A future where you own nothing, makes the past glitter gold
@takebackourtech

Anyone see BMW's new release of a 'heated-seat' subnoscriptions?

https://nypost.com/2022/07/12/bmw-owners-outraged-over-18-a-month-charge-to-use-heated-seats/

Rolling out in South Korea, customers must pay an additional $18 a month to unlock heated seats in their car. This is a software based lock, the hardware already exists in the vehicle.

Similar BMW products exist in other parts of the world, allowing subnoscription access to different features.

This is hinting at a rise towards micro-transactions in basic goods and services.

When the future looks this greedy, I will happily maintain my old vehicles as long as I can - where things aren't all electronic, designs were simpler, repairs were easier & cheaper, and the features weren't designed to control how you drive.

Amazon Admits to Giving Ring Videos to Police Without Permission

Amazon has provided footage from Ring video cameras to police without permission from owners or a court warrant at least 11 times this year, the company acknowledged in a letter to Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.).

Brian Huseman, Amazon’s vice president of public policy, said in the letter dated July 1 that Ring complied with those requests from law enforcement after making a “good-faith determination” about risk.

Markey had written to Ring last month asking the company to clarify its relationship with American police and to commit to some policy reforms, including never allowing immigration enforcement to request recordings and committing to not incorporating voice recognition tech into its products.

Huseman declined to commit to any of the requests and disclosed that Ring now lets 2,161 police departments use its Neighbors app, five times more than it did in November 2019. Law enforcement officials can use the app to issue alerts and request videos.

Source: The Hill

Follow:👇
@G3News

An update today keeps the bugs away with F-Droid and Aurora
@abovephone | Knowledge Base | https://abovephone.com

Sometimes apps can change or behave in strange ways without explanation. A simple update could be all you need.

Keeping your apps and F-Droid repositories updated is crucial for security, functionality and getting the latest features for the apps you love.

We’re here to help you stay up to date with the latest and the greatest!

Update all your apps today with one easy guide.

Have you discovered something new that you can’t live without? What’s your must-have app on F-Droid?

Let us know in the #TBOT chat.
Follow the #TBOT channel.
Follow the Above Phone channel for more announcements, updates and knowledge.

Homeland Security Records Show "Shocking" Use of Phone Data, ACLU Says

The Trump administration’s immigration enforcers used mobile location data to track people’s movements on a larger scale than previously known, according to documents that raise new questions about federal agencies’ efforts to get around restrictions on warrantless searches.

The data, harvested from apps on hundreds of millions of phones, allowed the Department of Homeland Security to obtain data on more than 336,000 location data points across North America, the documents show. Those data points may reference only a small portion of the information that CBP has obtained.

These data points came from all over the continent, including in major cities like Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Denver, Toronto and Mexico City. This location data use continued into the Biden administration, as Customs and Border Protection renewed a contract for $20,000 that ended in September 2021.

The American Civil Liberties Union obtained the records from DHS through a lawsuit it filed in 2020. It provided the documents to POLITICO and separately released them to the public on Monday (July 18).

Source: POLITICO

Follow:👇
@G3News

@takebackourtech

They are practicing their surveillance strategies. We've got to get rid of apps that use analytics/advertising services. There is no accountability. Use #FOSS apps. I'm launching a new project soon to help get funds to #FOSS developers.

Smart Thermostats Are Being Remotely Adjusted

https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/fort-worth/article263431963.html

People in Texas are finding that they cannot adjust their smart thermostats due to an ongoing conservation effort by ERCOT. Are you enrolled in one of these programs?

🚨 Twitter Permanently Bans World Council for Health Two Days Before World Ivermectin Day

On Thursday, Twitter permanently suspended the World Council for Health (WCH_org) from the platform without warning or detailed explanation. The suspension comes two days before World Ivermectin Day, an initiative to celebrate the medicine Ivermectin that relies heavily on social media, specifically Twitter.

An email from Twitter indicates that the account was suspended for “violating our rules against abuse and harassment,” going on to note that users “may not engage in the targeted harassment of someone, or incite other people to do so. This includes wishing or hoping that someone experiences physical harm.” The email does not provide any examples of tweets or content that constitute “harassment” or “abuse”.

WCH supporters that are on Twitter’s platform are invited to tweet directly to Twitter (@Twitter) and Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) to demand that this suspension be immediately reversed.

