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Escaping the technocracy w/ Gabriel Custodiet and UrbanHacker

If you’ve ever wanted to dive deeper into personal privacy and security, there’s no better resource out there than Escape the Technocracy. I chat with the creators on why they started the project, what to expect from it, and where they’re taking it next. More about Gabriel and Urban Gabriel’s guest profile – https://optoutpod.com/guests/gabriel-custodiet/ Urban’s guest profile – https://optoutpod.com/guests/urbanhacker/ More about Escape the Technocracy Website: https://escapethetechnocracy.com/ Newsletter: https://escapethetechnocracy.com/product/watchmans-torch-newsletter/ Twitter: https://x.com/WatchmanPrivacy Supporting Opt Out Donations – https://optoutpod.com/donate Leave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible! Share it with your friends, family, and other communities! Support the show

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Making Bitcoin dev great at Bitcoin++ w/ Nifty Nei

Tired of Bitcoin conferences for suits and TradFi bros? Nifty has been making Bitcoin conferences great again with Bitcoin++ for years now, and she’s joining me on Opt Out to chat all things Bitcoin dev, Bitcoin++, and more. More about Nifty Nifty’s guest profile – https://optoutpod.com/guests/nifty-nei/ More about Bitcoin++ Website: https://btcpp.dev/ Bitcoin++’s Twitter: https://x.com/btcplusplus Supporting Opt Out Donations – https://optoutpod.com/donate Leave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible! Share it with your friends, family, and other communities! Support the show

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The next step for VPNs w/ Carl Dong from Obscura

The VPN paradigm has grown stale, with simple one-party providers being the best available. But what if we could further minimize trust by shift to a two-party hop system? Obscura is doing just that, and we’re sitting down with their founder Carl Dong to learn all about it. More about Carl Carl’s guest profile – https://optoutpod.com/guests/carl-dong/ More about Obscura Website: https://obscura.net/ Obscura’s Twitter: https://x.com/obscuravpn Technical Blog Post on Obscura: https://obscura.net/blog/bootstrapping-trust/ iCloud Private Relay: https://www.apple.com/icloud/docs/iCloud_Private_Relay_Overview_Dec2021.pdf MASQUE at the IETF: https://datatracker.ietf.org/wg/masque/about/ Supporting Opt Out Donations – https://optoutpod.com/donate Leave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible! Share it with your friends, family, and other communities! Support the show

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Can AI be private? w/ Marks from OpenSecret

AI is all the rage, but with it come new privacy questions and concerns. Marks from OpenSecret joins to walk us through how we can have our AI-generated cake and eat it too. More about Marks Marks’ guest profile – https://optoutpod.com/guests/marks/ More about OpenSecret and Maple AI OpenSecret’s website – https://opensecret.cloud How does OpenSecret work? – https://blog.opensecret.cloud/opensecret-technicals/ Maple AI’s website – https://trymaple.ai Supporting Opt Out Donations – https://optoutpod.com/donate Leave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible! Share it with your friends, family, and other communities! Support the show

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Improving SimpleX w/ Evgeny from SimpleX and Daniel Keller from Flux

Two years after our first episode on SimpleX, we’re back with an update on all they’ve been working on, including a new approach to chat relays with Dan from Flux. More about our guests Evgeny’s guest profile – https://optoutpod.com/guests/evgeny-poberezkin/ Dan’s guest profile – https://optoutpod.com/guests/dan-keller/ More about SimpleX Website – https://simplex.chat/ Quantum-resistant encryption blog post – https://simplex.chat/blog/20240314-simplex-chat-v5-6-quantum-resistance-signal-double-ratchet-algorithm.html “Privacy-preserving content moderation” blog post – https://simplex.chat/blog/20250114-simplex-network-large-groups-privacy-preserving-content-moderation.html Network operator monetization plans – https://github.com/simplex-chat/simplex-chat/blob/stable/docs/rfcs/2024-04-26-commercial-model.md Run your own SimpleX SMP server – https://github.com/simplex-chat/simplexmq More about Flux Website – https://runonflux.com Flux’s new AI product – https://ai.runonflux.com/ Supporting Opt Out Donations – https://optoutpod.com/donate Leave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible! Share it with your friends, family, and other communities! Support the show

