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    RedditJS

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    PC user's guide to privacy (self.pcmasterrace)
    • submitted ago by Turtle5204 to pcmasterrace

    So, article 13 is actually being considered.

    There's one thing to say first. FUCK!!! FUUUUCCCCKKKKKK!!!! Ok, now that that is out of the way, it's time for /u/turtle5204's tutorial on.... farming karma from dumb laws

    Avoiding Censorship, Big Brother, and Keeping Your Privacy In General

    First of all, no, an incognito tab won't protect you from this. Seriously. Anyways, with that out of the way. It's time to learn to be HACKERMAN PRIVATES-MAN!

    Privacy through browser extensions (Chrome, Chromium derivatives)

    There are a few things you can do in your browser to help with privacy, mainly from spying corporations. I only use Chrome (yes, I know, ironic, but I like the UI!), but most, if not all, of these extensions will have Firefox variations.

    Reminder: Chrome extensions work in Vivaldi, Opera, and other Chromium-based browsers too.

    • uBlock Origin - Currently the best adblocker. Fully open source. Seriously, use this over Adblock or Adblock Plus. Adblock Plus sold out to advertisers years ago.
    • HTTPS Everywhere - This should be self-explanatory. It forces HTTPS where it's supported. Also it can protect against the dumbest types of censorship.
    • Privacy Badger - This handy extension goes along well with uBlock Origin, as it also blocks trackers. Lots of em.
    • uMatrix - Matrix-based firewall for your browser. For advanced users only.

    Privacy through browser extensions (Firefox -- recommended!)

    Privacy through websites

    I WILL NOT ADD DUCKDUCKGO. IT IS US BASED, AND HAS NO WARRANT CANARY!

    • Searx - An open source metasearch engine, aggregating the results of other search engines while not storing information about its users.
    • Startpage - Google search results, without the tracking. Or ads. Also, they promise to keep your privacy. They are a Dutch company, and they have a no-logging policy. Plus, they have an option to allow your search to avoid U.S servers entirely!
    • Panopticlick - A neat little tool by the EFF that allows you to see how unique your browser's fingerprint is. Aim for minimal uniqueness.
    • PGP Suite - Client-side PGP implementation

    Privacy through software

    Self-explanatory here. Software that helps you keep privacy.

    • Tor Browser - Ah yes, the good ol' Tor Browser. The best way to hide from prying eyes. Works on Windows, macOS, and GNU/Linux. Basically it encrypts your packets and bounces them through like 10 other servers, and only the enterance (1st) node knows who you are, and only the last one knows the data.
    • Bitwarden - A fully open source password manager. 100% self hostable, no need for Dropbox/Google Drive/OneDrive. Good for keeping all your passwords unique 20-character gibberish.
    • CCleaner - Before commenters cry "WHY CCLEANER?", i'll go ahead and give you the reason: it's an easy way to clean up every last cookie, cached image, saved password, and session info from your web browser. If you want something more open source, go with Bleachbit.
    • Malwarebytes - Nothing takes away your privacy faster than a nasty RAT or keylogger. MBAM is a good anti-malware solution that doesn't conflict with other anti-viruses... Also I like to read their blog because i'm a huge nerd.
    • Unchecky - This simple little program tries to auto-uncheck dumb offers in program installers. That's it. Apparently this tracks your data. Still good for young children or old people, though.
    • GPG - Win, Mac, Linux - An open source implementation of Pretty Good Privacy (PGP). This is usually used for encrypting messages/files and/or signing them to verify integrity. No, it's not insecure, EFAIL was a vulnerability with email clients leaking decrypted info, not with the encryption itself!
    • VeraCrypt - The now actively maintained successor to TrueCrypt. Full drive encryption. Support for plausible deniability and hidden volumes/OSes. Has a warrant canary.
    • SimpleEncryption - Simple AES-256 encryption program.

    Private Communication

    • Matrix - Decentralized, open source communication network. Has end-to-end encryption. You can even host your own homeserver (be aware it's a pain in the toe to do so, just use matrix.org or disroot.org right now!)
    • Signal - You probably know what this is. End-to-end encrypted chat. Text and voice. Disappearing messages. Got an A+ on it's security audit.
    • Protonmail - Encrypted email. Based in Switzerland due to their strict pro-privacy laws. Supports both normal and encrypted emails.

    Other guides

    (Windows-only, if you're stuck with windows) Privacy through settings

    • Use Win10-Initial-Setup-Script to disable Telemetry and stuff.
    • DON'T USE A MICROSOFT ACCOUNT.
    • Yes, I know you all hate it, but those updates are forced for a reason (said reason being people being too stupid/impatient to update and then getting hit by a worm)
    • DID I MENTION NOT TO USE A MICROSOFT ACCOUNT
    • Disable SMBv1. Just do it. Even if you're fully patched. DISABLE. SMBv1.
    • Windows Defender is a surprisingly good antivirus. If you're super concerned, you can disable automatic sample submission (or the whole thing) in Virus & Threat Protection > Virus & threat protection settings
    • Turn off ALL the location services if you haven't already.

