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 :)
It’s good to have reminders of what is and isn’t private.
Google accounts aren’t “free”.
Just as an fyi, if you'd self hosted your services, they would probably subpoena you, and you would be obligated to give them all your data from your own server, and if you'd refus, your be in deep, deep shit
It doesn't matter where you store data, if it's stored, it can be used
And that’s where good encryption comes into play. At least in the US, (where this case is happening), they can compel you to turn over the encrypted data blob. But they can’t compel you to give them the password to access the data. Because forcing you to give up the password would violate your 5th amendment right to remain silent.
Also, they probably wouldn’t subpoena you and give you a chance to respond; they would just bust your front door down and take your server. You wouldn’t have an opportunity to peacefully turn the data over to them. Only the wealthy get subpoenas. The rest of us get no-knock search warrants, dead pets, (because cops will shoot any dogs that are present when they execute the warrant), and traumatized/injured/killed family members who happened to be home at the time.
"Well boys I sure hope you can get in to this because I lost the password ages ago I remember it was a set of 15 random words with capitals in random spots but just can't remember the order..."
Then your lawyer gets to tell the jury that you complied.
You’re half right, in that ultimately they can compel you to hand over your data, but there is a higher bar to clear for them to get your personal data stored locally.
For one, they can’t compel you to turn over your data with a subpoena, they’d have to actually go in front of a judge and get a warrant.
I imagine it'd still be preferable to make them go through you and your lawyer for that info, where you could still have some measure of control.
How so? You cannot be forced to accuse yourself. If your self-hosted data is on encrypted hard drives then they can't do anything about it.
Except in the UK where you can be forced to provide decryption keys.
Yea I watched the video today and it was a good wake up for me to continue my process to move from google. I have started some time ago already but have been doing it in increments. I still have an android phone and moving away from it will be a pain.
I've been following this and he keeps making so many mistakes. Stop talking to the police, bro. Stop trying to get the shop owner on camera.
File lawsuits against the company (I know he tried and the cop refused to issue the summons illegally, so you do it again after filing a complaint against the police), and file every lawsuit possible outside of that district.
But that's not good views for YouTube. He just keeps giving them more ammunition to go after him.
Lawsuits do no good when they are invisible. He's exposed insane police and judge corruption that would be swept under the rug becuase of no exposure. If utah decides they dont like you or me, we would be fucked, in jail for made up lies, becuase we dont have millions of people watching.
Yes he has also done some dumb shit for sure.
After he got forcibly muted by court I believe he finally spoke to lawyers and then he won pretty quick.
I suspect he was playing 4D chess, and decided to show what your chances are in the system if you play it by the book and alone, which most people who can't afford a lawyer would do, and what also the thieves relied on. They told the victim directly try to sue us and you'll end up paying more in lawyer costs.
Given the US is currently rotting from the top down and the bottom up I wonder if this guy will get lucky and find some help from the middle that isn't yet so corrupt.
He has a civil rights lawyer with a youtube channel helping him on the criminal charges and has hired some other lawyer to help with the civil charges (hence the move for those to federal court). So he's getting there.
The lesson here is not to trust Google or other non-encrypted storage with your stuff. There are email providers that are more protective of your stuff, but more than that: don't store everything in one place. That way if one account is compromised, not everything is exposed. And American companies are more likely to share your data than European ones.
Yes I did say that but thank you for reiterating.
it would seem their whole legal system is as corrupt as their government
I live here, and yes, it's corrupt.
It has been for at least 50 years, now most of all. It's not as blatant as some countries re open bribery, but our "news" sources have been owned by the bourgeoisie since at least the 90s, every year they bought up more and more smaller, local news sources; now only a few remain, all firmly under control.
Abuses of power are rampant, just not reported often. So we have more room for Kanye coverage, two-page spread
Story is interesting, the video is a chaotic abomination of bad storytelling.
LOL yeah it is.
Thank goodness we're finally safe, everyone! I feel so incredibly safe I can barely sleep at night — partly from relief, partly from the faint red glow of the dashboard camera evaluating my facial expressions for signs of independent thought. Remember when driving was about getting somewhere? Now the car watches you, the road watches you, the toll booth photographs you, and somewhere an algorithm decides whether your blinker-to-lane-change ratio indicates sufficient loyalty to remain a licensed citizen. And those anti-distraction cameras! You're no longer trusted to glance at a road sign without the system assuming you're filming a TikTok. The camera knows. The camera always knows. And the camera, unlike you, never had a stressful Tuesday.
I also adore the financial supervision. Every coffee I buy with my card is lovingly noted and stored in case someone - anyone - someday needs to review my caffeine patterns for national security purposes. Two espressos before 9 AM? Possible instability. Four beers Saturday? Risk factor. Thirteen emergency Toblerones during tax season? Irrefutable character assessment.
My phone tracks my location so faithfully I couldn't match its dedication if I tried. It knows I went to the pharmacy Thursday. It knows I took the scenic route Friday. It probably knows I stood outside the bakery six minutes deciding whether to treat myself and walked away empty-handed - proving to whichever algorithm monitors such things that I possess both self-discipline and poor decision-making skills simultaneously.
