Stop using Reddit

Thousands of Reddit communities will stop being accessible tomorrow in protest against the decision to charge millions of dollars to apps that use the API. As a result of the policy, many apps will stop working.

However, while some people are recommending that people stop using Reddit, the protest is limited to two days. The problem with doing a temporary boycott is that it sends this message to the owners: a lot of people are angry, but after two days they're going to come back and we're going to keep making money. Reddit stopped being free software years ago and it's not going to stop censoring information they don't like.

I support boycotting Reddit, but I think it shouldn't just last two days; it should be permanent. There are several programs similar to Reddit that are free and respect the privacy of their users: Lemmy, /kbin, Postmill, Lobsters, Tildes...

Lemmy and /kbin, unlike Reddit, are free and federated, so the administrators of a node cannot censor information from nodes they don't control or impose anything on them; each node has its own policy.

YouTube threats Invidious developers

Invidious developers have received an email from YouTube asking them to stop offering the program. According to YouTube's legal team, they are in violation of YouTube API terms of use, which is impossible, as Invidious does not use YouTube API.

They also claim that Invidious “is being offered on invidious.io”, which is also untrue, because that website does not host any instance of Invidious. As of today there are 40 websites hosting public instances of Invidious, over which the Invidious team has no control, as Invidious uses the free AGPL license. Even if Invidious were illegal in the United States, it is hosted on the Tor network, the I2P network and in many countries, making it virtually impossible to make Invidious disappear. In addition, its code can be found on several development platforms and is on lots of computers.

Invidious has neither agreed to YouTube's API terms of service nor YouTube's terms of service. YouTube allows access to content hosted on its servers via the HTTP protocol, so Invidious is not committing a computer crime; it is simply safeguarding the right to privacy and freedom.

Google (the company that controls YouTube), on the other hand, does not respect privacy, censors, requires the use of proprietary software, exploits its users, develops artificial intelligence software for military purposes, has a huge ecological impact, to name just a few examples. That's why there are people who think that Google should be destroyed.

Fortunately, even if Invidious were to disappear, there are other free projects such as Piped, NewPipe and youtube-dl. Will Google also threaten the developers of these projects and their millions of users?

Let's end digital colonialism

We are colonized. The Tech Giants control the digital world with the complicity of the United States. Most computers (those using AMD or Intel processors) can be spied on and remotely controlled thanks to a universal Keep reading Let's end digital colonialism

Block websites: hosts file

To block websites you can use a browser extension (such as Block Site), a proxy server (such as Squid), but there is also the option of editing the hosts file, a method that consumes very little RAM and, unlike the browser extension, will work for any browser or program Keep reading Block websites: hosts file

Privacy is a collective issue

Many people give a personal explanation as to why they do or do not protect their privacy. Those who don't care much are heard to say that they have nothing to hide. Those who do care do so to protect themselves from unscrupulous companies, repressive states, etc. In both positions it is often wrongly assumed that privacy is a personal matter, and it is not.

Privacy is both an individual and a public matter. Data collected by large companies and governments is rarely used on an individual basis. We can understand privacy as a right of the individual in relation to the community, as Edward Snowden says:

Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say.

Your data can be used for good or bad. Data collected unnecessarily and without permission is often used for bad.

States and big tech companies blatantly violate our privacy. Many people tacitly acquiesce by arguing that nothing can be done to change it: companies have too much power and governments won't do anything to change things. And, certainly, those people are used to giving power to companies that make money from their data and are thus telling states that they are not going to be a thorn in their side when they want to implement mass surveillance policies. In the end, it harms the privacy of those who care.

Collective action starts with the individual. Each person should reflect on whether they are giving out data about themselves that they should not, whether they are encouraging the growth of anti-privacy companies and, most importantly, whether they are compromising the privacy of those close to them. The best way to protect private information is not to give it out. With an awareness of the problem, privacy projects can be supported.

Personal data is very valuable — so much so that some call it the “new oil” — not only because it can be sold to third parties, but also because it gives power to those who hold it. When we give it to governments, we give them the power to control us. When we give them to companies, we are giving them power to influence our behaviour. Ultimately, privacy matters because it helps us preserve the power we have over our lives that they are so intent on taking away. I'm not going to give away or sell my data, are you?