I like Techlore (https://www.techlore.tech if you don’t know) and I usually regard them as one of the most impartial and most trustworthy Youtubers out there. But for the past few months, I couldn’t help noticing their somewhat heavy bias towards some of their video sponsors. Still, everybody has to eat right?
This time though, it looks like Synology flew them over to Taiwan, and if you watch their video at the event, it’s wall-to-wall Synology shilling. I’m really disappointed.
I lost interest when they moved from matrix to discord
Oh I didn’t know that. Privacy-wise, Discord is… suboptimal to say the least.
They didn’t move from Matrix to Discord, that’s a very misleading way to frame it. They had Matrix, Discord and their forums, then they closed Matrix and encouraged people to use the forums instead. They left the Discord open for people who require real-time privacy advice. Here is their detailed reasoning behind the change, if you are interested.
I read their reasoning and it sort of makes sense: what they’re saying is essentially “We do Discord because that’s where the people we want to reach - the folks who don’t know anything about privacy - hang out.”
Well, I get that. But it’s kind of like Al Gore saying his flying around the world and spewing megatons of CO2 doesn’t matter because he’s doing that to promote environmental causes. I don’t like people who exempt themselves from the rules they preach, whatever their reason. People who walk the talk are usually more convincing.
But yeah, they do have a point I guess…
I used to like his content and still like Surveillance Report but Henry always talks about how Apple is so private and a good option for an OS ecosystem. It’s closed source, it looks like they (Apple) push “privacy” so they can have a monopoly on the data, and are anti consumer in many ways. Now his push for Synology has been growing.
Seems like he takes the easy way out with privacy. I understand life is busy (as he mentions a lot) but in order to make positive change you have to believe in and follow values that give power to open source tech and not the giants who steal your data, monetize you, and are in bed with the government
Since you noticed the bias, let me give you the real dark history of both Techlore and PrivacyGuides ( Jonah Argon ) and how they took over Privacy Tools.io and closed their subreddit.
https://www.privacytools.io/guides/jonah-aragon-privacyguides-failed-attempt-to-takeover
Don’t trust Privacy YouTubers, trust experts who know what they’re talking about
Always funny when people try to pretend this PrivacyTools guy is some brave whistleblower when in reality he destroyed his own website going for a cash grab and then got butthurt when people created better alternatives that actually gave genuine advice instead of ads.
There’s no pretending… if you actually click the link the first video is about the practices or Techlore, so I’ll make it easy for you :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cEfJ1UTNvw
The rest of the article, talks ( with proof ) about the betrayal of Jonah Argon, changing the website license for example…
got butthurt when people created better alternatives that actually gave genuine advice instead of ads.
Really ? Sounds like a very childish thing to be mad about… Especially when you realize there are many websites and blogs that are written by experts
I’m not trying to be funny, I’m saying what happened, and simply don’t trust Techlore because or the lack of ethics…and going after the cash grab… What kind of Privacy minded individual drives a Tesla? Uses Apple hardware? Promotes proprietary solutions?
genuine advice instead of ads
Techlore literally said buy my course so you’ll have an ad free experience… And PrivacyGuides covers surface level stuff…
Why are you defending Privacy Tools so hard here? Literally anyone can look at the website and see within seconds that it is absolutely loaded with ads and affiliate links. The owner sold out years ago, the privacy community moved on and now he’s mad that he can’t AFK farm money from his shit website. He has absolutely zero credibility and writes stuff like “fuck fame, fuck money, fuck dishonesty” in that post when he himself literally used the fame of his website to make money by dishonestly recommending sponsored shit on it. It is absolutely bizarre to me that you hold this person up as some kind of moral authority and believe everything he says.
privacytools.io doesn’t even list NordVPN as an ad anymore…
Is there another trustworthy site which compares different platforms?
There is, it’s the exact one that user and the delusional founder of Privacy Tools have a hate boner for. Privacy Guides is non-profit with no ads or affiliate links.
Wait, I’m confused. Why would privacytools.io host this article?
I’m not sure, maybe they thought it’ll be more visible for the website followers…
I think I got confused by this Lemmy post claiming it was taken over, not “attempted”. If it was taken over, then why would they shoot themselves in the foot?
This is all really insane. But there are people here saying that privacyguides are reputable.
Privacytools seems shadier though, even if they’re claiming to be victims.
This is all too much drama.
That’s pretty sad to see, Techlore is one of the main ways how I got into digital privacy and security, but ever since they removed GrapheneOS from the mobile OS recommendations section on their resources page, I don’t feel like it’s a trustworthy source anymore. Removing the most private and secure mobile OS from your OS recommendations, while claiming to give people privacy and security-focused recommendations is pretty hypocritical. Instead they recommend CalyxOS which rolls back default AOSP security features, LineageOS which doesn’t even work with a locked bootloader and microG which requires root access. It just feels like a bad joke.
I’m using LeneageOS with MicroG without root, and MicroG installed as a user app via their F-Droid Repo.
It works seemless.
Also, afaik GOS dislike Techlore, bc of some stuff and they don’t want to be mentioned by them according to Techlore.
LineageOS for microG is a custom build which already includes the patch to enable signature spoofing. This still means that microG is running with root privileges. It btw also includes the F-Droid privileged extension, which is yet another app running with elevated privileges and adding unnecessary attack surface. Installing microG is the quick and easy workaround to get Google Play services, but it’s more like a dirty hack that reduces security. GrapheneOS is currently the only ROM that properly integrates the official Google Play Services using the Android app sandbox. This also increases app compatibility, and it’s the reason why most banking apps work without any issues on GrapheneOS, while they are broken on Lineage, Calyx and other ROMs that use microG.
I was very surprised about the Synology video too. There was no critical word about anything in it.
Sure they offer a selfhosted sollution for things but their software is closed source for example.
