I want to leave my phone at home or not have it on me most of the time. Most calls I get are meaningless spam and I rarely need to answer my phone for real calls outside my home (though it does happen on ocassion). One thing I do want and am accustomed to is having music, however. I was looking at Amazon and Aliexpress for devices that can play mp3/mp4s, some can do that and even have ebook readers which is great. I don't see any connectivity on them or microphones save for the one that is included on the earbuds or Bluetooth. And that is one question I have: can Bluetooth compromised your privacy? I know Bluetooth hacking is real but how bad is it? I guess if it has a microphone it is ok if I dont have any connectivity. What do you guys recommend?

I only want to use it for facebook marketplace, but jeez i didnt know they were taking it this far with this crap...

cross-posted from: https://lemdro.id/post/35049920 >The latest update for the popular Nova Launcher app includes Facebook Ads and Google AdMob. > > Compare 8.2.4: https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/en/reports/698198/ > > With 8.1.6: https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/en/reports/673643/ > > From 2 trackers to 6 trackers. From 30 permissions to 36. And two of the "trackers" are for ad stuff, like Facebook Ads. > > I believe the owner also changed. It's no longer Branch, but something called Instabridge Sweden.

Title

Translated from German (with DeepL): > The Swiss messenger service Threema is being acquired by the German investment company Comitis Capital. Both the company and Threema itself emphasize that the arrival of the new investor will not lead to any significant changes for the time being. The company headquarters and servers will remain in Switzerland, and the management team will stay unchanged. > > # A financial investor with a broad portfolio > > Comitis Capital is a young private equity firm, not a technology company. It invests in various industries, including a UK-based supplier of vegan meat alternatives and a manufacturer of dog accessories. > > Its business model consists of providing financial support to promising companies so that they can grow and establish themselves internationally. “Comitis now clearly sees this potential in Threema too,” says SRF digital editor Tanja Eder. > > # Data protection as a business model > > The strong focus on data protection is considered a key strength of the messenger. Precisely because US tech companies are coming under increasing criticism and digital sovereignty is gaining in importance, Comitis sees this aspect as a clear unique selling point. > > Whether this will remain the case in the long term is unclear, according to Eder. If Comitis were to conclude at some point that it would be more profitable to collect Threema customer data or sell the company, no one could prevent them from doing so. > > # Trust in the authorities remains an issue > > In Switzerland, federal authorities and the military also use Threema for internal communication. Even though everyone involved is aware that there is no such thing as absolute security, Threema still has advantages over its competitors. > > For example, Threema's source code is openly accessible. Experts in the fields of data protection, IT security, and research regularly check whether the company is keeping its promises. Government agencies can also carry out their own checks. > > # Hardly any alternatives on the market > > Good alternatives to Threema are rare. “Apart from WhatsApp, which dominates the market, there is simply not much room for other messenger services,” notes the digital editor. > > Signal is considered another secure messenger alongside Threema. However, it is operated from the US, albeit by a non-profit foundation and financed by donations. In Switzerland, Proton offers encrypted emails, but does not have its own messenger service. > > “Given this limited offering, we can only hope that privacy-friendly communication services will gain in importance in the future,” says Eder.

For some of them I kind of lost access so I would need to write emails to instagram or whatever, for others I would need to remember and to access to each one of them and delete them. The hardest would be gmail with people having my contacts from like 10 years ago..

We have no marketing budget and are trying to get as many people away from Big Tech surveillance as possible. Please share this link with friends and family, and on social media. It contains a full link index of all our Alternatives pages, as well as links to our Big Tech Walkout programme, and a Quick Start section for those who just want to grab the top choices. Thank you! Patrick (Rebel Tech Alliance)

# Data can be transferred using ultrasonic frequencies, # Legit Uses - Google Tone Google Tez # Bad Thing - It has been used in the past for malicious activity by governments (if you know, you know). I can be used to track people, like people's devices screaming their ID and devices receiving other devices IDs. Imagine a mall with ultrasonic beacons, and for iOS and Google Play Services, hear that. # Reports - https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/02/some-apps-were-listening-to-you-through-the-smartphones-mic-says-report/ https://thehackernews.com/2017/05/ultrasonic-tracking-signals-apps.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n_8zDIFmQU # Solution ? How to stop my devices like browsers, Windows PC, macOS, Android, and Android apps, from sending and receiving these frequencies THis is a dead Chrome extension - https://github.com/ubeacsec/Silverdog

