#privacy

Returning from vacation? The government can search your phone without a warrant.

Federal Surveillance Tech Becomes Mandatory in New Cars by 2027 cross-posted from: discuss.online/post/38803374 I can’t. I just can’t.

Hello. This is the account for Mise, a privacy focused browser I have been building, mostly for my own daily use. It has workspace isolation, a built in ad blocker, tab hibernation, split view, a PDF reader, dark mode, and a userscript engine among other things. Close to a 1.0 release now. Happy to answer questions, and always interested in which sites trip the fingerprint protections if anyone runs into that. https://rakosn1cek.github.io/Mise-browser/ #Introduction #FOSS #OpenSource #Privacy #Electron #Linux

Such a great day yesterday at the very first Fair Tech Summit! 🌍✨ We finally got to meet our friends from @shiftphones@mastodon.social who shared one of the conference’s most important messages: open source needs more collaboration! 🤝💻 Many thanks to @murena@mastodon.social for organising this inspiring event! 🙌 #FairTech #OpenSource #Collaboration #Privacy #NovaCustom

As I warned about months ago now, I can confirm that Google Chrome's #AI API is now actively being used for device fingerprinting and tracking purposes. Out of 100 of the top global english language content sites - around 30% are actively using the API for fingerprinting, Google Advertising (profiling) or both) without the legally required consent (EU law). #Privacy

The UK social media ban is coming. That means every adult having to show their ID to get online. Age verification puts privacy at risk. Curbs freedom of expression. And simply doesn't work to keep kids safe online. The government needs to change course. But the clock is ticking. Sign the petition ⬇️ https://action.openrightsgroup.org/say-no-id-online-access #ageverification #privacy #freedomofexpression #onlinesafety #socialmediaban #ukpolitics #ukpol #digitalrights

Would you say, it is worth it to pay for a VPS for Pangolin? Hey, I am currently paying 5,50€ a month for a Hetzner VPS to selfhost a Pangolin instance. I’ve come to quite rely on Pangolin, because I have to access all of my selfhosted services from my home server from remote. That’s because I have to keep my server at home (while I live in a student dorm, which doesn’t allow using their network to host servers). Also their authentication and private resources are really good for security and exposing ssh and other stuff from my home server to authenticated clients. Anyway, I like this setup, because it is fully FOSS and I have 100% control of what my VPS does. It is really expensive though and I am trying to reduce my monthly expenses right now. I saw online, that you can get a free managed instance of Pangolin on their website (https://pangolin.net/pricing Cloud). It would meet all my needs, but I wouldn’t be 1. Fully FOSS (because they probably run the business licensed version of their software) and 2. I wouldn’t have full control. These services work by managing all the https certs themselves, so the have to decrypt all their traffic and send it through the tunnel to your server. Theoretically, Pangolin could log all my traffic to and from my server, which would be a huge privacy risk. But probably they’re not, because that would be really impractical…? I don’t know. Do you think, it would be worth the privacy tradeoff for the cost savings?

WebBrain – open-source AI browser agent that can run entirely on a local LLM (no telemetry, no account) I built WebBrain because most AI sidebar extensions send every page you look at to someone else’s servers. How it handles privacy: Point it at llama.cpp, Ollama, LM Studio, vLLM etc. on your own machine and no page content leaves it No telemetry, no tracking, no account needed Read-only “Ask” mode is the default; the agent has to be switched to “Act” to click or type, and it asks before consequential actions GPL-3.0, so all of this is auditable It’s a Chrome/Edge/Brave/Firefox extension. Cloud models (OpenAI, Claude, OpenRouter…) are optional, bring-your-own-key. Happy to answer questions, and I’d appreciate critique of the threat model — especially around giving an agent access to a logged-in browser.

Fennec on graphene wants me to install unified push. Should I? Like the title says. Stated getting this notification every time I open fennec. The push service application is no longer available. It may have been uninstalled. Please re-inable UnifiedPush. Is this something I should do or is there a way to turn this off?

Private Smartwatch? I’m a privacy focused individual, I run GrapheneOS on my phone & self-host as much of my tech stacks to avoid sharing info with. I’m looking for recommendations of smartwatches that align with the ideals of this community. What watch do you use? What do you recommend?

