Privacy

About the Online Safety Act in the UK and the Digital Services Act in Europe

... Who would have thought?

Taken from the readme of the app on github:

The current release provides only basic functionality, with several key features to be introduced in future versions, including:

App and device verification based on Google Play Integrity API and Apple App Attestation

Additional issuance methods beyond the currently implemented eID based method.

These planned features align with the requirements and methods described in the Age Verification Profile.

There is an issue opened to remove this as it's basically telling us that to verify our age in the EU an American corporation has the last word, making it not only a privacy nightmare but a de-facto monopoly on the phone market that will leave out of the verification checks even the fairphone (european) with /e/os.

cross-posted from: https://infosec.pub/post/32096847

In the last days I spent a disproportionate amount deleting old accounts I found in my password manager, and mostly because so many companies - despite the GDPR - have rudimentary, manually when not completely nonexistent processes to delete your data.

In this post I describe my process going through about 100 old accounts and trying to delete them all, including a top 10 for the weirdest, funniest or most interesting cases I encountered while doing so.

Author: @IcedRaktajino@startrek.website get all strobe-y.

What's the battery life like?

Honestly, I don't know yet. It's packing a 3,000 mAh battery which is tiny for a smartphone, but with the e-ink display sipping power, it evens out.

This early on, where I'm still setting it up and just seeing what it can do, I'm probably using more battery than I would under normal usage.

That said, I've been trying to use it "correctly" and have seen pretty decent battery life. Using it as an e-reader, for example, it only draws power when I turn a page (minus any Android background tasks). With the backlight off, I've read 5 or 6 long chapters with the battery only going down a percent or two (which is comparable to my Kobo).

Bottom line is: The less the screen changes, the longer the battery will last. I don't know if it'l get days of battery life with actual usage, but I've never obsessed over that; as long as it gets me through the day with normal usage, and so far, that's what I'm seeing (plus some).

Is it your daily driver?

Not yet. I'm still putting it through its paces, getting to know it, customizing it, etc. Unless my primary device meets a catastrophic end, it usually takes me 1-2 weeks to "provision" a successor. For now, I have my second line SIM card in it, so it's something of a secondary device at present. I also really like the S22 Flip I have now, so parting with it is going to be difficult.

Is there anything you hate about it?

I've got a few gripes and have noticed some quirks with the Minimal-specific software, but nothing I truly hate. If I had to choose one thing, and this might just be an Android thing nowadays and not specific to this device, it's that you can no longer configure a long-press of the power button to turn on the flashlight. All my other phones had that, or something similar, but this one does not. The closest I've come is mapping a long-press of the "symbol" button to toggle the flashlight, but due to not being rooted, that only works if the screen is on.

Can the bootloader be unlocked / Can it be rooted?

No idea yet. The developer option to enable OEM unlocking is available, but that may not mean much. I have not (yet) tried to actully issue the fastboot oem unlock command to see if the bootloader is capable of being unlocked or if it requires a code from the manufacturer. AFAIK, all non-shady rooting methods these days rely on unlocking the bootloader first.

Minimal has stated that they do not yet support 3rd party ROMs, but they do seem like they are open to it down the line (take that with a grain of salt, naturally).

I'm pretty conservative when it comes to modding my phones and never attempt anything without recovery tools and images on-hand. Right now, I do not have access to a stock image to restore if something should go wrong.

Grindr won’t allow users to add “no Zionists” to their profiles, but allows any number of other phrases that state political, religious, and ethnic preferences, according to 404 Media’s tests of the platform and user reports.

Several users received an error message that says “The following are not allowed: no zionist, no zionists,” when they tried to add the phrases to their bios on Thursday. I tested this myself on a new Grindr account, and received the same error message. I was able to add “Zionist” to my profile (without “no”), however, and could also add any phrase I could think of: “no Arabs,” “no Blacks,” “no Palestinians,” “no Muslims,” “no Christians,” “no Jews,” “no trans,” “no Republicans,” “no Democrats,” and so on. “No Zionist[s]” was the only phrase that was blocked in my testing.

Meta announced it will stop selling political, electoral and social issue advertising across its platforms (Facebook, Instagram, and Threads) in the European Union starting in early October 2025[^1][^2].

The decision comes in response to the EU's new Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising (TTPA) regulation, which takes effect October 10, 2025. Meta called the rules "unworkable," citing "significant operational challenges and legal uncertainties"[^2].

The TTPA requires platforms to:

• Label political ads with transparency information
• Disclose who paid for ads and their costs
• Show which elections or referendums ads target
• Maintain ads in a public database
• Follow strict conditions for user targeting[^3]

Companies face fines of up to 6% of annual global revenue for violations[^2]. Google made a similar move in late 2024, also announcing it would stop serving political ads to EU users before the rules take effect[^4].

Meta emphasized that users can still discuss politics and politicians can share content "organically" on its platforms - they just cannot use paid advertising to amplify their messages[^2].

[^1]: Bloomberg - Meta to Stop Selling Political Ads in the EU, Citing Regulation

[^2]: AP News - Meta will cease political ads in European Union by fall

[^3]: Euronews - Meta halts political advertising in the EU due to 'unworkable' rules

[^4]: Economic Times - Meta to halt political advertising in EU from October

Privacy.sexy is an open-source privacy tool that helps users implement security and privacy best practices on Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems[^4].

Key features include:

• Hundreds of customizable privacy and security scripts
• Free and transparent codebase
• Reversible changes if issues occur
• Web version requiring no software installation
• Desktop version with additional direct script execution capabilities
• Independent, portable scripts without cross-dependencies
• Extensive testing and community verification[^4]

The tool comes in two versions:

1. An online web version that runs without installing software
2. An offline desktop version with expanded functionality for running scripts directly[^4]

The project is built using TypeScript and Vue.js, with the desktop application created using Electron[^8]. All aspects of the application, including infrastructure and deployments, are open-source and automated through a system called "bump-everywhere"[^4].

[^4]: PrivacyTools - Enforce Privacy & Security Best-Practices on Windows and macOS

[^8]: Made with Vue.js - privacy.sexy - Tool to support privacy on Windows, macOS & Linux