newscracker

Quoting what’s in the first release:

> At launch, Lockdown Mode includes the following protections:

> Messages: Most message attachment types other than images are blocked. Some features, like link previews, are disabled.

> Web browsing: Certain complex web technologies, like just-in-time (JIT) JavaScript compilation, are disabled unless the user excludes a trusted site from Lockdown Mode.

> Apple services: Incoming invitations and service requests, including FaceTime calls, are blocked if the user has not previously sent the initiator a call or request.

> Wired connections with a computer or accessory are blocked when iPhone is locked.

> Configuration profiles cannot be installed, and the device cannot enroll into mobile device management (MDM), while Lockdown Mode is turned on.

I’m not a target (I think, and hopefully don’t get to be one), but nevertheless I’d feel safer with this turned on (I very rarely use FaceTime, so not accepting it is not a big deal).

I’d also love more protections. Not allowing specific apps to connect to any network (WiFi included), Apple handling issue reports on apps with urgency (right now they seem to be ignored even when policy violations which are against the user’s interests are reported), etc.

Note: I'm not considering ProtonMail (Switzerland) as relatively cheap. I came to know about CTemplar (Iceland), but that shutdown a month ago.

That’s actually called the “Awesome Bar”, which was first introduced in Firefox 3 (which was 14 years ago). [1] It has been improved over time.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox_3.0

> However I would remind you that since Fastmail is based in Australia, its privacy is pretty limited.

And Fastmail’s data centers are in the U.S. I don’t know if they encrypt all data and logs at rest. They/the data centers could be compelled to hand over data to U.S. three-letter-agencies too, with an NSL (gag order).

I would suggest looking at options like Mailbox.org, Runbox, Mailfence, and a few others that I don’t recall right now.

For a pricing scheme that’s not based on number of mailboxes but on other parameters like storage and mails sent, there are options like mxroute and Migadu. I don’t prefer either of these for different reasons (the former is in the U.S. and the latter left me with a bad taste when it moved from a free plan to paid).

I love that users who value privacy have even more choices and flexibility.

Then it changed to the subscription model and a move to storing the passwords on the cloud. At the same time, the company also hid the standalone license option from all the main and help pages where one would look for it (and it required asking in the forums to get a link).

There’s a lot to write about how the company built a good reputation in the beginning and then worked very hard to dig itself deep underground.

There are sites that list phone numbers of companies and provide information on if or how one can reach a human. I'm not associated with this company in any way, but I've heard of it a long time ago and it's still around: https://gethuman.com . I'm sure there are other services that help with shortcuts on reaching a person who can help. In the worst case, do a "Tell HN" here with the name of the company and you'd more likely get a real human helping you out! :|

I’ve only read articles that said that the GDPR applies to EU residents (not necessarily citizens).

> How many of y'all who use Firefox donate or buy their VPN anyways.

A couple of caveats to note. Donating on the Mozilla site funds Mozilla Foundation, which is the non-profit, and is not the same as Mozilla Corporation (which is the maker of Firefox). AFAIK, the donations to Mozilla Foundation cannot be used to fund Firefox developers/development (at least not directly). As for Mozilla VPN, it’s available only in a few countries.

If MoCo (Mozilla Corporation) would just sell Firefox themes or digital stickers, I’d gladly buy those to support it (anything that’s legal and allows it to take money from people). Being on the outside, I haven’t understand why Mozilla isn’t looking at and exploiting as many revenue streams as possible to reduce the dependence on the massive search engine relationship with Google.

It seems like your phone number is the main problem here. It’s tainted and is on some very bad lists. You should get a new number (or two) and transition over. It may also be helpful to get new phones and set them up afresh as much as possible.

> Detect the javascript library responsible for calls to the "proxy" server to block its execution. Except that you should not simply detect the javascript library provided by Google, but potentially all the javascript tracking libraries, even home libraries.

Seems like this would be a great case for AI/ML. I say that in half jest.

> Block the IP addresses of these proxy servers.

This seems doable, even with the caveats included in it.

Even if these measures work on some sites and not others, they would be valuable.

Meanwhile, please get your non-tech circle to use ad blockers and/or browsers that support ad blockers on desktops, laptops and mobile. And instruct them that browsers that don’t support ad blockers are from a “be evil corporation”.

Edit: I just read one of the OP’s comments about backups not being there and how that should’ve been planned. Please disregard the below paragraph, OP. I’m still leaving it around for others.

Also, please always have backups of videos uploaded anywhere for sharing. I get that this may be irritating to read right now, but data that’s not stored on one’s hardware cannot be trusted to be around for long.

> They're run by real people in Switzerland.

Please note that the data centers used by Migadu are in France. This may be a concern for some people who are looking to avoid 14 eyes countries.

Mxroute provides a similar service that’s not based on users/mailboxes and is cheap enough for multiple domains and multiple mailboxes.

For those concerned with privacy and data stored in certain countries, Mxroute stores data in the U.S. (like Fastmail) and Migadu stores data in France (a 14 eyes country) even though the company is incorporated in Switzerland. Migadu also does/did not encrypt data at rest (as of a couple of years ago). So any seizure of its servers in France means your data could be exposed.

