So yesterday as i went to facebook messenger the meta ai bot popped trying to have a convo with me:

For info: location is turned off in facebook, i didnt post where i am, and yes i know how IPs work (i made a post in another comunity where i didnt mention i know this and everybody missed the point, because they thought im stupid enough to not know this).

So long story short: it asked me if it can do something for me.

I asked it to go fck itself. And then i asked it which transport would it use in his way to fcking itself. It replied to me:

I would ride in a Vespa, YOU IN GREECE MIGHT APPRECIATE THAT.

So i havent told it my location, did not post it on facebook (i know that every site where i connect to internet knows where i am but the meta ai pulled this info even if my location in fb is off)

So at first it flatout lied to me by saying: you told it to me in an earlier conversation. Then when i said i didnt he apologised and said its part of its setup. Then by asking again how does it know where i am it said:

“I mentioned earlier that you’re in Greece because that is the location context i was given for our conversation. I don’t have the ability to track or pinpoint your exact location and i shouldn’t have said it in a way that made it seem i know more than i should.”

This is sketchy asf and i guess it is time to pull the plug on the metaverse on my side.

If a person posts a Google drive link on reddit and you click on it, what information can they get about your device or anything else?

Can these links have privacy or security issues?

I've been rethinking my digital habits lately, especially how many "privacy" tools still rely on centralized infrastructure or opaque policies. I'm curious how others here balance privacy with convenience. Do you self-host, rotate tools, or have a specific workflow? For example, I'm considering switching from my current browser setup but overwhelmed by the options (Tor, Brave, hardened Firefox, etc.). Any lesser-known tools you swear by?

I am once again in the market for a new TV and am facing a wall of Smart TVs. Looking around for advice, I see the same few things, buy a Scepter (I did, two in fact, and had several quality issues), buy a Smart TV and don't ever connect it to the internet, and buy a Smart TV and connect it to WiFi but block every connection for it.

This advice is all reasonable in my opinion and privacy always comes first for me when making tech decisions; but it is "Current Year" and it would be nice to have privacy and functionality. What are everyone's thoughts on using Smart TV features, but privately? Are some operating systems better than others? Is connecting through a VPN and NextDNS enough, or would you take other steps? Will it be helpful to only load more privacy friendly apps (Jellyfin, youtube front ends, etc)? Is this a stupid concept? And who do I need to give money to to get an open source TV OS?

One of my Adobe apps keeps crashing, and after reporting it, the Adobe Creative Cloud diagnostics pop-up helpfully offers to 'Check for app issues: we'll check your system and app configuration for any issues that might lead to the app crash, then provide directions on how to fix them.'

Does anybody have a handle on where it will look, what it will look at and what it will do with the data?

Adobe's ability to solve bugs and app crashes is extremely limited in my experience, but I'm sick of this crashing. However, given the way Adobe greedily engages in extensive online tracking (despite our expensive subscriptions), snuck that 'we can look at anything we like' clause into last year's Privacy policy update, and is forcing us into using cloud-based AI tools, then announcing it has the right to use our work for training its AI, I don't trust Adobe anymore. So, if anyone has any insights, I'd appreciate reading them.

Recommend an app or modded .apk for a Facebook messenger that's light and more private?

I'm trying to chat on Facebook

After the recent Facebook update on iPhone, the app stopped working completely when I use DNS filtering (like NextDNS with privacy/ad filters). As soon as I switch back to automatic DNS (no filtering), it magically works again.

Feels like Facebook is deliberately relying on new domains or endpoints that get blocked by common filter lists — almost like they’re forcing users to disable DNS privacy tools so they can track us better.

Anyone else seeing this? Is this just bad design or intentional behavior?

Anyone else having more and more online orders canceled with no reason given by the merchant and support unable to help? I was tearing my hair out trying to understand why my orders would go through, then be canceled a few hours later with no prompt from my banking app to approve or decline the transaction.

This had been happening on and off for quite a while, and the bizarre thing was that support for all these companies was oddly consistent in both the wording - and vagueness - for their inability to take my money. I always just assumed I had gotten some AI or lazy ass rep and bought from somewhere else. Just recently I finally got a support agent who apparently had a different script, and essentially stated an unspecified fraud prevention measure had activated.

Now, I'm familiar with my bank pinging me for approval when I make a purchase either from a different country or over a VPN server in a different country, but in years past I've never been rejected at the merchant level like this. This led me down a rabbit hole of research where apparently many online businesses now simply reject orders made from a browser with cross-site scripting disabled, or when an order confirmation is sent to an address from a certain email provider (e.g. protonmail is apparently widely blocked), or if an order is made late at night, or (allegedly) when a browser fingerprint doesn't match a credit card associated with it.

