Jonah Aragon is creating educational resources for average people to understand the importance of privacy and security on the internet, and take back control over their digital lives.
He is known for his work on the Techlore YouTube channel, including the Techlore Talks podcast he co-hosts, and the Privacy Guides non-profit website.
First, some background: Henry and I discussed this topic on Episode 8 of the Techlore Talks podcast, and if you watch YouTube yourself and haven’t been living under a rock, you probably already know: Early in the morning (Pacific Time), Linus Media Group’s (LMG) three biggest channels were hacked, with the branding changed and livestreams posted promoting cryptocurrency scams. Within a matter of hours, all three channels were completely gone, with links to the channels and any of their videos reporting that the channels had been terminated for YouTube community guideline violations....
LTT got hacked, general chit-chat on what we think went wrong, as well as other discussions regarding general security issues recently, with some Linux security bits. March 24th update: We got a lot right! Read the follow-up post Listen on Substack Listen on YouTube 00:00 LTT Hack 11:38 When Henry Met Linus 14:41 More on YouTube security and LTT 22:31 Jonah’s growing aversion to tech 27:28 Recent security issues (Google Vulnerabilities)...
Today we discuss a lot of topics that were on our mind… Listen on Substack (TBA) Listen on YouTube 00:00 Introduction 00:25 Bluesky, Facebook’s Federated Platform, & others 03:27 Librem 5 Refund, & State of Linux Phones 08:05 Cerebral selling private health data 09:21 A lot on HIPAA… 15:11 Browser profiles, & Jonah’s Arc experience 19:11 South Park Worldwide Privacy Tour episode 21:12 F-Droid getting faster repo updates...
Are there too many open source projects? Or too many of the wrong type? Or is everything a-okay? Today we chat about what feels like the oversaturation of FOSS. Listen on Substack Listen on YouTube
Apple’s newest security & privacy changes, like E2EE for more iCloud services is here! But it’s not all great news. Listen on Substack Listen on YouTube
Despite its occasional abuse, anonymity online is a valuable privilege that cannot be given up nor taken for granted. In Techlore Talks #4, Henry and I discussed freedom of speech, anonymity on the internet, and the content moderation policies of online platforms. Certainly these are hot topics in this day and age, precisely because there are no clear-cut answers. In the episode, Henry posed the idea of a theoretical platform on the internet with strict identity verification, an idea which I feel has some merit: Anonymity online is too often abused in the modern day by malicious actors to spread disinformation and hateful ideas while skirting any potential consequences....
Social media moderation, deplatforming, freedom of speech, internet anonymity, and more! Welcome to Techlore Talks 4: where we unpack privacy & security concepts in free-form discussions! Listen on Substack Listen on YouTube 00:00 Introduction 00:55 Our stances on social media moderation 03:48 Do we have a right to be on social media services? 05:40 Freedom of speech is not freedom from consequences 08:59 How anonymity impacts our behavior on the internet...
macOS Ventura was released this week, and the Apple users among us may be interested in the improvements it brings to your personal privacy and security. We always recommend running the most up-to-date version of your operating system available. Updates add privacy and security improvements all the time—and macOS Ventura is no exception. Some notable new additions to the macOS privacy ecosystem include: Lockdown Mode Rapid Security Responses Passkeys Let’s venture in and see what these updates will mean for you....
At some point, Marco Wollank, the operator of the “PrivacyTools.io” website, published a defamatory blog post entitled: “Jonah Aragon’s (PrivacyGuides) Failed Attempt to Takeover PrivacyTools.io” The allegations presented in that blog post are completely false, and I am considering pursuing legal action. Additionally, I left PrivacyTools in October 2020. The rest of the PrivacyTools team left to join me at Privacy Guides nearly a year later on their own accord. The only reason he blames me specifically is because he is so out of touch that he probably wasn’t even aware of everyone else that had been giving him free website content for years....
How do cognitive dissonance and confirmation bias fit into privacy, security, FOSS, tech, and the world today? You all asked for more free-form, and here it is! Listen on Substack Listen on YouTube