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Joined 9 days ago
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Cake day: February 22nd, 2026

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  • I honestly don’t even know what would trigger that, unless that bank just really hates you using any gecko-based browser.

    I generally despise the push for separate apps for everything anyway, but the banking ones are among the worst since so many of them are tied into Google Play. If my bank were to disable its website and only function with an app that required Google Play certification, I’d change banks. I’d be tempted to go old school and do banking in person, but who knows what kind of security cameras they have in banks now.


  • “Wage theft” is defined as the theft of wages by employers, and it’s actually a crime in several states. “Minimum Wage Violations” would be people being paid less than minimum wage, “Overtime Violations” would be people not being paid overtime, “Rest Break Violations” would be people not receiving breaks, and “Off The Clock Violations” would be people working without getting paid.

    Pretty sure claiming hours you didn’t work would be considered some form of fraud, but I don’t see any kind of fraud listed on this graphic.

    EDIT: Of course, theft of labor value would dwarf all of this, but capitalists don’t see that as theft.



  • “Browser hardening” is a somewhat nebulous term; I’ve seen it used for both privacy and security interchangeably. I continue to hear that Gecko-based browsers (i.e. Firefox and its forks) are less secure, but I do not know exactly how that plays out in the real world. Security and privacy are sometimes at odds, and your threat model should help you choose which to prioritize and when. If you don’t know how to weigh them, you may need to refine your threat model.

    Vanadium is a hardened browser, yes. I don’t have personal experience with it so I can’t make any recommendations on its settings.


  • Mullvad Browser and LibreWolf have two completely different strategies to avoid fingerprinting. Mullvad Browser operates on everyone having the same configuration to blend in - if you want to use it, you need to avoid changing any of the settings. LibreWolf, on the other hand, works by spoofing a different fingerprint every session. It will look unique to Cover Your Tracks and the like, but it will be different every time you close and reopen it. Again, it works best if you don’t mess with the settings.

    I believe both Mullvad Browser and LibreWolf come with uBlockOrigin pre-installed. Just about anything you want to do regarding blocking ads or scripts can be done in UBO’s settings; do NOT add extra “privacy” add-ons as you will only make yourself easier to fingerprint.

    If you’re looking for something to use with actual accounts (like banking), use hardened Firefox (with arkenfox) or a hardened chromium browser. Neither Mullvad Browser nor LibreWolf (and especially NOT Tor) are designed for that use case.

    As an aside, you can use multiple browsers for different use cases. I honestly think that’s best practices at this point, but you’d have to be good about not overlapping your browsing on them (i.e., not visiting/logging into the same website on multiple browsers).


  • I don’t blame anyone for trying to get out. When I was younger, I always thought I’d get out at the first sign of trouble, but now that I’m older, I’ve realized I can’t bring myself to. Even if I could escape, I’d be leaving friends and family at the mercy of whatever comes next. I don’t know that I’ll survive the next couple of decades, but I’m trying to make peace with it.





  • It’s definitely not something I would throw at my parents or my less tech-inclined friends. I think it’s alright for me precisely because I’m already motivated to learn the command line and this gives me more incentive. There’s more I want to do with my machine and I’ll get there, but I already feel annoyed when I have to use my work laptop (which has Windows 11 on it). I didn’t think I’d get to a point where I despise Windows File Explorer, but every time it lags I long for Dolphin, lol

    I may throw Mint on my personal laptop just to get some experience with it. While I like bazzite, I absolutely see why I can’t recommend it to most people starting out. I think more software will need to run on Wine before I can convert people, though.




  • This is what I’ve been doing, and I’ve been on Bazzite for about 4-6 weeks now. I haven’t booted my Windows drive since the first week. It’s definitely an adjustment, but I’m finding my way around. Gaming on it has been pretty easy, it’s figuring out the Linux command line that is taking me more time. Knowledge of MS-DOS is really not transferable; all the commands are different. It’s kind of like learning a new language.

    But I also don’t depend on a bunch of proprietary software that won’t run on Linux, as I’d been moving away from that over the past 1-2 years. I think that’s made my transition a lot easier. My goal is to get to a point where the only proprietary stuff on my computer is video games.







  • I think there are a lot of great games out now, they just tend not to be AAA titles. Those kinds of graphics require a huge amount of manpower, which means a huge amount of investment seeking profit, which means people in business suits calling the shots. Frankly, I think the answer is that games devs need to unionize, both to push back against crunch and to protect their creative freedom. I think that might result in AAA games worth playing.