The Decentralized and Alternate Tech Thread

TheFinalEpic · January 9, 2021

We have all seen what Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms did today.

By effectively silencing the voices of the POTUS and people that support him in the name of "security and safety", the mask is off for any sort of remaining free speech, any dissenting view from those not in bed with big tech will be quelled and shut down.

Months before this, we saw "fact checking" alerts and warnings on tweets that made these platforms more obviously Orwellian than they even already were.

Whatsapp and Instagram have added in their ToS that they will abuse any privacy that you had left, even going so far as to access your front camera and watch you use their applications.

Big tech has played it's hand.

They have over stepped. By a massive margin.

The time has come to release yourself from their grasp. To become independent of social media behemoths, and to learn how to take back and control your own data.

There are dozens of alternatives. These soylicon valley people are not the only ones that know how to build software. I know there are various threads on here that discuss alternates, but let's get a one stop shop thread people can go to completely revamp their online life -

This thread is to discuss alternates to Big Tech, whether that be messaging services, social platforms, hosting, search, federated platforms, ZeroNet, Solid (Tim Berners-Lee) and anything else.

TheFinalEpic · January 9, 2021

Part 1: Operating Systems

This all begins at the operating system that you use to run your life.

If you are on Windows, you are handing your data directly over to Microsoft - you don't even really own your own files on that operating system.

The first step I advise anyone that is serious about this is to get completely free of Microsoft.

As of lately, Apple has shown their hand as well - they are not allowing applications on their app stores, and the only way to get those apps would be through a third party package manager. On iOS, this is impossible unless jailbreaking a phone (which I do not have experience with).

As with Android, you are immediately buying into Google's ecosystem, and will be in one of the most data compromised positions.

So, where can you turn?

There's a few alternatives you can look into, and decide if they fit your level of paranoia.

1. Linux and BSD

Linux has been discussed on this forum at extent, so I won't do a deep delve into it. Simply by switching to a Linux distribution, you are lowering the amount of data that you hand over to black boxes like Microsoft, and are taking a step in the free and open-source waters.

BSD is another alternative, OpenBSD being touted as the "most secure operating system" available today. I have slowly started looking in that direction, but the compatibility with most applications is less.

I'd say migrate to Linux, whichever distribution works.

2. Custom ROMs and Dumb Phones

The only way to secure a smartphone from all outside eyes seems to be not having a smartphone.

That being said, if you must have a phone, you have choices:

a) Custom ROM on a Rooted Android device

You will have to do more research here to see if your phone is supported, but the 3 following ROMs are solid:

- Lineage OS: The most compatible with various devices, but the least secure of the 3

- CalyxOS: The baby brother to the third

- GrapheneOS: The current standard for secure phone communication. Only available on Google Pixel devices (ironic, yes, however they are the most 'clean Android' experience and closest to the hardware.)

Regardless of what you choose, you will probably use the F-Droid Store and install only open and privacy respecting alternatives to Google Services.

b) Dumb Phones

You can go to any bestbuy or phone carrier and prepay a phone straight out of the early 2000's.

Pay in cash.

This concludes part one about the Operating systems

Dr. Howard · January 9, 2021

I've got the OS part down. I'm considering going to a dumb phone and going back to an old stand alone GPS system when I need it. I can run android on a virtual machine if I really need it. What am I missing?

TheFinalEpic · January 9, 2021

Part 2: Communications

After you have a free and secure Operating system, let's talk about communications:

Basic SMS messaging is one of the most flawed communication methods, and is not encrypted. Anyone that really wants to see these messages, can. There's a reason that they are used as evidence in courtrooms all over the world.

You need a way to talk to friends and family without prying eyes.

Those technologies exist.

1. SMS replacements

For all of Apple's shortcomings, iMessage is fairly secure. It's end to end encrypted, but - if you followed Part 1, they seem to also be playing their hand in all of what's going on, and we do not know for how long (or if already, there are) there will be no backdoors or holes.

Do NOT use Whatsapp, as after the most recent ToS changes, Facebook will be using your metadata, who you talk to, etc. in ways that only we can imagine.

You have a couple choices:

- Telegram: Many security researchers have spoken out about the issues with this app in the past, the messages are encryped on the clients, but decrypted at the server, and this is a flaw. I recommed agaisnt it.

