We are very excited to host the groundbreaking Better Way Conference for a second time. ☺️

Join us in-person or online from June 2nd to June 4th in the historic city of Bath, UK as we unveil A Better Way for Health, Freedom and Sovereignty with 50+ incredible speakers, over 8 panel discussions, and free Covid-19 vaccine injury workshops.

Speakers announced so far include:
● Dr Pierre Kory
● Mattias Desmet
● Dr Vandana Shiva
● James Corbett
● Vera Sharav
● Dr Jessica Rose
● Dr Tina Peers
● Patrick Holford
● Dan Astin-Gregory
● Derrick Broze
● Dr Zoë Harcombe
● Dr Tess Lawrie
● Richard Vobes
● Prof Dolores Cahill
● Dr Mark Trozzi
● Robin Monotti
● Veronika Kyrylenko
● Clive de Carle
● Shabnam Palesa Mohamad
● Dr Paul Marik
● Dr Sarah Myhill
● Dr Shankara Chetty
● Deanna McLeod
● Christof Plothe, DO
● Emma Sron
● Ramiro Romani
● Dr Karina Acevedo-Whitehouse
● Dr Wai Ching Lee
● Rain Trozzi
● Master of Ceremonies Neil Oliver

🎟 Tickets: BetterWayConference.org

Find this video on Twitter, Rumble, YouTube, Facebook, & Bitchute.

Follow BWC:
➡️@BetterWayConference

Follow WCH:
➡️@WCH_org

XMPP Realtime Blocklist Protects XMPP Groups From Spammers, Implemented In Major Server Software
⚡️@takebackourtech | SOURCE

I'm proud to share a recent development in XMPP, the development and adoption of a real-time blocklist.

Problem: Because XMPP allows anyone to create an acct without personal info, certain bad apples can disturb XMPP groups. When these people get banned, they can simply hop to a different XMPP chatroom - since XMPP is completely decentralized the second server will not know a spammer has joined until its too late.

XMPP server owners knew they had a problem, so they formed a working group and built a solution in the form of a real-time block list.

Solution: The XMPP real-time blocklist can be adopted by any server and can sync with a shared blocklist co-managed by other XMPP server operators. Now when a spammer is caught in one group, they're caught in all groups using the RTBL.

My part in this was simply asking the development team of ejabberd (a popular XMPP server software) to implement the module that would make a real-time blocklist possible for anyone using their software. They accepted the request and it got implemented recently. This functionality was already implemented in most major servers and this was the last one - it's a big deal for public groups everywhere.

Today's a good day to try XMPP.

Have you joined #TBOT's XMPP room yet?
- Register for XMPP here
- Join our chatroom: tbot@group.chat.above.im

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Mullvad VPN subject to search warrant, customer data not compromised.
⚡️@takebackourtech | SOURCE

On April 18 at least six police officers from the National Operations Department (NOA) of the Swedish Police visited the Mullvad VPN office in Gothenburg with a search warrant.
They intended to seize computers with customer data.

In line with our policies such customer data did not exist. We argued they had no reason to expect to find what they were looking for and any seizures would therefore be illegal under Swedish law. After demonstrating that this is indeed how our service works and them consulting the prosecutor they left without taking anything and without any customer information.

If they had taken something that would not have given them access to any customer information.

Mullvad has been operating our VPN service for over 14 years. This is the first time our offices have been visited with a search warrant.

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Trezor Bitcoin Wallet Will Be Censoring Bitcoin Addresses From Its New Coinjoin Feature
⚡️@takebackourtech | SOURCE

Trezor Wallet, a popular hardware wallet recently announced a collaboration with WasabiWallet for a CoinJoin Feature (used to mix Bitcoin transactions to make them harder to track).

On Twitter, other users and Samourai Wallet were quick to point out past statements from Trezor showing that the wallet would censor transactions in certain cases, and the prohbited activities using Wasabi Wallet.

This would prevent transactions with controlled substances, ammunitions & firewarms, "ponzi schemes" (that one seems open for interpretation), and explicit sexual content.

What are your thoughts on Bitcoin wallets censoring transactions? Is it okay in any case? How about when Bitcoin is used for illegal activities?

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Using Tech Thoughtfully
⚡️@takebackourtech | SOURCE

I've been feeling pretty amazing the past few days. However, I noticed yesterday that one of my eyes was irritated and dry. A long time spent focusing on a screen means less blinking and leads to the eye getting dry!

So I realized I needed to install SafeEyes again. SafeEyes is the best program to ensure you take breaks, close your eyes, and do 'eye-yoga'.

It's only available for Linux - but there are similar programs for other OSs!

I added my own breaks to make sure I get enough time in between, and take care of the other imbalances that come from a life full of computer work.

Do you feel that taking breaks makes you more productive? What do you like to do in your breaks?

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Chinese Techniques For Encouraging CBDC Adoption
⚡️@takebackourtech | SOURCE

Wondering how CBDCs are going to be rolled out?

We can look to China for clues. Yesterday the Chinese city of Changshu announced that civil servants will be paid in the digital yuan starting May 2023.

