#VPN

[nixcraft]

[whiteowl-18]

Dear Americans, get a VPN right now. I promise you, the orange man is going to mess with online privacy. Censorship and surveillance are going to be insane. Protect your privacy. This post explains the importance of a VPN quite well (it's from 2017, but it still holds up). Do some research on which VPN you should get. Do not get one from any of the countries in the 14 eyes alliance or those that cooperate with them (read the post linked above for more information). I'm not American, but I use Proton VPN, which is located in Switzerland (I use it mostly for torrenting). Protect yourselves. Times are going to be tough.

[sorceress-foxgirl-ariel]

ㅇㅅㅇ (use firefox)

[fabaulti]

I think most of us should take the whole ai scraping situation as a sign that we should maybe stop giving google/facebook/big corps all our data and look into alternatives that actually value your privacy.

i know this is easier said than done because everybody under the sun seems to use these services, but I promise you it’s not impossible. In fact, I made a list of a few alternatives to popular apps and services, alternatives that are privacy first, open source and don’t sell your data.

right off the bat I suggest you stop using gmail. it’s trash and not secure at all. google can read your emails. in fact, google has acces to all the data on your account and while what they do with it is already shady, I don’t even want to know what the whole ai situation is going to bring. a good alternative to a few google services is skiff. they provide a secure, e3ee mail service along with a workspace that can easily import google documents, a calendar and 10 gb free storage. i’ve been using it for a while and it’s great.

a good alternative to google drive is either koofr or filen. I use filen because everything you upload on there is end to end encrypted with zero knowledge. they offer 10 gb of free storage and really affordable lifetime plans.

google docs? i don’t know her. instead, try cryptpad. I don’t have the spoons to list all the great features of this service, you just have to believe me. nothing you write there will be used to train ai and you can share it just as easily. if skiff is too limited for you and you also need stuff like sheets or forms, cryptpad is here for you. the only downside i could think of is that they don’t have a mobile app, but the site works great in a browser too.

since there is no real alternative to youtube I recommend watching your little slime videos through a streaming frontend like freetube or new pipe. besides the fact that they remove ads, they also stop google from tracking what you watch. there is a bit of functionality loss with these services, but if you just want to watch videos privately they’re great.

if you’re looking for an alternative to google photos that is secure and end to end encrypted you might want to look into stingle, although in my experience filen’s photos tab works pretty well too.

oh, also, for the love of god, stop using whatsapp, facebook messenger or instagram for messaging. just stop. signal and telegram are literally here and they’re free. spread the word, educate your friends, ask them if they really want anyone to snoop around their private conversations.

regarding browser, you know the drill. throw google chrome/edge in the trash (they really basically spyware disguised as browsers) and download either librewolf or brave. mozilla can be a great secure option too, with a bit of tinkering.

if you wanna get a vpn (and I recommend you do) be wary that some of them are scammy. do your research, read their terms and conditions, familiarise yourself with their model. if you don’t wanna do that and are willing to trust my word, go with mullvad. they don’t keep any logs. it’s 5 euros a month with no different pricing plans or other bullshit.

lastly, whatever alternative you decide on, what matters most is that you don’t keep all your data in one place. don’t trust a service to take care of your emails, documents, photos and messages. store all these things in different, trustworthy (preferably open source) places. there is absolutely no reason google has to know everything about you.

do your own research as well, don’t just trust the first vpn service your favourite youtube gets sponsored by. don’t trust random tech blogs to tell you what the best cloud storage service is — they get good money for advertising one or the other. compare shit on your own or ask a tech savvy friend to help you. you’ve got this.

[amazinglyspicy]

PIRATE SAFELY!! But pirate ;)

Hello! I’ve gotten a flood of new followers thanks to an addition I made about NOT torrenting from the Pirate Bay, so I want to address it better.

If you’ve come to check my blog for more piracy resources, advice, guides, etc, then check out some of the links in this pinned!

First and Foremost, Do not do Anything without an adblocker. Ublock Origin is the best.

Resources/Wikis: 🌟Top recommendation is the Free Media Heck Yeah Wiki, frequently updated, maintained, and transparent, as well as has a welcoming community behind it if you have questions. The rest are for redundancy's sake and for anything not found in FMHY, though most Wikis on this topic tend to repeat the same info. 🌟

VPN Comparison Chart - General Rule of Thumb, DO NOT use any VPN recommended by Youtubers, influencers, or any other shill with a profit motive. Large marketing budget does not equal good privacy practices. Do your own research.

-Since both Mullvad VPN and IVPN are planned to now suspend port forwarding support, the next best choices for torrenting though a VPN seem to be AirVPN and ProtonVPN.

