spc50

spc50 wrote (edited )

Reply to comment by smartypants in I want a Computer that I Own by HMTg927

That's amazing. Who knew? You knew. Rocking!

There are ways to do these transactions. Just have to get creative and certainly is going to be a cost premium. Not for the pedestrians.

COVID'noia has been interesting with the whole face covering thing.

Legit can go full nut paranoid and wear a helmet and people may look but zero they are going to do. Cash and carry in your astronaut suit :)

But yep, no retail buy of System76. Shame.

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spc50 wrote

Reply to So Long as You Carry a Cellphone, the Government Can Track You by Rambler

This is that corporate partnership with government to run around your rights.

Remember, governments are corporations too. Nevermind they are special status of and issue corporate permissions for their servant corporations (the business versions).

Our laws are failing to deal with this bullshit. Failing to deal with privacy. Failing to deal with dumb clicked on walls of words where they tell you to pound salt and get AIDS, we rape you and you approved it agreements. You consented, so they claim.

It's time to chuck the phone. Sorry but 85% of apps are useless. Any app that requires any permissions beyond what is obviously needed, should be uninstalled.

I am very much into flip burner phones. Cash and carry. But good luck following that rabbit trail. But need to have real discipline about that phone never coming on anywhere except in designated neutral safe place.

Also have to be diligent about dropping them and moving on. Zero attachment to. Short term handling.

Faraday bags are mandatory for storing. Battery removed.

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spc50 wrote

Reply to Coming to Your Neighborhood? Amazon Delivery Vans With ‘Roaming Eyes’ Cameras by Rambler

Good time to promote the organization mentioned start of the article: https://www.fightforthefuture.org/projects

They seem to be a worthy one fighting digital tech tyranny in various foms.

I will say the whole camera all over thing is getting out of control. 16 cameras they said in and around vehicle? Armored trucks don't even go that nutty on security.

I do a lot of road cycling. 10's of thousands of miles a year. Many places where traffic is rude, dangerous and downright out to inflict harm. I have one camera on loop during trips through questionable areas. Ideally should have two- one front, one facing rear.

When I have just the one, I am stopped by inquisitive people. I can tell people are worried about their privacy and realizing implications of such potentially.

Additionally, I am very much into core strength and weighted pack hiking - urban environments mostly. My pack has a breast pocket loop with a bodycam on it. Similar reason and intent. That too, every time I am out, it gets noticed and someone inquires.

Now I am not using the data or doing anything with it. It's insurance just in case of incident of road rage, escalated loud mouth, etc.

Amazon in contrast is sending all this data to their cloud, making intelligence of, storing it.

Look at Google imagery for maps. Piling up. Used by investigators routinely.

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spc50 wrote

Reply to comment by smartypants in I want a Computer that I Own by HMTg927

Can't forget the BIOS issues too... Allegedly infested with backdoors and exploits, by design.

That's why we see 'open source' drop in replacements.

I'll say, QUBES OS did a good run for a while on the OS layer to attempt to shield and isolate things.

Been a while since I ran it because in recent versions it is damn needy about what it will run on. At point where you have to buy a System76 model, Lenovo specific model or a few others or no real chance of getting it to run.

With Qubes OS would continue momentum and direct sell machines ready to run their OS. It's a bit odd to get use to but it's definitely a worthy project in my opinion.

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spc50 wrote

Reply to comment by smartypants in Phone faraday bags. Anyone use one? What do you use and how/when do you use it? by Rambler

So glad to have you here on Ramble friend! Awesome posts.

This 4 mic thing and one for the alphabet agencies coupled together with we put your device back online as a feature.

No thank you. Never liked Apple, never buying one.

Not saying other manufacturers are any better. Maybe the $500 I save on a phone makes me feel less violated.

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spc50 wrote

Reply to Exclusive: Here's Where Americans Are Using Starlink's Satellite Internet Service by Rambler

Local ISPs in many cities are down to duopoly or monopoly. Either phone company and cable company or either or depending on the area.

Lots of people somehow existing on their 4G/5G phone only. Unsure how they are doing that with anemic plan limits on bandwidth.

I cut the phone cord 20 years ago. Did away with paid VOIP 5+ years ago.

When I cut local internet it was because bill rose and rose higher. No discounts would be extended by them. Meanwhile constantly calling about dropped signal to router and terrible throughput. All because they weren't expanding their infrastructure and existing on decades old roll out.

If Starlink was available where I am, I'd consider it and I am in a populated area where people like PCMAG writer would head scratch about. Even if paying a bit more, so far Starlink performs consistently and reliably. Unlike the crap offered locally.

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spc50 OP wrote

Reply to comment by dontvisitmyintentions in Brave has embedded c-name resolver doing look ups likely behind your back by spc50

These browsers need to knock it off. Rolling full things in like Tor and IPFS -- these are NOT features.

Brave currently is about a 79MB download. Huge file. Way too big for a browser. Installed says 250MB. This is dumb. How does it compare? I don't know. But, these people need to seriously rethink what they are doing and how many people they harming in many many ways.

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