Impractical Privacy

Episode Description: Sudo breaks down the massive security update coming to The Tor Project. We talk Surveillance Pricing—how companies use your battery life, location, and device type to charge you more for the same products. Plus, we look at the spies in your living room: Smart Speakers and Smart TVs. Learn how ACR watches what you watch, and how Amazon Sidewalk shares your connection.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

• The Tor Project: How onion routing works and the new Counter Galois Onion encryption.
• Surveillance Pricing: Why Mac users get charged more.
• ISP Disparities: Internet providers giving worse deals to specific neighborhoods.
• App Defense: Using Web Apps (PWAs) instead of native apps to stop tracking.
• Smart Home Spies: The privacy cost of smart speakers.
• The TV is Watching: ACR and Vizio’s business model.
• Network Defense: Using NextDNS and PiHole to block smart devices from phoning home.
• Law Enforcement: How Ring and smart speakers share data with police.

Featured Quote: "The TV is cheap because the hardware is just the bait. The real product is the data feed coming from your living room." — Sudo

Links and Resources Mentioned:

News and Articles:

• https://cyberpress.org/tor-network-switches-to-galois-onion/#:~:text=The%20Tor%20Project%20has%20announced,Counter%20Galois%20Onion%20(CGO
• https://consumerwatchdog.org/privacy/new-report-details-how-companies-use-surveillance-to-charge-different-prices-for-the-same-item/
• https://themarkup.org/show-your-work/2022/10/19/how-we-uncovered-disparities-in-internet-deals https://digiday.com/future-of-tv/wtf-is-automatic-content-recognition/
• https://www.cnet.com/home/security/amazons-ring-cameras-push-deeper-into-police-and-government-surveillance/

Privacy Tools and Links:

• https://www.torproject.org/

Connect: If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and share!

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• https://impractical-privacy.beehiiv.com/
• Twitter: @The_IP_Podcast
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Episode Description:

Host Sudo exposes the massive tracking economy. We detail how Google and Meta track non-users (Shadow Profiles/Meta Pixel). Dive into Data Brokers (LexisNexis/The Work Number) and how to opt out. Plus, learn defenses: Browser Fingerprinting, Dark Patterns, and privacy-first email like ProtonMail.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

• [2:28] Price of Free: Meta, Google and more
• [4:45] Shadow Profiles: How they track all of us
• [6:41] The Broker Business: Data brokers selling to law enforcement.
• [8:39] The Work Number: Equifax data affecting salary (freeze your data!).
• [12:49] Digital Fingerprint: What Browser Fingerprinting tracks.
• [13:41] Actionable Browsers: Recommendations (Orion, Vanadium, LibreWolf).
• [18:38] Dark Patterns & AI: Manipulative design and Privacy Zuckering.
• [21:53] Email Defense: ProtonMail and Tuta Mail.

Featured Quote:

"If you aren't paying for the service, you are the product." — Sudo's Dad

Links and Resources Mentioned:

• News and Articles:
  • https://employees.theworknumber.com/employee-data-freeze
  • https://optout.lexisnexis.com/
  • https://www.lexisnexis.com/en-us/privacy/for-consumers/opt-out-of-lexisnexis.page?
  • https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/06/hell-no-odni-wants-make-it-easier-government-buy-your-data-without-warrant
  • https://www.europarl.europa.eu/resources/library/media/20180524RES04208/20180524RES04208.pdf
• Privacy Tools and Links
  • https://incogni.com/
  • https://joindeleteme.com/
  • https://proton.me/mail
  • https://tuta.com/

Connect:

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and share it with a friend who cares about their digital privacy.

• patreon.com/cw/SudoBurnToast
• [email protected]
• https://impractical-privacy.beehiiv.com/
• Twitter: @The_IP_Podcast
• Instagram: impracticalprivacypodcast

Episode Description: In this debut episode of Impractical Privacy, host Sudo cuts through the tech jargon to reveal the uncomfortable truth about your daily digital communications. Are your "secure" messages actually private? We dive deep into the reality of Telegram, iMessage, and why Signal’s new "SPQR" encryption sets the gold standard.

Plus, we break down the alarming new legislation in Wisconsin and Michigan where lawmakers are attempting to ban VPNs under the guise of "protecting the children," and we give you immediate, actionable tools—like NextDNS and Pi-hole—to take control of your family’s online safety without government overreach.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

• [01:38] The "Secure" Messaging Myth: Why Telegram and iMessage might be holding the keys to your private chats (and who else can see them).
• [04:05] Signal & The Quantum Future: Breaking down Signal’s new "Sparse Post Quantum Ratchet" (SPQR) and why metadata protection matters more than you think.
• [10:54] The War on VPNs: An analysis of new bills in WI and MI trying to ban VPNs, and why these laws are technically flawed.
• [16:06] Actionable Tools: How to use NextDNS or Pi-hole to block porn, gambling, and invasive trackers at the network level—for free or cheap.

Featured Quotes:

"It doesn't matter how strong their encryption is if it's just not viable because people in your circle aren't using it." — Sudo

"We kill people based on metadata." — Gen. Michael Hayden, former Director of the NSA & CIA

Links & Resources Mentioned:

• News & Articles:
  • EFF: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/11/lawmakers-want-ban-vpns-and-they-have-no-idea-what-theyre-doing
  • Freedom of the Press Foundation: https://freedom.press/digisec/blog/metadata-102/
  • ABC News: https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2014/05/ex-nsa-chief-we-kill-people-based-on-metadata
• Privacy Tools:
  • Signal Messenger: https://signal.org/
  • NextDNS: https://nextdns.io/
  • Pi-Hole: https://pi-hole.net/

Connect & Support: If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and share it with a friend who cares about their digital privacy.

• Support the show on Patreon: patreon.com/cw/SudoBurnToast

Email the Host: [email protected]