What are you going to do when the internet starts asking for ID for everything?
from Confidant6198@lemmy.ml to privacy@lemmy.ml on 01 Aug 2025 16:52
https://lemmy.ml/post/34006758
from Confidant6198@lemmy.ml to privacy@lemmy.ml on 01 Aug 2025 16:52
https://lemmy.ml/post/34006758
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/34006757
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I will leave the internet and seek alternatives.
We have gemini, IPFS, and usenet to my knowledge.
Gopher and I2P as well
Stop using the Internet. Seriously.
I already only used open source products for decades now, and the Internet is just a network, you can use different networks, different protocols if you want, even embedded on current Internet protocols, or maybe use even something that completely sidesteps the Internet
Either way, the Internet has mostly been a failure
what different networks or protocols does exist?
github.com/redecentralize/alternative-internet
en.wikipedia.org/…/List_of_IP_protocol_numbers
Thanks!
Tor for one, it rides on top of the internet.
All of my services are in a WireGuard VPN. The Internet only transports my VPN traffic. My cloud services run in a locked box, in my house and the only thing coming out of that box is VPN traffic.
To my devices, they just think that they’re on a LAN.
I do use this site, but I limit/lie about personal details and use a VPN. I assume I’m identifiable and act accordingly.
Any tips on how I can ascend to this level of existence?
The homelab and Linux communities are a good place to start. There’s a lot of very well made free and open source software (FOSS) that can, with some effort (mostly learning), replace most of the cloud services you use.
For example: I use Jellyfin (movies, TV Shows) and Audiobookshelf (books/Audiobooks) to replace all of the streaming services. HomeAssistant for home automation, power management, etc. Zoneminder(experimenting with Frigate) for security.
It’s all free, for homeassistant and zoneminder you’ll have to check for compatible hardware and everything requires you to set up the server/networking side of things. But if you’re willing to put in the time to learn, it’s a fun hobby that pays for itself (assuming you’re paying for streaming, home automation, cloud storage, etc).
Meshtastic, Briar.
Nostr is one of them, but I’d learn how to set that up first before using Primal.
Also, Nostr means Notes and Stuff on Relays, and is Free Software. This is the wild west of the internet, from what I was notified by my producer, Neigsendoig.
I dont mind if its implemented like it has been in germany for a while with eID. With an open source desktop or mobile app that uses NFC to talk to your ID and can be used to verify your age online to a 3rd party without leaking your birthday or any other personal info to them.
I dont know why there is so much screaming about age verification going on when these cryptographically provable anonymous systems already exist. Remember that “stop killing games” EU campaign with a million signatures? That also used exactly this system.
I would prefer not having any verification, but as that is not gonna happen at this point, i think its more important to focus on HOW to implement it. I dont understand why these companies like discord arent being forced to use these existing verification systems. Those arent legally provable at all so why arent they being sued for this?
It’s very unlikely that most states will use a truly open source solution, especially when big tech makes it so easy not to. Case in point: github.com/eu-digital-identity-wallet/…/19
Very nice thread, thanks.
If they don’t they will make it very attractive for people to just ignore those age checked sites and build their own protocols that do work
stop using internet and we can go back spending more time in farms, book, etc. what a peaceful day ✨
<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/61184e14-2ea6-4f37-9088-4eedc3aad3fa.png">
We will then need people like you to bring awareness about alternatives we will be able to shift to. That’s probably how most of us ended up here
I guess I’ll start pirating things like local news, weather forecasts, and garbage pickup schedules.
In the meantime, I’ll continue to self-host what I can, de-couple from online services, and find alternatives to get information from.
Hard to say.
Sounds like the alternatives are to suck it up, leave the country for somewhere that isn’t the case yet, stop using the internet…
There definitely is a line where requiring nonsense is more effort than it is worth. That line has already definitely been crossed by “news media”. The quality of articles and interviews is so abysmal, that any hear say you get over three rebounds over social media is still somehow equal to the original bad source.
Social media is on the edge. I don’t expect to have a serious discussion on facebook or twitter, that’s why I don’t go there. If it’s easier to hang out in a bar near a library to hope someone worth talking to walks in or something like that. That will be the thing to do.
And also, that line will probably just never be actually crossed for internet platforms like amazon or alibaba. Shipping and ordering things online is absurdly convenient compared to go to physical locations and them needing to have the thing stocked, etc…
Most of (open source) software is already built in a way that could be taken offline completely. Internet is just a fast and easy delivery mechanism, but carrying USB sticks is extremely viable for getting code from A to B
And for entertainment, I can honestly just go back to reading books. It’s not the total information super highway, but it would be something.
