My story is very similar. I used DD-WRT for years until something broke. Then I switched to OpenWRT and never looked back. That was maybe ten years ago.

Officers can view live drone footage from their patrol car computers…

Interesting. I wonder who else can view that live video stream.

Exactly! They wouldn’t install spyware on your phone if it didn’t give them more/better information on you.

That’s a bet I would rather take given the alternative.

I don’t want any big tech shit on any of my devices. Microsoft, Google, Meta, X, etc can all eat a dick. I have zero trust in any of em.

But that begs the same question. If you never update your existing phone with google’s malware, you should be ok.

Obviously if you buy a new phone that’s already infected you’re screwed unless you can flash a new ROM on there.

My point is. People’s current phones do not have this malware on it yet. If you disable updates and/or degoogle, your device should continue to work as is. Perhaps without being able to use Google Play Store, but honestly that’s not huge loss for anyone that cares about this stuff in the first place.

Would people be able to circumvent this by downgrading their version of Google Play Services? …or not updating it in the first place?

Ironically, many americans are now using chinese platforms to freely discuss things without fear of the US government.

Why are people giving any Meta app Location Permissions? …or even installing that shit to begin with?

True but he’s sparking more interest in FOSS so that’s still a good thing. I doubt his advice is perfect but if it gets more people started onto their own journey it’s a win.

You can still use a browser for that occasion. Meanwhile the app is doing things in the background.

I don’t get the privacy angle on this when it’s scraping public comments. If people don’t want their information known, they shouldn’t post it on public forums.

This has resulted in many porn sites simply denying users from those locations.

You’re not wrong. But if I had to pick between blocking .xxx on my kid’s device or uploading a photo of my ID to various porn sites, I know which one I’m choosing.

We’re not taking about security. We’re taking about unsupervised children seeing boobies.

Years ago the .xxx TLD was introduced for adult websites. If we’re going to regulate adult sites. Why not require them to use .xxx for their domains and let parental controls do the rest?

FYI: Signal stores all of your messages on your device. If something happens to them there, they’re gone. I’m not saying that justifies an update nuking your messages. Just explaining for anyone who may not understand that. There’s no central database storing your data long term. Which is a feature.

Pirracy is a service issue. People gladly pay when it’s not a shitty experience.

Steam community boards are underrated.

I think when enough live streaming influencers switch to Revolt or whatever else, many people will follow.

Try FairEmail. It’s the closest thing I’ve found.

https://f-droid.org/packages/eu.faircode.email/

This!! FairEmail is amazing!

I’m sure there’s some exterior influence.

I feel the same way about the current state of television.

For the past week the people of China and the United States, as well as other countries have been comparing notes. Debunking propaganda on both sides. Realizing that much of what we’ve all been told for years/decades, has been lies.

This is amazing!

Bro you can stop that narrative. The truth is out now.

I’ve been using it for years and it is indeed amazing but as I move away from Google and apps that rely on the play store/services I’m likely going to drop it soon for a FOSS alternative.

I don’t see root status on these reports. That would be helpful.

Check out !degoogle@lemmy.ml

Why is there still Dunkin Donuts?

Correct me if I’m wrong but this isn’t doxing? It’s pulling already public info and not sharing it with the world.

How would one check to see if they’re included?

You can keep the database on a device accessable by all of your other devices. I’m sure there are many other solutions but that’s worked for me over the years.

I haven’t tried their keyboard but FUTO Voice Input with the largest model is absolutely incredible!

This does speech to text 100% locally and is more accurate than Google’s shit.

As someone who has produced and distributed porn, go fuck yourself.

Or FreeTube

Ya’ll need FreeTube.

Youtube Google search results have been garbage for a while now :(

Good. Maybe people will finally move on to something else.