UK's new internet laws, are we going to lose our anonymity, and become as heavily censored and monitored as China, North Korea, Russia etc?

[Shambles]

IOS and Linux are nowhere near as bulletproof as they used to be when it comes to malware, for sure.

However, the numbers game still puts Windows as - by far - the prime target for such things as the install base is just so very much higher.

A specific Apple premium wouldn’t surprise me as Apple users tend to be more affluent and - arguably - less tech savvy than either Windows or Linux users.

Linux is such a small piece of the pie - and still mostly consisting of enthusiasts - that they’re barely on the radar of Big Malware.

But the point remains it’s no longer a given that no malware will take even on Linux.

We live in a society and all that…

 

[4DQSAR]

A specific Apple premium wouldn’t surprise me as Apple users tend to be more affluent and - arguably - less tech savvy than either Windows or Linux users.

Yep - that's the one that was sold for $150,000.

Now as you say, people who are prepared to 'buy in' to the whole Apple brand are likely to be far more affluent. So while being a much smaller market, less than ¼ that of windows. But that makes them more able to pay ransomware, especially if the scammers announce a cost scale based on how fast the payment is made. In fact I suggest it would be possible for an attacker to figure out which Mac(s) it has bricked (via LAN for example) and adjust the prices.

In certain creative fields such as advertizing and publishing, Apple is over-represented. So if a business can write-off a ransomware payment against profits, it's even more likely that they will pay. When deadlines HAVE to be met, the true cost of losing even a day's work could amount to a lot of money.

I note Apple itself now offers a bug bounty scheme that uses a sliding-scale but in theory can make an exploit worth $2 million. Which to be fair is a good stratergy, but so far have paid no more than $200,000 for any single exploit.

 

[Bleaney]

Well, I would pay an IT expert to set it up. If you reach the state of paranoia where someone you know through word-of-mouth or by looking in a local newspaper STILL ends up being a government asset, you've gone too far.

Sure - using a less common OS WILL have a significant impact and will defeat scammers and similar, an inherent weakness of x86 and x64 based systems is that they are so ubiquitous that instead of a 'top down' attack, it's entirely possible to exploit the CPU itself. But each time an exploit is used, it risks being detected and a patch issued. So unless you are in the business of funding terrorism, you likely aren't worth risking multiple zero-day exploits.

I suppose it's like if you have a garage with a 2004 Ford Focus in it, a reasonable lock possibly combined with a steering lock, that's enough. If you have a brand new Bugatti Chiron, you would fit sensors, alarms and whatever.

Mate - unless I am much mistaken, you're a great guy and I don't think for a moment ANYONE is going to be wasting resources on you just trying to live your life.

Don't forget that the GDR likely represents the most surveilled nation on earth with over 1% of the population working for or with the Stasi. But even they could not stop people who were peacefully protesting (The Monday Demonstrations) where hundreds of thousands of citizens took part.

Yeah I'm not remotely involved or interested in any proscribed terrorist organisations, or anything like that. So the serious intelligence services would have no interest in me.

I'm just some geezer who buys benzos off the clearnet every now and then. I doubt I'll be high on anyone's priorities, but I might well get caught out if I don't make some changes.

I'm thinking my best bet to be able to continue doing that post all these changes is to switch to an obscure but user friendly Linux OS, (but not so obscure that it has no compatibility with VPNs or crypto wallets etc,) and get some crypto, and do my purchases through TOR, basically just using it as any other internet browser. This is assuming all those clearnet benzo sites continue running at that stage. Otherwise everyone who purchases POMs online might be forced deeper into TOR and onto the DNMs.

You can tell by the order reference numbers that these POM sites do a lot of trade. And this whole digital ID thing will probably just drive many people further 'underground.' Which I'm sure is the last thing that the state wants.

 

[Perkins : Reborn]

Honestly Mint is literally install an go for almost all general PC use cases. You don’t even need to install “forbidden” codecs to use media functionality as you do with Ubuntu.

Even gaming is fine now (if you’re not wedded to mainstream COD-type online multiplayer games).

There is quite literally no reason no to switch imo. Declutter your PC, stick two fingers up to Microsoft, and embrace Freedom

Do eeet!!!

