I went war-driving on a whim today. You wouldn't believe how much personal information your car leaks out. I saw names like "Drew's Chevy" and Oscar's Audi S5".

I locked my car down as much as possible when I got it.

I know I could and should encrypt whole drives but I want another layer of protect specific folders when my devices are unlocked, a password. I want the folders to behave like regular folders where I can add or remove files as usual, without a clunky UX like password protected zips. I looked it up and didn't find any straightforward solutions.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/28209968

Anvi Ahuja received a text message transcript of her conversation with her roommates during their Lyft ride home on March 11.

The company confirms the incident took place, but has offered varying explanations.

After CBC Toronto contacted Lyft about this story last week, a Lyft representative called Ahuja. She says they told her the company is running a pilot program where audio is recorded from some rides and then the transcript is supposed to be sent to the ride-sharing company for reference if a security issue is reported.

In a statement to CBC, a Lyft spokesperson acknowledged that the ride-sharing company has an in-app audio recording pilot in select U.S. markets with "strict opt-in protocols" but said this incident is not related to that pilot program or any other feature being tested by Lyft.

Some friends have safety concerns that mean they need to appear digitally as if they're inside the USA while being elsewhere physically. Standard commercial VPNs are easy to detect (else I'd recommend Mullvad), so they need an option that looks like a residential connection.

They could potentially DIY it by leaving a VPN server at a relative's house, but I'm asking here for subscription services. It's best if they have a Mac OS app that's foolproof, with a clear visual indication that it's in use, and a feature to block traffic if the VPN is disconnected.

tl;dr: what's the closest residential VPN to Mullvad?

I don't want to have to log into my alarm clock anymore.

"Ditch Windows" is a fair answer. I'm working on it.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/60263799

Europe's most famous technology law, the GDPR, is next on the hit list as the European Union pushes ahead with its regulatory killing spree to slash laws it reckons are weighing down its businesses.

The European Commission plans to present a proposal to cut back the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR for short, in the next couple of weeks. Slashing regulation is a key focus for Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, as part of an attempt to make businesses in Europe more competitive with rivals in the United States, China and elsewhere.

Any tohughts on soliwng down AI btos, and AI scrpnaig by uisng typoglycemia? Most peploe can read tihs eaisly, but aaepprntly AI isn't as able to?

I'm trying to keep my iPhone as privacy focused as possible. Yes... I know that android devices can be locked down more than iOS devices but I don't need it to be the most private device ever. I just want to do what I can and block trackers, ads and encrypt my DNS traffic.

I have Adguard Pro, I have not tried NextDNS. But I don't want to have a subscription fee if possible.

Are either of these apps good enough to keep my device as private as it can be or is there more I need to do? Which app would you use or recommend for this?

Until a few years ago, any app you installed on an Android device could see all other apps on your phone without your permission.

Since 2022, with Android 11, Google removed this access from app developers. Under their new package visibility policy, apps should only see other installed apps if it’s essential to their core functionality. Developers must also explicitly declare these apps in the AndroidManifest.xml file - a required configuration file for all Android apps.

So I downloaded a few dozen Indian apps I could think of on top of my head and started reading their manifest files. Surely they will be respectful of my privacy and will only query apps essential to their app's core functionality? 🙃

especially estonians

I am resharing it to benefit the highest amount of people.

I wanted to list and ask for platforms that can substitute YouTube.

Here it's:

• NASA+, Space and Astronomy Videos.
• Vimeo, Professional Videos and Documentaries.
• TED, Talks and presentations.
• PeerTube, there is not a lot of videos, but some creators upload there.
• ARTE, Euro documantries and analysis.
• RedBull TV, Sports related videos.
• RTE Player, Journalism.
• BBC videos, diverse topics.
• NFB Films, Canadian Films.

I am looking for a reliable and preferably privacy oriented alternative to Skype credit - a service that allows me to call landlines and mobile phones via an app or website. I've heard of Yadaphone and Yolla, but I don't know much about them. Do you guys have any experience with these? Do you have other recommendations?

1. Persistent Device Identifiers

My id is (1 digit changed to preserve my privacy):

38400000-8cf0-11bd-b23e-30b96e40000d

Android assigns Advertising IDs, unique identifiers that apps and advertisers use to track users across installations and account changes. Google explicitly states:

“The advertising ID is a unique, user-resettable ID for advertising, provided by Google Play services. It gives users better controls and provides developers with a simple, standard system to continue to monetize their apps.” Source: Google Android Developer Documentation

This ID allows apps to rebuild user profiles even after resets, enabling persistent tracking.

2. Tracking via Cookies

Android’s web and app environments rely on cookies with unique identifiers. The W3C (web standards body) confirms:

“HTTP cookies are used to identify specific users and improve their web experience by storing session data, authentication, and tracking information.” Source: W3C HTTP State Management Mechanism

• The access is limited to immigrants with final removal orders
• This breaks decades of IRS promise of tax data confidentiality
• The deal follows leadership changes at IRS that favored cooperation

I have been looking for a good calorie tracker on iOS for some time, but have never found one with the features I want while being either open source or privacy respecting (or both). Android has a few options but the UI is very dated to day the least.

In order to fill this gap, I am considering building one, but if someone can point me to an existing app to save me the time, I would be very thankful.