Anybody know of anything else that would be quite wise to purchase sooner than later, due to potential (or incoming) regulation that would be regarded as privacy-infringing to enforce? I was thinking about this because I’ve been pondering a high-quality 3D printer purchase for this reason.
Advice for varying levels of budget would be quite nice, too; I partially intend on this being a post people may want to revisit.
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You can’t consume your way out of this
Guns and ammunition
Physical media and ways of accessing it (usb disc drive for example)
Older laptops and vehicles if you’re in the market
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Before you buy anything make sure you research it first. Start buying things that you own the infustructure for. Don’t buy a 3d printer that doesn’t support Linux, or buy a 3d printer that won’t be effected by the 3d printing laws that try to stop gun parts from being printed.
That logic should apply to everything. If you are buying a IP camera make sure to get one that does PoE and doesn’t connect and ping hone to a server before sending you your data. Don’t buy a WiFi garage door opener unless you installed the ZigBee switch yourself. You should aim to be able to do everything yourself without needing subscription models or useless internet of things devices.
Things you likely want now before they get further ruined:
A google pixel phone to flash and de google.
A car before ~2013 that you plan on learning how yo repair when it breaks down.
A AMD based PC with a a 16gig GPU. Thats like the absolute lowest end you can use LLM’s and defuision models locally that don’t completely suck ass. And if you’re not much of a gamer or desktop user you can turn this PC into a server and run your own services in docker so you reduce your dependency on apps.
Dash cam.
I say as I have yet to replace my broke one for the last 6 months… thanks for the reminder lol
Buying a house is always advisable if you can afford it. And on the privacy front I think it is the best protected space we have. Not just by law but also by robust doors.
Not having to worry about a landlord who feels entitled is also pretty great.
Couple caveats about buying a house
- Make sure you have some money saved to deal with surprise expenses before you buy so you can handle things like appliances dying randomly.
- Don’t buy a house unless you plan on keeping it for at least 7 years. Selling a house is pain since you have to act like you don’t live in your home and usually real estate commissions and closing costs Eat up all the appreciation if you sell too soon
I had an opportunity to buy a house earlier this year. Didn’t feel ready, nerves got to me and instead of getting in a bidding war I kept my offer at the asking price.
The people who outbid me ended up only paying what my offer was anyways, due to the bank’s valuation of the house.
3 months later and the house shot up in valuation by $50k. I could’ve bought the house, lived in it for two years, and still would’ve ended up ahead compared to renting smh
Books, vinyl records, CD’s, DVD’s, bluray, hard drives (oké maybe not now now). Tools… Especially battery power tools.
And if you are abble, solar panels and batteries.
This wil make your life pretty low tech and non traceable. Also there commodities that are tradable for goods and services with others in your communitie.
Hardwired tools are generally better in both terms of performance and reliability. If you really want get Amish about it you can convert a lot of eletric tools into gas tools and buy them like that.
That being said I will still grab my ryobi battery power tools before anything else.
Especially battery power tools.
Ditch the battery tool lock-in and go pneumatic. The tools themselves are more robust, more powerful, typically designed to be repaired, and less expensive when comparing performance.
This is the way to go. Once you get a stand up air compressor that spits out enough cfm its a real game changer. I don’t even have that many air tools outside of nail guns. Just having solid air for dusting made it worth while for me. I’ll get distracted for hours using my tornado air whip and airsolizer.
And noisy and need oil and need an air compressor and need lots of space and an air hose…
TINSTAAFL, buy once cry once, and all that. I can mitigate all of those trade-offs. I can’t mitigate proprietary batteries. Oh, sure, there knockoffs (potentially or actually dangerous) and generic batteries (like CEENR). The performance of the generics just isn’t there yet, but for people messing around at home, it’s gutenuf. The battery is still an expensive consumable.
