what app is this?

Simplewall

I’m actually still hoping that many mobile apps (at least the privacy-focused ones) will start using alternatives to Google’s tools. In general, I think the more people who need privacy-oriented apps, the more such apps we’ll see on the market and developers will have to adapt to that market. Demand creates supply

I’m very new to imposition but I don’t see why you couldn’t use any FOSS for PDFs to rotate and arrange a few files next to each other. If not doing bulk editing, even a FOSS graphical tool could do the job just fine. This thread talks about some of those solutions: Are there any free privacy friendly tools to add tiled text watermarks to documents? - #29 by Robin_RM Otherwise, if you’re comfortable using the CLI: there are even more tools for that matter that a search engine will quickly bring up.

It’s a proprietary paid product so probably not worth it. Also, might depend but its utility is very relative and you might not need that kind of tool at all. Consider LittleSnitch, OpenSnitch, LuLu or something directly on your network (with a router for example, to handle that kind of monitoring/filtering automatically).

You have 4 situations I think: * developer is employed by a company and needs to meet KPIs/quotas/align with the decisions of the CTO (a pragmatic person doesn’t care about using Plausible, they want their metrics and GTM from Google Analytics because that’s what every growth marketing person knows how to use) * you’re an Indie and you do not know about those tools, don’t have a good-enough technical level to implement something off-path or just not big enough to justify needing Telemetry at all for example * you’re a skilled Indie but you don’t care about any of that because it doesn’t make you more money at the end of the day, quite the opposite actually since it’s off-path and need to learn more about that specific alternative tool rather than spending your time cashing in * you are aware of all of this and propose a freemium (like what SigNoz or NetBird are doing), you hence meet your niche targets with those concerns/needs and are hopefully sustainable Anyway, nowadays the casual Web developer will just spin their NextJS app with RSC, with an Electron wrapper, ship it to some bleeding-edge Edge hosting service that is mostly an S3 wrapper because they do love how that company’s “aura” on Twitter, use a startup email service because it’s faster to “zero to hero” and won’t forget to slim down their website’s total bundle size to a _mere_ gzipped 5MB. Their entire product will mostly be a ChatGPT-alike wrapper to begin with. There are healthy ways to create a website/app, but that’s a more lonely/slower and less hyped path to take. And there will be very few willing to do that effort for a mere reward that won’t pay the bills any better.

kissu: > Some people might also not have the manners and still have their phones in between you and them To be fair I think this is dependent on situations. I wouldn’t recommend doing something like this if you’re out on a first date as that could leave a bad impression. A good compromise is to always just look at the menu on somebody else’s phone because at least all the restaurants I’ve gone to it’s exclusively just to look at the menu. It’s never to place an order so the waiter/waitress still have to jot it down and bring it to the kitchen anyway. kissu: > I should have been more precise and specify that “when younger, being known to Big Tech/random ad companies should not be your first concern”. There is definitely a learning curve to Social media and building nice relationships online. I guess it depends how young we’re talking about because I started caring about surveillance capitalism around my teens and I think at such a volatile influenceable age where you don’t even know yourself I’d argue you’re just as susceptible if not more to the manipulative tactics of big tech as anyone else is. Now I do think when you’re younger, you’re willing to make more privacy compromises for whatever social benefit if thats what you’re getting at. Though even many adults, don’t understand what they’re giving up so I believe this is more about a lack of education and not necessarily age. kissu: > Definitely a no-go and a lose-lose on every point imaginable. I feel like it comes down to what people consider essential for their day-to-day tasks. The issue is it’s kind of hard to determine that without having some sort of disconnect first. Restrictions on your smartphones may make more sense but it depends how severe your addiction is. If your a maniac you could use DNS/Firewall/MDM to apply only what you exactly need and block everything else but unfortunately these can be heavily flawed and trivial to bypass depending on your OS

