#digital privacy

[allthecanadianpolitics]

The Supreme Court of Canada made a key privacy ruling Friday that means police must now first have a warrant or court order to obtain the numbers making up a person or organization's IP address.

The top court was asked to consider whether an IP address alone, without any of the personal information attached to it, was protected by an expectation of privacy under the Charter.

In a five-four split decision, the court said a reasonable expectation of privacy is attached to the numbers making up a person's IP address, and just getting those numbers alone constitutes a search.

Full article

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[ahb-writes]

(from The Mitchells vs. the Machines, 2021)

[botgal]

If you're living in California and are concerned about the recent passing of the minor social media ban in Florida, then I urge you to write and call in to your state senators and assembly members in rejection of CA Senate Bill 976, the Social Media Youth Addiction Law.

While this law doesn't go specifically as far as the Florida law of outright banning anyone 14 and under from using social media and requiring a form of ID in order to have access to an account within the state, the law does pose troubling potential future legal repercussions.

This bill's primary focus is on the "protection" of young people who use social media from "addictive" features for the sake of their mental health. However, it intends to do this by implementing strict features such as parental controls which would require all minor users to have parental controls overseeing their accounts to limit their access to "addictive" feed features, as well as enforcing time periods where minor users will not receive notifications as well as mandatory time limits on how long minors can access social media that are restricted by the parents.

I need not tell you that this is a dangerous undertaking considering the only way that companies under this regulation could 100% ensure this level of compliance would likely be to follow the same ID verification systems which are feared to come about in Florida within the next year.

So if you live in California and don't want us to fall into the same trap which could strip away social media privacy and rights, I'd urge you to find your state representatives (state senators especially) and urge them to vote NO on CA SB 976, the Social Media Youth Addiction Law.

Source 1

Source 2

Website to help you find your CA state reps

[ecrivainsolitaire]

We need to open more conversations about software, intellectual property and tech literacy because every time something new happens on the internet everyone enters into crisis mode without actually knowing what to do about it. A lot of the moral panic over AI is this: nitpicking about names and scaremongering about art theft without really understanding any of the technology or legal frameworks they're discussing. (This is not to say AI is without its criticisms but people have been dropping the ball on this because they're focused on the wrong part of the equation.) A lot of the talk about NFTs and Twitter has been the same: dunking on technological changes without really understanding the root of the problem, mostly for clout and virtue signalling. We need to bring back the discussions of the early internet: freedom of information, privacy rights, right to repair, open source and public domain sustainability. Tumblr is mostly worried about moral righteousness and support, and those are all good things, but in this cyberpunk dystopia it's more important than ever to have a handle on the way technology influences our lives and how we can control it. Freedom of information is mutual aid. Digital autonomy is fighting the tech monopolies. Data gathering is the first step of capitalist propaganda. We can only crush our oppressors if we learn how to stop depending on them.

[magz]

Mullvad VPN and TOR collaborated, made a privacy-focused open-source browser that use alongside VPN instead of TOR network.

One more option to protect against surveillance. (example of growing surveillance attempts: "Restrict Act" for U.S.)

Is based on Firefox source-code, but "hardened" for security and privacy.

Read link above for more information.

Both Mullvad browser and TOR browser for normal anonymization and "being indistinguishable from anyone else".

Mullvad browser not ideal use case for identifiable information like account logins, but better for everything else on the "clear web" if find it necessary. (Meaning: can use for clear web browsing like watching TikTok and Youtube videos and Twitter browsing, for example, but not as effective for logged in activity while using those and other accounts.)

--

Download link.

Github.

Get Mullvad VPN for €5 a month

--

Optional:

Privacy Guide's introduction to "Threat modeling" and digital privacy (site with article and tool reccomendation)

Techlore's Youtube playlist "Go Incognito: A guide to security, privacy, and anonymity" (video. free version of digital privacy course)

[joyflameball]

Making my own post abt this actually, since there is a more popular version running around that has shitty advice and I sure as hell ain't gonna manage to hijack that

Switching to Firefox: What do?