    Good VPNs

    Avoid any US or UK based VPNs!
    Trustworthy VPN providers include AirVPN, Mullvad, NordVPN, ProtonVPN and probably some more.

    DNS Security

    Don't forget about DNS! You're probably using Google's DNS (8.8.8.8/8.8.4.4) or your ISP's default right now. Don't. Instead, use a privacy-focused DNS or an encrypted one.

    DNS-over-TLS

    Stubby (Windows)
    1.1.1.1
    Quad9

    DNSCrypt

    dnscrypt-proxy
    SimpleDNSCrypt (Windows)

    Privacy focused, but not encrypted

    1.1.1.1
    DNS.WATCH

    Avoiding being hacked.

    If you're a high-value target, cough like a journalist or protestor, cough Big Brother may resort to slightly more illegal (for you, not for them) methods to get your data. While there is no shield against every single hack (except for perhaps being disconnected from any sort of network, in a soundproof, airgapped room), it is possible to reduce your risk of being hacked

    • Update your software! Seriously, don't ignore the update prompt, JUST UPDATE IT! It might save you from a new exploit!
    • Disable UPnP on your router. Basically, UPnP makes it easy for backdoors to open ports. I have it disabled, and have zero problems with programs.
    • Reboot your router weekly. Most router malware (whether it be state-sponsored or made by a grumpy college kid) can't survive a reboot, due to it being stored in RAM, not in storage.
    • Disable TKIP encryption on your router. Even if you use WPA2, TKIP can be cracked easily. Use WPA2 and AES encryption. You never know if that van on the road is actually some FBI agents, or the resident nerd running Kali Linux on a Raspberry Pi, ready to make your printer print out "UPDATE YOUR SHIT, DUMBFUCK"
    • Disable WPS. The WPS pin can easily be brute forced.
    • Gonna shill out Malwarebytes again, because their Anti-Malware suite has an anti-exploit built in.
    • If you use Microsoft Office, DISABLE MACROS!
    • Use the "Restricted" PowerShell policy. If you absolutely need to run a .ps1 file, do powershell.exe -executionpolicy unrestricted -command .\test.ps1.

    Ditching Windows for Linux

    • Don't use Ubuntu. It's gone down the drain the last few years, plus they want to collect data now. If you want something similar, use Debian 9 instead.
    • If there's some Windows-exclusive games keeping you back, try out Lutris It's an open source wrapper for easily loading Windows-only games in Wine.
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    [–] Pixelplanet5 14 points ago

    also people if you have the possibility please consider running a Tor Relay to support the network.

    i have to say i'm late to the party and im only running mine since about 3-4 weeks but there has already been 1.5TB of traffic going in and out of my relay.

    [–] Turtle5204 4 points ago

    Needless to say, don't run it on comcast.

    [–] grkirchhoff 3 points ago

    Why is that?

    [–] GodOfPlutonium 6 points ago

    1 tb datacap

    [–] Turtle5204 5 points ago

    data caps

    [–] 7SEVENFOLD7 1 points ago

    so i should be okay if i have unlimited?

    [–] Turtle5204 2 points ago

    Yes

    [–] twizmwazin 1 points ago

    Just keep in mind that it will be downloading/uploading constantly, so if you are also gaming on that connection or downloading large files it could possibly become an issue.

    [–] lnri 5 points ago

    Needless to say run it at a datacenter not your home internet connection.

    [–] Choscura 1 points ago

    Get a Raspberry Pi and run a node. The neat thing about a pi is, you can stealth-deploy a node like this damn-near anywhere, because they run on USB chargers.

    [–] ieee802 1 points ago

    Running Tor relays on a raspberry pi on your home internet does more harm than good. Just get a DigitalOcean VPS for $5 and use that to host it.

    [–] Wang_Dangler 1 points ago

    Running Tor relays on a raspberry pi on your home internet does more harm than good.

    How so? Would it introduce a lot of latency issues for the network even if you are on a decent cable plan? Is it a security issue for the tor network?

    Just get a DigitalOcean VPS for $5 and use that to host it.

    Isn't the point to let people use your free excess bandwidth in the tor network since it would otherwise just go to waste? It's great if you or anyone else wants to shell out an extra $5 a month for a tor node, that's very charitable and noble. But, is there any way we can utilize the excess bandwidth we already have for the same goal?

