Happy winter and merry festivities!

Last year I made a post outlining many gift ideas for privacy enthusiasts. I’m back this year with an updated list. Privacy enthusiasts, by nature, are sometimes difficult to buy gifts for. This list is here to make it easier for you to come up with ideas, even if you don’t directly gift what’s on the list. I’ve decided to make a rule this year: only physical items. You can’t put a subscription under the tree.

3D printers

3D printers can turn plastic into any shape you want. While a lot of 3D printers include proprietary privacy-invasive software, there are open-source options such as RepRap. The privacy benefit of these comes in the form of homemade firearms. Traditional firearms include many elements to trace the ammunition back to the firearm, but homemade firearms (such as ones made using a 3D printer) exclude these. The reliability of the firearm depends on the quality of the 3D printer, but the designs are getting easier and easier to make.

Accessories

Especially for phones, there are a few of privacy accessories that are simple but effective.

Anonymous dress

Anonymous dress is clothing that conceals your identity in public. Obtaining these items of clothing is a chore, so it’s always easiest when it is gifted by somebody else. Black, unthemed clothing does the best job of protecting privacy. The holy grail of anonymous dress is:

  • A balaclava to hide your face.
  • A baseball cap to further hide your face, although a sun hat does a better job.
  • A hooded down jacket to hide body shape and skin color. There are significantly long down jackets that extend below the knees that can somewhat conceal your gait too. Last year I included jackets that spoof AI recognition or blind infrared cameras, but those are very difficult to find and can be very identifying.
  • Elevator shoes to conceal your height.
  • Sunglasses to hide your eyes. Reflectacles do the best job of this.
  • Touchscreen gloves to prevent fingerprints and still be able to use touchscreens. Normal gloves work when paired with a capacitive stylus.
  • An umbrella to hide your clothing from surveillance cameras.

Ciphers

Not all encryption is digital. Traditionally, complex codes and ciphers were created to conceal messages. Hardware devices like the enigma machine were used to further aide the process. Modern versions of those devices, as well as related items such as invisible ink are still around and can be a fun project.

Computers

Laptops, desktops, and servers are all useful devices for accessing digital services privately. While there is no best choice, some lists can help shine some light on which hardware is considered secure:

Concealment devices

Concealment devices are things that look like ordinary objects, but in some way or another, have a hidden compartment used for storage. These are excellent ways to hide sensitive items such as cash, backup security tokens, and more. These are excellent gifts if you’re giving one-on-one rather than at a party.

Cryptocurrency wallets

Cryptocurrency wallets are devices used to securely store (the keys for) cryptocurrency such as the private cryptocurrency Monero. The two best options are:

Dumb tech

Dumb tech is the opposite of smart tech. It doesn’t connect to every device in your house. It doesn’t broadcast that data to a corporation. It doesn’t get exposed in a data breach. It doesn’t get hacked. It doesn’t go down when the internet goes offline. Things like dumb TVs or dumb cars are becoming harder to find but more and more valuable for privacy.

Mail

Mail is almost always sensitive. For that reason, it’s useful to protect the contents by using security envelopes. For delivering packages privately, it’s also useful to have a label printer capable of printing shipping labels.

Money

Banks and payment service providers are almost always incredibly privacy invasive and offer poor security. While some of these issues can be mitigated with services like Privacy, it doesn’t fix the underlying issue. Anonymous payments not only protect your privacy, but protect your money too, and having the ability to make payments like these is what allows privacy to further grow. Anonymous payment methods include:

  • Cash
  • Gift cards (when purchased with cash and adequate anonymous dress)
  • Monero (which is physical when paired with a cryptocurrency wallet)
  • Stored-value card (when purchased with cash and adequate anonymous dress)

Optical discs

Optical discs are a physical way to store movies, shows, music, games, and more. The idea is that, instead of paying a subscription and streaming content, you can pay a one-time fee and get the full quality media offline. This is also excellent for ripping to create a digital archive to stream from your own servers for free.

Paper

Your most sensitive information is put at risk the moment it becomes digitized, so pen and paper isn’t so bad for some uses:

  • Earlier this year, Amazon removed the option to download and transfer ebooks. It’s becoming increasingly harder to “own” an ebook, especially without using privacy-invasive software. For that reason, books are much better for privacy.
  • Calendar apps are convenient for reminders, but they often sync to cloud services or include telemetry. Physical calendars are a good way to have peace of mind knowing that your personal events are away from prying eyes and can be erased without a trace.
  • Notebooks are also useful for the same reasons as books. There are also numerous benefits to writing things down instead of typing them.

Paper shredders

Paper shredders destroy sensitive documents to prevent obtaining sensitive information by digging through landfills. However, shredded documents can be recovered using automated software. The paper shredder industry hasn’t discovered fire yet, it seems.

