[-] Skimmer@lemmy.zip 69 points 1 year ago

Yeah, anticheats are a privacy and security nightmare that most people don't even think about. You're effectively giving their proprietary software extremely invasive kernel level access to your system. They can access and do pretty much anything they want on your device with really nothing stopping them. Anticheats like this are extremely dangerous and should certainly be avoided where possible.

I understand the problem of cheating in games, but I feel like there has to be a better solution to this problem, as making users install an extremely invasive rootkit isn't acceptable at all imo. I'd recommend avoiding games that include invasive anticheat or DRM like this. Best way to get across that this isn't okay is through the wallet.

[-] Skimmer@lemmy.zip 104 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Google is actually right here for once. Signal is not offered on F-Droid, and its package name is org.thoughtcrime.securesms, not org.thoughtcrimes.securesms.

Only official places to download Signal are through the Google Play Store or their website (which self-updates).

[-] Skimmer@lemmy.zip 151 points 1 year ago

Brave is not spyware. That website you linked is horrible and full of misinformation. They also claim that Firefox, and even Tor Browser, are spyware. They act as if any and all connections a browser makes are automatically bad and used for spying/tracking.

I won't disagree with the other criticisms of Brave that you made, but just wanted to point that out. That website is just highly unreliable and makes verifiably false claims about the browsers it reviews.

[-] Skimmer@lemmy.zip 37 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Not having root is done on Android for some very good security reasons to be fair, it opens up a giant attack surface and risk for all kinds of malware and nasty stuff to take advantage of. I don't think it's done completely in malice as you think. Its a very important part of the app sandbox and Android's security model at large.

With that said, I do think that people should have the option to root if they want to, I'm not a fan of OEMs like Samsung and whoever else purposely preventing people from rooting at all costs. I think people should be able to do whatever they want with their own device, root just certainly shouldn't be the default, and users should be aware of the risks if they choose to use it. But I do think it should be a possibility for those who really do wish to do so.

With Android, it all just comes down to the OEM and variant of it that you're stuck with. As a whole, I think its an amazing project and OS, though unfortunately Google, and especially OEMs, tend to make a lot of bad choices. It's similar to Linux as a whole in that aspect. You've got options like ChromeOS which are a nightmare for privacy and user freedom any way you look at them, but then you've got your traditional distros like Debian, Arch, Fedora, etc, which are the exact opposite. Its an important distinction.

[-] Skimmer@lemmy.zip 28 points 1 year ago

I usually use Signal.

[-] Skimmer@lemmy.zip 29 points 1 year ago

Best way to fight against things like this is with your wallet. Stop buying and supporting games with Denuvo or any other similar DRM.

[-] Skimmer@lemmy.zip 56 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Basically, LMG were producing way too much content way too fast without proper testing of products and were making tons of mistakes, and wouldn't take the proper measures to take accountability for or fix the mistakes they were making. An egregious example was a mouse they reviewed where they literally didn't take the tape off the bottom of it. They also got a one of a kind prototype cooler from a very small start-up company, improperly tested it (used the wrong GPU that it wasn't even made for), blasted the product and called it horrible because of it, then refused to properly retest it because it'd at most cost $500 (despite them being a $100 million dollar company), and to put the cherry on top, auctioned off the product despite the company explicitly requesting it back and LMG even agreeing to send it back.

Now LMG is also being accused of sexual harassment and being an overall extremely toxic and horrible work place by a former employee.

I'd strongly recommend just watching the Gamers Nexus video and reading the thread from the former employee because this reply doesn't near do this shitshow justice and I'm sure I'm missing out on a lot details.

[-] Skimmer@lemmy.zip 35 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I understand how you feel, let me know if you find anything. I'm more left leaning myself, but I'm also not a fan of echo chambers and it gets pretty tiring and annoying seeing the same stuff over and over again. At the end of the day, I just wanna see an open, fair, and balanced discussion. The Fediverse is undeniably very left leaning currently, which is surprising to me since you'd think the anti-censorship design on paper would appeal more to people on the right who are against big tech and censorship, but I guess not? It's interesting.

[-] Skimmer@lemmy.zip 74 points 1 year ago

Their extension isn't open source anymore, see here, so I don't recommend it personally, especially with how sensitive the data it collects is, its basically a keylogger, so trust is super important imo.

[-] Skimmer@lemmy.zip 27 points 1 year ago

There's so many I could list, I'll just mention 2 underrated ones I don't see mentioned as much:

  • LibreTube - Best YouTube client imo, has a very nice and modern interface, proxies videos through Piped for maximum privacy (No direct connections to Google are made), No ads/tracking, SponsorBlock + Return YouTube Dislikes, support for downloading videos, etc. It's everything I'd want and more out of a YouTube client.

  • URLCheck - Excellent app that allows you to preview what a URL is before you click it, includes tons of features such as scanning for malware, removing any tracking parameters, upgrading links from HTTP to HTTPS, etc. I can't recommend this app enough for the security, privacy, and general peace of mind it gives you.

[-] Skimmer@lemmy.zip 92 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I just don't think Tor Browser is currently suited as a primary browser for most people. You lose things like staying logged into websites, you can't (or at least shouldn't) really add extensions like a good content blocker, you generally can't tweak or customize the browser to your liking, etc. Plus factor in things like the slow speeds, being blocked by websites, bombarded with captchas everywhere, etc, and it just becomes a harder and harder sell for a lot of average people.

Tor Browser's great and it absolutely has its need and purpose, I'm not trying to knock it for that at all because it works damn well for what it is and what it tries to do, but I just think its hard to be using as a primary browser and daily driver in its current form, at least for a lot of people.

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Skimmer

joined 1 year ago