Telegram is indistinguishable from an FSB honeypot
Telegram is indistinguishable from an FSB honeypot
Many people who focus on information security, including myself, have long considered Telegram suspicious and untrustworthy. Now, based on findings published by the investigative journalism outlet IStSongs on the Security of Networks
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gigarivista scottiaca con segretissimo numero, trovato così nel vedere colì
A distanza di 2 anni (…io pensavo 1), chi si ricorda Scottecs Gigazine? Probabilmente nessuno, neppure io onestamente. Però, l’altro giorno mi è tornato in mente che esiste, giusto per caricare su TomoStash una manciata di volumi molto vecchi che ho trovato sull’agrodolce Archivio di Anna… e ok. Però poi ieri ho aperto il sito […]
Experimental Piefed support is now available for Voyager
I'm excited to announce that Voyager now has experimental support for logging in with Piefed! You can try it out today on:
This will roll out to the official app stores and vger.app soon(tm), once I’m confident there are no major regressions. If you prefer not to switch to beta builds, just hang tight.
Please note that Piefed support is EXPERIMENTAL! There are still many things that don't work quite right, which I'm hoping to improve over the coming weeks.
The basics including scrolling home/all/local, viewing posts, blocking, commenting and voting should work well. However there are some known issues:
- Can't sign up for a Piefed account in-app, only log in with an existing one
- Subscribed communities list is empty (should be fixed soon!)
- Inbox tab doesn't load
- Comment search doesn't work
- Profile upvoted/downvoted doesn't load
- No moderation tools
- Mark as read doesn't persist
- Creating/editing posts is currently untested
- ...probably a bunch of other stuff too, please let me know below!
Behind the scenes, this interoperability is made possible thanks to aeharding/threadiverse, a new library I am working on to normalize various threadiverse-software APIs. It's open source so any project use it, but it's under heavy development right now. What's cool about this is in the future, adding support for mbin, or whatever else is possible!
Again, feel free to try it out and let me know if there are any more issues to be documented and fixed.
Yesterday I merged in a PR that lets the instance admin set the sizes for thumbnails.
But the real issue is that the thumbnails have a variety of uses - in the PieFed web UI thumbnails are shown quite small so 170px is fine. But some mobile apps might show the thumbnail in a manner that spans the whole screen which is going to need to be at least 350px wide.
I'll make PieFed generate a 500px version of the thumbnail and include that in the API response (as well as the smaller one).
US State Dept. spokesperson says US is the greatest country on Earth... next to Israel.
It truly is impressive how thoroughly Israel has dominated US politics. Like, Russia may have had a huge victory by getting Trump elected, but they don't have shit on Israel. Hell, something like 60% of our elected representatives have received donations from AIPAC, and that's just the stuff that's been reported!
Source: youtube.com/live/ogqYsmfDY0E
- YouTube
Profitez des vidéos et de la musique que vous aimez, mettez en ligne des contenus originaux, et partagez-les avec vos amis, vos proches et le monde entier.www.youtube.com
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Reminder: Proton Mail addresses have vendor lock-in
Both auto-forwarding and auto-reply are paid features, which makes cancelling & switching much more difficult. Gmail is a breeze comparatively. I highly recommend against using their addresses (e.g. protonmail.com
, proton.me
, pm.me
)
Email forwarding is available for everyone with a paid Proton Mail plan.
(source)
How to use email forwarding | Proton
With email forwarding, you can automatically forward emails sent to your Proton Mail account to any email address.Proton
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This 88-Year-Old Reporter Predicted How US Would Attack Iran And It has Happened Exactly
Seymour Hersh. Nearly 88, running his Substack, and still outpacing governments, intelligence leaks, and every newsroom, Hersh once again proved why he’s a legend in investigative journalism.
On June 19, he published a detailed exposé revealing that U.S. B-2 bombers and naval forces were preparing a “coordinated assault” on Iran’s key underground nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. He cited unnamed intelligence sources warning the attack was imminent and happening with almost no oversight from Congress or NATO allies.
Many brushed it off. Some called it far-fetched. On Sunday, when President Donald Trump confirmed the strikes and declared the targets “obliterated,” Hersh had already been proven right, two days ahead of the world.
This isn’t Hersh’s first time uncovering what others missed. His 2023 scoop on the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage, which he linked to U.S. operations, followed a similar path: ignored at first, later echoed by leaked investigations. The Iran bombing story played out just the same: initial silence, disbelief, then confirmation.
But Hersh’s reporting also points to a bigger shift. More than 60% of Americans now get their breaking news from social media, newsletters, and independent platforms. The reason? Speed, raw reporting, and growing distrust in traditional journalism. Hersh calls it like he sees it, often accusing mainstream reporters of being too close to power to ask real questions.
