We Need New Troops

You might remember a few months ago I interviewed Phil Zimmermann, the creator of PGP, which became the most widely used email encryption software in the world.

Phil and I spoke about the war against privacy in the early '90s. When Phil published his PGP code as free, open-source software, he wanted to help people protect their privacy. For this, the U.S. government investigated him for three years, claiming he was effectively trafficking munitions.

Phil fought the government alongside a group of hackers and cryptographers known as the Cypherpunks, who stood firm in their belief that privacy is a fundamental human right. Phil laid out this argument in his essay titled Why I Wrote PGP, where he explained that without the ability to communicate privately, democracies slide into autocracies:

“The need for protecting our right to a private conversation has never been stronger. ... Ordinary citizens and grassroots political opposition groups need to protect themselves against these emerging autocracies as best as they can. If an autocracy inherits or builds a pervasive surveillance infrastructure, it becomes nearly impossible for political opposition to organize, as we can see in China. Secure communication is necessary for grassroots political opposition in those societies. …

PGP is good for preserving democracy. If privacy is outlawed, only outlaws will have privacy.”

These early battles, known as the First Crypto Wars (where "crypto" is short for cryptography), were won, and individuals were once again able to exercise their right to privacy in the digital age:

“It has been a long struggle, but we have finally won, at least on the export control front in the US. Now we must continue our efforts to deploy strong crypto, to blunt the effects increasing surveillance efforts on the Internet by various governments. And we still need to entrench our right to use it domestically over the objections of the FBI. PGP empowers people to take their privacy into their own hands. There has been a growing social need for it. That's why I wrote it.”

This essay was written in 1999, and while the battle may have seemed won-and-done at the time, we have since found that it’s ongoing.

Today, there is a massive assault on privacy, with hidden code in our apps tracking our activities, governments skirting checks and balances by purchasing vast amounts of data from brokers, and the normalization of surveillance creating a dangerous complacency around the loss of privacy.

Phil Zimmermann has since realized:

“We are going to need fresh troops.”

Learning From Battles of the Past

We won’t win unless we inspire others to join our cause. During the First Crypto Wars, people were galvanized by rallying cries from pioneers like Phil Zimmermann and manifestos written by Cypherpunks like Tim May and Eric Hughes.

I can’t possibly expect to reach their standards, but I have tried my hand at writing a manifesto. My hope is that it might contribute, in some small way, to encouraging people to join us.

I have also soft-launched a new institute—a nonprofit dedicated to helping people maintain their freedom and dignity in the digital age. I haven’t officially announced it yet (you’ll hear more in the coming months), but our board of advisors is packed with inspiring Cypherpunks who fought these early privacy battles, including Phil Zimmermann himself.

This manifesto may seem intense in a world where surveillance has become normalized. But we need to shift the Overton Window back to a place where individuals are empowered in their own lives. As Phil said in his essay, “There’s nothing wrong with asserting your privacy.”

Here it is. Tell me what you think.

The Priv/Acc Manifesto

A new force is rising in the digital age, a force to reclaim what has been quietly stolen: privacy.

We are the Privacy Accelerationists—driven by a simple conviction that privacy is not optional, but essential for personal freedom. Surveillance capitalism, government overreach, and the culture of data extraction corrode our ability to live freely, think independently, and interact with trust.

The future of privacy is no longer something that can be delayed, debated, or dissected. It must be accelerated—now. The pace of intrusion is relentless; our response must be swifter still. The tools to protect privacy—encryption, decentralized networks, and privacy-enhancing technologies—already exist. But only decisive action can ensure these tools are put into the hands of billions.

We are not radicals for desiring privacy, but because we understand that privacy is power—liberation in a world that seeks to control us. Privacy is rebellion. In a society where thoughts, desires, and behaviors are commodified for control, privacy becomes the means by which we reclaim our lives and identities.

The systems of surveillance—corporate, governmental, and societal—are intertwined, feeding off each other in a symbiotic cycle. But as history shows, even the most entrenched systems are vulnerable to revolution. Cryptography is that revolution. Anonymous transactions, encrypted communications, decentralized data: these are not just theoretical tools but the foundations of a new era.

Governments and corporations will attempt to stop us, justifying endless data collection with claims of “efficiency” or “security.” They will argue privacy is unnecessary in a world where transparency is a virtue. They will say, "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear."

