TotalSonic

TotalSonic, 11 days ago

It’s not completely over if folks help with porting more Fossil models over to Asteroid OS - asteroidos.org

TotalSonic, 15 days ago

Vivaldi has some closed source components to it, so that makes it a “pass” for a lot of us that are more privacy focused. But in performance and features Vivaldi is certainly a good chromium based browser - it’s just not one I choose for myself.

TotalSonic, 15 days ago

Show me another browser that can fully pass the EFF’s and other privacy tests, and I will switch.

TotalSonic, 15 days ago

This article is FUD for the most part:

• replacing ads - nope, by default you don’t see any replacement ads, rather you see the least amount of ads on any chromium based option out there (e.g. Brave is the only browser I’ve found that still blocks the vast majority of ads on YouTube videos). You need to opt in to see replacement ads
• affilate links - yeah, that was some bs that happened 4 years ago, they were called out on it, and they promptly removed them, and these things have never appeared again.

Regarding the crypto stuff - that is by default off, again you need to opt in to it. Now, there is basic usage stats that are sent back to Brave that are on by default, but these can be turned off easily in the settings.

If there is any real objection that can be made to Brave it’s that the CEO has contributed cash to anti-gay-marriage campaigns in the past (which is why he has fired from Mozilla) and that he has expressed some reactionary political views in social media. I can understand people boycotting Brave for that.

Meanwhile, Brave is the only browser I’ve found that completely passes the EFF’s test at coveryoutracks.eff.org - and in other pricacy and security audits it performs always at “best in class” levels.

TotalSonic, 15 days ago

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/5a14eb48-909b-4f6a-80e2-f6301eb70d19.png

This is what I get on a degoogled Android 13 custom ROM. What OS/device are you using? Did you opt out of sending stats to Brave when you installed?

TotalSonic, 15 days ago

The EFF is very good at what they do, and I’ve found it to be reliable, based on auditing traffic with tools like TrackerControl and AppManager as well. There is also resources noting test results such as privacytests.org

TotalSonic, 15 days ago

I am using SparkOS on this device. My usual daily driver running Android 14 uses degoogled BlissROM and gets the same results, but I just borked it testing the latest alpha version for the maintainer.

TotalSonic, 15 days ago

I am guessing you are using uBlock Origin or similar with Fenec, as I just get “partial protection” in the EFF test unless that extension is installed.

TotalSonic, 15 days ago

Not quite for me - Fennec (at least the build from F-droid) does not randomize fingerprint, AppManager and TrackerControl both show it has embedded trackers sending telemetry to Mozilla, and Fennec is not available on desktop. Librewolf is hardened Firefox on desktop, and is very good though, and has the trackers going back to Mozilla removed, but it does not randomize fingerprint.

TotalSonic, 15 days ago

Embedded trackers Brave: 0 Fennec: 3

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/a1d4c80b-eee0-4470-ab0b-8ebb3f9692be.png

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/46f53a72-1e51-4099-9edd-43780fca9758.png

TotalSonic, 15 days ago

So that’s the second test a browser needs to pass for me - no embedded tracker libraries. Fennec fails on that.

TotalSonic, 15 days ago

Here you can see that Fennec tried to “phone home” to Mozilla when I launched it

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/e0a0d39d-d189-46be-9603-cfc46897b286.png

TotalSonic, 15 days ago

This is the result of the default install of Fennec - it needs the user to install an extension to get ad and tracker blocking like you have

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/7640ac30-eab3-417a-ab2c-1b9aac53df17.png

TotalSonic, 15 days ago

Windows 2000 was the last version I thought was on the correct path, simply for it being the last version that did not require online activation.

TotalSonic, 23 days ago

Enter url at archive dot ph - problem solved.

TotalSonic, 23 days ago

An alternative that actually uses its own web crawlers mojeek.com

TotalSonic, 1 month ago

Have close to zero clue wtf is going on in that video, but it had me engaged the whole time. Slammin’ track - thanks for posting this.

TotalSonic, 1 month ago

Nearly every time I’ve needed to learn how to get around an issue in flashing a custom ROM onto an Android device, it’s been South Asian YouTubers’ tutorials that saved the day.

TotalSonic, 26 days ago (edited 26 days ago)

Well, that’s nice that you’ve never had problems. But issues I’ve seen over the years, range from not having certain functions working after the flash (generally needed specific firmware upgrades prior to the flash), not having the device recognized by the PC without additional steps, needing specific custom recoveries, bootloops, being stuck on splash screen, needing extra steps to unlock the bootloader (e.g. Xiaomi), not being able to easily downgrade Android version (sometimes needed as a first step prior to installing alternate OS’s like Ubunu Touch), even soft bricking. Plus, in learning how to flash custom ROM’s in the first place, guess who provided me with the info on how to do it.

TotalSonic, 1 month ago

My old man pet peeve: the plural of “vinyl” is “vinyl.” They are “records” or “LPs” - not “vinyls”. Now get off of my LAN! ;)

TotalSonic, 1 month ago

It’s not out yet, but there is a kickstarter from German company Volla, coming in the next few days for a 12" tablet running a Mediatek soc that will be capable of running Ubuntu Touch - for which you can use UT native apps, webapps, some Linux desktop apps via their “Libertine” container, and some Android apps via “Waydroid.” And Volla has an excellent track record of delivering on their product promises - in contrast to Purism.

volla.tilda.ws

TotalSonic, 2 months ago

Edge is better if you are wanting to always have your data mined by Microsoft, for sure.

TotalSonic, 2 months ago

Or you can use browsers that can be set to not “phone home” - e.g.Brave, Librewolf - there are in fact a few privacy respecting options in this.

TotalSonic, 2 months ago

Unlilke Deists such as me, that will tell you all about it quicker than a vegan :P

TotalSonic, 2 months ago

All I know is I received so many daily texts and emails from her campaign begging for money that it seriously turned me off, and I don’t even live in CA.