This 88-Year-Old Reporter Predicted How US Would Attack Iran And It has Happened Exactly
Hersh exposed US B-2 bombers and naval forces preparing a coordinated attack on Iran's nuclear sites, citing unnamed intelligence sources, with no oversight from Congress or NATO allies.Shruti Sneha (Republic World)
Share a script/alias you use a lot
# Download clipboard to tmp with yt-dlp
tmpv() {
cd /tmp/ && yt-dlp "$(wl-paste)"
}
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\#Create predefined session with multiple tabs/panes (rss, bluetooth, docker...)
tmux-start
\#Create predefined tmux session with ncmpcpp and ueberzug cover
music
\#Comfort
ls = "ls --color=auto"
please = "sudo !!"
\#Quick weather check
weatherH='curl -s "wttr.in/HomeCity?2QF"'
\#Download Youtube playlist videos in separate directory indexed by video order in playlist -> lectures, etc
ytPlaylist='yt-dlp -o "%(playlist)s/%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s"'
\#Download whole album -> podcasts primarily
ytAlbum='yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 --split-chapters --embed-thumbnail -o "chapter:%(section_title)s.%(ext)s"'
# download video -> extract audio -> show notification
ytm()
{
tsp yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 --no-playlist -P "~/Music/downloaded" $1 \
--exec "dunstify -i folder-download -t 3000 -r 2598 -u normal %(filepath)q"
}
# Provide list of optional packages which can be manually selected
pacmanOpts()
{
typeset -a os
for o in `expac -S '%o\n' $1`
do
read -p "Install ${o}? " r
[[ ${r,,} =~ ^y(|e|es)$ ]] && os+=( $o )
done
sudo pacman -S $1 ${os[@]}
}
# fkill - kill process
fkill() {
pid=$(ps -ef | sed 1d | fzf -m --ansi --color fg:-1,bg:-1,hl:46,fg+:40,bg+:233,hl+:46 --color prompt:166,border:46 --height 40% --border=sharp --prompt="➤ " --pointer="➤ " --marker="➤ " | awk '{print $2}')
if [ "x$pid" != "x" ]
then
kill -${1:-9} $pid
fi
}
alias realwd='cd -P .'
Here is an example :
$ echo $PWD
/home/me
$ cd Videos/Torrents/
$ echo $PWD
/home/me/Videos/Torrents
$ realwd
$ echo $PWD
/home/me/data/Torrents/Video
I also do some X application, compositor and WM development, and I have a few aliases to simplify tasks like copying from an Xorg session to an Xnest (and the other way around), or reload the
xrandr
command from my .xinitrc
without duplicating it.alias screenconf='$(grep -o "xrandr[^&]*" ~/.xinitrc)'
alias clip2xnext='xclip -selection clip -o -display :0 | xclip -selection clip -i -display :1'
alias clip2xorg='xclip -selection clip -o -display :1 | xclip -selection clip -i -display :0'
I have an alias for using MPV+yt-dlp with my firefox cookies :
alias yt="mpv --ytdl-raw-options='cookies-from-browser=firefox'"
I can't stand too long lines of text on my monitor, particularly when reading manpages, so I set the MANWIDTH env variable.
# Note : if you know that *sometimes* your terminal will be smaller than 80 characters
# refer to that https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Man_page
export MANWIDTH=80
I use null-pointers a lot, with a shorthand.
# Note: env.sh actually provide other helpful aliases on their homepage
function envs.sh() {
if [ $# != 1 ]; then
1>&2 printf "Error, need one argument.\n"
return 1
fi
curl -F'file=@'"$1" https://envs.sh
}
The usual fake editor in my path, so that browsers and other applications open Vim the correct way.
\#!/bin/sh
# st_vim.sh - executable in my ~/.local/bin
# for example in firefox's about:config :
# - view_source.editor.path : set to the value of $(which st_vim.sh)
# - view_source.editor.external : set to true
st -- $EDITOR "$*"
My
.xinitrc
is quite classical, I still have this in it (setup for dwm's title bar, people usually install much complicated programs) :while true; do xsetroot -name "$(date +"%d %H:%M")"; sleep 60; done &
I also have a lot of stupid scripts for server and desktop maintenance, disks cleaning etc... those are handy but are also very site-specific, let me know if your interested.
Charlie Musselwhite - Look Out Highway (2025)
Charlie Musselwhite - Look Out Highway (2025)
di Matteo Bossi Qualche anno fa, durante una lunga intervista apparsa sul n. 159 de Il Blues, per parlare del suo bellissimo “Mississippi S...Silvano Bottaro (Blogger)
Tinariwen - Tassili (2011)
Dopo l’ennesimo ascolto di Emmaar, il parallelo con Tassili, ultimo lavoro uscito nel 2011, è inevitabile. Il gruppo maliano che ha fatto, e continua a far conoscere la cultura tuareg in giro per il mondo, con questo disco, non si discosta di molto dal suo predecessore...
Leggi e ascolta...
