I would just make an IG account if it’s being a large obstacle, you probably don’t have to install the app as you can do most things through the web browser.

Oof, contacts being leaked is a bad one.

If you’re a casual privacy user, then accepting monero and making accounts with no personal info isn’t really something to be concerned about having.

Instead I would use a well known VPN with audits done that is shown to not hold logs, like Mullvad.

I guess the next best thing is a cheap used Pixel and flash it yourself, then you’re recycling!

I’d say if you have a relatively clean phone such as a Pixel or another one with minimal bloat, and install a ROM that comes with all the google apps and everything, then the benefit is probably fairly minimal.

But if you do a degoogled ROM then it’s a huge difference. Stuff like GrapheneOS, CalyxOS, /e/OS.

Or if you have a phone with a ton of bloat and additional crap added like Samsung or the many Chinese brands, then even a ROM like LineageOS with google apps would be a big improvement in where data is getting sent.

It’s more that I have to re-enable scripts on most websites, so it’s not giving me much benefit.

Yeah alt+select doesn’t work 100% of the time too so the extension sounds nice lol

Yes ublock will just completely block/remove all tracking and annoyances, plus whatever other filters you enable.

uBlock Origin is a lot better.

Privacy Badger can actually be detrimental because it makes you more unique while adding basically nothing useful.

BTW for plain text, ctrl+shift+V pastes as plain text.

For copying link text if you hold alt and drag you can select text without activating the link, then ctrl+C as usual.

Make sure tracking protection is set to strict in the settings.

Otherwise you only really need uBlock, other extensions can be useful but the more you add the more unique your browser is and stands out more.

Hit the uninstall button.

Reddit works fine in a browser, especially with Redlib as a frontend.

Youtube also works great in a browser, use Firefox or Ironfox with uBlock Origin.

They can’t do it perfectly. But some things like list of plugins, sensor data, battery, connection, fonts installed, etc… don’t seem necessary for anything and could be removed.

Tor tries to make tor users all look the same as much as possible, but in the context of everyone using the internet tor is likely unique and stands out.

This is why using a local web proxy is a good idea

Do you have one you’ve used that I can look at for this?

From only thinking about it for a minute I’m not sure using a Linux x86 device vs a smartphone with a custom ROM changes anything, since all the traffic from websites, chat apps, etc is encrypted with SSL already. There could be other benefits I didn’t think of maybe…

IMO the best option is grab a google pixel, flash GrapheneOS, use a VPN, and only install open source apps that aren’t full of analytics. You can throw it in airplane mode if you don’t want to be tracked by the cell carrier.

A phone with graphene is also MUCH more secure than a Linux x86 device in terms of law enforcement searches or theft of the device. And is safer against malware and having your data potentially stolen.

Any android phone lets you disable the GPS and use airplane mode, so custom ROMs aren’t needed for that.

But de-googled ROMs do indeed have less/no data going to google, although the apps you install will be the same either way.

I don’t see how a hotspot for internet is going to be any different from using data directly on the smartphone.

If you don’t want it always on you can just enable airplane mode when you don’t need a connection. And turn off the GPS, wifi, and bluetooth if you don’t want those used for location stuff.

The GPS is usually part of the SOC.

But you can just turn GPS off in the settings.

What does it use now??

Make sure you enable airplane mode too, even without a SIM it’ll still be connected to the cell towers.

As long as they leave the local backup option that sounds like a good idea to me.

Probably not by much, since CPUs have had hardware acceleration for AES encryption for a long time now.

I always prefer software over hardware for encryption, RAID, etc… Because it’s portable and not tied to a specific piece of hardware.

Ok, I’ve been trying to understand what you mean and one-line snarky replies are not helping your case.

I did I must be missing something…

Also what is “Accrescent spreading software”? I searched for it and it looks like it’s just an app store like f-droid?

Why does including a text file have anything to do with control?

The thing with any of the available methods is someone can save the content easily on their end, so it’s only self-destructing in terms of the server it’s stored on.

I’m using a Linksys MX4300 I got from woot for like $20, seems pretty good.

For feds don’t carry a phone, anything with a cell modem can be tracked easily.

Cell towers always track you so yeah

Yes but not because of IP, because cookies can store unique information about you.

So if you don’t clear the cookies from the browser session then they still exist and can be read by the website regardless of the VPN.

Even if you managed to delete the posts from all federated servers, they will still be archived in various places like the wayback machine and similar.

Better to only post what you’re comfortable sharing forever.

It’s an upside and downside right, because every Tor user looking the same makes it very difficult to tell users apart, but it also makes it dead simple to know someone is using Tor and block them.

Using a VPN could be part of the reason, I imagine they don’t like people making accounts using one.

The best way I can think of is go to a library or something that uses a standard browser with a normal fingerprint, and is not on a VPN, and try signing up for a new account there using a new email address on gmail/yahoo or another ‘normal’ email provider. You want to look like a normal average user.

All the anti-fingerprinting and privacy stuff just makes you stand out more because there is less data being presented.

I am not in person social person but I really need a sense of community which is what I used Reddit for.

You’re on Lemmy which has some of that! Also worth joining some discord groups for things you’re interested in, or matrix if they are active (not very common).

Websites don’t have access to the MAC addresses of a device either.

Instead of 30 addresses it’s generally easier to just enable catch-all on your primary address. That way you’re not manually creating each new address.

The fee has been gone for awhile now, they’re required to give it to you for free with a domain.

Yeah it sounds like the company is blocking domains they don’t understand or something, and not bothering to care that you are an actual person who asked why it was blocked.

I bet they don’t block gmail despite 90% of the spam I get coming from @gmail.com addresses.

If you’re using addy.io domains then it’s not on a domain you’re paying for…

Also on IronFox and it’s solid.

If you already use Brave on desktop then that works fine too and syncs your data. Not a huge fan of the crypto/AI stuff in the browser, but the security/privacy aspect of the browser is good.