Be quiet to protect your privacy

There are things we shouldn't disclose: that we cracked a website, bought cryptocurrencies and gold, robbed something, etc. To avoid being identified we must use technologies that allow anonymity (such as Tor and virtual private networks), pay in cash, and not show IDs, that's clear. However, we often forget something very basic: to be quiet.

Creating an anonymous digital identity, for example, is very simple: you register with a username on a website using a VPN or Tor and upload content. Losing that anonymity, on the other hand, is also very easy: just reveal some data related to your real identity. These digital identities can have data, but they must be false. The way we write can also reveal our real identity, so it's recommended to make an effort to change your writing style.

The people you interact with shouldn't know anything you want to keep hidden, even if they are people you trust. You never know if those people you trust today will still be trustworthy tomorrow. The con man who sold the Eiffel Tower twice, Victor Lustig, was arrested because his mistress became jealous of a relationship he was having with another woman and decided to rat him out.

Of course, many times we want to brag about our feats. We want to brag about our hacks, we want to show off.... Better not to do it. It's better to be humble and make up some excuse. “That's money my father gave me”; “I have cryptocurrencies, but not much”... In short, the best thing to do is to keep your mouth shut if you don't want to get caught and you don't want to be in the spotlight. Don't be the fool who brags about buying 100 grams of gold and the next day finds his house ransacked.

The battle of Usonansk

This story is based on real events. Identifying information has been distorted.

“According to the sources we have, they plan to focus their forces in this region”. Little did the generals know that their sources had been intentionally poisoned with false information. Something quite different happened.

It turns out that certain military and high-ranking people were doing research on the region that was going to be attacked, leaving a digital trail that allowed the enemy to confirm that they had swallowed their false information. They had found weaknesses in the chain of command and would not fail to exploit them. Some of these people were stubborn and had long careers, so they had no interest in leaving their high positions, despite their successive mistakes. Thus, they suffered social engineering attacks.

The social circle of key people was highly monitored to obtain all kinds of information, identify weak points, etc. The danger of direct confrontation and the fear of escalating the conflict were some of the weaknesses identified in the enemy.

On August 14, they received a surprise attack that went around the world. Their hasty response was discussed, very thoroughly in important offices. They were losing credibility and power by leaps and bounds. No-one believed in victory. They were pulling their money out of stocks and banks, out of those places they thought so safe.

They were severely infected by parasites who lived off them and let the cat out of the bag, waging internal struggles... The huge giant had feet of clay.

The Internet has tenants and landlords, which one are you?

Many complain that they are censored on the Internet, that they can't speak openly about certain topics for fear of losing reach and revenue, and so on. They depend on platforms over which they have no control, they are like tenants that can be kicked out at any time. When you post on platforms like X, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, you are using someone else's platform (someone else's home). The moment you stop being profitable and the advertisers or the owners of the company don't like you, they censor you, they kick you out.... And you can't do anything about it. Or can you?

The cheapest way to protect yourself against the whims of one platform is to use more than one. If one platform fails you, you still have the others. In my opinion, it's best is to use a free platform that is part of a decentralized network. If you are not convinced by any platform, you can set up your own. Is this expensive? No. Thanks to the ActivityPub protocol, it is very cheap to create a node within the Fediverse. The Fediverse is a large decentralized network with which you can reach millions of users. You can choose PeerTube to upload videos, Mastodon to create and share short written posts, Lemmy to discuss with other people...

You can also buy a domain name for very little money and set up a website on a server that you rent or set up at home. For further protection against censorship you can also set up a hidden Tor service.

You can also create a mailing list or a group in a messaging program. With this method, your publications reach your recipients directly, without depending on arbitrary algorithms that can limit your reach. If the server from which you send the emails belongs to you, you will have more control, you will be the sovereign.

In short, the trick to avoid censorship and the whims of big owners is to have your own platform or channel. If this is not possible, the best thing to do is to have several accounts spread across different platforms. This way, if you are censored on one, you still have the others.

Do you buy video games? I've got more than 6000 for free

The videogame industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. However, there are thousands upon thousands of games that can be played for free. I am not only talking about free-as-in-freedom games, but also about old arcade games, console games, etc.

If you use GNU/Linux, you can install many videogames using the package manager of your distro. Other games are distributed in Flatpak, Snap and AppImage formats or must be compiled. To find free games I recommend LibreGameWiki.

However, we don't only have free games, but thousands of old arcade games, which can be played with Keep reading Do you buy video games? I've got more than 6000 for free