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Land of Sight and Crowns

@swarthydamsel / swarthydamsel.tumblr.com

18+ | PSN: NickyKitten | Twitch: swarthyDamsel | Message me for Skype
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lupismaris
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eleni-anz

Ummm byee

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snumblesaurus

So I kind of hate that Putin is trying to restrict the flow of information into Russia so that he can control the narrative, so for my Russian friends, here is my guide on

How to get around internet censorship and maintain internet privacy

This will be an extremely long post 😅

Priorities

  • Download the Tor Browser
  • This will hopefully help you access the internet regardless of Russian government bans. It’s a little slow, but better than nothing. It hides your IP address from the internet, so it’s kind of like using a VPN. A very basic summary of how Tor works: your internet traffic is routed through several “nodes”. The Entry Node, can see your IP address but has no idea what data you’re sending, and this goes through several middle nodes, until it reaches the Exit Node. The Exit Node can see what data you’re sending, but it can’t see your IP address so it doesn’t know WHO sent it. That’s why it’s a good idea to do nothing identifying when using the Tor Browser, like writing personal information. Here’s a blog post with more detailed information about the Tor Browser.
  • Get a VPN
  • VPNs are often used to get around government internet restrictions. Russia will probably not be able to do much about it. However, not all VPNs are created equal. Nearly all of the free VPNs are a scam that turn around and sell your data, so free VPNs are not secure. The only exception to this is ProtonVPN which has a free tier, but it’s very slow. Basically the only good VPN is one you pay for. When choosing a VPN, be aware of where the company is based, because if a VPN company is based in the USA, it will have to comply USA privacy laws. So choose a VPN based in a country that has good privacy laws. A great one is Mullvad VPN, which is based in Sweden. But for the purposes of Russia, just making sure your VPN is not Russian or in a country sympathetic to Russia is probably good enough.

Alternative Front-Ends A frontend is the the part of a website which the user interacts with directly. To browse the contents of websites, you usually have to visit them. However, many people have made alternative privacy-respecting frontends to popular websites that allow you to see the site’s content without actually visiting the website. This helps avoid tracking, data-collection, and even countries’ attempts to ban websites. Twitter is banned in Russia right now, but using all an alternative frontend to Twitter works (according to my Russian friend).

Google Translate

Imgur

Instagram

Medium

Reddit

TikTok

Twitter

Wikipedia

YouTube

YouTube Music

If anyone knows of one of these for Tumblr please let me know. I found this site called Tumgir but it looks sketchy and unlike the rest of the ones I listed, it’s not open-source. So visit with caution, but I’m mentioning it because it might be better than nothing.

There are also these browser extensions that automatically redirect site links to the available alternatives:

Mozilla Firefox

  • LibRedirect - Redirects YouTube, YT Music, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Imgur, Reddit, Wikipedia, Medium, etc.

Google Chrome

  • Privacy Redirect - Redirects Google Maps, Google Search, Instagram, Reddit, Twitter, Youtube.

iPhone (iOS 15+) Safari

  • Privacy Redirect - Twitter, Reddit, YouTube, Instagram, Google Translate, Google maps, Google Search, Medium

Android

  • UntrackMe - Google Maps, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube

Messaging / Communication

Matrix is a federated and decentralized End-to-End Encrypted (E2EE) messaging with many platforms, the most popular of which is Element. It’s like Discord, but worse. It’s getting better over time though! You can even use a a throwaway email to sign-up.

If you’re Russian you likely already know about Telegram, but MAKE SURE you’re aware that only Secret Chats are End-to-End Encrypted. So don’t say anything that would get you in trouble outside of a Secret Chat.

End Notes

China is way better at internet censorship. They’ve had years to build the infrastructure to control the flow of information online. And yet, the Chinese people still manage to “climb the wall” and find ways around this. Russia is new to this game and doesn’t have the resources China does. So I really doubt it’ll be that hard to get around their attempts to block websites. Have faith! And feel free to DM me for more info cause this post just scratches the surface for things you can do tbh.

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woo-sustainability
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bourneblack

Another point for why it’s important to own your own copies of music and media, and not use streaming services, is because the copy you own can’t be taken back.

(This is also a good time to remind people that yout*be to mp3 converters still exist).

please don’t tell me you guys are ripping songs one at a time for the quality and getting mp3 -_- here’s what you should actually do:

1. sign up for a free deezer account 2. download python if you don’t already have it 3. download deemix-pyweb for your os (r/deemix will have the link if this one breaks) 4. extract the zip, click on deemix-pyweb.exe, login in w/ your deezer arl in settings (it’ll tell you how, it’s very easy)

ta-da! now you can download multiple songs, albums, playlists, and entire artist catalogs at the same time! in mp3 or flac quality! all organized w/ album covers & info & everything else!

also, you can convert any spotify playlists you have to deezer ones using soundiiz, or thru deemix itself. enjoy! 🎵

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anshiel
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caffeine-induced-comatose

Dear Ukrainians!

I heard on social media that there is fake news being spread (most likely by Russia backed trolls) that polish border is closed.

ITS A LIE

If you seek asylum - go towards polish border. They are ready for your arrival. They have reception points ready at the border where you can find shelter, food, medical and legal aid. YOU ONLY NEED A PASSPORT!!!! VISAS ARE BEING SUSPENDED IN THE TIME BEING

The Polish government launched a site that tells you how you can enter:

In Ukrainian

Image
Допомога громадянам України - Urząd do Spraw Cudzoziemców - Portal Gov.pl
ІНФОРМАЦІЯ ДЛЯ ГРОМАДЯН УКРАЇНИ
Urząd do Spraw Cudzoziemców

In English:

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Help for Ukrainian citizens - Urząd do Spraw Cudzoziemców - Portal Gov.pl
INFORMATION FOR UKRAINIAN NATIONALS
Urząd do Spraw Cudzoziemców

I am NOT the original poster of this information and I don’t know if anyone on tumblr has posted it yet but I don’t want to take any chances.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REBLOG!!!! I DONT CARE IF DOESNT FIT YOUR BLOG THEME OR WHATEVER THIS INFORMATION CAN SAVE SO MANY INNOCENT LIVES

ONE MORE THING, IF YOU CAN TRANSLATE THIS POST INTO DIFFERENT LANGUAGES PLEASE DO SO TO SPREAD THE WORD EVEN MORE

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euroblog

And if you have pets you can take them with you, they will be accepted! If you have them microchipped and vaxed against rabies (dogs, cats, ferrets), they'll be accepted without the need to have the anti-rabies antibody titers. Rabbits, rodents, reptiles and birds will be accepted without a licence from the Chief Vet Office

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