I recently stumbled upon Keet, which is a peer to peer messaging app with video calls and file sharing.

This app has a lot going for it:

• The user experience is really good
• Free and open source
• Privacy friendly (no datacentre, server or middleman between you and the people you are talking to)
• Better quality since there's no throttling of traffic
• No file size limit

I'm baffled that this app seems like a well kept secret, so I just wanted to share it with you guys.

To me, peer to peer technology seems really interesting because it addresses the root cause of many of the harms that plagues the modern day internet: surveillance, platform silos, the market dominance of multi-national tech-conglomerates, energy usage of datacentres, etc.

What do you think? Can P2P be the solution to these problems?

I know I could and should encrypt whole drives but I want another layer of protect specific folders when my devices are unlocked, a password. I want the folders to behave like regular folders where I can add or remove files as usual, without a clunky UX like password protected zips. I looked it up and didn't find any straightforward solutions.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/31957116

Millions of Americans have downloaded apps that secretly route their internet traffic through Chinese companies, according to an investigation by the Tech Transparency Project (TTP), including several that were recently owned by a sanctioned firm with links to China’s military.

TTP’s investigation found that one in five of the top 100 free virtual private networks in the U.S. App Store during 2024 were surreptitiously owned by Chinese companies, which are obliged to hand over their users’ browsing data to the Chinese government under the country’s national security laws. Several of the apps traced back to Qihoo 360, a firm declared by the Defense Department to be a “Chinese Military Company." Qihoo did not respond to questions about its app-related holdings.

[...]

VPNs allow users to mask the IP address that can identify them, and, in theory, keep their internet browsing private. For that reason, they have been used by people around the world to sidestep government censorship or surveillance, or because they believe it will improve their online security. In the U.S., kids often download free VPNs to play games or access social media during school hours.

However, VPNs can themselves pose serious risks because the companies that provide them can read all the internet traffic routed through them. That risk is compounded in the case of Chinese apps, given China’s strict laws that can force companies in that country to secretly share access to their users’ data with the government.

[...]

The VPN apps identified by TTP have been downloaded more than 70 million times from U.S. app stores, according to data from AppMagic, a mobile apps market intelligence firm.

[...]

The findings raise questions about Apple’s carefully cultivated reputation for protecting user privacy. The company has repeatedly sought to fend off antitrust legislation designed to loosen its control of the App Store by arguing such efforts could compromise user privacy and security. But TTP’s investigation suggests that Apple is not taking adequate steps to determine who owns the apps it offers its users and what they do with the data they collect. More than a dozen of the Chinese VPNs were also available in Apple’s App Store in France in late February, showing that the issue extends to other Western markets.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/23777198

especially estonians

Fastbackgroundcheck. com says there's info on me on truthfinder, spokeo, peoplefinders and instantcheckmate. When I try going through all four of those sites takes a super long time, including a few times in the past when I tried getting reports on myself.

The progress bars reach 100% and reset continously. If these sites are legimate like some reddit users claim, then why or be upfront about wanting me to pay? Right now I'm convinced that these sites are snake oil, maybe they work if you pay but the behavior of the free options turn me off. They act 100% like typical scam websites, the kind that asks you to complete three surveys on external sites with fake progress bars.

Basic info like my full name, address, age, and siblings can be found with search engines easily but I feel like there's no point in trying to wipe it if there aren't methods that could definitely work.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/19675447

Archived version

Here is an Invidious link for the video (and 'Lola' part starts at ~5 minutes)

To demonstrate this, Sadoun introduces the audience to “Lola,” a hypothetical young woman who represents the typical web user that Publicis now has data about. “At a base level, we know who she is, what she watches, what she reads, and who she lives with,” Sadoun says. “Through the power of connected identity, we also know who she follows on social media, what she buys online and offline, where she buys, when she buys, and more importantly, why she buys.”

