MagnumDovetails

joined 2 years ago
[–] MagnumDovetails 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Idk why you got downvotes, I appreciate your answers

[–] MagnumDovetails 1 points 2 weeks ago

Thanks! I’m familiar with the site but hadn’t considered posting questions there. I guess I’m at the point where I want and need to get into the technical stuff. It’s been quite a journey

[–] MagnumDovetails 5 points 2 weeks ago

That’s totally fair; this is less privacy and more technical/tinkering. I feel like I don’t have the skills to do the tinkering needed to continue on my privacy goals.

And I do like to tinker- but only on certain things. I want my stuff to work unless it is a particular project.

Idk I just feel a large void of ignorance when I’m deciding what to do next in terms of my personal tech. Maybe it’s just a lack of confidence and experience.

Should I just do internet searches for these things? Like “flashing ddwrt to asus router”

And I don’t need to know the ip stack- but I’d like to have a better understanding

 

I grew up in the 90s. I remember using dos commands and installing a cdrw drive in our family’s compaq pc so I could burn cds with music I found on Kazaa. Somehow, I didn’t learn what I needed to in order to set up what I’d like to have privacy wise.

Posting here before I just start getting computer science textbooks, looking for any resources to increase my knowledge and ability with computers, networking, and connectivity. Podcast, video content creators, books, anything. I’m going to make time to do some online learning for python. My current programming knowledge is limited to excel/VBA

What I want to have:

Linux mini pc connecting to tv for torrents/streaming. I’ve heard about using a mini pc before the isp modem to filter dns and tracking- I do not understand this, but I have heard of flashing routers with different os

As safe and private a phone as possible that can still be moderately convenient- probably going to get a used pixel with graphene using Wi-Fi only/no sim

Security cameras with secure, private storage- need to learn about self-hosting

Below are the topics I’d like to be able to study on my own time. I’m grateful for any advice but I’m stubbornly curious and need to understand the underlying concepts- not just a step by step.

Internet protocol; I get the gist of things like dns is a phone book for ip addresses; vpn is a not a magic bullet, it’s just a shifting of trust; cell phones are pretty much unable to be completely anonymous without tremendous work and sacrifice.

Computer/network systems; troubleshooting Linux problems, editing boot loaders defaults (I have a pc w dual boot windows and Linux, tried to remove the Linux to try another distro, couldn’t get it). Flashing Wi-Fi routers and associated troubleshooting, setting up self hosting- plex jellyfish, backup data. Performance figures for computers and what that means for various applications, like you’d need x gb for this, and an ssd of x for that

Purchasing and scrubbing used devices- I like the idea of reducing e waste and picking up a dell optiplex from a thrift store.

I’m also aware I’m in that space where I don’t know what I don’t know yet; so I’m probably missing topics.

What am I missing? Where should I look?

[–] MagnumDovetails 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I was actually looking at them online. I have no idea what to get. I’ll likely buy more dvd than Blu-ray but I imagine Blu-ray will trickle into thrift and second hand shops and become cheaper. Anyway, I’m leaning towards the $50-90 range for a Sony or other reputable brand

[–] MagnumDovetails 5 points 2 months ago

I had a really great professor in a class I really liked. I went to his office hours towards registration time for next semester and asked about an individual/independent study course. He was open to it and even fought for it to count towards something I needed to graduate.

It was so liberating to chase my wild ideas down their various rabbit holes and do legit research. I wasn’t, and likely won’t be a phd, bs in engineering was enough for me, but it was a nice break from the norm

[–] MagnumDovetails 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I didn’t read this whole infographic, or check the page numbers.

I feel the employment protection for federal employees is likely to have long lasting negative, or even catastrophic, impacts. If a federal employee who, for example, develops public messaging about healthcare issues does not follow policy directives from the executive branch, they can be just shit canned. This allows political motivation of whichever party occupies the White House to override science based policy and the best interests of the public.

Now extend this to building codes; low income rentals could be built with safety as a low priority. Or food and drug regulations, forget gmo, we’ll be rinsing off poison pesticides if we’re lucky enough to have safe water.

Now; if you were a subject matter expert in let’s say, rural water resources and treatment; would you rather take a lower salary to work in the public sector and be fired when you don’t endanger a whole geographic population? Or keep that decent professor job, or take a fat paycheck to work in the private sector?