We reject these premises entirely. Privacy is not about hiding—it’s about choice. The choice of what to reveal, to whom, and when. Without privacy, there is no autonomy; without autonomy, there is no freedom. The acceleration of privacy technology is our only path forward. We do not oppose technology—we champion it. Our fight is against the hijacking of technology to strip away privacy and autonomy. We assert our right to navigate the digital world without the oppressive gaze of surveillance. By embracing technology as a tool for empowerment, we can restore control over personal information to where it belongs—with the individual. This is our moral imperative, our stand for a future where freedom and technology coexist.

The systems of control thrive on complacency and apathy. We are here to disrupt that cycle. We will accelerate the adoption of privacy-enhancing technologies—not as a slow reform, but as a revolution. Code is our weapon, and knowledge our shield. We build not for governments or corporations, but for people.

Privacy is the cornerstone of an open society in the digital age. To build that society, we will work with cryptographers, developers, activists, and everyday users. We will create networks that resist censorship, tools that ensure anonymity, and communities that defend privacy at all costs.

We will not wait for permission. We will not apologize for defending our right to exist unobserved. We are not products. We are not data points. We are free individuals.

Join us, or stand aside. Privacy will not wait.

Onward.

Privacc.org

Dear Odysee Community, We have often reflected on ways to further support the discovery of smaller Odysee creators within our community.

We deeply respect the dedication of these creators, tirelessly producing engaging content while simultaneously trying to build an audience. Despite limited resources or the backing of powerful algorithms, they continue to pursue their craft with passion and determination.

That's why we're excited to tell you about our new 'Discover' category, a space on the homepage designed to shine a light on smaller channels exclusively. This category will showcase fresh channels, with selections refreshed every 48 hours to ensure constant variety. You can also click ‘Discover’ from the side menu for an even larger selection of content from newer small creators.

We believe this initiative will open doors for smaller Odysee creators to connect with new fans, while offering the community an ever-evolving stream of fresh, engaging content to explore.

Take care, Odysee Team

In an era of growing concern over digital censorship and fraud, decentralized platforms like Odysee have played a pivotal role in ensuring that critical information remains accessible. A recent investigation by BeInCrypto shed light on the alarming truth behind NuCoin, a cryptocurrency heavily promoted by Nubank, one of Brazil's largest financial institutions. Despite Nubank’s claims that NuCoin was registered on a public blockchain, the investigation revealed that no evidence of such registration existed. This revelation exposed the fraudulent nature of NuCoin, raising serious concerns about how Nubank deceived Brazilian citizens into investing based on false promises...

Alternative link: https://invidious.darkness.services/watch?v=4XmJPb4Qt5Y

Mojang demonstrate how some of the games sound effects were made; from modern sounds, also going back to some of the older sounds. I find it cool that they recorded real dolphin sounds themselves. The way the phantom was recorded was outright creepy.

Odysee, a decentralised YouTube alternative focused on free speech, is officially ending the serving of ads on the platform, starting today. The post:

"Dear friends of Odysee, Starting today, we're removing all ads. We don't need ads to make money as a platform and we are confident in the development of our own new monetisation programs that will help creators earn a living and at the same time keep Odysee alive. Ultimately, sacrificing the overall user experience to make a few bucks isn't worth it to us and nor is it even sustainable for a platform that wishes to make something truly open and creatively free.

As we take this decision, one thing is certain to us, media platforms (even ones that market themselves as 'free-speech') typically devolve into advertising companies and end up becoming beholden to their paymasters. It's been that way for centuries and is never going to change.

As we see YouTube become more aggressive with their ad deployment and 'Free Speech' platforms try to build their own ad businesses it's apparent to us that we're building a model for Odysee that will keep it sustainable not only financially, but in its ability to provide an incorruptible user experience.

Our approach may be considered niche or unconventional, that's fine by us. Odysee will be used by the world on terms that are agreeable to its users, and we know our users don't like ads.

Best, Founder & Creator, Chief Executive Officer. Julian Chandra"

Starting today.

I find in retrospect that the legacy console versions of the game were always so much more cozy than Java or Bedrock. The worlds really felt more like your own home in the classic versions; not just a near-infinite display of eternally explorable land that always feels foreign. To an extent, you needed to be more careful with your resources too, as sometimes they were extremely rare and you could cause an item or block to go "extinct" in the world, because you carelessly threw it out. You can see that as a hassle, but I found it a more realistic and fun experience having to think a bit more about how you managed the world.