It gets worse. “We know that Lola has two children and that her kids drink lots of premium fruit juice. We can see that the price of the SKU she buys has been steadily rising on her local retailer’s shelf. We can also see that Lola’s income has not been keeping pace with inflation. With CoreAI, we can predict that Lola has a high propensity to trade down to private label,” Sadoun says, meaning that the algorithm apprehends whether Lola is likely to start buying a cheaper brand of juice. If the software decides this is the case, the CoreAI algo can automatically start showing Lola ads for those reduced price juice brands, Sadoun says.

TL;DR: With Firefox 56, Mozilla combined Firefox Health Report and Telemetry data into a single setting called “technical and interaction data”, which was then enabled by default. This data was then shared with advertising partners on a de-identified or aggregated basis.

Privacy Badger on Bluesky

Using an older version of Firefox?

ALL add-ons will stop working on Firefox versions older than 128 (or older than ESR 115.13+) on March 14, in just a few days from now.

To keep using your add-ons including Privacy Badger, you will need to update Firefox: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/root-certificate-expiration

I haven't played Minecraft since 2015, but I get the feeling I might again in the new few years as I wanna find new hobbies. I know that game has changed a whole lot but I don't have any official online data on it.

I've had this Microsoft account for over a decade and its probably full of personal information that I wanna let go of, I've already exported all my data. I would need to pay $30 for another copy of Minecraft, same price I paid in 2013. I just did a bunch of searching and its not possible to transfer my Minecraft license to another account.

We're very happy to share Techlore's video review of the BusKill Kill Cord.

Can't see video above? Watch it on PeerTube at neat.tube or on YouTube at youtu.be/Zns0xObbOPM

Disclaimer: We gave Techlore a free BusKill Kit for review; we did not pay them nor restrict their impartiality and freedom to publish an independent review. For more information, please see Techlore's Review Unit Protocols policy. We did require them to make the video open-source as a condition of receiving this free review unit. The above video is licensed CC BY-SA; you are free to redistribute it. If you are a video producer and would like a free BusKill Kit for review, please contact us

To see the full discussion about this video on the Techolore forums, see:

• discuss.techlore.tech/t/buskill-secure-your-laptop-in-seconds

Support BusKill

We're looking forward to continuing to improve the BusKill software and looking for other avenues to distribute our hardware BusKill cable to make it more accessible this year.

If you want to help, please consider purchasing a BusKill cable for yourself or a loved one. It helps us fund further development, and you get your own BusKill cable to keep you or your loved ones safe.

Buy a BusKill Cable
https://buskill.in/buy

You can also buy a BusKill cable with bitcoin, monero, and other altcoins from our BusKill Store's .onion site.

Stay safe,
The BusKill Team
https://www.buskill.in/
http://www.buskillvampfih2iucxhit3qp36i2zzql3u6pmkeafvlxs3tlmot5yad.onion/

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/2088202

Archived

[...]

For their own people [the Chinese Communist Party, CCP, has] imposed a dystopia, including the “great firewall” to control information from the outside. It also exerts strict control over domestic Internet information, uses a vast surveillance camera network with facial recognition and monitors financial transactions done online. If the CCP can think of any way to impose more control over their subjects they will do it.

Abroad they traditionally used RICE (Reward, Ideology, Coercion and Ego) techniques to not only recruit spies, they have used it to win over politicians, scientists and other useful people. They have weaponized overseas Chinese community groups, taken over their media and even set up police stations around the world.

Through software like ByteDance’s TikTok they are capable of sweeping data collection, while Chinese hackers steal all sorts of information and attack online systems. Huawei used their telecommunications equipment to collect yet more.

They have worked to subvert algorithms even in foreign Web sites by flooding the Internet with disinformation and misinformation. Their infamous “little pink” and “50-cent” armies roam the Internet spreading their agenda.

MAKING PROPAGANDA

AI is taking this to an exponentially higher level.

The CCP is investing heavily in AI because it opens opportunities for the CCP’s United Front Work Department (UFWD) and Ministry of State Security (MSS) to vastly increase its power worldwide.

