this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2024
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Feel really guilty, my one family member gave me this. I don't use much google stuff anymore and I really dislike the company as it gets more intrusive. Is there anything I can do with this thing besides give it away? Nothing is worse than getting a gift that you can't use.

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[–] POTOOOOOOOO@reddthat.com 40 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Yeah. I already informed them I don't feel comfortable with it in the house. But I'm also the type to use TOR on all my devices. So I don't know how paranoid that came off as.

I think I am going to try to trace down where they got it from. I'm thinking Walmart so, they may take it without a receipt I hope.

[–] moseschrute@lemmy.ml 20 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Best to sell it. Since you use Tor you’re probably already on a watchlist

[–] compostgoblin@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I’ve heard this a lot - is it just a common joke in privacy circles, or is anyone using Tor/Tails actually likely to be on a list?

[–] MangoPenguin@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 41 minutes ago

Its pretty likely to be the case, using tor makes you stand out significantly.

[–] moseschrute@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I don’t really know what I’m talking about tbh, but my understanding is the more unique you make yourself, the easier you are to identify. For example, as soon as you use an ad blocker, your browser fingerprint becomes more unique because your average person doesn’t use an ad blocker. Even fewer people use Tor. So if someone knows you are using Tor, then they know you are 1 of maybe 100,000 people instead of millions (idk if those numbers are accurate, but you get the point).

That being said, Tor does do a pretty good job of making you blend into all the other Tor users.

But what I was talking about initially was mostly your ISP identifying your Tor traffic. So you use a VPN, but again you are now more unique than someone not using a VPN, even if your traffic is more encrypted.

[–] POTOOOOOOOO@reddthat.com 6 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[–] Count042@lemmy.ml 5 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

The Snowden leaks revealed that simply subscribing to Linux Journal was enough to put you in a list for enhanced monitoring.

[–] necrobius@lemm.ee 13 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Didn't you know? Only criminals use Tor! \s

[–] POTOOOOOOOO@reddthat.com 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I just prefer it to not get pre-aggrigated results.

[–] Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The thing with gifts is to thank them for their intent, even if you tell them why you're not going to keep the item.

If you don't succeed in returning it, you might also consider giving it to someone with a movement disability, for whom the assistance might outweigh the privacy issue.

[–] POTOOOOOOOO@reddthat.com 8 points 1 day ago

They are fantastic for the disabled. Everyone I know whonis disabled has the Amazon ones for some reason.

[–] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 0 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

There is a stereo microphone and a camera in that thing. What good would Tor do in that case? That data would still make its way to google, unless you can root the whole thing and put a custom OS on it.

[–] POTOOOOOOOO@reddthat.com 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I'm not running TOR on the nest. That would be dumb. I'm mentioning this is coming from a whole other end of technology. I like privacy. Google is not very private.

[–] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

oh ok i thought you were considering tunneling that things traffic through tor somehow

[–] POTOOOOOOOO@reddthat.com 2 points 1 day ago

No, because the data would still need to find a way to google services

[–] bradboimler@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

They have microphones. They don't have cameras.

[–] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Oh i thought it did the motion recognition with a camera, but it actually uses a type of radar.

https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/10388741?hl=en