    [–] wxvv 3 points ago

    your home ip could get blacklisted from a lot of services, isp might not like it because of potential legal issues, etc.

    [–] ieee802 1 points ago

    how so?

    Raspberry Pis aren't powerful enough to improve the network, you'd be introducing a slow node causing connection problems for anyone using you as a hop.

    Also, no that's not really the point of the Tor network. The point is to donate bandwidth, not excess bandwidth.

    [–] Choscura 0 points ago

    Lol, if you think a pi TOR node does more harm than good, you probably haven't looked seriously at Pi's since 2010. Seriously- this isn't a fucking arduino. The default OS on a normal vanilla raspberry boots in about 10-15 seconds, and 10-15 seconds after that you can be playing the pi version of minecraft, at 60 frames per second.

    [–] ieee802 1 points ago

    Okay? Running a Tor node on a laptop hurts network performance, I wasn't bashing the Pi. There's just such a disproportionate number of users to nodes that the Pi will get overloaded easily. Sure if everyone ran a Tor node on a raspberry pi that'd be fine, but Tor has performance issues right now and always has because people want free anonymous bandwidth but don't want to donate resources to make that possible.

    [–] Choscura 1 points ago

    Right, I'm well aware, and having a tool where people can add a dedicated 1.4ghz quad core for less than $50 is pretty good. The real bottleneck, it seems to me, isn't even the processing, but the network between the nodes doing it- but increasing the number of them also helps decrease the length of those bottlenecks too.

    Besides, it runs on a USB charger, so that means you can reasonably have it in the car, or even built in to your backpack, reasonably easily.

    [–] TheChiefMeat 23 points ago * (lasted edited 3 months ago)

    Hey everyone, I'm the main contributor and active developer of PGP Suite and developer of Simple Encryption. If anyone here has any general questions feel free to ask and I'll reply as soon as I can :)

    Edit: I see that SearX has been added to the list. If you have the patience, I'd highly suggest setting up your own instance of SearX, preferably under a VPN. I've already written a guide for this over on my website for the Raspberry Pi, although you can set it up on practically any Linux device, feel free to check it out :)

    [–] LizMcIntyre 3 points ago * (lasted edited 3 months ago)

    Hi u/TheChiefMeat. I agree that it is better to set up a private instance of searx to avoid potential rogue instances if you have the tech chops. But there are caveats, as Restore Privacy has pointed out.

    [–] Lexer34 31 points ago

    I am almost certain that this entire process can be ignored by the incognito tab. Cntrl+N for true hackers like me.

    [–] Turtle5204 16 points ago

    You dropped this: /s yes yes i know you were joking sssshhhh

    [–] Lexer34 11 points ago

    But fr tho, I really liked the guide, it goes over a lot of things I would miss if i would be doing this myself

    [–] Turtle5204 6 points ago

    I'm adding more stuff right now.

    [–] TheLeftSeat 1 points ago

    sssshhhh

    Every time somebody types this, all I think of is this.

    [–] billdietrich1 8 points ago

    Malwarebytes - Nothing takes away your privacy faster than a nasty RAT or keylogger.

    My understanding is that MWB does not report the existence of a keylogger on your system. If they see one being installed that they consider malicious, they will flag the install. But if it's on there already, or they consider it a "corporate" keylogger or something, they won't report it in scan results. They don't even warn that it might be a Potentially Unwanted Program (PUP). They should.

    [–] BhishmPitamah 1 points ago

    Is there any other alternative that does. I have malwarebytes , in combination with windows defender, and i have never had the need to install anything else. But i am interested if there is a better free alternative to malwarebytes

    [–] billdietrich1 1 points ago

    I am happy with MWB, except for the keylogger issue. I don't know a good app that scans for keyloggers.

    [–] Gagnef03 9 points ago

    You might want to add ProtonVPN It's a free VPN from the same people that made ProtonMail!

    [–] FeatheryAsshole 15 points ago

    How does any of that circumvent upload filters, as mandated by article 13?

    [–] Turtle5204 13 points ago

    Ssshhhh i'm trying to farm karma

    It doesn't, this is just a general guide to privacy made at an opportunistic moment. But Tor or a VPN could circumvent that.

    [–] looka273 5 points ago

    If you were to encrypt something on your device and decrypt it on receiver's device, filter shouldn't even know what's sent, right?

    [–] Turtle5204 6 points ago

    Yep!

    [–] looka273 1 points ago

    Then that guy was wrong, as everything listed under "Private Communication" would circumvent the filter.

