Surveillance Report posts
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Q&A: What Social Media Do We Use?
Q&A218: What social media apps are currently using the most? Questions about virtual machines and fingerprinting, as well as our recommendations for Android operating systems.Welcome to the Surveillance Report Q&A - featuring Techlore & The New Oil answering your questions about privacy and security.Video Version: https://youtu.be/A14lDB2io9c(00:00) Introduction(00:39) Most-Used Social Media(01:52) Privacy-Focused Education Apps(05:19) Instant, Private Crypto(07:08) Qubes Usability Barriers(11:1...
Join Our New Sister SimpleX Community ๐ฌ
We've had a patron-only Signalgroup for some time now, but we're now releasing a sister community on SimpleX. SimpleXhas additional privacy & community features that many people have asked forโand we already have a new community for you to join!A few notes:Signal & SimpleX are not bridged communities, so each chat exists on its ownBoth communities are private and only for our supporters on PatreonTo join the SimpleX group, DM us your SimpleX invite link and we'll send you an invite...
Q&A: Overcomplicated Privacy Tools
Q&A216: Are there any privacy tools we've ditched for being too complicated? Do we have any recommendations for privacy-focused VPS providers? Is it worth making new accounts periodically to avoid tracking? Is endpoint security being neglected?Welcome to the Surveillance Report Q&A - featuring Techlore & The New Oil answering your questions about privacy and security.Video Version: https://youtu.be/ORCQ9OgN0lw(00:00) Introduction(00:23) Overomplicated Privacy Tools(05:44) Recommended VPS Pro...
Q&A: Deciding on the Best Password
Q&A215: How do we decide on password criteria such as length, complexity, passphrases, etc? What cryptid would we be if we could pick? What do we think about the Simulation Hypothesis? How does Nate use Qubes? Are there any privacy benefits to hosting your own Monero node?Welcome to the Surveillance Report Q&A - featuring Techlore & The New Oil answering your questions about privacy and security.Video Version: https://youtu.be/6kBf99eUQuo(00:00) Introduction(00:43) Password Considerations(05:15)...
Q&A: Is F-Droid Safe?
Q&A214: Is F-Droid safe to use? Is using a custom DNS with a VPN a good idea? Can lawyers be helpful in your privacy journey?Welcome to the Surveillance Report Q&A - featuring Techlore & The New Oil answering your questions about privacy and security.Video Version: https://youtu.be/yda8l6DLxYo(00:00) Introduction(00:17) Is F-Droid Safe?(06:12) Custom DNS + VPNs(11:29) Lawyers & Privacy---๐ Go ahead and leave some questions below for us to look at for SR211 this weekend! (Note: We record on Fr...
Q&A: Our Privacy Hopes for 2025
Q&A213: Is there any privacy-related thing we're looking forward to in 2025? How would handle phone numbers in countries that require ID? Where do we get devices for tinkering? Do we have thoughts on "domains by proxy"? Would we consider signing up for Polycentric IDs? What are our thoughts on Whonix?Welcome to the Surveillance Report Q&A - featuring Techlore & The New Oil answering your questions about privacy and security.Video Version: https://youtu.be/RqxhGWnslqE(00:00) Introduct...
Q&A: Where's the Q&A?
As you all know, I like to give you guys a little peek behind the scenes when things aren't quite going right so you know where your money's going.It's been a couple weeks since our last Q&A. While we've missed some here and there before, we don't usually miss two in a row. The short version is that life got in the way. Two weeks ago the podcast was late because of chaos in my own life, and I wanted you guys to have more than a day to leave your questions. This week, Henry ha...
Q&A: Firefox Alternatives If You Dislike Mozilla
Q&A210: What are your options if you like Firefox but don't like the direction Mozilla is taking? Is it better to host Nextcloud on a VPS or at home? Which is better for privacy: Gnome or KDE? Should everyone really buy a home privately? What are the alternatives to JMP Chat?Welcome to the Surveillance Report Q&A - featuring Techlore & The New Oil answering your questions about privacy and security.Video Version: https://youtu.be/fr9hFJxJTKY00:00 Introduction00:47 Firefox Alternatives sans M...
Q&A: The Best Private Cell Carriers
Q&A209: What other private cell carriers exist aside from Mint Mobile? Should you use Bitlocker or Veracrypt on Windows? How can you shred old data effectively? Can you safely remove a car's modem? How was Henry's time in Vienna?Welcome to the Surveillance Report Q&A - featuring Techlore & The New Oil answering your questions about privacy and security.Video Version: https://youtu.be/tBkIQP8BIxA00:00 Introduction00:29 Private Cell Carriers04:45 Private Apple Pay Options06:42 Bitlocker vs...
Q&A: What's the Best Kind of Password?
Q&A208: What's kind of password is best to use? What's the best way to get rid of mobile malware? Is government surveillance worse than surveillance capitalism and are they ever justified? Are there any options for private electric vehicles or steps to take to improve privacy? Does using a VPN with Tor ever make sense?Welcome to the Surveillance Report Q&A - featuring Techlore & The New Oil answering your questions about privacy and security.Video Version: https://youtu.be/4paSXNdyGkg00:...