No one of any talent in the stem fields will consider federal jobs for the foreseeable future. The one benefit of government work, besides respectable benefits, is it’s damn near impossible to get fired- it’s a very stable albeit low paying position.

Shits fucked

[–] MagnumDovetails 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

So does that mean 5 years from release for pixel 7?

[–] MagnumDovetails 98 points 2 months ago (8 children)

I think some people believe that this is a single event; like they get your email and that’s it. They don’t realize or care that it is a constant ongoing collection of any and all possible information that is held by a company whose motive is profit. These companies are associating ip addresses with devices and activities all the time. Turns out the older your data the less it is worth. Stop when you can- even if it’s a slow process. Privacy is a human right

[–] MagnumDovetails 2 points 4 months ago

I didn’t both sides this. To clarify; I meant that if republicans brought forth policies to preserve personal privacy, or the democrats decide to bust up monopolistic companies- doesn’t matter which side tried to bring up any of these ideas; they would be so neutered by the time the ink dried the impact would be negligible.

I can see how you could take my comment as both sides-ing it. I haven’t seen either party do anything that impacts the quality of daily life (in a positive way) for myself, friends or family. The examples of abortion and gun control are just examples where the overwhelming majority of citizens want one thing, in very clear terms, and the government does absolutely nothing about it despite the wishes of the people.

I’m also clearly not advocating for any third party. If you take the very common knowledge that the government no longer works for the people and twist that into throwing away your vote on Kennedy or Nader your problems are larger than limited browser selection.

And how’s that antitrust case going? Where are we on net neutrality? Student loan forgiveness for like 10% of borrowers? Expanding Medicare? I only criticize democrats because that’s the party that’s supposed to do things for us. The American republicans are Christo- fascists who’ve long abandoned any pretense of constitutional law or responsibility for their country. Either way- we have crumbling infrastructure, hungry children, women dying because religious abortion restrictions, and lead pipes. And these shit bags can just send another $25 billion to kill more brown people in the Middle East.

So forgive me if I doubt they’ll take the time to learn what http means or even consider something that doesn’t have a wealthy donor behind it.

[–] MagnumDovetails 111 points 4 months ago (9 children)

I like Doctorow, and these point are valid. I just don’t see the American government doing anything to benefit the people, regardless of left or right orientation. Most Americans want abortion access and reasonable restrictions on gun sales; I can’t imagine any candidates, local or federal doing little more than making empty promises on these subjects. Even Obama care is a hugely compromised husk of reasonable healthcare for all, and you still have republicans clamoring to dismantle it.

I hate to be pessimistic, but I don’t think any American politician would take on this topic.

[–] MagnumDovetails 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I’ve been on iOS since the iPhone 3. I’m planning to switch soon. I’m not quite a power user and still dual booting my computer with Linux.

I was curious what you mentioned about unlocked phones not be able to be boot loaded. How could I determine this for sure? I’ve been looking at purchasing on back market dot com, but I’m open to purchasing elsewhere as long as it’s not amazon.

Thanks for that ebay link and this write up

[–] MagnumDovetails 5 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

The problem with pfas is that it’s not just one chemical. PubChem says it’s more like 7 million. Yes there are ways to destroy/remove them and they are being used in remediation. However some methods work better for certain types of pfas, and all have some form of operational costs from manageable to expensive.

Yes there is public support for legislating the use of these chemicals; it is also a market with a value estimated around $28 billion. I don’t expect these companies or interests will be eager to encroach on these profits.

Even if legislators can regulate the use of these chemicals it will be challenging on at least 2 levels. Given the variety of pfas if one chemical is banned there is another pfas that can perform the same function with a slight molecular tweak so that legally, it is not banned/regulated. And, this stuff is in practically everything- and I’m not exaggerating; I knew someone doing research in this field. They had strict instructions on what products they could use bathing before work, no lotion, lip balm, cosmetics, even specific writing utensils and paper were required; all those items were prohibited not because they could foul a test, but because they likely contain pfas and would cause inconsistent data.

Drinking water aside we don’t exactly know how much of this is already out there or what it’s in.

We should definitely worry about pesticides, but pfas is pretty concerning, and worse, it’s impacts are still emerging with research.

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