Many times throughout my life, what would seem like a reasonably easy question to answer has changed dramatically.
30 years ago you could look at data collection and go there's no way that they could store a meaningful amount of data about everyone.
20 years ago you could look at data collection and go there's no way they could have the contents of every phone call It's just targeted it's not a big deal
We are the point now, where everything you ever wrote or said could be thrown into a model with such unimaginable levels of lossy compression that they could simply ask it if you are the kind of person who is into whatever the future administration deems as unacceptable and deny you access to things. All you need is a fascist regime or a dictatorship installed and all of a sudden anything you ever did can be used as grounds to lock you up.
On a governmental budget it wouldn't even be that expensive and we're just at the beginning of this.
We have seen that governments can change quickly, We know the data collection is affordable and can be permanent.
Certainly some people privacy-minded to the point of compulsion. But I can't say that anyone is wrong to seek extreme levels of privacy based on trends and capabilities.
They leave your cell phone at home and make sure somebody opens your apps and uses them people aren't anywhere near as crazy as they used to sound
As Dem Establishment Backs Cuomo, Calls Grow for NYC Mayor Race to Be 'Referendum' on Party's Direction
As Dem Establishment Backs Cuomo, Calls Grow for NYC Mayor Race to Be 'Referendum' on Party's Direction
"Cuomo winning will not only legitimize the Islamophobia that has dominated this race... but would also prove that you really can just waltz in and buy an election," said one observer.julia-conley (Common Dreams)
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La Finlandia accende la prima batteria di sabbia più grande al mondo
La Finlandia accende la prima batteria di sabbia più grande al mondo
In Finlandia è attiva la più grande batteria di sabbia al mondo: 1.000 MWh di energia termica stoccati per settimane.Ilaria Rosella Pagliaro (GreenMe.it)
Jeff Bezos: questo matrimonio a Venezia non s’ha da fare….
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Is there a Linux version that is similar to Freedom app?
Freedom: Internet, App and Website Blocker
Easily block distracting websites and apps on any device. The original and best website blocker, Freedom helps you be more focused and productive.Freedom
With apparmor, you could enable and disable profiles that could restrict access to files and paths by name.
For network traffic, it's possible to use dnsmasq to blacklist or whitelist some domains.
Iranian-Aligned Hackers Attack Trump's Truth Social: Report
Iranian-Aligned Hackers Claim Responsibility for Attack on Trump’s Truth Social Platform
A group of Iranian-aligned hackers has reportedly attacked something President Donald Trump holds dear — his Truth Social platform.Joe DePaolo (Mediaite)
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AI search finds publishers starved of referral traffic
The AIpocalypse is here for web sites as search referrals plunge
: Turn out the lights, the internet is overThomas Claburn (The Register)
Meta pauses mobile port tracking tech on Android after researchers cry foul
Meta pauses mobile port tracking tech on Android after researchers cry foul
: Zuckercorp and Yandex used localhost loophole to tie browser data to app users, say boffinsThomas Claburn (The Register)
Fact check: Viral drone video of Gaza destruction is real
Fact check: Viral drone video of Gaza destruction is real
A viral video is circulating showing the destruction caused by Israeli strikes in Gaza. DW has verified the footage of mass destruction at the Jabaliya refugee camp.Kathrin Wesolowski (Deutsche Welle)
Dal 27 al 30 giugno musica e gastronomia nella Sagra del Salame di Turgia a Devesi Di Ciriè (To)
La frazione Devesi di Ciriè si prepara a ospitare l’ottava edizione della Sagra del Salame di Turgia, evento che celebra uno dei prodotti più tipici del Ciriacese e delle Valli di Lanzo: il “Salam ëd Turgia” in piemontese, o “Salàm eud Tueurdji” in francoprovenzale. Si tratta di un salume preparato con carne di vacca, lardo e pancetta suina, aromatizzato con sale, pepe, aglio, vino rosso e spezie, poi insaccato nel budello torto di bovino. “Turgia” in piemontese indica una vacca sterile, ma può riferirsi anche a un esemplare giovane.
Organizzata dalla Pro Loco Dveisin Festareul e patrocinata dalla Città metropolitana di Torino, la manifestazione si terrà da venerdì 27 a lunedì 30 giugno in località Colombari, in occasione della festa patronale di San Pietro Apostolo. Una quattro giorni dedicata al gusto e alla tradizione, dove sarà possibile assaporare il Salame di Turgia in un clima di convivialità, accompagnato da altre specialità locali. La preparazione del salame affonda le radici nella cultura contadina e nelle famiglie che ne tramandano i segreti, rendendolo simbolo di identità e amore per il territorio.
Il programma prevede musica dal vivo, spettacoli e animazioni. Si parte venerdì 27 con l’inaugurazione affidata a Sonia De Castelli, cantante e volto noto della TV. Sabato 28 spazio alla discoteca mobile Energia. Domenica 29 salirà sul palco Luca Giordano, mentre lunedì 30 chiusura con l’orchestra Enrico Negro. Durante la sagra ci saranno anche momenti divertenti, come il Chupito San Peru e la gara di tiro alla fune domenicale.
