Chronically insane about my own OCs and Minecraft

Let’s play the biggest game of kick the can on the internet.

As if Joanne couldn't get any shittier, she misgendered and insulted a woman who called for support, all because the woman had PCOS/PMOS and "didn't sound feminine enough."

Fuck her.

They have a Global Device Identifier (GDID) Tracker that functions as a fingerprint for your PC that can surpass VPNs, proxy servers and countries. Although it can't survive a clean reinstall of Windows (it can survive updates), because Microsoft forces you to go to the internet and log in into a Microsoft account, they will be able to get to you.

Microsoft kept it secret and it was only found out when the FBI tracked a hacker thanks to the information Microsoft gave them.

You should be paying attention to this, and possibly consider moving away from Windows. If a government, especially the US government, doesn't like you for some reason, this could be seriously concerning.

This article specifically notes:

For journalism, activism, or domestic abuse situations, skip Windows and use Linux routed through Tor instead of a commercial VPN. A GDID doesn’t care which VPN you use, only that it’s still the same Windows installation.

Other important quotes:

What has researchers uneasy is everything else the case reveals. Costin Raiu, a well-known malware researcher, asked on the Three Buddy Problem podcast how much of this exists on other platforms, and whether it is linked more permanently to hardware. Matthew Hickey, another security researcher, called Windows “surveillance software”.

Two things back that up:

There’s no consent screen. A GDID gets assigned when you sign into a Microsoft Account. Apple’s advertising identifier needs an App Tracking Transparency prompt and a visible reset; Android’s works the same way. GDID has neither, and a Windows reinstall only gets you a new number Microsoft can still get back to the same account.

From the linked article:

Because Linux doesn't track your activity, if he had used the Tor browser it would've been way harder since it would look like any person who used Tor could've been at that website, and they couldn't be sure who and what device was doing it because there's no Microsoft giving the logs on activity, that Linux Distros don't even collect in the first place.

Putting that aside, you do bring a good point: even on Linux you should be using extra security measures, because there are other ways to track your online activity!

The article you shared is really nice and it lists ways to avoid this digital footprinting better:

Mitigation strategies include: Browser Extensions: Extensions like Privacy Badger, NoScript, and uBlock Origin can block fingerprinting scripts. Tor Browser: The Tor Browser is designed to minimize fingerprinting by standardizing the browser environment. Browser Hardening: Manually configuring browser settings to disable certain features and reduce the amount of information revealed. VPNs: VPNs are good for masking IP addresses, they are not good to mask your digital fingerprint.

I will add that there are even other things you can add to your Linux to make you even more untraceable. And because it's not Microsoft and you can do whatever you want, nobody will stop you or even know you have them installed. At least one of these is literally made by GNU, the organisation who makes the utilities for the majority of Linux Distros. These include:

MAT2 - to remove metadata from your files so when you upload them online they can't be traced to you (the app version for ease of use).

BleachBit - an app that can automate cleaning your cache and temporary files while also making sure that when a file is deleted it is deleted for good.

universal-macchanger or GNU MacChanger (this one is the original Linux only version) - spoofs your MAC adress, aka, the address your internet card comes with.

OpenSnitch - An application firewall, that is, unlike most standard Firewalls, this one blocks not only unwanted connections from the outside but also from the inside, so, it stops apps from sending information to a server somewhere if you don't want to. And you can specify that the app can access a domain but not another, for example. They have an option for blocking "ads, trackers or malware domains system-wide", so not only on the browser, but everywhere on your OS.

I'm gonna be honest, for most people you only need some of these. Unless someone is actively after you, usually just having a VPN + Security extensions will suffice because it's enough to block most tracking, and stop your data being sold to gods know how many third parties out there. Only if you have done something big, worth a lot of money, will someone bother to go deeper because searching further starts taking a lot of work and money. Maybe get OpenSnitch too because you may have apps, even on Linux, that may want to send your information somewhere. For example, the official Discord app collects a bunch of telemetry, if you use OpenSnitch you could block it while still keeping the app functional.

Note: Here's the complaint filed to the court, the primary source for the case mentioned in the article. You can find mentions of GDID on page 30 of the document or 34 of the PDF.

Paid service with no ads: Well, if they're not funding it with ad revenue, they need to charge us something.

Paid service with ads: Well that's bullshit.

hot as fuck trans men exist

in this world we’re in