If Elon Musk really gave the slightest shit about "climate change" then:

Why didn't he make Teslas just do electric, so everyone could afford to get one?

Why make all these fancy self-driving features, fancy auto-body, ect. that raise the price and reduce adoption?

These elites do not believe their own hype, and Tesla is the biggest privacy invader out there.

Next Twitter will become the same surveillance nightmare. How is verifying people’s identities on X, really good for free speech?

The main difference between SimpleX/Session and XMPP/Matrix is that:

SimpleX/Session hide metadata even through you're using other people's servers.

While as XMPP/Matrix don't hide the metadata at all, but expect & empower the end user to run their own server.

So something like self-hosted XMPP, with a Tor Onion, is a higher level of privacy than trusting random SimpleX/Session servers, but also a higher barrier to entry, as most are not willing to read docs and pay for a VPS.

Side note: You can configure an XMPP client like Gajim to force Tor, even if it's not system-wide.

SimpleX does have a self-host, but if you just use your own server, then it labels/identities these accounts as you. So you'd have to have a popular server, and even then the other person in your conversations picks the other server.

Ok, let's pause here and resume tomorrow.

Pornhub plans to block access to its website in Indiana, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, and Nebraska in response to age verification laws designed to prevent children from accessing adult websites. The website has now cut off access in more than half a dozen states in protest of similar age verification laws.

While users in these states can just use a VPN, the real scary part is the precedent these age verification laws present to end online anonymity. As the number of things requiring KYC ID spreads, it has chilling effects on free speech. And ironically, it is US politicians who are abusing minors with the pornographic pizzagate.

The only hope is that enough people get so pissed off they can’t masturbate without setting the VPN to such a far off location that it slows the videos, that eventually Americans can wake up to free speech. It’s sad, but I think “slow porn” stands a better chance of converting people than Nostr.

This post only shows your ignorance of Marxism. Under Marxist terms, a Nostr key is not private property, it is personal property. A Nostr key is not a means of production, so its socialisation does not apply. It is important to understand the concepts of personal property, private property and public property, their differences and when they apply.

Why is Telegram horrible

--No MetaData Protection

(Who and When)

--Only Mobile is Encrypted

(Phones have insecure hardware) [1]

--Invented their own encryption algorithm

Unaudited with a history of security vulnerabilities [2]

--Most VoIP Numbers are Blocked

--Tor Often Blocked

--History of handing over to police [3]

--Centralized

--Forced Google/Apple Stores

(Telegram requires Google Push which is closed source,

So the binaries can't be compared to the code,

and therefore, Telegram's claim of "open source" is a lie)

Your friend will try to pressure you, claiming you're a fringe minority.

But if you repost this, we can be the majority.

(Sources linked in comments)

Internet structure is lame:

a) Domain names are the government's opinion of your identity

b) SSL Encryption is not even based on these flawed domains, even worse than that, it's based on locations, so the cloud host owns everything

c) Even worse than that, not just the cloud host owns it, but on top of that Cloudflare sees everything. You submit your password, Cloudflare's CDN sees it. They own every account you thought you owned.

d) Even worse than that, Websites won't even let you JUST have a password. You need to email to verify, which is completely insecure nonsense that is now having a different 2nd cloud company own your account on the first one's servers.

e) Web browsers are running whatever code they want. You're a bitch that just has to accept their code.

f) Web browsers are dominated by Google & Mozilla, both left-leaning anti-privacy companies.

I reject this.

Instead, I promote the idea of Agnostic Encryption as Identity. And what this means is:

1) Using Encryption as Identity with open source clients.

2) Empower the end user with choices among both clients and protocols.

3) End users have all the power. Servers are an irrelevant commodity

4) Avoiding tying identities to particular servers

5) Communication between keypair systems to reduce the number of clients or extensions the person has to download. We assume disagreement, if you curse me out then you prove my point.

6) Cross-communication to increase the access and availability of content, and the network effect of all encryption as identity.

Why XMPP is Better than Matrix:

XMPP is the gold standard of decentralized open source communications and the primary choice for the darkweb. Now we can debate XMPP’s reliance on government domains vs SimpleX & Session. Those are fair criticisms. But all of these, including Matrix, have centralized development. SimpleX got money from Microsoft. Signal is on Amazon. And while Session is on a blockchain, it’s like a corporation when it comes to changes. While as XMPP is the only one that’s pure & truly decentralized, with nobody in charge.