HOWEVER, AirVPN has no evidence of a no logging policy (aka there’s a chance they keep records of what you do on their service) and ProtonVPN has no method of anonymously signing up and use a subscription model instead of a preferable pay-as-you-go model. So take that as you will.

(NOTE: You do not need to pay for a VPN if you are only directly downloading from a server or streaming off of websites! But it’s probably a good idea for privacy reasons anyways.)

A very good Comprehensive Torrenting Guide! -eye strain warning

And another one!

-If you torrent you need a VPN depending on how strict your government is on copyright laws. This works on a case by case basis, so I recommend looking up your own country's laws on the matter. Generally speaking, use a VPN to torrent if your country falls under The 14 Eyes Surveillance Alliance. More info on what that is Here.

A Note about Antivirus: - If you're using trusted websites, and not clicking on any ad links/fake download ads (Should be blocked by ublock), then you don't necessarily need any antivirus. Common Sense and Windows Defender should be enough to get you by. If you would like to be certain on what you are downloading is legitimate, then run your file through a virus scanner like VirusTotal. Keep in mind that when scanning cracked software some scans may flag “false positives” as the injectors used to crack the software look like malware to these scanners. Once again, the best way to avoid malware is to use trusted sites listed here and use an adblocker at all times.

If you have any questions on anything posted, need help finding things, or just need some clarification on any terms used, shoot me an ask or message! I've got a few years experience with not paying for anything I want, and LOVE to help others with this kind of stuff. But if you don't trust me, since I am a random stranger on the internet, that's fine (I wont be offended promise)! Do your own research!

INFORMATION SHOULD BE FREE!

Last updated: February 16th 2024

[errorid-mt7lt7k7unfr9ttfua5]

me when companies try to force you to use their proprietary software

anyway

Layperson resources:

firefox is an open source browser by Mozilla that makes privacy and software independence much easier. it is very easy to transfer all your chrome data to Firefox

ublock origin is The highest quality adblock atm. it is a free browser extension, and though last i checked it is available on Chrome google is trying very hard to crack down on its use

Thunderbird mail is an open source email client also by mozilla and shares many of the same advantages as firefox (it has some other cool features as well)

libreOffice is an open source office suite similar to microsoft office or Google Suite, simple enough

Risky:

VPNs (virtual private networks) essentially do a number of things, but most commonly they are used to prevent people from tracking your IP address. i would suggest doing more research. i use proton vpn, as it has a decent free version, and the paid version is powerful

note: some applications, websites, and other entities do not tolerate the use of VPNs. you may not be able to access certain secure sites while using a VPN, and logging into your personal account with some services while using a vpn *may* get you PERMANENTLY BLACKLISTED from the service on that account, ymmv

IF YOU HAVE A DECENT VPN, ANTIVIRUS, AND ADBLOCK, you can start learning about piracy, though i will not be providing any resources, as Loose Lips Sink Ships. if you want to be very safe, start with streaming sites and never download any files, though you Can learn how to discern between safe, unsafe, and risky content.

note: DO NOT SHARE LINKS TO OR NAMES OF PIRACY SITES IN PUBLIC PLACES, ESPECIALLY SOCAL MEDIA

the only time you should share these things are either in person or in (preferably peer-to-peer encrypted) PRIVATE messages

when pirated media becomes well-known and circulated on the wider, public internet, it gets taken down, because it is illegal to distribute pirated media and software

if you need an antivirus i like bitdefender. it has a free version, and is very good, though if youre using windows, windows defender is also very good and it comes with the OS

Advanced:

linux is great if you REALLY know what you're doing. you have to know a decent amount of computer science and be comfortable using the Terminal/Command Prompt to get/use linux. "Linux" refers to a large array of related open source Operating Systems. do research and pick one that suits your needs. im still experimenting with various dispos, but im leaning towards either Ubuntu Cinnamon or Debian.

[melyzard]

So in case anyone needed yet another reason to get a VPN, youtube now blocks me from seeing anything when I'm set to the USA unless I sign in ("this helps to protect our community," the little error message says). But when I switched my VPN to Germany and logged back in, nothing. Played every video I searched for, no problem. It's amazing, the difference that privacy laws and internet regulation make, no?

Anyway, get ublock origin to avoid ever seeing youtube ads again, and get a VPN (here's a list of the current recommendations, both paid and free); and while we're on the subject, here's a handy tool to download stuff either in video or audio format from youtube for free.

