recommendations I’ve seen are Cloudflare

I know a lot here are not too comfortable with Cloudflare. However, the Cloudflare Tunnels/Zero Trust is a solid option.

As far as Cloudflare goes, setting up a tunnel requires you to have a domain set up with them

I purchased a domain from NamesCheap for less that $5 USD. Cloudflare doesn’t require you to purchase a domain from them, however they do require that you use their nameservers for obvious reasons.

Baring all of that, Tailscale is solid as well.

Sure, I use them from time to time in my lab to spin up test runs. I also have a cheap VPS ($25/year) that I do the same on. You could also use VMWare Workstation Pro (free) or Oracle Virtual Box (free), on your desktop/laptop, to spin up a Ubuntu or other server, and test to your heart’s content. I would think the 1 gb spec on the RPi 3 might limit you somewhat on what you could test run, but I have surprised myself as to what I can jam into an RPi 3. PiMyLifeUP has a ton of tutorials for the RPi. Might want to take a glance to see what’s possible, but, for an initial investment of $25 seems like a doable opportunity.

I’ll be publishing more pieces soon

Awesome. I look forward to reading more. I had never heard of SafeBox until about a month or so ago. Seems like a great platform to go from zero to hero in no time flat. I keep hoping that offerings like SafeBox, et al, will gel with the general public and expose them to the world of self hosting and make it not as scary for beginners just striking out. Thanks for the article. Bookmarked, and will be shared.

There’s a kind of personal, cute story to why I asked, in particular with the name Scatola Magica. You may or may not find it humorous. My lady friend is Italian and often refers to her naughty bits as ‘Scatola Magica’, or ‘the magic box’. She will smile at me and say, ‘Scatola Magica baby!’ In fact, she has modified Lil’ Kim / 50 cent’s ‘Magic Stick’ to include such lyrics. It’s kind of cute watching this 65 year old Italian lady sashay around the house singing ‘I got the magic box…I know if I can hit once I can hit twice…’. So there you go. Now that I’ve stained your brain…have a great day! LOL

From what I’ve read, I believe it’s a combination of donations. sponsors, volunteer hosting from like minded organizations.

From what I’ve read, he primary concern with VPNs that do not support IPv6 is leakage. If a user’s device tries to access an IPv6 resource while connected to a VPN that only routes IPv4 traffic, the IPv6 packets can escape the VPN tunnel. This exposes the user’s real IP address to external servers, undermining the privacy that the VPN is supposed to provide. Some servers have moved to strictly IPv6. Some servers only accept IPv4.

Some of you networking gods set me straight.

Well, beyond organized legal avenues: national & local elections, writing your representatives, protesting, marching, I see no real recourse against a corrupted and compromised government, and my government is corrupted and compromised top to bottom, side to side. No one gets a pass. Not this administration, and none in the past. So, no matter who sits in the seat of authority, you will always feel the effects of a corrupt and compromised government.

It is not I you have to convince. It is millions of apathetic citizens, blown around by blustering, deceptive political winds, without compass or direction. Beyond not feeding the machine more than you have to while still scratching out a life on this planet like everyone else is, it is hard to make inroads that stick. This machine turns slowly. You see, there are still a majority of people in my country that are comfortable. Comfortable people do not illicit change…uncomfortable people do, but here is no change without pain. Pain is something that the citizens in my country are unwilling to put up with to a better goal. They do not act with the long term in mind. Their future is tied to once every 4 years, never contemplating that the legislation passed today, will be with us for generations, if not longer.

Excellent point! There are several in my locale, and they will play a ton of stuff that I am unfamiliar with, a lot of indie bands too which I have always had an affinity for. If I hear something that really resonates with me, I’ll go search it. Plus a lot of students that are in the broadcasting field of study, have their own shows which opens up so many avenues of exploration. I gave up on the commercial stations long ago. I just get tired of hearing the same repeat playlist every hour and they turn favorite songs into despised songs. Stairway To Heaven is a great Led Zep tune, but not every hour on the hour.

You first.

The reality is that you cannot escape consumerism in the modern world.

Didn’t downvote you but, I guess what I was leaning heavily on was ‘striving to be as self sufficient as humanly possible’. Sure, even though I grow my own food, garden crops, beef, chickens, goats, et al, I still have to buy things. I didn’t mean it like I had transcended commercial consuming. But, do I really need a iPhone 17 pro max as much as AT&T says I do? Do I really need the cutting edge computer when the 14 year old one I built serves me just fine for what I do? That kind of stuff that people just seem to be compelled to purchase.

I’ve heard the older generations reminisce about ye olde monoculture

We old folks most often reminisce through very dark, rose colored glasses which often leave out important negative features of days past.

NordVPN I believe. Also AzireVPN owned by Malwarebytes. Some others do for a fee.

‘freeze peach’

TIL. Never heard the phrase

True. Most radio stations now get their playlists from corporate, like Clear Channel. So, both the radio station and the music industry are in cahoots. A pay to play scenario. Gone are the days of submitting an LP to a radio station for play consideration.

I miss the days of people having their own bespoke collection of their favorite movies and shows

I don’t miss the shelves to house all of it tho. Now, I have quite a collection of audio from my days of internet radio, that I ripped to flac a long time ago All of it sets on my shelf as a NAS.

but I remember finding the songs for mixtapes on… the radio

Back in the day, disk jockies would announce 'Alright, get your cassettes out, we’re going to play the entire Led Zep - Kashmir LP, usually late at night.

True. I remember the days of mixtapes, and then the advent of cd collections in your car of all the bootleg ‘mix tapes’. However, I still hold that if it weren’t for Shawn Fanning, among others, pushing the envelope, the music scene online would be quite different than it is now. Technology is like that…double edged sword and all that.

The only way to stop corporate greed is to stop consuming. Easy to say, hard to do, but not impossible. I’ve lived most of my life striving to be as self sufficient as humanly possible, and that has carried me over into self hosting.

Just a feeling I get, but open directories and hoarders are going to become more popular.