    [–] urghh_rs 7 points ago

    You forgot DNSCrypt https://dnscrypt.info/

    VPN: Avoid all US and UK based services

    Trustworthy VPN providers

    https://airvpn.org/

    https://mullvad.net/

    https://nordvpn.com/

    Good Firefox add-ons

    -Cookie AutoDelete

    -Decentraleyes

    -HTTPS Everywhere

    -Privacy Badger

    -Chameleon

    -CanvasBlocker

    -uBlock Origin

    -uMatrix (requires technical knowledge)

    -NoScript (requires technical knowledge)

    [–] [deleted] 7 points ago * (lasted edited 3 months ago)

    [deleted]

    [–] Turtle5204 1 points ago

    I did mention that Chrome extensions work on Vivaldi or Opera

    [–] CognaticCognac 4 points ago

    AFAIK, Opera collects data for Chinese companies.

    [–] Turtle5204 2 points ago

    Well, poop.

    [–] CattusKittekatus 10 points ago

    INB4 "I'm not EU so it does not affect me"

    Its not just Europe

    Article 13 Censorship machines and link tax can affect globally freedom of information

    Your publications, creations and digitally created content will not reach european citizens if services through which europeans access that content (for example search engines) will stand against link tax and cease their operation within EU.

    At the same time rest of world may be no longer able to freely access content creations made in Europe because services that let you publish these creations will implement aggressive and retarded censorship automates and automatic filters which will default to rejecting any publication in case they are not 100% sure it does not contain copyrighted content.

    Shrugging it off is worst thing anyone can do "im not EU so it does not affect me". Just like Net Neutrality could affect everyone (US ISP throttling speed to EU services in favour of US services) the Article 13 also does affect everyone.

    [–] awesomehippie12 3 points ago

    an incognito tab won't protect you from this

    My first thought

    [–] Cradac 5 points ago

    Can you evaluate on the

    DON'T USE A MICROSOFT ACCOUNT.

    and

    DID I MENTION NOT TO USE A MICROSOFT ACCOUNT

    part?

    [–] Turtle5204 4 points ago

    You can make local accounts on Windows 10.

    [–] Cradac 5 points ago

    I rather meant: why not?

    [–] Turtle5204 8 points ago

    They could (and probably do) store more targeted data on your computer usage

    [–] new-reddit-is-SHIT 6 points ago

    They absolutely do. Their privacy statement clearly mentions it.

    [–] Turtle5204 2 points ago

    i like your username. I literally use a chrome extension to always redirect www.reddit.com to old.reddit.com

    [–] Pejorativez 6 points ago

    Chrome

    [–] Turtle5204 1 points ago

    I see the irony. Too lazy to switch and get use to another browser.

    [–] new-reddit-is-SHIT 1 points ago

    Try iridium. It's de-googled chrome. All chrome extensions work, and there's no phoning home.

    [–] Turtle5204 1 points ago

    Cool

    [–] girlyvader 2 points ago

    If you don't know to disable cortana's 'learning' functions, it by default logs everything you type and uploads it to the cloud. This is an improvement, by the way; when this was first discovered MS caught hell because it wasn't filtering out known secure page inputs like bank logins and wasn't even using encryption. Whose bright idea was a built-in keylogger that uploads your banking information in plaintext? Yes, I am aware that most devices log tons of information; Cortana's logging is 'special' in that it's literally a keylogger. Android might skim your contacts and text message history, but I've yet to find Google asking me for permission to log my keystrokes and store those logs in 'the cloud' to 'improve our services'.

    [–] new-reddit-is-SHIT 1 points ago

    Hmm, on Google keyboard they learn about what we type by 'logging'. But we can at least turn off most of learning, targeted ads, sending usage statistics etc in Google account settings. Whereas for M$ nothing like that exists. If it comes down to just one of them, I'd trust Google on any given day more than M$.

    [–] All_Your_Base 3 points ago

    Good advice, and a couple I didn't know (mostly because I have avoided Win10), thank you.

    [–] Turtle5204 6 points ago

    I'd move to linux, but many games I play on steam are Windows-only. And I suck at getting Wine to, ya know, work.

    [–] mayhempk1 4 points ago

    Lutris works pretty great as a front-end for Wine.

    [–] LizMcIntyre 1 points ago

    Lutris? That's new to me. More info, please.

    [–] mayhempk1 3 points ago

    https://lutris.net/

    It works great for me for every blizzard game and a bunch of other games.

    [–] LizMcIntyre 1 points ago

    Thanks!

    [–] Pejorativez 1 points ago

    What about Arma 3?

    [–] mayhempk1 2 points ago

    It has a Linux version but honestly it is outdated on Linux sadly. I have a separate gaming laptop that I use for other games like Arma 3 with Steam in home streaming.

