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Cake day: Jun 07, 2020

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Open Office, LibreOffice et al just do not have the compatibility that need to exist with MS Office, so whenever you work with others, it falls apart. Ask any user collaborating with even 2-3 people, no matter job, university or school. Usage mostly goes in order of Word > Excel > PowerPoint > rest. I think a Windows XP VM is the best way to get around that while normally using Linux for everything else.

Everything else is a lot more specific use case. Professional users work usually alone with Photoshop. In case of CorelDraw and video editing software, there is a lot of to and fro. Those users generally either use Windows on separate SSD, or have separate production machines.


Windows 11 is a self inflicted torture if you adopt it just because you may have upgrade FOMO issues. Windows 10 EOL is still 2½ years away. Run it to the ground till then. W11 might even be properly debotnetted and debloated by then, like how W10 got the treatment years after its 2016 launch. Every new version of Windows is a guinea pig testbed for the first few years.

Either way, Linux+Steam with MS Office 2007 in a Windows XP virtual machine can suffice almost all of your needs. The rest is very specific needs like Photoshop, CorelDraw, games that do not work under WINE/Proton or any specific Windows software.


Are you thinking that because of r/OkBuddyRetard? Baka is a way to say “idiot”

Baka is a coverup word for all the people who know this word from anime. Alternate subreddits are always formed this way. I watch enough anime to know weaboos like the back of my hand.

You’re asking me if I want

You ignored the one zillion things I mentioned about what majority of content is, and that everything is a package. Society cannot be restructured in a cherry picking manner. People talk shit and they will always talk shit.

I want it to be like reddit but better. I want it to be a reddit with actual free speech.

There is no free speech. Mastodon instances have openly stated this for years. Same goes for Lemmy. Also, watch this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNdACDcDkTI

twoxx FDR

I know about this. You could just… not browse them. They are on the startpage but that doesn’t mean they’re good or what I want.

Humans are social animals. They love the social drama. They love negativity even more. These are simple dynamics based on how social media in general works today, and also based upon hundreds of years of observations. Default and popular content takes over everything, no matter how good something else may be. And often the default content happens to be vicious or dramatic or negative vortex of some kind.

I have seen reddit for many years, as well as internet platforms and forums. Utopia is enticing to imagine but is not possible. And striving for it comes with inherent risks that are sometimes not worth it. Internet is like a village, and tinier groups migrate together anywhere, not individually.


r/okbuddybaka r/mechanicalkeyboards

Baka is Japanese word for R word. MK brings *masterrace crowd with it. You want those things?

That’s like not true at all. Just have a look into r/ComedyNecrophilia or r/OkBuddyChicanery They are filled with shitposting but still very civilized. I’m not talking about r/shitposting because that place is trash.

The baby comes with the bathwater. As I said, you cannot cherrypick how people organise, internet or IRL. Everything is a package.

With guides I mean places like r/FreeMediaHeckYeah and theindex.moe which are both made by reddit users.

You think the average redditor is the same as the more polarised internet anarchist/communist? There is a difference between the mindset of a Cheetos chugging Discord mod teenager in front of their RGB gaming PC, and someone who is a nerd sitting around either managing hoarded data or reencoding media or studying. c/piracy does exist here and shares mod with r/piracy already.

It so happens you are just trying to justify your thirst for NICHE content consumption by all means. Not very helpful unless you want Lemmy to become another Reddit.

I will tell you this, a lot of reddit is made up of many elements, like TwoXXChromosomes, FDR (now this femcel sub is purged), once even JB used to exist, now you can go look at all the “russian=orc” Nazism that western users love to circlejerk about. That crap will seep in. I am sure all the Sinophobia and Russophobia is abundant in those niche subs you think are worth their value in comedy. When that seeps in, you will just dust off hands saying it is not a big issue or even an issue at all. I have seen plenty chatrooms and platforms spiral to death like this.


Well, the "lol’ part will cost Fediverse a lot, if anyone desires to have that crap. There are multiple reasons why Instagram is toxic for mental health.


I want that kind of content on other platforms that I get on reddit

You want all those imperialist bootlickers, celebrity/paparazzi brainrot, softcore porn, OnlyFans promoters, hentai groups, racists, shills of X/Y/Z products, and all of that shit on Mastodon? Because that makes up more or less all of this “that kind of content”.