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An open-source security platform w/ Zach Herbert from Foundation

If you're frustrated by the need for multiple hardware wallets, security keys, two-factor applications, or even phones and looking for an easier way to secure your digital life, Foundation has just what you need. Zach Herbert, co-founder and CEO of Foundation, joins me to talk through their latest product, Passport Prime, and how they're seeking to lower the barrier of entry to proper digital security with a single open-source security platform. More about Zach Zach’s guest profile – https://optoutpod.com/guests/zach-herbert/ More about Foundation Foundation's website -- https://foundation.xyz/ Foundation's X account -- https://twitter.com/FOUNDATIONdvcs/ Supporting Opt Out Donations – https://optoutpod.com/donate Leave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible! Share it with your friends, family, and other communities! Support the show

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How Kagi is fixing search w/ Vlad Prelovac

Ever wondered why your Google search results are so bad? Looking for an alternative that puts your interests first instead of an ad company’s? Today we chat with Vlad Prelovac, founder of Kagi, a new type of search engine that rethinks finding information on the internet from the ground up. More about Vlad Vlad’s guest profile – https://optoutpod.com/guests/vlad-prelovac/ More about Kagi Kagi’s website – https://kagi.com/ Orion, Kagi’s fast, zero-telemetry browser for macOS and iOS – https://browser.kagi.com/ Supporting Opt Out Donations – https://optoutpod.com/donate Leave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible! Share it with your friends, family, and other communities! Support the show

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Bitcoin and Ossification w/ Jameson Lopp

We get to the bottom of what ossification is, why it's harmful to Bitcoin to push for premature ossification, and why we need to improve the building blocks available to developers to enable trustless and useful layers to be built on Bitcoin. More about Jameson: Jameson's guest profile -- https://optoutpod.com/guests/jameson-lopp/ More about ossification: Lopp's recent blog post: https://blog.lopp.net/on-ossification/ Lopp's debate with Jimmy Song on ossification: https://x.com/LuganoPlanB/status/1855321782581924245 Supporting Opt Out: Donations -- https://optoutpod.com/donations Leave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible! Share it with your friends, family, and other communities! Support the show

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Proton Wallet w/ Andy Yen

I sit down with Andy Yen, founder and CEO of Proton, to discuss the release of Proton Wallet, the decision to focus on Bitcoin despite its lack of privacy, why they don't accept Monero, and much more. More about Andy: Andy's guest profile -- https://optoutpod.com/guests/andy-yen/ More about Proton Wallet: Website: https://wallet.proton.me/ Launch blog post: https://proton.me/blog/proton-wallet-launch Bitcoin via email primer: https://proton.me/support/wallet-bitcoin-via-email Supporting Opt Out: Donations -- https://optoutpod.com/donations Leave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible! Share it with your friends, family, and other communities! Support the show

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SimpleX chat and how privacy aligns with the future of computing w/ Evgeny from SimpleX

Heard of SimpleX chat and curious what it's all about? This episode, we're sitting down with Evgeny, the founder of SimpleX Chat to talk about SimpleX, privacy, data sovereignty, and the future of computing. More about Evgeny: Evgeny's guest profile -- https://optoutpod.com/guests/evgeny-poberezkin/ More about SimpleX: Website: https://simplex.chat/ Chat protocol: https://github.com/simplex-chat/simplex-chat/blob/stable/docs/protocol/simplex-chat.md Whitepaper, including threat modeling: https://github.com/simplex-chat/simplexmq/blob/stable/protocol/overview-tjr.md Run your own SimpleX SMP server: https://github.com/simplex-chat/simplexmq Opt Out's Sponsors: Cake Wallet, an easy to use Monero mobile wallet -- https://optoutpod.com/sponsors/#cake-wallet LocalMonero, an excellent and privacy-preserving way to buy and sell Monero -- https://optoutpod.com/sponsors/#localmonero IVPN, an ethical, no-nonsense, non-logging VPN provider -- https://optoutpod.com/sponsors/#ivpn Supporting Opt Out: Donations -- https://optoutpod.com/about/#donations Leave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible! Share it with your friends, family, and other communities! Support the show

