Techlore Talks

DNS quietly reveals everywhere you go online - even on encrypted sites. In this interview, John Todd (CTO at Quad9) provides a DNS masterclass: how DNS works, the privacy implications, how to change your DNS, why Quad9 collects nothing on you, why they are being sued, DNS vs. VPNs, and how a nonprofit can fund itself without compromising privacy.

🔗 SOURCES & LINKS
• Quad9: https://quad9.net

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

• (00:00) - INTRO

Josh Summers spent a decade living in western China before 14 police officers showed up at his door, accused him of espionage, and confiscated every device his family owned. This Techlore Talks interview covers what 17 days of interrogation taught him about digital privacy while traveling, and the practical steps that could make the difference for you.

Stop handing out your real email address. addy.io gives every site an alias that forwards to your normal inbox. Open source, self-hostable, with browser extensions and mobile apps. 🚀 Get started for free: https://addy.io/?utm_source=techlore

🔗 SOURCES & LINKS
• All Things Secured (website): https://www.allthingssecured.com/
• All Things Secured (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/@AllThingsSecured
• All Things Secured (Odysee): https://odysee.com/@AllThingsSecured

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

• (00:00) - INTRO

Flock Safety is one of several companies quietly building a searchable database of everyone's car — no warrant required, and no way to opt out. In this Techlore Talks interview, Bob from DeFlock breaks down how ALPR technology works, what "end-to-end encryption" really means in Flock's case, why this issue is bipartisan, and what you can do about it in your own city.

🔗 SOURCES & LINKS
• DeFlock: https://deflock.org
• No ALPRs Week of Action: https://noalprs.com

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

• (00:00) - INTRO

California created a free service that deletes your personal information from over 600 registered data brokers. Tom Kemp, Executive Director of the California Privacy Protection Agency (Cal Privacy), breaks down how the DROP system actually works, why data brokers face fines of up to $40 million a day for non-compliance, what to do if you live outside California, and more.

🔗 SOURCES & LINKS
• Cal Privacy: https://cppa.ca.gov/
• DROP: https://privacy.ca.gov
• California Safe at Home Program: https://www.sos.ca.gov/registries/safe-home

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

• (00:00) - INTRO

Once you use Strongbox, a community favorite KeePass client, it's hard to use anything else. Alex Logan is the VP of Engineering at Applause, the company behind Strongbox. He dives into why KeePass syncing works differently than cloud-based password managers, how Strongbox's sync tries to close that gap, what the Applause acquisition actually changed, the open source nuance that trips people up, and whether a Windows or Android client is ever coming.

🔗 SOURCES & LINKS
• Strongbox: https://strongboxsafe.com/
• Strongbox Subreddit: https://reddit.com/r/strongbox
• KeePass: https://keepass.info/
• Have I Been Pwned: https://haveibeenpwned.com/

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

• (00:00) - INTRO

Every major global event brings the same scam tactics wearing a new mask. In this interview, David Ruiz, journalist and privacy advocate at Malwarebytes, breaks down how to identify (and avoid) scams, stalkerware vs. nation-state spyware, and what privacy is actually about.

🔗 SOURCES & LINKS
• Malwarebytes: https://malwarebytes.com/
• Coalition Against Stalkerware: https://stopstalkerware.org/
• Citizen Lab: https://citizenlab.ca/
• Electronic Frontier Foundation: https://eff.org/

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

• (00:00) - INTRO

Your bank can freeze your account, block your transfers, and demand explanations for how you spend your own money. Cake Wallet founder & CEO Vik Sharma learned this firsthand when trying to transfer $90 between his accounts. In this interview, he shares this story, along with the history of Cake Wallet, why financial privacy matters, the importance of decentralization, Bitcoin vs. Monero, silent payments, and more.

Thank you to PikaSim for sponsoring this episode! Visit https://pikasim.com/techlore and use code "TECHLORE" for 10% off your anonymous eSIM.

🔗 SOURCES & LINKS
• Cake Wallet: https://cakewallet.com/
• Monero by Cake Wallet: https://monero.com/
• Cupcake: https://cupcakewallet.com/

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

• (00:00) - INTRO

End-to-end encrypted file sharing may sound simple, but for Cryptee, it took five years to ship. In this interview, Henry sits down with John Ozbay, founder and CEO of Cryptee, to talk through why: preventing CSAM, why client-side scanning doesn't work, how Cryptee's solution was designed to raise the barrier to mass spread without compromising encryption, and the broader philosophical question of where developer liability ends and moral responsibility begins.

🔗 SOURCES & LINKS
• Cryptee: https://crypt.ee
• Stop Chat Control: https://stopchatcontrol.eu
• Open Web Advocacy: https://open-web-advocacy.org
• EDRI: https://edri.org

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

• (00:00) - INTRO

Firefox now has a free built-in VPN with 50GB of bandwidth per month. In this interview, Henry sits down with Ajit Varma, Head of Firefox at Mozilla, to break down exactly how it works, what Mozilla can and can't see, the difference between Firefox VPN and Mozilla VPN, and why no other major browser is likely to follow Mozilla's lead on this.

🔗 SOURCES & LINKS
• Firefox VPN: https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/features/vpn/
• Mozilla VPN: https://www.mozilla.org/products/vpn/

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

• (00:00) - INTRO

Most people know DuckDuckGo as a search engine, but they're also creating a full privacy ecosystem covering a browser, VPN, data broker removal, and app tracking protection. In this Techlore Talks interview, Henry sits down with Peter Dolanjski, Director of Product at DuckDuckGo, to cover what Google is actually collecting, why incognito mode doesn't do what most people think, how DuckDuckGo's contextual ads differ from Google's behavioral targeting, and more.

🔗 SOURCES & LINKS
• DuckDuckGo: https://duckduckgo.com
• Duck AI: https://duck.ai
• No-AI DuckDuckGo: https://noai.duckduckgo.com

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

• (00:00) - INTRO