Dal 27 al 30 giugno musica e gastronomia nella Sagra del Salame di Turgia a Devesi Di Ciriè (To) - ViaggieMiraggi
La frazione Devesi di Ciriè si prepara a ospitare l’ottava edizione della Sagra del Salame di Turgia, un evento che celebra uno dei prodotti più iconici della tradizione gastronomica del Ciriacese e delle Valli di Lanzo, detto anche Salam ëd...Redazione (ViaggieMiraggi)
Cina e l'inconfutabile dualismo nei ricami: da un lato scimmie, dall'altra cani - Il blog di Jacopo Ranieri
Cina e l'inconfutabile dualismo nei ricami: da un lato scimmie, dall'altra cani - Il blog di Jacopo Ranieri
Per anni quel ritratto mi ha fissato dall’angolo ombreggiato del salone, di un inquisitivo terrier a pelo lungo con gli occhi cerchiati di nero.Jacopo (Il blog di Jacopo Ranieri)
Mahmoud Khalil Discusses 3-Month Detention in First Interview Since Release
By Jonah E. Bromwich
June 22, 2025 Updated 8:10 p.m. ETThe administration argued that he had contributed to the spread of antisemitism through his role in the protests at the university.
But Mr. Khalil, a Palestinian born in a Syrian refugee camp, rejected the idea that protesting against Israel is inherently antisemitic.
“I was not doing anything antisemitic,” he said. “I was literally advocating for the right of my people. I was literally advocating for an end of a genocide. I was advocating that the tuition fees that I and other students pay don’t go toward investing in weapons manufacturers. What’s antisemitic about this?”
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/22/nyregion/mahmoud-khalil-interview-trump.html
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Spotify CEO becomes chairman of AI military business
Spotify CEO, Daniel Ek, becomes chairman of AI military start-up after €600 million investment
The company is now valued at approximately €12 billionRachael Pimblett (Far Out Magazine)
That time a Marine general led a fictional Iran against the US military – and won
That time a Marine general led a fictional Iran against the US military – and won
In 2002, Lt. Gen. Paul Van Riper to led opposing forces in a massive military exercise in history. In the first two days, he sank an entire carrier battle group.Blake Stilwell (We Are The Mighty)
Abandoned by Trump, a farmer and a migrant search for a better future
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/32117597
For this story, John Woodrow Cox interviewed more than 40 farmers across the country. He and photographer Matt McClain reported from Colorado while Sarah Blaskey talked to more than two dozen employees at the U.S. Agriculture Department and reviewed hundreds of documents and records that revealed the extent of the cuts and freezes.
June 21, 2025 at 6:05 a.m. EDT"The federal government had promised JJ a $200,000 grant, spread across two years, to cover the cost of a seasonal farmhand from Latin America. In a place where local, legal help was nearly impossible to keep, the extra worker would give him the freedom to handle more jobs and invest in his own equipment. It was an opportunity that could transform his family’s future, but, JJ explained to his friend, President Donald Trump had frozen the money."
Abandoned by Trump, a farmer and a migrant search for a better future
For this story, John Woodrow Cox interviewed more than 40 farmers across the country. He and photographer Matt McClain reported from Colorado while Sarah Blaskey talked to more than two dozen employees at the U.S. Agriculture Department and reviewed hundreds of documents and records that revealed the extent of the cuts and freezes.
June 21, 2025 at 6:05 a.m. EDT
"The federal government had promised JJ a $200,000 grant, spread across two years, to cover the cost of a seasonal farmhand from Latin America. In a place where local, legal help was nearly impossible to keep, the extra worker would give him the freedom to handle more jobs and invest in his own equipment. It was an opportunity that could transform his family’s future, but, JJ explained to his friend, President Donald Trump had frozen the money."
‘Doomsday Scenario’—Bitcoin Suddenly Drops Under $100,000 As Crypto Price Crash Fears Hit Ethereum And XRP 🎉
‘Doomsday Scenario’—Bitcoin Suddenly Drops Under $100,000 As Crypto Price Crash Fears Hit Ethereum And XRP
Bitcoin has plummeted sharply amid fears U.S involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict could escalate into a wider regional war...Forbes
Kevin Boone: How de-Googled is Lineage OS?
kevinboone.me/lineageos-degoog…
In an earlier article I wrote about my attempts to remove all trace of Google from my life. Part of that process, which is still ongoing, was to install Lineage OS on all my Android cellphones and tablets, replacing the original, vendor firmware. Doing this removes the egregious Google Play Services although, of course, this severely limits my ability to run Android apps. That’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make, although not without some regrets.
