FireFox (new terms of services) - avoid using it!

[palestine]

I think it's Secret Government.

Thank you!

 

[Ricardo]

Do think the real target after the iPhone came along are the smartphones, you can't really tamper with them. With a computer, for instance, you could just use layers of extensions and tweaks on the browser, but even then.

We might be very well be using the indestructible Nokia 3310, but'll be revealing your location to cell towers, and your calls to the phone companies, of course. Guess these thingies should be set aside away in a far way room if you are discussing important things.

View attachment 106507

(and) Preferably inside a faraday bag/cage.

 

[KJS]

25 years ago, the company I worked for made internet backbone switches. By law they had a backdoor for intel agencies to access any individual stream (voice, data, video, whatever).

A few years ago I was implementing a software GPRS tunneling proof of concept for T-Mobile. Even in the proof of concept, there was a requirement to be able to redirect the GPRS tunnel outside of T-Mobile's infrastructure, for lawful interception needs.

Guess these thingies should be set aside away in a far way room if you are discussing important things.

It is essential to not have windows in the room, as their vibrations can be monitored. Similarly, even if you desolder a smartphone's microphone, the accelerometer can be used to reconstruct voice.

By the way, if a smartphone is off in the sense that a switch off button was pressed, it does not necessarily mean that it still does not transmit or receive some data.

Although airplane mode should deactivate the modem permanently, and this was even verified by the GrapheneOS team, so at least Google Pixels should not connect to the carrier. Even without a SIM card, the cellular modem still connects to carriers. Additionally, there are low-power hardware modules on the phone that continue to function even when the main processor is sleeping. A good example of this is the module that waits for voice commands, such as "hey Siri", and wakes up the main processor.

Brave has Tor embed if I remember correctly.

With browser fingerprinting, the more niche the hardware and software configuration you use, the more prone to fingerprinting you are. So, Brave with Tor feels like a honeypot to me. I was impressed at how I stood out with my "secure and private" combination of Vanadium browser on GrapheneOS compared to my wife's standard Windows desktop with Chrome. My fingerprint was way way more unique than hers, so I was more trackable between websites.

 

[EmeraldR]

Nope. Neither of us use any shopping apps, so the only thing I can think of is:
1. Ads / ad data sharing (even between Amazon/Google and AliExpress)
2. The sharing of data goes WAAAAY beyond what just Google does, or what advertisers do, etc.

it amazes me that most people even when using apps such as messenger whatsapp etc do not even bother to switch the privacy setting off in regard to microphone and camera!! so theres not positive intention there energetically either!

in a cafe for example i or my friends might not have a mobile device but other people in the cafe do and their mobile devices will pick up everything going on in that space!

 

[Ricardo]

Tor feels like a honeypot to me

Indeed fwiiw , i've long considered the tor(network) as a sort of reverse honeypot

 

[palestine]

Several of your quote are precise and left me puzzled. It showed me additional hardware parts definitely useable for monitoring purposes. Quite a whole structure - not restricted to the idea of "Mic on /mic off"!

A few years ago I was implementing a software GPRS tunneling proof of concept for T-Mobile. Even in the proof of concept, there was a requirement to be able to redirect the GPRS tunnel outside of T-Mobile's infrastructure, for lawful interception needs.

Out of curiosity, what does such infrastructure work on in term of protocol? Is the data going through some basic IP conduit?

My fingerprint was way way more unique than hers, so I was more trackable between websites.

Well, this makes much sense, again, thank you for hinting at this. It's obvious! I remember a time when I was using Linux, with some stuff called pidgin, supposed to act some form of local VPN (pidgin was Tor). And so I would have all communications go through Tor, believing that it would be anonymous. This is to say that if somebody uses Linux+Pidgin, I would not encourage it in term of anonymity. In addition, as KJS say, your fingerprint becomes unique in regard of the web and so you would end up faster under monitoring.

But well - let's sate it for people who don't feel okay with such thing: we don't really need to fear all of those things, because we have nothing to hide. Sensitive documents should be placed on some computer without Internet, if required, and personal data too (personal pictures).

