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In privacy communities, its usually assumed that non-libre OSes have the *capability* of spying on *everything* you do. But, what do they *actually* monitor *in practice*?
  • The problem is its closed source and often difficult for the average user to tell what is going out. All you can do is Do Not Trust.

  • Fan of Flatpaks ...or Not?
  • And not many consider the environmental impact of this either. Sure storage might be cheap (not in my country but I digress) but more space still requires more storage and across thousands of computers and then millions of computers that's not an insignificant increase. We should be increasing technological efficiency not what were doing at the moment which seems to be just throwing more power and resources at the problems.

  • What your cat hates most?
  • We make jokes that he's scared of his brother Thor 😹

  • What your cat hates most?
  • One of our cats is called Loki. He's scared of thunder.

  • AI to make us more private?
  • Drip. Don't give companies menstrual data at all ☺️

  • Psylo iOS browser takes aim at digital fingerprinting
  • I'm typing this via GrapheneOS and I don't at all feel like I'm living 10 years in the past lol.

    Even if I was, at least the internet would be a less shitty place than it is now, there would be almost no LLM/AI crap, I wouldn't constantly have to be as vigilant against big corps datamining my privacy as much as I am now.... Actually, 2015 was a pretty decent time compared to now. Got a time machine?

  • Psylo iOS browser takes aim at digital fingerprinting
  • My main point is

    Android also runs Google play services

    is incorrect as a general statement about Android. I used GrapheneOS as an example but there are plenty of other Android ROMs that also don't come with Google Play Services or any Google at all.

  • There was a post yesterday havin a giggle about low resource usage Linux setups, shout-out to LOW←TECH magazine's solar-powered site (running Armbian Stretch)
  • This is very cool. I run a website for a charity and this had certainly made me reflect on how I could reduce its power consumption (even with it hosted on 100% renewable power servers)

  • Trying to wean off spotify
  • Couple this with SLDL which can use Spotify URLs. I haven't used it (yet) but was recommended to me for the same thing you're wanting to do.

    https://github.com/fiso64/slsk-batchdl

  • Is there a foss SMS messenger with auto-reply?
  • New Zealand still uses SMS predominantly.

  • Most used encrypted messenger besides Signal, Whatsapp, iMessage, and RCS?
  • I wish I could use Matrix on my phone without it eating my battery 🫤

  • Most used encrypted messenger besides Signal, Whatsapp, iMessage, and RCS?
  • I essentially did this with Facebook. People still fucking contact me on Messenger.

  • Browsers are complicit in browser fingerprinting.
  • I'm am ex web dev/des and still maintain some websites for non-profits. I think you underestimate the human stupidity factor. I already have to front an infuriating level of stupid questions and problems that people have caused themselves by not following the most simple of directions. Do I like JavaScript? No. Do I wish I could completely ditch it? 100%. But people are stupid. And without it's use, I would be handling even more CS than I am now. The average person expects a website to act a certain way and without that they lose their minds.

  • What is the catch with Epic Games' free games?
  • This is such an underrated comment for such an important point.

  • privacy smartphones US
  • Replying to this excellent comment on a refurbed (no money to Google) Pixel 7 with GrapheneOS.

    Setup was definitely more complex than a spyware android phone (I went from a Samsung Galaxy) but once its set up, it just works and there's no way I'd go back to anything else.

  • No Man’s Sky update adds city-builder elements and Switch 2 compatibility
  • I wouldn't play with settlements just yet - wait for the hotfix patch. I (and many others) have hit showstopping bugs both with current settlements and the new autophage settlements. e.g.

    • No Overseers office
    • Missing settlement terminals
    • Settlements with no inhabitants
    • Autophage settlements missing roofs and other structures
    • The new autophage items missing textures or looking low res
    • Settlement event countdown timers running out but does not complete or trigger new event
    • Cannot add materials to constructions projects
  • Considering switching to CachyOS from Arch after almost a decade

    Finally a distro has me tempted into considering moving from Arch which I've been using for almost a decade (kudos to the CachyOS devs on a job well done!).

    But one of the things I love about Arch is that I choose what is and isn't installed and after my spouse installed Cachy (also previously on Arch) I can see a number of apps come pre-installed (like Meld).

    Is there a list somewhere of what CachyOS installs by default so that I can uninstall it post-install? Or is there a minimal install ISO somewhere that I'm missing that just installs the Cachy 'tweaks' and Cachy-specific apps (like Hello) + a DE?

    I have considered converting my Arch install to Cachy but since this install is 3+ years old now, it would be more difficult to find and get rid of all the tweaks I've made here and there than just start a fresh CachyOS install and remove unwanted packages.

    EDIT: Here is the answer: https://github.com/CachyOS/cachyos-calamares/blob/cachyos-systemd-qt6/src/modules/netinstall/netinstall.yaml

    27
    Part void, part orange, part tortie, all Hazel

    Hazel still also only gets minimal timeshare of the brain cell but she's a survivor, having recently recovered from hepatitis! 🎉

    3
    Was super excited to see the 5.0 changes. Until I discovered my long time base is completely ruined and our 'home' system planets have changed.

    My spouse and I have played NMS since release. After switching to the Steam version a number of years ago, we were lucky enough to start our current save in a system that had a paradise planet. While we weren't the first to discover the system, we were the first for the planets, flora, fauna and minerals.

    Anyway, we both started bases on the paradise planet and have had those bases ever since. This planet was one of my favourites with gorgeous fields of glowing flowers (at night), purple grass, no storms, pretty water.... you get the picture.

