This is utter nonsense. First, let me point out that this is an ad for Surfshark, a VPN company. They're trying to sell you their service by scaring you.

Second, their methodology is absolutely useless, it's an easy and very common way to come up with a clickbait article like this. They're just looking at app store permissions, and assuming the app with the most permissions is bad and the one with the least permissions is good. Which is utter nonsense, it might be that the apps with more permissions NEED those permissions because they have more FEATURES.

I could make a "language learning" app that ONLY asks for the audio recording permission, and then sell audio recordings of my users to the highest bidder. But Surfshark would praise my literal spyware as "privacy-focused" because it only needs one privacy permission!

The way to ACTUALLY do this properly would be to fully audit each app, find out WHY it's asking for additional permissions, go over the full privacy policy, and do some packet captures to figure out when the app is phoning home to send data, and what servers it's connecting to. Contact the app owners, ask them why exactly their app needs each permission. Consult some experts.

But that's too hard for Surfshark, they just want to write a scary article so that they can sell you a VPN that doesn't really make you safer on the internet.

EDIT: You know why I dropped Surfshark? They started bundling a "virus scanner" in with their "privacy-focused" VPN client. So my "privacy" tool wanted to scan all my files all of a sudden? GTFO.

The game has been free for 16 years. This is the paid version to support the devs, literally because they're getting old and they have medical bills to pay.

Uhhhhh honey what you're describing is called "theft". Also known as "fraud" if you want a different name.

But to answer your question, I usually shit during working hours, so I get paid to shit. It's a great feeling.

1. DON'T CONNECT TO WI-FI

2. Shit+F10 (you might need to hit Fn+Shift+F10) will open up command prompt

3. OOBE\BYPASSNRO

4. It should now reboot and give you the option to make a local account in the fine print

Of course they can, they literally own the machine. You don't own it, so don't treat it like it's your own private job hunting platform or porn viewer.

Lol this fanboy

This one's pretty mild: I always answer my phone with "Yellow?"

Nobody has ever noticed or questioned me about it.

Brendan Eich is vocally against gay marriage, it's not a secret. Also Brave is fuckin SKETCHY. They've always come up with "creative" ways of making money, sometimes inserting affiliate links into their users' searches, sometimes selling their data, other times getting into weird crypto schemes.

Every time somebody catches them doing something sketchy, they put out a big "OOPS SORRY THAT WAS AN ACCIDENT" statement, and their fanboys just forgive them and act like it's no big deal. Then they troll Reddit (and now Lemmy) blindly repeating how great and privacy-focused Brave is.

The only browser worth your time is Firefox. If you insist on sticking with a Chromium-based browser (which is most of them, including Brave), then Arc is pretty damn cool.

Just go to the desktop site, you don't have to log in. Things are going well, in case you're curious 😆:

EDIT: apparently "Hurensohn" is German for "son of a bitch"

This right here. We are undoubtedly the plastic generation. And it's not letting up any time soon; our kids will be included in this cohort as well. Banning plastic bags in cities is next to useless when everything we eat, everything we drink, and everything we buy is wrapped in plastic.

H265 is objectively superior in just about every way UNLESS you're trying to play it on hardware that doesn't support it. The only reason to use H264 is for broad compatibility.

Something that people need to realize: If you want a VPN for PRIVACY, Mullvad (edit: also maybe IVPN) is the only good option on this list. They make it very easy for you to maintain complete anonymity, they don't even WANT your email address, you can use crypto, or you can literally mail them an envelope of cash with a note inside containing your unique ID and they'll load up your account with that value. It's ridiculous how seriously they take this stuff. And if you're really concerned about privacy, you should also be taking extra steps like using a hardened OS and browser, and using disposable virtual machines. But I suspect that most of us here aren't that concerned with actual privacy.

If you want a VPN for PIRACY, any of these options are probably fine as long as they don't block or slow torrent traffic. Just use the fastest one here that you can afford. The only thing you're really doing in this case is blocking your torrent traffic from your ISP. Remember, if you give them a credit card and your email address, then that's not private! It's just for piracy. It's important to look at your priorities and pick a VPN accordingly.