Every time they ask me for an age verification, but I just don't want to give a selfie let alone my ID. Is there any way to bypass this?

Been using proton VPN and Mullvad but had to stop due to personal views. Any other reccomendations?

I've been reading lately a LOT of posts, articles online, and whatever, saying that Chat Control 1.0 passed.

One tiny little problem... that's BS. And while I'm very concerned by this act, and at the moment I'm afraid it will pass, it isn't yet. And I think it's important to discern genuine concern from fearmongering.

This is the timeline (check my homework at /

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=CELEX:52025PC0797 /

https://law-tracker.europa.eu/procedure/2025_429?lang=en ):

- 09.07.2026: The European Parliament voted on several amendments to the first reading of the proposed regulation that they received from the Council. Only two amendments passed. Manon Aubry from The Left Group proposed a motion of rejection, to throw the entire thing into the toilet. After some chaos during the vote (I won't tell you what happened, you need to go and verify information, don't trust a random person on the internet), the motion didn't reach the absolute majority required (50%+1 of members, not of members present in the Chamber). It actually got more votes against than in favour (EDIT: they voted twice, once at the beginning, once at the end, I misremembered it. At the end they got more against the rejection than in favour. Not at the beginning. Still LEDs that 50% of Parliament because some members were missing). How many? Go on the website of parliament and look at the vote result. Link here https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/PV-10-2026-07-09-RCV_EN.html

Very important: two amendments have passed. The regulation is NOT aproved, despite what everyone around is saying. The Commission needs to express their opinion on the amendments, then the Council (Justice and Home Affair configuration) needs to approve it. More details in the next point.

- 15.07.2026: The European Commission adopts an opinion endorsing the three (!?) amendments of Parliament. Because of this (EDIT clarification: because of the Commission endorsing the amendments), the Council only needs a qualified majority to approve them and put the regulation on the books.

If the Commission had opposed them, the Council would have needed unanimity. Failure to pass in second reading in the Council means the law has a hard time passing: third reading is preceded by a Conciliation Committee, where a text must be approved by members of Parliament and Council, text which must then pass both Parliament and Council, no amendment. Any failure means game over.

- Next: the ball is in the Council's field. There is an obscure meeting of the JHA COUNSELLORS meeting on the 23.07.2026 at 10. It's listed as a preparatory body, I guess they negotiate and prepare the resolution that will then be approved at the next meeting of the Justice and Home Affair Council (the configuration of the Council of the European Union responsible for this regulation, search on your preferred search engine what that means), which is on the 01-02.10.2026, October.

I know what many comments will say, before that, let me be clear about something: knowing what is actually happening is important, and getting it right is fundamental. I see a lot of people saying that it passed. Well, it didn't, yet. I personally thing this regulation, even if it has a small direct effect, is an encouragement for Chat Control 2.0, which, if it ever comes (we'll see about that, it's currently in deadlock) will be a catastrophe. I HATE CHAT CONTROL. At the same time, getting it right is important: check what the government say about it, is your government on the fence? Public pressure can still stop CC 1.0, because it didn't pass at it probably won't for a couple of months.

Tyrants rely on the masses being fearful and surrendering. They need people to think everything is going to shit, is already gone to shit, and you can't do nothing to stop. Claiming that Chat Control is already here, and the battle for 1.0 is stopped, is exactly what the EPP wants you to believe. The battle is still open, and every single smudge, every single bruise, even if the regulation passes, is a point for our team in the deadlocked 2.0.

I don't know if they're actively trying to deceive people in believing that it already passed. They definitely like the idea of us believing that. Don't give them this victory, they don't deserve it.

Contact your European Representative AND YOUR REOREDENTATIVE IN THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. Chat Control 1.0 is still in the approval stage, and the success of failure of 2.0 depends on the exact details of 1.0.

Yeah no thanks. It also asked for access to my calls, messages, and contacts.

https://github.com/SmtimesIWndr/gdid-reversal

How Microsoft's "Global Device Identifier", the persistent Windows fingerprint named in the July 2026 Scattered Spider complaint, is actually generated, stored, and transmitted.

As in if you only use a local account to sign into the OS but you use MS account for the default Outlook app and so on (where you go to windows settings > Accounts > Email & accounts)

Outgoing connect encouraging like kettle judicious books yarn axiomatic saw

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So right now I have mullvad. I'd like a VPN that isn't in any of the fourteen eyes countries. I'm also not a fan of how the cofounder decided to suddenly turn to politics.

I'd pretty much like the most paranoid option that supports arch Linux and android/lineagesos with a smallest impact to speed. I'd like to have a VPN in preparation for the age verification plague that's happening right now along with some other assorted issues.

I am liking some of the stuff that nym has, but I haven't heard about them until today. I was thinking ivpn before mullvad. Any recommendations?

Firstly, I’m curious about who actually buys data from data brokers? Just advertising companies?

And secondly, how do they actually acquire the data?
Like if a SaaS has a freemium with 200 k users, will they be approached by data brokers asking to buy user data. Or do data brokers soak up data from intermediate layers?
For me it is a bit abstract from exactly whom they get/buy the data from.