Now a lot of us are neurodivergent and have FAR too many tabs for our own good, and I can understand if you're nervous about switching because of that, since that's a LOT of tabs and you don't wanna lose them. Trust me, I relate to that immensely. I have FAR too many tabs open for my own good.

So what you should do in that case is save your tabs. I personally saved my tabs in a private Discord server, since that let me open the tabs again easily, and make categories for each type of tab, but you can use something like Notepad to save them as well. So, you copy-paste all your tabs over to wherever you're saving them (and additionally, copy-pasting all of them will allow you to see tabs you don't need and delete them, since they're no longer buried).

Once you're into Firefox and signed in, head to Settings. You should see in the general tab the button that says "Import Browser Data." You'll see a dropdown arrow that will let you pick whatever browser you wanna import your data from.

That easy! From there, pull up ALL your tabs and you're good to go!

Simplified explanation:

Save all your previous tabs, maybe in Notepad (I personally used a private Discord server, for the reasons I explained).

Once in Firefox, head to Settings and import your Chrome data.

Pull up your tabs that you saved, and you're in!

Settings

So, you're in the general tab with your data from Chrome imported. Now, keep going through the Settings, because there's a LOT more you can do, and Firefox's settings are fairly simple to navigate. I can't give you any advice for the general tab, that's all for you to handle.

Head to Home, and this is where you'll need to start changing some stuff. I recommend disabling "Recommended By Pocket" for the safest experience, not just because it's better for privacy, but also because the Pocket stuff is annoying. Also disable "Snippets" at the bottom.

Search

Head to Search. From here, you'll be able to disable Google as the default browser, which is good for everyone. You CAN use DuckDuckGo, which allegedly is safest, but I'm personally suspicious of that (look up "duckduckgo safety issues"). However, it is 100% safer than Google, so if you just wanna use that, go ahead.

If you wanna use a different search engine from what is shown, it's gonna be a bit more complicated to set up. In the Search tab of settings, set it so there's a search bar in the toolbar.

Go to the address of whatever new search engine you wanna use (I'm personally using ecosia.org, as it helps w the environment by planting trees, AND it's got a really good privacy policy). Let's use as example: youtube.com .

You'll see a magnifying glass with a plus sign in the smaller search bar. When you click it, you'll be shown a dropdown that says "This time, search with: [all the search engines]." Click the YouTube icon that has a plus sign next to it (again, YouTube as example).

I'm explaining this somewhat confusingly- Mozilla's website has a much better explanation.

Head back to the Firefox settings, and set your default search engine to the new site. Bam.

(Additionally: to disable ever searching with Google, scroll down to Search Shortcuts, and remove the check mark next to Google.)

Simplified explanation:

Set it so there's two search bars.

Go to the address of whatever search engine you wanna use.

Click the magnifying glass, then the icon of the new search engine.

Head back to the Search settings, and switch to the new engine.

Privacy and Security

THIS is what you're here for. Firefox has LOADS of settings to make you more secure. My personal recommendations are:

Set enhanced tracking protections to Strict, or if you wanna customize it yourself, Custom. This will allow you to block cryptominers, trackers, cookies, and fingerprinters.

Set it to clear history when Firefox is closed.

Set it so that the search bar will not show you suggestions from sponsors, and don't allow Mozilla to process your search queries.

Under Permissions > Location, set it to block all requests to access your location. You can do the same for whatever other permissions you'd like, but especially block Location.

Block Firefox from making personalized extension recommendations, at the very least. If you don't want Firefox to use telemetry data, set it so Firefox won't send technical and interaction data to Mozilla.

Block dangerous downloads, obviously, and set it to HTTPS-Only Mode on all windows.

Enable secure DNS stuff using Max Protection. I'm personally using NextDNS (recommended by r/piracy).

Again, I'm not the arbiter of information here. You do whatever you want with your privacy and security settings. These are just my personal recommendations.

Extensions

A point of contention in the original post was how many fucking addons the OP had that essentially did the same thing, like several different adblockers when just one is enough. This is risky not just because it'll slow your browser down to hell and back, but also because it'll make you MORE traceable.