I’ve subsequently learned that hard-core de-Googlers eschew Lineage OS, because it remains too close to the stock configuration of the Android Open-Source Project (AOSP) on which it is based. There are certainly smartphone ROMs, like GrapheneOS, that are even more Google-free.
But I’ve grown to like Lineage. I don’t know what kind of future it has, but it works well for me, and it’s easy – as easy as can be expected – to install on all the devices I own. Installing and setting up Lineage is fiddly enough; I don’t want to make my life even more complicated, if I don’t have to.
Those of us who are divorcing Google worry most, I think, about Google’s intrusive data collection. Of course, Google is by no means the only business that engages in such practices – “surveillance capitalism” is big business. But Google presents a unique challenge because, not only does it collect a lot of data, it has a lot of clever ways to process it, and find connections between disparate data elements. Before my Google separation, it always amazed me how Google seemed to know where I was all the time, even with location services disabled on my smartphone. And Google’s advertisers seem to know what I’ve been shopping for, even when I’ve been doing my shopping in person at retail outlets. How Google does this, I don’t know; but I do want to reduce their opportunities to do so.
So I need to know what information my cellphone is sending to Google, even having removed all proprietary Google stuff.
I have to point out that I’m not talking about additional, 3rd-party apps that I might have installed on a Lineage OS device – all apps have the potential to create privacy problems, but I’m free not to use them. Here I’m just thinking about the platform itself.
Note
I run Lineage with no Google apps or services of any kind. If you do run Google services, you have to accept that absolutely everything you do with an Android device will be known to Google. There’s simply no point worrying about the trivial privacy breaches in this article – that would be like taking a cyanide pill and then worrying about your ingrown toenail.
In this article I’ll be describing various data leaks of which Lineage OS has frequently been accused, reporting which ones seem still to be present, and suggesting (well, guessing) how serious they might be.
The captive portal test
“Captive portals” are often found in hotels and entertainment venues. In a captive portal, all Internet traffic gets directed to the venue’s network filter, which ensures that the user has paid for a service or, at least, consented to some usage agreement.
Android performs a captive portal test every time the device enables a network connection. This test is a simple HTTP or HTTPS request on some publicly-accessible webserver. The request is expected to return a success (2XX) code if the server is reachable. In a captive portal, the service-providing organization will capture the HTTP(S) request, and return a redirection code to its own webserver. This server will provide a web page with further instructions.
By default Lineage OS uses Google’s webservers for the captive portal test. This means that Google knows every time a device raises a network connection.
Is this a problem? Google doesn’t get to find out anything except the IP number of the device, some limited information about the type of device, and the time of day. I’ve looked at the source code, and I don’t see any information other than this being sent – the code just uses the standard Java HTTP support to make the request. It’s plausible that, with a wide-area connection, the carrier might add additional information to the request, and Google might be able to infer your location from the IP number.
If you consider this to be too much of a risk, you can change the captive portal connectivity checker. Lineage provides no simple interface for this, but you can do it at the command line (e.g., by running a terminal app, or adb shell
). You don’t need to root the phone to do this.
$ settings put global captive_portal_http_url http://my_server
$ settings put global captive_portal_https_url https://my_server
Unless you want to disable the captive portal check completely, you’ll need to identify a public webserver that can provide the appropriate response. There are many such servers; some Android replacements that focus more on de-Googling, like GrapheneOS, default to using one of these rather than Google. Even then, they usually have Google’s servers as a fall-back, because an outage of the conectivity check server could otherwise cause serious disruption.
On the whole, I regard this (captive portal check) a relatively harmless breach of privacy. It isn’t telling Google anything they’re not going to find out about in other ways.
DNS
Every time you use a hostname to identify a remote server, there’s going to be a DNS lookup. This lookup translates the hostname into a numeric ID for use with the TCP/IP protocol.
Internet service providers and mobile carriers operate DNS servers, but so does Google. DNS is potentially a privacy problem because the DNS server gets to learn every site you visit. It won’t see the actual URL of a web request – just the hostname. Still, that’s enough information to be concerned about. But it’s worth thinking about who the “you” is in “every site you visit”. To track you, personally, as an individual, the DNS server needs a way to relate your IP number to something that identifies you. There’s no definitive way for Google (or anybody) to do that; but there are statistical methods that can be very effective. They are particularly effective if you happen to use Google’s other services, because these will link a small number of personal Google accounts to an IP number.
Is this a problem for Lineage OS? While it might have been in the past, I don’t think Lineage now uses Google’s DNS, except perhaps as a fallback. Both WiFi and carrier Internet connections are initiated using protocols that can supply a DNS server. On my Lineage devices, I’m sure that these are the DNS servers that are being used. Still, there are references to Google’s DNS server – 8.8.8.8 – in the AOSP source code. So I can’t prove that Google’s DNS will never be used.