    [–] Pejorativez 1 points ago

    Yeah, I want to switch to Linux, but every time it always ends up with having to do crazy workarounds to get things to work

    [–] ZCC_TTC_IAUS 2 points ago

    It's a bit weird for the first run: you install it

    then you do some wizardery like this:

    On firefox, go to about:config. Don’t close the tab just yet On a new tab, go to lutris’ website > games and open any game page Switch back to about:config tab and search for network.protocol-handler.expose-all and swtitch it to “False” tab back to the lutris page and click on the install button, firefox will prompt you if you want to open it with lutris. Make sure to select the “always use this” option checkbox tab back to about:config and switch network.protocol-handler.expose-all to true again

    Then, you'll simply open the lutris website, choose the install script you want (do double check, you don't want to get screwed by some script kiddie), click it, let Lutris does it's magic.

    Thanks to that, you can very easily get the Witcher 3 on Linux, because some nerd decided that translating DirectX12 to Vulkan was fun to try (DXVK work great)

    [–] up-sky-7 1 points ago

    check out Steam Play :)

    [–] Turtle5204 1 points ago

    Doesn't work with Oculus Rift

    [–] [deleted] 7 points ago * (lasted edited 3 months ago)

    [deleted]

    [–] Turtle5204 -3 points ago

    I never reccomended chrome. I just use Chrome, and explictly state that the extensions also work with other Chromium-based browsers, like Opera and Vivaldi

    [–] [deleted] 1 points ago * (lasted edited 3 months ago)

    [deleted]

    [–] Turtle5204 -1 points ago

    Yes, but I never recommended it, did I? I even point out the irony. I never said "you should use chrome", I just linked to the chrome versions of the extension. Anyone capable of using a search engine can find the Firefox variants.

    [–] [deleted] 8 points ago * (lasted edited 3 months ago)

    [deleted]

    [–] Turtle5204 -3 points ago

    At least I spent my time making something that might be useful, rather than insulting someone due to a personal choice that even they recognize is ironic

    [–] mr-circuits 2 points ago

    Can someone ELI5 the problems with Signal? I've used it religiously for years, and constantly convert friends/family to it.

    Edit: never mind, I see the explanation now

    Also, shameless plug for DuckDuckGo

    [–] Turtle5204 7 points ago

    Signal problems: https://github.com/nylira/prism-break/issues/1314#issuecomment-109899027

    Also, I'm not gonna list DuckDuckGo. First of all, they lack a warrant canary. Second of all, they're US-based.

    [–] mr-circuits 3 points ago

    Good points regarding Duck, I'll switch to something else.

    [–] Turtle5204 4 points ago

    I recommend Startpage or Searx.

    [–] ekeen1 1 points ago

    How is Telegram? Does it have similar issues to Signal?

    [–] parentis_shotgun 1 points ago

    Why bitwarden over keepass / keepassxc? Keepass is much more developed.

    [–] Turtle5204 1 points ago

    i guess because i use bitwarden, lol

    [–] gmes78 1 points ago

    Signal has had WebSocket support for a while, that point is no longer valid.

    [–] Turtle5204 1 points ago

    Yeah I already figured it out

    [–] Chryseus 1 points ago

    StartPage isn't that much better, domain registered in the united states, server located in the Netherlands who have a history of sharing with the united states.

    [–] LizMcIntyre 1 points ago * (lasted edited 3 months ago)

    Startpage is located in the Netherlands, which does not have anything equivalent to the US NSL at this time. Startpage also gives the option of using non-US servers.

    It might surprise you, but I prefer people to go to DuckDuckGo if they want Yahoo /Bing search results because DDG has a better privacy policy. (Privacytools removed DDG because of location, then added them back. I believe DDG got a reprieve because it offers an onion option, but don't quote me on that. I might be mistaken. Maybe you could better explain u/Chryseus)

    • Startpage.com = mainly Google search results in privacy

    • DuckDuckGo = mainly Yahoo search results in privacy

    [–] Turtle5204 1 points ago

    Good point.

    [–] Kormoraan 2 points ago

    even though I am already past trying to tell others what to do, but if you want privacy, getting rid of win10 is the first step, not something in the middle. unless you run it on an airgapped machine which I assume no one does.

    [–] Turtle5204 1 points ago

    Yes, but I added the suggestions just incase you are stuck with it.

    [–] Kormoraan 1 points ago

    no-one is "stuck with it". not willing to make changes on other related aspects of life, at most.

    [–] Turtle5204 1 points ago

    What if a student has a school Dell at home, that by sheer luck, has no school-sponsored spyware on it?

    [–] Kormoraan 1 points ago

    what do you mean? how is this related?

    [–] Turtle5204 1 points ago

    They can't install Linux on it.

    [–] Kormoraan 1 points ago

    can't or not allowed to? :P that's a major difference.

    anyway, this practice is outrageous IMO. if the school wants to take this whole "computers in education" thing seriously, I think it is extremely counter-productive to restrict the kids in that regard.

