copygirl

Selhosting and a vpn are optional depending on your use case; the app works with niether to help users try it out and get started. Like all secure messaging apps, its better to selfhost given the option.

I’d say self-hosting is done for control over your data, not security. A typical end user will not know how to self-host, how to pick a privacy-respecting VPN, let alone secure their system. If your aim is to get to that same level of security, then I feel like the current direction is flawed, at least from what I took away from the readme.

Or, in other words, “self-hosting is more secure given the option” sounds kind of like “writing your own software is more secure”.

This project is aiming to create the most secure and private chat app. It will heavily depend on how you use it. Here are some reccomended security optimizations/advice to keep your data secure and private:

• Use a self-hosted instance of the app.
• Use a VPN to protect your data from being intercepted.
• Only connect to trusted peers.
• Validate public key hashes.
• You and your peer should use a secure device/os/browser with the latest updates.
• use general security practices like not sharing sensitive information, not clicking on suspicious links, etc.

These recommendations are bizarre.

• Is it really P2P if you need to a host your own instance?
• Use a VPN? So a company can now track you instead of the ISP?
• If it’s aiming to be safe, then why not share sensitive information?

If you want secure and private, then I would first look at Session.

And of course, that response cost you one wish credit.

My chosen name, Tess, was literally picked from a variable name from de-obfuscated Minecraft code over a decade ago. It said Tesselator tess = ... or something like that. And I thought “that sounds neat”. Some time after, I found out it’s also a real name used by real people in the real world.

Discord also works poorer in Linux

Certainly not Linux’ fault if developers write shitty Electron apps and then put a bunch of OS-specific stuff in it.

Also, try Vesktop? I like that I can customize my experience a little more with the plugins.

Snap

All my homies hate Snap.

Haven’t watched the video, but I think just the conversation this created ended up being interesting to me. A handful of extra views won’t do any harm.

most of the the Arch cult forget to mention that

The “Arch cult’s” holy book, the ArchWiki, states the following pretty clearly:

Warning: AUR packages are user-produced content. These PKGBUILDs are completely unofficial and have not been thoroughly vetted. Any use of the provided files is at your own risk.

Mention of one’s use of the AUR for their needs doesn’t need to come with a disclaimer.
People who don’t read or don’t use their brain are going to keep not doing so, regardless.

JavaScript is already sandboxed. You can only execute functions where there is an actual API defined by the browser to do so, for example Date.getTime(). There is / should be no way to get, say, your device ID. (With the exception of unpatched exploits that allow executing arbitrary code. But keep in mind browsers are likely one of the if not the most security tested software.)

What you linked to here appears to specific to Google Tag Manager in a way that I don’t fully understand, but is not related to how websites usually execute JavaScript code.

Can you link to a source that confirms this information can be collected with JavaScript (with browser comparison, ideally)? That seems outrageous if it was actually possible.

What is meant by “sensitive information” here? Browsers can’t just willy-nilly access your local files or something like that. The one thing I can think of is using JavaScript to collect information that can be used to identify you. (Is that “sensitive”? I’d put that in “identifying information”.) My honest suggestion is to keep using NoScript and just allow as few domains as possible. The next best option is to stop using websites that break without JavaScript when there’s no reason why they’d need it.

I can imagine there being a plugin that spoofs some common ways that allow sites to identify you cross-sessions / browser / websites without your consent, but blocking JavaScript (by default) is likely one of the best ways to reduce the amount of information collected about you. When you do find such a plugin, check out one of the “browser fingerprint” testing sites to see how unique your fingerprint is.

(That is, if I even understood the request properly in regards to the “sensitive information” bit.)

There is something called “local storage” that allows applications to store more information than just a cookie. Cookies are sent to the server, while local storage, as the name implies, stays local. (That doesn’t mean that this data can’t be sent to the server via JavaScript.) But local storage makes it possible to make 100% offline applications if the whole webpage is cached / downloaded (assuming no online functionality is required).

edit: As for deleting this, if I click on the lock icon in the address bar in Firefox, I have an option to clear cookies and site data for the current site. I assume the “site data” is the local storage I mentioned. If you’re using a Chrome based browser, you can probably google how to do the same thing.

I have a bigender partner who identifies and presents more femme online and more masc in real-life.
However you feel about and choose to express yourself is valid.

I happened across a podcast episode that was about AI, that I was listening to with friends. I don’t know if you want to take away anything from it but I figured I’d mention it here in case anyone wants to. Look for Serious Inquiries Only episode 477, “Debunking Bad AI Research, and Bad Coverage of AI Research”. For you it might not be super interesting, since it’s trying to explain the matter to those who might not already know much, debunking some bad studies, but towards the end they talk about the environmental impact. And this is with two experts, I believe.

One thing that pops up there is that training a “moderately large” model requires produces twice the CO₂ output of an average American over their entire lifetime. They mention water usage is really bad, too. And “moderately large” refers to what a University research team might be cooking up. Big companies have magnitudes more environmental impact from training their huge models.

(There is also a part 2, with the followup episode.)

As that post’s title suggests, it is a recreation of this one, not the other way around. Check the post dates.

You’re just reaffirming that AI bros don’t understand art.

I’ve heard some scary numbers when it comes to waste, but I don’t have a source, nor do I intend to go digging for one because I’m already depressed enough. But you addressed neither of my other grievances. In the end I’d just prefer a future where work is automated, and not creativity nor thinking. I will speak up in this small space where I might be heard, when I believe corporations are betting on getting people hooked on AI because they’ve never learned to think or bothered to create for themselves, just so they can extract massive profits.

By all means, keep investing and being interested in specialized AI, AI research and AI ethics. But stay away from generative (text/image/video) AI.

Yes.

Find a fitting meme template or create a new one. You don’t need amazing photoshop skills. Or share your idea and let someone else do it.

Don’t waste electricity and water, or legitimize generative AI to get your point across.

AI is distasteful to artists, disrespectful to our environment, and dangerous for the creativity of future generations.

The comic is giving me generative AI vibes.

A lot of the C# ecosystem is open source (thank goodness), but the official debugger isn’t, hence it only being available in the proprietary version of VSCode.

From what I read online, Matrix is not very good with its federated moderation tools. Apparently, a quirk of it can cause the state of a federated channel to reset in time, thus also undoing removing of messages. Here is a blog post criticizing Matrix.