That depends on your definition of private.

A push notification is pretty much just a ping that wakes up the app that is supposed to show you the notification. There usually isnt much data in that ping, so the only thing the Google firebase servers (or whatever other backend solution you use) see is a timestamp and an app. If you then disable Notification historie (default is off bzw on GraphenOS) there is no other data stored anywhere.

That’s metadata that every single chat service has, no matter if its E2EE or not, because that’s the bare minimum they need to transmit anything at all. If that already isn’t private for you then you’d have to stop using the internet or phonecalls entirely and go back to carrier pidgeons.

If I’m not completely wrong that picture is from the uncensored library, a massive project that allows users to search most of Annas archive in Minecraft. Its used to circumvent state censorship and allows for freer access to knowledge.

You also dont own your individual copy, just like with any other installer you merely have the license to use it which can be revoked anytime.

You usually have to copy the game folder, but it varies a bit between games. FYI pretty much any game that’s aviable on GOG is DRM free on steam too.

You can just copy the installer and send it to them, so functionally it works. What you can’t do is transfer the license which means legaly no just as the comment said.

Windows was consuming loads of my download data, fuck knows what for.

Background updates of all the minor services running. I only had 360kbit/s for a while two years ago and windows could take a few hours until it was finished. You usually don’t notice it but I literally couldn’t use the internet until windows decided it was done.

“Nationalize it” is easy to say, but I honestly think even Microsoft would do a better job with steam than the US government would.

Yes. What’s also true is that sometimes they must be. You will disagree until you find the exception.

No, there should never be any reason to connect these versions to the internet.

If you are talking about legacy software in a corporate setting, then a vm should do the trick 99% of the time. If that legacy software needs an internet connection (which is already questionable), then you bridge only the specific port it needs to the connected interface. If that doesn’t work either, then you get a separate PC explicitly for that software and disallow pretty much all other connections.

If you are talking about private use, then the only thing keeping you on a windows version older than 10 is your unwillingness to upgrade. Its understandable, but it doesn’t change the fact that these versions have massive security holes and shouldn’t be used anymore.

If the state of the Scottish energy grid is comparable to mainland Europe, then the prices go up due to increasing cost of infrastructure.

Renewables are a lot cheaper per kWh, but require a substantialy higher up front cost in infrastructure due to their decentralized nature.

Before renewables, the electricity only ever flowed in one direction, from the power plant down to the consumers. A few centralised main powerlines could deliver most of that.

With the increase in renewables that suddenly isn’t true anymore. Smal villages often are net positive, we’ve reached a point where even the medium voltage grid of entire regions is net positiv and the energy has to be transported somewhere else, sometimes even outside the country.

All this requires substantially more powerlines (or at least thicker ones, so still new cables). But more importantly, devices to measure the current load of the grid at all times and modernized equipment that can remotely be operated to respond to variing load.

Not to say that we should stop building renewables. All this infrastructure will be needed eventually eather way, but at least in the short term, investments will be needed regardless.

Asking an existing userbase for any kind of change will pretty much always result in a no.

If the project requires minimal resources and doesn’t have a major downside, then implementing your own version before asking is fine.

They didn’t serve a bunch of ex alcoholics a full bottle of whisky, all they did is make you scroll twice on your mouse wheel.

If you want privacy, then the Tor browser wins, after that is mullvad, then a lot of Firefox forks, then firefox itself, then vanadium, then ungoogled chromium and maybe after that is brave.

Its somewhat decent I’m terms of security features in comparison to all the Firefox derivates, bit that’s simply cause its based on chromium.

Its only real feature is the ease of use which makes it a viable alternativ for non tech savy people that aren’t comfortable with the additional settup that the Firefox forks take to be on the same level.