Coding Freedom - The Safing Podcast

Marketing is ever present. From the snake oil salesman who tricks people into buying useless stuff to the grand events hosted by the marketing mogul Apple to small companies trying to get some attention. One thing is certain: our attention is heavily fought over. But with all the negative examples we experience, how can a company approach the topic marketing ethically? Dive into today's talk with David and Raphael who discuss Safing's approach to the topic and how we analyze the marketing funnel. How does a person move from never having heard of Safing to becoming a Portmaster user or even a paying customer? Support - Use the Portmaster for Free, Forever: https://safing.io/portmaster/ - Give Us a Star on GitHub: https://github.com/safing/portmaster/ - Tell Two Friends about Safing Raphael's Socials - https://twitter.com/Raphty101/ - https://reddit.com/u/Raphty101 David's Socials - https://twitter.com/davegson/ - https://github.com/davegson/ - https://reddit.com/u/davegson/ Music Credit All music composed by Philter. Intro Song: "Sunrise". Outro Song: "Sunset"

Which privacy service deserves your trust? Often you will hear things like good security or if the code is open source. But as always, it has a lot to do with money. Who pays in the end? In today's episode we welcome no other than TheHatedOne (Privacy YouTuber), who joins us to discuss business models. Why are they important? How can a service be financially sustainable? And out of Signal and GrapheneOS, which one does a great job while the other is set up in a questionable manner to say the least. Show Notes - Accompanying Blog Post: https://safing.io/blog/2021/05/06/how-weak-business-models-destroy-everything-we-fight-for/ - https://world.hey.com/jonas/how-money-dictates-design-decisions-5e866cd9 Support - Use the Portmaster for Free, Forever: https://safing.io/portmaster/ - Give Us a Star on GitHub: https://github.com/safing/portmaster/ - Tell Two Friends about Safing TheHatedOne's YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/c/TheHatedOne/ David's Socials - https://twitter.com/davegson/ - https://github.com/davegson/ - https://reddit.com/u/davegson/ Signal & MobileCoin Sources - https://signal.org/blog/help-us-test-payments-in-signal/ - https://signal.org/blog/update-on-beta-testing-payments/ - https://old.reddit.com/r/signal/comments/mo8o7c/ - https://old.reddit.com/r/signal/comments/mow3ac/ - https://old.reddit.com/r/signal/comments/mo0bck/ - https://old.reddit.com/r/signal/comments/mm6nad/ - https://old.reddit.com/r/signal/comments/mrespr/ - https://old.reddit.com/r/signal/comments/mneh5r/ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26726246 - https://ndtv.com/india-news/co-founder-brian-acton-to-ndtv-where-signal-scores-over-whatsapp-2351616(from minute 7:00 Brian Acton talks about Business Models) Music Credit All music composed by Philter. Intro Song: "Sunrise". Outro Song: "Sunset"

We all long for Freedom. And privacy advocates say that Freedom is only possible with privacy. But could Freedom be achieved without it? That is exactly what today's guest Ben Malisow is claiming: Get rid of privacy altogether and humanity will be liberated. Join today's episode where Raphael and Ben have a wonderful debate on one of the most pressing issues of our time. Show Notes - Ben's Book "Exposed": https://amazon.com/dp/B08M5DGS4H/ - Ben's Podcast: https://www.securityzed.com/podcast-test Support - Use the Portmaster for Free, Forever: https://safing.io/portmaster/ - Give Us a Star on GitHub: https://github.com/safing/portmaster/ - Tell Two Friends about Safing Ben's Socials - https://twitter.com/BenMalisow/ - https://reddit.com/u/BenMalisow Raphael's Socials - https://twitter.com/Raphty101/ - https://reddit.com/u/Raphty101 Music Credit All music composed by Philter. Intro Song: "Sunrise". Outro Song: "Sunset"

