/e/OS is not a secure OS - Lemmy.World
/e/OS is not fully degoogled, as DNS connectivity checks, hardware attestation
provisioning, and eSIM activation all go through Google. It is often many weeks
or months behind on security updates, especially in the WebView, which makes it
easy to exploit. It doesn’t support bootloader locking on many devices, and if
you lock the bootloader on a phone that does support it, it could brick if /e/OS
is on an older security patch than the stock ROM was. It doesn’t use a lot of
the hardening in GrapheneOS such as hardened_malloc which prevents memory
corruption exploits, even if the hardware supports it. And finally, /e/OS’s
text-to-speech sends what you say to OpenAI, despite local options being
available. If you want a properly secure Android phone, the best option is
GrapheneOS, however it only supports Pixel phones and future Motarola phones due
to its high security requirements. If you can’t get a Pixel then iOS in lockdown
mode is the next best option, however if you can’t replace your phone, LineageOS
is much worse than Graphene although it is still much better than /e/.
Your Linux PC is NOT private out of the box
https://lemmy.world/post/42831601
Your Linux PC is NOT private out of the box - Lemmy.World
* A lot of software uses systemd-journald to log errors, * The bash shell saves
everything you type into the terminal, * wtmp, btmp, utmp all track exactly who
is logged in and when, * The package manager logs all software you install and
keeps the logs after uninstallation, * And the kernel writes part of the RAM
which may contain sensitive information to the disk when your PC crashes. While
the OS isn’t sending these logs to Microsoft or Google, anyone who gets into
your PC while you are logged in and your data is unencrypted can see much of
what you have been doing. If you want to be private, you must disable them.
Linux is NOT private out of the box
https://lemmy.world/post/42670702
Linux is NOT private out of the box - Lemmy.World
Linux distros log a TON about what you’re doing by default. Tonnes of software
uses systemd-journald to log errors, the bash shell saves everything you type
into the terminal, and wtmp, btmp, utmp all track exactly who is logged in and
when, and the kernel uses dmesg to log a bunch of stuff. While the system isn’t
sending these logs to Microsoft or Google, anyone who gets into your system like
police or hackers can see almost everything that you have been doing. If you
want to be private, you must disable them.
You need to stop using Brave - Lemmy.World
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/41426958
[https://lemmy.world/post/41426958] > Brave is essentially just Chrome with an
adblocker, a bunch of bloatware, and a bunch of controversies. > > Brave took
BAT donations in YouTuber’s names without their consent, with them keeping the
money if the YouTubers didn’t claim it. >
https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2019/01/13/brave-web-browser-no-longer-claims-to-fundraise-on-behalf-of-others-so-thats-nice/
[https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2019/01/13/brave-web-browser-no-longer-claims-to-fundraise-on-behalf-of-others-so-thats-nice/]
> > Brave’s search engine crawler hides itself from websites by pretending to be
Googlebot, and Meta (Facebook) buys API access from them to train their AI. >
https://stackdiary.com/brave-selling-copyrighted-data-for-ai-training/
[https://stackdiary.com/brave-selling-copyrighted-data-for-ai-training/] > > The
business model of Brave rewards as a whole is to block all other ad networks to
replace them with their own, which is unfair as only YouTubers and websites that
have joined can make money from most Brave users. > > If Brave actually cared,
they would create an acceptable ads style feature which was free for everyone
and allowed simple contextual banners while blocking ads which track you, take
up most of the page, or have NSFW content. > > Their approach is monopolistic as
they have full control and can strangle YouTubers and websites by dropping pay
at any time. > > And Brenden Eich has said on Twitter that he plans to release
“Brave Origin”, which is a paid version of Brave without the bloatware. That
name is ironic as he is admitting that his browser is commercialised and
bloated, which is similar to when gorhill gave uBlock way to Chris Aljoudi who
commercialised it, which led him to create uBlock Origin. > > If you use Brave,
ditch it and look at using Librewolf or Helium instead, which both include no
ads nor tracking and don’t have Brave News, Rewards, Wallet, Talk etc bloatware.
