Not new by any means but I've been inactive for close to a year now. Decided to return due to the unprecedented attacks on privacy and free speech.

I previously left because I was discouraged by KYC keeping me from BTC and XMR, and I legitimately got hate for that... I also got sick of the nonstop libertarian posts. But I've decided to ignore the hate and politics going forward and just come back to talk about security, privacy, decentralized tech, etc.

... How so? Nostr, yes, but Bitcoin has been KYCed to high heaven for years now, and the only way to avoid that is to use a DEX but a DEX basically requires KYC upstream because all the payment apps demand it.

It's exactly why the only BTC I hold comes from zaps. KYC, much like CBDCs and digital ID, is supremely dangerous and the end of all freedom.

That's the version I have, I downloaded it directly from the GitHub repo (through Obtainium) 🤔

I'm just not seeing it anywhere. Is it possible that I downloaded an older version or possibly different version altogether? I noticed in the settings it says that it's the offline version. I'm not sure if that makes any difference or not.

Never heard of Zapstore but I'll check it out. At the moment, I use a combo of Obtainium, F-Droid (more specifically, Droid-ify) and Aurora for my apps but I'm down to check other stores and sources 😎

You can also sign up for your big tech AI accounts with Proton Pass aliases, then only access the AI under a VPN or Tor. That way, they may know your requests but they're not going to know exactly who you are unless you provide it clues to who you are.

What the powers that be don't seem to realize is the wisdom in Leia's line in A New Hope: "the more you tighten your grip, the more systems will slip through your fingers". They will drive people underground and thereby strongly increase both the threat to their regime, and the amount of resources they'll need to put in to tracking millions of people in high-intensity ways.

It's not a sustainable model.

So yeah, it's massively concerning, no doubt. At the same time, I'm optimistic that they are, as tyrants always do, overcompensating.

I reply to them occasionally, as zaps are literally the only way I can obtain Bitcoin (very long story, not interested in getting into it again), but I also agree that it does feel like the people who jump onto those tend to not ever use Nostr for anything except gathering sats. I've intentionally turned down all but one of the ones I've seen since coming back to Nostr, simply because I was gone for a while and it didn't feel right to mooch off of that if I haven't been active.

Well, provided you've done all that you absolutely HAVE to do that day, I make the decision to stop when I'm no longer able to focus or when I realize I've been going so nuts with a task that I haven't taken even a bathroom break in longer than an hour. That's generally how I approach it.

Never heard of that site before, and they didn't really cite any sources, so I'd be hesitant to trust that. Not saying it's not true, just that the research I've done so far says otherwise.

As for the Venice thing, you're not wrong, they don't exactly have a way to verify whether not they're telling the truth and that is concerning.

But again, it gets back to the whole idea of not using AI for anything sensitive. I'm all for increasing productivity with AI in different ways but at the end of the day the best thing to do when you need to ask sensitive questions is use a privacy-respecting search engine on Tor Browser or a private browser with a VPN you trust.

No perfect solution, unfortunately, but it is what it is.

Not seeing it anywhere in the app. It's okay though, I got nos2x working alright.

I'm not saying to trust them, just that they have more of a focus on privacy than the big tech AI clients. Any remote AI that runs on external servers should be questioned unless it's end-to-end encrypted (Proton Lumo is the only one I'm aware of in that regard), but even then, you definitely want to stick to local LLMs if you're able to host them. Otherwise, it's forced to come down to a matter of trust.

Tried using Amber to log into a web client but I have to scan a QR code with my signing app. How do I scan the QR code with Amber? I can't seem to find any such option.

This is why we need to educate people to only use AI for non-sensitive topics unless they host an LLM locally or, at the very least, use a privacy-respecting option like Venice AI, Brave's Leo and Proton's Lumo.

Ah no worries, thanks for the clarification!

Amber has desktop as well? That's awesome, I'll have to check it out!

Looks like I'm going for this one! I saw this one on F-Droid but like I said, I didn't want to blindly try things for something like this. Thanks!

TL;DR - What signing apps could you recommend for Android and desktop?

Thanks to the UK Online Safety Act and the recent attacks on privacy & free speech, I'm aiming to get back to using Nostr a bit more.

However, I want to try using a signing app instead of just entering my nsec into everything. I can't seem to figure out a good, trustworthy signer for Android and as for desktop, I've just been using Flamingo for the time being but it seems like it isn't quite as secure as it could be.

So I'm curious: what signing apps would you recommend for Android and desktop? I need to be able to trust the app I use for signing, so just randomly trying things out definitely won't work.

#askNostr #security

I'm not quite so pessimistic as that. I do think it's going to take us a lot longer than people realize to become intergalactic, but as a Christian who leans post-millennial these days (but still believes pre-mil/pre-trib are possible), I do think we will reach the intergalactic stage at some point. I also leave the possibility that the Second Coming might cut that short, but I also consider the possibility that we could be around for millennia still. Then again I'm kind of in between on eschatology, so I can't say I'm certain of either coming first.

All I know is that I definitely do not believe that this planet will be wiped out by some sort catastrophic event. I am a firm believer that, whether the kingdom comes before or after the Second Coming of Christ, there is a purpose for this planet that will last for eternity. Some say I might be naive or overly optimistic, but I can't find myself coming to believe anything else.

I simply see the wonders that we already know about, and see the way that they expose glory. That leads me to believe there are future glories to be found.

A good test to see if their DEI is still in play 👀

Yep. I haven't always agreed with you on stuff (most notably the addition of the pronoun thing) but your app is still the best Nostr client I've used. Nothing even comes close.

Likewise, I refuse to use age verification for anything, especially since all I do on the internet is largely 'innocent': socializing, gaming, research & learning, etc. I'll go back to offline gaming, reading my many physical books, listening to my massive offline library of music and I'll buy an encyclopedia set... All before I'd accept age verification.

I'm not sure this is the case everywhere because when I see ingredients at the grocery store, they're usually more expensive than that.

Plus, when I also live with family because your budget is almost nonexistent (since the job market in cybersecurity is a nightmare and I can't seem to actually find anything, not even entry level IT), that also means I have to rely on what they do for meals, meaning I end up eating WAY more fast food than I want to eat.

It sucks in every way and I don't know a way out of it unless I happen upon a miracle and actually land a job, but things aren't looking good on that front. I keep trying but yeah, it's tough to stay positive.

I'm pretty sure it goes beyond any single religious order or group but I'm sure they're part of it.

I agree entirely. I'm also integrating this concept in the novel series I'm working on. I've been interested in 'alternate history' ever since I heard the Phantom Time theory.

You're already using one of them. Other solutions include using as many decentralized tools as possible, take your privacy seriously, and get the word out.

Also, vote intelligently in any upcoming elections.

Buy your music. Support the artists. If you aren't into the mainstream slop, there's a decent chance your favorite bands are on Bandcamp or are releasing music on CDs.

Download FLAC from Bandcamp or rip lossless from your CDs. Own the things you buy.

The internet and your privacy are under attack.

People need to wake up, take charge and stop this before it goes any further.