If you want, you can supply your own DNS server in the network configuration in the Settings app. But, unless you run your own DNS in the public Internet, you’ll be putting your trust in one mega-corporation or another. I suspect most are less worrying than Google, but perhaps not by much.
By the way – Lineage OS supports encrypted DNS. While that will prevent third-parties from snooping on your DNS traffic – including your mobile carrier or ISP – this won’t protect you from snooping at the DNS server itself. So encrypted DNS is no protection against Google, if you’re using Google’s DNS.
Assisted GPS
It takes a long time for a mobile device to get a robust fix on GPS satellites – a minute in good conditions, or several minutes in a weak signal area. Assisted GPS (A-GPS) primes the satellite fix using environmental data. This data might including a coarse location from a cellular network. With A-GPS, a satellite fix might take only a few seconds.
A-GPS data is processed by a remote server, that has the storage capacity to handle the large amounts of data involved. The main operator of such servers is, again, Google.
What can Google learn about a device using Assisted GPS? As in any Internet operation, it will find the device’s IP number, and it might find the coarse location. The Internet traffic associated with A-GPS can be encrypted but this, again, won’t protect it from Google. To determine the location of a specific individual, Google has to be able to relate the IP number to the individual. As discussed above, that can be done with a reasonable degree of confidence.
On recent Lineage versions, A-GPS is disabled by default. If enabled, it uses Google’s servers – so far as I know there are no widely-available alternatives. I just keep it disabled, and live with the disadvantage of longer GPS start-up times.
Time synchronization, NTP
At one time, Lineage OS used Googles’ time servers to set the time on the device. So far as I know, this is no longer the case – a general pool of NTP servers is used. Even if that were not the case, I can’t worry too much about leaking time synchronizing data.
WebView
I believe that WebView is the most troubling source of privacy concerns for Lineage OS, and the one whose ramifications are the least well-understood.
WebView is a component of Android that renders web pages. Of course, a web browser will do this, but many Android apps and services have a need to render pages without actually being a browser. The ‘captive portal’ support I described above is an example: the device needs to render a page for user to log in or purchase Internet access, even if no web browser is installed.
Lineage OS uses the WebView implementation from the AOSP, which is based on Chromium. Chromium is Google Chrome without the proprietary Google stuff, and it’s undoubtedly less of a privacy concern than Chrome would be. But Chromium, even though it’s open-source, is still primarily a Google product.
There are many known instances where Chromium will provide some user data to Google servers. For example, we know that Chromium downloads lists of ‘unsafe’ websites to support its ‘safe browsing’ feature. This will happen however Chromium is used. When used as a regular web browser, Chromium might send data to Google for its ‘hot word’ detection, for example.
When Chromium is only used to provide a WebView implementation, I’m not convinced that these minor privacy breaches are significant. It’s worth bearing in mind that the Jelly browser that is shipped with Lineage OS is just a wrapper around the Chromium WebView – if you use this browser, you’ll have the same privacy concerns as if you use Chromium itself.
There are a number of Google-free WebView implementations, like Chromite. GrapheneOS uses a WebView implementation called Vanadium, which is essentially a de-Googled Chromium. Installing one of these implementations on Lineage OS is not straightforward, or so it seems to me.
I don’t use Jelly or Chromium itself as a web browser – I install a browser that is not based on Google code, like Firefox. This limits my exposure to Chromium to occasions where WebView is used other than as a browser. In my normal usage, I don’t think there are many of those occasions, so I’m not too worried about WebView.
Nevertheless, it remains a slight concern and, if I could replace it without a lot of effort, I would.
Are we in tinfoil hat territory now?
I don’t like Google knowing so much about me, but I don’t believe Google’s data collection is directly harmful to me. My disapproval of Google’s activities (and I know Google is not the only culprit) is mainly one of principle. I don’t want to be a source of revenue for Google, or to legitimize their behaviour by my own inaction. I don’t want Google to make the Internet more of a hellscape that it currently is.
But I’m not paranoid. I don’t think Google is out to get me, or is in league with people who are. My rejection of Google falls short of doing things that will make my life hugely more difficult.
I am aware, all the same, that I have one foot in tinfoil hat country.
I know a few people – some in my own family – who eschew smartphones because they create time-wasting distractions. I certainly know people who don’t give smartphones to their kids, because of the well-known risks that social media poses to their mental health. But almost nobody avoids Google because they believe, as I do, that the surveillance economy is detrimental to society in the long term. Even those few who do believe this are mostly not willing to take action, because they believe (or convince themselves) that the benefits of a connected world outweigh the costs of a total lack of privacy. For me that’s like understanding the risks of climate change, and yet choosing to run two or three gas-guzzling cars because it’s a half-mile walk to the shops.
The few people who do believe as I do, and are willing to act on their beliefs, tend to be people who also believe that they’re being monitored by the CIA, or that Covid vaccines are implanting mind-control receivers. That’s not a gang that I want to run with.