The Portmaster privacy app is one giant of a machine. But up until recently, most of its powers were not really usable. The features were either invisible or hidden behind a clunky old User Interface. That is where Patrick comes along, who took charge of completely modernizing the Portmaster's User Interface. There is a lot to unravel here as Patrick gives us a good look at how it was to join Safing, how he felt when receiving this monumental task and how it was to work alongside Luke, the designer. Show Notes - Old UI - Dashboard: https://assets.safing.io/podcast/images/e027/old_dashboard.png - Old UI - Monitor: https://assets.safing.io/podcast/images/e027/old_monitor.png - Old UI - Settings: https://assets.safing.io/podcast/images/e027/old_settings.png - New UI - Monitor: https://assets.safing.io/podcast/images/e027/new_monitor.png - New UI - Settings: https://assets.safing.io/podcast/images/e027/new_settings.png Support - Use the Portmaster for Free, Forever: https://safing.io/portmaster/ - Give Us a Star on GitHub: https://github.com/safing/portmaster/ - Tell Two Friends about Safing Patrick's Socials - https://github.com/ppacher/ David's Socials - https://twitter.com/davegson/ - https://github.com/davegson/ - https://reddit.com/u/davegson/ Music Credit All music composed by Philter. Intro Song: "Sunrise". Outro Song: "Sunset"

Accepting payments as a privacy company is not as straightforward as it might seem. Instead of ignoring privacy issues as most companies do, we feel the best way to protect any user data is to not collect it in the first place. On the other hand we have legal requirements we need to fulfill. Finding the best solution requires a lot of thought. Additionally, being a privacy company means that many payment vendors are not too keen to provide us with their services. Raphael and David sit down and have an extensive talk about all of these aspects. Participate What could we do better? Let us know how we can improve our podcast on reddit: - r/safing: https://reddit.com/r/safing Links - Check out the full AMA: https://www.reddit.com/iv6mca/ - You can always contact us at: hello@safing.io Raphtys Handles - https://twitter.com/Raphty101/ - https://reddit.com/u/Raphty101 Davids Handles - https://twitter.com/davegson/ - https://github.com/davegson/ - https://reddit.com/u/davegson/

Raphael takes us through another solo episode and updates us on Safing's most recent developments. How did the AMA event go? What is the state of the SPN and the account page? What bug is currently haunting the Portmaster? And what are the next payment methods we are working on? Participate Do you want to know more about how we feel about privacy? Ask us further questions on reddit: - r/safing: https://reddit.com/r/safing Links - Check out the full AMA: https://www.reddit.com/iv6mca/ - PrivacyWeek: https://privacyweek.at/ - You can always contact us at: hello@safing.io Talks on TheHatedOne's Channel - Former mobile game developer discloses hidden data practices (David): https://youtu.be/loG5_UhgqK4 - Open Source as a Busines Model (David): https://youtu.be/54UT-gtfI9I - Digital Security - threats, risks and how to protect yourself (Daniel): https://youtu.be/QbyAVsbtGh0 Raphtys Handles - https://twitter.com/Raphty101/ - https://reddit.com/u/Raphty101

This episode is a special one because this time only Raphael sat down to talk about what is happening in the company. He talks about the current state of the SPN and gives insight into our thought process during the release. He also gives a sneak peak of the talk he prepared for the Austrian Privacy Week. Participate Do you want to know more about how we feel about privacy? Ask us further questions on reddit: - r/safing: https://reddit.com/r/safing Links - PrivacyWeek: https://privacyweek.at/ Raphtys Handles - https://twitter.com/Raphty101/ - https://reddit.com/u/Raphty101

