Hellmo_luciferrari

Microsoft hate is justified.

Cant say that I have, but will now!

I used to run LineageOS with a lot of my own tweaks to meet my privacy needs; however I reached a point I decided it didn’t fit my needs for security. So, I went back to GrapheneOS. Which, I am 1uite haply with. Ultimately, I dream of a fully operational Linux phone of sorts; but we aren’t there yet.

I ditched reddit, and most centralized social media. I ditched many big tech services in place of self hosting my own. And even that is mostly locked down. Very little exposed to the web. Ad blocking, as well as my own underlying upstream DNS, with a fallback that isn’t Google or Cloudflare. Services being firewalled off. Reverse proxy setup limiting access via IP:Port while also including SSL certs for local only https.

And this list goes on; it’s a constant journey. But the hard part is to still be social. Hahaha

I get that. We all make choices to decide what we do with our time.

I’m in IT, so I don’t really need to handwrite much. Always a computer at the ready.

Its not that complicated: options.

You are presented with the Steam Deck UI by default. You don’t have to use the desktop.

Installing non-steam games on desktop is handy.

Some people use the steam deck as more than just a game system.

If it’s not for you, don’t use it. Simple as that.

I am surprised I can even write with pen and paper anymore.

Jokes aside, no. I don’t really handwrite anything anymore.

I can totally understand where you are coming from.

I do hold the view that if you can read, you too can install GrapheneOS, or try Linux; but that doesn’t make it right for everyone. It’s a self imposed journey. I can’t expect everyone to make the same choices I do.

That is where I will educate people as to why I chose what I chose; however I will not try to force someone down the same road.

So totally understood.

I have taken my own approach; there are things from each layer that I use. Some begrudgingly but others gladly.

The problem I faced when starting this journey is it does cut out a lot of people. And it becomes isolsting. So I did reel back a bit.

What issues do you have?

The left. It’s far superior.

My apologies; I have a computer running docker, who I hosts a plethora of services. I have an external drive connected to it (because i don’t have a NAS) and have it mounted to my underlying OS on that Docker server computer. And each container than needs it, mounts directories from that drive.

All of this is internal network only. And another server manages VPN connectivity to my home network. So I have remote access to everything I need with minimal ports forwarded.

I don’t Nextcloud currently, but I have considered it. Currently I have everything I want on a drive connected to my docker box, and if I need it I SCP it to or from that server. My need for files stored at home isn’t exactly huge. But nextcloud or similar is in the pipeline.

I am on the move often too, but because I can VPN into my network, and use the pihole+unbound DNS on my GrapheneOS phone all the time, I always have access to my stuff.

Digital Privacy is an ever evolving endeavor. What I was okay with a year ago, isn’t the same as where I am today.

I am still mid-journey of de-googling, de-microsofting, de-big-techifying my life.

The more and more the digital landscape changes, the more and more we have to be cautious of.

I went from using all the google services, all of the microsoft services, and more of big tech’s services. But at what cost? What was free really only made me the product. My data was and still is to some degree being used, bought, sold by many different providers.

So I have been working towards self-hosting anything that matters to me. File storage, self hosted. Media consumption, self hosted (mostly.)

I have one as far as running a pihole, with my own upstream DNS. Mix that with the only way to access my self hosted things through VPN. And beyond that other security/privacy measures.

The goalpost for being more private, and more secure, is ever changing. The goal is to minimize my exposure.

For any streaming, Netflix, YouTube, or anything I would always use a computer. Not some awful app on a slow device. No screen of mine needs to be anything besides a screen.

I wouldn’t say this is “better”

I do run a pihole, but I still will never connect my roku to the internet. It is much better to have a media PC or other streaming device I have control of fully connected.

Technology is going to be a part of every kids future (if they have one…) and should be taught with the other things they need to learn to be functional and successful.

There are other ways to limit social media access, and wccessnto other unproductive media. Use school sanctioned devices for work. Hire proper IT folk to lock down the equipment. But that would require funding for schools to be adequate.

This is a complex issue. You are over simplifying it.

I wasn’t trying to be short or condescending either. Just relaying what I know.

It is another layer of privacy in some cases. Could protect against poisoning of I’m not mistaken, but don’t quote me.

I know for me, I prefer to self host things where I can so I can own as much of my own data as possible.

Do you know what DNS does?

If you don’t, essentially is what translates IP addresses to hostnames.

So what having unbound would do is allow you to do DNS lookup locally.

You can use both. Unbound is a validating, recursive, caching DNS resolver.

You can setup Unbound to be a self hosted DNS solution, and point PiHole to use your Unbound.

Source: Unbound