And because hosting a Matrix server is so annoying, most people DON’T self-host, and use the official Matrix server w/ Google captchas fingerprinting your device and Gmail doing the verification. That’s right, Matrix.org is linked to Gmail, which ties your Matrix account to your real name if you were dumb enough to trust them with your real email. And can you guess what company actually hosts Matrix.org? Can you guess what US-government compliant company sees who you talk to and when? Drum roll... Cloudflare.

This is copy pasted from the previous post, as it was the main point. I shouldn't have buried the point at the end

I am doing a poll to find out what kind of content you want to hear.

Poll: What level of Linux knowledge do you have?

a) None, I'm on Windows

b) Average, I like Mint or Ubuntu

c) Above Average, I like Debian/Fedora

d) Expert, I'm on Qubes, Gentoo, Tails, other custom/hard to hack distros.

You don’t have to say which distro if you’re wearing a tinfoil hat.

First of all, Element often glitches out and forces a sign-out & reauthentication. Element has far more issues with the keys. So I reject your premise that it’s easier.

You’re talking to me now on Nostr with keys and use Bitcoin with a blockchain. This is far more complex to understand than toggling a lock icon on a bar.

We know what we’re used to. To an Amish person, you talking to me right now is complex.

XMPP seems complex because nobody has a financial incentive to promote it, because its actually decentralized and just code.

In contrast, Matrix makes money setting up servers. So they got funds to push their Google/Cloudflare spyware

Big Tech Hall of Shame

You won't believe who's here

3. Rob Braxman

Privacy "guru" Rob Braxman's WhattheZuck.net literally gives privacy advice on hiding from 3 letter agencies, location tracking, and EXIF data. While his site uses Google Analytics and relies upon Google Ad Syndication. Seriously bro, you gotta help the Google ad network because you're that poor?! And Brax.me, which is marketed as “privacy social media”, is hosted on Amazon, the CIA contractor.

2. Arweave w/ Sam Williams

Arweave is supposed to be decentralized “crypto-powered” cloud storage to stop censorship. But ArDrive.io, their main gateway to the platform, is literally hosted on Google Cloud. What's the purpose of Arweave if it's not an alternative to Google Drive? Then Arweave.net is on Amazon's AWS with Gmail doing their support tickets. Hey Sam, can you guess which Arweave wallet I use to post to metaweave? I'll give you a hint, I'm the only one using your platform.

1. Hive.io / PeakD

Hive is a Nostr competitor. But the entire platform is built on the lie that you’re uncensored. They say you own your identity, but yet they sell you the encryption keypair, and it's served from HiveDex on a Cloudflare server. So the government can see the private key that you paid for, to do "uncensored" posting.

Hive can fix it, please listen to me. Have your users create a keypair locally in your browser extension. Then assign the names you want to sell to the public keys, using the blockchain as DNS. This is how Session messenger already does it, and how Nostr should do it in the future. Because it would solve all Nostr security issues and raise money for the client devs. It could even use Bitcoin’s chain.

Parting Words,

I was expecting to be shadow-banned from Google search, and I am. What I was not expecting is to have my domain gagged by Spamhaus from sending any emails to ANY domain, when it was clear for months. The ban started when a bunch of gmails subscribed, and so my criticism of Google got labeled malicious. I've now lost contact with the subscribers I paid Bitcoin Gab ads to initially get, to try to sell degoogled phones. I got my back against the wall, and I'm swinging, but I need you. Help me brother, share this and help me get the word out.

We have but one life. And when I am old and grey, rotting on a bed waiting to die, I want to look back with a smile. That I fought, and maybe, made a difference. And when I do, I hope to see your comments beside it.

The modern internet is totally corrupt. Let’s dive in to why…

Content Delivery Networks (CDN)

Content delivery networks are global servers spread out around the world that keep a copy of a website closer to you, to serve it to you. By being physically closer to the end user, it speeds up the website’s delivery. However, the negative of this is that it has a tendency to centralize power for the entire internet to a few large players and that has big privacy effects. Rather than have these separate sites and blogs around the world just see their site only, instead the big CDNs see all traffic on the entire internet. This enables the “tyranny of the modern web”, in which website owners have just a tiny 1 core VPS, and then all their real files are externally hosted. The heavy use of CDNs allows the website owner to save on money, while sacrificing their free speech, independence, and the end user’s privacy.

