Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.
much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)
Note: This setup is both for my android and pc Edit: For those recommending paid services and selfhosting, I don't have the money nor resources for either. Also it seams some people are confusing my android setup with my PC setup so I'll write it down. Android: Brave(movies) + Ironfox, Search: Brave + DDG, VPN: Proton ( not always on), GPay = Cash, Auth= Aegis Auth, Pass: KeepassDX, PC: Firefox= Librewolf, VPN = No VPN (VERY slow internet), Search: Searxng + DDG, Pass: KeepassXC,
If you are on Arch, then I recommend to self host SearxNG meta search engine. There is an AUR package that builds from source and makes it easy to install and update. So if you are on Archlinux and value privacy a lot, then there is no excuse to not use this: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/searxng-git and https://docs.searxng.org/
# Archlinux, AUR
# Build and install from source:
yay searxng-git
# Configure the search engine (shouldn't need to):
sudoedit /etc/searxng/settings.yml
# Start server when needed:
systemctl start searxng.service
# Or automatically start the server whenever you login:
systemctl enable searxng.service
Just noting you can have searxng on rhel and mint as well, I know those from experience.
I’ve been using Vivaldi for browsing on desktop and mobile. Seems pretty nice. Any concerns people have with them as an app or org? I’m staying away from Brave, the consensus seems to lean toward bad acting org and bloated app.
Arch Linux -> Tailscale -> Jellyfin.
You are doing a good job here! I'll let others fight over your software choices, and just add some things that you might want to add:
Keyboard app (Android): I'm using Futo keyboard, but there are other options if FUTO isn't your cup of tea.
Translation app (Android): "Translator" on F-Droid is a feature rich, fully local.
These two can replace respective apps from Google that you like have installed by default.
Brave 🤮
I'm gonna make my own payment company and just call it "cash"
AlterSend, encrypted peer-to-peer file transfers between devices with no size limits, no cloud storage, and no servers involved, FOSS, no account, Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android
For DNS I use Pi-hole with Unbound which is used to contact the DNS root servers directly and recursively find IP-addresses. The first lookup becomes a little bit slower than through say Google but the IP is then cached locally and then it actually becomes faster. This is also more private since it doesn't require a third-party DNS resolver.
If i wasn't invested in the proton infrastructure to keep my family away from Google and shot, the only change I would suggest is mullvad VPN instead of protonvpn. Other than that, it's a pretty sound setup you have there. Enjoy.
Just to throw it out there self hosting docker containers you could use your local PC but I started out with 30 dollar 1 litre PCs. I had three 1 hosted my firewall and the other 2 dockers. I had most everything I could need.
Another good gmail alternative is kmail. Another good WhatsApp alternative is matrix. Change organic maps to comaps, it is fork of it but community focused. Another google photos alternative is aves, much better than fossify gallery. When using obtanium, you might want to install appverifier to check if app is legit. Another YouTube alternatives are peertube and odysee. Brave is bad, its CEO likes crypto and ai. Mullvad vpn is good vpn, you can also use tor. Instead of google wallet you can use curve wallet or upcoming Walt. Also, good alternative to google search is 4get
Since I recently setup a yunohost server, I use Nextcloud instead of google Drive pr Filen, Vaultwarden/Bitwarden for passwords, and searxng as a search engine; all self-hosted. My internet service provider makes self-hosting for emails complicated, if not impossible, so for that I currently use Disroot (which offers other services as well btw, like git and xmpp, good to check out).
For youtube, on my phone it's mostly through Newpipe, but I also use peertube for the content that exists there. Otherwise, I just access youtubw through the web... Which leads me to browsers. I avoid chromium-based ones, but I also disapprove of Firefox's turn towards AI, so I use waterfox on desktop and fennec on mobile.
As for Arch Linux... I was with you a few days ago, but I just switched to Artix. I'm not a huge fan of Systemd, and Dinit makes it boot a bit faster.
I don't trust any listical with brave browser in it claiming it's for privacy.
I would go with SimpleX instead of Signal since it is very secure and you can self-host the server. There are no user IDs. Here is the official website: https://simplex.chat/
For normal usage and actually using a messaging app for what it's intended (contacting people in your life), it's far too obscure and non-streamlined tbh. Signal is more than good enough for the thread model of chatting with friends and family, and ppl you got to know online
This was fun:
I am still using Samsung's own gallery and contacts app, but their network connection and internal trackers are blocked and they don't show up on packet inspections.
Also, "Plex -> NewPipe" is not true. It's "YouTube/Bandcamp -> NewPipe" and "any streaming service -> torrenting + sshfs + mpv into the torrenting server" in my case.