- Signal: This seems to be the gold standard currently, but there is a new protocol coming out that could be even more secure.

- Element: Uses the Matrix protocol, and is touted as most secure by many people in the field. However, my experience with it is that it is more of a Slack alternative for teams. Keep an eye on this one.

2. Team Speak and Voice

You need some sort of encryption service for voice. Voice calls can be intercepted easily.

- Signal offers voice end to end encryption

- Mumble is a great Discord alternative, but requires some technical know-how to setup a server.

- Element is working on this as well.

- Tox is up there with Mumble

3. Email

This one is interesting, and I am going to offer some perhaps alternative advice.

Obviously, gmail (and any other mainstream provider) is out. They pretty much read and parse your email to sell you things, and we can be sure that they would hand over logs if requested.

ProtonMail- This is miles ahead of other providers, but you will probably want to pay for the service if you read your email in a client. There's been some people that are against it, however for the average person, this is a great step.

Self-Hosted: The final frontier

By having your own email server, you control who sees all of your messages. This requires quite a bit of technical know-how, but there are scripts to set this sort of thing up and it costs just a few dollars a month to have a VPS somewhere. You could run it out of your basement if you wanted as well.

Dr. Howard · January 9, 2021

I'll throw in Tutanota as a proton mail alternative.

Pelagius · January 9, 2021

Great thread, important for people to begin taking these steps ASAP.

Coja Petrus Uscan · January 9, 2021

There could be good legs in a business that sells hardware pre-setup for security. There are companies charging huge markup for privacy products that probably have little support. There aren't many moving parts - create an image and have a system to flash devices hands-free.

I was thinking of putting together a datasheet that outlines all the options and links through to lots of nuggets on the forum or elsewhere, but it is a big task.

I have recently got completely off the reservation in my private life, though I am lumbered with a Google Pixel. Hopefully that can be cast off soon.

@Dr. Howard - Do you have experience running Android in a VM? I downloaded a Linux Android emulator called Anbox (I think), but it seemed very shaky, so I just deleted it.

As some extras, alternatives to Google Search, Twitter and Youtube. Rundown:

Searx - This is an open source project that mashes up lots of different search results for web, image, video etc. So you can get whatever results you want. It is run on numerous public instances. It would be good to have a plugin which randomly sends your query to an instance. You can also setup your own private instance. The performance is good. Just give it a few days to get used to the new interface and go into preference (top right) to set it up to suit you.

Nitter - Very nice interface for Twitter. As with Searx it is hosted on multiple instances that simply duplicate Twitter. Much less bloated than the real site.

Invidious - Interface for Google Video (Youtube), as with Searx and Nitter is hosted on multiple instances. It works, but due to the heavy load of video it is a lot more shaky. Also the instances have to pay for captcha solvers to get round Youtube captchas. So consider a donation.

Privacy Redirect is a browser plugin that will redirect all traffic to Youtube and Twitter to random Indivious or Nitter instance. In the case of Invidious, you might need to reload a URL more than once to get a working instance. It's shaky, but works.

This guy hosts all of the above and other services that may be of use for you - https://snopyta.org/

^ Send these to contacts by email or IM, as they are pretty easy to get people setup.

TheFinalEpic · January 9, 2021

Coja Petrus Uscan said:
There could be good legs in a business that sells hardware pre-setup for security. There are companies charging huge markup for privacy products that probably have little support. There aren't many moving parts - create an image and have a system to flash devices hands-free.

I was thinking of putting together a datasheet that outlines all the options and links through to lots of nuggets on the forum or elsewhere, but it is a big task.

I have recently got completely off the reservation in my private life, though I am lumbered with a Google Pixel. Hopefully that can be cast off soon.

@Dr. Howard - Do you have experience running Android in a VM? I downloaded a Linux Android emulator called Anbox (I think), but it seemed very shaky, so I just deleted it.

As some extras, alternatives to Google Search, Twitter and Youtube. Rundown:

Searx - This is an open source project that mashes up lots of different search results for web, image, video etc. So you can get whatever results you want. It is run on numerous public instances. It would be good to have a plugin which randomly sends your query to an instance. You can also setup your own private instance. The performance is good. Just give it a few days to get used to the new interface and go into preference (top right) to set it up to suit you.