With larger files, such as a video, a CDN is likely required. But the heavy use of CDNs for literally everything on the website should be associated with poverty. The website owner is saying “I’m too poor to host files”. Additionally, website owners enable Big Tech third party JavaScript such as a “Facebook like widget” which does surveillance that then slows down the load speed. So then they need an even more centralized CDN to serve up this bullshit bloat. This creates a vicious cycle of more and more Big Tech surveillance, which then needs an ever larger CDN.

Because surveillance is so profitable, the firms doing it can hire the best creative talent, which then shapes the entire tech industry. Young web developers use the same toolkits and learn from these corrupt organizations where an erosion of end user liberty is the norm. The end result is that web developers don’t even realize that they are over-using JavaScript when it’s not required. This slows down the web and feeds into the vicious CDN cycle. The largest player in the game is Cloudflare.

Cloudflare sees ALL passwords

One type of CDN literally points the domain name to the CDN company, so:

User -> Cloudflare -> real website VPS (1 tiny core)

This is how Cloudflare works. Since this is literally directing all traffic to the CDN company, they can see all passwords and ALL data. The SSL connection or httpS encryption is stripped away by Cloudflare. Unfortunately, a VAST majority of the internet uses Cloudflare. You will be shocked at how many “privacy” websites use it, including Skiff.com email, KYCnot.me, Michael Bazzell’s OSINT, and even Monero’s official site at GetMonero.org. Finding out that Monero’s core team used Cloudflare to distribute binaries, was for me like finding out there is no Santa Clause. Even Handshake.org literally complained about Cloudflare while using it.

Supposedly Cloudflare helps to stop “distributed denial of service” DDoS attacks, which is the bullshit justification that websites owners will give, instead of just admitting that they are poor and willing to sacrifice their freedom of speech because they have nothing of value to say.

A DDoS is when lots of bots or bullshit traffic hits up a website to overload it and take it down. But Cloudflare isn’t doing anything unique to stop this and there are many other choices one could pick from. All Cloudflare is doing is having a ton of money and servers to absorb the traffic. Then because Cloudflare has scaled through business deals, they can deliver the CDN at a much lower cost than other providers.

There are many other CDNs, but unfortunately most website owners simply do not care about their (or your) privacy and freedom, and they are only mostly concerned with getting the absolute rock bottom lowest cost, which is typically bundled into “shared hosting” plans.

Then MORE CDNs?!

Many website owners don’t just use Cloudflare. Then on top of that, their website calls upon 3rd party images from even more CDNs via JavaScript. For example website-files.com is a popular “JavaScript CDN” of this type.

User -> Cloudflare -> real website VPS (1 tiny core) -> Website-Files.com

So everyone and their mother sees your data, and the website owner lost their autonomy of speech, by complying with more and more terms of service restrictions. This is why website owners don’t care about abusing unnecessary JavaScript, because they outsource the economic cost of being an idiot, at at the expense of both their and your liberty.

Conclusion

In conclusion, change does not come from politics, but comes from you. Your actions dictate how much freedom the world has. If you accept a world of surveillance, then let the entire internet be overseen by two or three companies. But I do not accept things for the way they are. It is only through your actions to pressure website owners will it ever matter. Seek out alternatives, they do exist.

PS, check out Ombello, it’s a Tor Browser Onion search engine that crosses out Cloudflare:

ombrelo.im5wixghmfmt7gf7wb4xrgdm6byx2gj26zn47da6nwo7xvybgxnqryid.onion

What servers do messages get stored on?

Signal:

Amazon

Session:

Decentralized database w/ pay in crypto

XMPP:

Self-hosted federated

the word "federated" means cross-communication of servers like email

Matrix:

federated (in theory)

SimpleX:

two federated self-hosted servers,

you pick your send, they pick your recieve

Briar:

No servers, peer-to-peer

They gotta be online

Nostr

poster picks distributed relays

Ethereum push.org notifications

federated then fetched by wallet

(this is NOT on blockchain, it's like nostr but only 1 relay)

IPFS

Torrent CDN getting it from a federated pinner (host)

IPFS is really a CDN

CDN means content delivey network, or servers all over distributing faster

Akash & Flux

You're renting servers from their network for your software

The blockchain just keeps track of who owes you service

Add on to the list with other ideas!

