Bonum Certa Men Certa

Fallacy About Privacy in Geminispace

Video download link | md5sum c58217da5962643b47fbfc156ab92c65 Gemini is Not for Privacy Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0

Summary: gemini:// offers as much privacy as https://, but it's widely known that because of how the Web technically works the latter does not ensure IP addresses do not leak to all sorts of sites (or data brokers); while moving away from http:// did in fact limit the visibility/exposure to one's ISP/s (unless they buy data 'downstream') the lingering issue is that unless one uses anonymity-preserving software (such as Tor) one's movements in cyberspace are still clear for many parties to see; Gemini resolves or tries to tackle only the problem of cross-site linking/embedding/scripting

TO avoid busting any bubbles in the future, based on a false expectation or baseless hopes, Gemini is in general not a privacy tool. It does address a plethora of issues plaguing the World Wide Web, but neither the Web nor Gemini should be treated as privacy protection tools. Even if you outsource to the Linux Foundation (Let's Encrypt), in which case privacy is eroded even further.



In the video above I show Billsmugs' capsule, which boasts an extensive photography collection, albeit also tracks access with caveats stated clearly upfront. To quote:

This Gemini capsule does not log IP addresses or use any fingerprinting techniques to identify users across visits. When you connect to the server for the first time, your IP address will be mapped to a sequential ID (in memory). This mapping will be forgotten one hour after the last request from the IP is received. If, during this hour, you request the standard robots.txt file, your session will be marked as a bot - this is just to give a (very very rough) method of tracking human vs robot visitors, all requests will be treated the same.

In other words, a "session" in the list below represents a single IP address making requests with less than one hour between them.

If the server process is stopped or restarted unexpectedly (or is under very high load), some stats may be delayed or lost.

"Bad requests" are any requests that result in a 59 status code being returned. These are things like malformed URLs, attempted directory traversal attacks, misguided http requests etc. These indicate either a bug (in the server or the client) or malicious traffic. If I receive an exceptionally large number of these (and they aren't caused by bugs in the server code) then I may decide to start logging the source IPs specifically for these requests (with a view to blocking or rate-limiting repeat offenders). Hopefully that won't be necessary!


In our case, logs are only used for DDOS protection and mitigation (some days we get over 30,000 requests, most of them from bots). The code we developed for it is Free software and AGPLv3-licensed (in our Git repository).

Recent Techrights' Posts

[Meme] Python Knows Its Bosses
Microsoft strings attached
[Meme] Debt of About $20 Per Active User
Facebook isn't laying off tens of thousands for "efficiency" but for survival
 
The "Luddite" Complex
Sometimes simplest is best and sometimes "modern" is designed not with the buyers' interest in mind
SCO's Darl McBride Dead at Age 64
There's hardly any information about it, except we know he reached bankruptcy and 3 years later he died at a relatively young age
The 'Turning-Free-Code-Proprietary Foundation' (Linux/Microsoft Foundation)
LF will basically become just as sinister as its corporate sponsors
Python Software Foundation is 'Cancel Culture' Rehomed
Python isn't grassroots and it doesn't really tolerate grassroots
DeVault "Closes Down His Mailing Lists Every Time There's a Scandal" and Also Censors Messages
Censorious code hosting platform
What Social Control Media Really Is
Social Control Media, in a nutshell, isn't just bad if its controller is some foreign or hostile nation
Taking Ethics Lectures From Drew
Projection tactics
Links 02/11/2024: Facebook Stock Falls (Soaring Debt), Apple’s Quarterly Profit Down
Links for the day
Gemini Links 02/11/2024: Burnout, Emacs Bookmarks, and Smooth Migration
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, November 01, 2024
IRC logs for Friday, November 01, 2024
Facebook's Debt Has Soared to All-Time High of Nearly 50 Billion Dollars
But the corporate media pretends all is well (while mass layoffs continue and slop takes over the social control media)
Geminispace Makes It Past 4,200 Capsules on November 1st
At last!
Links 01/11/2024: Election Interferences by X/Twitter/Musk, Strava as Espionage Tool
Links for the day
The October 2024 Web Server Survey Shows a Further Collapse for Microsoft in the Servers Market
Microsoft experienced the next largest loss of 699,464 sites (-3.45%)
Gemini Links 01/11/2024: TLS Sucks, twytere.com Announced
Links for the day
Links 01/11/2024: Few Things Are Cheaper Than This Antenna and "Nothing Lasts Forever"
Links for the day
Technology: rights or responsibilities? - Part V
By Dr. Andy Farnell
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 31, 2024
IRC logs for Thursday, October 31, 2024
R.T.O. is Another Name (or Acronym) for Voluntary Layoffs
Amazon is trying to get many workers to leave on their own
Microsoft's Acquisition of Activision (to Fake Revenue Growth by Buying Revenue) Was a Failure
Of course the mass layoffs at Microsoft aren't just a Microsoft thing
Stagnant, Shrinking Businesses and "IBM's Corporate Culture Since the Late 1980s... Over 35 Years."
Recently, IBM was using share price as a talking point, insisting the company was doing OK while tens of thousands were being laid off
Links 01/11/2024: World News, Political Catchup
Links for the day
[Meme] Probably the Worst Possible Time to Get Information From Social Control Media
Musk does not want to prevent disinformation from spreading and the same is true for Facebook and TikTok; they have their own interests
Update on Litigation Against the European Patent Office (EPO) at the ILO Administrative Tribunal (ILOAT)
Rewards and compensation for staff have long fallen, resulting in many experienced colleagues leaving and causing further declines in quality and compliance
Gemini Links 31/10/2024: NNCP, Declutter the Web, Cost of Community
Links for the day
Links 31/10/2024: Supermicro Plummets 33%, Block and Dropbox Mass Layoffs
Links for the day
Links 31/10/2024: Environmental Anxiety, Profound Changes in Hardware Market
Links for the day
Links 30/10/2024: TSMC Concerns and North Koreans in Ukraine War
Links for the day
Facebook is for Zombies
Social control media is for fools
Microsoft Now Has $235,290,000,000 in Liabilities, They Grow Over Time in Spite of Mass Layoffs (So Expect More Layoffs)
expect more mass layoffs
Links 31/10/2024: DST Woes, War Updates, Amazon RTO Backlash
Links for the day
Gemini Links 31/10/2024: Attention Economy and Gemlogs
Links for the day
Happy Halloween
October is nearly over
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 30, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 30, 2024
For the Record: Linux is Controlled by the United States of America
"This is going to make many question the openness and inclusivity of the work done by Linux Foundation"
Microsoft: XBox Hardware Revenues Down About 30% (Ignore the Buzzwords and Activision Activity Dressed Up as "XBox")
For context, in a previous quarter XBox hardware sales were down by about 50%
Cooking the Books With "Cloud" And "AI" Was Not Enough to Fool Microsoft Investors
"Microsoft Shares Drop on Disappointing Azure Growth Forecast"