Despite Twitter’s attempt at censorship in the lead-up to World Ivermectin Day, the initiative will not be silenced or slowed. Help to stop Twitter censorship by sharing World Ivermectin Day memes on Twitter using the hashtag #WorldIvermectinDay.

“Let’s work together to get the news out about this safe established medicine that may one day save your life.” - Dr. Tess Lawrie

FULL STATEMENT: worldcouncilforhealth.org/news/news-releases/twitter-bans-world-council-for-health

📌 Follow World Council for Health:
➨ @WCH_org

🗣 Join the discussion:
➨ @worldforhealthchat

The Freedom Cell Network Launch Teaser

Hey everyone, its Ramiro. I'm just wrapping up the final touches on the new site. We're so grateful for your continued support and patience.

I wanted to record a personal message on what The Freedom Cell Network means to me, and how we can find infinite abundance through our community.

The site is now live, ready for you to visit.

https://freedomcells.org

We will have a bigger announcement later today and more updates in the coming weeks.

Much love, can't wait to co-create with you all. ❤️

Introducing The Mexico Freedom Communities Map

Friends,

I hope you had a beautiful weekend (hopefully you watched Chapter 11 of The Pyramid of Power!).

I want to share about my latest initiative, the Mexico Freedom Communities Map!

When I was traveling across Mexico for the Mexico Activation Tour I was able to connect with many, many activists and freedom lovers. Some of these folks are in the process of establishing intentional communities and ecovillages. Some of them already have and are looking for members and investors.

I decided I was going to gather all this info and put together a living, digital map of "Freedom Communities" in Mexico. Broadly speaking, this means communities that don't care about your mask or shot status. Communities that are aiming to build a better world and, in many cases, live outside the system.

The communities vary greatly in location, style, cost, and long term goals, but I believe they will be a great starting point for the many people considering Mexico as their home.

If you want access to the map, sign up at this link.

P.S. - This map is a perfect addition to the free Mexit Webinar hosted by myself and Miriam Gomez.

Brought to you by The Conscious Resistance Network

💪 Power Users #1
Using Your Keyboard To Work Smarter & Faster

Hey peeps,

This is the first entry in our Power Users newsletter series (working noscript), published through email & on Telegram. With every post you will become a better technologist and conquer the challenges in your way!

If you like what you read, be sure to share the Newsletter with others:

https://news.takebackourtech.org/subnoscription/form

Today we'll talk about typing and using your keyboard. Sounds too simple right? One of the things I'm proudest of is my ability to work effectively across many programs and different types of content. Back in my corporate career, I was lucky enough to train under a technologist who could could write and edit code lightning fast. I quickly learned those skills for myself, and now you can too.

How do we start?

1. Avoid using the mouse - learn keyboard shortcuts

Although the mouse is an awesome invention, it doesn't hold a candle to how fast you can move with a keyboard and shortcuts. If I like a piece of software, I will try to learn and practice the keyboard shortcuts that it offers.

Here are some keyboard shortcuts that are standard across web browsers, try using them when you browse the web:

(if you use a Mac, please use Command instead and then kindly replace your operating system with Linux)

CTRL + T: New Tab
CTRL + L: Go to the URL bar
CTRL + TAB: Switch to next tab
CTRL + SHIFT + TAB: Go to previous tab
CTRL + W: Close the current tab
CTRL + F: Find in page (enter to move to next match)

2. The arrow keys are your friends

The second tip makes an immediate difference the next time you are working on a text document. Let's say you are on one page and want to move your cursor several words ahead. You can either click to move your cursor to the correct position, or you could use your arrow keys, which might take a lot of time if you are moving letter by letter. Here are the secret shortcuts:

LEFT/RIGHT + CTRL: You move a word in either direction!
ARROW KEYS + SHIFT: You select the text you are passing over. Perfect for cutting/copying/pasting.
HOME/END: Move to the beginning or end of a line. (what happens when you use CTRL to modify this behavior?)

Watch what happens when you start using these shortcuts instead of a mouse...

3. Learn to type faster through muscle memory, don't look at the keyboard

Yes, that's right - there's no substitute for faster typing. If you have to look at the keyboard to type, then you're about to save a whole lot of time! The best way to build muscle memory is by practicing. Make sure to keep your fingers near the home row.