Other techniques the Chinese government will use for adoption:
- hospital workers given the option to get digital yuan through self-service terminals
- Chinese city governments gave away 180 million yuan ($26.5M) Yuan during Lunar New Year
- up to 20% discounts from local vendors

Some good news:
- Residents of Hong Kong rejected the digital yuan, only 625 wallets were used (their goal was 50,000)

CBDCs are coming fast! With many parallels to the authoritarian COVID measures (government employees are mandated to use it, bonuses and incentives to comply with measures).

"I fear the Greeks even when bearing gifts" - the Aeneid (about the Trojan Horse)

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FlatHub Redesign Released Out of Beta
⚡️@takebackourtech | SOURCE

Have you used Flathub, an app store for Flatpak format apps on Linux?

Its been a while since I've installed something from Flathub, but I do remember it being convienient for Ubuntu/Debian based machines. Now Flathub has a new redesign.

Check it out: https://flathub.org

Its impressive to see Flathub grown to over 2,000 apps. Now you can see new apps, recently updated, and 'verified' apps so you ensure you're getting an a genuine app from popular developers.

I think they need to add a toggle for 'proprietary' (looking at you Spotify)

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BlendOS Released, use an app from any distribution on one OS
⚡️@takebackourtech | SOURCE

Have you ever had that age old problem of not being able to install a program because its not available for your distro?

BlendOS aims to change that - combining the multiple distributions together under one using

BlendOS 2 "Avial", is now available allowing for installlations directly from Arch repos & Chaotic-AUR. You can even install Android apps thanks to the Waydroid integration.

Its based on Arch linux and supports 2 desktop environments (GNOME/KDE).

This is one OS I'll definitely be playing around with.

And to top it all off, this project is being developed by the 13 year old maintainer of Ubuntu Unity. Amazing.

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Founder of GrapheneOS Daniel Micay hit with a Swatting Attempt
⚡️@takebackourtech | SOURCE

The lead developer of GrapheneOS, Daniel Micay tweeted after being hit with a swatting attempt. Swatting refers to fake/anonymous phone calls to emergency services about a dangerous individual at a specific address.

The victim of a swatting attempt is then in the precarious position of responding to a SWAT raid at their house.

Micay attributes the attack to increasing harassment from CalyxOS, a competing operating system, and the 'privacy' influencer Techlore.

There's an active police investigation into what happened. It was a very serious incident going far beyond online harassment and libel. There was very a clear cut attempt to have me killed by a Calyx supporter who was raiding our chat rooms spamming child porn and harassing me.

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⚡️ Why I'm No Longer Writing Stories with AI
@takebackourtech | SOURCE

The 'Stories by AI' substack head writer had a sudden change of heart the project last week.

But to what end are we harnessing the technology that some of our brightest minds claim is more revolutionary than fire? Cheating on exams. Spamming science fiction literary magazines with so many AI-generated stories that they have to pause submissions. Replacing low-level content creators trying to build skills and experience with cheaper machine-generated content. We’re focusing the power of this new lens on amplifying the rewards flowing to capital holders because, of course we are.

I want technology to be an aid to human creativity, not a necessary crutch. I want to make life better, not shove people aside because they are no longer needed to feed the capitalist greed beast. And by writing stories with AI, I’m strengthening the narrative that human creativity and ingenuity is nothing more than the value of the tokens they generate.

Maybe this was always the case, and the mass hysteria around generative AI systems has made what used to feel fun feel gross instead. Maybe it’s the reaction of the world–that interaction between immense power and the realities of our economic system. Either way, I won’t participate in this project any longer, though don’t begrudge others if they would like to.

I’ll continue writing original fiction, whether or not AI systems continue to progress to the point where human writers can no longer compete. I love creating new worlds, inhabiting other minds, solving plot problems and surprising myself with the places I go. Because creating art is inherently pleasurable and something that enriches my life whether or not it leads to recognition or worldly success, it is something that we should never devalue.

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What is OpenStreetMap?
⚡️@takebackourtech | SOURCE

Working on a very important video this week on mapping - and of course we will be covering OpenStreetMaps.

If you aren't using it yet for personal navigation, you should try it - you would be surprised at the Points-Of-Interests it can pickup, thanks to the million+ contributors.

https://www.openstreetmap.org/

OpenStreetMap is a free, editable map of the whole world made by people like you. It was started in 2004 in the UK, out of frustration with the lack of availability of good map data that was free to use.

OpenStreetMap includes data about roads, buildings, addresses, shops and businesses, points of interest, railways, trails, transit, land use and natural features, and much more.

The map is created and maintained by nearly 5 million registered users and more than 1 million map contributors in every country in the world, using free tools and software. The data is used by local people, volunteer groups, companies, governments, software developers and more.

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⚡️ Google Co-Founder Larry Page Hiding From Jeffrey Epstein Investigation Somewhere On His Private Islands
@takebackourtech

^^ A perfect example of how tech executives have their privacy protected while their companies happily hand over everyone elses data in subpoena's and warrants.

This excerpt is particularly interesting:

'The Government made good-faith attempts to obtain an address for Larry Page, including hiring an investigative firm to search public records databases for possible addresses,' read the filing.

'Our process server attempted service at the addresses identified by our investigative firm, but discovered the addresses were not valid for Mr. Page.'

'In these circumstances, the Court should in the interest of securing just and expeditious resolution authorize the Government to provide alternative service by serving Mr. Page by service upon Alphabet Inc.'s registered agent.'