I want more content like more shitposting and guides

You cannot have shitposting without making a place crappy. As for guides, you better prepare yourself for reality, because all kinds of people make guides. They are often the worst and/or anti-social elements of society, or people.who just want to keep distance from turbulent society. You cannot cherry pick how society organises.

Will Instagram users change this? I don’t know. Might they make it worse? I also don’t know. The only thing I know is that you need more users to have a more diverse kind of content

You can go to those “diverse” platforms for that garbage content. Inorganic growth is always cancerous. Instagram users will absolutely make it worse. I do not want people worshipping the next US President or UK Queen/king or whatever toxic idpol exists there to migrate onto Fediverse.


So do you want organic growth, or growth at the cost of terrible content flooding Mastodon? You realise more than half of Instagram is ads (yes, all that influencer content is ads too) and most of the content there is equivalent of softcore porn (that includes cleavage baring influencer ads) and cancerous memes?

BTW I forgot to tell this. Since you now know from me that their FB Messenger, Instagram DMs, WhatsApp and other chat infrastructure is basically defederated XMPP, they will do the same with Mastodon and kill Mastodon, because some people want “more content”.


Mastodon servers as a whole should defederate with and block mentions of Instagram’s instance URLs.


If you have Firefox, install Resurrect Pages addon. You will have easier time with geoblocked webpages.



Qualcomm has TrustZone, and Assange’s revelations had Qualcomm’s friendship among 80 corporation list with NSA.


With tools like GPT it’s now much easier for anyone to put out their message and to make it look polished.

The problem is there is no end to this kind of escalation. It may sound too moralistic, but it is the truth. Instead of trying to de-escalate the consequences of mastered propaganda matrix that USA throws on the world, now we are in a position battling it out.

As for artistry and photography, you are missing the issue here. OpenAl (GPT-3, GPT-4), Google (Bard), Microsoft (Clearview image database + current OpenAl partnership) have abused the lack of regulation and enjoyed protection under USA government. This has allowed them to scrape almost all of the internet we interact with in general, down to reddit. Artists not being paid anything for their scraped art, and in turn facing an optimised database machine that can churn out art in seconds for prompts, is not the same as s photographers and artists who mutually gave each other respect for their craft and did not interfere in each others’ space like this. There is a huge distinction.

I am very conflicted over what this colossal data scraping and manipulation of this data will end up in. I can say that it is not as progressive for technology in terms of ethics in the long term. And the existing barriers regarding creativity have a purpose – everyone is not supposed to do everything. A society of jack of trades wil never progress like one with few quality experts or craft masters. It only elevates the expertise baseline of society for a temporary phase, ultimately leading to stagnation, unless the issue of craft expertise is solved. Humans have a fundamental problem of ego, and instead of no knowledge, now people wil argue with half knowledge. Look at social media in the last decade, with just as many liberals being like conservatives, armchair-ing it out on internet or in podcasts.

/rant


It is not that the AI will go away, but the integration has to be tightly controlled. It will be more interesting who manages to figure out the optimisation game, because I am close and I do not want to throw it away for free right now, considering most of my existing life has gone into it. Big Tech companies do operate on this kind of wavelength, like Facebook and Google right now. A bit off tangent but recently Google published something regarding open source AI models ending up better than their and OpenAI models in near future.

Creativity expression is a very dicey thing. The existing barriers may sound like too much but the existing barriers also systematically make it so people improvise on themselves and develop or polish academic rigour before being able to democratise their ideas and interpretations.


The internet as we know, will be ending completely atmost by 2024/2025. This will be true for western internet. I am a data preservationist and adept at data compression since over a decade. Me and my friend (100+ TB archivist) predicted this more than a year ago, and are just watching it all collapse.

Countries that ban this GPT crap and any bot scraping will manage to have a more organic internet with human users. Whoever does not will fail to limit internet as a communication tool, and ultimately also fail as a state and society.

The risk here is not just with text form, but also with images, audio and video generated by AI, completely killing the human creativity drive in society in long term. It is a reason I have refused to use any AI GPT style services.


Keep using alts and bringing your NEET friends from instances you are on, voting manipulation does not matter.


