John Fastman
Scientist, blogger, hacktivist and all-round computer whizz-kid. In my spare time I'm a model (mainly for pathology textbooks).
- Grandmaster
Comments & Reviews
Commented on CrypteeI love where Cryptee is going...
The world needs an encrypted Evernote replacement
The world needs a privacy-respecting Evernote replacement. Evernote is the market leader in note-taking apps and has some tremendous features. However, it stores user data unencrypted on web-facing servers, it's been hacked and lost user data, and the CEO only reversed [a policy decision to allow employees to read user...
Commented on BearUpdate:
Below is my 2017 review of Bear, privacy concerns and all. A particularly vocal critic of my view seems to imply that my criticism is against the Italian origins of the Bear app. Even a cursory reading of what I wrote will show this is not the case. I have nothing against Italians. I was merely imploring the potential customers of Bear to consider that their data might be subject to Italian law, about which most will know very little.
Nearly three years later, I can offer more...
- Commented on Software for Privacy
I have tried Joplin. I think it's a good app. I had it in this list before, but prefer Crypt.ee. But there's nothing wrong with Joplin.
Calendaring is something I am so angry about, you have no idea. Absolutely no privacy-oriented service provides a fully-featured, synced calendaring option, despite it being the back-bone of many people's online work flow. The closest thing used to be Countermail's calendar, which was zero-knowledge encrypted and built into their...
Reviewed Proton VPN★★★★
Reviewed Proton Mail Bridge★★★★★Protonmail have done a lot to promote online privacy. They have done this by developing an email service intended to challenge the likes of Gmail and other "free" online services that violate the privacy of their users. They are not the only company to do this, but they should be praised for pursuing a laudable goal, making more people privacy-aware and for providing a viable way to protect privacy.
However, their team leave many unanswered questions on their forum, so here are...
- Reviewed Cryptee★★★★★
I love where Cryptee is going...
The world needs an encrypted Evernote replacement
The world needs a privacy-respecting Evernote replacement. Evernote is the market leader in note-taking apps and has some tremendous features. However, it stores user data unencrypted on web-facing servers, it's been hacked and lost user data, and the CEO only reversed [a policy decision to allow employees to read user...
Reviewed Sunsama★Sunsama is yet another "productivity" app that syncs only with Google calendar.
Please get it through your thick heads, Sunsama devs: Privacy is important! Google disrespects privacy! If you made products that didn't rely on Google, you'd be doing both the world a favor and opening up to a larger customer base.
There is no way that I will expose my customers' data or my personal data to Google's privacy-disrespecting, data-harvesting policies and...
Reviewed Notion★★★Notion.so are receiving well-deserved praised for their attractive-looking, flexible and very feature-rich platform. Primarily, Notion enables users to organize data in a Wiki-style system within inter-linked pages. Many templates exist for those pages, everything from simple blank pages to calendars, meetings, tables of various kinds, and far beyond. Each page can have embedded links, documents (including embedded), images, tables (with different column types), calendars (whole-page or...
- Commented on Software for Privacy
I was very long winded in answering you the first time. Think of it like this: Sync.com is a massive security and privacy improvement over Dropbox.
It's like this: If Sync.com is lying, they're offering you the same security as Dropbox when they are telling the truth. If Sync.com is telling the truth, you're WAY better off than with Dropbox. Therefore, Sync.com is a much better choice for both privacy (the company can't spy on your files) and security (they can't lose...
- Commented on Software for Privacy
Hi browsingandstuff,
Your question concerns two things: to what extent we should pursue privacy and, more specifically, how good is Sync.com for your privacy?
Let me take Sync.com first. You're right: it's not open source. Ideally, it would be, so that everyone could inspect their code, which is the foremost source of trust. However, how 'good' for your privacy Sync.com depends on other things. So whilst it doesn't score open source points, it scores big in other...
Reviewed Inkdrop★★★Nice features, pretty but expensive, not as private as Boostnote and with a recalcitrant developer
Written: 2018-05-23
Purpose and pricing
Inkdrop is an attractive-looking, multi-platform note-taking app primarily aimed at software developers, although suitable for others as well. It's closed source and costs USD $60/year (although you get 60 days free at the start). Students get a 60% discount for 12 months, but this entails sending...
Reviewed Deepin★Beware! Spyware!
The app store of Deepin 15.5 makes unencrypted connections to known Chinese trackers, which is a serious security and privacy risk. This occurs approximately 20 minutes after boot-up without warning and without the user's consent.