Couldn't cope with all that terminal nonsense. I mean, it was lightning fast on an old machine - really impressive - but it seemed such a ballache to do some of the stuff I wanted to do, like run Windows games.

If I was fourteen again and my grasp of technology was a lot stronger, I'd probably love it.

 

[Bleaney]

basically as long as you only need to browse the internet, maybe download and play photo, audio, and video files then as far as my experience with running Ubuntu for a few years goes, then it will be great for that. As the OSs are generally so much smaller than the Windows ones they leave tonnes more RAM and hard drive space available, allowing everything to run lightning fast as you say, and also there is much improved reliably, considering the specs of any recentish machines, and you can have about 100 internet tabs open if you wish without everything hanging or crashing all the time. As it does on Windows with any more than about a dozen tabs, it can start to struggle. And that is really bad for an almost new quite high spec machine imo. Windows OS are a nightmare for being so bloated and hogging so much RAM on loads of processes that suit Microsoft more than they help the customer.

Many older games especially are basically out, and sometimes just installing any new software can be far more complicated than it should be. Not with everything, just certain things can be a nightmare. Forcing you to search for for solutions online, and they seldom work. Requiring all that 'terminal nonsense' as you mentioned, indeed it's not good for the average user, on some occasions.

I need to make sure I can run a VPN and maybe install a screen recorder program. I can live without games. They are just a huge time sink anyway. Although quite handy at any point if time is dragging due to w/ds of any substance they can help pass recovery time more quickly. The very times where time seems to go very slowly, games can help.

I think you're much less likely to get hacked or to get infected with any malware or viruses on the Linux Distros. I never had any such problems during the several years I was running Ubuntu. Hopefully some of the distros may even scupper the Digital ID capabilities, I very much doubt they'll have versions capable of running on every Linux Distro from the get go. They may never have versions that will run on some of them.

 

[Perkins : Reborn]

I just want to play Championship Manager 01/02. I don't want to have to spend half an hour setting it up, pissing about with 'Wine' or whatever and having to type in commands like it's 1992. I mean, it's just a spreadsheet really.

 

[Bleaney]

You probably wont be able to do that unfortunately. I enjoyed playing the OG Starcraft from the early noughties IIRC. But wheras you can d/l and play it free via Steam on Windows, it wouldnt run on Ubuntu.

These systems have some limitations for sure.

 

[Perkins : Reborn]

Apparently it's 100% possible. You just need to take a million steps to get it right, unless you know your way around the terminal / Wine.

I've been running Chrome OS. It's obviously not the best, but it's quick, pretty stable and suits my needs, apart from running old software.

 

[4DQSAR]

Yeah I'm not remotely involved or interested in any proscribed terrorist organisations, or anything like that. So the serious intelligence services would have no interest in me.

I'm just some geezer who buys benzos off the clearnet every now and then. I doubt I'll be high on anyone's priorities, but I might well get caught out if I don't make some changes.

I'm thinking my best bet to be able to continue doing that post all these changes is to switch to an obscure but user friendly Linux OS, (but not so obscure that it has no compatibility with VPNs or crypto wallets etc,) and get some crypto, and do my purchases through TOR, basically just using it as any other internet browser. This is assuming all those clearnet benzo sites continue running at that stage. Otherwise everyone who purchases POMs online might be forced deeper into TOR and onto the DNMs.

You can tell by the order reference numbers that these POM sites do a lot of trade. And this whole digital ID thing will probably just drive many people further 'underground.' Which I'm sure is the last thing that the state wants.

You know that most crypto wallets can be linked to their owner, right? A friend who understands this much better than me explained that now people have devised crypto that defeats not only that issue but which also automatically launders the coins. Instead of a large payment going from point A to point B, dozens of smaller amounts are sent to some sort of special wallets that randomly choose from all the coins they have and sent that smaller amount and importantly, none of the coins that were in your wallet.

But frankly, you aren't stealing the money and you aren't distributing the benzos so who is the victim? While the de jure law may be that you should have a prescription, even with automation, the resources tied up in any legal action against you would be seen as an utter waste of time.

I think most people forget that law enforcement agencies have budgets. They ALL have to prioritize. They all have to defend how their budgets were used. So I suggest that spending many thousands of dollars prosecuting a minor victimless crime would be indefencible.