You need to stop using Brave - Lemmy.World
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/41426958
[https://lemmy.world/post/41426958] > Brave is essentially just Chrome with an
adblocker, a bunch of bloatware, and a bunch of controversies. > > Brave took
BAT donations in YouTuber’s names without their consent, with them keeping the
money if the YouTubers didn’t claim it. >
https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2019/01/13/brave-web-browser-no-longer-claims-to-fundraise-on-behalf-of-others-so-thats-nice/
[https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2019/01/13/brave-web-browser-no-longer-claims-to-fundraise-on-behalf-of-others-so-thats-nice/]
> > Brave’s search engine crawler hides itself from websites by pretending to be
Googlebot, and Meta (Facebook) buys API access from them to train their AI. >
https://stackdiary.com/brave-selling-copyrighted-data-for-ai-training/
[https://stackdiary.com/brave-selling-copyrighted-data-for-ai-training/] > > The
business model of Brave rewards as a whole is to block all other ad networks to
replace them with their own, which is unfair as only YouTubers and websites that
have joined can make money from most Brave users. > > If Brave actually cared,
they would create an acceptable ads style feature which was free for everyone
and allowed simple contextual banners while blocking ads which track you, take
up most of the page, or have NSFW content. > > Their approach is monopolistic as
they have full control and can strangle YouTubers and websites by dropping pay
at any time. > > And Brenden Eich has said on Twitter that he plans to release
“Brave Origin”, which is a paid version of Brave without the bloatware. That
name is ironic as he is admitting that his browser is commercialised and
bloated, which is similar to when gorhill gave uBlock way to Chris Aljoudi who
commercialised it, which led him to create uBlock Origin. > > If you use Brave,
ditch it and look at using Librewolf or Helium instead, which both include no
ads nor tracking and don’t have Brave News, Rewards, Wallet, Talk etc bloatware.
You need to stop using Brave - Lemmy.World
Brave is essentially just Chrome with an adblocker, a bunch of bloatware, and a
bunch of controversies. Brave took BAT donations in YouTuber’s names without
their consent, with them keeping the money if the YouTubers didn’t claim it.
https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2019/01/13/brave-web-browser-no-longer-claims-to-fundraise-on-behalf-of-others-so-thats-nice/
[https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2019/01/13/brave-web-browser-no-longer-claims-to-fundraise-on-behalf-of-others-so-thats-nice/]
Brave’s search engine crawler hides itself from websites by pretending to be
Googlebot, and Meta (Facebook) buys API access from them to train their AI.
https://stackdiary.com/brave-selling-copyrighted-data-for-ai-training/
[https://stackdiary.com/brave-selling-copyrighted-data-for-ai-training/] The
business model of Brave rewards as a whole is to block all other ad networks to
replace them with their own, which is unfair as only YouTubers and websites that
have joined can make money from most Brave users. If Brave actually cared, they
would create an acceptable ads style feature which was free for everyone and
allowed simple contextual banners while blocking ads which track you, take up
most of the page, or have NSFW content. Their approach is monopolistic as they
have full control and can strangle YouTubers and websites by dropping pay at any
time. And Brenden Eich has said on Twitter that he plans to release “Brave
Origin”, which is a paid version of Brave without the bloatware. That name is
ironic as he is admitting that his browser is commercialised and bloated, which
is similar to when gorhill gave uBlock way to Chris Aljoudi who commercialised
it, which led him to create uBlock Origin. If you use Brave, ditch it and look
at using Librewolf or Helium instead, which both include no ads nor tracking and
don’t have Brave News, Rewards, Wallet, Talk etc bloatware.
