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.
much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)
Note: This setup is both for my android and pc Edit: For those recommending paid services and selfhosting, I don't have the money nor resources for either. Also it seams some people are confusing my android setup with my PC setup so I'll write it down. Android: Brave(movies) + Ironfox, Search: Brave + DDG, VPN: Proton ( not always on), GPay = Cash, Auth= Aegis Auth, Pass: KeepassDX, PC: Firefox= Librewolf, VPN = No VPN (VERY slow internet), Search: Searxng + DDG, Pass: KeepassXC,
I host nextcloud and Immich on an old laptop to replace google drive and photos respectively. Very nice, but nextcloud syncing with android is annoying. Looking for alternatives there. Self hosted is a requirement.
Hosting nextcloud also lets me sync my calendar and contacts completely on my own hardware too. I use davx5 to sync with the Fossify calendar app on my phone because I like it better than the nextcloud app.
What is the issue with syncing with nextcloud? What kind of files?
Nextcloud hosts whatever kind of files. IRS like a Google Drive, One Drive, Box, etc. I use it primarily for my audio book collection so that it doesn't use up all of my phone space.
The issue is that nextcloud sometimes behaves in an unexpected way with file changes initiated on Android. Sometimes large files (like audio book files) placed into my phones local nextcloud folder don't automatically upload to the server. I have to do extra steps in the app. It seems to work as expected with small files. From what I understand/interpret the file access API is not a favorable design for supporting an external (non-google ) cloud service. OE Nextcloud just doesn't care about Android.
If you are on Arch, then I recommend to self host SearxNG meta search engine. There is an AUR package that builds from source and makes it easy to install and update. So if you are on Archlinux and value privacy a lot, then there is no excuse to not use this: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/searxng-git and https://docs.searxng.org/
# Archlinux, AUR
# Build and install from source:
yay searxng-git
# Configure the search engine (shouldn't need to):
sudoedit /etc/searxng/settings.yml
# Start server when needed:
systemctl start searxng.service
# Or automatically start the server whenever you login:
systemctl enable searxng.service
Just noting you can have searxng on rhel and mint as well, I know those from experience.
Oh sure, I wasn't implying its Archlinux only or anything like that. There are plenty ways to install SearxNG on other distributions, including using Docker in example. I just found the installation and setup in Archlinux thanks to the AUR package extremely easy, as it is not very different from installing any other package.
I'm gonna make my own payment company and just call it "cash"
📱➡️ 📴
Arch Linux -> Tailscale -> Jellyfin.
every privacypack image has brave on it. is this some kind of rule?
I lowkey think it’s viral marketing.
LibreTub
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A lot of programs and services I use are not present so I did not include those alternatives.
Of those I included, I use only a few, too. These are sane alternatives for the common user.
Adding to the list of people warning you away from Brave. It's a complete scam. Practically malware at this point.
What's up with Tutamail? I've been looking at switching my email over to something better, and I've been hearing Proton for a long time, but I don't know enough to sway one way or the other.
Also, how hard is it to self host email?
Haven't dived that deep yet, but who knows. Maybe I'll get there eventually. I've heard good things about this book: https://www.tiltedwindmillpress.com/product/ryoms/
You also don't need to do everything all at once. You can start by getting your own domain and configuring your mail service of choice to handle it. Then whenever you want to move to a different mail service or run your own, you maintain control over your addresses and just need to update your DNS.
Edit: Oh, completely forgot to talk about Proton/Tuta. I set up my stuff on Proton back in the day and recently set up Tuta for my partner. I might get around to swapping to Tuta for my stuff as well, I just haven't bothered to yet.
One user in the instance I use went on that journey, setting up FreeBSD for his own email. I think there's a very detailed comment from one of the big, weekly random threads in our instance, but I can't remember when that happened (also, it's in spanish, so you'd need to translate it if you manage to find it).
I have not once seen a picture like this, and "guide" ones, that doesn't have several glaring issues.
This one started really good, then brave pops up, then proton, then AI....
Why is it so fucking hard to look up the stuff you're using? How are you aware of several of these that are not well known yet somehow not aware of how bad brave is? It's just so weird every single time.
What's wrong with proton? I've heard it tries to misslead people indirectly into making them think proton is non for profit but I believe the services themselves are fine.
I’m assuming it’s because of that one time the Proton CEO endorsed or appeared to endorse Trump. If it’s more than that I’m interested in the answer too.
oh-
every privacypack image has brave on it. is this some kind of rule?
Their PR is fantastic
If you use a Chromium Browser there is Vivaldi, instead of GDrive, Filen is good, but kDrive or Murena fit it better (both including online Office and workspace, EU), for YT there is also Aluga, AI > Andisearch, Sketchapedia, WhatsApp > SecureBit Chat, Google Photos > vgy.me
Vivaldi has essentially no fingerprinting protection, and it also inserts affiliate links by default without your constent.
Yes and no, it use affiliate links and search engines (DDG, Startpage, Ecosia...) which pay some money if you use these, but you can delete these without problems if not. Vivaldi use this to create incommings, instead of selling user data and browser logs to third parties as other do. Fingerprints, well, it protects some fingerprints which are an privacy risk, but spoofing all can break some webs. Fingerprint protection is always an balance between what is necessary (eg. tecnical data to show correctly a page, eg your screen resolution) and what is not. Your Public IP is always shown in any browser, if you don't use an VPN (Proton VPN inbuild in Vivaldi) or Proxy, but the public IP only show the one of the server used by your ISP which can be hundreds of km from your real location, but it made that the page is shown in your lenguage (if it has this feature). If a website use Fingerprinting (not often), it use those from the whole device and OS, not only from the browser. Vivaldi never logs your activity or track you, never share your data with third parties, no third party sponsors in Vivaldi. Sync is encrypted end2end, no knowledge (if you loose your encryption password, you loose your sync data!!!). stored in own servers in Iceland (green energy). IMHO Vivaldi is pretty private.
https://vivaldi.com/blog/shared-networks-tracking-fingerprinting/
Every time a "privacy" list shows brave, i instantly ignore the rest of it because i know they arent serious.
This, I cringe when Brave and privacy end up in the same sentence. They're shady af
Just to throw it out there self hosting docker containers you could use your local PC but I started out with 30 dollar 1 litre PCs. I had three 1 hosted my firewall and the other 2 dockers. I had most everything I could need.
Get brave off that list.
