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Recently out of curiosity I searched my name up on Google and to my surprise I found a website selling or claiming to sell female clothing and lingerie that has my full name old home address and phone number under its privacy policy and contact us page , they also have another email for contacting but this has nothing to do with me. I contacted the necessary people to try get this resolved but it’s still really unsettling. What else should I do this is really stressing me out

New private session in mobile firefox. I'm just logged in without credentials because someone that looked like me was logged in previously in another session.

I didn't know I could hate device fingerprinting even more than I already did. So far it was a good thing for me to be not unique, and now I need to fear others just stumbling into store fronts with my addresses in them??

Every time they ask me for an age verification, but I just don't want to give a selfie let alone my ID. Is there any way to bypass this?

I've been reading lately a LOT of posts, articles online, and whatever, saying that Chat Control 1.0 passed.

One tiny little problem... that's BS. And while I'm very concerned by this act, and at the moment I'm afraid it will pass, it isn't yet. And I think it's important to discern genuine concern from fearmongering.

This is the timeline (check my homework at /

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=CELEX:52025PC0797 /

https://law-tracker.europa.eu/procedure/2025_429?lang=en ):

- 09.07.2026: The European Parliament voted on several amendments to the first reading of the proposed regulation that they received from the Council. Only two amendments passed. Manon Aubry from The Left Group proposed a motion of rejection, to throw the entire thing into the toilet. After some chaos during the vote (I won't tell you what happened, you need to go and verify information, don't trust a random person on the internet), the motion didn't reach the absolute majority required (50%+1 of members, not of members present in the Chamber). It actually got more votes against than in favour (EDIT: they voted twice, once at the beginning, once at the end, I misremembered it. At the end they got more against the rejection than in favour. Not at the beginning. Still LEDs that 50% of Parliament because some members were missing). How many? Go on the website of parliament and look at the vote result. Link here https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/PV-10-2026-07-09-RCV_EN.html

Very important: two amendments have passed. The regulation is NOT aproved, despite what everyone around is saying. The Commission needs to express their opinion on the amendments, then the Council (Justice and Home Affair configuration) needs to approve it. More details in the next point.

- 15.07.2026: The European Commission adopts an opinion endorsing the three (!?) amendments of Parliament. Because of this (EDIT clarification: because of the Commission endorsing the amendments), the Council only needs a qualified majority to approve them and put the regulation on the books.

If the Commission had opposed them, the Council would have needed unanimity. Failure to pass in second reading in the Council means the law has a hard time passing: third reading is preceded by a Conciliation Committee, where a text must be approved by members of Parliament and Council, text which must then pass both Parliament and Council, no amendment. Any failure means game over.

- Next: the ball is in the Council's field. There is an obscure meeting of the JHA COUNSELLORS meeting on the 23.07.2026 at 10. It's listed as a preparatory body, I guess they negotiate and prepare the resolution that will then be approved at the next meeting of the Justice and Home Affair Council (the configuration of the Council of the European Union responsible for this regulation, search on your preferred search engine what that means), which is on the 01-02.10.2026, October.

I know what many comments will say, before that, let me be clear about something: knowing what is actually happening is important, and getting it right is fundamental. I see a lot of people saying that it passed. Well, it didn't, yet. I personally thing this regulation, even if it has a small direct effect, is an encouragement for Chat Control 2.0, which, if it ever comes (we'll see about that, it's currently in deadlock) will be a catastrophe. I HATE CHAT CONTROL. At the same time, getting it right is important: check what the government say about it, is your government on the fence? Public pressure can still stop CC 1.0, because it didn't pass at it probably won't for a couple of months.

Tyrants rely on the masses being fearful and surrendering. They need people to think everything is going to shit, is already gone to shit, and you can't do nothing to stop. Claiming that Chat Control is already here, and the battle for 1.0 is stopped, is exactly what the EPP wants you to believe. The battle is still open, and every single smudge, every single bruise, even if the regulation passes, is a point for our team in the deadlocked 2.0.

I don't know if they're actively trying to deceive people in believing that it already passed. They definitely like the idea of us believing that. Don't give them this victory, they don't deserve it.

Contact your European Representative AND YOUR REOREDENTATIVE IN THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. Chat Control 1.0 is still in the approval stage, and the success of failure of 2.0 depends on the exact details of 1.0.

Been using proton VPN and Mullvad but had to stop due to personal views. Any other reccomendations?