Daniel and David sit down to have a lengthy talk on DNS resolvers: How does DNS resolving actually work? What about encrypted DNS? Why can the Internet Service Provider still track you even when encrypting your DNS? What are the differences between DNS over TLS and DNS over HTTPS? How do Browsers/VPN/the Portmaster resolve your DNS? Enjoy this tech-heavy episode! Participate Do you like these technical talks? Do you want more of them? Let us know on: - r/safing: https://reddit.com/r/safing Links - Download the Portmaster: https://safing.io/download/ - Github Repository: https://github.com/Safing/portmaster/ - Report UI Issues: https://github.com/safing/portmaster-ui/issues - Report Technical Issues: https://github.com/safing/portmaster/issues Daniels Handles - https://twitter.com/dehaavi/ - https://github.com/dhaavi/ - https://reddit.com/user/dhaavi Davids Handles - https://twitter.com/davegson/ - https://github.com/davegson/ - https://reddit.com/u/davegson/

What is the problem with public deadlines and how do they impact creativity & performance? How did Luke approach the massive task of completely re-desiging Safing? What tools come into play and where do we currently stand? David and Luke get together to chat about these questions, giving plenty of insight behind-the-scenes. Enjoy! Participate Give Luke the criticism he wished for on reddit: - r/safing: https://reddit.com/r/safing Links - Homepage: https://safing.io/ - Tailwind CSS: https://tailwindcss.com/ Lukes Handles - https://twitter.com/lukeseers/ - https://github.com/lukeseers Davids Handles - https://twitter.com/davegson/ - https://github.com/davegson/ - https://reddit.com/u/davegson/

With the recent release of our payment server Raphael and David sit down to talk about cash payments, one of the methods available right from the start. Arguably the most private payment method out there, it still has its drawbacks. What are they? And what can you do to mitigate risks? Participate What could we do better? Let us know how we can improve our podcast on reddit: - r/safing: https://reddit.com/r/safing Links - Download the Portmaster: https://safing.io/download/ - Account Server: https://account.safing.io Raphtys Handles - https://twitter.com/Raphty101/ - https://reddit.com/u/Raphty101 Davids Handles - https://twitter.com/davegson/ - https://github.com/davegson/ - https://reddit.com/u/davegson/

How does the it feel after researching and developing a product for more than three years when it finally sees the light of day? Daniel shares his feelings in regards to the recent Portmaster launch, we question whether or not we should have shipped earlier and we talk about the next steps in this new era. Have a wonderful week! Links - Download the Portmaster: https://safing.io/download/ - Github Repository: https://github.com/Safing/portmaster/ - Report UI Issues: https://github.com/safing/portmaster-ui/issues - Report Technical Issues: https://github.com/safing/portmaster/issues - Tweet by Sahil Lavingia: https://twitter.com/shl/status/1250781238178336768 Participate What could we do better? Let us know how we can improve our podcast on reddit: - r/safing: https://reddit.com/r/safing Daniels Handles - https://twitter.com/dehaavi/ - https://github.com/dhaavi/ - https://reddit.com/user/dhaavi Davids Handles - https://twitter.com/davegson/ - https://github.com/davegson/ - https://reddit.com/u/davegson/

This weeks I had the chance to have a chat with Tabitha who joined our team in January 2020. Working in the backoffice she is involved in a wide range of fields. From accounting, to writing reports to audio editing and helping out in content production. Get to know how the onboarding process was for her and what it was like to be the first female employee of Safing. We also talk about her privacy journey and the importance of meta-data. Have a good one, enjoy! Participate What could we do better? Let us know how we can improve our podcast on reddit: - r/safing: https://reddit.com/r/safing

Looking back, we can clearly see the fruits of our collaboration with Martin. He helped us give weight to areas that we, as new founders, would easily have overlooked otherwise. From professionalism to financial longevity or even redefining our roles as founders: we went from being equals to making Raphael 'the boss' (with few exceptions). Dive into the importance of structures and find out why it is good for founders to be unequal in everyday work-life. Participate What could we do better? Let us know how we can improve our podcast on reddit: - r/safing: https://reddit.com/r/safing Raphtys Handles - https://twitter.com/Raphty101/ - https://reddit.com/u/Raphty101 Davids Handles - https://twitter.com/davegson/ - https://github.com/davegson/ - https://reddit.com/u/davegson/