It will be worse if these US state dept parrots stampede on Lemmy and get away with it. There is no free speech, only safe spaces with variance in allowed narrative, otherwise here Nazis would be posting pro genocide content, pedos would be sharing CP, Trump fans would be sharing Hunter Biden and Q Truth spam, and these western libs would make it another Reddit without the need for Eglin Air Force base gov ops.


Worse according to your standards, which are already skewed to the point of your account and US State Department news having no difference.



Energized GitHub has been unmaintained since few months, and is showing 404 error on HOSTS files. Here is a copy of Energized Ultimate HOSTS file, and alternative HOSTS ruleset providers to consider.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/830873 > The HOSTS ruleset has been not maintained for a while, and that is not very helpful. This is a copy of Energized Ultimate from April 2022 that I am still using just fine. https://www21.zippyshare.com/v/qRxZ0lp9/file.html > > The various lists that Energized project used in combination can still be referenced. https://i.imgur.com/yZRDVAl.jpg > > I think **1Hosts PRO** is a good replacement, but try Lite or Pro whichever you prefer. https://github.com/badmojr/1Hosts You may try combining other HOSTS lists with this if you want to, and are technically adept enough. > > Another good option is **AdAway**, but you might need to combine other lists with it to have competent blocking compared to Energized. > > You also need to reference, download and merge spam and phishing lists manually if you want extra protection, unless you want to rely solely on DNS providers. I prefer having both HOSTS ruleset systemwide and a DNS provider, then whatever network firewalling/tunnelling is needed.
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[TINY GUIDE] How to stay safe from Pegasus and most social engineering malware these days
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/74540 > Hello! I think it is a nice time to re-mention some 101 tips of IT security for folks here, that I also practice. Pegasus malware investigation will be big news for a good while, so the more awareness it helps spread, the better. > > # RULE 1 > > DO NOT CLICK ON RANDOM SMS AND EMAIL LINKS. Please, do not do this, ever. Just do not do it. Do not do it. Do not do it. Do not do it. > > Yes, that is how many times I repeated that line. That is how important this rule is. > > Also, do not download random email attachments. > > Phishing is such a common tactic that one would think this problem has been solved by now, but it has not. > > # RULE 2 > > Keep OFF auto download of photos, videos, documents and so on on WhatsApp, Signal and such apps. > > Drive by downloads being self executable surprise bombs is not a new thing. Basically, this rule is similar to keeping off AutoPlay for external USB sticks on Windows computers. > > # RULE 3 > > Avoid using popular software too much. > > I get it, this is a hard rule to workaround considering how much we need to use WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram and so on, so it is a lot better to compartmentalise your activities among multiple messengers. > > Pegasus and a lot of specialised malware uses zero-days to be able to design zero click deployment tricks, which is what these government surveillance tools are good at reserving. They use their millions of dollars of funding and R&D properly, so you have to be careful. > > As an example, try to keep WhatsApp internet turned off most of the times via NetGuard, and turn it on only when needed, a good method I have earlier suggested as well in my smartphone hardening guide. > > # CONCLUSION > > Those were some thoughts on the top of my head, before I go to sleep. Stay safe against surveillance! And feel free to ask whatever you want to!
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Smartphone Hardening non-root Guide 2.0 (for normal people)