TL;DR ID scanning is becoming a more common requirement to access bars and clubs in Australia (and worldwide). A company called ScanTek is used in over 1,000 clubs in Aus and provides tools such as biometric-matching someone's face to an ID, detecting fake IDs, flagging people and sharing data with other venues automatically As well as verifying ages, ScanTek boasts *"collect marketing information from IDs and drivers licences, which business owners can use to target specific demographics with promotions"* on its website in a pitch to business owners. Though they claim to not share any of this with third parties Australia's privacy laws are vague, don't specify what can be collected and how it must be stored, and only say that companies shouldn't keep data for longer than is "reasonable"

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/7371980 > cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/20716 > > > While New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago have all received significant attention when it comes to police use of surveillance technologies, the small city of New Orleans has for years been the laboratory for a sophisticated surveillance apparatus deployed by the city’s police department and other policing bodies. > > >Just last year, New Orleans was in the news as the city considered setting a new surveillance precedent in the United States. First, a privately run camera network, Project N.O.L.A., was exposed for deploying facial recognition technology, including “live use” (meaning Project N.O.L.A. was identifying people in real time as they walked through the city). All of this was done in close collaboration with the local police, despite these uses violating a 2022 ordinance that placed narrow limits on the use of facial recognition. > > >Then the city flirted with formally approving the use of live facial recognition technology, which would have been a first in the United States. If enacted, live facial recognition technology would allow police to identify individuals as they move about New Orleans in real time. All of this occurred in the months before the Trump administration deployed Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, wielding an array of surveillance technologies, to terrorize and kidnap New Orleans residents. Of course, New Orleans residents have organized and actively fought back against the police and their spying, offering lessons for organizers across the country. > > >Edith Romero, an organizer with Eye on Surveillance (EOS), spoke with Truthout about the history of Eye on Surveillance, Project NOLA, the use of facial recognition technology in New Orleans and why we should all be watching what’s happening there if we’re concerned about the growing surveillance state. > > > > [Source](https://truthout.org/articles/battle-over-facial-recognition-in-new-orleans-will-shape-future-of-surveillance/) > > > > --- > > > > **From [Truthout](https://truthout.org/feed/?withoutcomments=1) via [This RSS Feed](https://truthout.org/feed/?withoutcomments=1).**

What do you think of the Nora Android app and desktop browser optimized for social networking services? Does anyone use it? Is it safe and private? Github link: https://github.com/nonbili/Nora F-droid link: https://f-droid.org/packages/jp.nonbili.nora

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mmi.maps

There are many formats for blocklists for Domain, Subdomain, URL, Filterlist Like uBlock, Adblock, AdGuard Which are compatible with which What are the pros and cons of each

So I was reading [this article](https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/01/signal-creator-moxie-marlinspike-wants-to-do-for-ai-what-he-did-for-messaging/) about Signal-creator Moxie Marlinspike's new project, [Confer](https://confer.to/) , which claims to be a verifiably E2E encrypted LLM chat service. There are a couple of short [blog articles](https://confer.to/blog/2026/01/private-inference/) that give the gist of it, and some github repos including [this one](https://github.com/conferlabs/confer-image) that includes scripts for producing the VM that will run your particular LLM session. But if I'm following this all correctly, it implies that every chat session (or perhaps every logged-in user) would have their own VM running their own LLM to ensure that the chain of trust is complete. This seems impossible from a scalability perspective, as even small LLMs require huge quantities of RAM and compute. Did I miss something fundamental here?