    When settlements came along, we moved our main bases to settlements, one of us on the paradise and the other on a toxic planet in the same system.

    I spent many, many, many hours adding to my settlement, doing clever things to make it look nice and RPing the hell out of everything.

    On the paradise planet I also turned my first base into a 'tourist attraction'. Then discovered this absolutely gorgeous flat field surrounded by hills. Inside one of the hills was a natural cave entrance. Low and behold the cave also looked spectacular with glowing fungi. So I also RP'd this as a tourist attraction - land in the field at night for a rolling field light show, enter the cave and go spelunking lit by cave roof covered in glowing fungi.....

    Then the first planetary generation update came. All seemed well until I reached my 'Cave of Wonders'. The glowing fungi was gone. It was just a barren boring cave now. That hurt, but fine. It wasn't as bad as some people got as we still had a beautiful purple glowing paradise.

    Then an update to settlements wrecked all my decoration. So I meticulously fixed it all and made it even better. I have cared for my settlement, made good choices for the inhabitants....

    So, I was super looking forward to how beautiful our slice of paradise was going to look after the 5.0 update. I could only imagine how much more gorgeous the water and sky would look.

    Imagine my horror when my spouse said that our main planet was showing as "Worm infested" when scanning. My anxiety rising I head to our paradise and my heart sinks as my ship clears the clouds. It is indeed now infested.

    Worse is that my settlement is completely gone. The pin for it is still there but the settlement interface is non-existent. [!20240720163206-1.jpg](https://postimg.cc/kD0qJ99M) All that remains is all the base parts I added - now either floating in the air or completely buried as the landscape has radically changed. [!20240720162830-1.jpg](https://postimg.cc/vc5MDjHr)

    I then visited every single one of my other bases. Some are still functional as the landscape hasn't changed but the planetary type has in about 90% of them (weirdly some planets are still completely the same but most are different). My runaway mould farm has been replaced by metal fingers. [!20240720170314-1.jpg](https://postimg.cc/sMyzWcvt)

    Worst off is our paradise planet where both the type and landscape are different.

    There's other weirdness like the Discoveries being simultaneously reset but not - it will say a planet is undiscovered but when I land, it's suddenly gets the proper info back for it. [!20240720164850-1.jpg](https://postimg.cc/pmZHJFjy) But on other systems, the discoveries are completely reset - in my AI Valve farm system, the system comes up as discovered by me but none of the planets were until I landed on them. The one that I have a base on has the name I gave it but all the other planets in the system are completely reset to their original names (and this system had some sentimental names as it was my final Atlas story system).

    I'm going away for a week soon and was looking forward to playing some NMS beforehand. Now just have a sour taste in my mouth. So many hours lost and funnily enough I've lost any motivation to play at the moment. :(

    16
    Today I'm grateful I'm using Linux - Global IT issues caused by Crowdstrike update causes BSOD on Windows
    www.timesnownews.com Latest Crowdstrike Update Causes Blue Screen Of Death On Microsoft Windows, Multiple Users Affected

    Latest Crowdstrike Update Issue: The issue seems widespread, affecting machines running various CrowdStrike sensor versions. CrowdStrike has acknowledged the problem and is currently investigating the cause., Technology & Science News - Times Now

    Latest Crowdstrike Update Causes Blue Screen Of Death On Microsoft Windows, Multiple Users Affected

    This isn't a gloat post. In fact, I was completely oblivious to this massive outage until I tried to check my bank balance and it wouldn't log in.

    Apparently Visa Paywave, banks, some TV networks, EFTPOS, etc. have gone down. Flights have had to be cancelled as some airlines systems have also gone down. Gas stations and public transport systems inoperable. As well as numerous Windows systems and Microsoft services affected. (At least according to one of my local MSMs.)

    Seems insane to me that one company's messed up update could cause so much global disruption and so many systems gone down :/ This is exactly why centralisation of services and large corporations gobbling up smaller companies and becoming behemoth services is so dangerous.

    139
    This scratching is not normal on a new pen right?

    Brand new Pelikan Twist came with multiple scratches at the top of the barrel. One on each side. All about the same length as the one in the photo except for one that goes under the sticker (not counting the mould line on that side).

    Kinda feels a bit 1st world problems but I'm poor and this is the only Pelikan I will ever (short of winning lotto and getting incredibly lucky) get to own and feels disappointing to get a brand new pen that's already scratched.

    6
    How to download and remove DRM from an Amazon documentary?

    There's a documentary that's more than a decade old that now only exists on Amazon Prime. I have searched everywhere for this but the website (and thus DVDs being sold) doesn't exist any more, there are no torrents, no second hand DVDs for sale that I can find online..... I'm OK with buying the doco from Amazon (albeit not happy about giving Amazon any money) but once I've bought it I don't want to be locked into Amazon's infrastructure (I do not trust streaming services to keep such niche videos available indefinitely).

    So how would I go about downloading and removing DRM from Amazon videos?

    I read an old post about mp4decryptgui but that hasn't been updated in 3 years so I don't know if it works any more.

    The only other methods I've found involve buying expensive Windows only software (I'm on Linux but can dual boot if absolutely needed).

    Thanks!

    (Also please excuse the freshness of my account - for some reason Kbin threw an error every time I tried to post using my usual account.)

    5
    Thorned_Rose Thorned_Rose @sh.itjust.works
    Posts 6
    Comments 143