(1/2) Lemmy does not allow too long post walls **UPDATED 16/8/2020: Major edit, replaced closed source App Ops and Shizuku with AppOpsX (Free Open source) on F-Droid. ~~This guide is nearly FOSS supported now.~~** **UPDATED 17/9/2020: MAJOR EDIT, replaced closed source Access Dots with Privacy Indicator (FOSS) on Izzy's F-Droid repo. This guide is completely FOSS.** Hello! I am the founder of /r/privatelife . Finally my smartphone non root guide is back, and there are some big upgrades. I was taking time to test everything myself on my daily driver, so apologies for keeping everyone in the wait, but stability and ease of use is the important goal to strive in my playbook. Privacy must be accessible to maximum amount of people without being annoying or tedious. **A kind request to share this guide to any privacy seeker.** #User and device requirement * ANY Android 9+ device * knowledge of how to copy-paste commands in Linux or Mac Terminal/MS-DOS Command Prompt (for ADB, it is very simple, trust me) #Why not Apple devices? iPhone [does not allow you to have privacy](https://gist.github.com/iosecure/357e724811fe04167332ef54e736670d) due to its blackbox nature, and is simply a false marketing assurance by Apple to you. Recently, an unpatchable hardware flaw was [discovered](https://9to5mac.com/2020/08/01/new-unpatchable-exploit-allegedly-found-on-apples-secure-enclave-chip-heres-what-it-could-mean/) in Apple's T1 and T2 "security" chips, rendering Apple devices critically vulnerable. 17/9/2020: [Apple gave the FBI access to the iCloud account of a protester **accused** of setting police cars on fire](https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-fbi-icloud-investigation-seattle-protester-arson-2020-9). Also, [they recently dropped plan for encrypting iCloud backups after FBI complained](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-fbi-icloud-exclusive/exclusive-apple-dropped-plan-for-encrypting-backups-after-fbi-complained-sources-idUSKBN1ZK1CT). They also collect and sell data [quite a lot](https://i.imgur.com/n8Bk0bA.jpg). Siri still records conversations 9 months after Apple [promised not](https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/05/20/apple_siri_transcriptions/) to do it. Apple Mail app is vulnerable, yet Apple stays in [denial](https://9to5mac.com/2020/04/27/iphone-mail-vulnerabilities-2/). Also, [Apple sells certificates to third-party developers that allow them to track users](https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/01/apples-hypocritical-defense-data-privacy/581680/), [The San Ferdandino shooter publicity stunt was completely fraudulent](https://www.aclu.org/blog/privacy-technology/internet-privacy/one-fbis-major-claims-iphone-case-fraudulent), and [Louis Rossmann dismantled Apple's PR stunt "repair program"](https://invidio.us/watch?v=rwgpTDluufY). Also, Android's open source nature is starting to pay off in the long run. Apple 0-day exploits are far [cheaper](https://www.wired.com/story/android-zero-day-more-than-ios-zerodium/) to do than Android. ----- #LET'S GO!!! **ALL users must follow these steps before "for nerdy users" section.** **Firstly, if your device is filled to the brim or used for long time, I recommend backing up your data and factory resetting for clean slate start.** * **Sign out all your** Google and Huawei/Samsung/other phonemaker **accounts** from your device so that Settings-->Accounts do not show any sign-ins **except WhatsApp/Telegram** * Install ADB on your Linux, Windows or Mac OS machine, simple guide: https://www.xda-developers.com/install-adb-windows-macos-linux/ * Use ["Universal Android Debloater"](https://gitlab.com/W1nst0n/universal-android-debloater) to easily debloat your bloated phone. NOTE: Samsung users will lose Samsung Pay, as Samsung has been caught and declares they sell this data: https://www.sammobile.com/news/samsung-pay-new-privacy-policy-your-data-sold/ * **Make DIY camera covers**, for front camera notch use a tiny appropriate-sized thin opaque plastic cutout and use an invisible tape to stick it in place, replace every month (cost: tape roll and one minute of your time per month). [**My rear camera cover**](https://i.postimg.cc/T37Qvc52/image.jpg) * Install **F-Droid app store** from [here](https://f-droid.org/en/) * Install **NetGuard** app firewall (see NOTE) from F-Droid and set it up with [privacy based DNS like Uncensored DNS or Tenta DNS or AdGuard DNS] NOTE: NetGuard with [Energized Ultimate](https://block.energized.pro/ultimate/formats/hosts.txt) HOSTS file with any one of the above mentioned DNS providers is the ultimate solution. NOTE: Set DNS provider address in Settings -> Advanced settings --> VPN IPv4, IPv6 and DNS * In F-Droid store, open Repositories via the 3 dot menu on top right and add the following links below: 1. https://rfc2822.gitlab.io/fdroid-firefox/fdroid/repo?fingerprint=8F992BBBA0340EFE6299C7A410B36D9C8889114CA6C58013C3587CDA411B4AED 2. https://apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/repo?fingerprint=3BF0D6ABFEAE2F401707B6D966BE743BF0EEE49C2561B9BA39073711F628937A 3. https://guardianproject.info/fdroid/repo?fingerprint=B7C2EEFD8DAC7806AF67DFCD92EB18126BC08312A7F2D6F3862E46013C7A6135 Go