"Nothing to hide" doesn't mean "everything to share." 🔒 Take control of your digital life and reclaim your privacy with #OpenSource alternatives: 💻 OS: #Linux 📱 MobileOS: #GrapheneOS 💬 Social & Chat: #Mastodon , #Pixelfed , #Loops , #SimpleX , #Deltachat 📧 Core Workspace: @Tutanota@mastodon.social for E2E encrypted mail, calendar, and contacts (with an E2EE drive on the way!) #Privacy #DigitalSovereignty #FOSS #Fediverse

Hoeveel lekken de websites van onze politieke partijen over hun bezoekers? Ik heb vanochtend de homepages van 15 Kamerpartijen door mijn Lektest gehaald. Netjes: PvdD (100), Volt en FVD (98). Lekt het meest: PRO (47) en CDA (48). Daar gaan trackers al vóór toestemming de deur uit, bij PRO zelfs nog na weigeren. Momentopname van alleen de homepage. Test zelf: https://snelle.tools/lektest #privacy #AVG #politiek #TweedeKamer

Pet Privacy (Is this the gobermint?)

When a health care provider asks consent for them to use AI to transcribe the visit, you decline, and they respond with "we might not have as much time". That's not consent, that's coercion. My access to medical care shouldn't be conditional on my consent to have inaccurate medical records that violate patient privacy. #HealthCare #Ontario #AI #Privacy

Privacy-conscious cycling computer / activity trackers? I’m looking for privacy-conscious options for a cycling computer or possibly a wearable fitness tracker. Recording activities has become sort of a journal for me. I like being able to look up when I did a particular ride/hike, or how long it took, where I hit a max speed, whether or how often I’ve taken a certain road, etc. I also like seeing basic metrics like average speed/distance/time YTD, year over year, or for specific date ranges. I do track heart rate and time in zones, but would be willing to let that go. I never wear a wearable 24/7 and don’t track sleep/hydration/stationary workouts. I’ve been using Garmin devices for years, and really like them for ease of use - getting all of my data into one place “just happens automatically” and is available for further analysis. But, I don’t like that that one place is, well, Garmin, not to mention that their supporting and data visualization apps are completely enshittified at this point. Three alternatives spring to mind: go back to a “dumb” computer (maybe not such a bad thing!) keep my Garmin devices but take them offline - mount them as USB and copy the files locally use a phone-based app like CoMaps Are there any good alternatives out there? Maybe even an all-in-one platform like Garmin, but where the company really puts privacy front-and-center… or platforms that facilitate storing data locally? Thanks!

EU ID App for Minors: EU Commission Gets Serious About Youth Protection Commission President von der Leyen announces a ready solution for age verification that will enable anonymous surfing and hold platforms accountable. The era of non-binding appeals to large tech corporations seems to be over in Brussels. In a joint statement on Wednesday, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) and Vice-President Henna Virkkunen, responsible for tech sovereignty, gave the green light for a new era of digital youth protection. The core of the offensive is a Europe-wide app for age verification, already tested by several countries, which, according to von der Leyen, is now technically ready and will be available to citizens shortly. The Commission is thus reacting to concerns about risks such as online bullying, addiction factors due to algorithmic design, and cyber-grooming, which involves approaching children and adolescents online. The Commission President’s diagnosis is grim: one in six children is bullied online. Furthermore, social media promotes addiction through endless scrolling, which can impair brain development. Since platforms have so far been unable to provide effective mechanisms to protect minors from harmful content, the EU is taking matters into its own hands. The new app is intended to enable users to prove their age to online services without revealing their entire digital identity. Data Protection to the Highest Standard Technically, the project is based on the digital Covid certificate. As with the pandemic companion, the Commission relies on a model that works on smartphones, tablets, and computers. After downloading, the app is set up once with an identification document. Special attention is paid to privacy. Von der Leyen emphasized: The application meets “the world’s highest data protection standards.” Age is verified without revealing further personal information. The app is “completely anonymous – users cannot be traced.” The application is based on Zero-Knowledge Proof. This cryptographic principle makes it possible to prove the correctness of information – in this case, reaching a certain age – without revealing the underlying data itself. This is intended to preserve informational self-determination. Platforms only receive confirmation of being “old enough” without having to scan the ID. Austria’s age control already relies on this procedure. Enforcement of the DSA and EU Shoulder-to-Shoulder The initiative is closely linked to the enforcement of the Digital Services Act (DSA). Virkkunen made it clear that the Commission is already taking action against companies like TikTok, Facebook, or Instagram for addictive designs. Measures have also been initiated against pornographic platforms, as they often do not use functional age controls. The new application now removes the excuse for corporations that there is no simple technical solution. Countries like France, Italy, and Ireland are considered pioneers and plan to integrate the app into their national digital wallets. To avoid patchwork, Virkkunen intends to establish an EU-wide coordination mechanism for the accreditation of national solutions this month. The source code of the app is openly accessible as part of the EUDI digital citizen identity to build trust and facilitate integration into company solutions, for example. In Germany, an expert panel will initially develop recommendations for child safety online.

