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2024

State of the Web App: Current Woes and Promising Futures

The concept of a progressive web app is enticing: an application using web technologies that is inherently cross platform (since it runs in a browser) and acts like a native app, even functioning offline. Support for PWAs in traditionally locked-down platforms like iOS means that PWAs can give users the freedom to install apps without having to go through Apple’s App Store. But there are problems with web content that PWAs haven't solved.

Where are all the Multi-Party Relays?

Multi-Party Relays (MPRs) are a technology that aims to provide better privacy protections than VPNs do. MPRs showed a lot of promise when they first emerged, but years later there are fewer options than ever. What happened?

Privacy Guides is Hiring

We are thrilled to announce the opening of three new job positions aimed at enhancing our mission of promoting personal privacy and informed digital choices. As a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering individuals with the knowledge and tools they need to navigate the internet in a private manner, we are excited to expand our team with talented individuals who share our vision. They will play a key role in helping us reach new audiences to spread our message in multiple formats, and make sure we are the authoritative source for trustworthy and unbiased consumer privacy resources on the internet.

Onion Browser Review: Tor on iOS

Onion Browser logo

Search the App Store for "Tor Browser" and you'll be flooded with a variety of ways to connect to the Tor network from your iPhone. However, there's only one solution officially endorsed by the Tor Project themselves: Onion Browser.

Bad-Faith Arguments in the Privacy Community

The Privacy Guides community is one of the best privacy-related communities on the internet, and I think we have generally done a good job at promoting a positive and respectful environment where people can learn and grow.

Unfortunately, as a public forum we are not immune to the small minority of individuals who feel empowered to spread anger, hostility, and divisiveness by their anonymity and general lack of consequences on the internet.

Jonah Aragon Hired as Project Director

We are thrilled to announce a significant milestone for Privacy Guides: the addition of our first paid staff member, Jonah Aragon. This achievement is a testament to the unwavering support and generous donations from our incredible community. Another major donation came from Power Up Privacy, a privacy advocacy group that funds privacy-related research and development, which helped us achieve this goal earlier then expected!

Privacy Guides Partners With MAGIC Grants 501(c)(3)

In February, the OpenCollective Foundation (OCF)—our fiscal host of 4 years—sent us an email to announce that they would be shutting down, and they would no longer be able to collect donations on our behalf (or for any of the hundreds of projects they provided fiscal hosting services to). We immediately began to consider multiple options for the future of this project, including forming our own non-profit or finding another fiscal host.

"Privacy-Preserving" Attribution: Mozilla Disappoints Us Yet Again

"No shady privacy policies or back doors for advertisers" proclaims the Firefox homepage, but that's no longer true in Firefox 128.

Less than a month after acquiring the AdTech company Anonym, Mozilla has added special software co-authored by Meta and built for the advertising industry directly to the latest release of Firefox, in an experimental trial you have to opt out of manually. This "Privacy-Preserving Attribution" (PPA) API adds another tool to the arsenal of tracking features that advertisers can use, which is thwarted by traditional content blocking extensions.