Since we published our blog post on the future of Accrescent, donations have increased dramatically.

According to the rates in that post, we should now be able to fund full-time development through at least May 2026!

Thank you to our community for your monumental support!

Because of you, we can dedicate ourselves fully to our mission of building a modern Android app store focused on security, privacy, and usability.

If you want to read the original blog post: blog.accrescent.app/posts/the-…

Or if you want to see our plans: blog.accrescent.app/posts/prog…

#accrescent #security #privacy #android #appstore

The Future of Accrescent

Accrescent is a novel Android app store focused on security, privacy, and usability. We’ve been building Accrescent since 2021 to improve the security and freedom of everyday Android users by providing an alternative to Google Play which doesn’t comp…

^{Logan Magee (Accrescent Blog)}

Today is the day! Read all about our development progress, view our roadmap for the future, and check out the new projects we're releasing as open source in our new blog post!

blog.accrescent.app/posts/prog…

Check out our new repositories:

github.com/accrescent/android-…
github.com/accrescent/director…
github.com/accrescent/director…
github.com/accrescent/ina

#android #security #privacy #accrescent #appstore

Progress Update and Roadmap

In our recent post about Accrescent’s financial future and sustainability, we announced that to build trust and transparency with our community, we’d be publishing a follow-up blog post about what we’ve been working on lately and where we’ve been set…

^{Logan Magee (Accrescent Blog)}

❗📢 PSA: Allowing AI into your mailbox threatens your privacy.

🔗 Find out why AI should not be used in your mailbox here: tuta.com/blog/ai-email-writers…

#aimodel #AI #email #privacy

ACLU: Surveillance Company Flock Now Using AI to Report Us to Police if it Thinks Our Movement Patterns Are “Suspicious”

"...the company is also now apparently analyzing our driving patterns to determine if we’re “suspicious.” That means if your police start using Flock, they could target you just because some algorithm has decided your movement patterns suggest criminality...."

aclu.org/news/national-securit…

#privacy #policing #alpr #algorithms #crime

Surveillance Company Flock Now Using AI to Report Us to Police if it Thinks Our Movement Patterns Are “Suspicious”

Company crosses a dangerous line by beginning to offer AI suspicion-generation functions

^{Jay Stanley (American Civil Liberties Union)}

"Let’s be crystal clear about what this law actually accomplishes: It makes it harder for adults to access perfectly legal (and often helpful) information and services. It forces people to create detailed trails of their online activity linked to their real identities. It drives users toward less secure platforms and services. It destroys small online communities that can’t afford compliance costs. And it teaches an entire generation that bypassing government surveillance is a basic life skill.

"Meanwhile, the actual harms it purports to address? Those remain entirely unaddressed. Predators will simply move to unregulated platforms, encrypted messaging, or services that don’t comply. Or they’ll just use VPNs. The law creates the illusion of safety while actually making everyone less secure."

#AusPol #Privacy
techdirt.com/2025/08/04/didnt-…

Didn’t Take Long To Reveal The UK’s Online Safety Act Is Exactly The Privacy-Crushing Failure Everyone Warned About

Well, well, well. The “age assurance” part of the UK’s Online Safety Act has finally gone into effect, with its age checking requirements kicking in a week and a half ago. And what do you kno…

^Techdirt

Accrescent depends completely on donations to run. Today we share a significant update in our new blog post on the future of Accrescent: blog.accrescent.app/posts/the-….

New releases of Accrescent and our developer console are also out, with Android 16 updates and Material 3 changes. Check them out!

github.com/accrescent/accresce…
github.com/accrescent/parcelo/…
github.com/accrescent/console/…

#security #privacy #accrescent #android #appstre

The Future of Accrescent

Accrescent is a novel Android app store focused on security, privacy, and usability. We’ve been building Accrescent since 2021 to improve the security and freedom of everyday Android users by providing an alternative to Google Play which doesn’t comp…

^{Logan Magee (Accrescent Blog)}

This is bad, on its face, but there is also zero chance it won't be abused to block other content that whatever TPTB deem undesirable. #torrent #privacy #indieweb

torrentfreak.com/u-s-senators-…

U.S. Senators Introduce New Pirate Site Blocking Bill: Block BEARD * TorrentFreak

Efforts to introduce pirate site blocking to the United States continue with the introduction of the "Block BEARD" bill in the Senate.