I forgot to add the URL Shortener into uBlock when I did a fresh install of Arch to add LUKS to my home directory, but I have had a look at the arkenfox recommendations in the past. I also will look into the js-free and AI free DuckDuckGo, didnt know that existed. Calendar sync between my phone and laptop would be handy, plus I love to use the terminal for most things so those are awesome, thanks c: For now GrayJay is working and haven’t had any issues with it, but if all goes south I have heard of those, I have seen people use the RSS feeds and yt-dlp to download the videos, then use mpv to play them, which could be something to look into if I have issues with GrayJay. I would rather use Tor with a VPN due to potential backlash from my ISP for using Tor, I did just set up NetworkManager and Proton VPN (free plan) on my arch install until I can get more credit on my Mullvad account, but even then I probably wouldn’t use Tor for a little while until I finish off some other stuff. Also for Google Play Services, you can use Universal Android Debloater which uses adb commands to “remove” selected apps (it just stops them from being loaded into memory from my understanding) and then you can use MicroG as a replacement. I could probably remove Google Play Services entirely because I am rooted but from my other comment I am gonna re-flash my phone so it isn’t rooted, don’t have much use for it anyways xD Thank you for the response c:

bluebrick: > use it as long-term storage so it works for me If it’s a small thing that you do want to backup files safely to, you can always use AWS Glacier or Backblaze B2 after encrypting your files. Backblaze is 6$/TB/month. If you don’t reach 1TB, they postpone the monthly bill to the next cycle (one where you will reach that threshold), kinda like what Fly or Hetzner are doing. It is lower level hence cheaper. Yet if long-term storage might not be a big deal to drag and drop some file from time to time.

Thank you so much for this! So here are my detailed needs: 1. Media server like Jellyfin playing 4K videos locally 2. Photo management (Ente) 3. Accessing the server outside my local network (Netbird or Headscale) 4. Private online shareable video game stream (Owncast) 5. Solution for music server that manages ID3 tags like airsonic 6. Create a Monero server Since I will be buying the Steam Machine, regardless, I’m wondering if also using it as a NAS replacement would work. I would only need to buy a NAS-hard drive enclosure (at least 4-bay) and then be able to migrate from QNAP. What I mean by NAS hard-drive is for example WD Red instead of Blue. My understanding for those type of hard drives is that is more then just marketing and that there are benefits to choosing WD RED instead of blue. In my use case, would there be any benefit at all if I would buy a TrueNAS-Mini instead for instance? In other words, are there any benefits to buying a dedicated NAS device instead of running TrueNAS on a mini-PC (or in my case the steam machine)? > ECC, OCULINK, lots of PCIE lanes I don’t know what those are lmao

Like many people said, it depends on your friend. How open is that friend to discussion? What is your goal? If it is to _win an argument_ , the friend will most likely not be switching to whatever you want because, generally speaking, most people will not admit they are wrong because of ego. If your goal is to convince the friend to switch to something that respects your own values, entering debate mode will most likely not have the desired result. Instead, try to listen to them and understanding what their values are. Also understanding what is the barrier to entry in downloading a new app will help. Once the person is feeling heard, you can also explain why Telegram or WhatsApp don’t respect your own values and try to find understanding and common ground. I disagree with people telling you to be flexible if it means bending your own values and beliefs. That doesn’t mean being stubborn though. Listening to others and Empathy is key. Although far from complete, there is some additional material here to help: Taking a stand in your circles If the person is not open to a discussion to being with, you will likely not find the result you wish for. Good luck!

Firebase is used in a lot of apps, so unless one is really picky about the apps they use, it’s likely unavoidable. Niagara launcher dev is open about it in his privacy policy. Nova also had firebase as well (according to exodus) , so if you used Nova, I don’t see the reason to bash Niagara for this.

> Linux is far more private and > > secure Uhhhhh…. Linux is not more secure. It is the least secure of the three operating systems you mentioned. Madaidan has a great site you should check out to read more. > Stick with Windows 10, but get FREE security updates > > through 0patch or upgrade to one of their paid plans for more > > coverage. Don’t rely on this for any sensitive devices. Only high and critical severity patches are actually back ported. You’re exposing yourself to the risk of a string of medium or low level exploits being chained together.

I dont know if Im setting up things differently than most people but I swear I dont get issues like that but I dont wanna negate your experiences because ive heard enough people complain. I do agree that Microsoft should not be as invasive with dictating defaults ImTooPhaT: > The last update on my Samsung phone installed Gemini without my consent. Android is such a double edged sword sometimes. i’m of the opinionthat if a device is running android already then the ability to run barebones AOSP or atleast PixelOS without any major compromises to the device they don’t have to make it easy but accessible enough for advanced users. but with Google actively behaving the way they are right now I am not holding my breath. i’m upset that the play editons of Galaxy phones never took off because the idea of running PixelOS on a Z flip form factor is so romantic to me. Not sure why people care for OneUI to me its still TouchWiz with a prettier face

