How Your Phone Betrays Democracy (A great video in the article)
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/21/opinion/location-data-democracy-protests.html

https://redd.it/eh8x2n
@r_privacy

[Update: Block has been lifted] WhatsApp Is Blocking Telegram Links In Its Android App
https://www.androidpolice.com/2016/09/09/whatsapp-is-blocking-telegram-links-in-the-android-app/

Today, For the first time, I genuinely felt like my privacy was breached. Here's what happened.

Before I start, I want to make something clear. Till today I did not care at all about my privacy. All my friends exclusively use Instagram so I can't leave it, I daily drive a Huawei smart band that tracks everything from how much I sleep, to my heart rate, and oh also literally every notification I receive on my phone. I need windows 10 for schoolwork and my laptop isn't good with Linux, I own a Samsung phone, and I am 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴 deep into the Google ecosystem. I use Google docs for schoolwork, I use Google keyboard, I use Google Chrome, I use Google drive to keep my files synced between my phone and laptop, and I used to have everything on Google photos until I stopped bothering and started deleting all but a few photos.
I never attempted to live a private online life since I believed that whatever I did I would never stop being tracked by Facebook, Microsoft, and Google, and also because I couldn't give up the conveniences provided to me by having everything connected with eachother or all the services provided to me by these companies. I couldn't not have my Google calendar sync between my phone and computer, I couldn't not have my presentations and projects sync between my phone and computer, I couldn't not have a keyboard that lets me translate words I can't remember on the fly.
For the longest time, my excuse not to live privately was "Honestly, I'd rather pay with my privacy rather than not have all these cool things that are provided to me".
However today Google crossed the line for me.
I had a pretty normal day, nothing unusual, and as I was chatting to my friend on Instagram, I saw [this notification](https://drive.google.com/file/d/11y3kZ1SVuIKx1zYyhcVq0tm_BZGjvrAi/view?usp=drivesdk) on my phone.
To my own surprise, Google had literally planned an entire trip to Oxford for me. I thought it was hilarious and showed it to my friend. I then as I was showing it to my dad, we both realized that something had gone terribly wrong. Earlier today, my dad asked me to print a pdf for him since his phone wasn't doing the job, so he emailed it to me and I printed it without even looking at it. Well the thing I printed was an invitation to a medical conference in Oxford.
Some algorithm at Google had read not just an email, the very files attached to an email and found out that my dad was planning on going to Oxford and showed him where to eat and where to sleep.
At first I didn't know how I felt. I had never felt this feeling before. For the first time in my life, I felt like my privacy had been breached.
Because of this I'm really considering to commit to changing my lifestyle, because I think that if I don't I'll start being paranoid.
I didn't know who to talk about this to, so my first reaction was to go to Reddit.
Do you guys have any tips on switching to a private lifestyle? Are there any good alternatives to Gmail? I can't seem to find anything as clean and functional as Google docs. How do I still keep in touch with my friends without using Instagram? What should I do?

https://redd.it/eip2a7
@r_privacy

The way "Facebook has a monopoly over most of us - How do I still keep in touch with my friends without using Instagram? "

Good Riddance, Facebook!

I did it, folks. I finally cut the cord. It was difficult to permanently delete my Facebook account because I've had it for over 10 years now and have many memories on it, especially with friends and family. But I gave myself a great Christmas gift by deleting the account and I finally feel back in control of my own online privacy.

If any of you are on the edge about doing so, I would highly recommend. Most recently I had only used Facebook for meme pages and "news"-ish types of information. Thanks to Reddit for becoming my new source for both of those things now, and I don't have to reveal pretty much any personal info to be here!

I highly recommend downloading your Facebook both as HTML format and JSON format. The JSON is helpful because it's possible for someone (who knows, I might even do it) to create an open source, offline program that parses through your Facebook data to show you all the neat info and memories that you thought you'd be missing out on by deleting your account, if that's what's holding you back.

Anyway, just wanted to share and further encourage y'all to jump the ship with me, especially for the new year!

Cheers!

https://redd.it/eivlzi
@r_privacy

How to clean metadata from files in Linux

Credit To NODE

https://youtu.be/5J_tA65cNbI

📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_EN
📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_DE
📡@NoGoolag

Facebook trackers in TikTok

[Graph]: This is how many trackers AdGuard blocked after installing TikTok

https://i.imgur.com/lDwK5uU.png

The spike began after I installed [TikTok](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ss.android.ugc.trill&hl=en_US) few weeks ago. It's mostly log files sent to

TikTok's own tracking server at log2.musical.ly, xlog-va.musical.ly, frontier.musical.ly, and Facebook.

It peaked at 2757 trackers in December 31st alone.

https://redd.it/en1v6j
@r_privacy

This is what happened to me today - does Instagram actually listen to our conversations?

So here's what happened to me today...

I was having a conversation with a colleague at work today and he was telling me about the place he visited with his son the other day to celebrate his birthday. I’ve never heard about this venue before and of course never looked it up on any social media or googled about it. About 10 minutes later after we were talking about it, I pick-up my iPhone and start browsing through Instagram stories. After the first story, I get a sponsored story on Instagram and the ad is from this place my co-worked has been talking about! Again, never looked-it up nor am I connected with my colleague on Facebook/Instagram.

Anyone has an idea how this is even possible? Does Instagram listen to conversations to pick-up data and serve ads to user? In case that matters: under Settings – Data privacy, the microphone use was set to on for Instagram.

https://redd.it/ep4gl3
@r_privacy

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