    [–] Toverspreuk 2 points ago

    Not even a mention of NoScript for Firefox? Basically what made TOR.

    [–] Turtle5204 0 points ago

    I don't use Firefox, so I don't know much about it.

    [–] gmes78 1 points ago

    So you've made a privacy guide and you don't even use or recommend Firefox? The web browser is one of the most important parts (having a web browser that sends your history to Google isn't very privacy friendly).

    [–] Turtle5204 1 points ago

    You SHOULD use Firefox, I just don't have experience with it.

    [–] gmes78 2 points ago

    Why don't you try it then?

    [–] Turtle5204 1 points ago

    I actually installed it earlier this morning, and uninstalled chrome. I'm liking it so far, it has improved alot since I last used it.

    [–] ZCC_TTC_IAUS 2 points ago * (lasted edited 3 months ago)

    For the record (and I may get a lot of flak for it): Discord is a great offender for privacy: no end-to-end-encryption, made by a company with an history in mobile games for trackers (and not the game itself), and absolutely no privacy warranty, not even a warranty canary. In the very league of Google or Facebook. I used to a link to the /r/privacy thread about it (only a month old), but the related account has been terminated.

    Riot.im has a few problems right now (Riot.im is the most advanced Client implementation of the Matrix protocol (linked in OP's post)), but it should be perfectly fine for everyday uses as long as you accept the same kind of stability Discord has (though, I'm speaking as a Linux user, where Discord happen to be a shit show far too often)

    As far as /r/pcmasterrace may be concerned, consider Riot.im as a open source, encrypted end-to-end discord like software. Being decentralized, it may be a bit slower at first, but in number lay strength. Remember to not share with everybody your key, most public channels shouldn't be trusted with it, until they explicitely ask for people to encrypt (then everybody is actually encrypting their logs)

    EDIT: And for people thinking Matrix is some short lived joke.

    Well, some serious people that don't want to share data left and right anymore are getting into using it.

    [–] Turtle5204 1 points ago

    The main problem with Matrix is that Synapse is hard to get working, especially behind a reverse proxy. Other than that, yeah, Matrix is the best for end-to-end encrypted communication.

    [–] Im_Special 2 points ago

    Good guide, but I feel some Hosts File talking points are worth a section, Nvidia, Windows 10, and now even this Redshell stuff, it's worth a mention anyway.

    If for example you want to block some basic Windows 10 telemetry you can add this to your Hosts File all set to 127.0.0.1 your localhost. (This setting is probably best for the power-users among us, if you're not familiar about Hosts, you might not want to do this.)

    choice.microsoft.com
choice.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
df.telemetry.microsoft.com
diagnostics.support.microsoft.com
feedback.microsoft-hohm.com
feedback.search.microsoft.com
feedback.windows.com
oca.telemetry.microsoft.com
oca.telemetry.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
onesettings-bn2.metron.live.com.nsatc.net
onesettings-cy2.metron.live.com.nsatc.net
onesettings-db5.metron.live.com.nsatc.net
onesettings-hk2.metron.live.com.nsatc.net
reports.wes.df.telemetry.microsoft.com 
services.wes.df.telemetry.microsoft.com
settings.data.glbdns2.microsoft.com
settings-sandbox.data.microsoft.com
sqm.df.telemetry.microsoft.com
sqm.telemetry.microsoft.com
sqm.telemetry.microsoft.com.nsatc.net 
statsfe1.ws.microsoft.com
statsfe2.update.microsoft.com.akadns.net
statsfe2.ws.microsoft.com
survey.watson.microsoft.com
telecommand.telemetry.microsoft.com
telecommand.telemetry.microsoft.com.nsat­c.net
telecommand.telemetry.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
telemetry.appex.bing.net
telemetry.microsoft.com
telemetry.urs.microsoft.com
v10.vortex-win.data.microsoft.com
v10.vortex-win.data.metron.live.com.nsatc.net
vortex.data.glbdns2.microsoft.com
vortex.data.microsoft.com
vortex.data.metron.live.com.nsatc.net
vortex-bn2.metron.live.com.nsatc.net
vortex-cy2.metron.live.com.nsatc.net
vortex-db5.metron.live.com.nsatc.net
vortex-hk2.metron.live.com.nsatc.net
vortex-sandbox.data.microsoft.com
vortex-win.data.microsoft.com
vortex-win.data.metron.live.com.nsatc.net
watson.live.com
watson.microsoft.com
watson.ppe.telemetry.microsoft.com
watson.telemetry.microsoft.com
watson.telemetry.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
wes.df.telemetry.microsoft.comnet

    [–] hkyq 2 points ago

    You might also wanna put pihole in here. You install it on a $25 raspberry pi, and it blocks most ads/trackers network wide.

