A couple weeks ago the Relay for Reddit app I've used for many years stopped working because the developer added a dependency on Google Play services to force paid subscriptions. GrapheneOS doesn't play well with that.
So I begrudgingly switched to the Infinity app. Well, this week it appears they started blocking all known VPN and data center IP addresses.
I hate this recurring feeling as a Cypherpunk that the walls keep closing in.
Parallel
Surveillance everywhere
As long as Bitcoiners are still promoting non-private by default financial networks over "shitcoins" like Monero all critique is lost on me.
Few folks care about privacy and Bitcoiners are no exception. Probably only a bit higher than the general populace due to the Cypherpunk roots.
This should be pretty clear from comparing the exchange rate history of Bitcoin against privacy coins.
I’m just a pleb, but I’m seeing it everywhere now too.
Everything corporate will be non accessible soon.
All innovation will happen in private by default, decentralised, self-custodial spaces in the interwebs until the old system dies off.
Reddit, Twitter, and even plain good old podcasts are slowly disappearing behind spywalls and paywalls.
Also, I just coined a new word. “SPYWALLS”. Thanks for the inspiration 😅
Podcasts are not going anywhere get fountain app
#Spywalls
Some genius will rebuild podcasts over a nostr or ipfs file store, like what @npub1gf3evh74st92vrpnkdvcnn2fan6wqht87995wru4u3q9gg8xnc0qnc3mck is building. Then we can use tools like zspotify to pull down podcast episodes and bring them over to the open world we are building.
Cypherpunk doesn't mesh well with corporate.
That's not a new feeling...
Exit through the nostr door and build the things you wish to use freely.
Sites that block VPN's drive me crazy. I also hate it when I'm not allowed to use simplelogin emails. 🤬
Yeah, both getting more common sadly.
Hear, hear!!
Do you have any privacy tutorials for mobile devices?
Not really other than. https://blog.lopp.net/grapheneos-phone-privacy-protection/
I've stopped using services that don't let me hide myself. Reddit was the last centralized service I use.
nostr:npub17u5dneh8qjp43ecfxr6u5e9sjamsmxyuekrg2nlxrrk6nj9rsyrqywt4tp I use Inifinity as well. Pretty sure it's the reddit API changes people were up-in-arms about a while back finally catching up to them. People on r/infinity_for_reddit are pointing to recompiling the app with your own API keys
Yep infinity works great with own API key.
YSK there is a Lemmy fork of infinity called Eternity that works great too. 🤙
Certain government websites began restricting access once we set up a Tor node. Consequently, I have to use a VPN to get weather updates now.
Yeah, we no longer have a neutral Internet. A large reason for that is the lack of cost. VPN addresses are blocked largely because they're used in DDoS attacks, and SMTP is no longer an open protocol because of spam.
The internet should not be free to use.
This really is the worst. Instagram started the trend with their hideous "log in or else" flow. Then Twitter and reddit went to insanely privacy-hostile API changes instead of simply requiring a proof of work or anon payment. Even some major nostr relays seem to be doing Tor blocking now (damus? Not sure, but I get a ton of errors connecting to certain relays via Tor.)
Platforms have become so fearful of bots/spam/scraping (or rather pretend to be fearful, so as to justify blatantly commercial and anti-social decision-making) that they've totally destroyed the open access model that a functioning freenet depends on.
This is the main reason I want to see "unowned" protocols succeed. Jack has it right: we're at a turning point.
Check out Bitstream: https://www.hornetstorage.com/bitstream
It was made by Robin Linus. He has a grant from OpenSats for pioneering Zero Knowledge Proof verification on #Bitcoin at ZeroSync.org.
Bitstream enables people to trade coins for files/content/data over Lightning, so that the server can’t claim the payment unless he reveals the files to that person. 
Bitstream could help decentralize the web by allowing relays to serve data to users over Lightning bit by bit, packet by packet. Without Bitstream, paying for files over Lightning requires trusting the relay to not run away with the money…
But with Bitstream, the need to trust relays is minimized because relays can only claim the Lightning payment if they deliver the exact file requested by the user. 🌐⚡️
Agree!
The "Internet" has pretty much moved its content behind Cloudflare (giving US Intel Community a vantage point?).
