Privacy Guides

Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated in any way to any of the parties involved in this review. I just enjoy reading Solène's writings in general and found myself to be especially in fond of this specific article. I share this in the hopes that others might somehow benefit from this as well!

The relevance of the review for this specific community would be that NovaCustom produces excellent laptops to be used with Linux (and other open source operating systems). Furthermore, in the review the reviewer installs a bunch of different distros and tests how they work on the device. Perhaps most importantly; Qubes OS -which is endorsed by Privacy Guides- has this specific device on their Certified hardware page. Which already is very commendable, however it's extra special when one realizes it's the only laptop with a modern CPU on the list.

Sharing this because it's one of the most promising Android projects we recommend on Privacy Guides, and it would be a huge detriment to the Android/Privacy community at large if this developer is no longer able to continue this work :(

Happy New Year!

DivestOS and the Divested projects as they currently stand are ultimately unsustainable.

My goal for 2023 was to acquire a grant to continue my work, I was unsuccessful.

Today I am announcing a fundraiser of raising $12,000 USD by end of February.

It may be a stretch to ask, but I hope you all have found sufficient value in my work to keep these projects going.

If it is unsuccessful I will switch to a full-time job and the Divested projects will take a backseat.

To those who have donated, I truly appreciate your support.

Thank you - Tavi/Tad.

Travel routers with VPN or Tor allow you to avoid trusting the DNS from WiFi ISPs and cell phone towers. Some even let you plugin USB modems and switch MAC addresses to help bypass WiFi captchas on multiple devices. This article compares GL.inet to a Rasberry Pi with OpenWRT, and can give you some ideas for privacy and security for whatever choices you make:

https://simplifiedprivacy.com/glinet/

Microsoft’s agenda is very clear, they want control and surveillance over the flow of information on the internet.

Overview of the pros and cons of some DeGoogled Phone operating systems/models such as:

Graphene, Calyx, Lineage, Pinephone, Purism Librem 5

Enjoy: https://simplifiedprivacy.com/degoogledphones/

What is Pegasus?

Pegasus is targeted cellphone malware by the NSO Group sold to governments. It’s regularly used against human rights activists.

How can you stop Pegasus?

https://simplifiedprivacy.com/pegasus/

A marketing team within media giant Cox Media Group (CMG) claims it has the capability to listen to ambient conversations of consumers through embedded microphones in smartphones, smart TVs, and other devices to gather data and use it to target ads, according to a review of CMG marketing materials by 404 Media and details from a pitch given to an outside marketing professional. Called “Active Listening,” CMG claims the capability can identify potential customers “based on casual conversations in real time.”

With simple messager selling out & qksms no longer being actively worked on. What's our options for open source sms messagers?

Should I dedicate time to learning flutter and building my own or does anyone know any cool foss projects working on this issue?

Huge win for Epic Games in their court case against Google. The court decided that Google’s Play app store operated as an illegal monopoly and the case also challenged the transaction fees of up to 30% that Google imposes on Android app developers.

Fast Key Highlights:

1. It’s still unclear what the penalty will be, court won’t rule on this till January
2. There’s speculation in the media that this could lead to forcing Google to offer alternative app stores
3. Google ironically used privacy measures (self-deleting messages) to hide the anti-competative behavior internally. (see below)
4. Epic filed a similar antitrust case against Apple in 2020, but a US judge ruled in favor of Apple in 2021

Very Brief Background: The court case originally began when Epic Games began collecting payments from users directly, bypassing Apple and Google’s steep fees. As backlash, the two companies banned Epic’s apps from their respective app stores. So Epic took it to court. First the Apple ruling went against them, but now the Google one is in their favor.

Why Google but Not Apple? The big difference between the Google case and the Apple one was revenue sharing deals between Google and various other gaming industry participants such as the game developers and even the smartphone makers themselves. Epic’s lawyers were able to clearly demonstrate that “Project Hug”, which involved both direct investment in games and promotional benefits, was designed to shut out competition. This was the key evidence and arguments missing from the Apple case.

Ultimately, the full effects of this ruling are still unclear and most of the internet talk is now just speculation.

Kicker: The judge in the California court case scolded Google during the trial for deleting many internal chats that would have incriminated the company. The ultimate ironic move for a company whose past CEO Eric Schmidt claimed “if you have nothing to hide, you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.”

Source: https://simplifiedprivacy.com/epicgoogle/

Hi guys,

I got my Yubikey plugged in to my USB. Is it safe? Or should use it only when logging in?

I am in the process of moving out some contacts from Google Contacts, specifically those that I do not have a Gmail address. It's a way for me to give these people a tiny bit more privacy, as I'm doing a cleanup of my contact list. My concern is that Google will still keep their data even after I delete it from my end. Is it so? Or does removing a contact really delete it from there?

Nevertheless I chose my Yubikey instead.