New version still misspells it “Mastadon” haha
Spotify shouldn’t be on this list… They exploit artists and platform joe rogans horseshit for profit
And i think they donated money to Trump also.
In what way is mastodon privacy focused?
focused is not a good word for it but i do think it’s fair to say that not actively milking you for data is caring about privacy these days.
Well, the flyer originated here: https://old.reddit.com/r/BuyFromEU/comments/1jcr8ks/here_is_the_new_and_improved_guide_to_help_you/ but mastodon stands out as it has no commercial driver. There aren’t any ad-services profiling you, so that is a big win for your privacy.
Yeah, but all your data is public, everyone can see it
Is it possible to set up a signal server, or is it not completely FOSS?
Would my friends on signal be able to connect to that?
Maybe we’re wrong but for the moment they’re not interoperable.
But the new European DMA regulation requires platforms to be interoperable. Meta and Apple are obliged now to open up their apps to communicate with smaller rival apps such as Signal. Apps using XMPP may be allowed to communicate with other apps in the future, although this seems to pose some security risks.
Some information about the requirement for interoperability between messengers:
XMPP, for ex, is the protocol used by WhatsApp and Signal.
Whaaaa, really??
you can set up your own server for your own needs as far as I know, but you’ll probably have to build your own version of the client to connect to it. there’s no decentralisation.
It isn’t at all. It is closed source powered by an American non-profit organization. You can consider this organization as
friendly.They recurrently said, they would shut the gates if U.S. government/law wants them to store more than metdata (phone number+last activity date) they are storing.
So noodlejetskis comment below is wrong?
Thanks for the info BTW, I’m an avid user and proponent of Signal (best out there today eh.)
@Valmond @SrMono Most popular out there and one of the easiest to set up / easiest to convince non-tech users to switch over to. Not the best… For me, that award would go to Matrix / Element.
Threema would be second (and should be first), but many will balk at the shocking fact that they dare to ask money to contribute to their development and operation costs…
What about SimpleX Chat? Comes without identifiers, is open source and not located in the US. Relay Servers are located in Germany, UK and Sweden and it’s possible to host your own. Last audit was in 2024. No metadata is stored. Fundings are handled very transparently and presentated on the Website.
Not meaning to advertise it, just genuine interested in other peoples opinion.
You kinda want to only use simpleX for secret communications, things you don’t want anyone unauthorized to know about. It’s not really made for the use-cases that discord is and it’s good to keep a secrecy hygiene so you don’t accidentally send sensitive information to the wrong chat.
Meanwhile element (matrix) is specifically targeted at the same use-cases as discord and has good enough end-to-end encryption for general family chats and such, things you’d very much prefer not just being out there in the open but also no one is ever going to bother hacking into.
In terms of security I would go Matrix, Threema, Signal… in terms of usability I would say Signal, Threema, Matrix.
Threema also has a Business line which helps to cover the cost, but yea… the price went up from 1€ to 5€. Back in the days I sponsored some licenses and spilled a bunch 1€ in the club like a rich man.
Why does nobody ever remember about the Vivaldi browser?
Well, certainly not nobody, I hear it mentioned quite often on the internet! Just make sure to keep talking about it, if you want it to get more popular :D
What makes Vivaldi better than other Chromium-based browsers in terms of privacy and such?
It’s also chromium based. But other than that it’s european and a pretty cool browser!
@SrMono isn’t bluesky also US owned
Absolutely, and they evaluate training AI on user content. It’s just a stopgap solution, I would always recommend mastodon instead.
I would recommend deezer over Spotify. Spotify enables Rogan and all his bullshit
Qobuz! It pays artists the best out of any streaming service appartenly
How is deezer these days? Last time I used it is many years ago.
edit: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Access_Industries Access Industries owns Deezer. They invest in the US and Israel and have donated millions to republicans in the past.
Why not use something like Matrix (Element) as a messenger alternative?
Both Tuta and Proton have a free tier for their email. Also, I think Infomaniak’s kmail might be an even better replacement for the typical email/cloud providers than the aforementioned, for normies at least.
Honest question, is Switzerland a part of the EU now, or do they just get a pass for being surrounded?
It’s like norway, the only way in which they’re not part of the EU is that they don’t get to vote and they have a handful of exceptions to highly specific things, e.g. norway REALLY doesn’t want to let anyone else tell them how to fish.
@RvTV95XBeo @SrMono No, but what is your gripe? Located in Europe. Spend most of their money in Europe and have the same general mentality. Strongly focused on privacy.
They are not an official member, but being surrounded by EU countries lead to them being included in a lot of treaties and such.
can anybody explain why people hate on Waterfox? I’m using it for over a year now and it’s been great so far!
I would be more interested in why they didn’t go with LibreWolf?
i tried librewolf about 2 years ago but it didn’t quite work for me since it’s high security settings were breaking the sites i visited :O
I think it’s about none of Firefox forks being remotely capable of evolving on their own. So any large scale push to leave Firefox for any of these forks might only hurt Firefox which would in turn hurt its forks.
My insignificant opinion on the matter is that it’s great to have different flavors of Firefox that might be better suited for you, but it doesn’t appear to lead to a solution to the underlying issue.
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Where’s the part suggesting getting off social media altogether, and stocking up on guns, ammo, and cans of beans?
@skeptomatic @SrMono You find that aplenty over on Matrix…
And in other communities. Also you misspelled beer.
@SrMono Cans of bears?
No Threema?
Unfortunately, Threema will never be a real alternative because of the price tag. There are just too many good alternative that are for free. For example, Element is European, privacy-wise good and for free.
After switching your search engine, hop into your European time-machine and go back to February to continue this guide.
Ecosia also has a browser for Android and Windows/Mac. Just not Linux. Vivaldi is great for Linux.
both of these are just chromium reskins
