ODIN aims to improve the world through a network of open source cooperatively built mobile applications with a focus on privacy and decentralization.

Introduction

We want ODIN to be synonymous with private and secure. We care about our community and are always looking to inform around best practices when it comes to user privacy — regardless of whether the technology stems from our in-house suite of products and services.

What is ODIN CHAT?

ODIN CHAT is a next-gen messenger app. It is an anonymous, private, secure, forever free, zero adverts, open-source messenger app with a built-in digital encrypted wallet. Get ODIN CHAT for free on Google Play

Join the open-source ODIN community

Find out more about the technical details of ODIN on our public GitHub Wiki

Join our primary ODIN community on Reddit

Follow the official ODIN Twitter

Join the ODIN Society co-operative, and access the ODIN Society Discord

If this is all new to you, have a good read through some of the previous few months of ODIN progress.

The following is for entertainment purposes only.

Reddit — The Internet’s Front Page

Reddit can be a massively useful tool if you know where to go. Over the weekend, I popped over to r/privacy to hear what the front page of the internet’s power privacy users had to say when it comes to protecting yourself against big data.

Hardware

Y ou can’t build a great building on a weak foundation. You must have a solid foundation if you’re going to have a strong superstructure. — Gordon B. Hinckley

Starting with premium hardware that avoids data mining bloatware is step one in building a privacy-centric ‘superstructure’. I was surprised that no-one chimed in with the hardware they’re currently using, so I thought I’d throw a wild-card into the ring.

Librem 15 by Purism

“The Librem 15 is the first ultra-portable workstation laptop that was designed chip-by-chip, line-by-line, to respect your rights to privacy, security, and freedom. Every hardware and software component — and everything we do — is in line with our belief in respecting your rights to privacy, security, and freedom. We know you will be happy with the results.” — Purism

Why I like it

Three words: Purism Kill Switches

Tired of wondering if your device truly is air-gapped? Is it pinging off of free available local wifi? What does that airplane even mean? Purism made these intrusive thoughts a thing of the past. No more stickers over your camera. Toggle one of two physical hardware switches, and the device’s Bluetooth and wifi signals both inbound and out, as well as the Camera and Microphone, are off.

Now with a physical toggle switch, when your camera and microphone are switched off, you know they are off. Wireless and Bluetooth are combined in a second hardware switch to control all your radio signals inbound and outbound.

Browsers

Web browsers took up a large swath of the discussion around daily privacy protection, no surprise considering the vast majority of the average consumer’s high-risk behaviors will happen within a web browser. Amongst the mainstream contenders, Firefox got the most love.

“Firefox Multi-Account Containers lets you keep parts of your online life separated into color-coded tabs that preserve your privacy. Cookies are separated by container, allowing you to use the web with multiple identities or accounts simultaneously.” -rabicanwoosley

Lesser known, but intensely respected was that of the Tor Browser.

Software

A few users suggested StandardNotes as being useful for storing written documentation locally on your machine. This logic makes sense considering, it doesn’t matter how secure the means of exchange (email, messenger, file sharing, etc.) is if there remains a point of vulnerability at the source of the document.

What I like about it

Standard Notes is free, makes use of AES-256 encryption, is open source, and available on Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, and Linux. Standard Notes also makes use of both online and offline access, and there is no cap on the number of devices.

Plug-ins

Reddit User, rabicanwoosley suggests uMatrix, described as:

“Point & click to forbid/allow any class of requests made by your browser. Use it to block scripts, iframes, ads, Facebook, etc.” Basically, it’s a permissions matrix for sub/domains to access web resources by type, think of it a bit like an application firewall inside your browser. It is said to be for more advanced users, it also provides an awesome text-based filter system which is very powerful. Example pic of GUI: https://i.stack.imgur.com/IIwgX.png” -rabicanwoosley

Why I like it

It not only makes your experience more private and secure, but it also makes it more serene. Use this plug-in to ‘automatically prevent any class of requests made by your browser.’

Books