Nitter - Very nice interface for Twitter. As with Searx it is hosted on multiple instances that simply duplicate Twitter. Much less bloated than the real site.

Invidious - Interface for Google, as with Searx and Nitter is hosted on multiple instances. It works, but due to the heavy load of video it is a lot more shaky. Also the instances have to pay for captcha solvers to get round Youtube captchas. So consider a donation.

Privacy Redirect is a browser plugin that will redirect all traffic to Youtube and Twitter to random Indivious or Nitter instance. In the case of Invidious, you might need to reload a URL more than once to get a working instance. It's shaky, but works.

This guy hosts all of the above and other services that may be of use for you - https://snopyta.org/

^ Send these to contacts by email or IM, as they are pretty easy to get people setup.

Your Google Pixel can be Rooted and secured with Calyx or Graphene, and it would be phenomenally secure.

Dr. Howard · January 9, 2021

Coja Petrus Uscan said:
There could be good legs in a business that sells hardware pre-setup for security. There are companies charging huge markup for privacy products that probably have little support. There aren't many moving parts - create an image and have a system to flash devices hands-free.

I was thinking of putting together a datasheet that outlines all the options and links through to lots of nuggets on the forum or elsewhere, but it is a big task.

I have recently got completely off the reservation in my private life, though I am lumbered with a Google Pixel. Hopefully that can be cast off soon.

@Dr. Howard - Do you have experience running Android in a VM? I downloaded a Linux Android emulator called Anbox (I think), but it seemed very shaky, so I just deleted it.

As some extras, alternatives to Google Search, Twitter and Youtube. Rundown:

Searx - This is an open source project that mashes up lots of different search results for web, image, video etc. So you can get whatever results you want. It is run on numerous public instances. It would be good to have a plugin which randomly sends your query to an instance. You can also setup your own private instance. The performance is good. Just give it a few days to get used to the new interface and go into preference (top right) to set it up to suit you.

Nitter - Very nice interface for Twitter. As with Searx it is hosted on multiple instances that simply duplicate Twitter. Much less bloated than the real site.

Invidious - Interface for Google, as with Searx and Nitter is hosted on multiple instances. It works, but due to the heavy load of video it is a lot more shaky. Also the instances have to pay for captcha solvers to get round Youtube captchas. So consider a donation.

Privacy Redirect is a browser plugin that will redirect all traffic to Youtube and Twitter to random Indivious or Nitter instance. In the case of Invidious, you might need to reload a URL more than once to get a working instance. It's shaky, but works.

This guy hosts all of the above and other services that may be of use for you - https://snopyta.org/

^ Send these to contacts by email or IM, as they are pretty easy to get people setup.

I wouldn't say I have any expertise, but I did get this guide to work for me https://www.howtogeek.com/164570/HOW-TO-INSTALL-ANDROID-IN-VIRTUALBOX/

Coja Petrus Uscan · January 9, 2021

TheFinalEpic said:
Your Google Pixel can be Rooted and secured with Calyx or Graphene, and it would be phenomenally secure.

I have CalyxOS. The gripe is having it on Google-made hardware. I saw you can also install it on a cheap Chinese phone, but that is not much better.

Do you know much of the other OSs? Lineage seems lax on security and I've seen there is another called /e/.

Dr. Howard said:
I wouldn't say I have any expertise, but I did get this guide to work for me https://www.howtogeek.com/164570/HOW-TO-INSTALL-ANDROID-IN-VIRTUALBOX/

Were you able to install all apps from Google Play Store? I would like to dump my old phone and move a couple of apps that are dependent on it to VM.

powertower · January 11, 2021

I apologize if this is the wrong thread, but does anyone on the forum know anything about/use urbit?

Is it a viable alternative to silicon valley apps/services/operating systems?

TheFinalEpic · January 11, 2021

powertower said:
I apologize if this is the wrong thread, but does anyone on the forum know anything about/use urbit?

Is it a viable alternative to silicon valley apps/services/operating systems?

I'm going to look into this, it sounds interesting. I already run personal servers and VPS, but this may solve issues such as CDNs and having one centralized source repo.

PUA_Rachacha · January 11, 2021

I think we need to begin a decentralization thread. Maybe this is the place.