I would like to think I would just stop using the Internet, or at least adopt a protocol like Gemini. How that would work exactly is hard to say, since the Internet is almost mandatory these days. Still, you have to be willing to inconvenience yourself to maintain at least some control on privacy and security online.
I have the feeling that limiting yourself to Gemini would guarantee you basically only ever communicate with the weirdest of the weird.
Sounds like my kind of people.
You opened me up to a whole new world with Gemini. I think we need to spread the word about this more. Thanks so much. <3
the internet won’t ask shit, specific websites will, which can and should be avoided
<img alt="" src="https://hexbear.net/pictrs/image/3924c21a-6356-41d7-a8f5-888850434f9b.jpeg">
Fake ID generator? 🤣
i’m gonna be an irish r&b singer
I belive that’s from Superbad. 🙂 libremdb.iket.me/title/tt0829482
I am going to go on the internet and lie about my identity
The Internet is a bunch of Autonomous Systems running open protocols like BGP. Packets have no passports.
UTP: “have a nice trip. DGAF if you actually arrive tho”.
I will just work around it. Unless they overhaul some very low level networking stuff, it will be hard to keep us from sites like hexbear
Tor Network.
I2P.
Autonomi.
Start selling a service to businesses providing Age verification for dirt cheap and implement it in a way that can’t be secured and that issues single use tokens. (The keys get routinely leaked to privacy advocates) so businesses can claim they are completely complying with the law while saving money and the people who care about privacy can easily get around it basically everywhere
As online spaces start to demand I dox myself, I will remove myself from those online spaces (see: Reddit). If that means I ultimately leave the internet as a whole, then so be it.
Wait for the internet to fracture. There could end up being multiple internets… you could argue it is already that way to some degree.
Use only services that don’t require ID and laugh at the people who do and say I told you so.
Edit: I see myself more and more turning to the tor network and hidden services for daily usage.
What I’m already doing: use a VPN
I’ve been planing on going outside, this might just be the kick I need
You think that curl and pirate bay will start asking for ID ? I don’t think so.
There’s a million porn sites hosted in third world countries that don’t give a fuck about any of this
Happy cake day, Jimmycakes! 🍰
withdraw
Probably it will not be all “internet” but some parts of it. Since I already live without many invasive services it shouldnt be big challenge for me. Obviously Facebook and Google already asks for ID everyone, so any changes at all. Probably its better do not exist on the internet than exist on castrated, polished, theocratic internet
You have to have an id to make a Google or Facebook account? That’s wild.
Next December, it will be required in Australia
At that moment you could create account on Google without sending your ID but they could restrict your account for “age verification” and ask for ID.
Wild stuff.
It would be funny if someone changed his name to someting like Jack Blow Job and upload id and started leaving comments on the whole “family friendly” Internet under this name 😂
get a fake ID
and make sure it’s a foreign fake so that the system is unable to detect the security features that fakes usually don’t have
Stop
I’ll continue to not ask for ID and run my own services open to anyone and everyone.
That’s a cool project.
I’m very curious what kind of content is available on your jellyfin instance. I also noticed these services might be somewhat high bandwidth and I’m wondering if that costs you much
Feel free to create an account, the sign ups should be open. There’s also Jellyseerr if you have any requests to add.
I have a 500mbps fiber connection with my ISP, i could upgrade to 1gbps but i’ve not yet reached a point to warrant it. It’s about $50 a month.
If you can’t get that good of a connection at home, seedboxes, which can also have jellyfin installed, are pretty affordable.
wow this is a really cool project
Cool project! :D
The internet already asks for ID for everything. Cloudflare or phone verification, or an account from a service that requires one of those two. As much as possible, I don’t use things on the internet.
We should really start concentrating more on decentralization.
Take Freifunk as example and similar projects.
What we need is a user-run private alternative to the internet. Wireless mesh networks are a very interesting step in that direction.
As long the infrastructure is owned by the government and companies, we will never be really free.
Happy cake day, Metz! 🍰
Thank you!
will stop using the services probably require my id.
Not much changes. This will affect the commercial web, but I consider that the commercial web’s polish to be not really worth the privacy invasion before this. All the small web/fediverse/indie web/open source/Free/gemini/gopher/irc/ whatever alternative stuff is plenty to keep me happy, despite always being clunkier. It’s good enough.
Stop using any sites that require ID.
Ditto. Also:
…just to name a few.
