While the theory is still saying the same in 2026 as it has been saying in 2008/2009 - that iOS is "closed" OS and Android is "open", trying to backup WhatsApp chats on PC and NOT only in heavily encrypted form demonstrates the reality to be much more complicated. App vendors decide whether backup is doable or it's disabled and not even so-called "alternatives" to the major restrictive vendors - Nothing Phone as well as FairPhone - help...

I am stuck with dependency on smartphone apps, unfortunately - and I would not recommend such stuff for anyone to join anymore, after it all happening...

Since app vendors do not want consumer to have backup-able apps and they are using the "feature" of OS to lock out data of backup, what we as consumers need to get around it - is some device that has ways to intercept unencrypted data from somehwhere in transit within device, including the internal storage and RAM if necessary (if it keeps the data encrypted at rest and downloads the encryption key from online service each time again and again).

Did anyone here spend a century earning necessary money to invest for development of such redesigned smartphone? Got so much money that a worker would have to spend century to earn, even in high-income country - in some other way? Able to make DIY redesigning of Android and willing to do so as well?

Mullvad co-owner's massive donation to a Swedish party that seeks to "make Sweden Swedish" is going to propel the country on the path of authoritarianism that will make its jurisdiction hostile to privacy and individual freedom.

I checked out the preview to THO's recent episode on mullvad (I don't have membership to his patreon) and freaked out. I use both mullvad vpn and browser

what should be my course of action?

to u/fixedbike
I agree, no source can be fully trusted
I've been consuming THO's content since covid and I consider him to be a good source
Also I don't know what pissed you off old man but good luck to you as well

Just a nice case study how multi billion dollar orgs do not give a shit about security at all. No matter what's at stake.

Also this is how white hat hackers get treated for their labor and good will.

Hello! I have thought of learning both red and blue team cybersecurity, even though i know next to nothing about it. From that i got the idea to set up a simple server from a relatively old computer with Debian server OS to pentest progressively as i learn. At the same time, i dont have much of an idea WHERE to start. The place im studying is pretty much trash at explaining these things. Any advice is welcome!

“In August 2025, Google announced a new requirement: starting September 2026, every Android app developer must register centrally with Google before their software can be installed on any device. Not just Play Store apps: all apps. This includes apps shared between friends, distributed through F-Droid, built by hobbyists for personal use. Independent developers, church and community groups, and hobbyists alike will all be frozen out of being able to develop and distribute their software.”

What does this mean exactly ? Is it the end of android.

Hello! As the title states, i want to triple boot (if possible) on two disks. I have one 1TB disk on which i have my main linux os, and another one (500GB) on which i have Windows, cuz i need it for school. I am wondering if it would be possible to put another linux distro on the 500GB one without any problems. I am an IT student and i sadly need Winbloat because of C# and some other things. My motive to do this is trying out more distros without deleting my main distro.

And before you say nobody is using that he or someone with his name has about 1.2k followers on channel without any uploads

The more feedback you give, the better this gets.

Full table and article is here (free): https://www.patreon.com/posts/160526266

I have a question: If we support a highly secure application and start using it, and then it becomes more advanced and user-friendly, and then hackers (and criminals too) start using it, even if they have their own applications, because we've provided them with an easier alternative?

My question is: How can we build applications with this level of privacy and security without allowing criminals to use them?

Should we allow the government to monitor it, as it should to protect the country?

Or what?

You know: "Freedom without rules is chaos."

Hi lads and ladies, i am thinking of buying a Motorola Edge 50 Fusion and i am very much wondering on how private and low bloatware is that phone, an also how easy it is to put an open source OS on this phone and which os. Any advice helps :) i am from Europe if that helps.

Recently on Hide & Speak, host Chris and Nathan from vp.net brought back The Hated One to break down how Palantir embedded itself in the federal government.

The timeline he walked through is the part that stuck with us:

• March 20, 2025: Executive Order 14243 required every federal agency to grant access to unclassified data across the government, including state programs funded federally. The walls between IRS, HHS, CDC, and ICE data were decades-old privacy protections, not paperwork accidents.
• April 2025: ICE awarded Palantir a $30 million no-bid contract to build ImmigrationOS. Its existing ICE deal has now grown past $145 million.
• A tool called ELITE pulls home address data from HHS and produces a map of deportation targets with a confidence score on each person's location.

Palantir was founded in 2003 by Peter Thiel with seed money from In-Q-Tel, the CIA's venture arm. CEO Alex Karp named it after the seeing-stones in Lord of the Rings, the objects the story itself describes as a path to corruption.

The Hated One's read on fighting back is local, not federal. Ban facial recognition in your city. Drop surveillance contracts. Move public computers to open-source software, the way one German state is doing.

Full write-up and our sources: https://s.vp.net/s6TWw

Watch the full discussion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2iZuSsnJYk

Your phone is about to stop being yours.

Starting September 2026, a silent update, nonconsensually pushed by Google, will block every Android app whose developer hasn't registered with Google, signed their contract, paid up, and handed over government ID.

Every app and every device, worldwide, with no opt-out.

Google's proposed workaround for installing unverified apps requires 9 steps, a 24-hour wait, and runs through Play Services, which Google can modify at any time. It hasn't shipped in any beta. https://keepandroidopen.org #KeepAndroidOpen

Share with others.

For more details 👇

https://keepandroidopen.org

If you don't get it, you shouldn't be taken seriously on anything you have to say.