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How FediMints could ease onboarding and privacy in Bitcoin w/ Eric Sirion and Matt Odell

This episode, we're sitting down with Eric Sirion and Matt Odell to chat about FediMints, a fascinating and unusual new proposal that seeks to ease onboarding and privacy on Bitcoin with important trade-offs. More about Eric Sirion and Matt Odell: Eric Sirion's guest profile -- https://optoutpod.com/guests/eric-sirion/ Matt Odell's guest profile -- https://optoutpod.com/guests/odell/ More about FediMints: Website -- https://fedimint.org/ Github Organization -- https://github.com/fedimint FediMints Telegram room -- https://t.me/+-AsKtcH4Geo2ZTU0 Citadel Dispatch episode feat. FediMints -- https://citadeldispatch.com/cd45/ Opt Out's Sponsors: Cake Wallet, an easy to use Monero mobile wallet -- https://optoutpod.com/sponsors/#cake-wallet LocalMonero, an excellent and privacy-preserving way to buy and sell Monero -- https://optoutpod.com/sponsors/#localmonero IVPN, an ethical, no-nonsense, non-logging VPN provider -- https://optoutpod.com/sponsors/#ivpn Supporting Opt Out: Donations -- https://optoutpod.com/about/#donations Leave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible! Share it with your friends, family, and other communities! Support the show

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Special: Live YouTube Q&A!

Welcome to the first ever live Q&A on Opt Out! We covered a ton of topics ranging from personal privacy, self-hosting, Bitcoin, Monero, privacy-preserving donations, future plans for the podcast, and much more. Thank you to all those who joined live, and please let me know if you have any questions or want to dive more deeply into any of the topics we touched on here! Mentioned resources: https://sethforprivacy.com/posts/how-monero-uniquely-enables-circular-economies/ https://localmonero.co/knowledge/remote-nodes-privacy https://sethforprivacy.com/posts/proposed-bitcoin-privacy-improvements/ https://sethforprivacy.com/posts/privacy-first-steps/ https://sethforprivacy.com/about/#my-community-resources https://optoutpod.com/episodes/s1e08-sean-obrien/ Opt Out's Sponsors: Cake Wallet, an easy to use Monero mobile wallet -- https://optoutpod.com/sponsors/#cake-wallet LocalMonero, an excellent and privacy-preserving way to buy and sell Monero -- https://optoutpod.com/sponsors/#localmonero IVPN, an ethical, no-nonsense, non-logging VPN provider -- https://optoutpod.com/sponsors/#ivpn Supporting Opt Out: Donations -- https://optoutpod.com/about/#donations Leave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible! Share it with your friends, family, and other communities! Support the show

Private messaging via Session w/ Kee Jefferys

Looking to explore alternatives to Signal and heard of Session, but not sure what sets it apart? This episode, we're sitting down with Kee Jefferys, CTO of Session, to chat about their Session messenger and it's approaches to chat, encryption, and network privacy. More about Kee Jefferys: Kee's guest profile -- https://optoutpod.com/guests/kee-jefferys/ More about Session: Website -- https://getsession.org/ Twitter -- https://twitter.com/session_app Github -- https://github.com/oxen-io Non-profit behind Session -- https://optf.ngo/ Running an OXEN node -- https://docs.oxen.io/using-the-oxen-blockchain/oxen-service-node-guides/full-service-node-setup-guide Opt Out's Sponsors: Cake Wallet, an easy to use Monero mobile wallet -- https://optoutpod.com/sponsors/#cake-wallet LocalMonero, an excellent and privacy-preserving way to buy and sell Monero -- https://optoutpod.com/sponsors/#localmonero IVPN, an ethical, no-nonsense, non-logging VPN provider -- https://optoutpod.com/sponsors/#ivpn Supporting Opt Out: Donations -- https://optoutpod.com/about/#donations Leave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible! Share it with your friends, family, and other communities! Support the show