^{Ernesto Van der Sar (TF Publishing)}

The UK Online Safety Act has erected an age wall through the Internet 🚧

UK users are forced to accept censorship or hand over sensitive data to unregulated providers.

The government’s response? You’re a predator 🤨

Enough. Tell your MP to fix it now ⬇️

action.openrightsgroup.org/tel…

#OnlineSafetyAct #OnlineSafety #privacy #OSA #ageverification #agegate #ukpolitics #ukpol #censorship #spotify #reddit

Tell your MP: The Online Safety Act isn’t working

What's the problem? The Online Safety Act has been a disaster. Rather than protect children, millions of adults are facing widespread censorship, and teenagers are having their freedom of expression restricted.

^{Open Rights Group}

I'm your (not so) private dancer 🔞

Spotify users in the UK have to verify their age to listen to Parental Advisory music due to the Online Safety Act.

We're being infantalised for something that's already manageable by parental controls.

It could even end up in accounts being deactivated 🤯

Bad law makes for bad, incoherent outcomes. That's the #OSA for you.

404media.co/spotify-uk-age-che…

#OnlineSafetyAct #ageverification #agegate #ukpol #ukpolitics #spotify #privacy #onlinesafety #censorship

Spotify Is Forcing Users to Undergo Face Scanning to Access Explicit Content

Submit to biometric face scanning or risk your account being deleted, Spotify says, following the enactment of the UK's Online Safety Act.

^{Samantha Cole (404 Media)}

#Linux all the way.

#opensource #privacy #control

Age verification is creating an information desert.

The Online Safety Act sets every UK user to child as default.

Teenagers? Blocked. Adults? Content denied unless we do age checks with unregulated companies.

It's not just porn! News on Gaza and Ukraine is being scrubbed from view, threatening #freedomofexpression as well as #privacy ⛔

404media.co/uk-users-need-to-p…

#OnlineSafetyAct #onlinesafety #OSA #palestine #gaza #ukraine #reddit #ageverification #ageassurance #censorship #ukpolitics #ukpol

UK Users Need to Post Selfie or Photo ID to View Reddit's r/IsraelCrimes, r/UkraineWarFootage

“If visibility of r/IsraelCrimes is being restricted under the Online Safety Act, it’s only because the state fears accountability,” moderators say.

^{Emanuel Maiberg (404 Media)}

So…who hates those Google log-in pop-ups that are seemingly everywhere now? Wanna make them go away?

1. Get uBlock Origin (which you should have already been using):

github.com/gorhill/uBlock

2. Open the plugin and click the settings button.

3. Click on the “my filters” tab and paste this into the input:

||accounts.google.com/gsi/*$xhr,script,3p

That’s it! Worked flawlessly for me.

(Updated URL. Thx @IceWolf
and @emz!)

#Google #Privacy #Security #PopUps #InfoSec #BadGoogle

Don't trust cloud services with your creative work.

#enshittification #privacy #infosec #security #cybersecurity #writing #art

Privacy is a marathon, not a sprint.

It's common to be overwhelmed by the constant attacks on privacy we read about every day, and to burn out trying to fix every problem all at once.

This is by the attackers' design, of course. Big tech companies and governments want to paralyze you with choices and actions, so you give up on the fight entirely.

It's okay to take a breath, clean up slowly, and train yourself over the long-term to improve your data privacy health over time.

privacyguides.org/articles/202…

#Privacy #PrivacyHabits #PrivacyGuides #HealthyHabits #PrivacyTraining #Training #SelfImprovement #Article

Privacy Is Like Broccoli

Improving privacy can get overwhelming at first. It's important to move one step at a time, but remain persistent. Good privacy is like good health habits.

^{Privacy Guides}

But they only collect data about you to offer you a better service, right?

I've always said that letting companies collect data about you only weakens your bargaining power.

theverge.com/news/709556/delta…

#AI #surveillance #privacy

Delta Air Lines is using AI to set the maximum price you’re willing to pay

Delta Air Lines is leaning into dynamic ticket pricing that uses AI to individually determine the highest fee you’d willingly pay for flights.

