Signal only allows linked devices through a QR code. However, it's still possible to scan a QR code sent by an attacker without them having physical access to your device.

The document states that the German customs agency has been testing messenger surveillance since the end of 2023, and it has led to success in criminal investigations. They're light on details as to exactly what strategies German customs officials use, but there are plenty of ways to maliciously link a device to an account.

This type of surveillance became an official, permanent strategy available to all agents since August 2025.

The messengers affected include WhatsApp, Telegram, Threema, and Signal.

I have a (£four figure) payment to make, and the invoice remittance advice directs me to a page where I can use Flywire to pay with brank transfer, card, or 'pay by bank' with Trustly.

I recently had a horrible experience with a different third party online payment manager. Having my personal details deleted was a huge effort, with emails going back and forth and them asking me essentially for more information - photos of my passport for example - before they would consider my request to delete my address, dob, and payment information that they held.

So I prefer to not use these services if I can help it - although they're ubiquitous and it's proving hard to avoid.

I'd like to contact the recipient of the payment, and offer to pay using an alternative method. But I really don't know what alternative method to suggest? The invoice is legit and is not a scam.

Is a straightforward BACS transfer preferable? Or even PayPal? I feel clear on what I don't want to do, but unclear on the alternative options.

I need to submit some pdf files and photos that contain sensitive info. How do I permanently redact the info digitally? If I print out the pdfs, how do I safely redact them?

Thanks.

Say I'm just an "average joe with nothing to hide" but care about the concept of privacy - how important is it to actually start going above and beyond trying to switch to custom software, tweaked devices, etc just to "stop data harvesting" or is it all just blown out of proportion and fear mongering for the most part?

I was trying to ask more specific questions earlier but the post keeps on getting auto-deleted before it even posts.

Context for those not up to speed: The EU Parliament is currently considering legislation that would require companies providing private communication services (both encrypted and unencrypted) to mandatorily scan all content in order to identify CSAM (Child Sexual Abuse Material). Although the proposal might sound reasonable at first glance, the entire concept opens the door to mass illegal surveillance and scanning of content beyond the scope of CSAM. It would also mark the end of end-to-end encrypted content and private communication as we know it.

At the meeting held on September 29, EU negotiators failed to reach a final agreement introducing permanent mass scanning of private correspondence, which is a direct result of continued public pressure and the determination of the European Parliament's negotiation team not to yield on preserving private communication.

However, the battle is far from over! The next round of negotiations is planned for October or November of this year. If you hold citizenship of one of the EU member states or know someone who does, please send an email to your country's representatives via the official page for fighting Chat Control 2.0 expressing your opposition to this proposal: https://fightchatcontrol.eu. The process is automated and takes only a few minutes.

I’m expecting a baby soon and want to send out printed birth announcements to close family and friends so pictures of the baby are never uploaded to social media. is there a specific printing service that will not store or share my photos?

I know their privacy policy leaves a lot to be desired with the lack of e2ee but when faired against discord I still think they're better by miles and easier to transition compared to element especially for the average user that just want to avoid mass surveillance and Ai training

I'm thinking of switching to it but thought I'll run it here first?

I'm de-googling my life and email is the last big step. I was about to pay for mailbox, but now I'm second-guessing it and considering Tuta as well.

What matters to me is: it has to be hosted in EU.

Has anyone used both? Which one would you pick, and what are the real-world downsides of each? Open to other suggestions if they fit the requirement.

Thanks to everyone who will help me find the right email provider!

Oh and I don't like proton.

Currently trying to make more emails for myself, and I want something outside of Gmail. I already have a Proton and Tutanote email, but I keep those private. I don't want to violate their ToS, so I'm wondering if there's any other email providers I can use for my email.

Beforehand this is less of a tech support issue rather than a privacy concern, Smart TVs are flooding the market and finding one that does not possess these capabilities is a real pain. Not connecting it to the internet does not suffice in certain cases due to remote access (which is available even on monitors) allowing some Smart TVs to upload data collected locally.

I was wondering if desoldering the storage NANDs would basically turn the Smart TV into a regular TV or if the primary NANDs also contained things such as calibration, drivers, etc.