We're happy to be back publishing podcasts. Expect bi-weekly episodes for now. And we're still working on improving the audio. Step by step :) Anyway, recently we moved to a new office so this was a great moment to look back at our origin story. From our "garage story", working tightly together at Daniel's place to how we then moved to our first and then to our current office. We also talked about meeting the mayor of Baden. Links - First day at the office in 2018: https://safing.io/assets/img/archive/first_day_in_first_office.jpg - Celebration post from the new office: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/safingio/spn/posts/2768665 - Video & COVID-19 Update: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/safingio/spn/posts/2786638/ Participate What could we do better? Let us know how we can improve our podcast on reddit: - r/safing: https://reddit.com/r/safing Raphtys Handles - https://twitter.com/Raphty101/ - https://reddit.com/u/Raphty101 Davids Handles - https://twitter.com/davegson/ - https://github.com/davegson/ - https://reddit.com/u/davegson/

Raphael got to take over the podcast this time, and had a talk with Daniel exploring the differences between the SPN, VPN and Tor. We also talk about some future features that are going to be implemented into the SPN. Links - Kickstarter campaign: https://kickstarter.com/projects/safingio/spn - VPN comparison blog post - https://safing.io/blog/2020/01/22/how-the-spn-compares-to-vpns/ - Tor comparison blog post - https://safing.io/blog/2020/01/22/how-the-spn-compares-to-tor/ Participate What could we do better? Let us know how we can improve our podcast on reddit: - r/safing: https://reddit.com/r/safing Daniels Handles - https://twitter.com/dehaavi/ - https://github.com/dhaavi/ - https://reddit.com/user/dhaavi Raphtys Handles - https://twitter.com/Raphty101/ - https://reddit.com/u/Raphty101

Disclaimer: I'm not at my best today since been feeling a bit sick. I focused on bringing the episode out, so sorry for this weeks poor quality. This week Daniel and David talk about the code review of the SPN cryptography module. The auditor is Cure53 who already has reviewed big players in the scene, such as Bitwarden, Mullvad or OpenPGP. First hints of the result are also included. Enjoy the listen. Links - Auditor: Cure53 - https://cure53.de/ - Nadim Kobeissi - https://twitter.com/kaepora - Formal verification software by Nadim: https://verifpal.com/ - Our Crypto Library: Jess - https://github.com/safing/jess Participate What could we do better? Let us know how we can improve our podcast on reddit: - r/safing: https://reddit.com/r/safing Daniels Handles - https://twitter.com/dehaavi/ - https://github.com/dhaavi/ - https://reddit.com/user/dhaavi Davids Handles - https://twitter.com/davegson/ - https://github.com/davegson/ - https://reddit.com/u/davegson/

After a failed recording last week, we're happy to share the progress on our dawning Kickstarter. With only 12 days to go we are in the middle of wrapping things up. Next to telling what we have accomplished so far Raphael and David also discuss why the campaign was rescheduled, what benefits the different supporters will receive and what still needs to be done. Enjoy the listen! Links - Safing Privacy Network (SPN) Sneak Peek: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ENDslAvXsAETwZq?format=jpg&name=large Participate What could we do better? Let us know how we can improve our podcast on reddit: - r/safing: https://reddit.com/r/safing Raphtys Handles - https://twitter.com/Raphty101/ - https://reddit.com/u/Raphty101 Davids Handles - https://twitter.com/davegson/ - https://github.com/davegson/ - https://reddit.com/u/davegson/

This week we're excited to announce our sponsorship for PrivacyTools. Their website has personally helped all three of us founders, and it would not surprise me if you regularly visit their site too. Raphi and I discuss how it came about to get together with the PrivacyTools team and why we decided to become one of their sponsors. We then also talk about the current state of the privacy community. Enjoy the listen! (sorry for the audio this week, being back in Austria for the week, so the setup was unusual) Links - PrivacyTools Website: https://privacytools.io - Accompanying Blog Post: https://safing.io/blog/2019/12/20/announcing-the-privacytools-sponsorship/ - PTIO Announcement: https://blog.privacytools.io/welcoming-safing-first-sponsor/ - Donate to PrivacyTools: https://opencollective.com/privacytoolsio Participate What could we do better? Let us know how we can improve our podcast on reddit: - r/safing: https://reddit.com/r/safing Raphtys Handles - https://twitter.com/Raphty101/ - https://reddit.com/u/Raphty101 Davids Handles - https://twitter.com/davegson/ - https://github.com/davegson/ - https://reddit.com/u/davegson/

