It gives you more control over when and what Google can do on the device. If you run Google software with network access you have to assume they can track you, but having it sandboxed minimizes what it can do while running and gives you more control over what it does (e.g. you can deny it network access entirely whenever you want).

In a rational and just world where the system functions as intended, yes. That’s never been normal. The normal situation has been every President since Congress last tried to reclaim their authority with the War Powers Act in the 1970s has further expanded what the next one can get away with. Congress has never successfully responded to their abuses. The reality has been the President can and will start whatever wars they see fit and Congress normally doesn’t do anything much about it besides cheer.

They can get into most phones for sure, and even if you have GrapheneOS in a paranoid config they can get you if they put in significant effort. They will come at the data from a direction that doesn’t require compromising the phone itself if that’s too much challenge. You need to think about the total attack surface, the phone itself is just one thing. Ultimately it’s about what resources are necessary to get what they want, for most phones the resources are relatively minimal but also most people are not worth the resources to them.

No, the biggest satellite networks are privately owned. The best aren’t obviously because that stuff is all classified but there’s more privately owned satellites monitoring the planet these days. There’s more going up regularly too, it’s a growing industry.

There’s already multiple satellite networks the public can hire. You can pay a company like Planet Labs or Spire Global and get access to thousands of satellites right now if that’s what you want to do. It would be great if the public had access for free but it costs a lot of money to keep satellites in orbit. I think having free access would save some NGOs money but otherwise not much would change.

Definitely suspicious behavior. It’s plausible she didn’t notice them, or that she noticed them but had some other intent besides theft. I wouldn’t jump to any conclusions without further evidence.

Life is a bitch, and then you die. You have to get the good times while you can.

Launched from the solar system on a path out of the galaxy. Or left in the wilderness for nature to have it’s way.

It is truly shocking just how many Republicans rape kids. Kid Rock bragging about it in a song is very on brand.

“Pedo guy”

They skipped the weirdest one, the VC formerly known as Masha Drokova.

They can likely still get in. There’s leaked slides from Cellebrite showing everything they can crack and under what circumstances. From what I remember GrapheneOS is really the only version of Android they actually can’t get into.

I have a Plex server guy. He is one of my oldest and best friends although we don’t get to hang out much anymore. I know he has other friends he shares the Plex server with but I have no idea who or how many. I’ve been using it since Plex was new, not sure how long exactly but more than a decade. I occasionally buy him nice hard drives because the library is ridiculously huge and always growing. As someone who loves weird and obscure shit, it’s my favorite streaming service by far and he’s my hero for running it.

It doesn’t take a million shell commands or sketchy scripts to deploy Windows without a Microsoft account. I literally did it just last week. I think you are being pedantic and moving the goal posts, the claim was that you need a Microsoft account to use Windows and that is not true. You may be coerced into using one depending on the version and install method but that’s not the original claim that was made.

You do understand that official setup requirements is not the same thing? Whatever Microsoft tries to force during a setup process doesn’t change the fact that I am literally using Windows multiple times per week without any Microsoft account so claims it’s impossible are untrue.

This is insane. I am using Windows without a Microsoft account regularly. It is 100% possible. I hate Microsoft too but it’s completely ridiculous to go around spreading obvious bullshit like this.

This is not correct. You can use Windows without a Microsoft account.

It’s not about health or safety because if it were they wouldn’t still allow the most dangerous and destructive drug to be sold, yet you can buy alcohol as young as 18. It’s all about social control. Their preferred drug is legal even though it’s the least healthy and most unsafe of the commonly used recreational drugs.

In addition to their long and ongoing history of being shit, NYT does a lot of good reporting and is also useful for understanding a specific kind of perspective. I think if you’re reading diverse sources you will inevitably have to read the NYT if for no other reason than they are breaking news regularly and occasionally covering things that aren’t really being covered elsewhere.