While Hailuo [a very popular AI used to create videos which is based in Shanghai] can be very useful in creating propaganda, TikTok owner ByteDance’s just released OmniHuman-1, which is explicitly for deepfakes and is shockingly good. It is able to produce videos from pictures, video and audio fed by the user to create videos realistic enough to require paying attention.

[...]

The gullible will fall for outrageous deepfakes in partisan social media, but these are pretty easy to discredit. It is the more subtle videos that are concerning because they can be used subtly to change the narrative, such as editing a video of the US Secretary of State and swap out “one China policy” for “one China principle.”

[...]

The release last month of DeepSeek-R1 AI by Hangzhou-based High Flyer rightly attracted a vast amount of attention. Users amused themselves trying to get around the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) imposed censorship, but more alarmingly hackers discovered unprotected data ports [in Deepseek], that data was being shared with TikTok and many reminded us that by law they must share any data with the CCP.

[...]

Perhaps intentionally to avoid widespread press scrutiny, the most powerful AI agent ever, UI-TARS, was released during the DeepSeek hoopla. AI agents by American companies require a paid subscription but offer powerful research capabilities and other functions by taking over a browser and doing work for you.

Unlike previous AI agents, UI-TARS comes in two varieties, one taking over the browser like the others, but with a second option to take over the entire computer or phone.

It can install software, scrape any bit of data it likes and make all sorts of modifications all on its own following whatever instructions it is given whether online or not. That could completely change how we work, play and communicate on our devices.

UI-TARS is open source, so unlike the American AI agents, developers can access, modify and distribute the software for free. This should encourage widespread adoption, including under different branding as long as they retain the original copyright notice, license text and notices in the source code, which non-coders never read.

Why would they do this for free instead of requiring a subscription? To make sure it gets on to as many devices as possible.

How nice of ByteDance, the developer of UI-TARS.

[...]

Soon people will be downloading off-brand UI-TARS without knowing it, and there could be hundreds or even thousands of brands running it. Your [...] AI agent running on UI-TARS can act as spyware tracking your every move and stealing all your data for Beijing, and it will know everything about you — opening up blackmail opportunities on a massive scale.

[...]

As is the case on TikTok, results playing up the CCP line would also be prioritized and content scrubbed from the results as DeepSeek-R1 AI does now, albeit still rather clumsily. DeepSeek-generated articles and books, propaganda videos made with Hailuo AI and deepfake videos made or modified by OmniHuman would feature prominently.

Millions of people around the world could soon be constantly surveiled through their own cameras and microphones, monitored and tracked and living in an alternate information reality — just like in China.

The CCP would have the ability to control nearly every aspect of these people’s lives — just like in China.

But unlike the Chinese, they would not even know how much power they have lost to the CCP.

Trying to move away from FireFox.

I know that there is LibreWolf and GNU IceCat.

What are the pros and cons for each?

I tried GNU IceCat and I don't know how to install extensions. How to get extensions for GNU IceCat? Is it easier on LibreWolf?

I need the following extensions:

• ublock origin
• send to MPV player
• privacy badger
• Distraction free youtube
• Unhook
• LeechBlock NG
• Privacy Badger
• Tab Session Manager
• KeePassXC-Browser

It has been around a month since my last similar post, so it might be interesting to have a look at the stats

!privacy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

• 735 users / day
• 2.42K users / week
• 3.52K users / month

!privacy@lemmy.ca

• 11 users / day
• 19 users / week
• 507 users / month

If people want to have a look at other privacy communities: https://lemmyverse.net/communities?query=privacy&order=active

In a nutshell, !privacy@lemmy.dbzer0.com is the most active after !privacy@lemmy.ml (Week: 4.4k / Month: 7.2k)

Safe email client

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/56161993

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/29755539

South Korea has accused Chinese AI startup DeepSeek of sharing user data with the owner of TikTok in China.

"We confirmed DeepSeek communicating with ByteDance," the South Korean data protection regulator told Yonhap News Agency.

The country had already removed DeepSeek from app stores over the weekend over data protection concerns.

...