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Anonymous SIM cards via Silent.Link

Have you been struggling to find ways to get a usable and long-lasting phone number without giving up your ID or privacy? This episode, we're sitting down with Silent.Link to chat about their phone number service via eSIMs. More about Silent.Link: Website -- https://silent.link/ Twitter -- https://twitter.com/silentlink1 Matrix -- matrix://@support:silent.link Email -- support@silent.link Opt Out's Sponsors: Cake Wallet, an easy to use Monero mobile wallet -- https://optoutpod.com/sponsors/#cake-wallet LocalMonero, an excellent and privacy-preserving way to buy and sell Monero -- https://optoutpod.com/sponsors/#localmonero IVPN, an ethical, no-nonsense, non-logging VPN provider -- https://optoutpod.com/sponsors/#ivpn Supporting Opt Out: Donations -- https://optoutpod.com/about/#donations Leave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible! Share it with your friends, family, and other communities! Support the show

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Monerotopia conference special w/ Douglas Tuman

This episode, we're taking a break from the normal structure of Opt Out to focus on a conference I'll be attending and speaking at in April, Monerotopia, and learn more about it from the creator, Douglas Tuman. More about Douglas Tuman: Douglas' guest profile -- https://optoutpod.com/guests/douglas-tuman/ More about Monerotopia: April 7th, 2022 – Miami Beach, FL Website -- https://monerotopia.com/ Buy a ticket ASAP -- https://monerotopia.com/product/majority-ticket/ Supporting Opt Out: Donations -- https://optoutpod.com/about/#donations Leave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible! Share it with your friends, family, and other communities! Support the show

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Self-hosted search via Whoogle w/ Ben Busby

Looking for a privacy-preserving and light-weight search tool that you can self-host? This episode, we’re sitting down with Ben Busby to chat about his project, Whoogle search. More about Ben Busby: Ben’s guest profile – https://optoutpod.com/guests/ben-busby/ More about Whoogle: Github – https://github.com/benbusby/whoogle-search Installing Whoogle – https://github.com/benbusby/whoogle-search#install My Whoogle instance – https://search.sethforprivacy.com/ Opt Out’s Sponsors: Cake Wallet, an easy to use Monero mobile wallet – https://optoutpod.com/sponsors/#cake-wallet LocalMonero, an excellent and privacy-preserving way to buy and sell Monero – https://optoutpod.com/sponsors/#localmonero IVPN, an ethical, no-nonsense, non-logging VPN provider – https://optoutpod.com/sponsors/#ivpn Supporting Opt Out: Donations – https://optoutpod.com/about/#donations Leave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible! Share it with your friends, family, and other communities! Support the show

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Taking back your data via Nextcloud w/ Jos Poortvliet

Looking for a solution to get off of Google or Apple's walled ecosystem and take back control of your data? This episode, we're sitting down with Jos Poortvliet to chat about Nextcloud and the many solutions it has to offer. More about Jos Poortvliet: Jos' guest profile -- https://optoutpod.com/guests/jos-poortvliet/ More about Nextcloud: Site - https://nextcloud.com/ Getting started - https://nextcloud.com/yourdata/ Self-hosting guide - https://nextcloud.com/install/#instructions-server Alternative self-hosting guide - https://diverter.hostyourown.tools/uncle-jims-cloud/ Blog post on Nextcloud encryption - https://nextcloud.com/encryption/ Open job postings at Nextcloud - https://nextcloud.com/jobs/ Opt Out's Sponsors: Cake Wallet, an easy to use Monero mobile wallet -- https://optoutpod.com/sponsors/#cake-wallet LocalMonero, an excellent and privacy-preserving way to buy and sell Monero -- https://optoutpod.com/sponsors/#localmonero IVPN, an ethical, no-nonsense, non-logging VPN provider -- https://optoutpod.com/sponsors/#ivpn Supporting Opt Out: Donations -- https://optoutpod.com/about/#donations Leave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible! Share it with your friends, family, and other communities! Support the show