Power cables

Most cables carry both power and data. However, that can be exploited by cleverly designing fake power stations that discreetly steal data when plugged into devices. Some cables only deliver power, without delivering data. These are incredibly useful for protecting vulnerable devices in public settings.

Printers

Printers suck. So much so that not even Framework wanted to make one. Nevertheless, a new printer called Open Printer is in the works. Until it’s finished, the best option is to gift a printer that allows printing over a wired connection.

Promotional merchandise

There is no shortage of promotional merchandise for privacy. Some of my favorites include:

I also recently found products like this that serve a functional benefit of telling people you don’t want to be recorded without explicitly talking to them.

Rayhunter

Rayhunter is a device created by the Electronic Frontier Foundation to detect Stingray attacks. It can be installed on supported devices, which are great gifts for high threat model people.

Safes

Safes are a secure box to store sensitive items. I shouldn’t need to explain why this is a good idea.

Security seals

Security seals are a special type of sticker that makes it very clear if the seal has ever been broken. This is useful to place on the case of computers or other containers that shouldn’t be opened often.

Security tokens

Security tokens are hardware devices used to authenticate accounts at a hardware level. When setup correctly, they are one of the most secure way to login. The most popular open source options are:

Smartphones

GrapheneOS is the most private and secure operating system available. They recently announced that they are partnering with an OEM to manufacture devices designed for GrapheneOS. However, until that device is made available, Google Pixels are still the only device GrapheneOS can be installed on.

USB flash drives

USB flash drives are the unsung heroes for so many areas of privacy. Whether it be installing operating systems such as Qubes OS and Tails, or creating offline Seedvault backups for GrapheneOS, USB flash drives have a multitude of uses. Just remember: it’s better to have many, smaller USB flash drives than one, large USB flash drive.

Wi-Fi hotspots

Wi-Fi hotspots are (for privacy use-cases) hardware devices that allow connecting devices to the cellular network in a much more private way. The best one that supports an excellent privacy organization is the Calyx Internet Membership.

Wired headphones

Wired headphones not only provide higher quality audio output, but they also avoid the history of security issues with Bluetooth and the surveillance capitalism that comes with Bluetooth Low Energy beacons. Which type of wired headphones you gift depends on a lot of factors, but one that pairs nicely with Google Pixels are the Pixel USB-C earbuds sold by Google themselves.

Wireless routers

Wireless routers often leak everything sent through them. For that reason, custom software such as OpenWrt was designed to replace the privacy invasive software preinstalled on routers. OpenWrt also created their own router called the OpenWrt One. Earlier this year, they announced that they would be creating a new router called the OpenWrt Two. It hasn’t come out yet, but maybe it will be on the list next year.

Conclusion

There is no shortage of privacy tech. The same technology that empowers privacy is the thin veil slowing down the world from its dystopian target. Giving the gift of privacy means giving the gift of a better future for those of us fighting on the front lines.

Lack-of-AI notice

I’ve been burned before, so I always try to mention that none of my content is AI generated. It isn’t even AI assisted. Just because something is comprehensive and well-structured does not make it AI generated. Every word I write is my own. Thank you for your understanding.

  • Libb@piefed.socialEnglish
    5·
    13 hours ago

    I came here to mention pen and paper which is what I use for privacy reason… A bit like I moved back to print from ebooks (full privacy and full ownership of the books I purchase).

    Since you already mention paper, allow me to suggest another gift idea that relates to it: a nice fountain pen and/or a nice mechanical pencil.

    Why a pencil or a fountain pen and not a ballpoint? Pencil (mechanical or not) and fountain pens are the exact opposite of the ballpoint pen: unlike the ballpoint pen they require no force to be used. Meaning you don’t need to hold them firmly (no death grip) and the hand barely needs to guide them while the tip of the lead (or the nib) gently slides on the sheet of paper. Which means there is a lot less fatigue and you will have the ability to write for a lot longer and, maybe, to write nicer thx to having a prettier handwriting (no guarantee about that last part: my handwriting is and always was atrocious ;)

    A few considerations regarding fountain pens:

    • Fountain pen can (will) be messy. They regularly need to be filled with ink (aka, staining fingers) and only using ink made for fountain pens (don’t use India ink in a fountain pen, ever). They can also be very fragile (not all of them, but they’re all more fragile than a ballpoint pen if only because of the nib)
    • Most people think fountain pens are expensive/overpriced collectibles, that are way too expensive to carry around everyday… and they’re not entirely wrong. Too many fountain pens are just that: expensive collectibles. But not all of them as some companies still makes fountain pens that are meant to be used instead of being exposed. Here are the two I use almost daily:
      Lamy Safari (~25€) Originally dating back to the 80s, they were designed in Germany to help children learn proper handwriting. So, not only are they great for beginner (and advanced) fountain pen users but they’re also very sturdy and easy to fix. They also have a unique design (that I love ;)).
      Platinum Preppy (~6€). They look like nothing (any cheapo gel pen) but they’re amazing.
      25€ may still sound expensive compared to a pencil but to give you an idea: my oldest Lamy safari that I purchased in the late 80s still works perfectly fine today. Some 40+ years later. Also, 3 or 4 years ago, I contacted Lamy customer support after I damaged one of my Lamy while cleaning it (100% my mistake) and they send me a replacement part for free… The pen was was 15 or 16 years old.
    • When buying a fountain pen you need to pay attention to the type of nib (which, for cheaper models, like our Lamy Safari and Platinum Preppy only means considering the thickness you prefer: fatter or thinner line, ranging from EF (extrafine) to B(road), but on more expensive model you will also need to consider the ‘springiness’ of the nib, its softness which can make a pen absolutely unique and wonderful to use). As a general rules, for a same nib, German brands (Lamy) will have a slightly larger nib than their Japanese counterparts (Platinum Preppy). So you know ;)

    And now for mechanical pencils:

    • Why not just a wooden pencil? They’re great and can be cheap, sure. I use them very often but when you constantly need to sharpen it this can quickly become a pain in the… (it also creates a lot of mess you may not want to deal with when outside or not at your desk). On the other hand, mechanical pencils need no sharpening and they also are more comfortable (they never become tiny to the point of being hard to write with, since its only the lead that wears out not the body containing it) ;)
    • Mechanical pencils comes in various lead width/ From ~0.2 to 3mm. The larger the lead, the fatter it will write but also to stronger it will will be. If you have a small handwriting, avoid the larger ones. A good compromise is 0.7mm. If you have real small writing, go for 0.5. If you write using a microscope, go for smaller but beware they will be fragile.
    • Like wooden pencils, mechanical pencil leads are available in various grades of hardness from H(ard) to B(old) (with HB being the ‘average’: 6H, 4H, 2H, HB (aka “#2”, in the US) 2B, 4B, etc.). It means how soft the lead is. The softer (higher B) the darker the line on the paper but also the quicker that lead will wear out and the more likely it will smear if you touch the paper. The default HB is a good starting point, though but don’t be afraid to experiment as it can change a lot (for writing as well as for sketching I much prefer 2B, and can even use 4B only for sketching though).
    • There are many brands and many models available. Like with fountain pens, some models can be real fancy and expensive. To any beginner, I would suggest to steer away from those fancy and expensive models because, well, as a beginner you don’t know how much you will like any of them and it’s probably a waste of money: wait after you get some practice to try fancier models. Maybe avoid the the most complex and the metal body ones as they will weight more, which may not be what you need from your EDC mechanical pencil.
      The cheapest of them all and also really excellent model would be a pack of Bic 0.7mm. They cost a few cents each, in a pack of ten. They do look like the cheap plastic pencils they are but they still work very well and very reliably. Btw, unlike what too many people seem to believe those plastic Bic can (easily) be refilled and there is no reason to throw them away when you finished the included leads: just remove the little eraser, fill in a couple new leads through the hole, put the eraser back and you’re ready to write!
      A little less cheap but still cheap and already a lot nicer check online (Amazon, and so on) for the brand ‘Four Candies’ mechanical pencils. They sell really nice sets , their pencils are available in (pastel colored) plastic or in (brighter) metal. They come with all you will need for a long time (a lot of spare leads, & erasers). The plastic ones are really light (they have my preference for that reason alone, as my edc when I don’t use a Bic pencil). They are also very well made.

    Well, that’s about it… My apologies for such a long comment, I hope it’s ok ;)

      • Libb@piefed.socialEnglish
        1·
        1 hour ago

        Naaaah, I barely scratched the surface of it :p

        Picking up the right writing device and learning to use it properly oftentimes will make the difference between realizing how powerful writing is as a tool, or endlessly suffering through it, and maybe hating it. Alas, in that field like in so many others, schools seem to have given up on teaching kids much, if anything.

        Which is terribly unfair to those kids, if you’re asking me: being able to (comfortably) write longhand, to be able to communicate one’s thoughts and ideas (while at the same time not having to rely on high tech) and to be able to communicate in full privacy. That’s priceless. It also feels great and it can be real fun, but that’s just my personal opinion ;)

    • utopiah@lemmy.ml
      2·
      11 hours ago

      FWIW before whine about the lack of editing or digitization : take of photo of the result on your phone, auto-upload to your desktop or even server and voila, a proper process to have your cake and eat it too.

      I very often take a basic A4 piece of paper, or even a napkin, whatever is around really, then sketch to summarize a complex situation, snap a pic and send it to myself. Amazing way to think, very flexible and intuitive, at basically no cost and entirely private. Sure you still have to re-draw it after, IF you want to, but typically the idea itself is already on a substrate, maybe that’s enough. If you want to edit it… guess what, you can edit the photo itself, no need to vectorize it first. Paper is great.