Privacy Guides

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In the digital age, protecting your personal information might seem like an impossible task. We’re here to help.

This is a community for sharing news about privacy, posting information about cool privacy tools and services, and getting advice about your privacy journey.


You can subscribe to this community from any Kbin or Lemmy instance:

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Check out our website at privacyguides.org before asking your questions here. We've tried answering the common questions and recommendations there!

Want to get involved? The website is open-source on GitHub, and your help would be appreciated!


This community is the "official" Privacy Guides community on Lemmy, which can be verified here. Other "Privacy Guides" communities on other Lemmy servers are not moderated by this team or associated with the website.


Moderation Rules:

  1. We prefer posting about open-source software whenever possible.
  2. This is not the place for self-promotion if you are not listed on privacyguides.org. If you want to be listed, make a suggestion on our forum first.
  3. No soliciting engagement: Don't ask for upvotes, follows, etc.
  4. Surveys, Fundraising, and Petitions must be pre-approved by the mod team.
  5. Be civil, no violence, hate speech. Assume people here are posting in good faith.
  6. Don't repost topics which have already been covered here.
  7. News posts must be related to privacy and security, and your post title must match the article headline exactly. Do not editorialize titles, you can post your opinions in the post body or a comment.
  8. Memes/images/video posts that could be summarized as text explanations should not be posted. Infographics and conference talks from reputable sources are acceptable.
  9. No help vampires: This is not a tech support subreddit, don't abuse our community's willingness to help. Questions related to privacy, security or privacy/security related software and their configurations are acceptable.
  10. No misinformation: Extraordinary claims must be matched with evidence.
  11. Do not post about VPNs or cryptocurrencies which are not listed on privacyguides.org. See Rule 2 for info on adding new recommendations to the website.
  12. General guides or software lists are not permitted. Original sources and research about specific topics are allowed as long as they are high quality and factual. We are not providing a platform for poorly-vetted, out-of-date or conflicting recommendations.

Additional Resources:

founded 1 year ago
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/23512234

A new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) report confirms what EFF has been warning about for years: tech giants are widely harvesting and sharing your personal information to fuel their online behavioral advertising businesses.

Report: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/09/ftc-staff-report-finds-large-social-media-video-streaming-companies-have-engaged-vast-surveillance

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Hi, my wife decided to create a new email for our newborn daughter which my wife would use to send updates to our relatives about what is going on in our daughter life. My wife is using gmail, I do use proton. She has created a new gmail account but I have asked her to reconsider and to create a new account on proton privacy wise. What arguments would you use for my case? Thanks.

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A privacy flaw in WhatsApp, an instant messenger with over 2 billion users worldwide, is being exploited by attackers to bypass the app's "View once" feature and view messages again.

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publication croisée depuis : https://lemmy.pierre-couy.fr/post/653426

This is a guide I wrote for Immich's documentation. It features some Immich specific parts, but should be quite easy to adapt to other use cases.

It is also possible (and not technically hard) to self-host a protomaps release, but this would require 100GB+ of disk space (which I can't spare right now). The main advantages of this guide over hosting a full tile server are :

  • it's a single nginx config file to deploy
  • it saves you some storage space since you're only hosting tiles you've previously viewed. You can also tweak the maximum cache size to your needs
  • it is easy to configure a trade-off between map freshness and privacy by tweaking the cache expiration delay

If you try to follow it, please send me some feedback on the content and the wording, so I can improve it

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cross-posted from: https://links.hackliberty.org/post/2496422

This survey was conducted among 5,101 U.S. adults from May 15 to 21, 2023

% say they are concerned about how ... use(s) the data they collect about them

  • Companies: 81%
  • The government: 71%

% say they have little to no understanding about what ... do(es) with the data they collect about them

  • Companies: 67%
  • The government: 77%

% say they have very little or no trust at all that leaders of social media companies will

  • Publicly admit mistakes and take responsibility when they misuse or compromises users' personal data: 77%
  • Not sell users' personal data to others without their consent: 76%
  • Be held accountable by the government if they misuse or compromise users' personal data: 71%

% say that as companies use AI to collect and analyze personal information, this information will be used in ways that ...