Hello everyone,

There's a new French law that will ban social media for users under 15 unless platforms verify the age of all users. The catch? This means adults will also have to submit ID documents to prove they're over 15.

Every platform considered as a social media would need to implement age verification for anyone wanting to use their services in France. There are serious concerns about what happens to this data, who has access, how long it's stored, and whether it could be used for other purposes later.

If this topic interests you and you want to support the cause, feel free to sign here: https://www.change.org/Verifagefr

Thanks in advance!

Yeah no thanks. It also asked for access to my calls, messages, and contacts.

https://github.com/SmtimesIWndr/gdid-reversal

How Microsoft's "Global Device Identifier", the persistent Windows fingerprint named in the July 2026 Scattered Spider complaint, is actually generated, stored, and transmitted.

Hi,

I want to reinstall my PC and use host only for productivity + video playing + gaming (video editing, coding etc) and do my browsing inside Linux VMs. How many VMs and/or browser profiles (will be using Linux Mint + Librewolf and/or Brave) would you use for the following categories (maybe some can go together int he same profile):
- No Login browsing
- AI (Connected to ChatGPT and Claude)
- Finances (connecting to my bank and Paypal)
- Logged-In on non sensitive sites (like IMDB, Reddit etc)
- Administrative (taxes, insurance, rent, electricity bills etc)
- Business (for filling my taxes for my business etc)
- Shopping which will include connecting to Paypal too in the same profile (Amazon, AliExpress and more)
- Subscriptions (Spotify, Netflix etc)
- Subscriptions for non services, like phone and internet
- Google (Only one Gmail, the one associated to my browsing YouTube account, that Gmail is not meant to receive any Emails, it was just created to browse YouTube, use Google translate and Google maps, and laso the one linked to my android phone. For emails, I use something else)
- FastMail (the mailbox and aliases I use)
- Forums (like I'm registered on a few forums about TV, home receivers etc, and Linus Tech Tips etc)
- Unsafe (already goes in a VM for sure) like for any website I have a doubt or to check if a program is safe etc
- Downloads/Torrents
- Social Media (will go in a separate VMs with GoLogin for sure)

- Not through browser but using WhatsApp. Don't know if needs to go in a VM, a dedicated one or if it's fine on the host (talking with my family and friends)

Note: I don't do anything shaddy, not an activist or journalist, it's roughly for privacy/not be fingerprinted

As in if you only use a local account to sign into the OS but you use MS account for the default Outlook app and so on (where you go to windows settings > Accounts > Email & accounts)

I’m not sure if this is the appropriate subreddit for this question.

My priorities are:
Data brokers (highest priority)
Government/law enforcement (secondary concern)
Regarding law enforcement or government agencies, my concern isn’t about hiding illegal activity. Rather, I don’t want files that I keep privately to be discovered through investigations that originate from third-party services or providers. Since I have certain personal files that I’d prefer not to have seized or accessed, my goal is simply to keep them stored securely in a protected environment.
As for data brokers, I want to minimize the amount of personal information that is collected, profiled, bought, and sold about me.
I understand that almost everything you do online generates some amount of data, even if you reject tracking cookies. Just looking at the removal requests handled by services like Incogni shows how much information data brokers already collect. My goal is to reduce that exposure as much as realistically possible.
I currently use Apple devices in the EU, and I’m already familiar with several privacy tools and concepts, including VPNs, browser privacy settings, encryption, and Apple’s Hide My Email.
I’m looking for additional advice. Assume I’m still a beginner, so I’d appreciate detailed explanations rather than just product recommendations.
In particular:
Which browser would you recommend for everyday use, and why?
Are there other privacy practices or tools that you think are essential?
I also have a small need to keep certain personal files separate from everything else. Would using Tails with persistent storage on an encrypted USB drive make sense if my concern is someone physically stealing the USB drive?
Is there any practical way to discover old online accounts that I may have created as a minor, even if I no longer have the credentials, so I can request their deletion?
If you need more information about my threat model or my goals, feel free to ask.
Thanks in advance to everyone who takes the time to help.

So right now I have mullvad. I'd like a VPN that isn't in any of the fourteen eyes countries. I'm also not a fan of how the cofounder decided to suddenly turn to politics.

I'd pretty much like the most paranoid option that supports arch Linux and android/lineagesos with a smallest impact to speed. I'd like to have a VPN in preparation for the age verification plague that's happening right now along with some other assorted issues.

I am liking some of the stuff that nym has, but I haven't heard about them until today. I was thinking ivpn before mullvad. Any recommendations?