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/36880616

Help Combat Internet Censorship by Running a Snowflake Proxy (Browser or Android)

Internet censorship remains a critical threat to free expression and access to information worldwide. In regions like Iran, Russia, and Belarus, journalists, activists, and ordinary citizens face severe restrictions when trying to communicate or access uncensored news. You can support their efforts by operating a Snowflake proxy—a simple, low-impact way to contribute to a freer internet. No technical expertise is required. Here’s how it works:

What Is Snowflake?

Snowflake is a privacy tool integrated with the Tor network. By running a Snowflake proxy, you temporarily route internet traffic for users in censored regions, allowing them to bypass government or institutional blocks. Unlike traditional Tor relays, Snowflake requires minimal bandwidth, no configuration, and no ongoing maintenance. Your device acts as a temporary bridge, not a permanent node, ensuring both safety and ease of use.

Is This Safe for Me?

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: pobably. Here is why:

• Your IP address is not exposed to the websites they access. So, you don't have to worry about what they are doing either. You are not an exit node.
• No activity logs. Snowflake cannot monitor or record what users do through your connection. The only stored information is how many people have connected to your bridge. Check docs for further info on this.
• Low resource usage. The data consumed is comparable to background app activity—far less than streaming video or music.
• No direct access to your system
• No storage of sensitive data. Snowflake proxies do not store any sensitive data, such as IP addresses or browsing history, on your system.
• Encrypted communication. All communication between the Snowflake proxy and the Tor network is encrypted, making it difficult for attackers to intercept or manipulate data.

You are not hosting a VPN or a full Tor relay. Your role is limited to facilitating encrypted connections, similar to relaying a sealed envelope.

Your IP address is exposed to the user (in a P2P-like connection). Be mindful that your ISP could also potentially see the WebRTC traffic and the connections being made to it (but not the contents), so be mindful of your threat model.

For most users, it is generally safe to run Snowflake proxies. Theoretically, your ISP will be able to know that there are connections being made there, but to them it will look like you're calling someone on, say, Zoom.

Historically, as far as we know, there haven't been any cases of people getting in legal trouble for running entry relays, middle relays, or bridges. There have a been a few cases of people running exit nodes and getting in trouble with law enforcement agencies, but none of them have been arrested or prosecuted as far as I know it. If you are aware of any cases, let me know so I can update this post.

Do not hesitate to check Snowflake's official documentation for further reference and to make informed decisions.

How to Set Up a Snowflake Proxy

Option 1: Browser Extension (Brave, Firefox, or Chrome)

1. Install the Snowflake extension.
2. Click the Snowflake icon in your browser toolbar and toggle "Enable Snowflake."
3. Keep the browser open. That’s all.

Note: Brave users can enable Snowflake directly in settings. Navigate to brave://settings/privacy and activate the option under "Privacy and security."

Option 2: Android Devices via Orbot

1. Download Orbot (Tor’s official Android app).
2. Open the app’s menu, select "Snowflake Proxy," and toggle it on.
3. For continuous operation, keep your device charged and connected to Wi-Fi.

Your device will now contribute as a proxy whenever the app is active.

Addressing Common Concerns

• Battery drain: Negligible. Snowflake consumes fewer resources than typical social media or messaging apps.
• Data usage: Most users report under 1 GB per month. Adjust data limits in Orbot’s settings or restrict operation to Wi-Fi if necessary.

Why Your Participation Matters

Censorship mechanisms grow more sophisticated every year, but tools like Snowflake empower ordinary users to counteract them. Each proxy strengthens the Tor network’s resilience, making it harder for authoritarian regimes to isolate their populations. By donating a small amount of bandwidth, you provide someone with a critical connection to uncensored information, education, and global dialogue.

Recent surges in demand—particularly in Russia—highlight the urgent need for more proxies. Your contribution, however small, has an impact.

By participating, you become part of a global effort to defend digital rights and counter censorship. Please, also be mindful of your threat mode and understand the potential risks (though very little for most people). Check Snowflake's official documentation for further reference and don't make any decisions based on this post before taking your time to read through it.

Please share this post to raise awareness. The more proxies, the stronger the network.

– llama