Agree, VPN and Tor endpoints are blacklisted and throttled. A real pain. (Even rented VPS IPs tend to be in blacklisted range).
The solution?
As mentioned, a new protocol or set of protocols has to succeed.
We can add Tor to PurpleRelay.com relay network pretty easy if that would help.
I think actual news pay walls are a more important topic
😄 
Better
That moment you let go of the plane, and your brain goes, you’re in technical terms have passed the point of no return, the gravitational event horizon plunging to certain death. Nothing to worry now, terminal velocity is painless.
Fear comes when there are strings to pull or find insight in the mechanics of water balloons.
🪂
> Even some major nostr relays seem to be doing Tor blocking now
Ed, I've been a Tor maximalist for nearly 10 years, and can definitely relate. But I think the Tor friction that we've been experiencing on nostr is mostly due to naive operators using Cloudflare to front-end their services and relays, rather than malevolence (as is definitely the case with centralized platforms).
Most of these people have never run a server before, and while it's sad to see them walk straight into the Cloudflare funnel, in my opinion it needs to be part of their learning curve - just like a bitcoiner's shitcoin period.
I think as the network matures and the rubber meets the roadspikes, Tor friendliness will emerge organically. Give it a year :)
5 of my 14 relays are regularly blocking me until next day. Of one I know it is behind Cloudflare, and suspect the others are too.
What are some solutions to spam on nostr?
Communal blocklists?
Honestly man it’s so fucking epic to have you on nostr, keep the based takes rolling
Instagram has alot of fake pages on there. I don't get anyone safe following me until I told Shane. And I mostly get creeps.
With Android 14 is going to be worst; Android 14 blocks all modification of system certificates, even as root
Can you explain the implications?
Many forks of Android like GrapheneOS and LineageOS are going to have problems. It is going to be impossible to debug your own traffic.
Maybe I don't know enough. I'm thinking that a system certificate ensures system integrity and modification should not, for obvious reasons, be possible. It would seem that my understanding is, at least, incomplete, but can you elaborate?
🤙check out stacker.news
Recently on holidays I tried flying my drone close to where I grew up. The app informed me it was now a restricted area and offered no guarantee that I would be able to maintain control of my drone. The app then began an identity verification routine, before launch. Needless to say, I aborted the flying mission.
Yet the spam/bot problem is real. IMHO the only way past this is a crypto-based pay-per-post model.
The spam is a real issue. It's horrid. But its a spam problem in most if not all social media, and I'm not that certain that the answer is to make it cost to post. But I don't know, all I can think of is community driven filters you can opt in to.
Amen to that
Could not agree more!
Concerning we are in a turning point few are aware
I don't really blame them - they have every right to demand and enforce payment for their service.
What I do blame is Cypherpunks for not making freedom tech alternatives for popular functions sooner. All of this has been predictable for a long time.
Why is it that devs in the freedom tech space only do things when its too late and even then just make apps that don't even fill needs?
From my brief exposure, compensation/wages seems to be a major roadblock. Even more so now with steep inflation. Cypherpunk devs gotta feed their families. They’re probably the type (on avg) to be too humble to ask for handouts as well.
Maybe we should really blame people like you and I for not showering devs in money unprompted because it’s something we highly value 🤷🏻
The open internet is dead. Long live the open internet
Trying to see it positively, more and more people are noticing it and open for alternatives.
Time to show the folks behind the walls that they're there to imprison them, not keep them safe! Nostr does that. Bitcoin does that. FOSS does that. Stay humble, stack says and #zap freely. You can't take it with you.
#grownostr #plebchain #coffeechain
I notice it everywhere, its unsettling, having always on vpn kill switches is making a lot of services unusable. Not having google play services hasnt been so bad, but some things just cant work. Staying ahead of the curve is requiring constant adaptation.
Ever used Geddit?
https://f-droid.org/en/packages/geddit.buzl.uk/
Does not use the Reddit API, which means you can use it from anywhere.
Great find! Thanks!
Infinity for Reddit also switched to subscriptions to keep up with #reddit #API updates, so it's dead on #fdroid
Have you looked at a proxy server, like smartproxy.com?
Like whack - mole everywhere you go
We don't observe this from the inside!