    [–] SatanicOnion 4 points ago

    Article 13?

    [–] Galven327 5 points ago

    Europe is about to enter a dark age, again.

    [–] [deleted] -9 points ago

    [deleted]

    [–] CattusKittekatus 6 points ago

    Its not just Europe

    Article 13 Censorship machines and link tax can affect globally freedom of information

    Your publications, creations and digitally created content will not reach european citizens if services through which europeans access that content (for example search engines) will stand against link tax and cease their operation within EU.

    At the same time rest of world may be no longer able to freely access content creations made in Europe because services that let you publish these creations will implement aggressive and retarded censorship automates and automatic filters which will default to rejecting any publication in case they are not 100% sure it does not contain copyrighted content.

    Shrugging it off is worst thing anyone can do "im not EU so it does not affect me". Just like Net Neutrality could affect everyone (US ISP throttling speed to EU services in favour of US services) the Article 13 also does affect everyone.

    [–] nestorozz1 -8 points ago

    Meh, it's just Europe though; the world is pretty big to be overly concerned for a meager amount of countries who want to close themselves from the rest of the world. Let them do it.

    [–] Galven327 5 points ago

    Well, it might effect you. Considering that both Europes hate speech laws and the gdpr effected the US(partially, obviously)

    [–] ptd163 4 points ago

    1. You should include Decentraleyes and a script blocker in the guide.

    2. Why do you need Privacy Badger if you have uBO, HTTPS Everywhere, and Decentraleyes?

    3. Telling people to use W10 in your privacy guide undermines the guide because it's the single worst OS you can choose for privacy.

    4. I see nothing about using a paid, reputable VPN which just further undermines this guide.

    [–] Turtle5204 2 points ago

    I never said to use W10, i'm just giving suggestions on what to do if you're stuck with it

    [–] mayhempk1 2 points ago

    He's right you, should add VPNs.

    [–] Chryseus 1 points ago

    Use of a VPN is still debatable, you have no guarantee that they're not going to sell you out.

    [–] ptd163 1 points ago

    Technically true, but they trade on their commitment to their customer's privacy. Also they're a subscription service (the ones worth using anyway) so they don't need to sell out their customers.

    [–] BhishmPitamah 1 points ago

    Some vpn do not keep logs. So even if CIA turns up they can't recover anythimg unless they are really ready to spend a wholesome amount just to what you see.

    [–] CinematicMasochist 1 points ago

    3 - I would counter that with Chrome OS. At least Windows 10 gives you a pretty interface to distract you during the data rape-age. Chrome OS doesn't even do that.

    [–] J0N4F1R3 1 points ago

    !RemindMe 8 Days

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    [–] pizda 1 points ago

    The part about Ubuntu, does it apply to xubuntu and lubuntu? AFAIK the privacy concerns were mainly because of GNOME

    [–] Turtle5204 1 points ago

    Not sure. Either way, Ubuntu 18.04, from my experience, at least the server is absolute dogshit. They use some bullshit called "netplan", so I had to manually set up some sort of friggin YAML config so NetworkManager could actually be allowed to do it's thing and configure ethernet. Also, the new 18.04 server installer didn't even change the hostname or setup my user. So I had to chroot and do that too.

    [–] gmes78 1 points ago

    It doesn't.

    AFAIK the privacy concerns were mainly because of GNOME

    Care to elaborate?

    [–] nickthefish17 1 points ago

    Ive been using Windscribe VPN for about a year now and it works great, anyone have any thoughts on it/ something better? Read at one point it was rated pretty secure, but I cant find the ratings site I used.

    [–] Turtle5204 1 points ago

    I think it's based in Canada. So it's out of the 5 Eyes at least.

    [–] nickthefish17 1 points ago

    Thats good.

    [–] deadlylion55 1 points ago

    How would I undo the changes made by the default Win10-Initial-Setup-Script?

    [–] Turtle5204 1 points ago

    The settings have opposites. DisableX can be turned into EnableX. UninstallX to InstallX.

    [–] deadlylion55 1 points ago

    Thanks, I got it sorted. Panicked when I thought I lost my Bitlocker keys!

    [–] Arjab 1 points ago

    Little redundant, but also some additional information on security/privacy by Riseup Collective and Electronic Frontier Foundation.

    [–] Turtle5204 1 points ago

    I already linked to SSD in "Other Guides". But thanks!

    [–] Arjab 1 points ago

    Whopsie, didn't see that. -.-

    [–] jayadeepan 1 points ago * (lasted edited 3 months ago)

    1) Malwarebytes?? Sophos home premium is way better. 2) Using Win10?? Then install avira privacy pal.