On the whole, I’m satisfied that Lineage OS, as I use it, is preventing nearly all of Google’s data collection. I don’t install or use any Google services, I don’t enable A-GPS, I don’t use Chromium or the built-in browser. I could eliminate more arcane aspects of data collection – like the Internet connectivity check – if I wanted to take the trouble.
I don’t think that taking reasonable precautions to avoid becoming part of Google’s data collection economy makes me a tinfoil-hatter. Nevertheless, I would probably use GrapheneOS instead, if I had devices that supported it. Ironically, if I wanted to use GrapheneOS, I’d have to buy Google-branded mobile devices, which is an irony that really stings.
like this
Lovely and well researched post... till I see the "tend to be people who also believe that they’re being monitored by the CIA, or that Covid vaccines are implanting mind-control receivers...".
I find it problematic that both are considered as the same type; there is an incredible abundant evidence that security apparatus of different countries (not necessarily just the CIA that ' technically' can only operate in non-Americans) are indeed scrutinizing phone's data to well beyond what we would consider "the regular suspects"... way beyond! The other, is just people that, while rightly so can be skeptical of government intentions with global mandates, they hide behind that paranoia for their lack of technical and intend knowledge. As the meme says... "we are not the same".
As for GrapheneOS vs Lineage OS, I am torn. For the majority of people, as of today, LineageOS is just fine... I like that it brings diversity of hardware too since it discourages governments from having to intend to compromise different manufacturers (thing that GOS faults at). Now, more people in GrapheneOS will bring awareness too and more privacy conscious apps. So, for majority of people, do install LineageOS (or their variants), you will be taken good care of... However, for a minority of people, minority but not tiny! you know who you are, you will do better with grapheneOS (hope someone is scrutinizing both GOS and the Pixel hardware though).
No Internet For 4 Hours And Now This
Well, I'm back online after a 4 hour blackout due to the heat in Brooklyn.
I found out that my ISP Optimum had issues with their equipment in Brooklyn due to the heat and humidity set on by this week's weather.
Now I'm worried that things will be really harsh on my equipment in the living room.
Any suggestions on how to keep the modem/router from overheating and causing problems?
Mahmoud Khalil Discusses 3-Month Detention in First Interview Since Release
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/32115867
By Jonah E. Bromwich
June 22, 2025 Updated 8:10 p.m. ETThe administration argued that he had contributed to the spread of antisemitism through his role in the protests at the university.
But Mr. Khalil, a Palestinian born in a Syrian refugee camp, rejected the idea that protesting against Israel is inherently antisemitic.
“I was not doing anything antisemitic,” he said. “I was literally advocating for the right of my people. I was literally advocating for an end of a genocide. I was advocating that the tuition fees that I and other students pay don’t go toward investing in weapons manufacturers. What’s antisemitic about this?”
Mahmoud Khalil Discusses 3-Month Detention in First Interview Since Release
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/32115867
By Jonah E. Bromwich
June 22, 2025 Updated 8:10 p.m. ETThe administration argued that he had contributed to the spread of antisemitism through his role in the protests at the university.
But Mr. Khalil, a Palestinian born in a Syrian refugee camp, rejected the idea that protesting against Israel is inherently antisemitic.
“I was not doing anything antisemitic,” he said. “I was literally advocating for the right of my people. I was literally advocating for an end of a genocide. I was advocating that the tuition fees that I and other students pay don’t go toward investing in weapons manufacturers. What’s antisemitic about this?”
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/22/nyregion/mahmoud-khalil-interview-trump.html
Mahmoud Khalil Discusses 3-Month Detention in First Interview Since Release
By Jonah E. Bromwich
June 22, 2025 Updated 8:10 p.m. ET
The administration argued that he had contributed to the spread of antisemitism through his role in the protests at the university.
But Mr. Khalil, a Palestinian born in a Syrian refugee camp, rejected the idea that protesting against Israel is inherently antisemitic.
“I was not doing anything antisemitic,” he said. “I was literally advocating for the right of my people. I was literally advocating for an end of a genocide. I was advocating that the tuition fees that I and other students pay don’t go toward investing in weapons manufacturers. What’s antisemitic about this?”
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/22/nyregion/mahmoud-khalil-interview-trump.html
Sorella di Perfezione - le poesie di Giuseppe Iannozzi - in libreria e negli Store online - LFA Publisher
Sorella di Perfezione - le poesie di Giuseppe Iannozzi - in libreria e negli Store online - LFA Publisher
**youtube.com/shorts/hk8RXKTvNTw…
Ulteriori informazioni su "Sorella di Perfezione"
**iannozzigiuseppe.wordpress.com…
“Sorella di Perfezione” di Giuseppe Iannozzi – booktrailer – LFA Publisher
Sorella di Perfezione offre al lettore poesie che trattano molteplici temi: amore, amicizia, erotismo, vita, morte, tristezza, solitudine, paranoia, ossessione, spiritualità. L’autore Giuseppe Iann…Iannozzi Giuseppe - scrittore e giornalista
AnotherUsername
in reply to Andromxda 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇹🇼 • • •Andromxda 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇹🇼
in reply to AnotherUsername • • •rysiek
in reply to Andromxda 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇹🇼 • • •altkey (he\him)
in reply to rysiek • • •AMA is AMA
It's not the first time I see your discovery shared and I want to thank you. It won't completely disencourage people around me from using it but it'd pile up with other many reasons to do so. Someday there would be just enough of them, like it happened with VK, Facebook etc, I believe.
rysiek
in reply to altkey (he\him) • • •What have I done.