However, this doesn't mean you should go around with zero extensions. Especially since In Today's Day And Age, you WILL get ambushed with ads wherever you go. So at the very least you'll need an adblocker. However, there are extra extensions you can use to help clean up, for example, YouTube Search.

Here's my personal list of extensions, with ones that I feel you will DEFINITELY need marked in pink. I made sure these aren't redundant, or don't cover settings that Firefox already has.

I could be wrong in places, so if anyone wants to push back on this, I encourage it.

Ublock Origin: GET THIS ONE. Everyone and their mother loves this bad boy. Great adblocker that works REALLY well to clean up the web and make things less... awful. It lets you block specific website elements (so if Tumblr's pulling shit you can block it), and in settings it has a WHOLE lot of privacy/safety settings you can turn on which I won't go over, since this is a post about Firefox. The point is: GET UBLOCK. Everyone loves it, it's great, it's reliable, 10/10.

SponsorBlock: This is a GREAT addon that completely skips sponsored sections in YouTube videos. It feels kinda seamless sometimes. It also lets you skip a lot of extra unnecessary stuff as well.

Youtube Search Fixer: Unclogs YouTube's search so you won't get playlists, shorts, unrelated search results, all that fun stuff, so you can just find what you're looking for.

Youtube Shorts Block: Automatically turns YouTube Shorts into standard YouTube videos so you can get away from the fucking TikTokkification of the Internet.

Return Youtube Dislike: Remember how YouTube inexplicably removed the ability to see dislikes? This addon reverts that. You can see dislikes again.

Shinigami Eyes: Marks anti-trans sites with red, and trans-friendly sites with green (with the ability to change those colors, in case of colorblindness). It works with Tumblr blogs, Youtube, Twitter, a fuck load of sites. Great for knowing FOR SURE if a post is an anti-trans dogwhistle, and for going through gender critical blogs and blocking them on masse. It's INCREDIBLY reliable at catching transphobic sites, and finding trans-friendly ones.

Auto Tab Discard: We're all neurodivergent here and have way too many tabs, and that slows down our fucking computers. Auto Tab Discard basically puts those tabs into sleep mode- not deleting them, but making them go offline for a bit so they aren't taking up as much running time. It also lets you mark specific sites to NOT get put into sleep mode, if you need them up for whatever reason.

XKit Rewritten: Look. We're on Tumblr. We know this site's bullshit and how it's impossible to use. XKit helps fix a LOT of the bullshit on this site and adds on helpful stuff. Seriously, get XKit, they're the ones carrying this whole fucking site.

Again- I could be wrong. And I think the only one you 100% DEFINITELY NEED is uBlock. The others are just for convenience, or in the case of Shinigami Eyes, safety. You don't need to install any of these extensions except uBlock. It's just my personal recommendations.

TLDR

Get Firefox. Save all your tabs from Chrome, sync your data, do all that jazz.

Set your default search engine to anything but Google. You can do DuckDuckGo, or if you're suspicious of DDG like I am, use something like Ecosia (and you can add that as a default browser with the instructions I laid out).

USE FIREFOX'S GREAT SECURITY SETTINGS. You don't need a million extensions to do stuff Firefox already CAN do.

The only extension you 100% need is uBlock Origin, but here's my list of ones I personally recommend to help clean up the web and have a better experience.

Get off of Chrome. Google is currently on trial, brought there by the fucking DOJ, for being an illegal monopoly. The trial started about a week ago, and will last for about three months. Depending on how this goes, this could shake up Google's whole monopoly, and change the future of the entire internet.

Firefox is better in every way than Chrome. Firefox will actually try to protect you and lets you opt out of unnecessary data collection. Firefox is not based on Chromium. Firefox is open source, and its code has been scrutinized and deemed as safe. It's not perfect, no corporation is- and Mozilla is ultimately that, a corporation. But god, it's leaps and bounds ahead of Chrome. Switch to Firefox.