Don’t use iPhone, use Fairphone with /e/OS or any dump phone, even the old Nokia in your drawer, which for sure still works, and only for calls.
Use the I2P network
I’ve been seriously thinking about going back to Nokia. De-googled a few years ago, stopped using iCloud and switched to cross-platform and open-source software.
Currently, the Murena Fairphone 4 is the only one you can use in the US (Fairphone doesn’t directly deal with US customers) and incompatible with Verizon and AT&T. They recommend T-Mobile for US coverage.
Also heard about Cape here on a Lemmy post But Fairphone is “not eligible yet”.
This is the old Nokia 3650 that’s in my drawer. I loved it! Then AT&T made me upgrade because they were no longer supporting the old networks.
<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.myserv.one/pictrs/image/d5383043-9a64-4aed-a959-9b02d04da59a.jpeg">
Thank you, Zerush! It’s nice to know that someone else thinks the same way.
Nice name ;-)
Thank you, so is yours! Nice to meet you, “It”.
Nice to meet you too, “That”!
Fairphone is expensive. You can get a used Motorola G7 Power and flash /e/ on it, if you like. Just need to find one is OEM unlocked, or know how to unlock it yourself.
Not so expensive on long term and anyway cheaper than a iPhone with similar specs, the advantage of Fairphone is, it’s modular, you can substitute or fix easy everything in the phone by yourself.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1UJ5k3yMvA
If you use Murena mail, Murena (e-Foundation) is a EU Cloud provider (OpenSource, selfhostable, encrypted, no-knowledge, green energy) and author of /e/OS and NextCloud, apart asociated with FairPhone, you can buy it there (Murena Phone) with /e/OS by default. It’s by far the best alternative of GDrive, made in the EU.
Murena Workspace
<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.ml/pictrs/image/d38efd7f-caec-4a9a-8256-d1de6b45b470.jpeg">
Powered by OnlyOffice 🤮
Only Office is an OpenSource and encrypted online office suite, made in the EU. You can even selfhost it. Full compatible with files from MS Office. But if you know better online Office suites, use it. It’s very valid that Murena use it.
It’s slow and prone to crashing. The formatting makes the documents not compatible with other clients half the time. I have lost way too many documents due to corruption when saving (both on third party hosts and selfhosting). I’m absolutely done with that junk. Or, I’d like to be, but any alternative has dropped their own efforts in favor of just setting up an OnlyOffice, basically making them one of the very few open source options out there now in terms of web based office clients.
The speed depends not of the Office suite as such, but on the server it use to host it, Murena hosted it on the own server (NextCloud), but as said, you are free to host it by yourself. I’m an old retiree and don’t need a big cloud service, enough for me to store the few things locally and for this I prefer to use the online SSuite, also privacy focused, even if it isn’t OpenSource. Also Html5, but without account, anonym, free and blazing fast, no ads, no trackers, nor other crap, files a stored locally. It’s a hobby project from 2 electricians, which gain money with their jobs, no interests of tracking or user data to make money.
Postcrossing is really cool. You send and recieve post cards across the globe!
That’s awesome, SomeAmateur! I used to love sending postcards when I was younger, can’t believe I never heard of it. Thank ypu!
In case somebody’s curious, here’s a link to the Postcrossing website.
Yeah no prob I’ve had tons of fun with it over the years and I hope you enjoy it too!
Honestly, this makes me happy to hear. I wish I could meet people and make friends like I used to before everything got enshittified.
<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.myserv.one/pictrs/image/d50ea7ea-c5ab-4562-b2b0-e59d0cbc12a9.jpeg">
Hope that this will completely kill the corporate Internet and switch to exclusively using FOSS federated or decentralized services for everything.
Continue to not give it, what do you mean?
P2P more?
whats still p2p today? seems like mostly everything was updated to run through corporate servers. i mean heck chats no longer has the capabilities they used to when things were p2p; now, a chat has like one single feature, to chat, and half the time that doesn’t even work because their servers are down lol.
Sure 99.99% of traffic might still go through Netflix and Spotify and YouTube… but even .01% of traffic going through The Pirate Bay or CloudTorrents or Anna’s Archive (which does provide torrents) it’s still billions of files shared by millions of people, directly, from their computers to yours.
FWIW to get a very rough approximation, according to torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-is-no-longer-the-king… BitTorrent is about ~5% of worldwide traffic.
My own perspective is that… not only streaming works well but there is also a huge economical incentive. YouTube started by facilitating the sharing of video content, including pirate one, BUT also made a way to earn money through ads. TikTok did the same with an ever bigger promise of fame. So I think the mechanism changed, namely it’s not anymore about sharing content “just” to share but it’s also with the hope of making an income from it. It’s probably important to disentangle all that before comparing too much the trends.
