Privacy

• AtlasOS: https://atlasos.net/
• Amelabs Privacy+: https://docs.amelabs.net/privacy/_plus.html

I use a Windows VM for apps not available on Linux and just want to cut out all the telemetry possible.

AtlasOS is installed as a Ameliorated Playbook and makes a ton of opinionated changes that aren’t privacy or necessarily performance related. Disabling the Windows 11 right click menus in favor of the legacy one, disabling window shadows, changing the wallpaper, etc. Privacy+ looks appealing, I wanna know if anyone has tried both and can tell me differences, like if one or the other improves privacy more.

I want to share an interesting cryptography paper which introduces "anamorphic encryption", where the ciphertext encrypts two messages. One is a message to reveal to a dictator, who wants the secret key and message to control the narrative. Behind it lies a hidden message, guarded behind a "double key", which is to communicate messages of intent secretly.

It's kind of like having a duress key to reveal, but instead you can send real messages with the real key.

For instance, an investigative journalist could encrypt a fake message "Everyone is content in our utopia" as a smokescreen to show to the dictator, while true messages like "Minorities are forced into labor camps" can be hidden in the anamorphically encrypted ciphertexts to notify the outside free press.

The authors argue that cryptosystems already in use supports the anamorphic mode, where you encrypt a normal-looking ciphertext which contains the hidden message.

Given that it has been 3 years since this paper, I think there would have been some applications of this technology. Do you guys know of any?

Starting today, all paying Tuta users can request 25% off their first year of Ente’s encrypted photo storage so you can not only keep your emails and calendars private, but also your photos.

Ente provides end-to-end encrypted photo storage, ensuring that only you hold the keys to your data. Ente doesn’t mine your data and doesn’t show you ads.

We at Tuta are thrilled to have teamed up with Ente to build privacy-first tools that are both secure and beautifully easy to use. Whether you’re backing up precious personal pictures or need to sync images from one device to another, Ente makes sure your content stays yours - and only yours.

If for some ungodly reason you are using Windows or maybe are forced to. Here's some software that will remove all the spyware from it. You have to select what you want removed manually for best results

You’re constantly leaving your fingerprint all over the internet. You leave it with the personal information you share willingly, the personal information you share unknowingly, and with the mountain of data that gets sent to each website you load. Maybe you know a thing or two about privacy and decided to pick up a VPN to keep your browsing private. Even then, you’re a lot less private than you expect.

Flock has built a nationwide surveillance network of AI-powered cameras and given many more federal agencies access. Senator Ron Wyden told Flock “abuses of your product are not only likely but inevitable” and Flock “is unable and uninterested in preventing them.”

Trove of surveillance data challenges what we thought we knew about location tracking tools, who they target and how far they have spread

...

Most countries have a legal mandate to carry out domestic phone network surveillance. The First Wap archive demonstrates, however, how phone network connections can be leveraged to allow tracking all over the world, without authorisation from the targeted networks.

In recent years, a number of investigations have explored the ways in which surveillance companies gain access to phone networks to enable this type of tracking. Lighthouse and its partners have previously written about how SS7 abuses were linked to the murder of a reporter in Mexico and a crackdown on an activist in Congo, and how they were enabled via leasing of Global Titles.

This is the main reason I completely ditched Reddit, if you use the new Reddit interface instead of the old one (old.reddit.com), you'll see a constant request being made to "https://www.reddit.com/svc/shreddit/events" (open your DevTools > Network tab, can't see on Firefox idk why).

The problem is, if you add this to your Ublock Origin filters the website won't load properly, that's why UO team didn't block it already.

You'll notice this request isn't only being made from a interval but also when you do basically any action in the site, like pausing or resuming a video (send timestamps of when did you pause or resumed).

It sends other kind of data like what subjects you're seeing when closed a tab or the related subjects of a post you click, this all can be used to trace a perfect profile of you and things you like.

You can avoid that using the old.reddit but it still has the same kind of tracker, even tho you can block it here without major issues.

By my analysis, old Reddit interface does the same but to a random URL path that always starts with "reddit.com/api/something". Ex.: reddit.com/api/friends So you can block anything that starts with "reddit.com/api" in your custom filters (after all you're using old.reddit.com), then you're mostly free from Reddit trackers (more or less). Side effect is, you won't be able to use the chat in the old interface.

OC by @CodenameDarlen@lemmy.world

Following the ownership change, Hollywood producer Robert Simonds joined NSO’s board and attempted to acquire the company. He resigned five months later, after the deal fell through.

Interestingly, when asked about the deal by TechCrunch, an NSO spokesperson said the following:

“This investment does not mean that the company is moving out of Israeli regulatory or operational control. (…) The company’s headquarters and core operations remain in Israel. It continues to be fully supervised and regulated by the relevant Israeli authorities, including the Ministry of Defense and the Israeli regulatory framework.”

He later requested that the comments be withdrawn, arguing they were made off the record, though TechCrunch stated that no such understanding had been established.

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