**Built With AI** *to make a safe space out of its reach!* [Demo Video](https://streamable.com/qajqvc) [Source](https://gitlab.com/here_forawhile/spreadsheet) This privacy tool can be installed on most Linux distros, including my favorite....hosting from termux (android)! The project was driven by a my desire to create a private space for spreadsheet collaboration with no fluff, tracking ect. Fully open and free tech stack - SQLite Database - Gunicorn WSGI Server backend - Python for API and Application Routes - Pure JS, HTML, CSS Frontend - TOR for worldwide encrypted connection to the service. Formulas Supported functions include: - Math: SUM, AVERAGE, MIN, MAX, COUNT, ABS, - ROUND, SQRT, POWER, MOD - Logic: IF, TRUE, FALSE - Lookup: VLOOKUP - Text: CONCAT, LEFT, RIGHT, MID, LEN, UPPER, LOWER, TRIM - Date: TODAY, NOW Hope you enjoy. While I plan to continue polishing the UI/Expirence, it is not complete but is in a usable state. I will continue to iterate on the application as I continue with real world testing and data processing. *Open to critique and suggestions for improvement!*

Pros Good Filtering and Easy and Free Cons: You tell a company your IP changes Websites and tell your unique DNS

Hello! DW is hosting another one of her no-cost 5-week degoogling challenges on Signal. It's based mainly on the challenge she created [here](https://www.punchinguppress.com/post/shake-off-google-a-5-week-privacy-plan-infographic), but will be run by another member as she's slammed right now. If you're interested, [request an invite into the group](https://signal.group/#CjQKIPfv-Xa5mSVIES2Rwx5-8tQHT8wgADjmXXAp6Glu23V-EhCM50toN-KpLV4lXJg1TM3Q).

It's only visible on Android using special apps, not from OpenWRT next to it

Looking for some perspective on this, interested how y’all think about it and if I’m isolated in my concerns. I’ve grown to be a bit anxious when I’m out and about in any neighborhood. The wide use of doorbell cameras that connect to the internet and save data on company servers, [listen in to your conversations](https://www.consumerreports.org/video-doorbells/video-doorbell-cameras-record-audio-too-a4636115889/), and could be used for [spying on you as an individual](https://san.com/cc/privacy-experts-see-dangers-in-ring-flock-partnership/) gives me a sinking feeling. I like walking around, I walk my dogs around the neighborhood and I know my neighbors. I’ve started being so aware that it’s changing my habits. I don’t turn my face towards houses while I’m walking if I notice a doorbell camera, and I’ve put my shirt over my face when dropping off something to a neighbor who has one. I probably gave them a fright but I don’t feel like I should’ve expected to be OK with you surviving me in a way that compromises my privacy that expansively. I’m considering keeping a bandana with me to cover my face if I need to go up to a door, but of course that would make people think I’m a bad actor and just a paranoid privacy nut. I feel a bit like Winston in the 1984 novel, always feeling watched and trying to find an isolated corner where I can’t be seen. How have y’all been feeling on this? Would love to get perspective, thanks

Yesterday I saw someone with Meta smart glasses in public for the first time. Even just standing near him was unpleasant. It doesn't matter whether it's recording, pointing a camera and mics at somebody who didn't agree to it feels rude and a bit shocking. I worry that this is becoming more acceptable or do others feel the same way? Companies keep pushing forward, now with smart neckleses, smart headphones, (all equipped with camera and mic). Are these all doomed to fail? What feature would convince me or others to actually start using them? It's certainly not chatgpt strapped on your face, or a shitty quality spy camera either. If any of my friends or family wore these, I wouldn't feel comfortable speaking to them. Im interested in your experiences. Thanks for reading.

1. Follow accounts with/out account. Assume I have a list of account URLs in bookmark folder How to convert it to RSS and have bookmarks and RSS in Sync. 2. Accounts can change username, need to use the API to convert usernames to some id and back to usernames. 3. Suggest similar accounts. 4. Discover page.

