Escaping the technocracy w/ Gabriel Custodiet and UrbanHacker

If you’ve ever wanted to dive deeper into personal privacy and security, there’s no better resource out there than Escape the Technocracy. I chat with the creators on why they started the project, what to expect from it, and where they’re taking it next.More about Gabriel and UrbanGabriel’s guest profile – https://optoutpod.com/guests/gabriel-custodiet/Urban’s guest profile – https://optoutpod.com/guests/urbanhacker/More about Escape the TechnocracyWebsite: https://escapethetechnocracy.com/Newsletter: https://escapethetechnocracy.com/product/watchmans-torch-newsletter/Twitter: https://x.com/WatchmanPrivacySupporting Opt OutDonations – https://optoutpod.com/donateLeave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible!Share it with your friends, family, and other communities!Support the show

Tired of Bitcoin conferences for suits and TradFi bros? Nifty has been making Bitcoin conferences great again with Bitcoin++ for years now, and she’s joining me on Opt Out to chat all things Bitcoin dev, Bitcoin++, and more.More about NiftyNifty’s guest profile – https://optoutpod.com/guests/nifty-nei/More about Bitcoin++Website: https://btcpp.dev/Bitcoin++’s Twitter: https://x.com/btcplusplusSupporting Opt OutDonations – https://optoutpod.com/donateLeave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible!Share it with your friends, family, and other communities!Support the show

The VPN paradigm has grown stale, with simple one-party providers being the best available. But what if we could further minimize trust by shift to a two-party hop system? Obscura is doing just that, and we’re sitting down with their founder Carl Dong to learn all about it.More about CarlCarl’s guest profile – https://optoutpod.com/guests/carl-dong/More about ObscuraWebsite: https://obscura.net/Obscura’s Twitter: https://x.com/obscuravpnTechnical Blog Post on Obscura: https://obscura.net/blog/bootstrapping-trust/iCloud Private Relay: https://www.apple.com/icloud/docs/iCloud_Private_Relay_Overview_Dec2021.pdfMASQUE at the IETF: https://datatracker.ietf.org/wg/masque/about/Supporting Opt OutDonations – https://optoutpod.com/donateLeave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible!Share it with your friends, family, and other communities!Support the show

AI is all the rage, but with it come new privacy questions and concerns. Marks from OpenSecret joins to walk us through how we can have our AI-generated cake and eat it too.More about MarksMarks’ guest profile – https://optoutpod.com/guests/marks/More about OpenSecret and Maple AIOpenSecret’s website – https://opensecret.cloudHow does OpenSecret work? – https://blog.opensecret.cloud/opensecret-technicals/Maple AI’s website – https://trymaple.aiSupporting Opt OutDonations – https://optoutpod.com/donateLeave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible!Share it with your friends, family, and other communities!Support the show

Two years after our first episode on SimpleX, we’re back with an update on all they’ve been working on, including a new approach to chat relays with Dan from Flux.More about our guestsEvgeny’s guest profile – https://optoutpod.com/guests/evgeny-poberezkin/Dan’s guest profile – https://optoutpod.com/guests/dan-keller/More about SimpleXWebsite – https://simplex.chat/Quantum-resistant encryption blog post – https://simplex.chat/blog/20240314-simplex-chat-v5-6-quantum-resistance-signal-double-ratchet-algorithm.html“Privacy-preserving content moderation” blog post – https://simplex.chat/blog/20250114-simplex-network-large-groups-privacy-preserving-content-moderation.htmlNetwork operator monetization plans – https://github.com/simplex-chat/simplex-chat/blob/stable/docs/rfcs/2024-04-26-commercial-model.mdRun your own SimpleX SMP server – https://github.com/simplex-chat/simplexmqMore about FluxWebsite – https://runonflux.comFlux’s new AI product – https://ai.runonflux.com/Supporting Opt OutDonations – https://optoutpod.com/donateLeave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible!Share it with your friends, family, and other communities!Support the show

If you're frustrated by the need for multiple hardware wallets, security keys, two-factor applications, or even phones and looking for an easier way to secure your digital life, Foundation has just what you need. Zach Herbert, co-founder and CEO of Foundation, joins me to talk through their latest product, Passport Prime, and how they're seeking to lower the barrier of entry to proper digital security with a single open-source security platform.More about ZachZach’s guest profile – https://optoutpod.com/guests/zach-herbert/More about FoundationFoundation's website -- https://foundation.xyz/Foundation's X account -- https://twitter.com/FOUNDATIONdvcs/Supporting Opt OutDonations – https://optoutpod.com/donateLeave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible!Share it with your friends, family, and other communities!Support the show

Ever wondered why your Google search results are so bad? Looking for an alternative that puts your interests first instead of an ad company’s? Today we chat with Vlad Prelovac, founder of Kagi, a new type of search engine that rethinks finding information on the internet from the ground up.More about VladVlad’s guest profile – https://optoutpod.com/guests/vlad-prelovac/More about KagiKagi’s website – https://kagi.com/Orion, Kagi’s fast, zero-telemetry browser for macOS and iOS – https://browser.kagi.com/Supporting Opt OutDonations – https://optoutpod.com/donateLeave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible!Share it with your friends, family, and other communities!Support the show

We get to the bottom of what ossification is, why it's harmful to Bitcoin to push for premature ossification, and why we need to improve the building blocks available to developers to enable trustless and useful layers to be built on Bitcoin.More about Jameson:Jameson's guest profile -- https://optoutpod.com/guests/jameson-lopp/More about ossification:Lopp's recent blog post: https://blog.lopp.net/on-ossification/Lopp's debate with Jimmy Song on ossification: https://x.com/LuganoPlanB/status/1855321782581924245Supporting Opt Out:Donations -- https://optoutpod.com/donationsLeave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible!Share it with your friends, family, and other communities!Support the show

I sit down with Andy Yen, founder and CEO of Proton, to discuss the release of Proton Wallet, the decision to focus on Bitcoin despite its lack of privacy, why they don't accept Monero, and much more.More about Andy:Andy's guest profile -- https://optoutpod.com/guests/andy-yen/More about Proton Wallet:Website: https://wallet.proton.me/Launch blog post: https://proton.me/blog/proton-wallet-launchBitcoin via email primer: https://proton.me/support/wallet-bitcoin-via-emailSupporting Opt Out:Donations -- https://optoutpod.com/donationsLeave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible!Share it with your friends, family, and other communities!Support the show

Heard of SimpleX chat and curious what it's all about? This episode, we're sitting down with Evgeny, the founder of SimpleX Chat to talk about SimpleX, privacy, data sovereignty, and the future of computing.More about Evgeny:Evgeny's guest profile -- https://optoutpod.com/guests/evgeny-poberezkin/More about SimpleX:Website: https://simplex.chat/Chat protocol: https://github.com/simplex-chat/simplex-chat/blob/stable/docs/protocol/simplex-chat.mdWhitepaper, including threat modeling: https://github.com/simplex-chat/simplexmq/blob/stable/protocol/overview-tjr.mdRun your own SimpleX SMP server: https://github.com/simplex-chat/simplexmqOpt Out's Sponsors:Cake Wallet, an easy to use Monero mobile wallet -- https://optoutpod.com/sponsors/#cake-walletLocalMonero, an excellent and privacy-preserving way to buy and sell Monero -- https://optoutpod.com/sponsors/#localmoneroIVPN, an ethical, no-nonsense, non-logging VPN provider -- https://optoutpod.com/sponsors/#ivpnSupporting Opt Out:Donations -- https://optoutpod.com/about/#donationsLeave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible!Share it with your friends, family, and other communities!Support the show