Big Tech has clearly revealed its hand and has gone all in, at least for this round. Pretty ballsy when we've just seen the flop, and not the turn or river yet. Unfortunately, the tide right now is against us, and thus your livelihood is at risk if your employer, bank, CC company learn of your Wrong Think.

WallStreetPlayboys will hopefully offer a guide on the decentralization trend and how to take advantage of it economically. We need to take advantage of it physically for ourselves and our families' sake.

Clear start is getting rid of Facebook. Gmail is next, and this is going to be tough for me, since that's what I've been using since 2003. Twitter is a cesspool with some interesting ideas; I don't see an issue with just following people as long as you don't frequently post and dox yourself.

I use Reddit for some interesting subreddits. I'm going to delete my current account and open a new one that is linked to my tutanota account.

iMessage has end-to-end encryption, but how long will that last? Those fuckers in Cupertino wouldn't unlock an iPhone for the FBI when there was a terrorist act, but you know they'll instantly rat out a "White Supremacist". If you're using Whatsapp, immediately ditch it and move on to Signal. Admittedly I haven't used it yet, but if Musk and Naval are openly stating that this is the right path, then that's where I'll tend towards.

Bitcoin for transfers. How do you use it to surplant traditional banking?

I have many more questions than answers, hopefully they can be answered eventually.

TheFinalEpic · January 11, 2021

PUA_Rachacha said:
I think we need to begin a decentralization thread. Maybe this is the place.

Big Tech has clearly revealed its hand and has gone all in, at least for this round. Pretty ballsy when we've just seen the flop, and not the turn or river yet. Unfortunately, the tide right now is against us, and thus your livelihood is at risk if your employer, bank, CC company learn of your Wrong Think.

WallStreetPlayboys will hopefully offer a guide on the decentralization trend and how to take advantage of it economically. We need to take advantage of it physically for ourselves and our families' sake.

Clear start is getting rid of Facebook. Gmail is next, and this is going to be tough for me, since that's what I've been using since 2003. Twitter is a cesspool with some interesting ideas; I don't see an issue with just following people as long as you don't frequently post and dox yourself.

I use Reddit for some interesting subreddits. I'm going to delete my current account and open a new one that is linked to my tutanota account.

iMessage has end-to-end encryption, but how long will that last? Those fuckers in Cupertino wouldn't unlock an iPhone for the FBI when there was a terrorist act, but you know they'll instantly rat out a "White Supremacist". If you're using Whatsapp, immediately ditch it and move on to Signal. Admittedly I haven't used it yet, but if Musk and Naval are openly stating that this is the right path, then that's where I'll tend towards.

Bitcoin for transfers. How do you use it to surplant traditional banking?

I have many more questions than answers, hopefully they can be answered eventually.

Some of these platforms have utility.

Facebook really does not. Instagram seems to not as well beyond ego stroking and distraction.

However, Reddit, if you know where to look, offers immense knowledge that rivals stackoverflow for programming, security, technical know-how, and more. The main page of Reddit is garbage, but that's why you should be following subreddits that interest you and that actually may help you grow.

Twitter you can get easily lost in, and the fact that people have to get an idea out in X characters is the same reason that news outlets are failing - sound-biting a much larger topic that requires a 3,000 word (at minimum) blog post. I have deleted Twitter and will not look back.

Snapchat is useless, and I would be amazed if it still exists in 2-3 years.

Google is the one that concerns me due to the fact they curate the internet. They are the ones who decide who gets seen and who does not, and even half a decade ago were found to be altering search results. I think this is one of the companies that needs to be considered most deeply in removing yourself from. That being said, they are still lightyears ahead of duckduckgo in certain searches (namely, again programming and technical questions), but for others, they have no utility whatsoever.

Amazon is another I will be making a strong effort to not use, to buy locally and to support business owners in my area.

Netflix, again, has no utility.

Coja Petrus Uscan · January 11, 2021

PUA_Rachacha said:
I use Reddit for some interesting subreddits. I'm going to delete my current account and open a new one that is linked to my tutanota account.

iMessage has end-to-end encryption, but how long will that last?

