Neil Brown

One shouldn't need to change the OS on one's laptop or phone to get a private, ad free, not actively user hostile, experience on one's own device.

It is essential that one can do these things - I have, and haven't looked back - but if it is necessary, then there is a failure in regulation and enforcement.

Jun 29 at 6:38amWeb
Show threadNeil BrownJun 29

One should not need the prophylactic of numerous add-ons and a careful choice of browser to be able to surf the web.

And thank goodness for indie sites and blogs, especially those with RSS feeds, which have eschewed the user hostile design decisions which leads to this.

Show threadChris GerhardJun 29

@neil one should not have to run pihole to make you TV usable without ads.

One should not have to carefully create firewall rules to stop your TV reporting what you are watching.

You should not need to agree to an abusive Eula just to continue to use the TV you already own

Show threadSimon Jun 29
@cgerhard @neil LG? I was so angry when I read and saw what they try and do. It’s segregated now but I feel for people that don’t know/can’t do this. Pretty sure others are just as bad though?
Show threadChris GerhardJun 29
@staustellsimon @neil yes it's LG and yes I'm sure others are just as bad. We desperately need rules to ban this behaviour, which I think was the point of @neil's original posts
Show threadSimon Jun 29
@cgerhard @neil what I also detest is that it’s gone from a decent performing TV when I bought just over 18months ago to something that now needs several minutes after switching on to be useable, everything about the OS is now stuttery, for zero benefit 🤷🏼
Show threadDendrobatus AzureusJun 29

@cgerhard @neil

It's gotten so bad, that the only way you are certain, that your television will not squeal on you, is by making sure that you never ever ever let it go on the internet, because if you do it will just create a tunnel report to its Masters and if you close that tunnel it will just create others

Smart TV's and IOT devices have payloads just like malware!

#Enshittification #payloads #malware

Show threadTomJun 29
@dendrobatus_azureus @cgerhard @neil Is there a list of "safe" TVs to get somewhere? At some point In going to have to replace my TV and I don't want one that will spy on me/phone home or any of that nonsense.
Show threadMichael KohneJun 29
@pertho @dendrobatus_azureus @cgerhard @neil I think there is no 'safe' if you let it on your network. No matter what the manufacturer's policy today, they can change it tomorrow and you're hosed. The Samsung I bought a few months ago was willing to operate without an Internet connection, so that was nice.
Show threadRichardJun 29

@pertho @dendrobatus_azureus @cgerhard @neil

I've spent too long looking at this and the best option I've found is a dump TV or offline "smart" TV
and then a box either of your own choice or making a pi media box.

either way all out of the realm "path of least resistance" for most

Show threadChris GerhardJun 29
@Yorkshiregeek @pertho @dendrobatus_azureus @neil im told the solution, and this should not be needed, is to buy a display screen not a TV. Many of those still support the apps the TV support but because they are sold for businesses don't have the skyware. Obviously I only discovered this after getting my TV
Show threadRadioAdditionJun 29
@pertho @dendrobatus_azureus @cgerhard @neil Sceptre. Only manufacturer I know of that still makes "dumb" TVs
Show threadRussell PhillipsJun 29
@pertho @dendrobatus_azureus @cgerhard @neil in the UK, Cello make non-smart TVs.
https://celloelectronics.com/collections/non-smart-tvs
Non-Smart TVs

Show threadawoodlandJun 30
@rpbook @pertho @dendrobatus_azureus @cgerhard @neil wow, I don't need a new TV because the flat panel I got 20 years ago is still going strong but this is the first modern TV I've seen that's made me want to get out my bank card.
Show threadDendrobatus AzureusJul 1

@awoodland @rpbook @pertho @cgerhard @neil

What is the resolution of your flat panel?

Show threadRadio AzureusJun 29

@cgerhard @neil

Will you be so kind to point me to an article where I can read What LG has done exactly?

#LG #SmartTV

Show threadkonst 🇳🇿Jun 29
@cgerhard @neil you implicitly agreed to the EULA by thinking about TV.
Show threadNorm Tovey-WalshJun 29
@cgerhard @neil I have a nice, not-smart TV. I have to plug it into a 240/120 transformer because it came from the States. I may just give up on TV when it dies.
Show threaddatenwolfJun 29

@ndw @cgerhard @neil I gave up on TV when the set of my mom broke and I just replaced it with mine. That was 13 years ago. The last thing I watched on TV was some episode of ST-TNG... half way, when the call "my TV broke" came. That was it.

These days if I visit somewhere and the TV's running I have to leave the room - it's become unbearable.

