This seems like a win for “civil society”. Putting a dent in NSO’s secrecy so software makers can patch against it would be a win as long as Whatsapp (Meta) publish their findings publicly and not keep it for themselves to be the next biggest threat to “civil society”. As if they haven’t done enough civil damage and spying themselves already.

At last, some authority talking sense!

If they weren’t doing anything wrong they shouldn’t care who watches where they go, right?

No public list, sorry. I’m willing to say that I already support many things on your list. And like you pointed out, many projects with software I use don’t have a way to support them financially, which frustrates me to no end.

My yearly spend is approximately €500, give or take a little. Fortunately, I can afford to do this. I hold no judgement for those who are not in a position to do. My only motivation for contributing financially is to ensure the free, functional, ad free, privacy preserving software I love continues to exist. It needs to exist especially for those who cannot afford to pay a corporation for proprietary software. A shout out to all the developers who adhere to FOSS principles. Each new year I make a list of the software I’ve mainlined and similar to the article I allot an amount to each one based on my usage. Many times it’s time-tested old-school tools, but we’re seeing a lot of new development with Rust apps, crates and TUIs. This year I added Matrix. Also EFF, despite not being directly impacted by that jurisdiction. They truly are holding back a giant wave with global repercussions. It’s not always easy to justify the time spent creating FOSS tools when there’s bills to pay, mouths to feed. Thank you - You know who you are.

This article is disingenuous at best and either fueled by ignorance or malice. Another comment suggested it wasn’t officially sponsored, but it still could’ve been bought. Having said, I have to agree with some of the sentiment. I’ve seen advertising on public TV from the likes of NordVPN that is downright fraudulent. Their claims are deceptive and unfounded. Then there’s the recent acquisition of Express and PIA by an old school scammer/spammer. Additionally, many free VPNs are actually surveillance malware and SHOULD be avoided. Any encryption offered publicly by large corporate data-stealing privacy-abusing parasites should be avoided in any form.

For anyone reading this that is hesitant to using VPN because of the article, be encouraged that VPNs are extremely effective at securing your data during transit. They are NOT an outright privacy tool, but can be used as part of your privacy plan. VPNs do NOT make you anonymous! A truthful VPN service provider will say this openly. Like IVPN (Bottom of front page) and Mullvad , both of which attempt to educate customers .

If you’re someone who finds it hard to trust any company whatsoever, then you can host VPN yourself. Admittedly a learning curve to hurdle, but regardless of which method you choose, if your provider is genuine then I see it as a necessity in the effort to keep loved ones safer.

Google’s modus operandi - business as usual. Deploying their dirty tricks on their mass of servers to edge out and destroy competition. When caught out they apologize all surprised Pikachu style, then do it again differently. This is likely in response to news about Firefox mobile finally allowing extensions to work. People are probably trying it out, but their Youtube experience will be crap, so they’ll go back to chrome.

Sounds great and really secure, because Microsoft has such a good record of security, privacy and keeping private keys private. I’m being facetious of course. It is my hope that governments quit looking for convenience by outsourcing to third party private corporations.

I can see it. I t looks like some kind of corporate advertising shill site pushing an agenda.

Yep.

https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/articles/its-official-cars-are-the-worst-product-category-we-have-ever-reviewed-for-privacy/

https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/blog/privacy-nightmare-on-wheels-every-car-brand-reviewed-by-mozilla-including-ford-volkswagen-and-toyota-flunks-privacy-test/

Agreed! What would be amazing though, is a manufacturer who could make a modern safe bare-bones vehicle that didn’t have the tech installed at all. If you want tech you could BYO.

It can’t be illegal because you agree to allow them when you purchase the new vehicle. It’s all there in the T&C and PP, which no one ever reads. Don’t like it? Don’t buy new cars. I won’t.