 

[Ricardo]

" computer without Internet (...) " , well about that, this is second hand knowledge so don't have a name or article to point to , so ymmv , but remember someone telling me early 2000's , that a public figure from microsoft (iiirc ) stated after departing it , that no computer plugged in to a power grid outlet was safe so.... ( somewhat pointing to this possiblity , there is comercially available network hardware that uses "formal "power lines for data , on local networks , even if not usually know/available )

 

[palestine]

" computer without Internet (...) " , well about that, this is second hand knowledge so don't have a name or article to point to , so ymmv , but remember someone telling me early 2000's , that a public figure from microsoft (iiirc ) stated after departing it , that no computer plugged in to a power grid outlet was safe so.... ( somewhat pointing to this possiblity , there is comercially available network hardware that uses "formal "power lines for data , on local networks , even if not usually know/available )

My above take was not 100% the reflection of what I had in mind and your post helped me to reach my conclusion: storing sensitive data on an external computer in order to prevent loss of data (this implying that one should not care for anonymacy too much).

Pff Thank you Ricardo - tough I am not sure if I was even capable of reaching such conclusion - but overall that's what I had in mind!

 

[EmeraldR]

interesting thread from mozilla firefox users regarding their sell out move on privacy and personal data

good to read the comments posted there

Re: Information about the New Terms of Use and Updated Privacy Notice for Firefox

As a long-time contributor and former Rep and Rep Council Member, I’ve been involved in the Mozilla community for many years. I'm severely concerned and aggravated about Mozilla's attempts to redefine the promise that "Firefox will never sell your personal data." Labeling this issue as merely...

connect.mozilla.org

 

[Alma.Innovadora]

Thanks. What's a good alternative?

None, in my opinion, just cold turkey.

Anyone who doesn't want to compromise their personal information should stay off the internet, and equally, when it comes to something as simple as accessing their bank account, how do they do it? They should still access the internet, make purchases, use social media security, or any app only by using their cell phone number. Bot verification, facial recognition, fingerprint verification, and other verifications are sometimes mandatory according to the policies of the company or app they want to use, under the excuse "it's for your safety" against hacking, loss, or theft of their cell phone, etc.

Or something as simple as if you don't accept their policies, even if accepting them means giving away personal information, then you won't be able to use it. Unfortunately, there are digital resources that one cannot disassociate themselves from.

The Yandex browser is Russian, but the internet isn't only Russian, so you're still exposed. Any browser that hasn't disclosed its policies or updated them, or made them public, is no guarantee that it isn't selling people's information.

People are forced to give their information, even their geographic location, even to buy food, because people have become incapable of even navigating a place without GPS. The convenience of having everything at your fingertips via TV, watch, cell phone, PC, and so many other digital devices today, all connected to AI.

Ad blockers? In my opinion, they're just a placebo. They need to be constantly updated, and I doubt they'll keep up with the latest technology and advanced knowledge of the various ways to get what they want. Blockers are like removing a pop-up message, removing something merely visual, when there's much more to it than that and how it works. Removing ads from social media and YouTube is one thing, but what about those that don't have "visual" ads? That's why I say they're a placebo: "As long as I don't see an ad, it's a safe zone."

Is the fact that I don't see a pop-up message or that the video doesn't pause to show me ads really because the website is free of some kind of worm sucking information from it? Could a website that presents itself as "a company free from selling our users' personal information" in its policies know whether or not they're being investigated and stealing information without their knowledge? I don't doubt it.

I don't doubt that there are real people working against these types of practices, who truly have tools that can counter hacking, but it's clear they've always been outmatched. Furthermore, we don't even know if those who create all these third-party ad-blocking tools are precisely those same people on the other side of the pond, just to feed the illusion of "security."

If Google owns the big internet advertising business, why does it still allow AdBlock to exist in its own browser? Because it suits them, not because AdBlock is the hero of the internet. Do these applications use some tool to make them undetectable and difficult to remove? Well, no, the browser itself offers them as browser extensions.

So they give you the ads and give you the button to remove them. The information still ends up in their hands, no matter what.