Show threadinpcJun 29
@neil What's your current browser of choice? Been mostly Mullvad last few months but looking for an alternative that IU can use my own Searx instance with.

Currently trying Orion, LibreWolf won't install on my current Mac because Tim Apple clearly has a personal vendeta against me and I am sad about it.
Show threadPlsik (born in 320 ppm) 🇨🇿🇺🇦🇵🇸Jun 29
@inpc @neil Vivaldi browser in privacy and work phone (Android) and privacy laptop (Ubuntu) and work laptop from employer (W11) - plus Firefox browser with security certificate.
Show threadC++ Wage SlaveJun 29

@neil

Agreed on all counts, but it's worse than that. People who are not "very computer" don't have a clue how their data is exploited when they use mainstream software and services. And even people who are "very computer" don't have much insight, because the advertising and data-broker industries are silent about what happens to the data they collect and sell.

Without that knowledge, whatever the law says, there can be no meaningful consent.

Show threadSara Joy Jun 29
@CppGuy @neil I guess... At least the GDPR rules mean (in the EU anyway) we all get the horrendous cookie banners so we know how far our data is being passed on ("we and our 745 partners value your privacy" *laughcry*) - but yes knowing what happens with it after that is still quite the mystery...
Show threadC++ Wage SlaveJun 29

@sarajw

Exactly. Even if the cookie popup shows you a list of companies, you can't know what they all do.

Most cookie popups are malicious compliance.

@neil

Show threadSara Joy Jun 29
@CppGuy @neil agreed. And "Legitimate Interest" can fuck right off.
Show threadCassandrichJun 29
@sarajw @CppGuy @neil Cookie banners are not GDPR compliant but an explicit admission of violations.
Show threadGeorge Roberts 🇵🇸Jun 29

@sarajw
I think everyone should assume all their online behavioural data: strokes and eyes as well as words and deeds are swallowed by a Palantir or two. Especially if you have a car and a debit card.
#Palantir

@CppGuy @neil

Show threadSara Joy Jun 29
@peaceful @CppGuy @neil thankfully no car here but otherwise yes. Sigh.
Show threadawoodlandJun 30
@neil I wonder how far a search engine that refused to index sites like these would get.
Show threadNicole ParsonsJun 29

@neil

Tech has been flooded with fossil fuel investments to convert consumer software into state surveillance & Surveillance Capitalism

https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-google-hand-dissident-data-to-saudi-arabia-activists-say-2023-7

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/05/13/trump-tech-execs-riyadh/

https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/02/13/italian-government-denies-illegal-spying-on-journalists-and-activists-using-military-grade

https://www.sipri.org/commentary/topical-backgrounder/2025/spyware-service-challenges-applying-export-controls-cloud-based-cyber-surveillance-software

Microsoft and Google may have to surrender people's data to Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is seeking to be an innovation hub, but activists are warning that tech firms could be complicit in the repression of dissidents.

Business Insider
Show threadYoraJun 29
@neil The weirdest part about this is which options cost money and which ones are free.
Show threadMagical CatJun 29
@neil Regulations is a necessary tool but you can't cook soup with a hummer or axe.
It requires fundamental cultural shift when profit and money will stop to be the single way to survive.
Humanity need to transition into post-money society.
Current centralized nature of IT and Internet per se, with pyramids of DNS, SSL certificates, and physical connectivity, with concentration of the production of related widely used software and hardware in hands of few corporations. IT will not help.
Show threadPontificator.OMFJun 29
@neil What?!?! But I want to install Linux to specifically give MS the finger, and look like a bad boy to others. Attracts the girls, after all.
Show threadDaniel BlakeJul 3
@Pontificator_OMF @neil
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LsxmQV8AXk
Switch to Linux

YouTube
Show threadRadio AzureusJun 29

@neil

🦋💙❤️💋Lobi 💙💕🌹💐💙🦋

#WordsOfWisdom

Show threadDragonJun 29
@neil if one even can change the os on the laptop, some are very hard (latest macs or Snapdragon machines for instance)
Show threadDawn AhukannaJun 29
@neil
Operating Systems that are absolutely mandatory for any usability by people who supposedly purchased individual computers and devices, have become “captive audience billboards” from the monopoly of alternative options.
Analogy: This is like purchased tools in a toolbox forcing the person using a hammer on a construction site to watch an advert every 5th hit or for power tool every 100th hit - 😱
Show threadKuoJun 29

@neil
One shouldn't need to change the OS on one's laptop or phone to get a private, ad free, not actively user hostile, experience on one's own device.