^{Jess Weatherbed (The Verge)}

⭐ Protip:
If you have a Google Workspace account, the Admin can turn OFF Gemini for ALL of its users. That's what we did for our nonprofit org's users.

🌐 support.google.com/a/answer/14…

#Google #gemini #AI #consent #privacy

We’re proud to support @HowTheyVoteEU with our open source donation for their important work: making EU politics more transparent for everyone.

🔎💌 Open source + transparency = a perfect match!

👉 Learn more about this inspiring project & our support for open source: tuta.com/blog/open-source-spot…

#opensource #EU #Democracy #Privacy #Email #FOSS #Tuta

The program you DON'T WANT TO INSTALL!

Share and educate people!

From the company that took all digitized content without permission to build their product, now we have a browser.

So the company can use your data and behavior and to lock you in to their statistical parrot (AI)

#AI #privacy

je trouve ça vraiment chouette que vous vous engager autant sur le #Fediverse et avec de vrai recommandation général sur les #ViePrivée #PrivacyLife #PrivacyData

#Privacy #DonnéesPersonnelles #PersonalData #PersonalDatas #GAFAM #Facebook #Google

🚨 Gmail ads aren’t just annoying - they may be illegal. 🚨

Google could pay €525M for breaking privacy laws.
👉 tuta.com/blog/gmail-ads-annoyi…

This is a BIG WIN for #privacy 🔒💥

What's your reason for having switched to Tuta?

A recent comic on the US giving international tourists the Big Brother treatment

#comic #cartoon #uspol #travel #firstamendment #privacy

Psst 👋 Getting organized will become much easier soon.

Get excited for the next update. 🤩

Here's a sneak peek 🤫

#teaser #calendar #sneakpeek #privacy #security #tuta

Who says you can’t have #privacy and #security in an OS? Meet PureOS — the #Linux OS that respects you.

No ads
No trackers
No #surveillance
No terms of service traps

PureOS supports Purism’s Librem 5 & Liberty Phone.

More Info: puri.sm/posts/what-is-pureos-a…

I post this just to show how I wanted to reply to the last post in the conversation from the screenshot, but I couldn't because @Azarilh blocked me.

“I admit this
If this would happen (which I really hope will not) I will stay with #VivaldiBrowser for as much as it would be able to survive, and then move to a #GeckoBrowserEngine-based #browser.
After all, #Chromium doesn't invade my #privacy, as #Bing, #Google, #Yahoo etc. do.”

Am I wrong?

Steven Bonk: “When Canadians provide their personal information to political parties, whether signing up for a newsletter, attending a town hall or simply expressing support, they are placing trust in us. They expect that information to be treated with care, confidentiality and respect. When that expectation is not met, the harm is not just legal or administrative. It is democratic.”
#canpoli #privacy

michaelgeist.ca/2025/06/govern…

Government Remains Silent as it Eviscerates Political Party Privacy in Canada By Fast Tracking Bill C-4 - Michael Geist

The government is moving to eviscerate political party privacy in Canada as it fast tracks Bill C-4, proposed legislation framed as implementing affordability measures, but which also exempts political parties from the application of privacy protecti…

^{Michael Geist}

Ever received an email with hundreds addresses in CC, including yours?

Send them this guide so they learn why they should use BCC! 😎 #privacy

👉 tuta.com/blog/what-is-cc-and-b…

As part of the investigation, I have looked closely at Telegram's protocol and analyzed packet captures provided by IStories.

I have also done some packet captures of my own.

I dive into the nitty-gritty technical details of what I found and how I found it on my blog:

Telegram is indistinguishable from an FSB honeypot
rys.io/en/179.html

Yes, my packet captures and a small Python library I wrote in the process are all published along.

#Telegram #InfoSec #Privacy #Surveillance #Russia

Remarkable investigation into Telegram by IStories (in Russian):
istories.media/stories/2025/06…

English version by OCCRP:
occrp.org/en/investigation/tel…

tl;dr:

👉 Telegram uses a single company with ties to the Russian FSB as their sole infrastructure provider, globally.