After last weeks blog post talking about our next 5 steps, Daniel and David get together to talk about the long term dreams of Safing. What do we hope to achieve the next 5 years and beyond that? Starting with the SPN and its tight integration to the application firewall: From deciding the exit country on a per app/domain basis to enabling your computer to make use of two internet connections at once. All while still keeping it simple so everyday users can enjoy privacy. And Daniel even outlines his dreams about the times after we achieved all of those steps. Enjoy the listen. Links - Last weeks blog post: https://safing.io/blog/2019/12/06/the-next-5-steps-for-safing/ - SPN Whitepaper: https://safing.io/files/whitepaper/Gate17.pdf Participate What could we do better? Let us know how we can improve our podcast on reddit: - r/safing: https://reddit.com/r/safing Daniels Handles - https://twitter.com/dehaavi/ - https://github.com/dhaavi/ - https://reddit.com/user/dhaavi Davids Handles - https://twitter.com/davegson/ - https://github.com/davegson/ - https://reddit.com/u/davegson/

This week is especially exciting as we welcome our designer Luke to the podcast. This is the story about how Luke got this position: starting from how he found out about the job via The Hated One, our first video call all the way to the vital last interview day where it was only between him and another candidate (and about pizza). It's a great story, and even greater to have him on the team! He has already re-shaped our designs from the ground up. Enjoy the listen! Accompanying Blog Post - https://safing.io/blog/2019/11/29/hiring-a-designer-from-the-privacy-community/ Old and new designs - Old: https://safing.io/assets/img/archive/previous_designs/homepage_v2.png - New: https://safing.io/assets/img/archive/previous_designs/homepage_v3.png Shoutout to The Hated One! - Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjr2bPAyPV7t35MvcgT3W8Q/ Participate What could we do better? Let us know how we can improve our podcast on reddit: - r/safing: https://reddit.com/r/safing - Homepage: https://safing.io Lukes Links - https://twitter.com/lukeseers/ - https://latestprivacy.org/ Davids Handles - https://twitter.com/davegson/ - https://github.com/davegson/ - https://reddit.com/u/davegson/

This week Daniel asks David about all the recent marketing changes that have been going on: Why did the homepage get a new design? And why were the product names changed? This episode takes you all the way back to the early days of Safing, where we had very different slogans and designs. Enjoy this origin story! Old Website & Design - https://safing.io/assets/img/archive/previous_designs/homepage_v2.png Participate If you do like what we do, consider supporting us by participating in our reddit: - r/safing: this episodes reddit thread - Homepage: https://safing.io Daniels Handles - https://twitter.com/dehaavi/ - https://github.com/dhaavi/ - https://old.reddit.com/user/dhaavi Davids Handles - https://twitter.com/davegson/ - https://github.com/davegson/ - https://old.reddit.com/u/davegson/

This week David and Raphael share what the current roadmap has to offer. The big milestone is the release of the Safing Privacy Network (pre-alpha) in March. But there are a lot of things happening until then. Our Crowdfunding Campaign will launch on 02.01.2020. We discuss all of the things that need to happen in preparation for that - spoiler: it's a lot ;) We also talk about our hopes of the 20s being the decade where we as a society can turn the Internet around. Enjoy and thank you for listening! Participate If you do like what we do, consider supporting us by participating in our reddit: - r/safing: this episodes reddit thread - Homepage: https://safing.io Raphtys Handles - https://twitter.com/Raphty101/ - https://old.reddit.com/u/Raphty101 Davids Handles - https://twitter.com/davegson/ - https://github.com/davegson/ - https://old.reddit.com/u/davegson/