[wwarborday]

So, good news/bad news.

Good news; a lot of people have been very vocal about their hatred of KOSA. Yay!

Bad news; Jesus Christ They Made Another Bill.

Welcome to “Protecting Kids On Social Media,” which, according to the EFF, has five major components:

“Mandate that social media companies verify the ages of all account holders, including adults

Ban on children under age 13 using social media at all

Mandate that social media companies obtain parent or guardian consent before minors over 12 years old and under 18 years old may use social media

Ban on the data of minors (anyone over 12 years old and under 18 years old) being used to inform a social media platform’s content recommendation algorithm

Creation of a digital ID pilot program, instituted by the Department of Commerce, for citizens and legal residents, to verify ages and parent/guardian-minor relationships”

Cool! The government wants to have a database of who everyone is and exactly how they’re related! That’s a bad time, babes!

If you can, please call your reps and tell them to cut this shit out, now. Congress is back in session after Labor Day, and while this bill would have to pass the house/senate/White House, it’s best to be vocal about it while we can still maintain that anti KOSA rage.

[redwolftrash]

i swear to fucking god

i would rather kiss a 12 gauge shotgun than watch another unskippable bass boosted SHEIN ad with the worst music i've ever heard in my life.

how do i get rid of this dumb fucking pop-up? or is it because i'm using opera for these videos and they dickride google on the tip? bc i have my shit on with vivaldi and have no issues...was regretting the switch, but now opera can keep shoving youtube's fist up their fucking ass for all i care.

[stormofneurosis]

Discord recordings

In case you haven't heard, the new discord update includes the ability to record your voice if you use voice chats

It is enabled by default

If you want to turn it off, there are instructions below the cut

Open discord

Look for your USER SETTINGS

with a mac this is under both "Discord" > "Preferences" (command ,) and the universal cog in the bottom left of your Discord window. All other versions seem to only have the cog.

In USER SETTINGS you are looking for the option CLIPS

Under CLIPS there is one setting. Toggle this off to disable your voice being clipped

Exit the settings with your permission to record revoked

[hellyeahscarleteen]

Technology can be a double-edged sword. For those seeking abortion information or care, it can be a way to connect to vital resources like abortion funds, abortion providers or supportive friends. On the other hand, things like our phones and laptops can store a ton of information about us and what we’ve been doing with them.

As more and more states criminalize abortion, the amount of surveillance, and the negative consequences of that surveillance, are going to increase. That’s just a sad fact. With that in mind, we’ve put together some basics on how to protect your privacy during each step of the process of seeking abortion help. We made this with reproductive care in mind, but many of the steps here also apply to situations like abusive relationships and the increased criminalization of trans people, families and healthcare.

[reasonsforhope]

Non-paywalled version here.

“The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday [May 3rd] announced a plan to bar Facebook parent company Meta from monetizing the data of children and teens under the age of 18, citing allegations that the company misled parents about their ability to control their children’s communications in its Messenger Kids app.

The agency is seeking to update a landmark 2020 privacy settlement with Meta, which it says the company has already violated. The $5 billion order required the company to keep close watch over how third-party companies accessed users’ data and submit to regular privacy audits.

The FTC alleges that the company continued to give app developers’ access to users’ private information, after it promised to cut off access in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, which revealed the political consultancy improperly gained access to the data of millions of Facebook users.

FTC Chair Lina Khan (D), a prominent tech industry critic, has promised to use the agency’s tools to more strictly monitor whether big companies are adhering to privacy agreements with the agency. Many Democrats criticized the FTC’s historic $5 billion settlement following Cambridge Analytica for not being tough enough. Now with a 3-0 majority at the agency, the party is newly emboldened to pursue tougher penalties.

The announcement comes as policymakers from both parties grow increasingly concerned about the impact of social media on children and teens. On Tuesday, a bipartisan group of senators revived multiple bills aimed at protecting kids and teens online...