For more information:
Reviewed Convenient Calendar★
Reviewed Calendaz★★★Expensive, minimalistic and it works
Searching for an alternative to privacy-invaders like Google, Yahoo, Outlook.com? The best offering in that respect for hosted calendars that I've found so far is Mailbox.org (supports search, Yubikey, and a range of other options). Plus it's cheap, hosted in Germany and comes with a multitude of other offerings, including encrypted email, contacts and notes.
However, if you want a minimalistic,...
Reviewed The Big Picture★No https certificate, therefore all data between your computer and the Big Picture website travels through the web unencrypted and readable to anyone and everyone. Don't trust Big Picture with any personal or sensitive data. It's a shame, really. They could solve this by using Let's Encrypt, which is free and open source.
Reviewed OneView Calendar★★
Reviewed Google AMP★It seems like a good idea at face value, to speed up mobile page loading. And it seems even better because it's open source. But in reality this is yet another effort by Google to ensure that internet traffic is routed through their servers, which will - ultimately - enable them to track in yet greater amounts what you are looking at online. AMP is an awful idea if it is to be controlled by Google.
For more info, listen...
- Commented on Writing
Some comments / suggestions
WPS:
Closed source and Chinese. You have to ask why they're offering their product for "free". That makes me suspicious enough not to want to install their software on my PC. Plenty of other Freemium software from China has proved insecure / privacy-invading (e.g. Maxthon). Libre Office is preferable in all regards and Only Office covers more ground for Microsoft compatibility.
Notion:
No Android app (what are they smoking?) and the pricing is...
- Commented on Apps to keep your data private
Bitcoin provides a way to maintain anonymity with your spending to avoid all the tracking.
Not really. Not unless you bought your bitcoin anonymously to begin with. Every bitcoin transaction is recorded in the blockchain. If you buy bitcoin to begin with using, e.g. a credit card, then all your future transactions can be traced back to you. Bitcoin is not inherently anonymous. In that respect Monero is more anonymous.
Reviewed Topmail★★Sending and storing email in an encrypted format is infinitely preferable to using "normal" email. The contents of emails that are sent and stored in a properly encrypted way cannot be revealed to a) your email service provider, b) subpoenad by your government, c) read even by hackers who successfully breach the email provider's servers. Encryption therefore protects your privacy and security, and prevents online snooping and profiling.
Nowadays there are a decent number of...
Reviewed WizNote★WizNote looks like a gift for open source enthusiasts looking for an Evernote replacement. The problem is that it uploads your data to Chinese servers without explaining how that data is stored, what your rights are, who has access or what happens if you cancel. There is no mention of, e.g. encryption, either. If you value the privacy or security of your data, you should stay well away from WizNote. Who knows what it does with your information.
Reviewed Paper - Writing App★Paper for Mac is even more minimalistic than a piece of paper; you can't write on it and it runs only on hugely over-priced hardware. Brilliant. It even has an "Ultimate Minimalism Mode" which you can access using the shortcut "Cmd+Q".
Reviewed 1Writer★From the 1Writer website (2018-04-22):
1 Writer combines all the basic text editing features you would expect with all the advanced features you will ever need.
Did the developer(s) even pause to think what they were writing? All the advanced features I will ever need? Like what? Say... Using it on Linux? Or Windows? Or Android? Hmmm. Or compatibility with a cloud service that's not Dropbox or iCloud? Oh, or note encryption? Or attaching a pdf file to a note?
No. Not a chance of any...
Reviewed Ubuntu★★As of 2018, Ubuntu's installer will collect data about user devices. This has caused outrage amongst Linux users.
Firstly, it's opt-out, rather than opt-in.
Secondly, it shouldn't even be there.
Thirdly, Canonical (Ubuntu's creators) have a very poor record on privacy, including harvesting local searches to drive Amazon sales and [hostility to...
Reviewed Ubuntu GNOME★★★Canonical's nonsensical and ill-managed effort to promote the Unity desktop finally failed in 2017 and their stock offering, Ubuntu, now has gone back to using the Gnome desktop. Thank God. (Unity was ugly as sin.) This means Ubuntu Gnome is pointless because Ubuntu now comes with Gnome anyway.
As an aside: if you're keen to use Ubuntu, just consider that Canonical has recently decided, much to the outrage of the Linux community, to gather...
