This is network-specific. It’s been going on for a few months at least. yt-dlp itself still works without sign-in, if your network is not “suspicious”.

Always worth making sure you’re updated to the latest version of yt-dlp, but this is probably a network thing.

Yes, I loved classic Trek for showing a better a future, where humans have moved beyond our greed, prejudice, and self-destructive tendencies. That was the through line in TOS and TNG, even if it wasn’t always 100% on-point and didn’t always age well (you need to view TOS in its historical context to get past the baked-in 1960s sexism, for example).

There’s a place for cautionary tales, and there’s a place for aspirational tales.

I liked Discovery well enough for what it was, but I hated its picture of a future where good humans are the exception rather than the rule.

Nowadays, I think solarpunk is where its at.

A paper-only journal would defend against the state, but not against people you live with. A digital journal can be encrypted, but an intelligence agency could potentially gain access

A digital journal doesn’t need to be any more government-accessible than a paper journal.

Depending on your threat model, this could require special hardware, special software, or both. In order of ease of setup, I would suggest:

• Keep all your data on your own physical media. No cloud services, period.

• Keep it encrypted.

• Disable network connectivity at every level that you possibly can, such as:

  • OS level: disabling wi-fi, disable blutooth, and disable networking entirely.

  • Firmware/BIOS level: If you BIOS has options to disable networking components (especially wireless ones), do that.

  • Hardware level: If your laptop has a switch to disable wi-fi, use it. If ethernet, unplug the cable. Etc.

  • Physical level: Remove any removable wireless cards or antennas.

  • Wallet level: buy a computer than never had wi-fi or bluetooth in the first place. This could mean a retro computer, or could mean using a micro-pc like some models of Raspberry Pi.

Neither of those can stream video in real time AFAIK. They will back up the video file on some unpredictable schedule after you’re done recording. So not ideal for a situation where your phone might be seized or destroyed.

But if that works for you, there are lots of open-source options that work similarly. SyncThing can sync to any server, and all you’d need to do is make sure your sync destination is network-accessible somehow (VPN, internet-facing server, whatever). Lots of cloud drive apps can auto-upload photos and videos, and some of those are open-source.

A better off-the-shelf proprietary workflow might be a Zoom call with cloud recording enabled. Then you’d be protected against a sudden (and perhaps permanent) loss of network connectivity.

Buy a dozen and you could fit a good chunk of LibGen.

Almost certainly, yes.

People on Mastodon are not happy about those statements, and called Proton out on it relentlessly with every post Proton made. This is Proton running away with their tail between their legs, back to platforms where they have more control and/or are already full of right-wing nutjobs.

If anyone’s looking for secure email, look at tuta.com instead. The email service is very similar in terms of UX and offers better encryption. They don’t offer the rest of Proton’s suite, but…maybe that’s a good thing? I mean, do you want to get locked into an ecosystem?

Link to Mastodon thread: https://mastodon.social/@protonprivacy/113833073219145503

Tuta.com is similar to Proton Mail + Calendar.

• Location: Germany

• Governance: Private GmbH (German corporation, similar to an American LLC)

• Integrity/trustworthiness/transparency: Better than Proton IMHO. All their apps are open source and available on F-Droid. They encrypt email headers (unlike Proton, who are weaselly about this in their marketing materials).

• User Experience: Ehhhh…6? I’m not in the best position to compare because I do not have a premium plan, so I am not able to examine features like inbox rules/filters. Much like Proton, it doesn’t support full-text email search unless you have it cache your entire mailbox locally (either via the web site or app). They do not support POP or IMAP, but do offer their own desktop and mobile apps.

• Pricing: €3/month for 20GB, €8/month for 500GB. https://tuta.com/pricing

This will likely be rejected for one the same reasons that they decided they would not add any new flag emojis. Flags come and go. Bitcoin hasn’t even been around for 20 years yet, and its future is highly uncertain.

Also, considered as a currency, it would be better as a regular text character, not an emoji. Like $, €, ¥, £, etc.