I do information security work, and I used to work closely with investigative journalists hailing from Russia, Kazachstan, Ukraine, and other places in that general area. Telegram is massively popular there. Because of this Telegram has been on my radar for a very long time as a serious security threat – not just because its protocol and management are suspect, there are plenty of other IMs like that, but also because of how many people I worked with had used it.
I've written about Telegram before, on amore general level (linked in the blog post), so when IStories reached out to me for comment on this it was a good inspiration to dive deeper.
I would not use it. I refuse to accept that abandoning it is not an option. There are plenty of options. It's always a decision one can make.
Please remember that even if hypothetically you could use it in a way that protects you from the spying – something I am very, very doubtful of! – the mere fact you are using it sucks other people into using it. You personally become one more reason for someone to start using or keep using Telegram. You personally become one more "user" of Telegram, justifying another media organization or NGO to set up or maintain a presence there – which in turn pulls in even more users into the dragnet.
In other words, your decision to use Telegram anyway, even though you know what the issues are, becomes one of the many things that make other people feel that "abandoning is not an option". I refuse to be a part of that. The only thing I can recommend is to stop using it.
I think this hits the nail on the head: If the FSB conection is that deep, there is no end to what they’d want to mine from users.
I don't want to speculate. The possibilities are vast. But I will say what I said in the blogpost: Telegram is indistinguishable from an FSB honeypot.
I don't trust Telegram the company, I don't trust Telegram the software, I don't trust MTProto. I certainly do not trust Pavel Durov. I don't think we need to speculate on what more could possibly be hiding there, what is already known about Telegram should really be enough to stop using it.
thatonecoder
in reply to rysiek • • •rysiek
in reply to thatonecoder • • •Cheradenine
in reply to Andromxda 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇹🇼 • • •lazynooblet
in reply to Andromxda 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇹🇼 • • •The entire article seems like an attack. The author finds a unique identifier and adds "Russia bad" throughout.
States the information is in cleartext but then explains how everything is encrypted (in transit).
What will the author do if they intercepted any single online stores transfer of credit card details. Also encrypted in transit but Is that also deemed as cleartext? Or is that okay?
I don't think much new is learnt here. WhatsApp also sends metadata in "cleartext" (not really, as it's encrypted in transit, but this article called that "cleartext").
T (they/she)
in reply to lazynooblet • • •I don't know... I think the author put a lot of effort on document things and presenting evidence.
Your post history and mod logs are also quite weird.
lazynooblet
in reply to T (they/she) • • •Lol what does that mean
Rose
in reply to lazynooblet • • •ses hat
in reply to Andromxda 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇹🇼 • • •XXIC3CXSTL3Z
in reply to ses hat • • •fr it's literally
But I can't lie the analysis is still quite in-depth and feels like an effortpost
dewittlebook
in reply to ses hat • • •I can't say I read the whole thing because the technical analysis went over my head, but I don't think we read the same conclusion
Based on the analysis of packet captures above, I believe it is clear that anyone who has sufficient visibility into Telegram’s traffic would be able to identify and track traffic of specific user devices. Including when perfect forward secrecy protocol feature is in use.
This would also allow, through some additional analysis based on timing and packet sizes, to potentially identify who is communicating with whom using Telegram.
Telegram is indistinguishable from an FSB honeypot
Songs on the Security of Networksrysiek
in reply to ses hat • • •Hi, author here. First of all, in that piece I don't happen to recommend using any specific piece of software. I mention Signal and WhatsApp for comparison, as tools that are considered similar, and yet avoid making the same weird protocol choices.
Secondly, if you have any proof that any specific communication tool is used to "spy" on people, I am sure I am not the only person who would love to hear about it. That's the only way we can keep each other safe online. Surely you wouldn't be making unsubstantiated claims and just imply stuff like that without any proof, would you?
And finally, I've spent a good chunk of time and expertise on analyzing Telegram's protocol before I made my claims. I provided receipts. I provided code. I explained in detail my testing set-up. You can yourself go and verify my results.
Instead, you claim it's "propaganda", while mischaracterizing what I say in that post. Classy!
socsa
in reply to Andromxda 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇹🇼 • • •Sims
in reply to Andromxda 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇹🇼 • • •