> We could ask candidates on video (or in person) to see a photo ID and match the ID against the resume. But this would seem very weird. It starts an interview off in a hostile manner, and send the a strong message of distrust. Honest candidates – which are, remember, the vast majority – will wonder why the heck this company is acting so weird, and will rightly see this as a red flag about the company culture. There will be negative consequences for your hiring practices.

This sort of verification is already being used for some KYC processes by financial institutions (i.e., take a live video of yourself holding your ID that’s uploaded for verification). It’s probably a matter of time until this is so normalized with virtual KYC that people wouldn’t care much when asked to do the same by a potential employer. The process already excludes certain people (like the transphobic process mentioned in the article).

There is always a cost to the company for an incorrect hire, regardless of the underlying reason. So I would expect company HR teams to read that (widely shared) post and formulate strict identity checking and recording mechanisms so that they can absolve themselves from what may seem like an oversight or error. It also fits well with the typical HR style that’s more about controlling employees than about enabling/helping them (apologies to any good HR folks who are out there who struggle against the weight of the systems).

One area where HN has done poorly for years is accessibility, both on desktop (poor) and mobile (very poor). Most of the click and tap targets are quite small, and are spaced quite close to each other. Most of the fonts are quite small.

Unintentionally downvoting something when intending to upvote it (or vice versa), unintentional flagging of a post, etc., happen more often.

Isn’t there a web designer out there who can create a better (yet simple) CSS for HN to use and donate it? Isn’t YC capable of spending some pocket change on improving accessibility on one of its important sites? How about a design competition (with constraints) with the top five getting some reward and letting the users choose (in their profiles) which of these winning stylesheets they’d like to use? Or just allow a URL for stylesheet in the user profile so anyone has the freedom to customize it however they like?

What could happen is that the space for each mailbox may be restricted, and linked accounts may be considered for the total space used by a person. Unused accounts may also be pruned quicker with hardly any notice.

* Posteo.de (no custom domain support)

* Mailbox.org

* Runbox.com

* Mailfence.com

If a service located in the U.S. is not a concern, then mxroute has great options for multiple domains and multiple mailboxes.

Services like Fastmail and Hey become quite expensive if you need more than a couple of mailboxes (not aliases). ProtonMail and Tutanota, though privacy focused, can also get expensive for multiple mailboxes. While ProtonMail has some support for IMAP on paid plans, Tutanota does not support it.

Buyer’s remorse and post-purchase confirmation: You’re seeing ads for products you bought because the brand or marketing team decided to spend some more money to have you avoid buyer’s remorse and to reaffirm to yourself that the purchase was a good one.

This may or may not work, depending on the person and the product, but some of these things are probably not measured well enough to decide who should see the same ad and who doesn’t need to.

> …

> On a higher level pov, anonymity allows some of the most toxic and damaging ideas to brew and fester.

You mention Twitter, but haven’t mentioned Facebook. That anonymity makes people to become or expose the worst version of themselves — or that anonymity allows some of the most toxic and damaging ideas to brew and fester — isn’t necessarily completely true. On Facebook, people use their real names, post personal photos (including participation in local events), their location, etc., and there’s still a huge amount of toxic ideas from these same non-anonymous people that brew there and are allowed to (because that makes the company more money).

I don’t disagree that anonymity allows people to be more honest in expressing themselves without filters. It’s one of the best things that happened with the Internet. But completely banning or not allowing anonymity isn’t the solution that some may immediately reach out for when faced with some social problems. Usually the people who dislike anonymity and want to eliminate it (I’m not saying it’s you) are those in power or want to be in power. And they don’t like it when people can organize outside their surveillance view.

I still like that Wire doesn’t require a phone number, is multi platform and syncs conversations across all devices. But the above caveats meant that I had to stop using it.

Tell the people you know to switch from Google Chrome to another browser as their primary one. Google will still pester them on Google’s online properties to install Chrome, and may resort to other tricks on Android. But we are at a time when this can gather momentum and result in some good for all in the future (not mainly for Google, as it seems to be now).

Others have recommended Wire, which I’ve used for a few years until about two years ago. It doesn’t require a phone number, and an email address is sufficient. All chats are end-to-end encrypted and sync across all your devices (older messages sent before setting up a device wouldn’t).

There are some drawbacks to keep in mind with Wire: the company doesn’t care much about the non-enterprise segment. One of the side effects is that there is no way to export your chats (say, in text or HTML format) if you later decide you don’t want to use it anymore. You can only backup and restore chats on to the Wire app (and that also seemed to be platform specific when I checked it a few years ago). This means being locked in if you want access to the content. On the other hand, Telegram allows you to export chats so that you can have the content in readable form (say you decide to delete your account and save this beforehand). Wire also has a somewhat clunky Electron based desktop app (and you’ll know it’s Electron when you use it).

Another plus point for Telegram, which I haven’t seen in other apps that use a phone number: you can decide not to expose your account on Telegram to anyone who has your numbers in their contacts list (and allow only those you have on your contacts list to know, if you wish).

I really dislike the per user or per mailbox pricing model followed by some platforms. It gets very expensive to use for a few people in the family.

Copying my other comment on attachments [1]:

> People get bank statements, investment transaction statements and other important information as attachments, and they may need to get those years later from emails (it may not be easy to get from the original source and they may have lost their local copies).

> Like it or not, e-mail is a document storage medium for most people.

Note the following services that provide what I’ve listed above, except that they don’t meet some other criteria I have:

- Mxroute

- Migadu

[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30008723