Unlike the infinite worlds, you can't just fly off to some far-off part of the world you never visit and demolish an entire beach or desert for infinite sand, because, with the limited world size, you would be tearing up your own home and making the world look ugly (unless you're the YouTuber ibxtoycat who loves doing things like that 😂).

I miss the small worlds, and even though the engine limitations of that old version would have made it a stretch, I would have loved to see the recent updates (1.15-1.21) come to the game.

There was a charm to multiplayer survival worlds in Legacy, too. Because of the small size, you would bump into your friends just doing their own things, minding their own business in the worlds so much more often than in infinite worlds, where they could be hundreds of thousands, to millions of blocks apart from each other and only interact through the in-game chat or voice-chat. The world as a result felt so much more alive with multiple players. I miss the old console version...

I find it extremely difficult to articulate what I mean. I've gotten this feeling throughout my entire life, even when I was a child, and I'm sure there must be many others who've experienced it; I just can't find any mention of it online.

I'll give you an example. Sometimes you might be going from place to place, doing your own thing. When you're done with whatever you were doing, you just... stop ... and take in your surroundings. Suddenly the quietness around you seems to give you a tingling, comforting feeling that's quite honestly a beautiful feeling.

I'm 22, and I've been getting this throughout my entire life; and heck, I even get it when playing videogames (particularly open-world games), if they're immersive enough. The most common place I get this feeling in the real world is when I've been travelling in a car for a while (I don't drive currently, usually it's my mother driving me), and we reach our destination: The car stops; the engine turns off; the music on the radio goes silent, and I'm in no rush to hop out. For some reason this feeling rushes over me; it feels similar to butterflies and goes through my upper legs and stomach; even in my upper arms for some reason, but is all very comforting.

My earliest memory with it (although I know I had it years prior to this), was one day when I was 7-9 yrs old. I remember it quite vividly, actually. I don't remember where I had come from (probably school or something), but my Mum had been driving me for what felt like quite a while. She pulled into our front driveway and stopped. The engine shut off; the radio went silent. It felt calming, and I didn't get out of the car because I was just appreciating and enjoying the feeling of sitting in the quietness, with the subtle ticking sound coming from the cars engine you tend to hear when turning it off, just outside. My Mum said to me, something along the lines of "Why aren't you hopping out, Liam?". I don't remember what I said in response, but I definitely had no idea how to explain the reason to her; I find it difficult to even explain now as a young adult.

Now, I've managed to learn where and when to just "stop", and have this feeling come over me, like second-nature, but I still find that I can't well explain when or how it happens with words; that's why this post is so long.

As I said earlier, I also sometimes get this feeling when playing videogames. One of my favourite games of all time is The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (The sequel, too). It's an open-world game where you can travel to almost every single nook and cranny of the land of Hyrule, on foot or by horse. One of the things I absolutely love the most, is just walking around the world, exploring, and taking it all in. I don't care about defeating every single monster in every single enemy campsite across the world, or getting from place to place in the shortest time possible, or finding the most powerful loot or weapons; I just like to immerse myself in the world, like I'm actually there. And that feeling I described: I get it around almost every single corner, especially in out-of-the-way places like the top-edges of cliff-faces, where people in Hyrule never visit. In fact, I can give you an example: I was watching IGN's video of the game from 2016 when it was still in development (video link is timestamped to where I want to show you), and because I had been watching this gameplay video for the past 20 minutes, I was very immersed and relaxed in the game world. As soon as the player climbed up to this rock that was protruding out of the cliff-face, he immediately turned around to stop and take a look at the view in the distance, due to being so high up. I immediately, immersed, had that feeling come over me again, and it felt so nice; as it always does.

Is there name for this? If so, what is this called? There has to be some kind of psychology behind all of this.

Edit: Changed the link to lead to the original Odysee article post which contains the video, rather than just to the video itself. You get more context and information that way.

Further reading:

The article

FAQ

I was casually listening to a band I love on Bandcamp a second ago called Justice, listening to their album Woman Worldwide, before I suddenly, out of nowhere had a nostalgia-overload nerd cry when I heard a remix in the album of the song that played in the pretty famous Better Together update trailer from 2017 that announced the cancelled Super Duper Graphics Pack. Turns out that Justice are the ones that made that original song. The original is called Alakazam ! from the album Woman

Sharing this for those who've wanted to receive Ryujinx news in their RSS feed reader. I couldn't find an official RSS feed for Ryujinx anywhere online while hunting around. I asked the AI in Brave Search, and it somehow new the address to the RSS feed, which is https://blog.ryujinx.org/rss

