Best of Privacy — August 2025

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    Article
    Avatar of allfrontendAll Frontend·42w

    Dev Tools: The Ultimate All-in-One Toolkit for Developers

    Dev Tools is a privacy-first, all-in-one developer toolkit featuring 21 essential utilities that work entirely client-side. Built with Next.js 15, TypeScript, and modern web technologies, it includes text processing tools, encoding converters, development utilities, and generators. The platform processes all data locally in the browser without backend servers or data collection, making it ideal for privacy-conscious developers who need quick access to common development tasks.

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    Article
    Avatar of hnHacker News·39w

    A German ISP tampered with their DNS - specifically to sabotage my website

    A German developer created a website to expose blocked domains by the CUII (Copyright Clearinghouse for the Internet), a private organization that decides what websites German ISPs should block. After publishing an article about CUII's mistakes, Telefonica (o2's parent company) modified their DNS blocking mechanism, making it harder to detect blocked domains. The timing suggests this was done specifically to sabotage the transparency tool, as Telefonica first tested their own domain on the website, then changed their blocking method two hours later.

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    Article
    Avatar of hnHacker News·40w

    zedless-editor/zed: (WIP) Zed fork focused on privacy and being local-first

    Zedless is a privacy-focused fork of the Zed code editor that removes telemetry, cloud dependencies, and proprietary services. The project prioritizes local-first functionality, allows users to configure their own infrastructure providers, and maintains contributor copyright without requiring CLAs. Currently in development, it aims to provide a self-hosted alternative to cloud-based development tools.

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    Article
    Avatar of omgubomg! ubuntu!·39w

    Zen Browser is What Mozilla Firefox Should Be

    Zen Browser is a Firefox fork that reimagines web browsing with vertical tabs, workspaces, split view, and a floating URL bar. It offers better privacy defaults than Firefox, disables telemetry by default, and includes features like Glance for quick link previews and Compact Mode for distraction-free browsing. Available as beta software on Windows, macOS, and Linux, it can be installed via AppImage or Flatpak.

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    Article
    Avatar of hnHacker News·39w

    Away from Gmail

    A developer shares their experience migrating from Gmail to Mailbox.org for privacy reasons. The post covers the decision-making process between privacy-focused email providers, the technical migration using imapsync tool, and setting up PGP encryption. The author chose Mailbox.org over Proton Mail and Tutanota to maintain compatibility with Apple Mail while gaining better privacy protection for €2.50/month.

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    Article
    Avatar of thedevcraftThe Dev Craft·41w

    Dev Tools: The Ultimate All-in-One Toolkit for Developers

    Dev Tools is a privacy-first, all-in-one developer toolkit featuring 21 essential utilities that work entirely client-side. Built with Next.js 15, TypeScript, and modern web technologies, it includes text processing tools, encoding converters, development utilities, and generators. The platform processes all data locally in the browser without backend servers or data collection, making it ideal for privacy-conscious developers who need quick access to common development tasks.

  7. 7
    Article
    Avatar of dev_worldDev World·42w

    Dev Tools: The Ultimate All-in-One Toolkit for Developers

    Dev Tools is a privacy-first, all-in-one developer toolkit featuring 21 essential utilities that work entirely client-side. Built with Next.js 15, TypeScript, and modern web technologies, it includes text processing tools, encoding converters, development utilities, and generators. The platform processes all data locally in the browser without backend servers or data collection, making it ideal for privacy-conscious developers who need quick access to common development tasks.

  8. 8
    Article
    Avatar of neontechNeon·39w

    Databuddy Is Open-Sourcing Privacy-First Analytics, Built on Neon

    Databuddy launches as an open-source, privacy-first analytics platform that balances simplicity with powerful features. Built on Neon's serverless Postgres, it uses a composable architecture with Next.js frontend, ClickHouse for analytics data, and Drizzle ORM. The founder chose Neon over alternatives like Supabase for its performance, simplicity, and composable approach, finding it faster than self-hosted setups without maintenance overhead.

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    Article
    Avatar of omgubomg! ubuntu!·41w

    Orion Browser for Linux Gets Exciting Progress Update

    Kagi's privacy-focused Orion browser for Linux reaches Milestone 2 with significant progress including working tabs, bookmarks, session persistence, and performance parity with other WebKitGTK browsers like GNOME Web. Built using GTK4/libadwaita and WebKit engine, the browser now supports tab dragging, bookmark organization, browsing history, and WebExtension API. Milestone 3 will focus on advanced tab management and extension installation. Public testing remains limited to paid subscribers initially, with free availability planned once stable.

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    Article
    Avatar of arstechnicaArs Technica·39w

    An inner-speech decoder reveals some mental privacy issues

    Stanford researchers developed a brain-computer interface that can decode inner speech directly from neural signals, bypassing the need for patients to physically attempt speaking. This breakthrough could help severely paralyzed individuals communicate more easily, but raises significant mental privacy concerns since inner monologues contain private thoughts. The team implemented safeguards to protect patient privacy while working with four paralyzed participants who had electrode arrays implanted in their motor cortex.

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    Article
    Avatar of itsfossIt's Foss·39w

    VPNs With "No Logging Policy" You Can Use on Linux

    A curated list of 8 VPN services that claim no-logging policies and work well on Linux systems. The list includes Mullvad VPN (anonymous account creation), Proton VPN (Swiss privacy laws), Internxt VPN (browser extension only), IVPN (multi-hop connections), AirVPN (power user features), Surfshark (unlimited devices), NordVPN (large server network), and ExpressVPN (premium performance). Each service offers different features like WireGuard protocol support, independent security audits, and various privacy-focused capabilities for Linux users.

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    Article
    Avatar of selfhstselfh.st·39w

    Self-Host Weekly (22 August 2025)

    Weekly roundup of self-hosted software updates, new releases, and tools for developers who prefer hosting their own services. Features 60+ software updates including Discourse 3.5, upcoming Nextcloud Hub 25, and various home automation tools. Highlights new projects like authentication gateways, monitoring systems, and privacy-focused applications. Includes project license changes, command line tips, and spotlights Open Archiver for email management.

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