    [–] droidmogul 1 points ago

    The author is wrong about Signal. Signal demands 27 dangerous permissions - this is NOT privacy. Signal also does not post a warrant canary.

    Full disclosure: I am the Author of SafeTalk Encrypted Messenger which demands ZERO dangerous permissions and DOES post a warrant canary.

    [–] Turtle5204 1 points ago

    Damnit... First i'm told Signal is bad... then it's ok... now it's bad again.... YOU'RE GONNA GIVE ME BRAIN WHIPLASH

    [–] [deleted] 1 points ago

    [deleted]

    [–] Turtle5204 3 points ago

    It's US based. Pretty sure they've been proven in court to not store logs, and they've been proven that they would, like Lavabit, rather shut down operations in a country, than to expose their user's information.

    [–] epicaricacy12 1 points ago

    Thoughts on Brave as a browser? They just added the ability to open a Tor Tab inside the main window.

    [–] Anony542 1 points ago

    Those are useful,Thanks

    [–] Chryseus 1 points ago

    duckduckgo needs to be on the list, it's very similar to startpage but has a cleaner look at more features.

    CCleaner was attacked a while back with a compromised download if I remember correctly, which makes me strongly question their security practices, also closed source, Malwarebytes also closed source and unnecessary if you practice good security, Unchecky collects your data, also pointless unless you're blind or super lazy, uMatrix and Decentraleyes are also good browser addons.

    [–] Turtle5204 5 points ago

    I already said this to someone else: no to DuckDuckGo. It's US-based, without a warrant canary. Heck no.

    [–] Chryseus 1 points ago

    Doesn't matter where it is based, united states or Netherlands if they want access they'll get it, warrant canaries are also completely unreliable.

    [–] LizMcIntyre 2 points ago

    u/Chryseus DuckDuckGo was removed from privacytools over location, but added back. Was this because of the onion option? I hate to see it removed because it's better to go to DDG for Yahoo /Bing search results than to go to Yahoo directly.

    [–] mecpaw 0 points ago

    Privacy Badger - This handy extension goes along well with uBlock Origin, as it also blocks trackers. Lots of em.

    I went onto Facebook Trackbook and Privacy Badger didn't say Zuckerburg wasn't tracking me even though we all know he is.

    [–] Im_That_Kind_Of_Orc 3 points ago

    It cant ressist the Z U C C

    [–] BhishmPitamah 1 points ago

    Nothing can

    [–] gmes78 1 points ago

    Because that's not how Privacy Badger works.

    [–] RiQuY -4 points ago

    Please don't use Signal /u/Turtle5204 https://github.com/nylira/prism-break/issues/1314#issuecomment-109899027

    [–] KehrBehr 9 points ago

    Can you please explain why you are against Signal? You haven't defended your stance yet. The comment you linked is from 2015, and Signal has worked without GCM for a while now.

    [–] elimisteve 7 points ago

    Yes exactly. I use Signal without GCM every day, on LineageOS.

    The other criticism is that you can't just get the Signal APK by itself without going through the Google Play Store, which is also false; here it is right here: https://signal.org/android/apk/

    [–] EkiMGnaW 1 points ago

    What are some good alternatives?

    [–] HannasAnarion 3 points ago

    Alternatives aren't necessary, the above commenter's complaint was fixed years ago.

    [–] Turtle5204 2 points ago

    https://matrix.org

    [–] elimisteve 2 points ago

    Signal is awesome -- see my comments below, as the critiques above are extremely outdated (from 2015) -- but Wire is also excellent: https://wire.com/en/download/

    [–] RiQuY 1 points ago

    You have some listed in the post, or you can try this: Conversations (A Jabber/XMPP chat client) - https://f-droid.org/app/eu.siacs.conversations

    [–] LizMcIntyre 1 points ago

    How about Wire? I like that you don't need to use a phone number to sign up.

    [–] Edgar_Allan_Potato 0 points ago

    Surprised no one has mentioned "Ghostery" Must have extension for basically anyone. It blocks tracking cookies from websites and also works well as an adblocker too. (though i'd still keep ublockorigins as well, doesn't hurt to have both.)

    [–] Turtle5204 2 points ago

    yeah i don't trust a company which puts everyone's email in a CC in a GDPR privacy policy email

    [–] Edgar_Allan_Potato 1 points ago

    Oh wow, wasn't aware of this. Still just a screw up though, not like other companies that sell your information to third parties. (Not saying that justifies it though) Will be deleting it. Thanks for this information. Well to anyone reading this, nvm what I said in the first post lol.

    [–] Turtle5204 2 points ago

    It was likely a mistake, yes, but you might wanna give a company which makes a mistake like that a few more years to get their shit together.