I wanted to get others' takes but it seems like the only real way to get a non-spying car is to get an older car without any sort of telemetrics. I saw a video about different car companies' security policies, well specifically the new Mental Outlaw video, and it just blew me away how even our cars aren't safe. Anyone got tips for how to anonymize their car?

I was looking to buy a TV for my living room, but many people say that smart TVs are a privacy nightmare. I thought maybe I could buy a smart TV, disconnect it from the internet and plug in a raspberry pi or something. But I really don't want to control it with a mouse and keyboard. 😵

So do any of you know of any good privacy friendly TV setups? Or know which brands are the least privacy invasive? Thanks ☺️

opt out now

There are other FOSS real-time voice changers for Linux, but the others I found either seemed to have fewer features, be less polished, or be abandoned.

I'm not really a voice expert or anything so I'm not sure what aspects of voice a, like, forensic voice analyst or something would look at. I've just changed the pitch and I sound different enough that I wouldn't recognise the voice, which is good enough for me. Open to suggestions as to what effects would give the most privacy in terms of making it harder to identify your voice (while still being intelligible)

Also, for people's reference, if you want mic input to be changed for all apps, go to three dots > Preferences > General > Audio > Process All Input Streams and enable.

repeated media reports of Google’s disregard for the privacy of the general public led to a push for open source, community driven alternatives to Google Maps. The biggest contender, now used by Google’s direct competitors and open source projects alike is OpenStreetMap.

1. OsmAnd

OsmAnd is a fantastic choice when searching for an alternative to Google Maps. It is available on both Android and iOS devices with both free and paid subscription options. Free accounts have full access to maps and navigation features, but choosing a paid subscription will allow you unlimited map downloads and increases the frequency of updates.

All subscriptions can take advantage of turn-by-turn navigation, route planning, map markers, and all the favorite features you expect from a map and navigation app in 2024. By making the jump to a paid subscription you get some extra features like topo maps, nautical depths, and even point-of-interest data imported from Wikipedia.

2. Organic Maps

Organic Maps is a great choice primarily because they offer support for all features of their iOS and Android apps completely offline. This means if you have an old phone laying around, you can install the app, download the maps you need and presto! You now have an indepth digital map in the palm of your hand without needing to worry about losing or damaging your primary mobile device when exploring the outdoors.

Organic Maps tugs our heartstrings by their commitment to privacy. The app can run entirely without a network connection and comes with no ads, tracking, data collection, and best of all no registration.

3. Locus Maps

Our third, and last recommendation today is Locus Maps. Locus Maps is built by outdoor enthusiasts for the same community. Hiking, biking, and geocaching are all mainstays of the Locus App, alongside standard street map navigation as well.

Locus is available in its complete version for Android, and an early version is available for iOS which is continuing to be worked on. Locus Maps offers navigation, tracking and routes, and also information on points-of-interest you might visit or stumble upon during your adventures.

Filed in 2022, the Texas lawsuit said that Meta was in violation of a state law that prohibits capturing or selling a resident’s biometric information, such as their face or fingerprint, without their consent.

The company announced in 2021 that it was shutting down its face-recognition system and delete the faceprints of more than 1 billion people amid growing concerns about the technology and its misuse by governments, police and others.

Texas filed a similar lawsuit against Google in 2022. Paxton’s lawsuit says the search giant collected millions of biometric identifiers, including voiceprints and records of face geometry, through its products and services like Google Photos, Google Assistant, and Nest Hub Max. That lawsuit is still pending.

The $1.4 billion is unlikely to make a dent in Meta’s business. The Menlo Park, California-based tech made a profit of $12.37 billion in the first three months of this year, Its revenue was $36.46 billion, an increase of 27% from a year earlier.

Are there people search websites available in the EU? If so, why can’t I sign up for DeleteMe or similar services to remove my personal information from these websites

https://archive.is/27ftP

The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) easily passed the Senate today despite critics' concerns that the bill may risk creating more harm than good for kids and perhaps censor speech for online users of all ages if it's signed into law.

KOSA received broad bipartisan support in the Senate, passing with a 91–3 vote alongside the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Action (COPPA) 2.0. Both laws seek to control how much data can be collected from minors, as well as regulate the platform features that could harm children's mental health.

However, while child safety advocates have heavily pressured lawmakers to pass KOSA, critics, including hundreds of kids, have continued to argue that it should be blocked.

Among them is the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which argues that "the House of Representatives must vote no on this dangerous legislation."

If not, potential risks to kids include threats to privacy (by restricting access to encryption, for example), reduced access to vital resources, and reduced access to speech that impacts everyone online, the ACLU has alleged.

The ACLU recently staged a protest of more than 300 students on Capitol Hill to oppose KOSA's passage. Attending the protest was 17-year-old Anjali Verma, who criticized lawmakers for ignoring kids who are genuinely concerned that the law would greatly limit their access to resources online.

"We live on the Internet, and we are afraid that important information we’ve accessed all our lives will no longer be available," Verma said. "We need lawmakers to listen to young people when making decisions that affect us."

In a new academic paper, researchers from the Belgian university KU Leuven detailed their findings when they analyzed 15 popular dating apps. Of those, Badoo, Bumble, Grindr, happn, Hinge and Hily all had the same vulnerability that could have helped a malicious user to identify the near-exact location of another user, according to the researchers.