Tutanota is owned by people in Stasi-surveillance state Germany who all turned up to to far-left Extinction Rebellion protests and promoted it on their service. Given the growth rate of Protonmail handing over data to authorities, you can expect them to have handed over data around 8,000 times last year. Germany is an eyes country, so assume their compliance is higher.

For better security using such services use unique emails from https://simplelogin.io/

I would not use anything Apple. The end-to-end encryption is likely only for show and the NSA will have all your messages. It's open info in Russia that all the messages are picked up by The FSB. They demanded Telegram give them a backdoor and Telegram spent two years spinning up rotating servers to get around the block until the government gave up. I think that's a good signal that Telegram is a decent service to use, while something more private comes up. Get all your friends on Telegram. I only have one friend who is not. Gay.

Especially with what has been going on over the last week or so, do you really think The US, with the largest spy-state infrastructure in the world, does not also require all its tech giants to give them a direct feed?

If you have been on these platforms you have essentially been handing all your data to The Democrats.

Coja Petrus Uscan · January 11, 2021

TheFinalEpic said:
This thread is to discuss alternates to Big Tech, whether that be messaging services, social platforms, hosting, search, federated platforms, ZeroNet, Solid (Tim Berners-Lee) and anything else.

It has been suggested a sticky would be useful for BTC and crypto; the same is true for tech-privacy.

There are a lot of nuggets hidden away in the threads. These could be formed into a cheatsheet/index, e.g. the basics of crypto - what it is, where to buy it, how to store it.

On this link you will find an index of such threads and at the bottom are a handful of such nuggets that come to mind. If you have any additions, you can clone the linked paste to add to it, or just post them here:

PrivateBin

Visit this link to see the note. Giving the URL to anyone allows them to access the note, too.

bin.snopyta.org

wayfaringstranger · January 11, 2021

TheFinalEpic said:
The only way to secure a smartphone from all outside eyes seems to be not having a smartphone.

Gab will be coming out with a phone

GAB TO LAUNCH GAB PHONE – NO LONGER A REASON TO BUY APPLE OR GOOGLE DEVICE - Conservative News Outlet

Please Follow us on Gab, Parler, Minds This story is developing, we will release more information as soon as we acquire it… UPDATE 1730 EST – Phone is a prototype, launch will happen shortly —————————————– The internet upstart Gab, which is threatening the entire big-tech ecosystem, just...

newsla.localad.com

I also think pinephone has been discussed on the this forum.

Coja Petrus Uscan · January 11, 2021

There is now a privacy-interface for Reddit: https://libredd.it/r/christianity

Jünger · January 12, 2021

https://social.quodverum.com/about

QuodVerum is an open discussion forum. We welcome all ideas and opinions, and will exercise minimum moderation only when we believe laws are being broken. Many of us are "refugees" from other social media and loathe equally the paternalistic thought police at Twitter and Facebook and the open lunacy of Gab. Words are not violence. Use them. But our platform is not a launching pad for criminal activity, harassment or the promotion of violence or bigotry in any form, against any one. Let's reintroduce free and civil discourse.

wayfaringstranger · January 12, 2021

Jünger said:
https://social.quodverum.com/about

" But our platform is not a launching pad for criminal activity, harassment or the promotion of violence or bigotry in any form, against any one. "

Nice to see alternatives arising but "harassment' and bigotry are slippery slope terms, usually applied asymmetrically. I am sure a good portion of Roosh's forum would qualify to most leftists as 'bigotry'.

The Decentralized and Alternate Tech Thread

TheFinalEpic

Pelican

TheFinalEpic

Pelican

Dr. Howard

TheFinalEpic

Pelican

Dr. Howard

Pelagius

Robin

Coja Petrus Uscan

Crow

TheFinalEpic

Pelican

Dr. Howard

Coja Petrus Uscan

Crow

powertower

Pigeon

TheFinalEpic

Pelican

PUA_Rachacha

Woodpecker

TheFinalEpic

Pelican

Coja Petrus Uscan

Crow

Coja Petrus Uscan

Crow

PrivateBin

wayfaringstranger

Kingfisher

GAB TO LAUNCH GAB PHONE – NO LONGER A REASON TO BUY APPLE OR GOOGLE DEVICE - Conservative News Outlet

Coja Petrus Uscan

Crow

Jünger

Ostrich

wayfaringstranger

Kingfisher