Windscribe

The best, the fastest, the smartest and the most humble VPN service on this side of a flat disk you call Earth.

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@NatGeo

[Windscribe @Windscribe]

@ThatBirdFrom Yes that's the joke, i slapped the onion's logo and handle on a real tweet and news story so ridiculous that it may as well have been a made up onion post

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Can YOU spot the difference?

[Polymarket @Polymarket]

BREAKING: It’s been revealed that the man accused of plotting an ISIS-inspired mass shooting was a moderator of the r/doordash subreddit, going by the username “u/i_love_femboys6969”

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@NTFabiano they’re doing this to me at work tomorrow

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@Nyxint

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@thebluepurples Reddit mods will never beat the allegations 😭

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You don't hate Flock enough.

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@tikDemonne @Meta And that business model is just: Being Shitty

[Windscribe @Windscribe]

Don't forget they'll happily take money from malware groups to serve ads AT THE TOP OF SEARCH RESULTS that mimic popular websites, but trick you into downloading malware instead.
At least you could avoid those by looking at the URL. Guess we can't even have that anymore.

[International Cyber Digest @IntCyberDigest]

‼️ Google Search is now hiding where its results lead. Links point to google[.]com/goto?, followed by an opaque string only Google can resolve.

You can no longer inspect a destination before clicking it, or copy the address out of the page.

Every click now travels through Google first.

[Windscribe @Windscribe]

@Recob86 https://t.co/rjHFNong3J

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@ArmaneSabeq So you want a privacy company to monitor your browsing habits, and send stuff to 3rd party APIs? That sure sounds like the opposite of privacy.

[Windscribe @Windscribe]

@ArmaneSabeq So you want a privacy company to monitor your browsing habits, and send stuff to 3rd party APIs? That sure sounds like the opposite of privacy.

[Windscribe @Windscribe]

@90sManiax ngl, theme song is now playing intensely in my head

[Windscribe @Windscribe]

Good info below about blocking your TV from collecting and sending your info off to their home servers. Allow us to add a bit more.

The best solution is not connecting your TV to the internet at all. Airgap it.
Until TVs get pre-installed SIM cards (like cars), YOU still get to control if it connects to the internet or not.

Then for streaming, get a dedicated streaming device:

• Apple TV 4K - Best option for privacy. Not ad-funded, no auto content recognition for what's on screen, Apple's existing App Tracking Transparency applies on tvOS. Disable Apple telemetry and analytics. Not perfect but beats out everything else.

• Nvidia Shield - Bit dated but still holds up. Runs Android TV. No ACR, has sideloading for things like SmartTube. Make a dedicated Google account for it. Toggle off as much analytics and telemetry as you can. Worse than Apple's privacy, but far better than custom-built TV firmware from LG or Samsung.

Ditch anything else. It's as bad as the TVs. Roku, Fire TV, Google TV/Onn - All these are sold to you for pennies, because you are the product. Their profit comes from selling your data.

I'll also mention that the ultimate best solution is self-hosting everything. But this requires your own hardware, technical skill, upkeep, maintenance, etc. Best for privacy, but an order of magnitude more work.

People have mentioned Pi-hole, so I'll throw in our privacy-focused DNS service @ControlDNS with free resolvers. It can act as a Pi-hole for your network and devices without the hassle and upkeep.

[IT Guy @T3chFalcon]

Here's the SOLUTION.

First of the comments were right. pi-hole alone isn't enough in 2026. here's the complete picture.

What pi-hole does:

blocks DNS requests at the network level. every device on your network uses it as the resolver. LG tries to call home. pi-hole sees the domain. blocks it. done.

What smart TVs do to get around it:

LG and Samsung panels hardcode DNS servers into their firmware. 8.8.8.8. 1.1.1.1. they ignore what your router tells them to use.

Packet captures confirm Samsung and LG panels open TLS connections to 8.8.8.8:443 within 11 seconds of cold boot. pi-hole never sees those requests. they go straight out.

they also use:
— DoT (DNS over TLS) on port 853 — encrypted DNS that bypasses your resolver

— DoH (DNS over HTTPS) on port 443 — encrypted DNS disguised as normal web traffic

The complete solution would be in layers:
Layer 1: pi-hole or AdGuard Home on any spare device. a Pi Zero 2W is enough for a household. a mini PC or spare laptop works fine. pull the image, point your router's DHCP DNS to its IP.

Layer 2: firewall rule to redirect all port 53 traffic back to pi-hole regardless of what the TV tries to use. this catches hardcoded DNS that ignores DHCP. any router running OPNsense or pfSense can do this. some mid-range consumer routers can too.

Layer 3: block DoT. deny all outbound TCP/UDP on port 853. DoT always uses 853. blocking it forces devices to fail over to plain DNS which pi-hole catches.

Layer 4: block known DoH bootstrap IPs. you cannot block port 443 entirely (that breaks streaming). instead, build an alias list of known public DoH resolvers — 8.8.8.8, 1.1.1.1, 9.9.9.9 — and deny TCP 443 specifically to those IPs from your TV subnet.

