mazzilius_marsti

Before we start, I want to stress that I deleted my facebook account since 2015 (almost 10 years now). Deleted = find the the delete account page, agree to delete and do not log back in. In 2012, I tried to delete but ended up logging back in due to addiction. Before I deleted, I switched the email I was using to some temp email.

Also, this is not some story I pulled out of my ass to get upvotes here on on reddit, r/nosleep. It is true and it shows how fucked up and how deep our privacy is being violated.

Anyway, as this is about privacy, here are somethings that are very disturbing:

1. Back in 2015 (months after the account was "officially deleted"), while browsing the web with a different browser but the same computer and same network, I got ads on the side from facebook showing "My Account Name and 100 like this". It even retained the profile pic I used before deleted.

2. This one is tricky, I'm not sure if I'm paranoid but it scares the shit out of me. Months ago, my family wanted to check out the menu items of a local restaurant before going there. The menu was posted on facebook and half of it is covered unless you log in.

Nobody in my family uses facebook. Nothing on phones or computers.

So we decide to create a fake account with a fake name using a temporary email. This is before the identity validation bullshit. We log on using a burner computer at a different wifi. After viewing the menu, we scrolled down a bit.

Remember, this is a blank account: no friends, no pages, no likes...etc. So there was nothing on the news feed. We clicked on some local posts, liked some others just to get the newsfeed populate.

This time we can see posts on the feed. As we scrolled down, we saw posts from this news sites and from local celebrities, game ads...etc. There was this random post. Underneath, it showed "A B C and 100 like this".

The problem? A B C is my actual last name, middle and first name !

I have never ever used A B C on any facebook accounts. Nick name, yes so like: Z C. But never A B C. In the messages of the deleted account, sometimes I use A like when a friend talk to you using your name: hey sup A. The middle B i never use.

I am looking to buy a Pixel just to install Graphene. My most recent Pixel is the OG from 2016 so its been a while. In my country, these are the available models: 9, 9a, 9 pro, 9 pro xl, 10, 0 pro and 10 pro xl.

These are my criteria:

1. good battery
2. i dont like big phones. So the XL models are out.
3. storage not an issue. I'm fine witht the small 256 from 9a or even the 1tb from Pro.
4. Easy to repair. I was 90% for the 9a until JerryRig's video showed how the battery is almost impossible to take out. So if phone is dead => time for a new phone.

For 1) on paper, the 9a has the largest battery. But recently I saw a post from the Graphene discord, where someone got a 10 Pro (XL?) running Graphene with like 3 days SOT. Absolutely insane. Couldnt find that message anymore though.

I read a lot of good reviews and videos about GOS: high security and privacy. There are also other complaints which i can only know through random social media comments: app compatibilities, weird workflow (profiles),

My problem is that in my country, Pixels are very expensive even the refurbished models: the old Pixel 6 is like $500, refurbished one is $300. At that price, I could just go for a low end Android phone.

Is there a way to experience GOS like on an emulator? I want to try it out before buying a brand new phone to install.

I love the profile feature from GrapheneOS. The idea of having different profiles with different settings (one for all Google apps, one for non Google...etc) is very nice. But Graphene only works on Pixel. I dont have a Pixel so I am trying to replicate this profile behavior on an S24 - what I currently use.

Why do I want to do this?

• Every where is turning into police states with very heavy censorships. In my country (not US), we start to see bullshit stuff like a cop would stop you in the middle of the road and demand you to open the phone. If they see things they dont like (could be as random as an app name), you'll get arrested. It is not as severe as a forensic test of the phone, but more like a road stop where they check your phone instead of your license.

• it is nice to organize stuff.

What does Samsung have?

• Secure Folder
• Work Profile - can be setup with Shelter

What do I want to achieve?

• a dummy profile with the bare minimum to run Google Play updates and other basic stuff.

• All my important data will be in Secure Folder or Work profile.

What I plan to do:

• setup the phone using a blank Google account. No emails or syncs whatsoever.

• put all critical data (personal Google, bank apps, private emails, cloud storages, files, media...etc) in the Secure Folder. Locked using my own pass, and do not use Samsung Cloud. No Samsung account.

