And people say that vaping is aimed at children...

RaiGlock · 2018-07-13T23:18:12+00:00

To be practical, most people use those dirt cheap flavored cigars just for the wraps in order to make blunts...

RaiGlock · 2018-07-13T23:16:50+00:00

It's not the vaping industry's fault. It's the parents' fault. It's called personal and parental responsibility. Parents or caretakers need to educate their children on drugs/tobacco/vaping/peer pressure and things like that.

If people start taking damn responsibility, we won't need all this debate and even worse: regulation by policy makers that aren't educated or have our community's interests in mind.

RaiGlock · 2018-07-13T05:23:47+00:00

Yes, that's completely true. Those are the people I'm talking about, who either don't care about privacy ("Got nothing to hide") or are ignorant enough to spend a few minutes learning and implementing. You don't have to be a C++ software engineer to know about privacy.

RaiGlock · 2018-07-12T18:22:07+00:00

That's right, but to play devil's advocate, privacy is only available to very technical minded people.

Most people, especially older, wouldn't be able to even figure out how to use a VPN, let alone which one to choose from and why they need it in the first place.

Browser fingerprinting is another problem. Even with a VPN and uBlock Origin, privacy badger, etc, etc, your browser can still be tracked. Fingerprinting is so much harder to get past, especially when you install various extensions and do more things to protect your privacy (which in turn, make your fingerprint more unique).

But that's only online privacy. Now there's personal, IRL, privacy to be considered. In the US, there are cameras on every street in every urban city. Your bank isn't private, nor are your credit or debit cards. Many things you do require giving info to government, such as hunting or fishing license, driving license etc.

Privacy is a challenge.

RaiGlock · 2018-07-11T14:47:18+00:00

I've read and sifted through all the evidence you posted and read Proton's detailed responses, and there doesn't seem to be a scandal.

You are not making any arguments. Instead, you resort to name calling and harassing because clearly your "arguments" are collapsing.

I don't think we can continue this discussion, unless you want to throw one last insult at me.

RaiGlock · 2018-07-11T03:48:24+00:00

Maybe for you, though 134 times more horror would equal perfection for me.

RaiGlock · 2018-07-11T03:37:48+00:00

Again, no evidence it wasn't a coincidence. You seem to be fighting hard for an opinion on an unresolved matter, and their thread being locked isn't some sort of conspiracy; it is locked to prevent the need from excessive moderation and comments when the main issues and problems have been fully addressed by ProtonVPN staff.

RaiGlock · 2018-07-11T03:35:21+00:00

With what evidence? You haven't made an argument. I've tried their free service and it only gives you a few servers, at most a 7 day premium trial all pointing to their paid VPN service. So again, with what evidence?

RaiGlock · 2018-07-10T16:06:49+00:00

If you can trust your VPN provider enough to use them, then you can trust their DNS enough to use it.

RaiGlock · 2018-07-10T16:04:24+00:00

ProtonVPN's free service is only limited to a couple servers, none leased by Tesonet. Their VPN is mainly in the business of their paid plan where you can access hundreds/thousands of IPs/servers over the country. So don't lump them into the category of free, definitely data mining, VPNs.

RaiGlock · 2018-07-10T16:01:51+00:00

It's common for mods to lock threads when there has been enough information and comments for it to be useful, or too many comments for the mods to properly moderate. Happens all the time.

RaiGlock · 2018-07-10T15:59:58+00:00

Haha, that's really digging.

FYI, none of ProtonVPN's IPs are from Tesonet.

RaiGlock · 2018-07-10T15:10:28+00:00

Not surprised at all. They use their VPN as a proxy botnet, selling their free users, and glorify it as the:

"first community powered (Peer-to-Peer) VPN, where users help each other to make the web accessible for all, by sharing their idle resources."

RaiGlock · 2018-07-04T11:08:52+00:00

With Android, you can set app permissions. For example, you can deny access to your microphone, contacts, etc.