Layer 5: VLAN your TV onto its own network segment. it cannot reach your laptops, phones, or NAS. the TV is isolated. whatever it does stays in its lane.

On Quad9:

Quad9 (9.9.9.9) is a legitimate privacy-respecting DNS resolver. it blocks known malicious domains and doesn't log IPs. it's a good upstream choice for pi-hole itself. but it doesn't solve the problem of TVs bypassing your local resolver entirely. it's where you point pi-hole's upstream, not a replacement for the whole stack.

Even with all five layers, ACR (what's on your screen) can still upload fingerprints directly over HTTPS to non-DNS endpoints. pi-hole blocks domains. it cannot inspect encrypted HTTPS payloads.

the full solution is: disable ACR in settings first. then add the network layers on top.

DNS filtering removes a large share of tracking. not all of it. anyone who says all of it hasn't put a firewall in front of their claims.

[Windscribe @Windscribe]

216,000,000 LG TVs listening through the mics, transcribing and storing what you say, scanning everything you watch. And then sending it all off to some server to sell to advertisers.

That's nice. 🙂

[International Cyber Digest @IntCyberDigest]

‼️ BREAKING: Your LG TV is eavesdropping on you. It transcribes what you say, copies what is on your screen, and scans every device on your network, and researchers say the collection keeps running after you disconnect it, uploading the moment it reconnects.

LG's ad-tech arm says it out loud: "We own the glass." It pitches marketers on the ability to "own the living room," using data harvested from the TV you paid thousands for.

Gamers Nexus, working with Level1Techs and independent researchers, compromised an LG G5 and turned it into a listening device: it recorded room audio while the screen appeared off and the Ethernet cable was unplugged, then exfiltrated the file once the TV was back online.

LG has publicly said its TVs "do not collect, record, or store ambient conversations." Gamers Nexus found the TV converts speech to plain text and stores it in on-device logs, and that the mic window stays open 10 to 15 seconds after talking stops, sweeping up bystanders who never addressed the TV.

These sets are everywhere: hospitals, waiting rooms, boardrooms, hotels. ACR keeps running even when the TV is a dumb HDMI monitor, and a compromised set can pull the audio of a call off that HDMI feed. A surgeon asked Gamers Nexus where that leaves patient confidentiality.

Researchers advise disconnecting LG TVs from any network.

[Windscribe @Windscribe]

@Justin_Lurking @mullvadnet

[Windscribe @Windscribe]

Today is Labour Day in Canada!

I'm not sure what that is but we'd like to thank all the women of the world who go into labor every day for granting us this long weekend!

Thank you from Windscribe! ♥️

[Windscribe @Windscribe]

DO NOT GIVE DISCORD YOUR ID.
DO NOT GIVE DISCORD YOUR ID.
DO NOT GIVE DISCORD YOUR ID.
DO NOT GIVE DISCORD YOUR ID.
DO NOT GIVE DISCORD YOUR ID.
DO NOT GIVE DISCORD YOUR ID.
DO NOT GIVE DISCORD YOUR ID.

[Wumpus Central @WumpusCentral]

Discord is going to reintroduce Global Age Verification, which restricts teen accounts.

Teens will face several limitations:
- Blocked access to NSFW channels and servers
- Sensitive media automatically blurred in chats and direct messages
- Mandatory message requests for incoming texts
- Restricted speaking access in Stage Channels

To lift these restrictions, unverified adults can confirm their age via one of the following options:

- Credit Card checks via k-ID x Stripe
- Official ID through k-ID
- Selfie
- Google Wallet

[Windscribe @Windscribe]

For sure! I'm not against AAA, I'm against the modern version of most AAA studios. 1 guy isn't going to make you GTA 6, no one is arguing that.
The issue is that the incentives are so skewed towards profit these days. Look back 20 years and you'll see a clear balance between making a quality fun game which leads to profit, versus now where it's maximum profit with a bare minimum product, if that.
Part of the reason for such crazy hardware requirements now is because, unlike before, there is barely any hardware optimization done to the games. Because that costs money to do. Which eats into profits.

[Windscribe @Windscribe]

Some of the most popular games in recent times have been made by 1 person and no budget. Balatro, Schedule 1, Lethal Company, etc.

Indie is thriving because the games are fun.
AAA is failing because the studios are run by greedy execs, not passionate gamers making good games.

[Pirat_Nation 🔴 @Pirat_Nation]

Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, says the video game industry is going through its worst crash since the 1980s, with experts now calling the situation “Crash 2.0.”

Speaking to Edge, Sweeney pointed to two major problems: the huge cost of making AAA games and the growing demand for hardware from AI companies and data centers.

“It’s an unexpected, severe disruption.”

Sweeney says AI companies and data centers are competing with the entertainment industry for the same components

“So we’re getting the short end of the stick, and the prices of RAM and storage are quadrupling, and not necessarily stopping there.”

He expects the shortage of gaming-related hardware to continue for the next three years

[Windscribe @Windscribe]

@Civicspace_Ug @Patriot001_Str @proton You have that backwards. Proton requires an email, we don't.