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European countries from privacy and freedom perspective

Hey-ho, privacy enthusiasts

I'm currently traveling around the world, and thinking about staying in Europe for 5ish years

But i'm a tinfoil guy and aware of the "many eyed beast"

So, what do you think? All lies and everything is actually dystopian, or everything should be fine?

I'm actually thinking about 4 countries like Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Greece (because don't like cold, and actually a little bit sick of other countries in the EU😅😅😅)

AnUnusualRelic ,
@AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world avatar

Most shops have online presence. You can easily compare the price of tinfoil rolls using Google translate.

Sylocule ,

Here in Spain there’s minimal surveillance outside the big cities. My town (circa 40K residents) has no public cameras in town (I lived in the UK and they were everywhere).

Gooey0210 OP ,

Get it, get it

But cameras are not the only concern, what's about internet traffic analysis, piracy, ability to rent something or get some service like sim or home internet without documents and stuff

Or even transportation, like busses, trains, etc

Don't get me wrong, i'm asking so I can have a better picture of how the stuff really works

Sylocule ,

Gotcha

Internet is somewhat restricted but only the most common sites are blocked

Renting requires ID - passport or Spanish ID, same with Internet or a SIM card

Transportation there’s no ID requirements on buses and trains

Gooey0210 OP ,

Renting requires ID - passport or Spanish ID

Does the landlord register the people that rent the place?

or a SIM card

How common is someone selling preregistered sim cards?

fluckx , (edited )

I don't think you can a sim card anonymously in europe. You might be able to find some online, though I have no idea:

- how legal they are

- if they function at all/normally

At least in my country ( which isn't one you listed ) you cannot buy an anonymous SIM card in shops due to some anti terrorism law ( iirc ).

I thought it was like that for the whole of Europe, but I could be wrong.

Apparently there are still EU countries where you can buy anonymous SIMs.

ondrashek06 ,

Countries like the Czech Republic still offer anonymous SIM cards. Though we do have a telecommunication cartel here.

Sylocule ,

Depends on the landlord - some are dodgy and won’t register you because they don’t declare the income

LoveSausage ,

You can buy Romanian cards on eBay , Vodafone works fine in Spain

Infiltrated_ad8271 ,
@Infiltrated_ad8271@kbin.social avatar

https://idm.net.au/blog/002646two-years-european-isp%E2%80%99s-data

Mr_Blott ,

Having read your assumptions about Europe, you'll be pleased to hear that mental healthcare is free in most countries

Wtf?

plague_sapiens ,
@plague_sapiens@lemmy.world avatar

I wouldn't call him mental ill. Maybe he's a small time crook, sells and smokes weed and has a little bit of paranoia.

Truth be told, in my criminal past (mostly online fraud, but some real life crime too), I have had similar thoughts. But hey, don't do stupid shit in countries which you don't know.

Gooey0210 OP , (edited )

You're mostly correct. But they reason i'm paranoid because I just don't think it's a right thing to spy on people. I'm more kind of a free spirit and share love guy, and I don't like the idea of living in the world of lies being constantly observed

Edit: In addition, you never know what's going to be illegal tomorrow, you don't need anything to hide to feel disgusted about governments spying on people

plague_sapiens , (edited )
@plague_sapiens@lemmy.world avatar

Then you should really only consider mass surveillance via cameras as a "big" concern. I'm not much of a travel guy, cause being handicapped has it's downside, but afaik there aren't many cameras spread across Europe, mostly near/on main train stations, public transport and similar public places. Use a cap/hat and maybe sunglasses. I haven't heard of any AI/biometrical real time/logging/analyzing being used in production yet (but it's being discussed).
Don't use public wifi, get an anonymous simcard (roaming data esims for some crypto-dollars) and a GrapheneOS Pixel smartphone (use it only when needed). Pay by cash and be nice to other humans.
And don't think too much about stuff you can't control! Don't let you get mad and restrict your life too hard because of stupid politicians and governments xD

Have fun exploring Europe! Take a look at Italy, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Netherlands. Poland and the Czech Republic
are nice too, but it's harder there to communicate in English IME.

oh: and as a drug user, usually prescribed opioids (no abuse, I need them and have a prescription), but (a)busing weed (got a script too, but usually buy from the dealer/vape HHC currently) and hallucinogens/"fun"-drugs (LSD, Shrooms and Special K), I only had problems in Germany because of THC (haven't had a script at this time). But usually it's OK to party, but don't be too open about your use. Funniest moment was in Amsterdam. Some friends and me were sitting on a bench near a little garden, drinking beers and smoking some Js. When the police drove by, we first wanted to hide the Joint, but remembered ah, no public booze in Amsterdam, and had to hide our beers instead. It's usually the other way round :P

Gooey0210 OP ,

Hehehe, I really like the answer and your mood 💖

About pixels and sim cards, I don't really use sim cards. For services that require phone numbers I use modems attached to my homeserver(of course no name), and access them with Lora mesh network(radio)

Your answer is actually really what I wanted to hear, good opinion on the current situation 👏

Gooey0210 OP ,

Also, reading your "oh" 😁

Drugs are fun, but I don't really worry about this, do rarely, don't like weed, i'm safe 😄

My biggest problem with drug usage would be not the authorities, but more general mood of the regular people. I don't like countries that are hostile to people partying, getting drunk, or high

It's hard to explain, it's just I've beeed to places that feel fun when you're high, and the opposite and they start calling the police (so I just think this stuff is very mean, and don't want to be around people like that)

Gooey0210 OP ,

Wait a sec, are you saying this because of the "eyes beast"??

I meant 5-9-14 eyes alliances between countries to spy on each other's citizens

Also, I said it in a naruto "* tailed beast" way 😁

Or I just can't understand what you meant 😅😅😅

Mr_Blott ,

Also, I said it in a naruto "* tailed beast" way 😁

Or I just can't understand what you meant 😅😅😅

Oh, the irony

Gooey0210 OP ,

Bow i'm really confused, who was ironic, me or you? 😅😅😅😅😅

Mr_Blott ,

I said it in a Naruto tailed beast way

Makes absolutely no sense, old bean

Gooey0210 OP ,

🙃

plague_sapiens ,
@plague_sapiens@lemmy.world avatar

Depends on your threat model...
What do you think could cause problems while traveling through Europe in your opinion?

Gooey0210 OP ,

I know Europe is probably like the best place for digital privacy, but at the same time for me it's unsettling to see that some of the European cities are the most surveiled cities in the world, and how even countries in Europe are trying to ban e2e encryption

Add the 5-9-14 eyes, strict anti piracy rules in some countries, stories about people getting arrested for messaging something, or doing something political, and you will get a pretty grim picture

My main problem with this, I don't like being surveiled, nobody needs to have a thread model against being surveiled, because this is just nuts

Probably my stand is a little bit radical, I usually don't carry a sim card, use Lora for a remote access to my home server, I would never go to the land of free or use any of their services, same with the land of China

twinnie ,

A lot of this CCTV is just in shops and stuff, not necessarily the government. Not much you can do about that, it’s just culture.

Damage ,

Come to Italy then. Our services don't give a fuck unless you're actually a terrorist.

And you can pirate all you want with no repercussions.

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