it’s good to be a sheep because it’s harder for companies to tell you apart from everyone else in the crowd. Makes it difficult to track, but if you add unique things to your overall digital profile, it’s easier to pinpoint you.
I'm a little technically challenged, so... But aren't you just talking 'hard to track' in the UNABOMBER sense? A data-harvesting algorithm surely wouldn't differentiate between, or struggle any more with, pulling your code from a group of a billion people, or one with just ten. Or would it?
It should not necessarily "struggle". The instance here is that it may not recognize that it is specifically "you" if your profile is identical to another individuals. A company would have to track you down specifically. A vast amount of the population uses google search, gmail, youtube, amazon, smart phones, gps, drinks starbucks, etc.
If a company is harvesting profitable tracking metrics like those, then you generally will look like everyone else. Once they have your credit card, bank account, ssn, you are now personally identifiable and the game is over. It is almost impossible to get away from those types of data collections, but for typical company algorithms, you can hide in plain sight by looking like everyone else's profile.
Ahhh, ok, I get it now. One thing I've noticed lately (though I haven't taken my privacy that seriously so far), is how apps are making it more difficult to leave them where you have a profile of any kind. Not as bad as Facebook, but getting up around there. Reading the T&C's of some apps is scary too, especially some of the less reputable ones (though the effects may be the same, with the difference simply being that they may employ cheaper lawyers). Usually they'll justify privacy invasion by couching it in language like: "...to use for internal security or quality controls"" or some such guff. Then you see under a different section: "from time to time app security may need to be tested by independently managed apps" and so on and so forth. But the end result is that by signing up to the app you tacitly agree to your data being used, and sold, for the next decade, even if you delete your account.
Another trend is the EXTREME harassment (often where it appears you have no option not to accept whatever the condition is) to allow cross-app sharing of anything and everything.
I'm not concerned due to financial worries as I rarely have more than a few dollars in my account, and I don't have kids, so privacy isn't even a Biggie, but I DO object to these assholes on basic principles of trading and fair play!
God I wish I could use Graphene
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I'm using lineage and my device just got an android 12 build. It's not bad but graphene is better. I'm hesitant to use a google device tbh.
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If Google was putting some tracking chip that could communicate remotely and sell your data it would still be dependent on the system itself and 3rd party ROMs would block it anyway, or it would be extremely expensive and with very limited data set. This is why it's not worth for Google to even think about.
Also, if this chip would exist, what makes you think that every other company wouldn't jump on the thought of quick and easy money?
Banks. Cars. Iot devices. Cameras with face recognition. Cameras with license plate recognition
What’s the difference between privacy and OpSec (operations security)?
Thank you. 🙏 Quite possibly the sanest, most practical, and inspirational words ever to have been put down in white on black.
with the email service would i suggest if you can, try hosting your own server
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i have 4 server that i let others use but only people that i know personally
Agrees with all this, however I am feeling slightly hypocritical here in a way...
In the sense that I am thankful for iCloud and it's backups, especially when dealing with my elderly relatives and when they have problems or just transfer all their stuff to a new apple item and it's done. It's time saving for me and it's sorted and done and the older folks are happy once more.
A win win.
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You know it's definitely over the top when even people who fake their deaths don't go that far...
Yes, that's it. Cut yourself off from everything. That's your solution? Cause that's not the solution he/she wants.
Check out this new operating system that makes all of the above easy: https://fractalnetworks.co
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Thank you for your thorough reply
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This. If people really want to go offline, they might want to check Nicolas Cage "Pig".
Although it's not about privacy, the way of living is to be considered if you want to get off.
Still it's not possible if you are still in this Orwellian society. You need to be connected somewhat.
Just have digital condoms to some degree while personal data is being currency. And push through your democratic institutions(so called govs) to get these tech companies in line.
No Microsoft and no Apple. How do you computer?
Why not iPhones?
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So basically if i will not use iCloud im okay?
lost you on that
i'm not losing my fucking 3.5mm jack for any piece of shit os
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non of these privacy oses support phones that support sd card and 3.5mm jacks which i need for my uses