I have mostly cordless tools and regret having gone down this route. The cost of one 10Ah pack would get me a “throwaway” oil-free compressor that I can repair and rebuild. And once you have the air tools, you have them for life. Dropped you drill in saltwater? Clean it up, lubricate, back in action. For the price of one cordless nail gun, I got my nail gun, a long nose stapler, a drill, extra air line, and an extra tank for additional air volume.
Is pneumatic for everyone? Absolutely not. But that battery lock-in is terrible. Proprietary anything chaps my ass, and I avoid it whenever possible.
As an aside, I often wonder how long before TTI and Stanley Black & Decker start locking out third-party batteries.
If you plan on using them frequently then you need a decent sized air compressor. I have a 3 gal pancake compressor and it just doesn’t do it for me. I would also say when buying tools, really consider if you need it battery powered or if you will always have wall power. I would never buy a battery powered orbital sander because I’m always going to be running dust collection anyways, and the cord can run along the dust hose.
Though a double edged sword, an electric vehicle ic it exists where it doesn’t rely on the manufacturer connectivity. Being able go plug in and charge and get wherever is better than relying on fuel.
Nothing you can buy can save you if a law is passed prohibiting it. They’ll outlaw possession/usage too.
People should start protesting today instead of waiting for things to get worse.
I break a lot of laws already. I dont mind breaking more of them.
Say it again friend.
Bidet, it’s like 1000 times better and you can worry less about Costco shortages.
Came here to say the same. I bought my first pre pandemic. When the pandemic came I was so grateful lol.
I can’t tell if you’re serious because it’s super late where I am right now, but this is just lowkey good advice in general. Bidets rule lol
You don’t dry all that water off your ass?
Well, use goes from like a 10-15 square use without bidet to a consistent 3-4. Square consumption is the same from Taco Bell Tuesday to fiber Friday. You’re never going to punch a finger through trying to get yourself clean and you never need to worry about smells. A $45 dollar accessory has never punched above its weight class so well before, imo.
Turns out that twerking does have benefits
You certainly don’t want to use TP on your dripping wet asshole. Hand towels work best
set up a towel rotation
The better models come with dryers.
vasectomies
Maybe flashable routers, phones, SBCs, noise generators if you’re an activist? Sorry if I’m not being concrete enough.
We should also consider tariffs and general inflation, which work (intentionally or not) to deprive people of “privacy-friendly” tech (along with everything else really). This is essential, knowing that basically most tech hardware comes from China, and we’ve seen how the govt can just say “uh actually this will be X bucks more expensive” without explicitly banning it, especially in the US and Europe
AI and age verification free Linux Distro Installers.
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Mullvad VPN let’s you buy 10 years in advance IIRC. So if the government bans VPN’s (but Sweden doesn’t) you might still be able to use them for a decade.
I don’t see how this helps anything
Not if they start using DPI and block VPN protocols. VPNs that use OpenVPN, Wireguard and other non-censorship-resistant protocols (including Mullvad) don’t work in China, Iran or Russia.
Mullvad and other mainstream VPN providers only work in free countries where VPN is allowed.
So what does work in those countries?
Protocols that mimic regular https traffic in a way that survives DPI. There are many variants like vless+reality+vision, naiveproxy, etc. It’s still cat-and-mouse game since government’s DPI systems are constantly improving.
Mullvad had some anti-censorship option last I checked. Don’t remember what exactly it does, but it had some sort of option.
https://mullvad.net/en/help/connecting-to-mullvad-vpn-from-restrictive-locations
This is what I can find on their website. Last updated April 22, 2026.
Seems like Russia is mostly blocked and China is fully blocked.
This guide lists different settings and methods to connect to Mullvad VPN from networks and countries where connecting to a VPN is difficult. This includes countries such as China, Egypt, Iran, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan.
But Russia, China, and Iran are listed here. So maybe works? I’m confused
It is a legitimate arms race. Things are changing weekly, you gotta understand what you’re doing and why and take other steps to connect to stuff sometimes.
