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46 votes
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YouTube anti-adblock detection is illegal in the EU
77 votes -
533 million Facebook users' phone numbers and personal data have been leaked online
29 votes -
While Google is attacked over privacy concerns and perceived bias, DuckDuckGo raised $10M
44 votes -
This free TV comes with two screens - Would you give up your data in exchange for a free TV?
13 votes -
Google and Mastercard cut a secret ad deal to track retail sales
26 votes -
Amazon has too many ways of watching you now
23 votes -
Why should any non-Euro companies care about the GDPR?
18 votes -
The future of PrivacyTools
17 votes -
Starting in October 2020, all new Oculus VR devices will require logging into a Facebook account, and support for existing Oculus accounts will end on January 1, 2023
43 votes -
Hide nothing
11 votes -
How Signal walks the line between anarchism and pragmatism
45 votes -
Why has Threads, Meta’s answer to Twitter, not launched in the EU?
33 votes -
What's wrong with email?
14 votes -
Texas is right. The tech giants need to be regulated.
10 votes -
Windows 10 Ameliorated review
13 votes -
Google updates its privacy policy to clarify it can use public data for training AI models
44 votes -
How important is protecting our data from companies like Google?
I was a supporter of Andrew Yang while he was running for president. His policies appealed to me a lot. One I supported because it made sense to me; personal data as a property right. I’ve thought...
I was a supporter of Andrew Yang while he was running for president. His policies appealed to me a lot. One I supported because it made sense to me; personal data as a property right. I’ve thought about it more and I don’t see how a company like Google using my data negatively affects me. What are the negative repercussions I experience when a company uses my information like that? Are there alternatives that would protect my data more that are actually decent? I’d love to receive some explanation for this!
21 votes -
Have you tried degoogling your Android?
In a pursuit of a more privacy-oriented mobile computing I've installed LineageOS ROM on my phone and decided to try living without Google Play Services, which usually provide aGPS (cell tower...
In a pursuit of a more privacy-oriented mobile computing I've installed LineageOS ROM on my phone and decided to try living without Google Play Services, which usually provide aGPS (cell tower geopositioning), push notifications and lots of other frameworks like Google Maps that apps use as libraries.
My phone has 4 primary uses:
- Communicator - mostly Telegram, WhatsApp and Slack. Email of-course.
- Navigator - GPS and Maps are an irreplaceable tool if you're living in a modern metropolis
- Internet browser - obviously
- Music Player - music on the go
So let's see how you're supposed to tackle each of the uses, while using as much FOSS as possible.
- System functionality - both push notifications and aGPS can be solved by microG - fake Google Play Services library. Not sure how it implements push, but aGPS is checked against Mozilla's geolocation database.
- Communications - Telegram is available on F-Droid (OSS app store), but everything else is not. The solution here is to use Aurora (Play Store front-end to rip APKs) and install them manually. Push notifications might be broken even with microG (WhatsApp is missing notifications for me, sometimes). AOSP email is fine, K9-mail is ugly but works somewhat better.
- Maps and navigation: OpenStreetMap is the obvious choice here and OsmAnd delivers the frontend. It has enough metadata for businesses to get you around, but compared to Google Maps it's can be sometimes lacking and/or out-of-date. Navigation itself is decent, but it's missing timetables for public transportation compared to GMaps, which can be a problem, especially if trains are cancelled or delayed. Overall it's very usable, almost feature complete, but I've found myself falling back to Google Maps in my browser when it comes to using public transport.
- Internet browser - Firefox, with uBlock Origin installed (yes, it works on Android) it's really good.
- Music Player - there are tons of music players available on F-Droid, you can pick whichever suits your needs. Here I actually stepped away from the FOSS and bought myself a PowerAMP license on developer's website. One of the rare moments where paid Android software is available outside of Play Store.
Now that the primary use cases are solved, let's try some other useful apps:
- E-banking? Broken without Google Play, app refuses to even start properly.
- Bike sharing? Taxi app? Public transport app? Broken without Google Maps libraries for the obvious reason. You might or might not be able to use the browser version, depending on the app.
- Reddit Relay/any app that requires the license? Okay you've ripped the APK with Aurora, but you can't buy the license to remove the ads.
- Ebook reader? Nothing good on F-Droid, have to rip something off Aurora.
Basically you have to be prepared to use your mobile browser a lot. And for some of the sites, do it in a "desktop mode" with tiny text, since the mobile version will just nag you to download the app, that might be broken.