I can't find any articles or posts talking about this anywhere, so I just wanted to share a post about it. I received an email on July 2 from Afterpay about an upcoming change to the privacy policy which will take affect on August 1, 2024. I used a website to compare the text of the old policy with the text of the new, and found that they are now introducing targeted advertising. They harvest personal information about you and share them with third-parties and partners in order to serve you with personalized ads within the Afterpay app. They track information such as your spending habits and how you interact with their marketing messages, and they now also combine all of your personal information they have collected about you to profile you, they also get information about you from third-parties. Quoted from the updated policy:

Information from third parties about you, such as identity, preferences and inferences about you...

Just wanted to share this, since I can't find any discussion of it online. Here's a link to the policies if you want to check it out. These are Wayback Machine links.

Current Policy (As of April 2, 2024)

Upcoming Policy (Effective Aug 1, 2024)

I switched to Pop!_OS earlier this year from Manjaro KDE. One feature that KDE had is that you could write a comment on any file by clicking Properties and going to the metadata. I assumed that this wrote the comment into the metadata of every file and that this would translate over to other distributions, but it doesn't appear to be the case.

I found this old thread from 2012 which said that KDE stores it's comments in ~/.kde/share/apps/nepomuk/. If that's still true today, I'm really worried now that all of that comment data I spent hours writing has been deleted along with Manjaro, because I had no idea that the data wasn't store inside the file itself, since it was always listed with the rest of the metadata for every file in it's properties. Is there no hope of me getting these comments back, or is there some way?

Update: Despite what that old thread seemed to imply, it turns out the comments do in fact get stored in metadata. After getting help in the comments, I found the easiest solution was to simply install Dolphin (KDE's file manager) into Pop!_OS, which allowed me to view the comments just as they were when I used KDE. For future readers, some other options that I didn't try that probably also work are:

• Load a Linux distro using KDE into a virtual machine on top of Pop!_OS and view comments that way
• Flash a distro like KDE Neon onto a live USB and view the comments that way
• Use the command getfattr FILENAME -n user.xdg.comment to view the comment data within the Pop! terminal (I didn't get this working, but this was suggested to me)

I'm really late to grab mine, but can I even still get it? The cape is still being advertised in the official launcher, but whenever I go to the redeem page which was linked in the article advertised in the launcher, I keep getting taken to the 15th anniversary page where all they tell me is about all the bedrock edition marketplace content you can redeem for the anniversary, and a history of Minecraft over each of its 15 years.

I can't find anything about a cape on the page. I also can't find anything about it being a limited time offer (but it would make sense to be at least limited to 2024) outside of an unofficial guide on redeeming the cape mentioning it apparently being the case; but I can't seem to follow along that guide because nothing they tell you to do seems to be possible whenever I visit the linked pages.

The whole manifest v3 announcement happened years ago and it's been at least a year since the whole timeline...

I heard around the internet that Firefox on Android does not have Site Isolation built-in yet. After a little bit of research, I learned that Site Isolation on Android was added in Firefox Nightly, appearing to have been added sometime in June 2023. What I can't find, though, is whether this has ever been added to any stable versions of Firefox yet. Does anyone know anything about this?

Update: After further research, it appears that Site Isolation is not currently a feature in stable version of Firefox on Android. I don't know with certainty if their information is up-to-date, but GrapheneOS (A well-known privacy/security-focused fork of Android) does not recommend using Firefox-based browsers on Android due to it's (apparently) lack of a Site Isolation feature. A snippet of what Graphene currently have to say about Firefox on Android/GrapheneOS from their usage guide page, is: "Avoid Gecko-based browsers like Firefox as they're currently much more vulnerable to exploitation and inherently add a huge amount of attack surface."

On a side-note, they also say about Firefox's current Site Isolation on desktop being weaker, which I wasn't aware of. "Even in the desktop version, Firefox's sandbox is still substantially weaker (especially on Linux) and lacks full support for isolating sites from each other rather than only containing content as a whole."

Is it possible to make upvotes/downvotes on my own posts (and comments on my posts) visible, while making everyone else's invisible on the Lemmy website? I like making upvotes & downvotes invisible, because it makes it harder for me to be biased on what I upvote or downvote, based on the amount of upvotes/downvotes posts/comments already have from others. But on the other hand, I would still like to see how many upvotes & downvotes my own posts have, and how many upvotes & downvotes the comments below my post have. Thanks.