this post was submitted on 12 Nov 2024
261 points (99.2% liked)

Privacy

31939 readers
710 users here now

A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.

Some Rules

Related communities

Chat rooms

much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 17 points 14 hours ago

anyone dunking on the article, this is pretty far away from a how-to-lilst; it's more of a "think about these things if you haven't up until now" and as such a net positive. wrong community for it, though.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 day ago (3 children)

I doubt somebody running from a government is taking their tips from wired.com

[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I read through the whole list, and monero was the only decent privacy recomendation I could find. Everything else was US-hosted. A lot of it was just recommendations from Apple and Google on "privacy" services they offer.

No mention of syncthing, matrix, xmpp, even with sections dedicated to those categories.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I read that monero is different from other cryptocurrencies and makes it harder to identify the individual to/from whom a transaction in is sent

What is the difference and why do other cryptocurrencies not implement it?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 23 hours ago

The core focus of early crypto was decentralization, not anonymity. Bitcoin is totally decentralized, but the entire premise is the blockchain contains a permanent irrefutable ledger of transactions. Basically everyone knows if Wallet A paid Wallet B. If you refill your wallet with anything remotely traceable, that means everyone knows YOU paid Wallet B, and similarly if wallet B has any ties to the real world, the lines are easy to connect.

That's not to say you can't use it anonymously, but that was not the intent and thus it does anonymity poorly.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Monero is built as a privacy first crypto. Essentially it's like cash in many ways. You spend it in the shop and nobody knows where the cash you're handing over came from. When you get your change at the till you know nothing about who had the cash before you that you just got handed. It's just money.

This is all handled by a bunch of very complex cryptography. If it comes to it there are ways to prove you sent the money etc but only you have that capability to decide to share.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 20 hours ago

Zcash’s shielded transactions can do smiliar things

[–] [email protected] 8 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

You're right, ha, I'm totally not.. they, I mean they are totally not! You got it guy! Everyone listen to this guy! I'd go as far as to say anyone reading this article is innocent of ALL crimes!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 22 hours ago

People commenting however...

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago

Don't challenge me

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 day ago (14 children)

Too bad private email access is essentially dead. Any service not requiring another email or phone number to sign up gets quickly shut down. A casualty in the war on whistleblowers.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You can sign up for Proton mail without providing email or phone number, as far as I recall.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

Nope. Try doing it through a Tor node.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 hours ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] -1 points 11 hours ago

No shit, Sherlock.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 11 hours ago (2 children)

you still can, it was a bug in past that they fixed long ago

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 hours ago

it's not a bug and it's still not possible, it's for tracking who created the account of course.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Try it now. Load up a tor tab in the Brave browser, and try signing up for an email without providing any info.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (1 children)

yes I just did, not brave but tor browser and I was able to create account

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

I just loaded up a Linux vm with Brave, and tried to sign up in a tor window. It requires a verification email to sign up.

Maybe you’re using a browser or OS that it’s tracking.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

yeah I'm using tor browser, also don't forget you can get fingerprinted even on tor

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Totally. You should assume yours is being tracked if they’re not asking for verification.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

fingerprinting is not tracking, personally im fine with them fingerprinting they just don't want to give unlimited free stuff for anyone

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago

Then you’re supporting diminished privacy.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)

email is never private, if its that sensitive it just shouldn't go on the internet

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (12 replies)
[–] [email protected] 47 points 1 day ago (1 children)

A lot of practical steps, which is nice to see in an article like this.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 day ago

That iphone drama might actually lead to proper interest from normie core?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 day ago (6 children)

I'm glad they mentioned Monero in the article, but sad that they mentioned it alongside Zcash since Zcash is not private by default and not many people opt into the privacy and Zcash has shown willingness to be bad to their users by helping exchanges. Primarily because they are run by the Electric Coin Company, which is registered in the United States, and therefore they have to obey the laws of the United States. So, Zcash is not a good option.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

I also have not seen Zcash accepted as payment nowhere nearly as frequently as Monero.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 13 hours ago
load more comments (5 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›