I can't speak for the US system but I got dragged into court for something I didn't do and not only did the magistrate apologize, he made it clear that the law enforcement involved had wasted the court's time and money but also that they had wasted their own time and money. And that went on record.

 

[Bleaney]

@4DQSAR Yeah some good points there. As these sites have been operating openly for years I suspect there must be something in what you say.

LE would probably want to go after the site owners rather than the customers you'd like to think........

Also say if the person receiving the orders from the website is based in Yorkshire, but the products are getting disptached from various random places all around the UK, like Cardiff one week, and then Essex the next, and the customer is in Glasgow. AFAIK police forces are kind of localised, so there would be probably be a lot of inter-force communication and evidencing required, and with any luck, as you say they might just decide that it's not worth all the time and effort to co-ordinate all of that.

Unless they raid one of these ops and end up with nice lists of recent customers addresses they may or may not raid those addresses, as happened to Isemene. But all the 'heat' and interest in that case might have been because the drugs were imported from America IIRC and were quite rare and exotic psychedelics.

A lot more interesting than someone buying 30 diazepam etc.....

I'll have time to see how this is going to play out and work on a solution. Stockpiling like fuck before all this comes in, might be an option I'll take. Keep me going for a while if things do start getting tricky.

Maybe even have to work on a taper, if it seems the net will be closing in with no solution. But that seems unlikely, using TOR, VPNs, crypto exchanges and mixers that make it hard to follow the money are all going to make it a lot of effort to trace things to the source. Some of the smaller sites might fly under the radar too. I could switch to Phenibut which is UK legal and has better targeted effects than benzos, but the downside is that the w/ds are far worse than benzos for those that use habitually.

At this stage there is a lot of time to consider all options and come up with the best solution. It might not even be any issue at all.

 

[4DQSAR]

Also say if the person receiving the orders from the website is based in Yorkshire, but the products are getting disptached from various random places all around the UK, like Cardiff one week, and then Essex the next, and the customer is in Glasgow. AFAIK police forces are kind of localised, so there would be probably be a lot of inter-force communication and evidencing required, and with any luck, as you say they might just decide that it's not worth all the time and effort to co-ordinate all of that.

OK, that certainly has been used in the past but the only risk is that if packages are intercepted, to build a case against the supplier, customers could be pressured into giving statements. So I think that suppliers of compounds that are legally controlled in some nations work out of nations where the same compounds are not controlled and/or nations who simply will not aid law enforcement agencies in the destination nations.

I wouldn't know because it's getting on for three decades since I ordered something and that something wasn't legally controlled in the UK. So I wasn't even breaking the law.

 

[Shambles]

Couldn't cope with all that terminal nonsense. I mean, it was lightning fast on an old machine - really impressive - but it seemed such a ballache to do some of the stuff I wanted to do, like run Windows games.

If I was fourteen again and my grasp of technology was a lot stronger, I'd probably love it.

You don’t have to even touch the Terminal with modern Linux distros. Even many of the modern PC gaming handhelds (Steamdeck is an obvious example) run on Linux.

 

[Shambles]

Apparently it's 100% possible. You just need to take a million steps to get it right, unless you know your way around the terminal / Wine.

I've been running Chrome OS. It's obviously not the best, but it's quick, pretty stable and suits my needs, apart from running old software.

Chrome OS is literally a Linux distro…

 

[Perkins : Reborn]

Chrome OS is literally a Linux distro…

Didn't even know that! I guess it's built for technophobes like me, so I never noticed. That's me looking stupid now!

I do love the look and feel of Mint, so I'm not averse to giving it another go. But for everything I need (apart from emulation), Chrome OS is just fine.

 

[GulpingBatteryLiquid]

Many older games especially are basically out, and sometimes just installing any new software can be far more complicated than it should be. Not with everything, just certain things can be a nightmare. Forcing you to search for for solutions online, and they seldom work. Requiring all that 'terminal nonsense' as you mentioned, indeed it's not good for the average user, on some occasions.

Aren't pretty much all games playable via WINE I have no direct experience but I hear it works very well now

You know that most crypto wallets can be linked to their owner, right? A friend who understands this much better than me explained that now people have devised crypto that defeats not only that issue but which also automatically launders the coins. Instead of a large payment going from point A to point B, dozens of smaller amounts are sent to some sort of special wallets that randomly choose from all the coins they have and sent that smaller amount and importantly, none of the coins that were in your wallet.