While neither of those apps share exact locations when displaying the distance between users on their profiles, they did use exact locations for the “filters” feature of the apps. Generally speaking, by using filters, users can tailor their search for a partner based on criteria like age, height, what type of relationship they are looking for and, crucially, distance.

To pinpoint the exact location of a target user, the researchers used a novel technique they call “oracle trilateration.”

The good news is that all the apps that had these issues, and that the researchers reached out to, have now changed how distance filters work and are not vulnerable to the oracle trilateration technique.

Neither Badoo, which is owned by Bumble, nor Hinge responded to a request for comment.

Hey, all. I just bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab A7, and I would like to install a custom Android ROM on it. After a bit of research, my two options are LineageOS and Murena (aka /e/OS).

Does one have any advantages over the other? Or is it simply a matter of preference?

UPDATE: You will need a machine running Windows 10 or higher in order to successfully flash either ROM!

1. When using Kraken to buy Monero, aren't you concerned about potential data breaches that could lead to identity theft?
2. How secure is Kraken when it comes to protecting user information?
3. If you use a no-KYC exchange like CakeWallet, aren't you worried about potential government investigations?

I'd like to get your thoughts on these options

I live in a EU member country

@privacy How to be private with google services and noroot.

I can't disable google play services for a lot of reasons (school apps, UPI, etc). I have three main google apps enabled. Gservices, gmail+meet, gpay. I have replaced as much apps as possible. Any guide for being private for me?

For those unaware, Njalla is an anonymous domain registrar though I'm hoping many of you already know.

What are your thoughts on Njalla? I've got a domain with them already and renewal is coming up this August, but I'm kinda feeling doubt with their Trustpilot reviews.

1. Is Trustpilot even accurate?
2. Who are all those one-star reviewers?
3. Is Njalla a scam? Has anyone here had good experiences with them?

The website there is just my personal website. There's not much "shady" stuff on it (lemuria.ph).

I sometimes get linked google docs links and would like to view them without visiting a google site directly.

So today I finally took the plunge and bought a new Pixel 8a to install GrapheneOS on. It will be my new daily driver, replacing my current phone. It's getting delivered tomorrow, and I'd like to make sure I'm getting the full privacy/security benefits from the device. What other recommendations would you provide?

tl;dr: only applies to NY Eastern District, and likely only US citizen can enjoy

I live in an authoritarian country. I have a group of friends & acquaintances from a political organization who have asked me to deliver a presentation on security & privacy (specifically for activists). Although I'm somewhat well-wersed in tech, I'm not so confident and there may be things that I might miss. What are some of the things that are often overlooked and I must mention? Thank you.

I want to preface this by saying that yes, I know that Instagram is bad. I am planning to get rid of it in the future but as of now I have to keep it for communication with people who are only on that platform.

So I have grapheneOS, use protonvpn (free version), use mull as my browser, and do not have google play services enabled on my phone. I do have some apps downloaded through aurora store such as Instagram, whatsapp, mychart, and mint mobile, but the rest came from f-droid.

I have noticed multiple times that after having private conversations on matrix, I get Instagram content in my feed that is scarily accurate to the conversation I had on the other platform immediately after. I know that things discussed in Instagram direct messages and group chat will give suggested content based on those conversations, but I get stuff that that is very specific to what I have ONLY discussed on matrix and didn't look up via my browser.

So my question is how is Instagram doing this and what can I do to mitigate the spying it's doing on my other apps. Thanks.

Jitsi Meet and Matrix are missing system-wide/background push-to-talk (PTT) (to replace Discord).

• Tell Jitsi -> github.com/jitsi/jitsi-meet-electron/issues/210

• Tell Matrix -> github.com/element-hq/element-web/issues/15284

• Tell Element Call -> call.element.io (Settings > Feedback)

• Tell SimpleX -> github.com/simplex-chat/simplex-chat/issues/2398

Alternatives (obviously must be cross-platform end-to-end encrypted libre software)?

From their About page:

Project Liberty is stitching together an ecosystem of technologists, academics, policymakers and citizens committed to building a people-powered internet—where the data is ours to manage, the platforms are ours to govern, and the power is ours to reclaim.

I just heard Frank McCourt on a podcast plugging his book "Our Biggest Fight".

It was great to hear someone with a voice talking about the problems we see with user data and social media, especially the problem of the Social Graph (the map of all your social connections, which includes weights and values).

Their solution to this problem was to develop a social networking protocol that enables any compliant app to use (think how email works - a standard protocol, SMTP), but encrypted and user data controlled by the user. They call it DSNP - Decentralized Social Networking Protocol.

I see both sides of their approach, I'm kind of ambivalent, lots of concern here long-term.

They've already acquired MeWe and have converted some users to this protocol. He wants to buy the US side of TikTok (if it becomes available) and convert it to DSNP, which would encrypt about 30 million US accounts.

I'm always cynical about stuff that sounds promising, but I don't have the tech background to really dissect what they're doing. Anyone understand this better?

I have no idea where to even start to combat such things. Healthcare professionals must appease the masses of their peers.

I've seen this first hand in the corporate world, where it's called a 360 review. It's a popularity contest.

While there's value in the idea of such reviews, they're ripe for abuse. It codifies an environment of dishonesty - where people who are good at masking (err, sociopaths anyone) excel.