Hello! I have not been in action for a good while, and feel a lot of guilt for this.
The Lemmy community is quite dead, as I have ignored this place, and I feel even more guilt for it. I am sorry.
No excuses, I just am not able to find good topics to write about. And I do NOT want to write tabloid journalism tier fodder. One could call me lazy too, but I have been on a constant lookout and I am still unsure.
There had been a lot of chaos in the privacy community until recently and the dust has settled, so addressing that has been important. I am looking into writing some stuff again.
Just to give a heads up, I am indeed active and not gone anywhere, but want to keep this place open for anyone seeking help, and want to keep it a great resourceful decluttered space for privacy, security and freedom, the ideals for this community.
I am grateful to every single one of you ~2K people, who have considered this place to be of value, and want it to grow even further.
Please give me a little boost, I feel a little dead (not tired) and want to seriously write on something that could help flourish true privacy. Any topic suggestions, any case studiesโฆ
This community is meant to advocate privacy, security and freedom in an concise manner, free of prejudice bias, free of politics, free of cultist thoughts.
Arguing that you donโt care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you donโt care about free speech because you have nothing to say. - Edward Snowden
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Your write ups are fantastic and I refer to them quite often when talking about privacy for activist! If you have one geared towards those concerns, such as locking down communications and ensuring a phone is as secure as possible would be good. There is talk about patterns and metadata that I would love to hear your take on.
Iโm dabbling in getting rid of windows on my laptop and so far just used Debian since it seems like a safe starter distro, but with a recent OS failure (windows, not linux) I finally tried booting from a USB and kinda love that? So maybe more privacy focused linux information since I have trouble finding stuff on trusted sites and using searx to find information.
I guess last topic I can think about is having some good points about why it matters? Most people I talk to donโt seem to care much, and of course it wonโt change anyoneโs mind immediately, but just having a good line of logic to get people thinking might be good? I was talking to a coworker over our frustration that our job forces us to download an app just to access our email in the name of โsecurityโ but it feels more like โinvasionโ, especially since itโs our personal phones.
Oh, actually; is there anyway for people willing to learn how to tell if an app has trackers or is a breach of privacy?
You can refer to the Activist Handbook for a rough idea on locking down communications. There is not much to it, honestly. The process may be hard in context with hardware or software, but the way to go about it is common sense stuff.
What about patterns and metadata? Be a little specific with context or reference, as the term is too broad to explain anything.
@[email protected] has a good point on that I should do something about Linux distros. This would take time as well to make a good guide/resource. Due to the nature of Linux, I cannot guarantee the guide will come soon, as I have to learn more stuff about firewalling, ports and SELinux.
Why it matters is not something you will get around explaining people with one liners. You can get them to think, but not take much action. From my analysis, all the anti privacy shills need to be crushed upon emergence in the privacy community, and pro privacy culture MUST flourish for a comfortable environment to exist, and the anti privacy folks be frowned upon.
Humans are basically social apes with intellect and intuition, and they will follow each other. That chain needs to exist and be propelled.
On Android you can use Exodus (here is an example https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/en/reports/153566/) that will tell you about trackers and permissions. If you subscribe to news from Slashdot, Arstechnica or even โhackerโ โnewsโ you will see the occasional privacy story. This past week there has been lots of Apple news.
I would also like to see some more Linux info. Linux isnโt โsafeโ and some distros (e.g. Manjaro, see here https://github.com/vizs/manjarno) but there is stability that comes from using certain distros. It would be nice to see a Linux guide but that isnโt really an โeveryday userโ case because people think that Linux is scary. I have used Linux for over 15 years as my main OS and about 2 years ago I got a slap on the wrist at work because some IT guy saw me using Linux on campus. They made me switch to Windows but I forced them to give me a work laptop.
I think we should crowd source a list of alternatives to large companies. These lists already exist but a countey-by-country list of how to avoid using Amazon would be great. Or a rundown of Google Maps alternatives (in my city OpenStreetMap isnโt up to date at all).
@[email protected] is doing the right thing here by not spamming us with reposts of poorly slapped together paraphrased summaries of daily privacy news. The smartphone hardening guide is easy to follow and could be implemented by nearly anyone willing to try. Even if we get one post like that per year, I would be content because I joined Lemmy just for this.
Hey, I just found this privatelife community five minutes ago and Lemmy just a few days ago. Really appreciating your work so far :) keep it up!
That said, after 6 years of being on android and learning more and more about privacy I am finally going back to iPhone. :( I know.
I have played with the concept of going LineageOS but I want security and privacy (and away from ad trackers). With iOS going away from ad tracking in iOS 14 next year. Theyโve given me some hope, and to be honest, Iโm worn out fighting the good fight. I want to be accepted by my family who ALL own iPhonesโฆ UGH.
So far Iโve seen your amazing writeups about making Android private and secure. Truly amazing work and I cannot wait to use it on my old phone as soon as I get my new one. Do you happen to have any resources on making iPhones as private and secure as possible?
I do not provide help for iPhones as they cannot be controlled at all. The only protections you get are what Apple decides for you, and their decisions are quite the antithesis of privacy, let alone anonymity.
I do not want to rant about Apple devices, which I am sure you know well, since you are surrounded by them, but the 3 key factors would be no sideloading of apps, no third party app stores, and only one browser engine with no PWA (web apps) functionality. These make it nearly impossible to help user gain control over privacy, security and anonymity.
So true. :( RIP my dreams. Thanks for that though :)