• put frequently used personal data in Work Profile. These are things like messengers (Telegram, Signal, Whatsapp....etc), contacts, emails (not the private one).

I'm still new to this so appreciate any input.

I know FF + ublock allows you to do that, but I'm looking for an app solution. Plus, FF on Android is buggy sometimes. I'm looking for things like background play, PiP play and adblocks. Google sign in is optional.

I have tried:

• Newpipe: works ok. You can even download the videos. The downside is I dont know how to get Newpipe to customize the trending videos. E.g. I want only trending in topics I care about, not trending becsuse the video has the most views during that time.

• Youtube Vanced: very nice app, you have everything: adblock, PiP, Google account sign in, background play. The downsides are you install YT Vanced from Vanced Manager and there is a lot of fake sites with fake Vanced Manager apk. In addition, I also get a lot of frozen videos and have to relaunch the app - not sure it it's adblock problem or anything similar.

On Android, you can choose whatever browser or launcher or any apps you want as default. I managed to find good alternatives (e.g. Brave instead of Chrome...etc.) , but email is the one thing I am still struggling with. I use Gmail and have tried the followings:

• Main Gmail app : it comes preinstalled. I can easily do a search, e.g. search for a starred email from 3 months ago, Gmail app shows immediately. Email format is shitty, some emails' font sizes appear too small. You cant "Mark as Read" from Notification shade.....

• Fairmail: I appreciate the dev's response. Very customizable. Emails are formatted very well. BUT.... I'm not sure if there are hidden changes recently, but Fairmail tends to go to a "deep sleep" state where I get zero notifications unless I open the app. Other time, it is even worse: I get notifications for emails from 2pm onward, but everything before is not notified unless I open the app. Performing the search function like Gmail above results in very slow and laggy app.

• Outlook: Their email app is good, but very often, I have ads within my inbox. Emails are formatted very well. In addition, the calendar app can cause conflict:

My phone has its own Calendar app (Google, 3rd party...etc). If I respond "Yes" to a meeting in an email, that creates a meeting within the Outlook app for my Gmail account. Sometimes, this does not sync with the web calendar from Gmail. This means I can literally have 2 Gmail calendar opened (Outlook and phone) and they are mismatched.

• K9/Thunderbird: Most recent comments from Google Play Store say they are shit. I tried and they load the emails well, format is much better than Gmail app. But we have similar problem as Fairmail above: sometimes the app just doesnt sync unless you open it.

• Edison/Sparks: I used Spark in its early days. It was great back then. Now? Too much AI bs. Too much. The app sometimes pops a message asking you to subscribe to use AI....

Any recommendation? I just want a normal email app, with none of the paywall and AI bs. Or just use Gmail from the web and forward emails to Proton/Tuta to read on Android?

So I am trying to get into these OSes like Graphene, Callyx, e OS..etc. If need be, I will try to de Google the phone too. Anyway, I understand that you can install apps using stores like Amazo, Fdroid, Acrescent, Aurora...etc, instead of relying on Google Play Store.

If an app I need relies on Play Store, then so be it; I think OS like Graphene allows you to run a profile with Google Play stuff?

Otherwise, I can just use apps from Fdroid, Aurora..etc. Say I have Firefox installed from Fdroid and it requires a serious security update, which store will get the update first: the Play Store or they come at the same time even to Fdroid?

Or I am a dev and I need to send an update for my app, where do I send it first?

So I am rewatching old detective shows like WhiteChapel, early Sherlock, Ripper Street...etc. You know the usual police/detective chasing killers and solving strange cases.

Anyway, I remember I used to watch a show similar to the ones above around 2010ish. But the only thing I could recall is that the killer (of that specific story arc) likes to cross dress or maybe homosexual? Before I go further, let me say I have nothing against trans people. You guys are cool. It is just coincident that the one thing I remember is this one lol.

So in this one episode, the killer comes face to face with our main character. It is their only confrontation and it is the final episode of that arc. I think the MC caught him before he kills another one. I also think the killer dies in this episode so we close this story arc. There is a lot of "I think", I understand but my memories are so hazy lol. Another thing I could recall is that the killer is a male, and he dresses like one of those dominatrixes. This scene was so fucked up that the only thing I remember was this killer. I think our victim was being tortured with BDSM stuff and before he got killed, our MC saved him.