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Network privacy via i2p w/ idk and Sadie

Have you heard about i2p but aren't sure where it fits into your network privacy toolkit? This episode, we're sitting down with Sadie and IDK from i2p to chat about i2p's approach to privacy, it's use-cases, and how it compares to similar tools like the Tor network. More about idk and Sadie: idk's guest profile -- https://optoutpod.com/guests/idk/ Sadie's guest profile -- https://optoutpod.com/guests/sadie-mascis/ More about i2p: Site -- https://geti2p.net/en/ Source code -- https://i2pgit.org/ Project Twitter -- https://twitter.com/GetI2P Project Mastodon -- https://mastodon.social/@i2p Project Reddit -- https://www.reddit.com/r/i2p/ Opt Out's Sponsors: Cake Wallet, an easy to use Monero mobile wallet -- https://optoutpod.com/sponsors/#cake-wallet LocalMonero, an excellent and privacy-preserving way to buy and sell Monero -- https://optoutpod.com/sponsors/#localmonero IVPN, an ethical, no-nonsense, non-logging VPN provider -- https://optoutpod.com/sponsors/#ivpn Supporting Opt Out: Donations -- https://optoutpod.com/about/#donations Leave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible! Share it with your friends, family, and other communities! Support the show

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Managing passwords via Bitwarden w/ Ryan Luibrand

Looking for the right tool for password management, but wanting something that's open-source and encrypted by default? This episode, we're sitting down with Ryan Luibrand to chat about Bitwarden and their password manager tool. More about Ryan Luibrand: Ryan's guest profile -- https://optoutpod.com/guests/ryan-luibrand/ More about Bitwarden: Website -- https://bitwarden.com/ Roadmap -- https://community.bitwarden.com/t/bitwarden-roadmap/12865 Web3 Blog Mentioned -- https://bitwarden.com/blog/what-the-future-of-web3-means-for-credentials/ Privacy policy -- https://bitwarden.com/privacy/ Pricing -- https://bitwarden.com/pricing/ Opt Out's Sponsors: Cake Wallet, an easy to use Monero mobile wallet -- https://optoutpod.com/sponsors/#cake-wallet LocalMonero, an excellent and privacy-preserving way to buy and sell Monero -- https://optoutpod.com/sponsors/#localmonero IVPN, an ethical, no-nonsense, non-logging VPN provider -- https://optoutpod.com/sponsors/#ivpn Supporting Opt Out: Donations -- https://optoutpod.com/about/#donations Leave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible! Share it with your friends, family, and other communities! Support the show

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Private search via Startpage w/ Kelly Finnerty

Have you been considering a more privacy-preserving search engine but not sure where to start? This episode, we're sitting down with Kelly from Startpage to chat about the Startpage search engine, how it works, it's limitations, and more. More about Kelly Finnerty: Kelly's guest profile -- https://optoutpod.com/guests/kelly-finnerty/ More about Startpage Search: Website -- https://www.startpage.com/ About Startpage -- https://www.startpage.com/en/about-us How does Startpage preserve privacy? -- https://www.startpage.com/en/how-startpage-works/ Privacy, Please! blog -- https://www.startpage.com/privacy-please/ More about the Startpage Privacy Protection extension: Website -- https://add.startpage.com/en/protection For Chrome/Brave -- https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/startpage-privacy-protect/cdkhedhmncjnpabolpjceohohlefegak?hl=en For Firefox -- https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/startpage-privacy-protection/ Opt Out's Sponsors: Cake Wallet, an easy to use Monero mobile wallet -- https://optoutpod.com/sponsors/#cake-wallet LocalMonero, an excellent and privacy-preserving way to buy and sell Monero -- https://optoutpod.com/sponsors/#localmonero IVPN, an ethical, no-nonsense, non-logging VPN provider -- https://optoutpod.com/sponsors/#ivpn Supporting Opt Out: Donations -- https://optoutpod.com/about/#donations Leave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible! Share it with your friends, family, and other communities! Support the show

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