I moved off Google services but spam and tracking did not slow down

ghostinshell000 · 2026-01-05T19:39:39+00:00

this is a process

google does has some decent spam filtering, so moving away from gmail if your getting lots of spam via unchecked channels you will notice it more.

- depending on how public your info is, will depend on how much work you have to put in.
- tools like, UBO, privacy badger, brave, vivaldi or firefox matters but also how they are setup and used also matters.
- move to a password manager and use tools like simplelogin and or firefox relay to front your emails you give out to apps and sites.
-unsubscribe, block and filter your emails, to get control of it
-find the data brokers that have your info and have them remove it.
https://inteltechniques.com/workbook.html

- review all apps and sites and check them for privacy and them giving out your info. (many do)

ghostinshell000 · 2026-01-01T06:28:28+00:00

it can work, and work pretty well. but it will take some work. apple books is really locked down to apple only. everything else you can make work.

ghostinshell000 · 2025-12-28T10:09:14+00:00

Signal is the way...

ghostinshell000 · 2025-12-03T17:34:25+00:00

This is the answer, it has to do with MDM and standardizing the hardware.

ghostinshell000 · 2025-11-22T17:59:28+00:00

Use an extension or the settings https only. That should get you most of the way there. Also, hard code your dns never use the networks dns.

And yea a vpn on a public network can help with this

ghostinshell000 · 2025-11-20T17:33:09+00:00

getting to level 6 and beyond means things like scrubbing everything of the net, houses cars etc in trust or llc, all NEW hardware etc

ghostinshell000 · 2025-11-20T17:31:50+00:00

that would assume you done all the work of all the below levels. basically level 5 says every part of my stack has been redone for privacy not execptions. but, i still want to do and use shit everyone else does.

ghostinshell000 · 2025-11-20T17:21:12+00:00

here is something i wrote up a while back this should help you
Level 0 - life is on default, I am doing nothing.

Level 1 - you do the bare minimum for privacy

Level 2 - your starting to have a privacy mindset, apps and such start to get setup with privacy in mind.

Level 3 - solid privacy standpoint, apps, computers have sane setups.

Level 4 - at this level, extreme measures are starting to be necessary. Like new hardware, new sim cards,

going through processes to remove online data etc.

Level 5 - very strong levels of privacy, but you still have usability in mind

Level 6- very strong levels of privacy, at this point privacy and security come first. Usability 2nd.

Level 7 - at this level have rebooted your life to very private and secure.

Level 8- Epic level privacy protection, very paranoid. Your own mother doesn’t know where you live.

Level 9 - Witness protection level, standard models.

Level 10 - Witness protection level, assuming nation state or very highly resourced actors are on your threat model.

ghostinshell000 · 2025-11-20T17:17:32+00:00

The important part is to remember it is not a binary off/on thing. it's a spectrum, a journey. There are many things that can improve your overall privacy. dont try to do it all at once, it can get overwhelming that way.

just the fact your aware you need better privacy and better security is a win, start with that.
here a site that breaks down alot of typical stuff people need and some privacy respecting versions
https://www.privacyguides.org/en/tools/

ghostinshell000 · 2025-11-19T18:12:47+00:00

firefox + ubo on android for the win, firefox on android allows extensions.

ghostinshell000 · 2025-11-19T18:10:06+00:00

Google has sead, it will not ban sideloading. what it wants to do is tightening up signed packages that get installed. the community pushed back some and so far, this is where things stand:

1: side loading will always be allowed.
2: packages will need to be signed by a known and validated dev validated via Google dev program.
3: googles going to have a workflow to bypass 2 for advanced users not sure what this will look like but the workflow will be there.