Here's a great site you can use to practice touch typing: https://www.keybr.com/

Once you get comfortable - you can get even better by racing against others (one of my guilty pleasures): https://play.typeracer.com/

Let me know when you're up to 100WPM+ and we can race ;)

4. Commit to learning the shortcuts

Unfortunately, most of us will let ourselves fall back into our old habits - but if being more productive/efficient at typing is important to you, then I hope you take these tips to heart and integrate them into your day to day. Commit to learning the shortcuts, if you catch yourself cheating, simply get yourself back on track.

Things going on with me:

New Freedom Cells 3.0 Launch
Attending the Extra Ordinary Technology Conference this week
Close to releasing Calendar Service for Above Privacy Suite
New Above Phone Affiliate Program

Support My Work:
Follow @takebackourtech
Follow @abovephone
Get an Above Phone

Yours,
Ramiro Romani

Man Who Started His Own Internet Service Provider Begins To Expand to Hundreds Of Homes 🌐
@takebackourtech | SOURCE

Jared Mauch of Michigan, was originally quoted $50,000 from Comcast to extend their cable network to his home. He decided instead to start his own telephone/internet company, which is now providing service to 70 homes and is expanding to 600 more.

He charges $139 a month for 1,000Mbps and recently won a local county infrastructure bid.

Along the way his company has faced major challenges but pulled through with their ingenuity.

Should I get in touch with him to see how others can start their own internet service providers?

#teslatechconference

This week I'm on site in New Mexico for the Extraordinary Tech Conference. Look what i found!

These are presented as 13,000 year old alien artifacts dug up in Jalisco Mexico. One depicts a pregnant alien astronaut!!

Watching George Wiseman, one of the leading expers on Browns Gas at the ExtraOrdinary Technology Conference!

#TBOT @ The Extraordinary Technology Conference

My dear peeps,

This past week I attended the Extraordinary Tech Conference in Albuquerque New Mexico! A big thanks to Steve Elswick & team who organized the conference and were gracious hosts.

I got to expand my horizons past digital technology and learned about revolutionary technologies that might just save the world, including: development of anti-gravity devices in the 1940s onwards, a new form of mathematics that could completely replace our current system, how Browns gas could be used to turn water into gold, and how GEET engines could turn trash into energy with fresh air as the byproduct.

The part that amazed me was that many of these scientists and investors were pursuing research of their technology with little outside help or investment. The community is tight knit but super welcoming and they are always ready to teach people what they know!

I really believe that many of the technologies at the conference have the potential to completely change how we think about energy, medicine, food, and water. I'm going to be writing detailed posts and releasing a short video about the event, but you can start learning right away:

There's a complete DVD set now on sale for the conference, which is a $100 off until 5PM PST on 8/18/2022. (today) It comes with 25 sessions in the conference and 3 workshops!

Get it here: https://teslatech.info/ttstore/conftapes/teslatech/etcframe.htm

Become a member of Tesla Tech: https://teslatech.info/ttstore/conftapes/teslatech/etcframe.htm

More resources: https://teslatech.info/ttstore/entrance.htm

Upcoming stuff:
- The Extraordinary Tech Conference Recap
- New Above Phone Partnership
- Earthship Biotecture

Support My Work:
- Share the #TBOT newsletter
- Get an Above Phone
- Follow Take Back Our Tech

NEW for TLAV: Resurfaced Documentary Uncovers Accusations of Child Abuse Against Former Mormon President Gordon B. Hinckley

The documentary ‘The True Story of Mormon President Gordon B. Hinckley’ and its accusations against Mormon Church leadership has not been seen by the public in almost 30 years — until now.

https://www.thelastamericanvagabond.com/resurfaced-documentary-uncovers-accusations-of-child-abuse-by-former-mormon-president-gordon-b-hinckley/

#TBOT: Power Users #2
Why XMPP Is Better Than Any Other Messenger

Morning folks,

Today I got the urge to rally more people onto XMPP, so I'm summing up the many reasons why XMPP is the best messenger in terms of privacy, usability, and functionality. I believe it is a crucial tool to maintain free communications with a little more adoption and resources towards its development it could potentially surpass the likes of Telegram, WhatsApp, Google Hangouts and others.

