I think the article says an anonymous source shared their discovery, which 404 then asked Trail of Bits to verify, which they did. I would love to see more, but I don’t see a scrap of data on the claim yet.

I don’t update my Keepass db often enough to need syncing. Maybe every other week or so I just pull the latest backup from my desktop from backblaze b2 to my phone, or if I change something on the phone, I send a copy to myself using signal “note to self.” Then I manually merge the databases.

Pretty low-tech.

Though development seems to have ceased for a few years now

This is correct. The folks adding these trackers to their sites usually have little to zero tech knowledge. They see a plugin or other way to provide them with the metrics they think they need and its “so easy” to use tag manager or the Facebook pixel.

I knew someone working for a nonprofit that was building out a form for indigenous troubled families, and they used both google and meta tools. Their intended cohort actively avoided it based on their initial finding that it was tracking them (they apparently had a tech person on their side of the table). This prompted a whole board level meeting, which resulted in the removal of the trackers, which were later re-added in another,less skeevy way, after the data they wanted stopped flowing) and the immediate enrollment in the program by hundreds of families.

In the end, they decided they need those tools, as alternatives were to clunky for them. Google and Meta make it seem easy for you, since they have much to gain and little to lose by making their data collection tools easy to implement. I went round and round with my friend about how bad this was, and they got it, but their higher-ups overrode them.

And Meta and Google lived happily ever after…

Lol! I’m glad you picked on that. I won’t badmouth them, but the user experience does that for them. That guy from the party must hate himself, haha

I was at a party about fifteen years ago. A guy introduced himself and we gabbed for a few minutes. Then he asked what I do for work (IT sysadmin at the time) and I told him and asked the same. He said he was in sales for a tech company. I asked which one, and he stepped close and whispered, “Oracle.” I could see he was prepared for me to bring the hate. He saved himself when he told me he was actually leaving for a gig at Dell. Later, I learned from the host that he made that part about leaving up because he felt bad. I later learned he went to work for Nutanix. Poor guy hated his own employer, and it was obvious.

Good catch. I don’t usually see SAS as /dev/sd* so I assumed. Almost the same cables, though *usually better made.

I second this. SATA cables are cheaply made and can present issues that seem to indicate drive failure.

Or spin up your own NTP server and NAT those requests to it.

Work fine for me, with no need to whitelist so far

Ahh, crap

Who can use Privacy and do you need a bank account?

Privacy is currently available to US citizens or legal residents with a checking account at a US bank or credit union, and who are 18+ years of age.

privacy com

Watching from the sidelines as a LOS ROM user, I’m disappointed by the replies from the devs. From mischaracterizing surprise, anger and generally negative feedback as positive praise to completely ignoring the two main asks of the community. For me, there are other red flags, but I’ll leave it alone.

Ego seems to be coming into play here, and the repeated references to GrapheneOS seem to reinforce that. Handwaving new and unique criticism as if it is a continuation of an older conflict is pretty poor form.

The basic issue as I see it (as a non-user of their platform) is to market your OS the way they do while also adding this feature without notice or explanation. Their claim that they want to stay relevant and include popular features is a straw man. There are other ways to implement it, and other ways to introduce it to the community. But that’s not relevant. Their explanation could be used to justify abandoning their stated objective of anti-big tech in any/all ways. Saying people want big corporate tech features is weak and obviously not in parity with the stated mission of privacy-first.

It’s not always the poor choices that sink user trust; sometimes it’s a tone deaf response or unexplained motives, or opaque financial incentive structure.

Sometimes it’s all of the above. This seems to be one of those cases.

Ty @Luffy879 for sharing.

E: spelling

I got sick of GP when they announced AI learning on user photos (or actually that’s just the last straw). I use a combination of these two apps now:

https://f-droid.org/packages/org.fossify.gallery/

https://f-droid.org/packages/io.ente.photos.fdroid/

This looks cool, but the dev seems pretty unavailable for updates for the past few years. Does the app still seem pretty solid in spite of that?

I like NetGuard, but think that TrackerControl is a bit more privacy focused. It had tracker detection, includes a traffic log as a free feature (NG requires purchase), and a few of the other NG Pro features are implemented in TC as well. In the end having either is better than neither.

So, he is to data brokers like Ray Bradbury is to fascism authoritarianism Cool!

Essentially, he wants all transactions to be online transactions, with something like Apple Pay or Google Pay on your device mediating the transaction and using your device PIN to prevent fraudulent transactions

Something tells me he wasn’t thinking we should hand over control of our payments to two of the largest advertising companies in the world.

I was wrong that it was water-themed. It was “Pacific Drive” which I guess made me think of underwater. I never got a chance to play it, and it’s no longer in my library. I think there was another one, but I can’t remember now. It was a while back that I discovered it.

EDIT: I agree with you 100% about ABZU. Boring after the first five minutes. Also, I don’t see Pacific Drive on the free games list. I need to try to remember the sequence of events. I know I never bought it, because I’ve never bought any games from EGS; all my titles were free ones.

I still have hundreds, but they do disappear like any purely digital asset.

I don’t even remember the name of the game, but it was one that was next to a title I do play often when sorted by “recent” which is based on purchase (or redemption) date. Might have been that underwater exploration title.