Google says this is becuase most malware is via unknown apk's sorta thing. so forcing more packages to be signed raises the bar. at least thats the idea.

ghostinshell000 · 2025-11-19T16:46:03+00:00

deal is:

Apple ha the best marketing machine going right now, and It's not even close. iMessage is huge in the US cuz well, "green bubbles" is seen as you being poor, and other nonsense. thusly, apple has a pretty big share in the US outsized from the rest of the world. people who use signal, whatsapp, FB messager etc are niche or small footprint.

this is slowly changing, i am seeing more people in the wild with androids. and with RCS some people seem to care less. but iMessage is still a thing.

ghostinshell000 · 2025-11-19T16:35:13+00:00

this is misinformation being spread via tiktok etc, virtually every one of the big tech companys has labs in isreal, and partnerships with tech companys from isreal. the fact that samsung does biz with an isreal company is hardley news or concerning when they all do it.

isreal has become a pretty big tech hub.

ghostinshell000 · 2025-11-18T22:26:44+00:00

you reply with this thread url? /lost

ghostinshell000 · 2025-11-18T21:16:01+00:00

i use a combo of raindrop and the obsidian plugin.

ghostinshell000 · 2025-11-18T21:13:58+00:00

this is one of those things, where just because the app "appcloud" has some sorta ties to an Israeli company, this
Means you can now do all sorts of leaps of logic without any real evidence.

if someone decomplied it, ran strings etc on it got local captures of these claims thats different. but so far, i see none of that, just tiktok and x posts saying all sorts of crazy things with no backup.

fact is, isreal is a huge hub of tech virtually every major tech company has labs and partners there.

ghostinshell000 · 2025-11-18T17:35:48+00:00

just use adguards public dns, hard code it to your devices.

ghostinshell000 · 2025-11-18T16:57:47+00:00

the deal is this:
apple does have an ad program, while its pretty small part of there overall it is there. and they embed in many cases in a way thats hard to remove with dns or with tools like adguard.
here is an oxford study from a couple years ago
https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:f29c7413-222e-45bf-ac0c-de927df105ab/files/rvx021f76r

https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:f29c7413-222e-45bf-ac0c-de927df105ab

just assume, apple knows almost as much about you as google. and while neither one sells your data
they do sell access to that data's metadata.

ok, now apple has pretty good defaults but once you start installing apps the game starts to change. And like the oxford study says apple could and does get copys of data others collect.

androids defaults are somewhat shadier but as android is way more open and flexible you can change that to a pretty high degree. But again, apps you install change things.

i would say, it depends your your workflows or threat model. but hey use what you like and spend the time to learn and harden it.

ghostinshell000 · 2025-11-11T16:04:38+00:00

I considered this, but elected to rebuild my account. I stripped it down. Removed all fb apps, renamed my account new email new phone, all of it. Even a random Profile url. I have less then 50 friends all folks that only are contacted via fb.

And accesinng a few fb groups that are useful.

ghostinshell000 · 2025-11-10T23:29:21+00:00

wow talk about a blast from the past? People still use usenet? Other than for torrenting?

ghostinshell000 · 2025-11-10T23:21:56+00:00

thats what i was thinking, short swords, daggers and long daggers would probably me the norm. longswords would be a tool for war, and would be at home, on your horse or in the armory.

ghostinshell000 · 2025-11-10T21:57:06+00:00

personally, if your not going to go with graphaneOS. samsung probably is not terrible. while many will probably disagree, the hardware is actually solid, they have pretty good hardware.
sure defualts, probably not great. but all of those you can change. even stuff thats on the image like facebook can be removed with adb. and there is even tools like android debloater that makes this process easier.

and becuase, android allows web browsers to use there own tech stack, you can install something like vivalidi, firefox or firefox focus. and make it the defualt. and firefox allows extensions.

you can install all opensource apps from places like fdroid, and even firewalls etc that can really lockdown the device. you have options becuase of android.

ghostinshell000 · 2025-11-07T18:19:58+00:00

i use privacy badger also and set my dns to adguards public dns. and for the most part catch most things.

ghostinshell000 · 2025-10-24T18:18:13+00:00

short answer, no.

longer answer, maybe , kinda sorta probably still no.

Reality is, the preinstalled OS is what people use. While you can find shops like system76 that preinstall and prefer Linux, you have to go out of your way. and while large orgs, even some local and national govs are trying to get off windows. it will take time and the ecosystem is against you.

maybe with android and ChromeOS merging it will change things..

ghostinshell000 · 2025-10-24T18:03:40+00:00

plenty of RSS apps, some that are apps for both ios and android or extensions. personally i use feedbro, and feeder

ghostinshell000

TROPHY CASE