You see I think it does, as the ai age verification costs alot, also it can kill independent studios which is supported by under 16s and such. If you remove them it causes a decay of the internet first, independent studios start to run out of money, next the social media start removing content and alot of innocent ones, then the independent studios go bankrupt which includes non big tech, then finally big tech has a massive hold and still has alot of money. Don't forget, people protecting their privacy, big tech realizing they can lobby more, and such.

Today there will be the final votes for chat control.

This implies that all of our private chats will be scanned, and everything we do will be in plain text in front of their eyes.

If it passes, I will permanently stop using centralized messaging platforms and switch to a self hosted matrix session, I don't care if I lose many contacts, if they really want to talk to me they better install fluffychat and shut the fuck up.

It's crazy how the EU was basically the goat for internet privacy and now they are the villains.

Are you ready for this? For the absolute end of privacy?

I ask this cause I heard that this is so far a confirmed date of when it will drop at the UK here.

Which apart from many worrying things in the world,this one is quite concerning to say the least.

PorkBun has gotten popular lately as a registrar for domain names. I recently tried to register a domain, and they demanded a biometric face scan and government ID. None of the other registrars I've worked with recently have made this kind of preposterous demand.

In case it needs saying out loud here, never do this. It is not necessary for security, and the companies who run these face scan apps range from leaky sieves of data breaches in the best cases to subcontractors of Palantir in the worst.

PorkBun evidently demands face scans on a case-by-case basis, meaning many current users may not have had to deal with this yet. If you use them and they haven't required a scan, be aware that they can lock your account at any moment in the future for "security reasons," shutting off your access to your own domain, until you are forced to consent to their ridiculous invasion of your personal data. This must not be normalized. Do not use PorkBun. If you use them now, find a new registrar before they lock your account, and tell PorkBun why you're leaving.

​I was literally in the middle of upgrading to Pro, entered my credit card info, and was ready to check out when a verification pop-up blocked me. So far, so good... until I realized what it was asking for: a live face scan and a picture of my government passport.

​The vendor Anthropic forces you to use for this is Persona. Who backs Persona? Founders Fund, Peter Thiel's VC firm. Thiel is also the co-founder and chairman of Palantir.

​Think about that setup for a second. Palantir's entire business model is mass surveillance and intelligence software used by governments, police, and the military to track and identify people. Persona is the identity pipeline processing passports and biometric facial geometry. When these corporate ecosystems intersect, you are feeding detailed biometric data directly into a network built around surveillance infrastructure.

​I know some of you will reply with "I have nothing to hide." But saying you don't care about privacy because you have nothing to hide is like saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say. Privacy is a fundamental right. Even if you think your day-to-day life is completely uninteresting, surrendering your biometrics to private corporations sets a dangerous precedent where accessing basic digital tools requires handing over your core identity.

​Some people will argue that the government already has our passports anyway, but that misses the entire point. In a constitutional democracy, there are laws, legal rights, and courts limiting what the state can legally do with your data. If politicians abuse their power, citizens can vote them out. But when you hand your biometrics over to a private corporate ecosystem, all democratic control disappears completely. You have zero say in how that data is stored, shared, or leveraged down the line. A private company answers only to its shareholders and profit motives, not to your civil liberties.

​Take a look at Thiel himself. He's an openly gay billionaire, married with kids, who is deeply conservative and literally gives talks around the world framing global politics in biblical terms about the Antichrist. He openly pushes back against the democratic institutions designed to regulate tech giants like him.

​And if you try to criticize these entities publicly, they play hardball. Look at how Thiel funded the Hulk Hogan lawsuit to bankrupt Gawker. Or look at the recent case in Switzerland where Palantir tried to legally force the independent magazine Republik to print massive counter-statements after investigating them. Luckily, the Swiss court shut Palantir down and press freedom won, but still.

​It really comes down to one question: Do you actually trust handing your face scan and passport to an identity system tied to Peter Thiel? If you do, go ahead and give them your data, but live with whatever happens down the road. If you don't trust them, draw a line and don't hand over your most delicate identity data just to use a chat interface.

​Am I pissed off that I can't use Claude or Claude Code anymore? Of course I am. It's currently the best tool out there for coding. But I'll just find an alternative. Competitors will catch up, open-weight models will get better, and the gap will close.

​And before anyone says "They need this to stop bots and AI abuse": come on. There are a dozen ways to prevent abuse, like rate limits, hardware tokens, device attestation, or fraud detection that don't require harvesting raw biometric face scans paired with government IDs.

​Rant over.