[knives-in-the-dishwater]

Reminder to literally everyone: You should be using a VPN. Especially if your web habits are completely inane and you have nothing to hide. Somewhere out there is (for example) a woman trying to research how to get an abortion in a state where it's illegal, and she needs the net traffic of "upstanding citizens" so that she can safely get "lost in the crowd". Because if criminal activities are the only thing coming out of a VPN, the powers-that-be can justify pulling the plug on the whole thing. Be the smokescreen that hides the vulnerable. Use a VPN.

[netscapenavigator-official]

Reddit has a lot of nerve putting this cringe bullshit in front of you for using a VPN when you can literally just replace the “www.reddit.com” with “libreddit.eu.org” and see everything you need in a simpler, cleaner, mobile friendly, ad-free environment.

And bonus: you can use the LibRedirect browser extension to do it automatically for you, meaning you’ll never have to see the pop-up (or the Reddit main site) ever again.

[nerdylilpeebee]

Thinking of getting a VPN, finally. Is Nord VPN any good, or is it one of those... "YouTubers are endorsing it, but it's actually stealing your data" kinda VPNs?

[itsscottiesstark]

HAPPY DAVID-WINNING-BAFTA SUNDAY!

For those of you that want to watch the ceremony (like myself), it starts at 7pm BST and you can watch it live on BBC iPLAYER.

Iiiiif you're not in the UK, I gotchu. Download "hide.me VPN" for free on any device you want, turn it on just before opening the iPLAYER and you're done!

Thank you @crowazira for the VPN.

I swear this is not an ad, lol. 😂

Tune in and let's all enjoy our boy winning his first BAFTA for Male Performance in a Comedy.

[cninzihni]

VPN ile Erişim Sorunu Çözmek

Selamlar arkadaşlar, başka bir amme hizmetiyle karşınızdayım jkgşdkfdgd VPN (Virtual Private Network / Sanal Özel Ağ) lokasyon vb verilerinizi gizleyerek sizi farklı bir noktadan bağlanıyor gibi gösteren, aslında sürekli kullanmamız gereken, veri gizliliği açısından çok önemli bir şey. (Tabi ücretli olanları sürekli kullanılması gereken ama bu başka bir yazının konusu) Gündemde bu alakasız gelişen IG erişim engeli varken, başka engeller de uzak bir ihtimal değilken bunu nasıl aşabileceğinizi çok kısa bir şekilde anlatayım. Kurulum şeması aslında temel olarak aynı. Herhangi bir uygulamayı kurar gibi kurduktan sonra VPN profili kurmak için izin isteyecek ve onu onaylayacaksınız. Sonra puff, çalışıyoor. Ücretsizler arasında en iyi VPNlerden biri olan Cloudflare Warp / 1.1.1.1 adlı VPN'i kullanacağıs. Linklerini aşağıya ekleyeceğim ama kendi sitesini de ekleyeyim şüphesi olan eden olursa diye. Cloudflare Warp Website Android Uygulama İOS Uygulama (Windows, Mac ve Linux için de programlar var, kendi websitelerinde linki bulunuyor.) Sorun yaşayan bu post altına yazabilir, yardımcı olmaya çalışırım. Sevgileer.

[adrl-pt]

Saving Activist Andrey Gnyot. VPN Protest. Charity Lecture by a Political Philosopher.

You are watching the news from the weekly rally at the Russian Embassy in Lisbon. Today is August 24, 2:30 PM.

Since the end of last week, Belarusian and Russian activists have been holding a protest demanding that Belarusian activist Andrey Gnyot not be extradited to dictator Lukashenko. On August 21, Andrey and his lawyers shared the details of his case on the European Radio channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-upcgkIwWSA

On August 25 at 2 PM, we will gather in front of the Serbian Embassy in Lisbon at Rua de Alcolena 11. https://www.facebook.com/events/1043644033328903/

If you cannot come, please take photos with posters and send them to us at info@adrl.pt.

Sign and share the petition that could help Andrey in the Serbian court. https://www.peticije.online/slobodazaandreja

Also, support the fundraising for his legal defense. https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-andrey-gnyot-save-his-life

We believe it is important to support Andrey because we understand the problems that dictator Lukashenko creates for Belarusians. Recently, with great difficulty, the rock band Bi-2 was saved from deportation to Russia. https://www.change.org/p/thailand-free-bi-2-rock-band

Currently, Russian citizen Vladislav Arinichev is under threat of deportation from Croatia. The reason is that Putin labeled him a "terrorist" and "extremist" for his anti-war statements. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU2JQ9NArqo