Privacy Guru Michael Bazzell retires, what can we learn?

We liked his content a lot, and it’s a shame he stopped doing his podcast. One of our readers on Nostr asked us how our content differs. We respect him greatly and this is not a critique, but simply we are targeting a different audience.

His content targets a more novice user and our content is a little more anti-authority, more global, and less trusting of low-end consumer privacy products. For example Bazzell advocates for the use of Protonmail, while as we promote self-hosted email on a VPS. This is more decentralized and private, but requires more effort.

Bazzell suggests the use of Privacy.com cards, which mask your info to the vendor and your bank. This is convenient but ultimately not anonymous, which never was Bazzell’s goal or intent. On the other hand, at Simplified Privacy, we reject fiat money as legitimate, and only use cryptocurrency. We recommend crypto gift card vendors such as CakePay, CoinCards, and Bitrefill to avoid KYC. Some of these even have debit cards. Ultimately, we follow the philosophy of Agorism, and our goal is to create a parallel society outside the control of big tech and banks.

Bazzell is more focused on Signal using a Google Voice or Twillio number. This is practical for many users and his target audience. While as our philosophy is more focused on the broader picture, and we dislike Signal’s centralization and reliance on Amazon’s servers. Instead, we recommend Session for censorship and socialization with strangers, while as SimpleX or XMPP are preferred for pure security. We thought Bazzell’s statement in his book of “I like Session, but it’s not popular” to be reflective of his attitude of purely pragmatic low-level evasion. While as our philosophy is to actively influence society for individuals to self-realize their technological freedom.

Bazzell recommends NextDNS, because of their ability to block or evaluate your traffic. While we see the benefits of this, it’s not right for our particular audience, because then you’re trusting just one company to oversee all traffic. For example if you were to use Tor Browser, you’d be getting a new identity each time. While as NextDNS on one VPN would correlate all traffic as you.

When it comes to phones, Bazzell’s recommendations are a reflection of his focus on convenience to the end user and practicality for the most amount of people in their daily application. For example, he recommends SIM cards INSIDE GrapheneOS phones, and on a podcast he replied to a listener question about external hotspots and routers that it wasn’t that important.

While we acknowledge the practicality and appeal of this to the majority of users, our philosophy is very different and focuses more on those with a higher threat model. We completely dislike SIM cards inside phones because of malware and baseband modem vulnerabilities. Instead, we promote solely EXTERNAL hotspot/router WiFi with VoIP and keeping the hotspot in a faraday bag when you are home. Additionally, we view Google as so hostile, that they can’t even be trusted to manufacture the hardware required for GrapheneOS, so we’re open to non-Google phones with CalyxOS and VM phones on desktop to completely isolate spyware.

Bazzell on his podcast said he only uses OpenVPN, and never WireGuard because of WireGuard’s 2-minute logging of IPs in memory. We respect his decision to recommend this, but we believe it’s not really appropriate for his target audience of novice users. This type of recommendation be more appropriate for Tor users, anti-government journalists, or hackers under extreme or oppressive countries with VPN restrictions. In our subjective opinion, for the vast majority of average Americans (his target audience), the faster speed of WireGuard outweighs the 2-minute IP log.

Bazzell has done numerous podcast episodes discussing System76 Linux computers with PopOS. We think this is great, and would like to add on that System76 is our main recommendation for those coming from Mac/Apple. Not only is this specific audience used to getting both the hardware and operating system bundled together from the same vendor, but Apples can’t dual boot with Linux (easily) like Windows can. Additionally, Chris Titus has a guide on making PopOS aesthetically look like a Mac.

Regarding Bazzell’s pfSense recommendation, this was a good idea up until pfSense switched licenses and is shifting away from FOSS. Now we recommend OPNsense. But this happened AFTER Bazzell’s podcasts/books, so he gets no blame.

Wherever you are Bazzell, you will be missed. I listened to nearly every episode.