But frankly, you aren't stealing the money and you aren't distributing the benzos so who is the victim? While the de jure law may be that you should have a prescription, even with automation, the resources tied up in any legal action against you would be seen as an utter waste of time.

I think most people forget that law enforcement agencies have budgets. They ALL have to prioritize. They all have to defend how their budgets were used. So I suggest that spending many thousands of dollars prosecuting a minor victimless crime would be indefencible.

I can't speak for the US system but I got dragged into court for something I didn't do and not only did the magistrate apologize, he made it clear that the law enforcement involved had wasted the court's time and money but also that they had wasted their own time and money. And that went on record.

The only real point where your crypto can be linked to your real name is when you hold it on an exchange wallet, even then the exchange would have to give your name out which would be very illegal unless the police subpoenaed them

I think the other crypto you think of is XMR, which is technically more secure, but unless you're moving drugs large or doing some other serious crime it's not really worth bothering with (other than the fact that most DNMs will only take XMR)

 

[Shambles]

Aren't pretty much all games playable via WINE I have no direct experience but I hear it works very well now

They certainly are. Although Proton is probably the preferred application these days. It’s what Steamdeck (and anything based on Steam OS) uses.

Only meaningful exception for gaming on Linux these days are the massively mainstream competitive multiplayer games. Your CODs, your Sieges, your GTA Onlines and the like.

Those kinda games specifically ban Linux. Probably cos their overly aggressive DRM cannot easily access the kernel in the same way they can on Windows.

 

[Bleaney]

Yeah I'd found that GTA1 wouldnt play on Ubuntu. And there are compatibility issues with Win 10 and 11 too. I've seen a few 'fixes' mentioned here and there, but I havent got any of them to work.

I was never really very much into pc gaming. But just got into GTA1 and Starcraft at the time they were out. I wanted to revisit them for nostalgic reasons, and also because I already knew how to play those games. And had cheat codes lol. Dont need them in Starcraft, but Christ do you need them in GTA1!? Surely it's impossible otherwise!?

You can now play the original starcraft and expansion for free on Steam, but GTA1 isn't there.

Gaming just sinks so much time. I'm bad enough with either posting or 'doomscrolling' on forums, so I mostly deliberately try to avoid games.

I have Age of Empires 2, Definitive Edition installed, but the learning curve is a massive demand on time. Which I could be spending in better ways.

 

[Bleaney]

But back to digital IDs.

All other major British parties have gone on record as opposing them. How weird that the Labour party alone appears obsessed with the idea. Since Blair tried and failed back in his day, and now With Kier Stalin gambling that tying the issue to helping with the illegal immigration problem will increase public acceptance. It hasn't. It wont. He doesnt care.

It will take until at least 2029 to get this up and running, by which time Stalin and his party will have been voted out. (As @Perkins : Reborn has already remarked how bad the UK is for getting infrastructure projects completed to budgets and timetables, chances are this one wont be either.) I certainly hope not! With the latest talk being of people needing to use their digital ID before they make ANY purchase from their own bank account.

Its really come to something where I'm now seeing Nigel Farage as the good guy in all of this, certainly compared to Starmer, and as Farage currently looks the most likely successor, and it looks like he'll reverse or halt these plans. I trust that he will keep his word on this. Should he get elected.

We may retain our freedom and privacy yet.

 

[Tronica]

I'm not in the UK but super interested in what's happening, especially as here in Australia, in December, we will have these laws banning <16s from social media. We don't still fully understand how they will make this work and whether it will end up affecting all internet users. Scary times for freedom and anonymity online.

 

[Bleaney]

I'm not in the UK but super interested in what's happening, especially as here in Australia, in December, we will have these laws banning <16s from social media. We don't still fully understand how they will make this work and whether it will end up affecting all internet users. Scary times for freedom and anonymity online.

It's a ridiculous and unnecessarily hardline move imho.

I know that youtube already has a children's version, which keeps the kids and the adults apart much more than before, and seems a perfectly good solution. In terms of helping to keep the children safe, both from "predators" and from watching unsuitable content. I think tiktok does the same.

Why not just get facebook and any other relevant platforms in Oz to do the same?

Totally banning their use by under 16s seems like a massive case of overkill.