Right now I'm using the default e/OS launcher of Fairphone 6, but wanted more options to clean up icons and set colors to desktop. I might try the Dragon launcher on FDroid.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/41387733 > I used to self-host because I liked tinkering. I worked tech support for a municipal fiber network, I ran Arch, I enjoyed the control. The privacy stuff was a nice bonus but honestly it was mostly about having my own playground. > That changed this week when I watched ICE murder a woman sitting in her car. > Before you roll your eyes about this getting political - stay with me, because this is directly about the infrastructure we're all running in our homelabs. > Here's what happened: A woman was reduced to a data point in a database - threat assessment score, deportation priority level, case number - and then she was killed. Not by some rogue actor, but by a system functioning exactly as designed. And that system? Built on infrastructure provided by the same tech companies most of us used to rely on before we started self-hosting. > Every service you don't self-host is a data point feeding the machine. Google knows your location history, your contacts, your communications. Microsoft has your documents and your calendar. Apple has your photos and your biometrics. And when the government comes knocking - and they are knocking, right now, today - these companies will hand it over. They have to. It's baked into the infrastructure. > Individual privacy is a losing game. You can't opt-out of surveillance when participation in society requires using their platforms. But here's what you can do: build parallel infrastructure that doesn't feed their systems at all. > When you run Nextcloud, you're not just protecting your files from Google - you're creating a node in a network they can't access. When you run Vaultwarden, your passwords aren't sitting in a database that can be subpoenaed. When you run Jellyfin, your viewing habits aren't being sold to data brokers who sell to ICE. > I watched my local municipal fiber network get acquired by TELUS. I watched a piece of community infrastructure get absorbed into the corporate extraction machine. That's when I realized: we can't rely on existing institutions to protect us. We have to build our own. > This isn't about being a prepper or going off-grid. This is about building infrastructure that operates on fundamentally different principles: > > Communication that can't be shut down: Matrix, Mastodon, email servers you control > File storage that can't be subpoenaed: Nextcloud, Syncthing > Passwords that aren't in corporate databases: Vaultwarden, KeePass > Media that doesn't feed recommendation algorithms: Jellyfin, Navidrome > Code repositories not owned by Microsoft: Forgejo, Gitea > > Every service you self-host is one less data point they have. But more importantly: every service you self-host is infrastructure that can be shared, that can support others, that makes the parallel network stronger. > Where to start if you're new: > > Passwords first - Vaultwarden. This is your foundation. > Files second - Nextcloud. Get your documents out of Google/Microsoft. > Communication third - Matrix server, or join an existing instance you trust. > Media fourth - Jellyfin for your music/movies, Navidrome for music. > > If you're already self-hosting: > > Document your setup. Write guides. Make it easier for the next person. > Run services for friends and family, not just yourself. > Contribute to projects that build this infrastructure. > Support municipal and community network alternatives. > > The goal isn't purity. You're probably still going to use some corporate services. That's fine. The goal is building enough parallel infrastructure that people have actual choices, and that there's a network that can't be dismantled by a single executive order. > I'm working on consulting services to help small businesses and community organizations migrate to self-hosted alternatives. Not because I think it'll be profitable, but because I've realized this is the actual material work of resistance in 2025. Infrastructure is how you fight infrastructure. > We're not just hobbyists anymore. Whether we wanted to be or not, we're building the resistance network. Every Raspberry Pi running services, every old laptop turned into a home server, every person who learns to self-host and teaches someone else - that's a node in a system they can't control. > They want us to be data points. Let's refuse. > > What are you running? What do you wish more people would self-host? What's stopping people you know from taking this step?

