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.
Depends on your threat model... What do you think could cause problems while traveling through Europe in your opinion?
https://github.com/GrapheneOS/PdfViewer I'm using GrapehneOS and the integrated PDF viewer. Can't say of it works flawlessly on other Android OSes, but you could give it a try!
Jon-Do-Nym is a paid proxy provider with a similar structure to Tor. But nodes aren't hosted by volunteers, they are hosted by themselves. There was one free server the last time I've tested it and it was a German IP in Dresden. Speed was slow. And afaik they do log user IPs.
Wouldn't recommend them. I would use a VPN like Mullvad combined with Tor. But maybe a VPN or Tor alone is sufficent in your case.
Edit: Looks like there was an option to selfhost nodes (link doesn't work anymore), the whole project looks dead too (old website, old entries). And no info about the AN.ON app...
No problem, indeed I like unreasonable curiosity a lot xD
Federated instances could be counted. Non-federated like govermental or company ones can't. So yeah, I would say 3.
Bots, lots of bots xD
Ah, yeah stutters has different meanings. One being people with a speech disorder and the other one is usually used for display issues (like tearing). It felt like I was using a low refresh rate screen with really low fps, but had 144Hz and 144 fps xD
USB can ramp up latency for sure, should be because of I/O overhead, which usually is ignorable when the HW is fast enough ime.
Now my fingers are itchy to try FreeBSD and OPNsense again, haha. Like I haven't already enough stuff to do and test...
What? xD The script used the DSL modems IPv6 WAN IP to set up the IPv6-to-IPv4 tunnel (to get IPv4 working) each time my ISP dropped the connection after 24h (standard DSL procedure over here in DE) or rnd reconnection. But somehow that script triggered a higher latency and probably packet loss/delay (couldn't measure it, cause it only appeared in fast paced shooters like MW2019). Without the script everything ran fine except IPv4 after disconnections, which had to be setup manually. After that I sent the DSL modem back and returned to my AVM FritzBox as my main router. Can't really say if it was directly the scripts fault or sth else in my OPNsense setup (low powered CPU, USB ethernet adapter, 4 port gbit LAN PCIe card, defective RAM, ...). Maybe I'll try a similar setup again some time, because I kinda liked OPNsense...
Your answer wasn't rude at all :) and thanks for the long one! Looks like I should try FreeBSD again, last time I was just overwhelmed, but that's many years ago. My last try was OPNsense which didn't work like I wanted it to (stupid IPv6-to-IPv4 tunnel, which didn't properly reconnect after the 24h ISP disconnection and my script to fix this fucked up latency and gaming wasn't possible because of stutters (probably packet loss too)). Security is the main aspect of my try to use it. Linux can be like a swiss cheese if misconfigured. Still better than Windows (Server) tho xD
Yeah you're right. Sandboxed gplay services can still be used to surveil clients, good thing you can use another profile with gplay services and install apps (which needs those) on there, meaning no potential leaks for apps that use their own push notification service and closed APIs (Google or Firebase). Good thread about it: https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/9407-this-is-why-i-use-grapheneos
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