Category: Uncategorized

Following the string of blogs I’ve done on online privacy and social networks – I am now inviting people to join me on my new Mastodon server – which allows you to connect to the wider Mastodon social network.

Note, I don’t go too heavily into the technology or the architecture of Mastodon, nor the actual setup/configuration etc – at least at this time.

What is Mastodon and why should I give a shit?

Mastodon is a social network – but instead of being controlled by a single entity, corporation or person – it is maintained by independent servers connected to one another in what is colloquially called the “Fediverse” (tongue in cheek reference to the Metaverse..).

Essentially when you create a Mastodon account – you make it on a “home” server. You can make your account on one of litterally thousands of servers out there hosted by individuals or communities that decided they wanted to connect with one another outside of mainstream social networking.

Because of this – servers can have their own rules, own moderation practices, and content policies. This also means if you don’t like a server (or trust it) – you can leave and join another server that better suits you.

https://mastodon.social is the most popular one – and I’d invite folks to check them out – as well as a server administered directly by me at https://social.ernie.wtf

You can also browse servers at sites such as https://mastodonservers.net/ or do a web search for “Mastodon Servers”. Reddit has been a great resource for information.

How do you connect with people?

Well very similarly to other social media – you can create an account and then follow others, as simple as clicking the “Follow” button in their profile. You’ll also be able to see posts in the feed (similar to facebook) from people you follow, or public posts from others on the same server.

You can also follow others that reside on different servers seamlessly and have their posts integrate onto your feed – also simply by following them.

Essentially – just because you’re on different servers, doesn’t mean you can’t connect with one another. This same principal also applies to hashtags, which are also supported.

What about News and other content?

I am currently working on trying to pipe news into my server feed automatically – but ultimately the power of this platform comes in your ability to select whom you follow and what content you see. We’ve all gotten used to “automatic” content – which is convenient but I believe has also contributed to our digital isolation

Fortunately, while automatic discovery is more difficult when you’re first getting started on Mastodon – putting in a little effort up front will leave you with some quality content.

What should I do first?

To get started, go ahead and create an account – if you’d like to join me, you can join my server by following this invite link to https://social.ernie.wtf and creating an account. After you put in your info , you’ll be put into a moderation queue and I’ll approve your account. Then you can proceed with creating your profile and making your first post!

You can add me by looking for

@thegoodsir@social.ernie.wtf

What about a mobile app?

There is an official Mastodon mobile app – but in true open source fashion there are other readers that are actually more full featured than the regular app:

• Ivory: Known for its clean design, intuitive navigation, and smooth performance, often considered one of the best overall Mastodon apps, especially on iOS. 
• Tusky: A popular free Android app with a user-friendly interface, offering most standard Mastodon features. 
• Toot!: A paid iOS app that provides a comprehensive set of features including advanced customization options, list management, and enhanced media handling. 
• Fedilab:A highly customizable app with a focus on advanced features, allowing users to tailor their experience with various settings and extensions. 
• Mona:Highly regarded on iOS for its intuitive design and smooth user experience, considered a great choice for new Mastodon users. 

Useful links and finding content

• Verified Journalist (https://verifiedjournalist.org/) is a directory of Journalists on Mastodon that has undergone at least some basic verification. You can use this directory to find news content direct from Journalists you enjoy and trust.
• r/Mastodon on Reddit is a great resource for getting to understand Mastodon and get a better sense of what is going on under the hood.
• Mastodon on Wikipedia

This past winter I took a hard look at protecting my digitial identity after a series of breaches across various accounts.

What I found is there’s no really one size fits all solution that I was comfortable with – and since I’m still very much just evaluating – I figured I’d go in a few different directions.

I’ve come to distrust free/freemium products – as they often scale back their offerings and features eventually anyways – and leave you data-locked in to an inferior product (cough , LastPass, cough).

Additionally, due to the recent political climate, I am also actively trying to not use tooling released (free or otherwise) from Meta, Google or Microsoft.

The Apple Hardware Ecosystem

I share the view that Apple has one of the best track records when it comes to giving its users control of their data and enhancing their products with privacy feature after privacy feature – making them the industry leader when it comes to matters concerning personal data protection.

Because of this – most of my devices in various form factors (PC, Mobile, Car, TV, Tablet and Home Assistants)are now running Apple hardware. However due to the principal of “not putting ones eggs in one basket” – I am still using different cloud services for different tasks – even though Apple offers many of them directly. This is also because I do still operate both an Android phone (for work) and a Windows PC (for gaming) – so having nimble cross-platform options for critical services is still important to me.

All this of course could change… at which point i’ll throw everything Apple into the same landfill in New Mexico where all those copies of E.T. The Game for Atari are burried.

Just an FYI in case you’re reading this and going “JEYYY THIS IS FREE WITH APPLE!”

Password Management

For years, I had been using LastPass – but recently decided to cut the cord to them after a series of their own security issues. Yikes.

Fortunately, other services have matured to the point where there were a few options. For this go-round I opted for NordPass . In addition to supporting basics like multifactor and biometric – it also supports newer passkey functionality, as well as higher standards of encryption. Other major convenience features like seamless browser plugins, mobile apps make it usable.

Like many people, I have amassed variations of passwords of various forms throughout the years – to the point where its impossible to remember which sites have that one password from when I lived in Riverside with 3 or 6 exclamation points, or is it the password from when I lived in San Francisco with $’s for ‘S’. This is as good as it gets for many folks – but I am hoping to move away from self-generated passwords to passkeys and autogenerated “strong” passwords.

Of course, the achilles heel is if the password vault is ever stolen – it could potentially be decrypted – though this is still a ways away from being brute forced. Still, I consider this safer than a notebook or a post-it with your passwords sitting on your desk.

$35/year

Email Provider

I got my first Gmail account back when it launched in 2003. At the time, 1GB of email storage was unheard of (100mb was common) and was a big benefit to traditional email providers.

Flash Forward and though Gmail has a host of features , my 20+ year old account has been littered across several data breaches and associated with dozens of critical accounts. Not to mention my own email data is used to shoot Google’s giant ad canon at my face in everything I touch.

It’s been sad to watch Google devolve from “do no evil” to basically holding us all hostage to their content a la A Clockwork Orange.

SO now, I’ve switched over to Proton Mail. No longer reserved for providing an email to your followers on Only Fans, Proton Mail offers full end to end encryption but also actively blocks trackers (or tracking pixels) embedded in email ads, and doesnt store user IP addresses – meaning they make no money selling your data.

Instead they ask for your money the old fashioned way – though there is a free plan as well.

3.99 a month (36 / year) gets you 10 email addresses, support for a custom domain, and 15GB of space.

Conclusion

This isn’t meant to be a comprehensive list with tons of pro’s and con’s – but might get you thinking about where/how you use services on the internet and what exactly you give up when you “Join for Free”. As I continue using these, or add to them, I’ll share them out.

While there’s still more to do and more work to detangle myself from these commercial controlled clouds – (and no guarantee these services maintain their current offerings) – I do think these are meaningful steps towards digital peace of mind.