Yeah, it seems that everything has an imperfection, unfortunately. Just gotta choose one. I’d jump on Signal if they remove the phone number, but like you I think it’s the shiniest of the bunch. I just want media with captions, uncompressed uploads, the ability to search messages, full e2ee for calls and messages, the ability to conference call, secure message migration/sync to a new client, emoji/rich text and markdown format support, by a company that promises not to access its users’ messages, location or other identifying information.

How far they have fallen… Which would you recommend, sans self-hosting a service? Signal?

Telegram allegedly complied with a government to give them user data, and their e2e encryption was switched to be off by default. I know because when I started the chat with someone we raved about how it says ‘end to end encrypted’ before sending a message. Well, between then and when I decided to migrate off it, that private one-to-one chat’s encryption was switched off.

I say it’s okay, but only ensure that e2ee is on

I can’t believe anyone would think that clickbait is something people want. There is no purpose to it here - no affiliate monetary gain, no cash for clicks - just a Youtube video. Note that my quarrel is with the video uploader, not OP

Ashton fucking Kutcher, huh. Wild timeline.

Github is great but it’s owned by Microsoft. If that alone doesn’t dissuade you, their integration of their Copilot AI to speed up the creation of vibe-coded projects might. This latest change would.

Luckily there is at least one FOSS alternative, codeberg.org. Its base, Forgejo, is self-hostable, therefore security is in your hands.

I recognise that ReMarkable is top tier rn for eReading, but £350 is uncomfortably high for me. Roughly 50 physical books’ worth before buying any books.

Worth it if you have the money to spare.

#JustHowl’sMovingCastleThings
Seriously though, Howl is a very dateable crow

EMAIL PROVIDERS:

1. Posteo - Their choice of domain
2. Mailbox - Custom domain, free trial
3. Runbox - Custom domain, free trial

DEFINITELY FREE TIERS:

4. Tuta - Focused on security and resisting influence, but incoming mail can only be accessed by the Tuta client (because of their e2ee)
5. GMX - Apparently has ads
6. Zoho - Business focused
7. Proton - Feels walled garden-esque, has one email for free, may cooperate with governments

That’s going to be very interesting with persistent spam senders.

Proton allows only one free email address, which is what taught me to be wary of unexpected restrictions on services. I’ve got to say the only one I trust fully is my own, with complete certainty of security and features are all only limited by the hardware. Whenever someone talks about paying per month to get more addresses, aliases, calendar or storage - nah. Self-host. DuckDuckGo email is a good firewall layer as well - it forwards all mail to your chosen actual address after trying its best to strip the mail of trackers.

Yo I just wish you could opt out of government ownership

It’s owned by Amazon. A no brainer to avoid, really

Son of a… Thank you! Time to reassess my server aha

As in, backup messages to import into new clients? Is that possible?

What is keeping you all from extreme stress considering

Not being prone to paranoia, as unhelpful as that is

I’m also a realist, which keeps my expectations in check.

Remember that you are one person. Nobody in government censorship or reconnaissance of the public cares about you enough to spy or hack you. You alone aren’t worth the effort or resources.

Remember to play. Go outside for a walk, meditate, consume entertaining non-toxic, non-fiction media, have sex or masturbate. All work and no play makes Ringpop a dull person.

Don’t forget that OMEMO on XMPP has no backward decryption - all messages are lost with every new client. Massive dealbreaker for me, as I value message history between those I love.

I’ve gone for Matrix. Signal doesn’t interest me until they get rid of the requirement for phone numbers.

Others have noted that XMPP servers hold user contacts (and maybe other parts) wholly unencrypted, and if the server isn’t yours, that’s a trust risk.

Do it. The Western countries alienated tobacco products massively using tactics like images of graphic organ destruction on packaging.

Alcohol is just as likely to be fatal if abused. the fact that many places outlaw marijuana but not alcohol is baffling hypocrisy

What country did you last have issues with? I’ll try it out. I use Nord for downloading videos, and it seems that YT have flagged every single Dutch and UK IP I try as a potential bot, restricting access completely without being logged in.

There also seems to be a huge issue where YouTube has recently delisted a significant amount of videos - and I don’t mean unlisted or private. I mean they just don’t exist through channels or yt-dlp any more. I think YT is killing creators

Clean version.