I don't usually have sufficient motivation to post much on any social media platform. This is rare for me. I am putting this out in the world in part hoping for some validation, in part hoping it sparks some kind of social action to save some semblance of privacy and dignity in this modern world. Warning: this is long. I just wrote an email to a recruiter withdrawing my interest in pursuing a job (it's a recruiter hired by the hiring company). I am a software engineer with decades of experience who has been unemployed for almost a year with almost no interviews. I'm hungry for paying work. Yet. I did this. Below is the email I wrote, and it is hopefully self explanatory. I think my career might be over - especially if the kind of process I experienced is now the standard for hiring. I want nothing to do with it. I wrote this after multiple days of trying to set up my system for the "assessment". I ended up having to install Windows 11 (I'm a Linux guy) because the assessment environment simply didn't work. I tried FireFox, disabled plugins, tried two versions of Chrome - neither would work. It apparently had to be the Google version. I upgraded an old version of Win 10 (because Microsoft pretty much forced it). Got it to work on Firefox for Windows. Twice, mid-way through the assessment, it reset itself to square one. I didn't try a third time. This assessment software monitored my face and would raise an alarm if I looked away. It controlled my microphone. It required full access to every aspect of the browser and had me do an alt-tab partway through this "test" in order to ensure I wasn't using any other software. Insulting. Invasive. My equipment. My home. ---- the email ----8<---- First, I appreciate your understanding and that you gave me what information you have on how this software works. Now, the hard part. My disappointment will show in the text, and it is not directed at you or your company. I'm inclined to cease pursuing this. I feel insulted by the process in the first place, but went through it understanding that we, as job seekers, have to accept compromises we would not otherwise accept because having a job is a fundamental requirement to literally survive and provide for our children. However, the more I'm expected to change my personal, owned equipment and software in an invasive fashion just so some stranger can have 100% surveillance on my activities in my home in order to be considered for a job interview, the more insulted I become. Granted, I'm unusual. I've dedicated myself to protecting my electronic privacy by installing malware and advertisement blockers on my phones, computers, tablets. I use VPN. I built my own home NAS because I am uncomfortable with placing all my personal, financial, and health records into "the cloud" (and being charged for the privilege). I am teaching myself how to use AI by downloading and running models in my home lab because I don't want to give out my privacy and income to strangers. I stopped using Windows at home years ago because I could not stand the way it was dictating to me how to run my computer and constantly seeking to part me from my money with distracting advertisements while siphoning everything about me back to their servers to better market to me. Worse, it was forcing me to buy new hardware in order to simply run the system after upgrades. Here I am, faced with a stark choice. Debase my values for the sake of the possibility of a job with a company that apparently doesn't consider applicants worthy of dignity, or remain unemployed - possibly forced to exit the career I love if everybody is doing this - and potentially fall into poverty. If they're doing this before they even talk to me, it tells me that as an employee I will have at minimum this same level of surveillance. Knowing this in the back of my mind will burn me out in under six months. Unfortunately, I don't think I could live with myself if I chose the first option, so I respectfully withdraw myself from this process. I'm a professional. I expect to be treated like one. If there are companies who are serious about hiring a professional, I'm all in. Please engage me. ------------

I made my first and only account with tutamail and within 48 hours it was disabled due to abuse. It really bothered me because I had forwarded now deleted emails for storage, updated many accounts including my doctors with the new tuta email. The next time I try to login it tells me that my password is wrong or can't login. I waisted my time trying to change the password and when I contacted support they send me this: > Hi there, > > > Thank you for your email. > > Your account was flagged as an abusive signup by our system and it was therefore suspended. We have reviewed this case and we cannot make an exception. Please understand that we block some signups based on many different criteria in order to ensure the quality of our service. > > Please feel free to register a different account. Why the hell would I make another one? I signed up my one account the same day that I discovered them. I used a VPN, as if that's anything new. "I can make another account" really? So they can delete it again? Obviously I should have tested their client before going all in. Who cares about privacy when random assholes can just wipe my data or read my emails. I needed to vent. Fuck you tutamail

I was looking through some Pixels on Amazon and the sellers indicate when a phone is "unlocked" but they don't specify if it's carrier unlocked or factory unlocked. I've even found reviews from unhappy customers who said that the phone they received is not oem unlockable even though the listing said factory unlocked. On the other hand, when I look in eBay, there are sellers with 99.3% positive ratings who are very specific in their listing indicating that their phones are "oem unlockable for developers". Is there any advantage in buying from Amazon instead of from eBay? Any other input is welcome. Thanks in advance

Greetings! Ever since i've been shoved numerous and useless AI Slop features in Windows, i decided to finally remove my Windows dualboot and replace it with a seprate Linux install. (i primarily use windows only for gaming, i like having seprate os installs cause its easy to wipe out rather then having to deal with getting a game removed on my main linux install) However, what i didn't think through was the RGB Software for my keyboard and mouse. The software itself is proprietary, and i doubt that wine has USB passthrough aswell. Games work fine, but i still am looking for an alternative way to control the RGB of my keyboard and mouse through linux. So in the end and in desperation, what can i do? (my keyboard is a lenovo legion k310 and mouse is lenovo legion m300s) (sorry if my english makes no sense, english is not my primary language)