back to F-Droid store home screen, and hit the update button beside the 3 dot menu. ----- ###LIST OF APPS TO GET * Get **Firefox Preview** web browser from F-Droid (install uBlock Origin addon inside ([if technically advanced, try doing this](https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Blocking-mode:-medium-mode))). Also get **Firefox Klar** if you like a separate incognito browser. * Get **Aurora Store** from F-Droid for apps from Play Store without actually using Play Store, use Anonymous option to sign in * for 3rd party APKs source them only from **APKMirror** OR **APKPure** OR **APKMonk**, quite trusted, BUT **TRY AND AVOID IT IF POSSIBLE** * Get **Privacy Indicator** from F-Droid for **iOS 14 like camera/mic dot indicator feature** * Get **OSMAnd+** from F-Droid or **Qwant Maps inside web browser** for maps and/or print physical maps if you live and travel in one or two states or districts. NOTE: Qwant Maps has better search results than OSMAnd+ * Get **PilferShush Jammer** from F-Droid to block microphone (use this in malls, restaurants or such public places if you can to prevent beacon tracking) * Get **OpenBoard** (user friendly) OR **AnySoftKeyboard** (nerd friendly) from F-Droid instead of Google GBoard, Microsoft SwiftKey et al, they are closed source keylogger USA spyware * Get **FTP Server (Free)** from F-Droid and **FileZilla on computer** for computer-to-phone internet less file sharing NOTE: for phone-computer sync or sharing, can TRY **KDE Connect**, available for Android, Windows, Linux * Get **TrebleShot** instead of SHAREIt for phone to phone file sharing * Get **K-9 Mail** or **FairEmail** as e-mail client * Get **NewPipe** for YouTube watching, or YouTube in Firefox Preview/Klar * Get **QKSMS** from F-Droid as SMS client app * Get **Shelter** from F-Droid to sandbox potential apps that you must use (eg WhatsApp or Discord or Signal) * Get **SuperFreezZ** from F-Droid to freeze any apps from running in background * Get **Librera Pro** from F-Droid for PDF reader * Get **ImgurViewer** from F-Droid for opening reddit/imgur/other image links without invasive tracking * Get **InstaGrabber** from F-Droid for opening Instagram profiles or pictures without invasive tracking (seems like a revived fork is [here](https://github.com/austinhuang0131/instagrabber/releases), thanks u/sad_plan ) * Get **GreenTooth** from F-Droid to set Bluetooth to disable after you have used it * Get **Material Files** or **Simple File Manager** from F-Droid for file manager app * Get **ImagePipe** from F-Droid if you share lot of pictures, and want to clear EXIF metadata snooping (often photos contain phone model, location, time, date) * Get **Note Crypt Pro** from F-Droid for encrypted note taking app * Get **Vinyl Music Player** from F-Droid for music player * Get **VLC** from F-Droid for video player ----- ###CRITICAL FOR CLIPBOARD, LOCATION AND OTHER APP FUNCTION BLOCKING I would say this is one of the critical improvements in my guide, and will solve the problem of clipboard and coarse location snooping among other things. AppOpsX is a free, open source app that allows to manage granular app permissions not visible normally, with the help of ADB authorisation without root. This app can finely control what granular information apps can access on your phone, which is not shown in app permissions regularly accessible to us. Now that you would have set up your phone with installing apps, now is a good time to perform this procedure. Step 1: Install **AppOpsX** from F-Droid. (https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.zzzmode.appopsx/) Step 2: Plug phone to computer, and enable USB debugging in Settings --> Developer Options (you probably already did this in the starting of the guide) Step 3: Keep phone plugged into computer until the end of this procedure! Open AppOpsX app. Step 4: On computer, type commands in order: ```adb devices``` ```adb tcpip 5555``` ```adb shell sh /sdcard/Android/data/com.zzzmode.appopsx/opsx.sh &``` Step 5: Now open "AppOpsX" app, and: * disable "read clipboard" for apps except your messengers, notepad, office suite, virtual keyboard, clipboard monitor apps et al. NOTE: Most apps that have text field to copy/paste text require this permission. * disable "modify clipboard" for every app except for your virtual keyboard or office suite app or clipboard monitor/stack special apps. * disable "GPS", "precise location", "approximate location" and "coarse location" for every app except your maps app (Firefox and OSMAnd+) (2/2) in comment below.
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