Not surprising at the slightest. Unfortunately I’ve kind of given up the idea of using third-party launchers on android unless the OEM has somehow embedded advertisements into the launcher with no way to turn off then I personally see it as additional attack surface. At least for my brain minimal launchers dont do much I do like the idea of a list view UX by default though. Back in the day I used KISS launcher with GrapheneOS and felt like my phone wasnt controlling me but unfortunately its unmaintained so I tend to stick with whats default since Im trusting the OS anyway

@ancientlake thank you for sharing! I will add context to Ethos #1 > why digital privacy is important to values that people _already_ have I’ll also add this into solutions: > I have other friends who are hosting like essentially small consciousness raising groups among friends where they cook a meal and give people an opportunity to ask questions. @ellie Thanks for your question, I will be adding this “all spied on on the internet anyways” in classics to be debunked. Although far from complete, you will have some answers in the section " _**Understand what the barriers to adopt privacy choices are:**_ "

its some sort of network analyser firewall; is it worth it? if not is there any alternatives or is it even worth having an app like this to begin with? thanks

Hello, I’ve become quite privacy-conscious these days and have a few questions: 1. is an Android smartphone using LineageOS “private” enough? I am aware of all the security problems that having an unlocked bootloader entails, and that GrapheneOS is the golden standard for security alongside all the on-board hardware enterprise security features of a Google Pixel, however I am not on-board with giving hundreds of dollars to Google of all companies for a relatively poor product I do not believe I have any reason to care about security - I am not currently hiding from any organisation, or any”one”, all I care about is minimization of data collection by companies and governmental institutions, I have seen that LineageOS still pings Google servers for things like eUCC or DNS, is it possible to modify this through a terminal to fully “degoogleify” the system? I would like it so the only time I have anything to do with Google is when I personally & manually use a Google service 2. is it possible to “containerise” a digital identity? meaning to sparingly use social media platforms from companies like Meta on a separate Gmail account separate from my own personal Proton Mail, perhaps on another browser? where I can somehow “detach” the identities, is this a reasonable thing to do?

Not gonna lie, here in Costa Rica not having those laws is a blessing of course, but at the same time I feel concerned that in any moment laws may change and we get these shitty laws here too. It’s like a bomb slowly ticking without a timer. I saw recently in the news a headline about PDFiles in Roblox grooming children in this country, and that make things even worse, because that’s just more logs thrown to the fire and it serves as a motivation to politicians to think about _importing_ these laws here. We all know that the approval of these laws is damn pointless, because at the end of the day criminals breathe the same air we breathe too, so in this case we gotta ban the fucking air too! Does that make any sense!? And in top of that here in Latin America nobody gives a shit about privacy; and I don’t have any idea about the demographics of privacy, but stereotypically speaking seems like Europe and the US are the most privacy-savvy regions even if they don’t look like so. That’s why if you master a secondary language (in this case, Spanish) it’ll be very good and helpful, because the problem is not just in Europe, Australia, the UK and other countries, we’ll be next. Especially taking in mind that resources to fight back and defend our privacy are accessible almost just in English. OT (click for more details) More OT (click for more details) * * * 1. Diario Extra – 15 Aug 25 ### Paraíso para hackers: Costa Rica entre los menos ciberseguros Costa Rica se ha posicionado como el 4 país menos ciberseguro del mundo, con una puntuación de riesgo cibernético de 3.98. ↩︎

cough… cough…

Looks like theres only 37 users. If anything, this is reason to join the forum, not avoid it.

micdan: > Instagram needs to be closed-source because otherwise everyone could grab their code and make a privacy-friendly, no-ad version of the app Or a frontend that steals your login credentials. Better to stick with the official one and just block ads on the network level.

_cough_ _cough_

ImTooPhaT: > discovered a huge security flaw in WhatsApp recently. I wouldn’t consider that “huge security flaw” as a “huge security flaw”, it’s just WhatsApp being WhatsApp. Omunomunom: > WhatsApp and Instagram aren’t open source means that there’s a chance for bad behavior that can go unnoticed with every update. I mean, at the end of the day that’s the idea… For example, Instagram needs to be closed-source because otherwise everyone could grab their code and make a privacy-friendly, no-ad version of the app, and obviously that’s not on Meta’s papers. If you want an open-source[ish] Instagram you may need to use the web version[?].

Hmm, there’s no much going on there…