Melody

joined 1 year ago
MODERATOR OF
[–] Melody@lemmy.one 13 points 13 hours ago

Yikes.

In 1997; I was walking about 2 miles to and from school. Unsupervised. I had a house key on my neck and was a latchkey kid in third grade. I obediently walked to and from school directly from home; meeting the crossing guard a half mile from school twice a day; as I had to cross a major 4 lane divided highway.

[–] Melody@lemmy.one 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

lol you are so wrong.

[–] Melody@lemmy.one 9 points 1 day ago

Honestly I question the sanity of allowing a child to have an actual clearanced job and not brag about it to his friends. Mentally you're pretty much a kid until you're about 25 or so if you're AMAB.

I'm concerned that higher clearances aren't checking people for signs of stupid viewpoints before they're cleared.

[–] Melody@lemmy.one 3 points 1 day ago

TL;DR: I think this video oversimplifies the analysis according to the cards and gives Graphene OS undue weight without going into sufficient detail as to why each scored under each category.

[–] Melody@lemmy.one 17 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (7 children)

I actually don't agree with this video; and firmly believe it is more than a little biased.

For example, the Pixel, AOSP and Android are given several undeserved points due to lack of proper information or understanding of how certain features work. I imagine this is the case too for the iPhone; if a bit less so.

The review apparently doesn't deep dive into settings or attempt to maximize privacy by turning off unwanted 'features' when settings switches are available to the user; nor does it assume that you set up accounts in as private of a manner as reasonably possible or toggle off as many default-on consent switches as needed.

While I would support scoring and dinging each case or instance for "Privacy Settings that don't actually work"...this video really doesn't do a lot of legwork and leans on the anecdotal evidence of scary news stories too much.

Worse was the fact that the entire video felt like they were shilling for Graphene OS; which is known to have a slightly unfriendly maintainer and community surrounding him to say the least.

No mention of Lineage or other privacy oriented Android ROMs were analyzed. AOSP too, was unfairly lumped in and dinged for specific points of the Default Pixel configuration....and yes there are major differences between AOSP and Pixel Android; even though Google tries to be less in-your-face invasive than the other OEMs. Not enough credit is given for the "On-Device" smart features implemented properly on the Pixels.

Out of personal experience; I'd actually rate a proper Lineage OS install of 4 whole Android versions ago to be more private than stock. Not quite as private as Graphene; but not quite as invasive and much more enforcing of privacy. The debloating provided by a clean AOSP-like ROM, such as Lineage, as opposed to a "Stock Android" configuration from a major OEM is stark.

Most importantly I personally feel that the privacy model chosen for the video is far too thickly detailed for an average person. Most of the privacy concerns listed on each card contained concern points that might only tangentally apply or don't apply at all to mobile phones. The way that each card was scored and applied felt low effort. None of the points on any of the card(s) were weighted with average users in mind.

I really hope someone goes into a much deeper dive; this video is basically clickbait that parrots the commonly parroted advice in the privacy community; which isn't even good advice, it's just 'One-Size-Fits-All' style advice which gives the user no room to make necessary 'Privacy vs Convenience' tradeoffs that they themselves could have made if they understood proper threat modelling.

[–] Melody@lemmy.one 0 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

I mean, in non technical terms, I basically stated to cosplay as a pirate if you catch my drift. No need to not shun media in the meantime.

I don't shun media; I practice moderation instead. I find it is better to be aware of my surroundings in all things so I can keep myself safe if needs be.

Media habits are already collected, and targeted. They just aren’t used by fascists yet.

I'm aware of this; but I'm also a pretty savvy Networking / IT person. It's easy to foil a large portion of their tracking apparatus with DNS level blocking; and even easier to use a rPi or pfSense box to do so.

I clearly don't share or agree with your fears that the fascists will use them anytime soon. It's too likely that doing so will galvanize resistance against them swiftly.

You also can’t use uBlock on a smart tv.

I don't own a "Smart" TV. No TV-like device ever gets networked around here either; and it's going to be returned as "Defective" if it does refuse to work without a network connection. I watch via a PC with a well configured instance of uBlock Origin in Firefox. (+ several other privacy add-ons to prevent other shenanigans and ensure isolation).

Netflix streams aren’t privacy encrypted. Doesn’t matter how to pay, it can still be very easily linked to you via your internet provider. And Netflix would still have a profile built around that account.

They don't need to be. TLS is used; so any man-in-the-middle is likely not capable of knowing what you're watching. Only Netflix knows what you're watching. If you're concerned about their terms of service; or how they purport to use your data as outlined in their terms of service; then by all means make your post about that.

Your IP address is known by every website you visit; it is not a magic document number for you or your household. Your ISP isn't going to provide your data to the government without a valid subpoena; and those typically aren't issued easily. Any active change in law passed that is affecting trans people, you'd actually hear about.