Big tech is not inevitable, there is no conveyor belt to enshitification. There is always a choice. Civil servants - politicians - just need to make the right one. Civil servants like Torgeir Micaelsen, Norway’s minister of digital affairs: "We do not want a society where people worry about being recorded without their knowledge, photographed or filmed in places and situations where they are accustomed to not being monitored" https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/05/norway-temporary-ban-smart-glasses-public-places #privacy

"Calling Flock a ‘weapon of mass inspection,’ Wyden backs Oregon ban effort" https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2026/10/calling-flock-a-weapon-of-mass-inspection-wyden-backs-oregon-ban-effort.html?gift=13549e14-d950-48d7-8d64-1effc9d3b63f "A bipartisan effort in the Oregon Legislature to ban Flock cameras and similar devices statewide has received support from Democratic U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden and the Oregon chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union." #Oregon #Flock #Surveillance #Cameras #Privacy #Wyden #ACLU

McDonalds and Corporate Surveillance | IT'S HAPPENING... | The Hated One Predictive surveillance is here and it’s near impossible to escape. My independent research cannot happen if you don’t support me: / thehatedone What if I told you that McDonald’s has a 500-page-long dossier of your personal life? A dossier that doesn’t just contain information about what you ate the restaurant but one where the company has followed you everywhere on the web? Where it tracked down your social media posts and spied on you from inside third party apps on your phone? It’s a personal file on you individually with your name, address and everything that identifies you and your movements. And it’s not just a historical record of what you did. It’s a list of predictions McDonald’s made about what they think you’ll do in the future. If this doesn’t sound real or too much like from a dystopian SciFi novel, all you need to do is to visit McDonald’s Privacy policy website and request your very own copy of every piece of data McDonald’s holds on you. If you are a resident of California or any member state under the European GDPR law, you can get access to your very own Minority Report. Not only is all of this real. The true scale and depth of the new age of AI corporate surveillance goes far beyond what we previously thought was even imaginable. McDonald’s isn’t alone in this new surveillance scheme and in fact, they probably weren’t compiling these records all by themselves. They could’ve been helped by what is now a secret AI industry that is doing something behind closed doors that nobody has any inkling about. They are collecting information on hundreds of millions of people with a new purpose. Not for targeted advertising. They don’t run any ads. Not for personalized experience either. They don’t have any users. What they do with all that data is to give every individual person a secret “consumer score”. It’s a hidden rating that can determine everything from how long you’ll be put on hold during a customer service call, what offers you get or what rewards you’ll receive from a loyalty program. A retailer can use your score to fix prices you pay or products you see. Airliners use these scores to choose who gets a seat upgrade. Credit card companies can use these consumer scores to decide if they want to make you a counter-offer if you want to cancel your card. Edit sources fixed thanks to @HelloRoot@lemy.lol Sources [0] wired.com/…/mcdonalds-built-a-515-page-dossier-on… [1] …mcdonalds.com/…/MCD 2025 Annual Report.pdf [2] nytimes.com/…/secret-consumer-score-access.html [3] nytimes.com/…/secret-consumer-score-access.html [4] wsj.com/…/on-hold-for-45-minutes-it-might-be-your… [5] nytimes.com/…/electronic-scores-rank-consumers-by… [6] pbs.org/…/personalized-pricing-has-spread-across-… [7] www.wsj.com/…/personalized-pricing-ban-9c0d92a9 [8] www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/privacy.html [9] …msu.edu/who-goes-there-a-new-whole-body-biometri… [10] technologyreview.com/…/how-a-new-type-of-ai-is-he… [11] arxiv.org/abs/2306.17206 [12] huffpost.com/…/malte-spitzs-ted-talk_n_1701775 [13] ted.com/…/malte_spitz_your_phone_company_is_watch… [14] edition.cnn.com/2022/12/02/china/…/index.html [15] cdn.vanderbilt.edu/vu-URL/…/The-Loyalty-Trap.pdf [16] futurism.com/…/reddit-breaks-mobile-website-downl… [17] morningstar.com/…/employers-are-using-your-person… [18] marketwatch.com/…/employers-are-using-your-person… [19] ft.com/…/b127ee7a-5ac4-4730-a395-c9f9619615c7 [20] futurism.com/…/tech-billionaires-city-startups

Europeans/EU Citizens! Update on the EU Kids Act: The EU Commission has opened up the submission form for feedback on the bill. Let them know how much you don't want this! Let them know how much harm this bill will do to civil rights and economic stability! It's better to try and fail then to roll over and take it! https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/19418 P.S. And as always, mail/call your MEPs and other relevant government officials! #Privacy #Censorship #FreeSpeech #DigitalRights #SocialMedia #EUKidsAct #EU #EuropeanUnion #AgeVerification