Opt Out

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 Carl

• Carl’s guest profile – https://optoutpod.com/guests/carl-dong/

More about Obscura

• Website: https://obscura.net/
• Obscura’s Twitter: https...

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 Marks

• Marks’ guest profile – https://optoutpod.com/guests/marks/

More about OpenSecret and Maple AI

• OpenSecret’s website – https://opensecret.cloud
• How does OpenSecret work? – https://blog.opensecret.cloud/opensecret-technicals/
• Maple AI’s web...

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 guests

• Evgeny’s guest profile – https://optoutpod.com/guests/evgeny-poberezkin/
• Dan’s guest profile – https://optoutpod.com/guests/dan-keller/

More about SimpleX

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-s...

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 Vlad

• Vlad’s guest profile – https://optoutpod.com/guests/vlad-prelovac/

More about Kagi

• Kagi’s website – https://kagi.com/
• O...

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-oss...

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-launch
• Bitcoin via em...

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/...

This episode, we're sitting down with Eric Sirion and Matt Odell to chat about FediMints, a fascinating and unusual new proposal that seeks to ease onboarding and privacy on Bitcoin with important trade-offs.

More about Eric Sirion and Matt Odell:

• Eric Sirion's guest profile -- https://optoutpod.com/guests/eric-sirion/
• Matt Odell's guest profile -- https://optoutpod.com/guests/odell/

More about FediMints:

• Web...

Welcome to the first ever live Q&A on Opt Out! We covered a ton of topics ranging from personal privacy, self-hosting, Bitcoin, Monero, privacy-preserving donations, future plans for the podcast, and much more.

Thank you to all those who joined live, and please let me know if you have any questions or want to dive more deeply into any of the topics we touched on here!

Mentioned resources:

• https://sethforprivacy.com/posts/how-m...

Looking to explore alternatives to Signal and heard of Session, but not sure what sets it apart? This episode, we're sitting down with Kee Jefferys, CTO of Session, to chat about their Session messenger and it's approaches to chat, encryption, and network privacy.

More about Kee Jefferys:

• Kee's guest profile -- https://optoutpod.com/guests/kee-jefferys/

More about Session:

• Website -- https://getsession.org/
• T...

Have you been struggling to find ways to get a usable and long-lasting phone number without giving up your ID or privacy? This episode, we're sitting down with Silent.Link to chat about their phone number service via eSIMs.

More about Silent.Link:

• Website -- https://silent.link/
• Twitter -- https://twitter.com/silentlink1
• Matrix -- matrix://@support:silent.link
• Email -- support@silent.link

Opt Out's Sponsors:

• Cake Wa...

This episode, we're taking a break from the normal structure of Opt Out to focus on a conference I'll be attending and speaking at in April, Monerotopia, and learn more about it from the creator, Douglas Tuman.

More about Douglas Tuman:

• Douglas' guest profile -- https://optoutpod.com/guests/douglas-tuman/

More about Monerotopia:

• April 7th, 2022 – Miami Beach, FL
• Website -- https://monerotopia.com/
• Buy a ticket...

Looking for a privacy-preserving and light-weight search tool that you can self-host? This episode, we’re sitting down with Ben Busby to chat about his project, Whoogle search.

More about Ben Busby:

• Ben’s guest profile – https://optoutpod.com/guests/ben-busby/

More about Whoogle:

• Github – https://github.com/benbusby/whoogle-search
• Installing Whoogle – https://github.com/benbusby/whoogle-search#install
• My Whoogle instance – h...

Looking for a solution to get off of Google or Apple's walled ecosystem and take back control of your data? This episode, we're sitting down with Jos Poortvliet to chat about Nextcloud and the many solutions it has to offer.

More about Jos Poortvliet:

• Jos' guest profile -- https://optoutpod.com/guests/jos-poortvliet/

More about Nextcloud:

• Site - https://nextcloud.com/
• Getting started - https://nextc...

Have you heard about i2p but aren't sure where it fits into your network privacy toolkit? This episode, we're sitting down with Sadie and IDK from i2p to chat about i2p's approach to privacy, it's use-cases, and how it compares to similar tools like the Tor network.

More about idk and Sadie:

• idk's guest profile -- https://optoutpod.com/guests/idk/
• Sadie's guest profile -- https://optoutpod.c...

Looking for the right tool for password management, but wanting something that's open-source and encrypted by default? This episode, we're sitting down with Ryan Luibrand to chat about Bitwarden and their password manager tool.

More about Ryan Luibrand:

• Ryan's guest profile -- https://optoutpod.com/guests/ryan-luibrand/

More about Bitwarden:

• Website -- https://bitwarden.com/
• Roadmap -- https://commu...

Have you been considering a more privacy-preserving search engine but not sure where to start? This episode, we're sitting down with Kelly from Startpage to chat about the Startpage search engine, how it works, it's limitations, and more.

More about Kelly Finnerty:

• Kelly's guest profile -- https://optoutpod.com/guests/kelly-finnerty/

More about Startpage Search:

• Website -- https://www.startpage.com...

Heard about application firewalls and tools like Little Snitch on Mac, but not sure where to start? This episode, we're sitting down with David and Daniel from Safing to chat about their project, Portmaster.

More about David Gunnarsson and Daniel Hovie:

• David's guest profile -- https://optoutpod.com/guests/david-gunnarsson/
• Daniel's guest profile -- https://optoutpod.com/guests/daniel-hovie/

More about...