Reality: you have to do so. Been using linux for many years.
When I had to start rubbish windoze to update a car diagnostic device I did so in fear of hours of updates and the new rash of issues they introduced.

MS windoze is psycho torture not an operating system.,

Show threadmike805Jun 29
@neil I've learned how to do this on a PC. TV, buy LG and keep it offline. Phones I just minimize my use of; they are inherently evil. Now would someone please tell me how to buy a car that is not actively working against me?
Show threadTheir friend, SvavarJun 29

I agree that these things should be the norm.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of people lack the understanding of cybersecurity required to even want those things.

It seems that governments around the world are not in any hurry to teach their citizens skills that would make them harder to spy on.

Social media companies encourage the oppose of responsible behaviour and probably lobby against cyber awareness programmes.

All that puts people like us in the minority.

@neil

Show threadGerard Cunningham ✒️Jun 29
@neil
A How To for others who would like to do the same would be appreciated
Show threadmirabilosJun 29
@neil this is a toot about smartphones
Show threadmrflash818Jun 29

@neil I switched to Debian around the year 2005, and use it to this day.

I run my cellphone on lockdown mode. It is just used for voice and texting.

I chose these for the sake of some freedoms from closed software, surveillance and advertising.

Show threadGemma ⭐️🔰🇺🇸 🇵🇭 🎐Jun 29
@neil I agree, but the fact is that consumers have no real aternatives. That’s why, after 18 years of using iPhones, my next phone will be a Google Pixel, just so I can install Graphene OS instead of Google’s version of Android. I am absolutely fed up with Apple not allowing me to install the software I want to install on my iPhone and iPad and run the same ad-blockers I run on my desktop machines. The experience of using my expensive iPad and iPhone are so poor that I rarely use them.
Show threadDag Ågren ↙︎↙︎↙︎Jun 30
@gcvsa Are you sure you are sending the right message here by stopping using the phone by the company that actually puts some effort into protecting your privacy, and instead giving it to the company that absolutely does not want you to have any privacy?
Show threadGemma ⭐️🔰🇺🇸 🇵🇭 🎐Jun 30
@WAHa_06x36 What about running Graphene OS did you misinterpret?
Show threadDag Ågren ↙︎↙︎↙︎Jun 30
@gcvsa You would still pay Google money, though, wouldn't you. You might not use their OS, but you still would give them money.
Show threadGemma ⭐️🔰🇺🇸 🇵🇭 🎐Jun 30
@WAHa_06x36 You are welcome to suggest viable competitive alternatives to buying Google’s hardware for $600 USD or less, new.
Show threadDag Ågren ↙︎↙︎↙︎Jun 30
@gcvsa Well, I would say, buy the phone from the company that actually cares about privacy, if you also care about privacy.
Show threadGemma ⭐️🔰🇺🇸 🇵🇭 🎐Jun 30
@WAHa_06x36 Although I would agree that Apple appears at this point in history to be the only major tech company that seems to give a damn about their customers’ privacy and security, I would suggest that you are misplacing your faith in Apple. I have been an Apple customer for 40 years, and a technology consultant specializing in Apple systems for over 35 years, as well as having a particular focus on privacy and security in my consulting practice since the mid-late 1990s.
Show threadDag Ågren ↙︎↙︎↙︎Jun 30
@gcvsa Not sure which faith you are referring to. All I am saying is thay Apple indeed appears at this point in history to be the only major tech company that seems to give a damn about their customers’ privacy and security, and thus, it seems counter-productive to start giving money to those who do not, if you care about those things.
Show threadBoyd Stephen Smith Jr.Jun 29

@neil Hello, welcome to Capitalism, how much is the feature "no need to change OS to get private, ad-free experience" worth to you?

Show threadhundrixJun 29
@neil
Those words are so true especially as we have more and more of the non tech savvy users now imprisoned into a hellhole of suffering through all of the awful and unreliable hardware, software and mosty anything computer related that they nowadays need just for their daily life. It shouldn't be this way. It could really be a lot better if only attention and money were not the only goal of this rotting system.
Show threadOpie1SmithJun 30
@neil That's why I've been a big advocate for FOSS since the 90s when I started using Linux. I kind of predicted things would go this way. We went from the internet being the last bastion of freedom to everyone being digital serfs in less than two decades.
Show threadDigital Mark λ ☕️ 🕹 🙄Jul 1
@neil Turns out buying (or using "free") a product developed by a giant ad & spyware company, means it was completely infested with ads & spyware! Who could've guessed‽