I have been following the talk about Chat Control in the European Union and similar regulations elsewhere. Many people are still not aware of these developments, and I believe a fiction story can reach more people than a technical explanation ever could. This is my short story about the logical conclusion of these laws. Please let me know what you think and share it with those who might benefit from seeing where this path leads. --- **For the Children** I feel the cold on my face. The only part of my body that is not covered by cloth. In this temperature you need to have good insulation or you will not be able to get far. And we have to get far. The whole path is 10 miles long and we are almost halfway there. We went as far as possible with the car, but the forest here is too dense and the snow too deep. It looks beautiful. But it is hard for me to recognize this beauty for more than a few seconds. I look behind me and see the footsteps that I am leaving behind. Around twenty meters behind me is Elena. I know she is there, but because of the snow and fog, she looks like a black dot on a white paper. I can't see her face, but from her body language she does not look tired. We are already late, so I know I have to walk in front of her to keep up the pace. I have lived in the Union my whole life. More than thirty years. I still remember the last trip I made out of it, about five years ago. It feels like yesterday in some way. But so much has changed since then. It happened gradually. It was supposed to be a land of freedom and liberty. We always looked at other countries and felt disdain for their political systems. In school they always taught us that we are the promised land for other people and a beacon of democracy in this world. I do believe that it was actually like this in the past. But it all started to change with the acceptance of laws that seemed very innocent at first. The first thing the Union did was pass the so-called "Child Abuse Protection Law". It required all internet companies to scan every message passing through their platforms. Not even that much has been talked about it. They said it had to be done to catch all human traffickers. They said it was *for the children*. It didn't make much of a difference for the regular person yet. Some people complained about it, and there were some protests in the larger cities. But soon after they accepted it, nobody was talking about it anymore. We thought that was the end of it. Then, they blocked access to some of the foreign websites. Some social media platforms that were deemed to be extreme and some news websites. Most of us just installed a VPN, thinking we were smart. Last year, all the unofficial VPNs were banned. The only one that was allowed was the official VPN of the Union. They said some hackers used connections with the outside world to share fake news about the Union. But we knew that the reason they did it was to be able to look at everything that goes in and out. A few months ago another rule was accepted. Now, every device that can connect to the internet has to be registered with the government. The government justified this by claiming that drug dealers used old burner phones for communication. Now every phone has to have a registered user, otherwise it is denied access to the internet. This means that the authorities now monitor every conversation and post on the internet all the time. Everyone is trapped in the system, and there is no way for someone to escape it. Well, actually, there is one way left. The only way to communicate with the outside world now is a satellite phone. It connects directly to orbiting satellites, which grants unmonitored access to the global internet. With it, the user can communicate privately to the outside world. The only problem is that they are very hard to get. But lucky for me, I have one. It has been in my backpack since we started walking this morning. Without stopping, I move my backpack to the front and open the zipper. I pull out a satellite phone. I can't take my gloves off because it is so cold. So I type with my bulky glove one letter after another: "All good. T-1 hour." I press send. I look back at Elena. "Just a little further, then we switch!" I shout through the wind. "Okay," I hear her voice through the cloth that covers her mouth. The phone will send a message when it connects to the satellites. It should take around a minute, and Jack will receive the message. It takes noticeably more time than a regular internet connection. He is probably already there. Waiting for us. I have known Jack since childhood. He always challenged authority. In school he debated teachers who hated his nonconformity, and later became obsessed with privacy, warning us how online surveillance works and how our digital lives are tracked. It could be tiring to talk to him, which was why our friend group meetings became less and less common. I was never as extreme as him, but always took his side when we were debating topics among friends, though I would push back when it was just the two of us. So when they first started talking about the messaging scanning law, he was the first one I knew to talk about it. I remember a conversation between me, Jack, and some of our other friends whom we knew from college. "What do you hide on your phone that you are so concerned about, Jack?" Brian asked Jack in the pub. "It's not about having secrets," Jack snapped back immediately. "It's about where this can lead. You wouldn't want a government agent sitting in the corner of this room, recording us just in case one of us mentions something illegal, would you, Brian?" "But as long as you are not doing anything wrong, you don't have to fear it," Brian dismissed nonchalantly. "It's about the way the system is designed if they decide at any time they want to censor you, nothing will be stopping them," said Jack. Brian seemed unwilling to engage further. He didn't have a good reply, or at least didn't want to think of one. "Anyway, what are you going to do about it?" he asked. A moment of silence followed. "I'll fight it as best I can," he said. "But if all else fails, I'll leave the Union. I tell you, this is a slippery slope. It will get much worse from here." "If you really leave the Union just because someone might read what you write to your friends in a group chat, you're even crazier than I thought," Brian laughed. The rest of the night passed with lighter talk. And he was really that crazy. At least it seemed crazy at the time. We had long conversations about it. He was convincing me to take Elena with me, and that we all should leave. But I couldn't at the time. Although I agreed with him, I really thought it would not be that bad. Or at least I hoped so. But soon after they accepted the law, he left abroad and never returned. Leaving the Union is pretty much impossible now. It is not because of a heavily guarded border, but because of the immense power the Union holds over its neighbors. If