In April, Novaya Gazeta Evropa reported that Rosfinmonitoring is adding both people suspected of terrorist activities and, for example, employees of an Orenburg gay bar in a case about the alleged "extremist LGBT movement" to this list. This list already contains more than 14,000 people, including well-known journalists, politicians, and theater figures. https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2024/04/02/s-nachala-2024-goda-spisok-terroristov-i-ekstremistov-rosfinmonitoringa-popolnilsia-na-rekordnye-669-chelovek-17-iz-nikh-nesovershennoletnie-news

Back in 2018, Novaya Gazeta reported how law enforcement agencies find "extremism" in social media posts. https://novayagazeta.ru/articles/2018/08/21/77560-etot-spisok-grazhdanskaya-smert

In the Freedom House Internet Freedom Rating, Russia ranks fifth from the bottom, while Belarus is seventh. https://freedomhouse.org/countries/freedom-net/scores?sort=asc&order=Total%20Score%20and%20Status

On August 23, the director of the "Internet Protection Society" Mikhail Klimarev reported disruptions in the work of Telegram, WhatsApp, and Viber. https://t.me/zatelecom/28739

On July 26, he shared two working methods for bypassing the blocks and slowdowns of YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbTGhCYFIsY

These are the Ceno Browser and VPN generator. https://censorship.no/ru/download.html https://t.me/vpngeneratorbot/?start=BrSh2607

The Telegram channel "Tech Talk" published a link on how to purchase Amnezia VPN while bypassing the blocking of their main site. https://t.me/ru_tech_talk/543

They also provided instructions on how to connect MTProxy, which helped with Telegram blocking in 2018. https://t.me/ru_tech_talk/544

While Russians are protesting by installing VPNs, Ukrainian journalist Yuriy Butusov burned the files of Russian draft dodgers at the Sudzha military registration and enlistment office, calling them "smart people." One of the comments under this video reads: "One Ukrainian soldier helped these people more than their native Russia." https://www.youtube.com/shorts/qaeEidnquCE

On August 27 at 7 PM, we will hold a charity lecture on what a revolutionary situation is. The lecture will be given by political philosopher Ilya Budraitskis. We recommend registering using the phone number listed on the poster so that we can better understand how many viewers will attend. https://www.facebook.com/events/1021147643042506/

We are holding this event as part of our regular support for the Netherlands Orphans Feeding Foundation, which works to return stolen Ukrainian children. If you can't come, please make a donation from home. https://www.every.org/orphans-feeding-foundation/f/help-us-return-the-deported

Proofs and links are in the description. Subscribe and help!

[atlaheritageposts]

Atla vpn collab when

These children have enough problems, we should spare them the lack of privacy on the internet.

[the-trash-phrog]

Ough these FREAKS‼️

[ go read @donttouchmeillkillyou NOW 🗣🗣🔊]

[para-dweller]

Privacy is in a terrible situation right now.

Especially on the internet. You know, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter(X), Apple, and even Tumblr all collect information about you to show you scarily accurate advertisements among other things.

Why does this matter?

This isn't about hiding information, it's about protecting information. You wouldn't let me know your entire life, your diary, all your photos and text messages, so why do you let random companies do the same?

Privacy Guides - Why Privacy Matters

So how do you stop this?

You can't. But you can lessen this. So I'm going to show you a non-exhaustive list of what I've used and what I know of that may help your privacy. I would recommend you go to privacyguides.org after if you want a better explanation. I'm just here to show you cool things.

Disclaimer

I am not a library on this sort of information and this is what I choose to use. I may be incorrect and you may have differing opinions. Also, this may be too extreme for everybody. Use what works for you. Again, I would recommend you go to privacyguides.org after you read this for a more in-depth and better explanation.

VPNs

You know what a VPN is. You've seen the sponsorships. VPNs are one of the most popular privacy tools, but know that they are not the only tool that you'd need. This list is evidence of that.

I would recommend Proton VPN, Mullvad, and IVPN for most users, as they provide a far better amount of privacy and features than VPNs such as Nord VPN, Surfshark, and Express VPN. If you really want unlimited devices go with Windscribe.

I personally use Proton VPN due to the fact that I use their other services.

Browsers

You should probably know that Google Chrome is basically spyware at this point. The issue here is, almost all Chromium-based browsers are. These include, Edge, Opera, and Vivaldi. The only real exception would be Brave, but they've got leadership issues, which may not be a deal breaker for you.

So what do you use? A Firefox-based browser. This obviously includes Firefox, but most Firefox-based browsers are privacy-focused. The browsers that I recommend are Firefox, Librewolf, the Mullvad Browser, Waterfox, and Brave.