PS: my own P2P (optional for transfer and with registrations closed, so mostly for me to broadcast my own content) video server video.benetou.fr relying on PeerTube to give also an example without any pirated content.
What do you mean by chat? Because IRC has never been p2p. What existed as p2p 20 years ago and doesn’t today? I think they are all still here. It’s users that turned elsewhere but the p2p networks are still alive and well.
Yes, for example using Croc
github.com/schollz/croc
Torrent more
Someone said I2P or TOR can be ran through port 80 but I doubt that.
Pretend it’s 1995 before I had Internet access
I’ll start by disabling Javascript and see how far that gets me
.
use anything and everything p2p by default
As of now I only visit a handful of privacy respecting sites on a regular basis. For all others I use web archive links rather than actually visiting the site.
I don’t use any “big brother” services. At work, it’s a different story, I guess.
I wish that the internet was removed from every day reality. Or at least I wish it wasn’t so invasive and obligatory.
I’ve gone long years without using any social media associated to my identity, as many others do, and i’ll eat my cooked shirt if I start thinking, “hey sure why not let me into this shitty internet”.
I’ll be fine without using the internet if it comes down to it, at that point it’d be a liability. Dinosaurs think they can control the internet which is a hilarious proposition in the first place.
exacrly this. i have been preparing for this for a decade.
Pixel phone running Calyx, VPN, physical maps, second name, second phone number, leaving most platforms, trying to take my people with me
You don’t even need physical maps, even with google maps you can download them offline. As for everything else, I already do that (replacing calyx with graphene)
I’ll avoid the ID demanding sites. Feels similar to how I never got into iPods because I didn’t like iTunes, mp3 players still happened.
I moved songs to my ipod with winamp.
Winamp kicks the llama’s ass
No it doesn’t. There are whips
I used file explorer.
Much the same theme, I’m glad Calibre exists but I’d prefer to be able to copy files directly to my eReader.
Will make own services and tell f*ck-off to those who will request ID :P
Use waifuAI to upscale my old p0rn collection sleeping deep inside that odly named directory for 20 years and think about the good old time of emule and razorback.
The commercial web that I use that might require ID would be for payment processing etc. My bank knows how old I am. I can and will pay bills directly through my bank instead of using their portal. Or they can explain to me in writing why they don’t want to take my payment. Just about everything else is optional.
Self host even more… Use Gemini even more
Gemini?
A simple Web-like hypertext system without styles and scripts. The protocol can be implemented in two days by a complete idiot (I have my own Gemini viewer, I may not be terribly proud of it, but I like it).
Is this like Gopher?
Yes, but with modern technologies where easily done. TLS, markdown-like markup, MIME, prompts for input.
Interesting, I’ll check it out
You will need a new browser like lagrange
the first few very interesting “capsules” I found are:
gemini://gemini.circumlunar.space/capcom/gemini://midnight.pub/Thank you so much for this. It opened me to a whole new world! <3 I think we need to spread the knowledge about this more.
I’m so glad you’re enjoying it! 😁
Using gemini makes me feel like I’m in the 90’s again just discovering the internet. It’s such a nice feeling using it, its like you’re interacting with people again rather than applications
Impersonate dead celebs (or ones that should be)
Touch Grass maybe
grass.exe not loading
He is probably using Linux, he needs grass.sh
Needs to be root as well :p
Sudo -u root grass.sh --touch
I lived great before the Internet, I’ll live just as great after it’s gone.
Yeah, I’ll be fine without the internet.
Honestly, back off. The more tech literate I get, the less tech I want in my life.
This is exactly how I feel too! As a “cloud engineer” (even the titles are pointless) the last thing I want to do is to have anything to do with tech whatsoever, even if I like my job
If you need your id to access internet: not use it anymore, selfhosting go brrr
If you need your id for all content-sharing websites like social media or microblogging: return back to good ol webrings and static websites. Can’t kill the web on its core principles. No algorithms, pure passion and creativity.
Create a local mesh for the community.
Burn the grass
Go Luddite
Dark web
Any other alternatives to freenet and tor? Every single alternatice counts
TORTORTOR!!!
FREENET TOO!
Save £24 a month more than I do now
<img alt="" src="https://sopuli.xyz/pictrs/image/88122ad8-3bd0-49d6-8770-f54bea16566b.webp">
Tor (with bridges enabled) intensifies