Under the FTC’s new proposal, Meta would only be allowed to collect and use data about users under the age of 18 to provide services or for security purposes. It would not be able to use that data for commercial gain. The company would also be barred from launching new products or services until after they get a written assessment that they’re fully complying with the company’s privacy program. The rules would apply to any company that Meta acquires, including in virtual reality.

The announcement is just the first step in an administrative process to modify the 2020 order. Meta will have 30 days to respond to the agency’s plan.”

-via Washington Post, 5/3/23

[blu-lifestyle]

OUR RACE TO THE END.

[humanrightsconnected]

Read an article by the civic technology organization Pollicy to learn about the biggest challenges to digital rights for women and discover the different ways to advance women’s digital rights!

👉 http://bit.ly/3YJkUpb 

📸 by Gayatri Malhotra on Unsplash

[the-sleepy-archivist]

Blocking Ads on Mobile Devices

Blocking ads on our phones is way harder than it should be so I figured I'd make some recommendations. These are not the only options out there, just the ones that I know and use.

Please note that browser-level and system-level adblocking are complementary; you'll have the best experience if you use both of them together as they each block different things in different places. If you want a basic idea of how effective your combined adblocking setup is, you can visit this website in your mobile browser.

Lastly, there is some additional advice/info under the readmore if you're curious.

Android

Browser-Level

uBlock Origin (for Firefox)

System-Level (works in all apps, not just browsers)

AdGuard

Blokada 5 (completely free version) OR Blokada 6 (has some newer features but they require a subscription)

iPhone/iPad

Browser-Level

AdGuard (Safari extension; free for basic browser-level blocking, requires a subscription for custom filters)

System-Level (works in all apps, not just browsers)

AdGuard (requires subscription for system-level blocking)

AdGuard DNS only (this is free and does not require the AdGuard app, BUT I would only recommend it for advanced users, as you can't easily turn it off like you can with the app)

Some additional info: browser-level blocking is a browser addon or extension, like you might be used to from a desktop computer. This inspects the HTML code returned by websites and searches for patterns that identify the presence of an ad or other annoyance (popup videos, cookie agreements, etc.). System-level blocking is almost always DNS-based. Basically whenever an app asks your phone's OS to make a connection to a website that is known for serving ads, the system-level blocker replies "sorry, I don't know her 🤷‍♂️💅" and the ad doesn't get downloaded. This works in most places, not just a browser, but be warned that it might make your battery drain a little faster depending on the app/setup.

Lastly, note that some apps may behave unpredictably when they can't download ads. For example, the Tumblr app has big black spaces where the ads are, and sometimes those spaces collapse as you scroll past them and it messes up scrolling for a few seconds (UPDATE: looks like the scrolling issue may have actually been a Tumblr bug that they have now fixed, at least on iOS). Still way less annoying than getting ads for Draco Malfoy seduction roleplay AI chatbots imo though. And honestly *most* apps handle this fairly gracefully, like a mobile game I play just throws error messages like "ad is not ready" and then continues like normal.

[magz]

"Mozilla’s privacy service drops a provider with ties to people-search sites"

Article Date: March 25, 2024.

Article Excerpt:

Mozilla's Monitor Plus, a service launched by the privacy-minded tech firm in February, notes on its pitch page that there is "a $240 billion industry of data brokers selling your private information for profit" and that its offering can "take back your privacy."

Mozilla's most recent move to protect privacy has been to cut out one of the key providers of Monitor Plus' people-search protections, Onerep. That comes after reporting from security reporter Brian Krebs, who uncovered Onerep CEO and founder Dimitri Shelest as the founder of "dozens of people-search services since 2010,"[...]

[wolfcat-hybrid]

[Image ID: A digital drawing of a camera under a red circle with a diagonal line through the middle. Above the image it says "please ask" under the image it says "before filming". All together it says "please ask before filming". End Image ID]

Work someplace where people film you without asking? Afraid of being posted online without your consent? I do! And I am!

I'm designing some decals and uploading them to redbubble, they're sized for buttons but work for stickers too. Feel free to download them, post them to Twitter, edit them, whatever.

Right now I only have this design, but I'm planning on making more. I'm open to suggestions!