a neighboring country identifies a person from the Union, they must return them or risk losing vital trade agreements. For these governments, we are not people. We are just a threat to their economy, where a fugitive is nothing more than a risk to them. Occasionally, you hear of someone who tried to escape but was handed back and no one heard from them again. "Stop, I'm getting tired. Can you carry him?" Elena's voice cuts through the wind. I turn around and see her walking behind me, making small steps uphill. "Of course," I say and stop. "He has been sleeping this whole time," she says and opens up her poncho. His eyes squeeze as the snowy white scenery flashes before him. Our little Max, so small and vulnerable, bundled against the cold, our precious little secret. I look at Elena who has tears in her eyes. I know we could spend hours gazing at our beloved child, memorizing every tiny feature of his, if we had time. But we don't. "Give him to me, we have to carry on," I say. She unravels Max from the poncho with which he was attached to her. I tie him to my chest and cover him with another blanket to keep him warm. I kiss Elena on the forehead. "You go first," I say. She nods and takes the lead. She was so strong in the past few days. I know that these were the saddest days of her life. The same is true for me. It was a hard decision we had to make. But once we made it there was no turning back. It all started about a year before Max was born. Elena's father was a relatively popular journalist who worked his entire life for the national program. He was always critical of the government and of the politicians, even before things began to change. So when the Union first started censoring news in the media, he was writing articles about it wherever they would let him publish them. He talked about how the censoring is not only done by the law but also pushed through bureaucratic incentives that you have to follow. Social norms change and some things are labeled as inappropriate. He said that the problem would not be that people would be punished for speaking, but that because of fear of punishment they would never speak at all. Shortly after he began his exposé mission, he was completely blacklisted. No outlet would touch his work. His editor refused to even discuss the facts, only muttering, "If I run this, the Union will label us a 'High-Risk Platform' we’ll lose digital banking access by morning." Overnight, his internet accounts vanished and even his bank account was frozen. The official reason was that he was "spreading hate by spreading misinformation". Almost no major media covered it. And he was not the only case, many who spoke out at that time suffered the same fate. On platforms where free speech was still possible, it was a much talked about topic and people warned about where this can lead. If you search for his name now, there is only one side of the story. For me, this was the breaking point. Elena felt immense stress at that time. I only felt anger. Anger that we let that happen. I know we probably couldn't have done much anyway. But at least we should have tried. "When we have a baby, he can’t have a life like this.” When Elena said those words, it was the first time this idea was spoken out loud. We were planning to have a baby for a while. But because of the conditions, we knew that it would not be a good life. Elena's dad getting blacklisted changed her. Ever since she said that sentence that winter afternoon, we have been talking about it almost every day. We knew we would have a child, but it became clear to us that the conditions would get a lot worse. At that time, I still spoke to Jack through an encrypted messaging platform on the internet. Then no satellite phone was needed. I told him that we wanted to have a child completely off the grid and that we wanted him to live outside of the Union. At that time, it was already obvious to us that we would not be able to go with him. The regulation was already too strict for traveling. Jack was not hesitant one bit when I told him we wanted him to take care of our child. During the years he lived abroad, he met a girl there, and they were both open to this "adoption". "We have to put all our electronic devices in a box when we’re at home,” I told Elena some time before Max was born. "We can't risk the existence of Max being recorded anywhere.” We were already very careful not to leave any trace anywhere. But him being actually present in the real world meant an even greater challenge. I was buying all the baby equipment from a black market on the other side of town, trying to buy it in bulk, so I minimized all the possibilities that someone would catch on to something. We were very precise about covering all the tracks because we knew that if anyone found out about it even years later, we could be in trouble. We did not even really know how much the authorities actually monitored our data. We burned all the trash that could have been associated with Max and padded all the walls with foam to make it impossible for anyone near the house to hear him cry. I remember one night, Max had a fever and a cough that wouldn't stop. We sat in the dark, clutching him, terrified that a neighbor might hear us. We couldn't even take him to a doctor because every clinic required an ID scan just to enter the waiting room. "I can't believe this is the last week we three are all together," Elena sobbed. I was crying too. We were looking at the pictures we had taken of the three of us. The good old analog Polaroid photos would be the only physical evidence that Max had ever existed. The forest is beginning to thin out. I increase my tempo so that I can catch up with Elena. She reaches out her hand to me. I grab it and squeeze it. She squeezes back. "We are almost there," I say, trying to hold back tears. Elena nods, eyes fixed ahead through the fog. "He’ll run through forests like this one day,” she whispers. "Laughing. Free. That’s all that matters.” We walk like this for about a mile. It seems like an eternity. We know we had to do it. As parents, we have an obligation to provide the best life *for the children*. A fence around two meters tall appears through the fog. The border between the Union and the outside world. We see Jack already waiting there beside the fence. He has sawed a small opening in it, just large enough for Max. We didn't want to make it visible. My dear friend, who I have not seen for so long, and we will not even have time to have a short conversation. He lifts his hand as a sign of greeting. I wave back. Max will only remember us through stories Jack will tell him. He will only have a few analog pictures that will remind him of where he truly came from. But at least he will be able to live a free life. For us, the people in the Union, this is a long forgotten idea. --- Note: I self-hosted a formatted web version and PDF of this story here for easier reading or sharing: https://gigaprojects.online/post/1