I like Vivaldi however I find them a little untransparent
https://lemmy.world/post/41289672
I like Vivaldi however I find them a little untransparent - Lemmy.World
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/41289659
[https://lemmy.world/post/41289659] > Vivaldi’s main revenue stream is affiliate
links, and I respect that. > > However Vivaldi doesn’t just add affiliate links
as bookmarks, Vivaldi also includes a “Direct Match” feature which adds
affiliate links automatically when you search for a website. > > Vivaldi also
has an “Allow ads from our partners” ad blocker list turned on by default, which
disables the ad blocker on sites that have paid them to do that. > > The former
is a tactic that Brave browser used to use, and the latter is one that Adblock
Plus has used for years. > > However, the problem with these features is that it
is not disclosed to the user that they are enabled by default, and they are
opt-out, not opt-in. > > It would be more transparent if these features were
disabled by default, then after visiting your first few websites, Vivaldi shows
a pop-up like this: > > Would you like to support Vivaldi for free? > > If so,
turning on Direct Match and allowing ads from our partners (which are all
unintrusive) helps support us at no cost to you. > > [ ] Enable Direct Match > >
[ ] Allow ads from our partners > > [Got it]
I like Vivaldi however I find them a little untransparent
https://lemmy.world/post/41289659
I like Vivaldi however I find them a little untransparent - Lemmy.World
Vivaldi’s main revenue stream is affiliate links, and I respect that. However
Vivaldi doesn’t just add affiliate links as bookmarks, Vivaldi also includes a
“Direct Match” feature which adds affiliate links automatically when you search
for a website. Vivaldi also has an “Allow ads from our partners” ad blocker list
turned on by default, which disables the ad blocker on sites that have paid them
to do that. The former is a tactic that Brave browser used to use, and the
latter is one that Adblock Plus has used for years. However, the problem with
these features is that it is not disclosed to the user that they are enabled by
default, and they are opt-out, not opt-in. It would be more transparent if these
features were disabled by default, then after visiting your first few websites,
Vivaldi shows a pop-up like this: Would you like to support Vivaldi for free? If
so, turning on Direct Match and allowing ads from our partners (which are all
unintrusive) helps support us at no cost to you. [ ] Enable Direct Match [ ]
Allow ads from our partners [Got it]
We need to boycott Firefox - Lemmy.World
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/40386879
[https://lemmy.world/post/40386879] > Mozilla is making it clear that they do
not care about users any more. > > Firefox is full of ads, with ads being in the
homepage shortcuts, the news feed and the omnibox dropdown, as well as various
ads for Mozilla services throughout the UI. Their ad network is also marketed to
companies as allowing them to reach adblocker users. > > >Mozilla’s 210M+ global
users are typically hard to reach. They’re usually hidden behind ad blockers,
nearly half avoid dominant social media, and most say no to default platforms.
They’re selective, tech savvy, and paying attention. > From:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/advertising/
[https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/advertising/] > > Firefox is also full of
tracking, with their mobile app sending data to the tracking company Adjust, and
it having options for “personalised extension recommendations” and “Install and
run studies”. The latter allows them to install what they want into your browser
without your consent out of the box. > > Their tracking protection also mostly
works only in private / incognito mode by default, with tracking scripts being
allowed to run in standard windows with just isolated cookies protecting you,
which is not a decision that a company who actually cares about privacy would
make. > > Mozilla is also partnering with Perplexity, an AI search engine who
wants to collect as much data as possible even outside of their app to sell
“hyper personalized” ads, which is exactly who you shouldn’t work with if you
claim to care about privacy. > From:
https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/24/perplexity-ceo-says-its-browser-will-track-everything-users-do-online-to-sell-hyper-personalized-ads/
[https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/24/perplexity-ceo-says-its-browser-will-track-everything-users-do-online-to-sell-hyper-personalized-ads/]
> > I recommend switching to Librewolf as it takes Firefox and removes this
bullshit. Some other alternatives like Brave are just as bad.
We need to boycott Firefox - Lemmy.World
Mozilla is making it clear that they do not care about users any more. Firefox
is full of ads, with ads being in the homepage shortcuts, the news feed and the
omnibox dropdown, as well as various ads for Mozilla services throughout the UI.
Their ad network is also marketed to companies as allowing them to reach
adblocker users. >Mozilla’s 210M+ global users are typically hard to reach.
They’re usually hidden behind ad blockers, nearly half avoid dominant social
media, and most say no to default platforms. They’re selective, tech savvy, and
paying attention. From: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/advertising/
[https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/advertising/] Firefox is also full of tracking,
with their mobile app sending data to the tracking company Adjust, and it having
options for “personalised extension recommendations” and “Install and run
studies”. The latter allows them to install what they want into your browser
without your consent out of the box. Their tracking protection also mostly works
only in private / incognito mode by default, with tracking scripts being allowed
to run in standard windows with just isolated cookies protecting you, which is
not a decision that a company who actually cares about privacy would make.
Mozilla is also partnering with Perplexity, an AI search engine who wants to
collect as much data as possible even outside of their app to sell “hyper
personalized” ads, which is exactly who you shouldn’t work with if you claim to
care about privacy. From:
https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/24/perplexity-ceo-says-its-browser-will-track-everything-users-do-online-to-sell-hyper-personalized-ads/
[https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/24/perplexity-ceo-says-its-browser-will-track-everything-users-do-online-to-sell-hyper-personalized-ads/]
I recommend switching to Librewolf as it takes Firefox and removes this
bullshit. Some other alternatives like Brave are just as bad.