Before we get into it, you might:

- Read the in-depth introduction to XMPP
- Remember Above Privacy Suite offers a paid XMPP service
- Join the #TBOT XMPP Group at tbot@group.chat.above.im (you'll know how to join by reading the article above)

📩 Get this post directly in your inbox

Alright, onto the 9 reasons why:

1. XMPP can be fully anonymous. When registering you only need to pick a username and a password. That's it.

2. Anyone can run an XMPP server, allowing for free & public providers. Take your pick from here: https://list.jabber.at/

3. When you send a direct message to an XMPP contact, there are only two servers that have record of this (yours and theirs, or only one if you share a server). This is unlike other platforms where messages can be replicated to others servers (Matrix), and pass through a centralized key lookup layer (Signal).

4. There are many XMPP clients (or applications) to choose from, both mobile and desktop. For Android we recommend Snikket/Conversations, for Linux we recommend Dino. And yes, there are clients for Windows and macOS!

5. You can send messages, files, voice messages - and make voice and video calls, which can all be encrypted easily using OMEMO encryption. (if your server supports it, which most do). All of these functions work seamlessly and perform well.

6. You can log into multiple devices simultaneously (desktop/mobile) and when both parties accept each others encryption keys, you will have synced up messages that are end to end encrypted. Talk about secure comms!

7. XMPP doesn't require the use of your phone's contacts, you can manage your own address book inside XMPP and pick whatever names you'd like.

8. Transparent and accessible development standards - anyone can propose an extension to the XMPP protocol. If a extension is approved, the developers who work on the clients and servers are not forced to implement it, and you as the server operator are not forced to enable it. In comparison, ask yourself how you might propose a change to the other privacy messengers that are regularly recommended? What would happen if they introduce a bad change to their protocol?

9. Did I mention you can easily bridge your XMPP messages and calls out to the phone network by using JMP.chat? All this without giving any more information, and $2.99 a month that can be paid in Bitcoin?! Its quite a vibe sending out a bunch of text messages from your computer and getting them back on your phone.

Support My Work:
- Signup for our XMPP server and other cool services
- Get an Above Phone
- Follow Take Back Our Tech

PRESS RELEASE: Above Phone Partners with Presearch, A Decentralized Search Engine
Above Phone will now ship with the Presearch App and default Search Engine

August 25th, 2022
United States
phones@above-agency.com

Above Phone (Above Agency) is proud to announce a partnership with Presearch, a decentralized search engine powered by the community! Our phones will now ship with the Presearch Browser, and will have Presearch set as the default search engine.

Above Phone has always shared the vision of a full suite of decentralized internet utilities, such as the communications and privacy services in Above Privacy Suite.

With Presearch, we now have the leading decentralized search engine enabling our users to make private searches across web and mobile. Users can even earn cryptocurrency in the form PRE tokens as they search, make sure to sign up today.

We celebrate Presearch and its long term vision of creating an ecosystem where everyone can help keep information open, relevant, accurate, and free from censorship!

Above Agency has also started running its own Presearch Node. This node acts as a search proxy, receiving anonymized search queries from users and responding with data from a multitude of search sources, helping separate a user from their searches. You can start running yours today and generate the PRE token for the work.

Join the movement:
- Search on Presearch
- Get an Above Phone
- Run your own Presearch Node

We look forward to seeing a day where all people have the ability to choose from a variety of useful & accurate internet utilities that respect the individual right to privacy and open access to information.

More About Presearch

Presearch operates a search engine with more than 4 million registered users, making it one of the largest blockchain projects in the world. Its users conduct over 100 million searches a month.

Why do people use Presearch? There are three main Unique Value Propositions (UVPs):

- User control over data and privacy
- Payment for contributing value to the ecosystem
- Decentralization of the search ecosystem

About Above Agency

Above Agency is a digital agency that builds friendly technology ecosystems for people who value privacy & freedom. We got our start helping activist organizations and movements build robust presences without relying on abusive big tech companies.

The above.phone is a mobile privacy solution that combines five different components

Secure hardware
Open-source operating systems (GrapheneOS, CalyxOS, and DivestOS)
Free & Open Source Applications
Privacy Services

The fifth and final component is user education accompanied by a change in mindset, and real-world practice. These are supported by our migration support calls and knowledge base. We hold migration support calls to help transition customers to the Above Phone from their existing device, with the goal of a complete transition. Our Knowledge Base is open and free to the public to inspire and share what is possible here and now!