Q&A: Was Our Password Manager Advice Wrong?!
Q&A207: A counter argument to the advice we gave last time about securing your password manager, where to get crypto without turning over ID, and the potential drawbacks of mass privacy adoption.Welcome to the Surveillance Report Q&A - featuring Techlore & The New Oil answering your questions about privacy and security.Video Version: https://youtu.be/3-tXbYe53Mo00:00 Introduction00:25 Password Manager Advice Rebuttal06:38 KYC-free Crypto (Besides Bisq)07:33 Can Mass Privacy Backfire?14:01 XMR Ch...
Q&A: How to REALLY Secure Your Password Manager
Q&A206: Proper password manager protection, privacy-friendly VR headsets, thoughts on phones that come pre-installed with Custom OS's, who should airgap devices, and how to install Mac apps without the App Store.Welcome to the Surveillance Report Q&A - featuring Techlore & The New Oil answering your questions about privacy and security.Video Version: https://youtu.be/E3MyWFWEays00:00 Introduction00:30 Password Manager Protection05:34 Privacy-Respecting VR Headset Options 11:27 Airgapped Devi...
Q&A: What's the Best Antirivus for Linux?
Q&A205: Do we have any suggestions for antivirus on Linux? What about physical home security? When does using a hardware crypto wallet make sense?Video Version: https://youtu.be/BzEhAs76bGU00:00 Introduction00:25 Antivirus on Linux05:33 Tips for Physical Security11:00 Hardware vs Software Crypto Wallets---๐ Go ahead and leave some questions below for us to look at for SR206 this weekend! (Note: We record on Friday nights in the US, so it's highly recommended to leave all questions by noon...
Q&A: Undoing Years of Not Caring About Privacy
Q&A203: How do you undo all the information you've already shared before getting into privacy? How can you privately backup your mobile contacts? What are the latest RSS reader options? Do we still recommend Nitter? Does mass surveillance work after all? Does being different from everyone else offer any security? What about being the same as everyone else? Any suggestions for using voice assistants privately?Video Version: https://youtu.be/OWDsWgZ2rdg00:00 Introduction00:33 Past Data Sharing...
You Deserve an Explanation
I am a work-hard/play-hard kind of person. When I show up in the morning at my day job, I try to show up caffeinated and ready to go with a game plan for the day. I put my phone away, focus on the work, and try to give it 100% to deliver the best quality I can. As a result, I expect the same when I spend my money. I will not spend my hard-earned cash on crap products or service. For this reason, I feel compelled to explain recent weeks to our paying patrons.For the last few weeks, I have been ba...
No SR This Week - Doubling Up Next Weekend!
Thanks for the patience everyone! We tried reallyhard to make it happen, but couldn't swing it this week with both of us traveling. We'll be combing this week with next week (as well as the Q&A) so catch us then! Feel free to keep leaving any questions on the most recent Q&A post :) See you all soon!
Q&A: Understanding Threat Modeling
Q&A202: How can people better understand threat modeling? What are security concerns for custom Android ROMs? What are our favorite episodes of Darknet Diaries? Have we ever seen a website remove our 2FA without telling us?Video Version: https://youtu.be/1_eKi1-CSA000:00 Introduction 01:09 Threat Modeling & Expertise 06:40 Security Concerns on Custom OS's 10:15 Favorite Episodes of Darknet Diaries 11:13 Listener Comments---๐ Go ahead and leave some questions below for us to look at for SR...
New Sponsor: Easy Opt Outs!
A few weeks ago, I (Nate) made a mistake and uploaded a VIP video that included the sponsor pitch for our sponsor at the time, JMP Chat. To our surprise however, a lot of people were happy about this mistake. Many listeners had never heard of JMP before and were interested in the service, and several people requested that we keep VIP listeners informed about new sponsors so they can continue to be made aware of new, trusted services we work with. To that end, I just wanted to quickly share with ...
Q&A: Private Shopping Tips for the Holidays
Q&A201: Tips to shop privately online with the holidays approaching, private investment funds entering the Monero space, and is your SSID trackable?Video Version: https://youtu.be/FsOeABnuzOQ00:00 Introduction00:24 Privacy Tips for Online Shopping05:55 Investment Funds Entering the Monero Space07:35 WiFi SSID Concerns---๐ Go ahead and leave some questions below for us to look at for SR202 this weekend! (Note: We record on Friday nights in the US, so it's highly recommended to leave all qu...
Q&A: Episode 200 Livestream!
Q&A200: In this special episode, Henry & Nate answer a massive number of questions from Patrons, XMR Chat donors, and livestream viewers.Video Version: https://youtube.com/live/-MPd3Brwsuw---๐ Go ahead and leave some questions below for us to look at for SR201 this weekend! (Note: We record on Friday nights in the US, so it's highly recommended to leave all questions by noon on Friday in the US)It can be about a specific story, a general question about privacy/security, a question about t...
