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Online privacy: to what extent should you try to go dark?

cyb3rsecurity.tips

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Re: Online privacy: to what extent should you try to go dark?

#131

Post by fsflover »

ryanisnan wrote: post #117
fsflover wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some concrete advises: https://prism-break.org

I find sites like this very hard to accept at face value. For example, on iOS, they say to avoid Authy for MFA but recommend a project called Tofu. This may be a sensible recommendation but they give zero supporting information as to why. I have nothing against Tofu (maybe the texture) but if you are going to convince someone that an opensource project made by mostly one person with very little financial backing, ove…

They usually explain and discuss specific apps in the Issue tracker: https://gitlab.com/prism-break/prism-break/-/issues.

Re: Online privacy: to what extent should you try to go dark?

#133

Post by fsflover »

nunorbatista wrote: post #109
fsflover wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The article is a reflection on how I can explain my mother that she should care. I think you forgot one important point. Lack of privacy harms journalism and activism, making the government too powerful and not accountable. If only activists and journalists will try to have the privacy, it will be much easier to target them. Everyone should have privacy to protect them. It’s sort of like freedom of speech is necess…

I find your argument to be true, but the idea is to discuss what we can do versus the standards which I find them to be GDPR and Apple. The first because it came out with a set of rules that didn't exist anywhere else in the world and the second because it prevented millions of people to be tracked when they navigate (obviously a commercial stunt, but still). I would question if anyone else made more for privacy in t…

> Maybe the whole world must push for GDPR-like regulation

Indeed, I agree.

> I would question if anyone else made more for privacy in the last few years than these two (Maybe Firefox?)

Apart from Firefox, consider GNU/Linux phones (Librem 5 and Pinephone), Mastodon (and other things based on ActivityPub), Qubes OS with Whonix and many other amazing projects.

Re: Online privacy: to what extent should you try to go dark?

#134

Post by 1vuio0pswjnm7 »

1vuio0pswjnm7 wrote: post #54
kornhole wrote: post #3

Author does not mention the major reason I care which is that allowing others to know what we are doing, thinking, saying, where we are going.. either individually or collectively anonymously or not, gives them power over us in many ways to predict, manipulate, dispossess.. which leads to the imbalances we have today of the haves and have nots of data. The people who say big tech already has so much data on them so w…

There are some who have argued that crytopcurrency is an effort to make everyone's spending habits public. Imagine virtually anyone having access to global purchase history. No need to approach VISA, etc. to purchase the data. This seems like Nirvana for "tech" intermediaries sitting on the internet. A crypto proponent might argue that transactions are anonymous. However it is impossible to remove entries from the le…

"When I search for ways to improve my online privacy, I find two extremes: people who think it's not worth it because Big Tech already have all our data, or complicated suggestions to flash my phone with a modded version of Android."

To be clear, like the OP, I am not referring to privacy from the government, i.e., so-called "state actors". I am referring to privacy from "tech" companies. Regardless of who develops the methods to trace crypto, or why they do so, history has shown it is "tech" companies, collectively, that have the greatest desire for internet surveillance data and pose the greatest risk to online privacy.

Re: Online privacy: to what extent should you try to go dark?

#135

Post by encryptluks2 »

timbit42 wrote: post #124
encryptluks2 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely not participating in a failed coup like January 6.

So you're going to participate in a successful coup instead?

Doubtful but the separation from Britain was a coup by those standards and it even has its own holiday.

Re: Online privacy: to what extent should you try to go dark?

#136

Post by Spooky23 »

Barrin92 wrote: post #130
Spooky23 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d follow the money as opposed to some study. Social media isn’t a boogeyman responsible for everything but it is a critical channel to influence. My mom gets bombarded with crazy tales of Joe Biden taking gasoline away, etc. I get lots of crazy dramatic fundraising requests from EFF, broadband advocates, etc. It’s real and it works.

I don't doubt that what you're describing is real, I'm just skeptical that this is unique or has much to do with Facebook, advertisement or "the algorithm tm" in particular. Thirty years ago your mom would likely be listening to talk radio, if that's the kind of media diet she's looking for. There's lots of deep reasons why people consume what they consume, I just think it's wrong to attribute a lot of agency to thes…

That’s the thing. She wouldn’t.

My mom is in her 70s. She was a peace corps volunteer, a health care provider and an advocate for regulation of certain medical providers. She carried petitions for Al Gore. Not somebody that republicans would knowingly talk to.

But places like Facebook push content that your friends like. Sometimes that’s so and so’s new baby. Other times it’s Uncle Bob’s manifesto on why critical race theory is doing whatever.

Re: Online privacy: to what extent should you try to go dark?

#137

Post by wolverine876 »

encryptluks2 wrote: post #135
timbit42 wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you're going to participate in a successful coup instead?

Doubtful but the separation from Britain was a coup by those standards and it even has its own holiday.

You're comparing establishing democracy with overthrowing it?

Re: Online privacy: to what extent should you try to go dark?

#138

Post by dredmorbius »

photochemsyn wrote: post #51

The only real way to ensure your data isn't being collected and sold in the course of every single transaction you engage in (cash transactions being somewhat less trackable, however), is to get data privacy laws passed that forbid this activity by retailers, data brokers, and related entities. The EU has the right idea on this. Ordinary individuals who attempt to use technology to 'go dark' will likely, if they're c…

Legislation, regulation, and litigation are the ultimate answer, yes.

Technological resistance is, however, a useful form both of social resistance and a means of determining the pervasiveness, nature, and scope of the problem.

That said, individual action alone is profoundly insufficient.

Re: Online privacy: to what extent should you try to go dark?

#139

Post by encryptluks2 »

wolverine876 wrote: post #137
encryptluks2 wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doubtful but the separation from Britain was a coup by those standards and it even has its own holiday.

You're comparing establishing democracy with overthrowing it?

Lol. Remind me of Citizens United again.
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