Facial recognition cameras mean I no longer suffer the indignity of walking through a city anonymously like some 2003 peasant. I'm identified, timestamped, and filed - because a free citizen moving through public space unnoticed is clearly a missed opportunity for database enrichment.
But here's my absolute favorite part. All this magnificent safety infrastructure - every camera, every log, every database, every tracking system - it's all in the hands of whoever happens to be in government this season. And governments change. Today's well-meaning bureaucrat administering your data with careful oversight is tomorrow's populist demagogue who noticed you donated to the wrong cause, attended the wrong protest, and Googled the wrong thing on a Tuesday afternoon. Maybe you were researching a school project. Maybe you were just curious. Doesn't matter — the search history doesn't care about context, and neither will they.
And the beauty of the pitch? Nobody ever said "we'd like to watch everything you do forever." They said "safety". One word, carrying all the weight, answering all questions, and conveniently foreclosing further discussion. Safety from what? Don't worry about it. Who controls it? Interesting. Can you influence it? Adorable that you'd ask. The safest person alive is someone in a padded cell under constant supervision. Magnificent safety record. Very low satisfaction. But completely safe - until the warden changes.
the local police dept and criminal justice system has been colluding with the criminals (all members of the local Mormon church)
Sounds about on par for the corrupt, death cult religionists. Quick! Someone steal their magic underwear and ransom it back to them for the LEGOs!
For a series of incidents that have gathered international attention, it interesting to see the police and legal system double down on corruption. It like internationally advertising how crooked the cops are and how corrupt the legal system is to everyone. Do you want tourists to never visit? Because that is how you get tourists to not visit.
Some jack off corrupt podunk cop shop can clearly ubpoena your entire life if you piss off the wrong person, then fabricate charges or create circumstances to fuck your life. This is here, now. Reclaim your digital sovereignty from big tech...
So is the youtuber the one who got his lego stolen? Or is he just a journalist reporting on this story?
Ben is a YouTube entertainer that found out about this situation. He’s more activist than journalist. I think the original owner sold the collection to Ben.
The original owner didn't sell it to anyone. It was on consignment with Bricks n Minifigs. Hence the whole issue to begin with.
What was the value of the Lego collection in this scandal? 200k? It's wild just how far people are willing to go over what's ultimately not even enough money to retire off of, and only a couple of years' living expenses in some cities
Sounds like they've been successfully getting away with this sort of thing for a long time. So in the long run, probably way more money.
Oh ive been following this. I said to myself from the get go he should not be using any big tech products at all. This is what happens.
If you'd self hosted, it would still happen. Just in that case, on stead of Google handing over your data, you'd have to do it yourself at the risk of being jailed if you don't.
The point it: if its data, you can be forced to hand it over. The only way to not having to hand over emails is it not store any emails at all anywhere
The rules seem to be so loose and open to interpretation around privacy etc. What makes self hosted data different? Surely that's not a major barrier to big tech, the government, the lawmakers etc.?
If they really wanted to, I'm sure they could just decide, "as of today we can take your self hosted data, so we will swing by at 4pm to collect it". 4pm comes, they are at your door, what are you gonna do? They come and take your data, you know it's wrong, what are you gonna do?
I just worry that even the holy grail of privacy, i.e. self hosted data, is going to be of little consequence to them. If people want your data bad enough, they will do wherever is needed to get it. Change laws? No problem. Reduce rights? Yep we're in it. And so on.
It seems like the only truly safe way to store your data is by not putting it anywhere other than in your head.
What makes self hosted data different?
You can't be compelled to testify against yourself.
4pm comes, they are at your door, what are you gonna do?
If they have a warrant, they can have it. It's encrypted anyway. If they don't have a warrant and try to take it by force, it's not admissible in court anyway. Let em have it.
I just worry that even the holy grail of privacy, i.e. self hosted data, is going to be of little consequence to them.
It's outside of their control. Nothing they can do. Encryption is legal.
E: edited for clarity.
If someone out there still thought the cops was the good guys, this is mainstream enough that its going to open some eyes to the belief that all cops are bad cops.
We've been saying how corrupt police are and how they are like a gang that sticks up for themselves first and foremost. Now the youth get to experience that second hand in a way that the public can't confuse them about race issues or make it about issues anything other than what it is.
I know its stupid for reckless Ben to not use a lawyer but this way we get to see straight up every avenue they use to try to abuse their power.
Am I wrong or is $100k not even money enough for how big this scandal has been?
Never let yourself become dependent on something a company has control of, if at all possible. They will use it as leverage to coerce concessions from you that drive you further toward controlling nothing at all.
We could all use a "Live without technology" day where everyone lives intentionally without using technology owned by others, learn first hand where those liabilities and leverage are in our lives, the cost of loss of access, and the alternatives. We are far more likely to accept enshitification of everything if a loss of access suddenly causes a crisis we've never encountered before. Awareness is a strength that would be wise to cultivate. If you can't go one day without tech, you're already told dependent and tbh, a threat to the community and people around you.
Damn, I hadn't heard about this but that video is a wild ride...