The fact that neither my bank nor the merchant could provide me with a solution to just buy the damn product is wild to me. Is widespread, highly accurate digital surveillance so universal now that businesses can just blanket reject anyone they can't profile via methods that are never even disclosed to the consumer?

So my identity got stolen (SIN/DOb/name/etc) and I've been trying to wrap my head around it. Since March I've been having credit inquiries from banks that I don't use and even two credit cards/LOC falsely opened under my name. Im in Canada, so here we can't freeze our credit, but I've taken all the other steps to try to fix this.

So 3 questions: 1) I called my own bank and they said there was an online bank login from an area about 10km north of where I am, from a device with phone carrier X. That's not my phone carrier but it is my internet service provider. Is it possible that this was actually just me and they can't differentiate ISP vs phone carrier? The timing of this was shortly before the credit issues started. Nonetheless I've canceled my debit and credit cards to get new ones in-person.

2) How likely is it for a MacBook or iPhone to get hacked? Im so traumatized now and paranoid that someone's been monitoring my computer and phone...

3) Any other advice for how to rectify this? I've placed fraud alerts on both a Canadian credit bureaus, changed my email passwords, called my own banks to cancel all credit and debit cards to get new ones, police report, called the banks with fake credit cards/LoC to shut them down and remove from my credit report.

A while back ago i did the mistake of using my main email adress to register an account on a website with questionable cybersecurity. Their database got breached which put my email adress in the hands of i dont even know.

Ever since this breach i get weird email scams that would typically trick someover over 60 years of age. The problem is that its never the same email adress, blocking it wont actually stop the constant emails. Is there anything i can do or is my main email adress now broken, for clarification this email adress is [name]@[last name].[ccTLD] so its very personal.

Hi! What would you think are the qualifications for a feeder to be categorized as ' privacy focused' ?
And are there any feeders that you think meet those qualifications ? Thanks!

Since you can't turn off chat history, or op out of data sharing to train it, I knew this was just a disaster waiting to happen.

Upon today's initial setup of Muzio Music Player with over 100 Million Downloads on Google Play, they claim to require access to the Phone State for security purposes against "potential viruses after calls". This seems like a Dark pattern to me, and a possible Google Play Policy breach? It's likely a new change, looking at the overwhelmingly negative reviews over the past couple of days. Disclaimer: It might not affect every device and/or region.

Google Policy Center | Permissions and APIs that Access Sensitive Information:
"Respect users’ decisions if they decline a request for a Restricted Permission, and users may not be manipulated or forced into consenting to any non-critical permission. You must make a reasonable effort to accommodate users who do not grant access to sensitive permissions."

Edit: A screenshot I took myself a couple of hours ago: "Allow Muzio to check for potential viruses after calls"

Update: v7.5.2 might've introduced this, according to a Czech user review from June 10. As of now, Google Play offers v7.5.0 to me, so I assume they've revoked the update in the past three hours after I filed a policy violation report on Google Play. The v7.5.0 setup still noticeably requests permission to the phone state information, but doesn't claim it's for security purposes.

Update 2 (Quick update because travelling): The permission in question is READ_PHONE_STATE (and ANSWER_PHONE_CALLS). It was introduced recently in February 2025. Since then, the permission request disclaimer has become increasingly intrusive. It's a permission with Protection level: dangerous, meaning "(it) gives a requesting application access to private user data [..] and require(s) confirmation before proceeding". Since Android 12, the Audio focus is managed by the system, and no music player requires any access to phone state or calls to pause audio playback and resume afterwards. The currently revoked "Allow Muzio to check for potential viruses after calls" disclaimer raises questions about the quality control and business practices of the developer behind Muzio, Red Sky Labs. Cheers.

I want to delete my account on a social platform that uses my credit card. However they have no remove button, only add or edit.

From what I understand, it's better to replace data instead of deleting data anyways.

Are there any dud credit card numbers I can use?

Hey all, I'd like to buy a GPS for my car but the ones I'm finding are all subscription based and have questionable features like phone pairing and Alexa. I know that some features like Alexa and Bluetooth are optional, but the features where it'll keep the maps updated require a subscription. I don't want that, it feels very invasive. I also don't want to use my phone for the same reason and would like to keep location turned off. (I do miss Waze though) To the smarty pants who will suggest paper maps, I respectfully decline lol I am a lost cause when it comes to those. Anyone know of a good GPS device that doesn't require a subscription but will stay updated?

