this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2026
276 points (99.6% liked)
Privacy
50961 readers
1568 users here now
A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.
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.
Some Rules
- Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn't great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
- Don't promote proprietary software
- Try to keep things on topic
- If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
- Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
- Be nice :)
Related communities
much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)
founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Open/libre source operating systems won't. No matter where you live. As long as all purpose computers exist.
Enjoy not being able to use your bank, major websites, email, online shopping, pay utility bills, do basic and required civic functions online (that require alternatives of driving long distances and/or waiting on the phone for long periods of time), etc because your open source operating system doesn't pass the attestation check.
Maybe not long after Google, Cloudflare and others will just block you behind anti-bot defenses because you don't pass such a check and only bots would not pass such a check.
Hiding on Linux is not a solution to a legal problem. It's at best punting.
This stuff is either defeated or you'll enjoy living as a hermit cut off from society with your perfectly private, perfectly offline computer.
If general computers are outlawed, only outlaws will have general computers.
I use an open source browser with a hardware TAN generator for banking. I pay with an NFC card. All the websites I care about work with open standards. Fuck the rest. I am perfectly able to run my own email servers. If online shopping requres proprietary bullshit they lose me as a customer. My bills are direct debit. No, there are no basic and requred civic functions that must happen online. I simply walk or go there to do that in person.
I am already frequently blocked by Cloudflare because I use an always on VPN and only open source tooling. I simply cease to use such services.
You are correct that the proper solution to fascism is to go away or to kill them.
How about you shut up with your defeatist bullshit and help push back
That does sound enjoyable. I wouldn't consider that a hermit though, quite the opposite. Going out in my own neighborhood and doing things sounds much better than all that other crap. That is actually being part of society.
I am not sure this is the negative you think it is. If my electric company and bank wont give my an avenue to simply pay bills (I hate online bill pay already) and I don't have to spend hours trying to talk to an AI chat bot online for costumer support, I am not sure I care that much.
If my bank is uninterested in serving me then maybe I need to change banks. Fuck them. I know you are going to say they will all be this way. Ok set up my own, I have gotten around this bullshit before.
I already to deal with a lot of this. I am not allowed to interact with a lot of places due to region bullshit when I am working remotely in various countries. It is already annoying.
What I'm about to say, I say only as an alternative in conjunction with fighting legislatively: It's time many of us alter our behaviors to accommodate these crackdowns. Not as a matter of subservience, please don't think I mean it that way, but as a matter of practicality and survival. Make cash withdrawals when possible to pay for goods and services. Transition back to paper bills. Separate from computers where you can, while also understanding that the places you can't, you're just going to have to deal with the bullshit. Resist where practical, if only for your own sanity.