Daniel recently gave a presentation at a golang meetup. He and David talk about what Go is and why we use Go to develop our products. Can Go phone home to Google? And why, WHY was Daniel wearing a yellow t-shirt? :P We then talk about the process of becoming a public figure, which all us founders are currently going through. Daniel already got a new slick profile pic for Twitter. And is Davids pic in need of an upgrade too? Let us know ;) Thanks for listening! Participate - r/safing: this episodes reddit thread Links - Video of Daniels Presentation - Picture of him in the Yellow T-Shirt ;) - Safing Homepage Daniels Handles - https://twitter.com/dehaavi/ - https://github.com/dhaavi/ - https://old.reddit.com/user/dhaavi Davids Handles - https://twitter.com/davegson/ - https://github.com/davegson/ - https://old.reddit.com/u/davegson/

Today Raphty and David having a look at Raphtys areas of responsibility. How did the recent grant, which enabled us to hire two new employees imact the company? And what have been the big challenges as a result? Raphty talks about a lot of the ground work he has to tackle in regards to company culture: writing down policies & guidelines, getting people all on the same page, deciding between moving to a new office to improve the work environment or rather be keep the burn rate low. Thanks for listening! Links - Participate in our community: r/safing - Safing Homepage Raphtys Handles - https://twitter.com/Raphty101/ - https://old.reddit.com/u/Raphty101 Davids Handles - https://twitter.com/davegson/ - https://github.com/davegson/ - https://old.reddit.com/u/davegson/

Today Daniel and David give you an update on the current progress of the Privacy Network. We kick back to the decision that lead us to focus solely on the Privacy Network, explain what it is and how it compares to VPNs and TOR. Daniel gives insight into what modules he'll tackle next so we can release the first stage in Q1 2020. We're extremely excited to soon be reaching that stage - even though there is a lot of work still to be done. Thanks for listening! Links - Participate in our community: r/safing - Safing Homepage - Sneak peak for the new homepage (sorry this is really rough, I did not give our designer a heads up

In todays episode Raphty and David talk about Safing's kickoff to becoming a remote company. David just recently moved to Sweden and this impacts the company in many areas.But why even go remote? What benefits do you get? And what challenges arise as a result? Links - Participate in our community: r/safing - Safing Homepage

In this episode Daniel and I go to the root of how one should evaluate the trustworthiness of a company. We start off with the basics: how do businesses make money in general?We then shift the conversation to the digital industry and inspect the dynamics of a field, where the cost of copying almost costs nothing. What did the industry do to still protect their intellectual property? And what problems came along with their success of doing just that?We finish things off by talking about the counter-movement where companies try to regain consumer trust. But how do you evaluate these businesses? How can you be more confident in trusting them? And how did that perspective impact our decisions at Safing? Links - Participate in our community: r/safing - Ownership & Influences of Safing - Open Source & Our Business Model

We start a Podcast series where we talk about our personal privacy journey. Raphty kicks things off and tells us more about his story: How he first came to understand the impact of data collection What first actions he took to reclaim his privacy What his current privacy setup is Where he wants to improve in the future Links - Participate in our community: r/safing - Ownership & Influences of Safing - David's Talk with The Hated One about hidden data practices in his former industry - DuckDuckGo bangs

In the second episode we talk about a rather peculiar situation we were in for most of our journey and the challenges it brought along. We then go on to discuss how we came to a decision which shifted our company as a whole and how it will impact our future. Links - Participate in our community: r/safing - Ownership & Influences of Safing

In this first episode, we introduce the podcast, talk about how start ups are funded in general and have a look at how governmental grants work. We also talk about our experience with grants and we drop news regarding the most recent one we applied for. Links - Participate in our community: r/safing - Ownership & Influences of Safing - Eero being bought by Amazon