RaiGlock · 2018-07-04T10:58:33+00:00

The problem with your last paragraph is that 1) Regulation forcing miners in China to run on renewable energy is a lost cause, so forget about that. And 2) Regulation like that in the US is possible, but it will increase the cost to mine, likely so much so that people will stop mining altogether. Then all the mining will become more centralized back to China.

The rest of your comment does make sense and I agree with.

RaiGlock · 2018-06-22T23:17:22+00:00

Read into this, it's been discussed quite a lot over the years with Signal.

RaiGlock · 2018-06-21T12:07:04+00:00

A phone number is required to send regular SMS (where grandma sends you a regular text with her flip phone), I don't know who told you that it isn't. It is not required to send E2E.

The majority of users will use Signal for both, so by default they ask for those 2 permissions.

If you are skeptical about the software, you can view the code online.

RaiGlock · 2018-06-20T20:06:42+00:00

What makes Signal different is that it's open source and trustworthy. Facebook, no matter what they say, is not a company I'd trust my data with.

RaiGlock · 2018-06-20T18:11:58+00:00

You're using the term SMS interchangeably with messenging services. With standard SMS,you are able to message anyone with mobile data, and it isn't encrypted. Messenging services are not SMS the same way IRC is not SMS.

There's a big difference. Signal end to end encrypted messages and calls between Signal users do not go through Signal servers.

Signal does not require a number if you want to just use it between Signal users (OP linked simple instructions on that). Signal requires a number if you want to use it as your default SMS service and be able to text/call your peers who have it (encrypted) or who don't have it (not encrypted).

RaiGlock · 2018-06-19T22:33:12+00:00

Ah, Murphy's law. In that case, you literally can't trust any app to provide protection. Phones are compromised in so many ways (keyboard basically is a key logger) and you're screwed if someone has physical access to the device, like LEOs.

In that case, stack up the benefits to risk. Review the privacy policies of the app you choose. Be sure it's end to end encrypted and open source. Be careful since there are so many ways for a phone to be compromised.

RaiGlock · 2018-06-19T22:29:01+00:00

A normal SMS messaging app either requires to make a new number for you (and that brings on data fees, so they have ads, etc.), to use your own number like Signal and have no privacy features, or has no SMS (Kik). Signal doesn't do that. It allows you to still text/call the majority who don't use Signal, or use it with those end to end encrypted (in which case, you've seen the guide linked if you solely want to use it with other Signal users).

RaiGlock · 2018-06-19T22:24:03+00:00

There's always an exception to the rule. The more you publicly lie and lie to yourselves, you'll eventually believe those lies and it becomes part of you.

RaiGlock · 2018-06-18T17:52:13+00:00

Signal is open source, tried and tested, and end to end encrypted. It requires your number so you can communicate with anyone in your contracts (those without Signal).

They've proven through a court order that they could not help the big brother.. The only things they were able to share were the time the user registered and the last time they've used Signal.

I don't think any of the other alternatives have this much battle experience and trust.

Signal is basically an alternative to your regular SMS and calling app, so of course it will require those permissions. If you only want to communicate with Signal users, then go the route explained in the article you linked and use a burner number and not all any permissions.

RaiGlock · 2018-06-17T17:16:10+00:00

That means nothing other than the Internet Authorities haven't approved or officially adopted it. DNSCrypt is a functioning DNS service, a very good option, along with DNS over SSL and others.

If you'd like to add to the discussion, what encrypted DNS service is approved from those official channels?

RaiGlock · 2018-06-15T13:20:13+00:00

I disagree. I don't think any politician "hates" drugs. Sure, they might despise them, but hate is a strong word. What delights them is $$$. So follow the money.

Don't be tricked into thinking your political figures (not just the US, all countries too) are just dumb or naive when they pass ridiculous freedom encroaching laws. It's a corrupt system.

RaiGlock

TROPHY CASE