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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 20th, 2023

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  • What?

    uBO absolutely helps against tracking. It is at least half of its reason for existing.

    The two primary lists are an (1) an ad block list (2) an anti-tracking list.

    And used in medium or hard mode uBO categorically blocks many methods of tracking.

    But also, if you use Firefox, this is layered on top of Enhanced tracking protection, blocking of 3p tracking cookies, and total cookie protection (dfpi)





  • It’s a word that has become popular in general in the last year-ish. But if you hear it more here. It is likely because it is a term used to describe the dynamic that pushed people from Reddit and other platforms to Lemmy. So you will here it more here, since pretty much everyone here has been personally affected by it.

    Basically we are a self selecting group of people who chose to leave (or minimize use of) big tech platforms. And are therefore much more likely to be aware of the problems with those platforms.




  • What you are feeling is natural and relatable. You need to find a balance and define your threat model.

    Privacy maximalism and/or FOSS maximalism etc is natural impulse when you first begin to grasp just how quietly exploitive, invasive, and commoditized the modern internet is. But it also leads to burnout and can be isolating if you are too rigid about it.

    Define your threat model, and your priorities. Accept that perfection is not attainable and do the best you can. It’s less overwhelming.

    My advice:

    • pick ONE easy to use and well established/reputable messenger that is privacy respecting (Signal is the obvious choice in my eyes). Make it known that this is your preferred messenger (and have a short, not super technical and not super political explanation why you prefer it). Try to get the people you are closest with or communicate with most, and the people you think are most likely to be interested to start using it.
    • Then, have a preferred fallback or two (basically the “least worst” mainstream option). Depending on your circle, iMessage, RCS, WhatsApp, or Telegram might be that fallback. None are anywhere near perfect but they also aren’t the worst and sometimes you have to meet people where they are.

  • I agree with your critique of both the algorithms today and the often relatively low-effort, unoriginal, self-interested, and self-absorbed people that tend to rise to the top of these systems. (While still acknowledging there is a lot of great content as well)

    I try my best not to let the Algos shape/direct my viewing.

    With respect to YouTube, I:

    • Disable the ‘front page’ and ‘trending’ category.
    • Disable ‘auto play’
    • find content in two ways: directly from a list of the channels I subscribe to, or by deliberately searching for something.

    It’s certainly not a perfect approach, but it does a lot to focus my attention on things I actually care about and minimize the effect the algorithm has on what I see or view.


  • Goood god 😮

    I think you may have an unhealthy relationship with Extensions. 🙃

    Remember that everytime you install an additional extension you are effectively expanding your circle of trust, giving some company or developer privileged access to your browsing. The only extensions vetted for security by Mozilla are the ones with an ‘Recommended’ badge next to the name. Each additional extension increases the risks to your privacy, your security, and just generally increases the potential for issues.

    At least some of the extensions on your list are violating your privacy/exist to harvest your personal data, profile you, or sell you things.

    That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t use extensions at all. But it does mean you should be thoughtful about what you install. Should do your due diligence, look into extensions before you install them, and understand the developers motivations for giving you something for free which costs them time and sometimes money (There are legit reasons but also common malicious reasons). And it means you should be cautious and reluctant to install too many new extensions.

    If I were in your shoes with this many extensions, I wouldn’t be asking which individual extensions to get rid of, I’d start with a fresh Firefox profile, configure it roughly like this, get rid of all the extensions except uBlock Origin and Bitwarden and maybe violent monkey if that is something you rely on. And then slowly reads extensions as needed, one at a time, spending time to research it a bit before installing and researching if there is a better way to accomplish it.

    With no other extensions Firefox + uBO can be really powerful and flexible, you’ve just got to spend some time learning how to use them. There are a few others on your list that I use also, but I’d say start with the basics and build from there. Also if you feel you need the shopping and deals extensions at least consider putting them in their own profile that you use only for shopping.







  • That is objectively not socialism (any definition of socialism that begins by defining it as a form of capitalism is fundamentally confused)

    That said, I’d agree that it is a widespread misunderstanding today. And what people mean when they say socialism is usually actually social democracy (which despite sounding like the word socialism is a mixed system based on capitalism)

    Using that misunderstanding as the definition I would definitely live in many of those countries. Many have some of the highest qualities of life in the world, low rates of poverty, universal access to good healthcare and education, and good social mobility.

    E.g Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Germany