What constitutes Usage Data. Is it sharing the posts I view, communities I subscribe to etc?

Does paying for a premium version stop this data being collected?

  • @[email protected]
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    2310 months ago

    Holy hell. I’m glad I’m using DNS-level ad and tracker blocking. Shout out to NextDNS and RethinkDNS!

    • @[email protected]
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      1210 months ago

      Can you explain more? Would DNS level blocking stop ads on a smart TV (for YouTube specifically) as well?

      • @Tangent5280
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        1710 months ago

        I am so happy whenever I see people asking more about privacy practices. It makes me feel like the fight is not so hopeless after all.

        • Ghost
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          510 months ago

          I feel the same way. As someone who studies and works in cyber security I love teaching people about how to stay safe or at least as safe as possible.

          Some people don’t go the degree I go to just to keep my stuff secure. I use hardened Arch kernels and I hardly even use arch my entire time I spend on a PC is through a VM. I have 2 computers one just for windows and gaming and then one for Linux and cyber security and coding stuff

          I hate dual booting and do not like windows being close to my Linux install so I keep them separate on two different computers 😂

          Other than doing 3D printing and rendering stuff all I do is study malware and writing my own programs.

          • @Tangent5280
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            310 months ago

            Man, you’re living my dream! I also have a windows machine relegated to gaming. Can you expand on using a VM when you want to use your computer? Is that a viable alternative? How is ease of use and boot up times? Do you use Linux on the VMs also? Do you see any performance issues in the actual PC when using the VM in parallel?

            • Ghost
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              10 months ago

              Most of my days are spent writing malware and studying and testing it to see how it infects a system and how to learn how to stop it I also study malware I find online.

              When I say I use a VM almost all my time I don’t mean it as my actual “computer”

              My computer is a 24 core threadripper beast with 64gbs of ram. When I study malware I do it strictly through a VM and when I’m browsing the word or YouTube I use a VM.

              When I’m doing activities such as 3D printing and running my print farm I do not use a VM as it takes a lot of processing power and graphics power to run those programs.

              I just like using VMs to learn about open sourced software and how it works and I like breaking and fixing things.

              Cyber security is amazing but also sucks when you get a call at 3am lol

              If you have any questions send me a message :D

              • @Tangent5280
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                210 months ago

                Thanks for the reply. I hadn’t really thought of using VMs to create an additional layer of separation between me and tracking and profiling companies, mainly because running a VM on my bottom-of-the-line machine was a painful experience when I tried many years ago. I think I’ll try that again once I’ve upgraded quite a bit.

                At the moment I’m stuck with a bunch of other responsibilities, but when I get around to it, I’ll drop you a message with any questions I have. Thanks again.

      • @sec
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        710 months ago

        Not for youtube, you can use smarttube for android tv. It has everything, like sponsorblock etc

      • @[email protected]
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        210 months ago

        Tracker blocking youtube results in new videos not adding to your history, recommendations freezing permanently, youtube just regurgitates the same stuff and seemingly never refreshes

        • @[email protected]
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          10 months ago

          I’m using uBlock Origin and NextDNS and I don’t have that issue. (Firefox, win10)

          • @ZodiacSF1969
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            110 months ago

            They are talking about on a smart TV.

          • @[email protected]
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            10 months ago

            I used ubiquiti’s dns level ad/tracker blocker

            Effects were on every device and app except firefox - especially on smart TVs

      • @[email protected]
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        210 months ago

        The way I changed my DNS on my phone and computer was through NextDNS. If you want something for your TV, you’d need to do something to your internet connection because you can’t install things on the TV. I’ve never done it, but I’ve heard that a pihole is the way to go.