  • People would not be comfortable with: 81%
  • Were not originally intended: 80%
  • Could make people's lives easier: 62%

% say that when they think about managing their privacy online, they ...

  • Trust themselves to make the right decisions about their personal information: 78%
  • Feel skeptical that anything they do will make much difference: 61%
  • Feel overwhelmed by figuring out what they need to do: 37%
  • Feel privacy is not that big of a deal to them: 29%
  • Are confident those who have access to their personal information will do what is right: 21%

% say they ... agree to online privacy policies right away, without reading what the policies say

  • Always, almost always or often: 56%
  • Sometimes: 22%
  • Rarely or never: 18%
  • No answer: 4%

Please read the report for a more in-depth look at the data and analysis!

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Just wondered how others promote threat awareness for friends, family, co-workers, and clients.

Every few weeks I email a half dozen employees & family members explaining one or other phishing attempt I've seen, just to keep it in peoples minds.

I heard someone else talking about a kind of email pen-testing service you can sign up for and they send scammy emails to see if the recipient falls for it. Seems like a great idea but only viable for me if it's very cheap.

I could link to something on privacyguides.org in my email footer but I think that's just virtue signalling more than anything actually useful.

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The spies in your home: How WiFi companies monitor your private life

https://proton.me/blog/wifi-surveillance

@privacyguides

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/26747543

The post is in the link, the article with more background info is here (it cites the mastodon post): https://www.androidauthority.com/custom-roms-vs-google-3469378/

I originally saw the article on this post on !android@lemdro.id and went looking for links.

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I find that I need a security camera for my back yard. Do you folks recommend any particular makes & models? It should avoid the cloud but record locally. I'm somewhat handy with Linux and a RaspberryPi, if that helps.

Thanks!

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/26065429

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?

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We're happy to announce that BusKill is presenting at DEF CON 32.

What: Open Hardware Design for BusKill Cord
When: 2024-08-10 12:00 - 13:45
Where: W303 – Third Floor – LVCC West Hall

BusKill goes to DEF CON 32 (Engage)
BusKill is presenting at DEF CON 32

via @Goldfishlaser@lemmy.ml

What is BusKill?

BusKill is a laptop kill-cord. It's a USB cable with a magnetic breakaway that you attach to your body and connect to your computer.

What is BusKill? (Explainer Video)
Watch the BusKill Explainer Video for more info youtube.com/v/qPwyoD_cQR4

If the connection between you to your computer is severed, then your device will lock, shutdown, or shred its encryption keys -- thus keeping your encrypted data safe from thieves that steal your device.

What is DEF CON?

DEF CON is a yearly hacker conference in Las Vegas, USA.

DEF CON Documentary
Watch the DEF CON Documentary for more info youtube.com/watch?v=3ctQOmjQyYg

What is BusKill presenting at DEF CON?

I (goldfishlaser) will be presenting Open Hardware Design for BusKill Cord in a Demo Lab at DEF CON 32.

What: Open Hardware Design for BusKill Cord
When: Sat Aug 10 12PM – 1:45PM
Where: W303 – Third Floor – LVCC West Hall

Who: Melanie Allen (goldfishlaser) More info

Talk Description

BusKill is a Dead Man Switch triggered when a magnetic breakaway is tripped, severing a USB connection. I’ve written OpenSCAD code that creates a 3D printable file for plastic parts needed to create the magnetic breakaway. Should anyone need to adjust this design for variations of components, the code is parameterized allowing for easy customization. To assemble a BusKill Dead Man Switch cord you will need:

  1. a usb-a extension cord,
  2. a usb hard drive capable of being attached to a carabiner,
  3. a carabiner,
  4. the plastic pieces in this file,
  5. a usb female port,
  6. a usb male,
  7. 4 magnets,
  8. 4 pogo pins,
  9. 4 pogo receptors,
  10. wire,
  11. 8 screws,
  12. and BusKill software.
Image of the Golden BusKill decoupler with the case off
Golden DIY BusKill Print

Full BOM, glossary, and assembly instructions are included in the github repository. The room holds approx. 70 attendees seated. I’ll be delivering 3 x 30 min presentations – with some tailoring to what sort of audience I get each time.

Meet Me @ DEF CON

If you'd like to find me and chat, I'm also planning to attend:

  • ATL Meetup (DCG Atlanta Friday: 16:00 – 19:00 | 236),
  • Hacker Kareoke (Friday and Sat 20:00-21:00 | 222),
  • Goth Night (Friday: 21:00 – 02:00 | 322-324),
  • QueerCon Mixer (Saturday: 16:00-18:00 | Chillout 2),
  • EFF Trivia (Saturday: 17:30-21:30 | 307-308), and
  • Jack Rysider’s Masquerade (Saturday: 21:00 – 01:00 | 325-327)

I hope to print many fun trinkets for my new friends, including some BusKill keychains.

Image shows a collection of 3D-printed bottle openers and whistles that say "BusKill"
Come to my presentation @ DEF CON for some free BusKill swag

By attending DEF CON, I hope to make connections and find collaborators. I hope during the demo labs to find people who will bring fresh ideas to the project to make it more effective.

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cross-posted from: https://discuss.tchncs.de/post/18038249

Are thwre guides, tutorials or similar on how to use Steam more privately?

I'm at a point where I'd like to play certain games, but I dislike that they're exclusively available on consoles and Steam for Desktop. Steam's Privacy Policy and Terms of Service raise concerns about my personal security and privacy. I'm looking for advice on how to improve my privacy while using Steam.

Thank you in advance!

(I will use Steam on Linux)

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Does anyone know about the legality of removing the built-in sim cards from your car, specifically in Australia?

I don't intend on using any car smart-features when I get one. For context, I've never owned a car. When I do get one though, I intend to remove the sim card to prevent the car's location from being constantly tracked. All I care about in terms a cars functionality is a radio, a CD drive (Yes, I use CD's), and Bluetooth audio, so I don't think removing the sim card should affect this much, if at all. Any knowledge and advice would be appreciated, thankyou!

Update: What I was referring to is an eSim, which appears not to be in the form of a physical card. Even so, if possible, I would like to disable the functionality of this eSim assuming the car I purchase has one in-built. From my research, I cannot find anything that explicitly forbids disabling or removing Sims.

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Hi guys!

Today I use Mullvad VPN on my Pixel 8 but unfortunately Mullvad team didn't enable multihop feature to use on Android app.

Use WireGuard official app and importing wireguard key file is a good approach to have multihop feature enable on Android?

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/17061827

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submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by hellfire103@lemmy.ca to c/privacyguides@lemmy.one
 
 

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/22775470

I'm looking to buy a router for home use, on which I plan to install OpenWRT. After some research, I have come across the TP-LINK Archer AX23, which checks all of the boxes I have:

  • [x] Comparatively low price

  • [x] Supports WPA3

  • [x] Supported by OpenWRT

  • [x] Has at least three LAN ports

However, before I and my dad go and buy one, it has to pass the final test: the forums.

Has anyone used this router before? What was your experience? Can I do better, or have I found the best router ever made? Please share your thoughts.

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I'm asking for Android specifically, but I'm curious what else is out there.

For example, some apps work without internet but may use it if it's available. I might want to block that without having to turn off wifi, force stopping it, and wiping the cache/data.

Similarly, maybe I only want to use the app over a VPN and want to prevent accidentally opening it without first turning the VPN on.

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