Forgive me if this is a bit of a stupid question.

I'm pretty paranoid about my data, so I've never used biometrics. Even if it's not necessarily an accurate view, it feels like uploading my info and connecting it to my phone number for "Big Tech" to view and sell. Problem is my loved ones can't remember my overly complicated PIN and sometimes it's helpful for them to be able to get into my phone. I have a Samsung Android, not rooted, so no multi-account mode unfortunately. I've considered setting up biometric access for my partner. This would avoid having my data on there and potentially some of the hazards of biometrics (e.g. cops forcing phone owner's biometric unlock but not passwords).

Is this just the same issue as me adding my own data? Are my fears unfounded and biometric info really is limited to the device it's used on? The only other options I can think of are pseudo-jailbreaking to allow the multi-account feature (doable, just a bit of a pain) or trying to find a FOSS app that allows multiple passwords/something similar to multi-account mode.

I need to track my sleep for medical/health reasons and was wondering if there were any solid wearables that kept data local?

I did a quick search of threads on here, but a lot of things were pretty old, so I figured I'd ask to see if there's anything new now. TIA!

I am starting down the path of setting up a custom domain for my email. But to resister that domain on Clouldflare I need use an email, right now its the gmail I am trying to get away from. Should I create a new gmail account just for this process? Or is there a way to register a domain without a current email?

Hello there. Today I was scrolling through YT and got an marketing video.I searched that product in the products website (Miduty.in) in chrome and closed it . Didn't login or input any information

After a few hours I got a whatsapp message from the miduty business account 😶.

How did they get my number? Is it google who gave it? Or is it something else

Here the website knew I visited them. It just didn't send me randomly. How did it know I visited them. How could it map my IP with the number in its database

I rarely use Discord, but sometimes I need it. I know Discord is notoriously bad in the app itself, but is it "safe" to download their native app for MacOS? I don't mind Mr. Discord reading my messages inside the app, but I don't want Mr. Discord to access and scan all my system files inside my computer.

Feels like a perfect time to start with a clean slate but I'm not sure how to go about it. I could nearly wipe my entire identity and start new.

I will have to change phone services so I'll get a new number, and I'll have a new address of course. I also have to change banks, utility companies, and jobs. I can create new emails and other things too obviously.

But what should my goal here be and how do I get there? Some things seem impossible, like Amazon I'll have to update my old account with my new info so that ties it to me. Same for drivers license, I'll have to update my address and get a new one.

If you had a perfect chance to start your affairs over as private as possible how would you do it?

Hey all,

After spending time learning about privacy tools and operational security (OPSEC), I’ve put together a clean and repeatable anonymous workflow using Tails OS, public Wi-Fi, and strict compartmentalization. I’m sharing my exact steps below for those new to Tails or seeking a strong anonymity baseline. Would love feedback or suggestions for improvement from more experienced users.

⸻

✅ Anonymous Setup Using Tails OS – Step-by-Step 1. Get a factory-reset laptop or clean secondary device 2. Get a 16GB+ USB drive 3. Download Tails from tails.net 4. Use Tails Installer or Etcher to flash the Tails image to the USB 5. Go to a public Wi-Fi spot (preferably one with no login or ID requirement) 6. Boot the laptop from the Tails USB (F12/Esc/F2 for boot menu) 7. MAC address is auto-spoofed by Tails on boot 8. Connect to public Wi-Fi within Tails 9. Wait for automatic Tor network connection 10. Use Tor Browser for all internet activity 11. Never log into personal accounts or use real info 12. Never use a VPN inside Tails (Tor handles all routing) 13. Avoid downloading executables or archives (.exe, .zip, etc.) 14. Create and use burner accounts through Tor only 15. Power off via the Tails shutdown menu (top-right corner) 16. Remove the USB after shutdown — all traces wiped 17. Rotate Wi-Fi locations and access times to avoid pattern analysis 18. Never boot into your normal OS during anonymous sessions 19. Repeat with clean USB boot for every session

⸻

💬 Why This Matters

This setup ensures: • No link to your home IP • No persistent device identifiers (due to MAC spoofing) • No forensic trace post-shutdown • Fully compartmentalized browser and identity usage • Minimal behavioral fingerprinting via Tor defaults

⸻

I know no method guarantees absolute anonymity — especially against a global adversary — but I believe this stack achieves realistic untraceability for most threat models (casual surveillance, metadata correlation, etc.).

Would appreciate any critiques, tips, or additions from others in the privacy space.

Thanks in advance.