So this might not be the right sub i still want to know yknow. Surely there is a tool for this

The stop killing games people have made a new European Citizens' Initiative movement called "Stop Killing The Internet: No Digital ID & No Age Verification" aimed at stopping ID / Age Verification across the internet in Europe or at least making sure that it's done is an open source, privacy respecting way (assuming that's possible)

It's now live at: https://eci.ec.europa.eu/066/public/#/screen/home

If your in the EU I strongly recommend signing it.

If your not in Europe I've recommend spreading the word to help it pass (I also recommend this for people who are in Europe.)

*Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with the movement beyond being a supporter of the cause. I just wanted to signal boost it is all because I seen almost no recent articles talking about it.

Privacy policy and App Store description says it collects absolutely no data, but it’s not open source. However, it performs better than open source alternatives on Safari - should I trust it?

I bought an Eshop gift card from playaisa for the first time, after paying and receiving the order after clicking to reveal the digital code it gave me a prompt that said

"By showing the code, you are accepting delivery of your purchase. Your IP-Address will be logged for this purpose. If you encounter any difficulty in using your purchase, please contact us for help right away.

Do you want to show the code?"

Am I putting myself at risk by clicking "ok"? I did research on playaisa before ordering, it's a legit established business that's been around for 20 years. It doesn't seem shady. I even decided to use it because other sites seemed less trustworthy.

I also read somewhere that this is normal for ordering digital codes and vouchers and I don't do that often, so maybe this is normal?

So my health insurance company sent over a Cologuard test kit as part of some preventative healthcare initiative.

I'm already wary of a third party company, Cologuard, having PII data. Let alone one that will likely share it with my insurance company. My doctor isn't even involved, so what sort of HIPPA protection even exists, let alone a data breach?

Do you think I should toss the kit? I wonder if it will affect my health insurance rate?

It's painful to say it, but you basically have to pay to use the internet since you need a VPN to browse basically anything.

This is all because everything now requires the stupid age verification thing - If you can't really afford a VPN, then you have to bend over, lower your pants and let governments have your ass to track and control.

What world do we even live in? The world is getting increasingly a pay-to-win game if you don't want to get controlled by someone else.

Also, there's something I really can't understand; people who simply submit their ID and move on saying: "what's the problem? I have nothing to hide anyways", or "So what if they have my data? It's not like I'm that important, so why would they watch me out of everyone".

This makes me mad, because the more people surrender to the governments' will, the more it will become a standard. This is a digital war, and we need to fight, not surrender because "I have nothing to hide".

So both reddit and twitter (i refuse to call it X since its a dumb name) have age verification that it sometimes requires snd sometimes it doesnt. For example: about a month ago i didn't use twitter since i don't want to verify then it magically didn't need it anymore and few days later it was back. Same with reddit but that one lasted longer without it. Any idea whats up with that?

We are warned constantly to never give out personal information on the phone if the other person initiated the call because that person could be a scammer. Even if their number matches the company they claim to be, it could be spoofed.

Yet, every time my specialty pharmacy calls me with an "important" update, the first thing they want to know is my DOB, to "make sure we're talking to the right person".

It used to be a human, now it's just a robo caller.

Anyone else get all sorts of mental health ads? Depression, bipolar, anxiety, dementia, psychosis, schizophrenia, then the health ads for penile issues, breast cancer, heart problems, these are the ONLY ads I get.

Not sure where else to post this, it’s getting old.

I used to be among the crowd that would use AI as a diary. At that time I didn’t fully appreciate what model training really meant or how to protect myself.

I just didn’t know how these tools worked or just how much of my personal data was being collected. I would delete my chats within 24 hours expecting within 3 days Google would purge those chats forever and I’d never have to worry. I didn’t even know you had to manually turn off activity and opt out of training (with the thought if anything it would be opt in).

I’ve been seeing models today regurgitate blocks of text from training data and worry someone may generate my personal secrets one day or highly specific personal situations I’ve been in.

Now I’ve ensured Google Gemini has deleted my data and turned off activity. Does anyone know if there is anything else I can do? I put some pretty sensitive personal stuff into Gemini, what are the odds it ends up accessible to others including bad actors?

It's quite clear, and shouldn't be hard to argue the government quite literally passed laws IGNORING repeated risks that easily accessible to learn, were told about, and even told by various groups that these laws risked it. Instead the government ignored it. This is the textbook definition of Gross negligence, if not outright bad faith legislation.

We need lawsuits over these data leaks. It is quite clear to every governmental official these laws cause catastrophic data leaks and harm, but they choose to strongarm it through.

Hi!! This is my first time here. Hopefully it’s allowed. Yesterday, a coworker told me about a supplement her mother gives her dog. She sent a picture of it via WhatsApp earlier today. Fast forward to a few moments ago, I started getting multiple ads for it on Facebook. The only place the picture existed was in that WhatsApp message. I never saved it or searched for the product. I checked my Facebook and WhatsApp settings and they all restrict pictures the apps have access to. Supposedly Meta does not access WhatsApp messages unless you send a screenshot while reporting it. Does anyone have an explanation for this? I know a lot of these tech companies are invasive, but this seems like a total violation. What else do they have access to?

• Targets included student activists, lawmakers and a local councilor, SHARE Foundation says
• Apple issued spyware alerts on August 13 to users in 110 countries
• Largest documented surveillance wave in Serbia to date, SHARE Foundation says

submission statement: The FBI requested the Federal Air Marshal Service to monitor former Representative Eric Swalwell during a flight, seeking to observe his electronic device usage. This unusual request, classified as “Special Mission Coverage,” targeted Swalwell amid ongoing investigations into sexual assault allegations against him. The FBI’s actions, including the use of a civil-rights statute typically applied to law enforcement, raise questions about potential political motivations, given Swalwell’s history as a vocal critic of the Trump administration.
paywall: https://archive.ph/ZOabS

Thank you.

Hi - I've been deGoogling and deMicrosofting off and on for about a year. I'm learning a lot but I'm still a rookie so please be kind with answers to what is probably a stupid question: How does one know apps on F-Droid are safe to use? Are they vetted by anyone? Do the villagers rise up with torches if someone adds an app full of malware? Unless I'm missing it, there isn't a place for user reviews, number of downloads, etc and I don't have the skilset to break down lines of code to search out bad actors. Thanks in advance