There is also the Tor Browser, but that is a whole 'nother can of worms that I will not go into. All I will say is that if you are in a high-risk environment(such as an oppressive regime) or you need absolutely no one to know that you searched that one thing, you may want to use the browser for anonymity.

I use Firefox as my main browser, with Brave as the browser that I use if something doesn't work on Firefox. I also use Tor if it is a high-risk situation.

Search Engines

Google, Bing, and Yahoo! all log your searches, you need alternatives. This is relatively straight-forward.

I recommend, Qwant, DuckDuckGo, SearXNG, Brave Search, and Startpage. Both Qwant and DuckDuckGo are fairly similar as they both use Bing search results and say that they don't track you. SearXNG is more complex, and I will not go into detail here. If you really want Google search results, use Startpage. And if you don't want your search to rely on Bing or Google, use Brave Search.

I use Qwant, mainly just cause its European.

Passwords

Passwords are the keys to your digital life. And most of the time they're not that great. You know the drill here, make passwords like this- XmaE7PEj2hq9ed$w - but you can't really remember them. For that you need a password manager.

I recommend Bitwarden, Proton Pass, and KeepassXC. Bitwarden and Proton Pass are more convenient, but you are trusting a single entity, reputable ones, but still. KeepassXC isn't as convienent, but you have near full control over what happens to it.

I use Proton Pass, as I use other Proton services.

Email

Email is identity, you almost always use your email in order to register for sites like Tumblr, and sites that aren't anything like Tumblr. Companies like Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo! all use your email inbox in order to gain more information about you for their companies. There are quite a few email providers, but I've only used and recommend two.

I recommend Proton Mail and Tuta Mail. Both are good email providers, although Proton would be better if you use other Proton services, like I do.

I use both Proton Mail and Tuta Mail for separate email addresses.

Aliases

Email Aliases are also very important for private email. Your email is your name, if you want to private, you'd go under pseudonyms. That's what email aliases are.

I recommend and have used Simplelogin and Firefox Relay. Email providers like Proton and Tuta also give you aliases when you pay. I don't know how well these work, but I assume that they work the Same as Simplelogin and Firefox Relay.

I use Simplelogin.

Devices/OSes

Phones

Now let's turn up the extremity to 11 as we look at your devices. Phone-wise, avoid Apple, they say that they care about your privacy, but they don't. Apple is better than Google, but I'd only recommend using an iPhone if you already have one, and it still has support left. If that's the case, then follow privacy guides like this one by Techlore(His channel is also really great for privacy guides). You should probably use a Google Pixel. Sounds weird as it's owned by GOOGLE, one of the companies that we don't want to be tracked by, but if we go with the Pixels we can use custom ROMs.

Most ROMs exist for your privacy, they are based on the Android Open Source Project(AOSP) which means they can run most of your favourite Android apps without messing them up with Google. In order to run most of your apps however, you're going to need some way of running Google Play Services. This is a backbone black-box that Google forces most of your apps to use in order to function. CalyxOS and LineageOS with MicroG both have MicroG, an open source implementation of Google Play Services. GrapheneOS just straight up uses Google Play Services but sandboxes it so that it can't get its tentacles all up in your phone.

I recommend going like this:

You have a modern-ish Google Pixel phone, go with GrapheneOS.

You don't have a Google Pixel, but your phone is still supported by CalyxOS, go with CalyxOS.

Your phone isn't supported by either of these but still is supported by LineageOS with MicroG, go with LineageOS.

Your phone isn't supported by any of these, you can do as much degoogling as you can.

Techlore also has a fantastic guide on Android Privacy.

Desktops/Laptops

Apple isn't actually that bad here, its better than Windows at least. But Linux is KING when it comes to privacy and security. There is definitely a learning curve here. Pin the terminal, you're going to use it a LOT. Also be aware that on Linux you won't have every single app that you're used to. If you don't really want that hassle, just go with Mac.

Linux distros that I recommend(for beginners) are: Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Pop!_OS, and Elementary OS.

I use Ubuntu as it's the only one that I could get working on my computer.

Other Pieces of Advice

Use an Ad-blocker! Ads are terrible for privacy as companies can get their trackers in completely unrelated sites via their ads. I use and recommend uBlock Origin.

Don't use any personally identifying information online. Don't use your real name, a picture of you, your voice. The less you give to the internet, the more private you are.

Mix and Match! Explore what works for you. You might be okay with changing OSes but you might be a bit too reliant on GMail. That's fine! Just use what works.

Again, please go to privacyguides.org after this. This did not even scratch the surface but I hope this was useful to you in some way.