Thanks everyone for tuning in to the stream <3
We had a lot of fun and couldn't have done it without your support. 200 episodes, your questions, your support. It all means so much and keeps our content expanding every month. ๐ฅ to the next 200
Don't Miss our 200 Special Livestream Party TOMORROW!
Patrons! I'll keep this brief. Tomorrow we'll be going live together, IN PERSON to cover the news & answer questions. We've already seen some of your other questions in other posts, but this is your last call! Leave your questions for the stream below so we can have them ready for tomorrow.We will be covering all the news live, and answering questions live for a first-ever experience. Your questions will be prioritized :) Livestream will be recorded so if you miss it you can still vi...
Q&A: Why Should People Use Signal?
Q&A197: Our Top 3 arguments for switching to Signal, for getting companies to comply with deletion requests, and favorite aspects of GDPR, our thoughts on Diode and Threema, how linkable are alias emails really, and is regulation really effective?Video Version: https://youtu.be/K2ya4Yz_NoI00:00 Introduction00:52 Top 3 Arguments for Switching to Signal04:08 Top 3 Techniques to Ensure Data Deletion07:29 Top 3 Favorite GDPR Rights10:03 Thoughts on Diode12:24 Thoughts on Threema14:13 Email Alias Pri...
Q&A: Security Through Obscurity
Q&A196: Is "Security Through Obscurity" actually bad? If we could help draft privacy regulation, what would we want to include? Can regulation help protect mainstream users??Video Version: https://youtu.be/bNp-DrMcyiI00:00 Introduction01:08 Security Through Obscurity04:19 Privacy Regulations Wishlist10:06 Does Regulation Matter?---๐ Go ahead and leave some questions below for us to look at for SR197 this weekend! (Note: We record on Friday nights in the US, so it's highly recommen...
Q&A: Nate's Phone Literally Exploded. What Now?
Q&A195: Nate's phone literally exploded. What's the plan to replace it and how does we use our phones? What changes have we noticed in our personal lives as a result of our privacy journeys? How would we summarize threat modeling? What are our thoughts on the risks of services that break TLS? Do we have recommendations for encrypted Slack alternatives for enterprise environments? Is a dedicated IP Address worth it?Video Version: https://youtu.be/m_qJ-GFIzDo00:00 Introduction00:30 Nate...
Q&A: The Mess of Private Cloud Options
Q&A193: What are our recommendations for content-blockers Q&A194: What realtime file-sync options do we prefer? How do we navigate elitism in the privacy space? Would we ever sell merch?Video Version: https://youtu.be/ZvVz_Y9deqA00:00 Introduction00:24 Private Cloud Storage08:27 Avoiding Elitism15:25 Merch When?19:45 Privacy Disagreements---๐ Go ahead and leave some questions below for us to look at for SR195 this weekend! (Note: We record on Friday nights in the US, so it's highly recomm...
Q&A: The Best Browser Extensions
Q&A193: What are our recommendations for content-blockers and browser extensions? Why do people accept the lie of "anonymized" telemetry? Do we have any experience with privacy.comcards being blocked?Video Version: https://youtu.be/1PCmeG79ITs00:00 Introduction00:24 Content Blockers & Browser Extensions04:49 The Myth of Anonymized Data08:38 Issues Using Privacy.com---๐ Go ahead and leave some questions below for us to look at for SR194 this weekend! (Note: We record on Friday nights i...
Q&A: Does Global Privacy Control ACTUALLY Work?
Q&A192: Is GPC actually effective, or is it just another DNT? Should you migrate off of Google Sites? What's the best workflow for degoogled Androids? And is phone location privacy a non-starter?Video Version: https://youtu.be/cLaBfvJ0_bg00:00 Introduction00:24 Should You Enable GPC?05:00 Best Workflows When You Need Two OS's07:49 The Ethics of Using Google Sites11:00 Phone Location Privacy---๐ Go ahead and leave some questions below for us to look at for SR193 this weekend! (Note: We...
Q&A: The Email Tracking Protection Episode
Q&A191: How do we protect against e-mail tracking in non-private providers and how do we handle tracking links embedded in emails?Video Version: https://youtu.be/F1pSngpzVPc00:00 Introduction00:27 Protecting Against Email Tracking03:32 Unmasking Tracking Links in Emails---๐ Go ahead and leave some questions below for us to look at for SR192 this weekend! (Note: We record on Friday nights in the US, so it's highly recommended to leave all questions by noon on Friday in the US)It can be abo...
Q&A: What Search Engine(s) Do We Use?
Q&A190: What search engines do we use? More of our thoughts on the latest data removal service research, stopping leaky cars, private stock brockerage platforms, how we learn new technical information, and Apple Music alternatives.Video Version: https://youtu.be/Kp6wG7annE000:00 Introduction00:28 What Search Engines Do We Use?01:36 More Thoughts on People Search Research05:21 Silencing Vehicle Data Sharing07:53 Privacy Respecting Stonks Platforms10:42 How Do We Learn Technical Things?13:50 Apple...
