The changelog is not big, bug the blog have been considered as done for weeks now, so I am only fine-tuning everything. But for me who use the blog inside and out, I always find a joy of visiting and use the blog after each update (which... is quite... obvious... right?).

Alright! Let's hear it for the changelog, everyone:

• Updated toots so the shows media now (if existing). See example below. 1 2
• Updated the metadata for blog posts. For an example, instead of having blog.airikr.me for og:url for a blog post, it has the correct link to that post (example: blog.airikr.me/en/read:60b68ebdc4b24). 1
• Added pingback through Webmention because... why not? 1
• Added support for JavaScript when writing a blog post. It is now an absolute joy to write them! 1
• Added a user settings page. Now I can just log in to my account and my name, email address, and URL will be automatically filled when writing a comment. 1

Airikr :endeavourOS:

@edgren

2021-06-01, 18:55

I can't understand how my cat, Maja, thinks sometimes. When she's craving for wet food and begging me for it and I give it to her, she doesn't wants it anymore. Instead, she goes to the dry food. But when I give her candy, oh, yes, num, num!!

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I need your help!

If you know how to check for vulnerabilities on a website, please check my blog and report any vulnerabilities you may find.

When I was 10 years old, I got diagnosed with DAMP. Back then, DAMP and ADHD was 2 different disorders, but both of them was so similar, DAMP are today ADHD. I still have the papers from that time, scanned of course. Both of my brothers does not have any disorder in their childhood nor any today. Not even a syndrome, and they have very good lives with their own kids and very stable full-time jobs.

8 years ago, the Swedish employment service (Arbetsförmedlingen) wanted to help me as good as they possibly could, so they asked me if I wanted to do a new diagnostic to see if I still have ADHD today or not. Since one of my ex-girlfriends (who have Asperger's syndrome) have said that she didn't see me as a person with ADHD, but as a person with Asperger's syndrome, I said "yes, please" to their offer. And in the summer of 2013, I got diagnosed with a mild Asperger's syndrome and with a fully-fledged variant of attention deficit disorder (which I literally hate).

But I have been thinking lately about how my life would be if I didn't have Asperger's syndrome or DAMP/ADHD as a child, teenager, and young adult for that matter, and if I didn't have that (sorry for my language) fucking attention deficit disorder.

• Would I have a girlfriend today?
• Would I have a full-time job today?
• Would I be able to go out and be social with my neighbors with no issues at all?
• Would I be able to have better mentally strength?
• Would I have normal amount/length of thoughts instead of thoughts 24/7?

How your childhood life have been, how you are as a person, and such things have some impacts no matter what, of course, but still. How would I be without my handicaps (as I safely can call them)? I can sometimes cry inside for not being able to do stuff I really, really want to do. I am trying to do my best in everything I want to do, but most of the time I end up quit trying for some reason I can't explain - I simply lack of motivation.

And the thing with my attention deficit disorder. I have my desktop in a corner near my living room window which are located to the left. If I see something outside the window while looking on the screen, I have to look to see what it is. And if I don't, I can't let it go until I'm really trying hard to focus on what I am doing on the screen. The same for when I hear something. If I am trying to read something and I hear someone talking, I can't hear myself reading the text. I can only hear them talking.

There are people who state that Telegram are worse than WhatsApp regarding security (at least Nadim Kobeissi in this article) only because the default communication method in Telegram are not end-to-end encrypted (which means that your data "never" leaves your device). In order to enable end-to-end encryption in Telegram, you have to start a secret chat with someone.

All data on Telegram are stored encrypted

But the thing is that the encryption for both cloud chats and secret chats are the same! The only difference is that the data stays on the servers in cloud chats (hence the name). All data from cloud chats are in fact encrypted (source 1, source 2) with Telegram's own home-brewed encryption method called MTProto. And because the source code of MTProto are not open sourced yet (for a (to me) valid reason too), privacy oriented people say that Signal are much safer because Signal uses end-to-end encryption only.

But apparently, Signal has added a feature that offers server-side groups that uses the same technique (the same function, not the same encryption) as cloud chats on Telegram. Signal stores the chat data encrypted on their servers (important fact: in the US) just like what a reddit user stated: "Signal 'has' that information, but it's just gibberish to them." Same shit, different service.

Signal are no good privacy-wise

Signal share your phone number with third-party providers, but they do not tell us with whom (a big no-no in my eyes, especially when it comes to the US). And if the person you talk to are offline, or you are in a group chat that stores the data in the cloud, it will be stored encrypted on a server that Amazon owns. And because Signal are 100% based in the US, that data will only be safe until someone has cracked Signal Protocol's encryption and if that happens... well, everyone knows that USA have big privacy flaws. Telegram logs everything when using cloud chats (plus data via secret chat when someone is offline), but all my data are stored in Europe.

Humongous difference!

When I tried Signal once a more few months ago and added a person from Fosstodon, I immediately reacted negatively when I was forced to add that person with his/hers phone number! You should not add people with their phone number! However, Signal are working on adding usernames, a feature Telegram have had since 2013 or 2014: the option to add your own username, like t.me/edgren (which by the way is my username on Telegram). If no username is specified, you add people with their phone number (this also includes Telegram).

Telegram log metadata about its users and despite they do not tell us where this metadata is located, we can only assume that your metadata are also stored in the same data centers as what your data are stored in. Signal only logs when a user created the account and when the user was last seen.

Signal are based in the USA, Telegram's not

Adding usernames to Signal doesn't change Signal's privacy to the better if they add support for usernames because of user data. All data will be stored in the US and shared to third-parties even if you will be able to add a username to your Signal account. Meanwhile, at Telegram, the chat service have servers all over the world where your data are stored encrypted in different jurisdictions based on where you live. I live in Sweden, so my data are located in the Netherlands, a country known for its strict privacy laws.

Final thoughts

• If you don't want to share your phone number to any company, choose XMPP or Matrix or Jami.
• If you are okay with sharing your phone number with a company, but...
  • ...wants to control how and when people can see your private information, choose Telegram.
  • ...are okay with a company founded in the US and runs in the US and uses servers from Big Brother companies like Google, choose Signal.
• If you don't care about your privacy at all and thinks "I have nothing to hide" despite privacy doesn't apply to it at all, choose WhatsApp, Messenger, Skype, Discord, etc.

The biggest update in this release is that I can now show a toot from my favourite Mastodon instance, Fosstodon (seriously, check it out). Currently, the toots are fetched in PHP, hence the slower page load for this post (and future posts that have linked toots, too). My first thought when using PHP for this was to let those who doesn't allow JavaScript to be loaded to see the toots. I am thinking about let JavaScript fetch the toots in the future, though.

Other changes are visual stuff on the static pages like login, statistics, and privacy policy. And as always, you can check the source code for this blog at Codeberg and also see the changes for this update.