Very hazy, I know. I also checked the following with no luck:

• Sherlock: definitely not. Sherlock only comes in like 3 episodes per season, and I dont recall any scene like that. .

• Whitechapel: I just finished watching the entire show and there was no such scene.

• The Alienist: I watched these a long time ago. I can try again but from Wikipedia's description of the episode, there was no such scene.

• Ripper Street: I am watching it now from Ep 1 and I dont want to read up the episodes because the show is good. I want to enjoy watching it w/o spoilers. Maybe this is the one? I dont know.

Several thing I am 100% sure:

• Show is produced post 2000.

• I definitely watched this in 2010ish, exactly 2011. Reason for this is that I remember showing this show to my HS roommate and even he went "that is fucked up". Again, no discrimination against trans, it is just the episode.

• It is definitely a detective style show. In fact, our MC caught the wrong killer and hence the reveal in this episode is so shocking.

That is all I could remember...... Appreciate any help

I am trying to recall the name of an old series. ChatGPT doesnt help much and it is diffficult to Googling, because I only remember only 1 thing about the show. I think there is a subreddit where you can ask, but I am done with that place so dont want to log back in just to ask...

Where is a good place to ask on Lemy?

This is not to promote the product. I merely came across it and couldnt find any reviews except for those from Google Play. I use Android and as much as I hate iOS, their Email app is very consistent regardless if you use their .mac email or Gmail. On Android, it is very difficult to find an email app that is decent. I've been on Fairmail for quite a while until recently when I have sync problems.

So I dig around and found "EPRIVO - Encrypted email and chat". It was a surprise because I am constantly on the look for a good email app (and browser !) on Android. Usually, on Google Play, you will see: Gmail, Thunderbird, Proton, Outlook, Edison Fairmail...etc. I never see Eprivo before.

Anyway, I tested it out on a Gmail account. The app works quite well, here is what I learn:

1. You are forced to create a blanket Eprivo account. This takes like 10 seconds. Then this Eprivo account is then used to get you access to the email app. You can use any email account within it: Gmail, Yahoo. I use Gmail and it works well.

2. The privacy features are interesting. You can do a lot of stuff like prevent forwarding, set timer so email can only be read once, password protect...etc. Now I also used Proton in the past and these features are exclusive to a .proton account. In this app, I can do some of them such as setting the timer on an email. To get the full private features, you need to create a Eprivo email (very easy to create within the app). So, you will have something like abc@eprivovip.com.

3. Prices are surprisingly cheap: 5 bucks / year.

4. They advertise themselves as not an email service but to my understanding a "privatized email service". So it is like a private layer on top of your existing email.

Any thoughts?

I'm picking up a new Google Pixel and want to put GrapheneOS on it. Heard about Graphene since before their splits at CopperHead, but I havent had the chance the try the OS out. So I searched around and GrapheneOS allowed Google Play sandbox.

Does this function similar to a "Private Space" on newer Android or "Secure Folder" on Samsung? So I can enjoy the Graphene stuff but whenever I need Google Play specific apps, I use the sandbox environment?

Mostly, I will be using bank apps under the sandbox. Are there problems with OTP in this environment? In Samsung's Secure Folder, my bank app will have problems sending OTP unless I send it outside, i.e. out of Secure Folder.

My requirements are simple:

1. I am able to search past emails and view them.

2. Able to "Mark as read" from the notification popup.

3. No ads

My experiences are mixed:

Fairmail, Aquamail (when it was good) , K9, Thunderbird and similar apps **satisfied ** 2) and 3). However, they all failed at 1). The searches either return nothing or take a long time to load. So I have to swap to a browser , go to Gmail then search from there.

Outlook sucks at 3). Sometimes it gives me random ads within my inbox. It does 2) very well. For 1), it can retrieve the searches better than the group above , but not reliable.

The Gmail app excels at 1), it fails at 2) and 3). The ads within the app are not that terrible, but stil very annoying. It's been years and we still couldnt "Mark as read" from the notification. Surprisingly, Gmail works for 1) all the time.

Which one do you use?