👉 Combined with a cleartext device identifier Telegram's protocol requires to be prepended to all encrypted messages, this allows for global surveillance of Telegram users.

I am quoted in this story.

#Telegram #InfoSec #Privacy

Telegram, the FSB, and the Man in the Middle

The technical infrastructure that underpins Telegram is controlled by a man whose companies have collaborated with Russian intelligence services.

^OCCRP

Privacy vs Security: Yandex is spying on their users in an insecure way, Meta (Facebook, Insta) in a more secure way. Both of them are a threat against user privacy

This is yet another example showing that there are reasons to be more suspicious against proprietary apps. We should avoid installing GAFAM apps, and reducing as much as possible our dependency on their services is healthy

localmess.github.io/

#InfoSec #Privacy #Android

Who says you can’t have #privacy and #security in an OS?

Meet PureOS — the #Linux OS that respects you.

No ads
No trackers
No #surveillance
No terms of service traps

PureOS supports Purism’s Librem 5 & Liberty Phone.

More Info: puri.sm/posts/what-is-pureos-a…

What Is PureOS? A Beginner’s Guide for iOS, Android, and Windows Users – Purism

Purism makes premium phones, laptops, mini PCs and servers running free software on PureOS. Purism products respect people's privacy and freedom while protecting their security.

^{Purism SPC}

🗓️ May 2025 status is live on the blog

🚀 Release 2025.3.1 with OnlyOffice 8
📰 CryptPad in use and in the news @bearstech @Tutanota

blog.cryptpad.org/2025/06/03/s…

#privacy #opensource #officesuite #e2ee

May 2025 status

CryptPad 2025.3.1 with OnlyOffice 8, CryptPad in use and in the news

^{blog.cryptpad.org}

"For now, the most comprehensive protection against Meta Pixel and Yandex Metrica tracking is to refrain from installing the Facebook, Instagram, or Yandex apps on Android devices."

That's exactly what I do.

arstechnica.com/security/2025/…

#Meta #Yandex #tracking #privacy

Meta and Yandex are de-anonymizing Android users’ web browsing identifiers

Abuse allows Meta and Yandex to attach persistent identifiers to detailed browsing histories.

^{Dan Goodin (Ars Technica)}

We don’t want to spam you with posts, but the house is burning! Help us to put it out.
The world needs fair and sovereign digital and technical solutions. Here we are and we want to create one.
Please support us on this path and benefit directly through free monocles accounts. Become one of thousands of monocles users and get your privacy back.

startnext.com/en/monocles

#monocles #privacy #sovereign #xmpp #it #ethics #cloud #email #eu

monocles - Privacy is not a feature. It is a right.

Secure communication, fair cloud, ethical hardware - monocles offers a digital solution without tracking, without surveillance, without compromise.

^{startnext.com}

📣 Liberux NEXX is now live on crowdfunding! 🚀

After months of development and testing, we're introducing the most powerful Linux smartphone: RK3588S, 32 GB RAM, 5G, Debian 13 + GNOME Mobile, and total privacy with hardware killswitches. 🎉

🔼 Now upgraded to 512 GB of storage and European-made.
Support mobile freedom and reserve your unit in the next 30 days:

🔗 igg.me/at/liberux-nexx

#LiberuxNEXX #linuxphones #privacy #opensource

Who says you can’t have #privacy and #security in an OS? Meet PureOS — the #Linux OS that respects you.

No ads
No trackers No #surveillance
No terms of service traps

PureOS supports Purism’s Librem 5 & Liberty Phone.

More Info: puri.sm/posts/what-is-pureos-a…

Startpage is a search engine that has been promoted as a European alternative to Google Search.

This is a misleading statement.

CLARIFICATION

Headquartered in the Netherlands.

Owned by System1: mastodon.online/@blueghost/111…

Revenue is consolidated with System1's financial statements.

System1 supports employee salaries, technology investments, and marketing initiatives.

Source: support.startpage.com/hc/artic…

Website: startpage.com

#Startpage #StartpageSearch #Privacy #InfoSec #CyberSecurity