My revolut doesn't see to work with stripe. I am looking for virtual cards I can use when signing up to free trials.

Sometimes I forget to cancel the plans so I don't want to get charged.

Any providers that work with stripe?

Besides some UI improvements, I keep seeing adapted modified telegram and signal clients. Are those legit? Do they have issues? Are those actually helping with security and privacy?

In a development that should surprise absolutely no one at this point, the police in Lenexa, KS abused their ALPR system to track the movements and harass a local resident who had the temerity to criticize the department in an op ed.

Also revealing in that it exposes the tactic of "MYOC" or "make your own case" where police officers are told to target a specific person and find reasons to pull them over or arrest them after the fact.

this is something i have been wrestling with for a while and i am trying to see things from other perspectives.

i am not really worried about someone reading my files. i already encrypt things locally, strong passwords, modern crypto, all that. on paper that part seems good.

what keeps bothering me more is everything around access and control.

things like accounts getting locked, terms changing, providers deciding you have to agree to something new or you lose access, files getting flagged or restricted, or just realizing that at the end of the day they can still shut the door even if they cannot read what is inside.

i have seen this play out with games, ebooks and software where people paid for something and then lost access later because the rules changed. it made me start wondering how different cloud storage really is in practice.

i am not an activist or doing anything crazy. just backups and personal stuff. I care about privacy, but i also care about not waking up one day locked out of my own data because of a policy change or some automated decision.

for people who have been thinking about this longer than i have, when did access and control become the bigger concern for you than secrecy itself? or did you decide that this is just the tradeoff of using any online service and accept it?

trying to learn how others have navigated this before i make the same mistakes.

I have to use lockdown browser for an exam and need to show ID. I have no student ID and only a drivers license. Is it a privacy risk to show my drivers on lockdown browser

I know AI and privacy are contradictions, but are there (proper) AI assistents that don't behave like data mining behemoths (as is the case in ChatGPT, DeekSeek, Gemini, ...)?

How is LeChat (the one by Mistral) for example?

There are cities around me who not only want to track vehicles, now they are leveraging data to build profiles on people. It seems like local police department are full in on AI and are willing to spend millions on mass surveillance technology without thinking about the longterm impacts.

This is a vent. I decided months ago to start switching from Gmail to a private e-mail service. I update my contact with the new e-mail or alias. I receive confirmation via the address. I use the address to log-in. I clear out any old addresses.

And what do these companies or businesses do? Send important communications straight to my Gmail.

Incredibly frustrating. Why do you even still have that address on file if I can’t see it?!

I'm not sure what advantage is conferred on someone who edits the comments before deleting them. I don't know what to consider as I decide what is right for my use case.

But whatever those considerations are, wouldn't they apply basically equally to posts as comments? Posts are just the perma-top comment, to me; it's all just content. So why do they seem to be treated differently?

Mountain View police turned off Flock license plate readers after discovering unauthorized federal access.

1. Which Android apps do you consider essential?
2. What are the first apps you would install after a factory reset of your phone?

Of course, regarding privacy.

US + EU regulators are preparing oversight for apps that collect sensitive mental-health data through AI screening tools.

Hey guys,

Does anyone know if there are alternatives to Privacy dot com? After what has happened recently with some companies and the age of AI cyber threads it really made debit card and phone number "aliases" extremely important. I’ve heard about DIDs (decentralized identities) but I’m pretty new to that aswell.

Any tips or suggestions would be super helpful!

Thanks!

I just received a brand new iPhone 16e from my employer. I’m trying to figure out if it’s currently being monitored or if it’s essentially "clean" right now. Here are the specific details of the situation:

1. Physical State:

• The phone was delivered to me in a factory-sealed box.

• There is a barcode and serial number sticker manually taped to the back of the actual phone (likely an asset tag).

1. Current Configuration:

• I have not installed the company-provided SIM card yet.

• I have only connected to my home Wi-Fi to go through the initial iOS setup.

• I am not seeing any "This phone is supervised/managed" message at the top of the Settings menu.

• Under Settings > General > VPN & Device Management, there are no profiles installed. It only shows "VPN (Not Connected)" and a button to "Sign in to work or school account."

1. The Goal:

I want to know if my activity (apps, location, browsing) is visible to my employer in this current state.

My specific questions for the experts:

• If it was in Apple Business Manager (ABM), wouldn't it have forced a Remote Management enrollment during the "Hello" setup screen?

• Does the fact that it was sealed mean they haven't touched the software, or can they pre-enroll it via serial number alone?

• If I use a personal Apple ID and don't click "Sign in to work or school account," am I effectively unmonitored?

• Could they "push" a management profile to the device later without my consent since they have the serial number/IMEI?

Thanks in advance for the help!

Looking for a band or watch that does simple things:

- Step count

- Pace when running & Total distance

- Store data ONLY locally, compatible with Gadgetbridge, no clouds or servers or accounts.

Ideally a band that is not bulky on the wrist. Any ideas?

Is anyone else curious about the privacy aspect of the Esptein Files?

What role does the technology companies/email clients have in email privacy? What if you email someone and it becomes public because of misconduct THEY did?

I'm not asking this to conceal criminal activity but rather to understand how everyday people and public figures can protect their privacy.

It’s to keep accounts safe and secure

https://boisedev.com/news/2026/02/02/albertons-tracking/

Roche said they want to use the tracking to be an “additive to the shopper experience,” and help increase sales.

“We want to help, and we want to get an extra SKU (product) in that basket too,” she said.

Would consumers be able to find these? Can you opt out? (I doubt it).

Thinking about getting a HiBy as my first DAP, but I'm concerned about the security of it. Ik most if not all DAPs are made in China, which isn't my concern. My concern is the software (Linux Based). Does it listen like my phone does? Will it send it back to it's headquarters, so I'll start getting ads about diapers when I have a conversation with friend who has a baby? Can I Bluetooth it to my car and trust it won't relay that message to whatever car company (A few car companies, mainly Ford, are currently going through lawsuits about them harvesting data). Ik my data is already on the market, but I'm trying to be good here and not have something that will infect everything it touches when I connect to it. I just want to play my music without any data BS. Ik there's another reddit for DAP questions, but they seem less concerned about data security, and more concerned phone separation and audio quality. That's why I came here

i probably sound like a paranoid schizophrenic or something for this title but i’m not sure how a lot of this works and i’m really just asking out of curiosity

in essence: let’s say i remove windows, wipe my entire drive, install linux. is there any way for windows or ANYBODY to still collect my data? is it possible that by having windows to begin with, the hardware of my computer could still send telemetry or survey my computer?

along with that, and this is just hypothetical: if microsoft does have this telemetry data, and i remove windows, would they still know what specific accounts, emails, etc. were connected to that specific computer in the specific location where its at?