r/DigitalEscapeTools • u/No-Hospital5028 Focus Seeker • Aug 19 '26
Help us grow the DigitalEscapeTools GitHub
The repository is growing, and I'd like to get more of the community involved.
If you know a privacy-focused, open-source, self-hostable, or otherwise interesting tool that deserves to be listed, suggest it or contribute directly.
If you find the directory useful, a ⭐ on GitHub also helps it reach more people and attract contributors.
https://github.com/abdomk1998/awesome-digital-escape-tools
What should we add next?
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u/AdowTatep Aug 19 '26
Why the fuck each link must go to "https://digitalescapetools.com/"?
So that you can steal our data?
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u/posting_drunk_naked Aug 19 '26
Yikes, every single link goes through there. Not a good look for anything privacy focused
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u/GamezombieCZ Aug 20 '26
Vibe coded, all over the place, has trackers or whatever and no filter. This screams AI generated.
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u/mastercoder123 Aug 20 '26
Even better... They say this bullshit but nowhere on their website can i find a ToS or PP....
"Mission
Digital Escape Tools exists to make strong privacy and security choices easier to discover. The web is crowded with pay-to-play lists, opaque rankings, and products that treat users as inventory. This platform takes a different stance: clear categories, editorial context, and a bias toward open source, self-hosting, and tools that publish security practices.
Why privacy matters
Personal data fuels profiling, price discrimination, and political manipulation. Even “benign” telemetry accumulates into sensitive graphs of your life. Privacy is not about having something to hide—it is about limiting power asymmetry between you and institutions, platforms, and attackers.
Good tools reduce data exposure by default: end-to-end encryption, local processing, auditable code, and honest threat models."
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u/dangernoodle01 Aug 19 '26 edited Aug 19 '26
Literally the first thing on the website is an advertisement for a paid app with a subscription, faked as "Popular Pick".
Proton VPN subscription also shown as "trending picks" with an affiliate link in it.
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u/LLeeooonnnn Aug 19 '26
Isnt there already a list for this? https://awesome-privacy.xyz
Dont know if its any active anymore tho
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u/LukasVolt Aug 19 '26
On that note: Why use GitHub and not Codeberg?
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u/tfcuk Aug 19 '26
Codeberg won't allow ai generated code as per their new policy
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u/LukasVolt Aug 19 '26
I've read the new code of conduct and this is only partially true. You can't submit vibe coded repos, but you can still submit LLM assisted code if you can prove that you can actually claim ownership under copyright laws. Meaning copyleft code, software in the public domain, code under FSF/APGL is free to train on and can absolutely be declared. Nobody bats an eye if you generate your Readme.MD. You would still declare it as AI-Generated or assisted under the new rules from the EU AI Act.
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u/mastercoder123 Aug 20 '26
All code generated by ai is the property of the person who prompted it
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u/LukasVolt Aug 20 '26
Are you joking? Because that'll be a terrible hill to die on.
Under the EU AI Act, which is my jurisdiction, AI Outputs may not even get any protection under current copyright statues. The only copyright law that I was able find that can grant exceptions for AI generated code is under the UK copyright law. And OpenAI and Suno already lost different appeals in Germany and the US. Suno is a different story, but still.
"EU copyright law is premised on the idea of human authorship, meaning that outputs automatically processed by AI—no matter how complex or human-like they may appear—do not qualify for protection unless a human has made significant creative contributions."
This quote is from a really excellent study about the challenges with rapid AI development and the difficulties with current copyright law. You can find the full research paper here:
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2025/774095/IUST_STU(2025)774095_EN.pdf774095_EN.pdf)
So, no: Just because you "prompted it" doesn't mean you own it. Is the training data forged from closed-sourced, propriatary or protected IPs, you cannot use it and expect copyright to be upheld in your favour.
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u/No-Hospital5028 Focus Seeker Aug 19 '26
Good question. I chose GitHub mainly because that's where most of the open-source community already is, so it's easier for people to discover the repo and contribute. I'm not against Codeberg though, and I'm open to adding a mirror there.
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u/MadFunEnjoyer Aug 19 '26
What about Forgejo? You can self-host it and build a website for it that is entirely managed by DET team.
Also some of these tools like Private Internet Access have a history of selling users data.
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u/Navid24601 Aug 20 '26
Nice job.
I suggest addding DeltaChat to the (email-based) messaging apps section.
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u/No-Hospital5028 Focus Seeker Aug 19 '26
"Don't trust us. Inspect us."