I’m an European student heading to Shanghai for an internship where debit and credit cards are rarely accepted. Locals recommend using Alipay for payments, but I have heard mixed results about compatibility with European credit cards. Some claim credit cards don’t work at all with Alipay, while others say they have zero issues. It was suggested to get a Wise or Revolut card to use with Alipay. What are your thoughts on which option is more privacy friendly or if there are better alternatives. I have also been advised to get a VPN for China. While I self-host a VPN, I planned to add Mullvad because of its obfuscation techniques. Except it was recommended to get LetsVPN or Astrill, they said because they work the best in China and that is what everyone uses. What are your thoughts on which VPN I should get? Also any other suggestion or advise for my internship in Shanghai are appreciated.

I know most people here are US, but I wanted to ask if anyone had experience with wero-wallet.eu? On the grounds of sovereignty, it's exiting. But it's already made so many wrong turns in terms of independence. - The app is only available in first-party app stores. Not even a closed-source direct download on their website. - It's fully in play integrity/Apples keychain. With no statements about alternatives. - They have openly announced that they treat custom-roms as rooting/jailbreaking and deem it unacceptably unsafe for running the app. - This will probably keep being the blanket statement it always is. Doubt even Graphene with it's attestation will be accepted. And for some reason non-mobile clients are of course out-of-scope. I wish there was at least a clear reasoning for what's safe/unsafe in this context. My fiat bank is blocking rooted devices, but for now tolerates all custom roms without relying on integrity API or a Google account if you don't try to use GPay. To my knowledge Paypal is completely ignorant about the runtime environment with no checks whatsoever. All the while, Wero seems to actively grasp for straws on reasons why you can't use it on any given phone. They even have special requirements for running on older devices (<A10).