You seem to have a few misconceptions or fears. Those fears are not invalid; but I am trying to suggest ways you can protect your privacy; while avoiding doing things like throwing all streaming media away and letting fears or misconceptions drive someone to absolute privacy fatigue and depression.

Is Piracy better? Undeniably so! If you have the technical know-how and wherewithal to pirate your media; it's a solid way to find content usually.

However, not all people choose piracy for their own reasons. That might mean one instead maintains a few low-cost streaming subscriptions on hand. It is possible to still enjoy these services; and pay for them in ways that keep one's privacy reasonably intact.

[–] Melody@lemmy.one 3 points 6 days ago (2 children)

I actually disagree that media habits will be collected or targeted. It's easy to defeat at least the overt tracking at least on Netflix using uMatrix or uBlock Origin; and I've done it myself.

Primarily; I just refuse to be intimidated by the extremists. It's fine to take reasonable steps to protect yourself; but don't completely force yourself into any kind of isolation because you feel it protects you; that's exactly what THEY want.

You should be reasonably safe, and fine, using a major streaming service; as the fee to use them can easily be paid by privacy respecting means. (AKA scratch-cards purchased with either cash or crypto currency)

If you are worried about privacy; it's totally OK to take steps to protect that; but you should be aware that it's possible to get so wound up in protecting your privacy that you can do more harm for yourself than good. Privacy fatigue is a real issue; and that can be a problem as well. Use your best judgement.

[–] Melody@lemmy.one 13 points 6 days ago

I've always hated Crustyroll.

Crustyroll got it's start by standing on the backs of good noble fansubbers who provided their subs for free; and now they've come full circle. They became an enemy rather quickly when it profited them.

[–] Melody@lemmy.one 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Actually; (basically) SIP over (basically) IPSec sounds pretty correct. Wish the dense technical manuals I read had explained it that way; makes a lot more sense to me as a Net Admin type of IT person.

I do remember reading that the protocol was basically encapsulated. Dunno about any encryption; probably there's not any at the IPSec level. I do know that the SIMs themselves probably contain certs that have some value; I just don't know if they handle any encryption or if they're just lightweight little numbers for authentication only.

[–] Melody@lemmy.one 3 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

If I'm understanding how 'WiFi Calling" works; it's still "identifying you" to the cell provider the same way; via your SIM. The only difference is they don't get an exact location because you're not using any cell towers typically.

I do suspect SIMs and eSIMs are still doing all the heavy cryptographic signing done on a typical phone network though...they're just not screaming your IMEI/IMSI all over open or even encrypted airwaves; nor is a WiFI signal triangulate-able typically due to it's short range.

[–] Melody@lemmy.one 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

The reason things like Alcohol are "considered and generally recognized as safe" has a lot to do with their effect length on the body. It's possible to isolate someone intoxicated this way for up to 24 hours and see them recover all of their facilities in the short term.

Granted; it still has long-term effects that are bad, just not show-stoppingly so, and it only affects people who actually abuse the stuff long-term for many years.

I do agree we should be a lot tougher on Alcohol use in general. Maybe not Prohibition levels; but some framework to cut off people from acquiring quantities that can intoxicate them so badly that they pose a danger to themselves and others.

[–] Melody@lemmy.one 7 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

They faffed around, and now they're finding out that, yes, the experts were in fact right! Restricting abortion access does cause more deaths and poor health outcomes!

 
 

Memes and comical images are now allowed; but please keep them tasteful, positive and nice. I will still moderate offensive images.

 
 

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.one/post/310151

Unfortunately and predictably /u/CedarWolf and I could not see eye to eye.

He is laser focused on protecting users. I do not see how this was possible on reddit if we lacked the normal 3rd Party Apps we've always used to manage the subreddit.

The subreddit has always been run through a massive set of YAML rules via the AutoModerator. Through these rules I was able to manage the entire subreddit. Alone.

Never did the other two mods really ever engage in any actions or even open dialogue. I had to open the dialogue about the community myself to get a response; and it was typical of your average reddit power moderator. He wanted to bend the knee to reddit. I refused.

Let me be perfectly clear. I accept responsibility for my actions.

However; I did not anticipate the complete lack of support from this top mod for the protest. Going forward I urge users to exercise their best judgement. The /r/genderqueer subreddit that will exist from now on is no longer the same community it was.

I am not going to badmouth CedarWolf. I am only going to present facts. We no longer operate the same community.

Thanks,

formerly /u/Zazie_Lavender (Account on reddit is deleted)

 
 

How are all of you wonderful people doing these days? :3

 

What happened? Is there some need for additional assistance or moderation or did something change about the direction of the instance?

Genuinely though; I could understand if it was done defensively; I do see some trolls rolling through here...

 

As the title implies; how did we achieve a "No Downvoting" functionality on this instance; and how does it function with relation to other instances which may not disable the feature?

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