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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 30th, 2023

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  • Afterthought is an understatement. I didn’t mind piping some of that info into an i3 status bar, but just a couple things. Who needs to watch all that distracting system stuff all the time. Using autocompletions on the command line would get that info quick enough. And whoever down voted my original comment - I’m laughing about it. Serious business right?













  • should you share biometric data online?

    FUCK NO! And this is why - These abusive corporate sites already prison-rape our privacy, profile us and sell our secrets to who-the-fuck-ever will pay for it. Meanwhile, they can’t keep their databases secure, so our personal and private details go for sale on the dark web. It’s then used to screw us over further by extortion, theft and identity theft, which is really difficult to rectify. Who the hell thinks giving these incompetent morons more unique identifying data to keep safe for us is a good idea? If you’re in doubt just go for a visit to the data breaches community on any instance that has one. The thing we NEED to be doing is taking control of our own identities by implementing web3 technology and using methods that preserve our data for our own use. We decide who gets what. One example for clarification purposes is something like InternetComputer’s solution.

    We’ve all grown accustomed to managing hundreds of usernames and passwords, recovering forgotten accounts over text or email, unwittingly permitting companies to profit from our data at the cost of our personal privacy, all while falling victim to threats of identity theft and fraud.

    On the Internet Computer blockchain, users can securely authenticate themselves without ever needing an email, username, or password. Using a passkey, users can login conveniently without their information being monetized by tech companies. Internet Identity is designed to prevent Web3 services to track user activity across dapps.

    And yes, you could still use fingerprint or faceID, but you’re not handing it over to anyone else.



  • mattomattic@discuss.tchncs.detoFediverse@lemmy.world*Permanently Deleted*
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    1 year ago

    How can we make it more popular?

    By not doing the things that corporations do to make things popular. Do we even need Lemmy to be popular? I think we concentrate on trying to keep the Fediverse and Lemmy user focused and privacy friendly and people will naturally come over as they get burnt on the ever increasingly enshitified corporate data-theft sites. We need to be something different than the big sites. A breath of fresh air. I think people will be OK with putting up with a few quirks to escape those toxic environments. I think Lemmy is progressing just fine and I’m enjoying it.


  • There are some open source tax software around. Depending on your country’s requirements you should get by with it. It might be “clunky”, and you might have to persevere with some kind of inconvenience, but I’m of the opinion that any open-source transparent software, preferably a local installation, is worth using. The alternatives are usually hostile to you despite selling as convenient and friendly. Remember that any cloud solution is basically “someone else computer”. Would you put your most private financial information on some random person’s computer? Any assurance of security is a farce. There’s been many data breaches of tax prep corporate databases. Having said, that’s not the worst aspect of using most app based or online tax prep software. Most of them look at your data, profile you, and then sell that information (your private financial information) to data brokers! If you’re using the app you likely agreed to them doing that whether you’re aware or not. Check the privacy policy and terms of use. Additionally, many hold your records for ransom! You need to keep a certain number of years worth of records, and if you aren’t keeping a local copy for yourself they are the only source. Many will deny you your tax records if you haven’t payed for their services. It’s extortion. Something that belongs to you cannot be attained unless you pay them to give it to you. It ensures that you remain a customer forever. If you want to quit them, they know they will get years of payment out of you because you need access to your own financial documents. This is an insidious practice and I don’t know why anyone puts up with it. Find an accountant who is willing to work with alternate open source software. They exist.



  • Is Mullvad better than Firefox?

    That’s hard to qualify. The question needs to be more specific. Is Mullvad better than Firefox* at what*? Firefox is a great general browser with decent security and privacy in mind. It allows you theme and modify to your desire. However, any time you add theming or extensions it makes your browser more unique and identifiable. The more you add, the more unique. Stock Firefox is a little promiscuous for my liking and I usually install UBlock Origin and add a little css, like Betterfox. You can create a new Firefox profile which you can swap between depending on the purpose of the window. Or, you can just add a user.js file to your existing Firefox profile. This is called “hardening”, and there’s many different hardening css available. Some make most things unusable, so a balance is recommended. If you’re on Linux you could just use Librewolf which is a sandboxed Flatpak app that is built from Firefox, and, has a great balance of security and privacy tweaks out-of-the-box. Then we have Mullvad browser. Is it better? Maybe it isn’t as fast. Maybe it doesn’t open some web pages that stock Firefox would. However, Mullvad is brilliant at making you blend in. Mullvad have created the browser with a great balance of privacy and security tweaks that harden it somewhat. What it does, just like Tor browser, is make your online “fingerprint” look like thousands of other people’s browsers. As long as you don’t identify yourself somehow there’s a better chance at anonymity. Identifying yourself could include logging in a known account, adding themes or extensions or using social media. Read more about it here. I recommend you use both. A lightly hardened Firefox that you use for general purpose, and a Mullvad for browsing, searching and shopping (not purchasing). Mullvad browser is best used with a VPN that lumps your IP in with many other VPN users, like MullvadVPN or IVPN.

    I hope this helps.