The takeaway is simple - you give up A LOT of convenience just to cut off Google analytics (which you still might get with apps like Slack). It's certainly usable, don't get me wrong, but I still feel kind of stupid fumbling with OsmAnd when I'm out with my friends and trying to look something up. I'll probably end up going back to the stock ROM, or just installing the Google Apps. For me it was an experiment and I think I've got a general feel on how much information and use I'm actually getting out of GApps.
So Tildes, have you tried degoogling your phone? How did it go? Are you still using it?
28 votes -
EFF announces "Fix It Already" campaign to demand fixes for specific issues from nine major tech companies and platforms
42 votes -
Private by design: How we built Firefox Sync
39 votes -
Marketing company claims that it actually is listening to your phone and smart speakers to target ads
34 votes -
Bluesky says it will allow users to opt out of the public web interface after backlash
23 votes -
Amazon devices in the US will automatically join the Amazon Sidewalk mesh network and start sharing internet with neighbors on June 10th, unless opted out
30 votes -
Colleges are turning students’ phones into surveillance machines, tracking the locations of hundreds of thousands
35 votes -
ProtonMail and Huawei: A relationship made in privacy hell
13 votes -
The US government and Facebook are negotiating a record, multibillion-dollar fine for the company’s privacy lapses
24 votes -
How American evangelicals use digital surveillance to target the unconverted
35 votes -
Simple Mobile Tools bought by ZipoApps (company offering apps with ads and tracking)
53 votes -
Contra Chrome
13 votes -
New ad-free search subscription service: Neeva
6 votes -
Encrypted messaging app Signal blocked in China
29 votes -
After 9/11, Americans gave up privacy for security. Will we make the same trade-off after COVID-19?
21 votes -
How to block ads like a pro
34 votes -
How to scrub your online footprint?
I don't necessarily want to delete everything there is about me, but I want to significantly clean it. I've been deleting old accounts lately, I've seen some screenshots of my tweets on Reddit and...
I don't necessarily want to delete everything there is about me, but I want to significantly clean it. I've been deleting old accounts lately, I've seen some screenshots of my tweets on Reddit and I've asked the authors to delete them. They've been kind enough to do it.
But I feel like there's more that I need to do. I just realized that there are probably a lot of screenshots of YouTube comments and Tweets that I've put out there in the world with my name and face. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't drastically increase my footprint last year during my time on Twitter.
I'm not a techy person, I was thinking about asking or hiring some type of hacker or expert to help me. Because they could probably find more information about me than me.
Can anyone help?
17 votes -
The battle inside Signal - The fast-growing encrypted messaging app is developing features that would make it more vulnerable to abuse. Current and former employees are sounding the alarm.
31 votes -
Should I be using a VPN constantly?
Do you? What do you recommend?
16 votes -
Signal messenger releases 'usernames' so you no longer need to tell someone your phone number in order for them to message you
59 votes -
US senator warns governments are spying on Apple and Google users via push notifications
38 votes -
Threads is the perfect Twitter alternative, just not for you
59 votes -
Apple introduces expanded protections for children, including on-device scanning of images to detect child abuse imagery
24 votes -
Trust in software, an all time low
26 votes -
Google to stop selling ads based on your specific web browsing
29 votes -
Employee monitoring software surges as companies send staff home
18 votes -
Google tracked his bike ride past a burglarized home. That made him a suspect.
18 votes -
Reddit is moving to a twitter-like public follower system
I recently received this message from an admin: Hello! You are receiving this message because you have followed a user profile in the past. Starting on 08/19/2019, we will begin showing some users...
I recently received this message from an admin:
Hello! You are receiving this message because you have followed a user profile in the past.
Starting on 08/19/2019, we will begin showing some users new followers of their profile. In about 3 months, all users will be able to see all the usernames of their followers, including follows that were done in the past, while the user profile feature was in beta. Please take a moment to check your subscriptions list (where followed users also appear) to ensure that if you follow someone, you are comfortable with them being aware of this.
It's a rather big change and a shame that they are making reddit more and more like the rest of social media.
39 votes -
Telegram now allows every Telegram user to delete any message in a private conversation from both sides
23 votes -
Forget privacy: you're terrible at targeting anyway
45 votes -
U.S. users are leaving Facebook by the millions, Edison Research says
23 votes -
For years Facebook claimed the adding a phone number for 2FA was only for security. Now it can be searched and there's no way to disable that.
@jeremyburge: For years Facebook claimed the adding a phone number for 2FA was only for security. Now it can be searched and there's no way to disable that.
43 votes