Yes, you need an Internet connection at some point. This can be a cafe, a library, an office, your house, friend’s house, etc. As for controlled by the government, well, that depends on your country.

Worst case, if possible, you can move countries. I understand that might not be feasible, but my point is, you can move countries to escape the government and Internet restrictions. But the government locks your account/bank? Moving countries doesn’t fix that, and you’re locked out of any money you had there.

But even if I have a server, I’ll have to have my own separate Internet if I really want to be able to pay unrestrictedly.

Separate Internet? I mean, yes, you do need Internet. Not sure what you mean by “separate.” And you don’t need a server (node), though they are handy for privacy. You could choose one that is reputable.

Otherwise the government would just shut down my internet connection, right?

If they knew where it/your Internet was. All you really need is your phone or PC. You could use a cafe or library or cell tower or etc.

Nobody is doing that now, with regular money, either.

I think it’s more for ACH between banks as well as some banks have limits. Also, a government literally stepped in to actively block people’s accounts. Just because you can swipe your card and buy a soda, doesn’t mean there aren’t restrictions or people being blocked.

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said Thursday financial institutions have moved quickly to freeze the accounts of people linked to the demonstrations in Ottawa, leaving an unknown number of protesters in financial limbo

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ottawa-protests-frozen-bank-accounts-1.6355396

then must do what you need to do in order to be productive

You clearly have not worked at most larger companies which have Acceptable Use Policies (AUP) which typically involves not modifying the PC and OS with threat of termination when (not if) discovered.

You don’t need a video camera pointed out towards the public 24/7.

Depends on where you live. Being notified of packages at your door is handy before they get stolen.

And being able to see who knocks on your door is also handy without exposing your eye to the tiny (and glass) peephole.

As well as being able to see who approaches when you’re not even there.

If you want to start small, I’d go with one supported by Asuswrt-Merlin, “a third party alternative firmware for Asus routers, with a special emphasis on tweaks and fixes rather than radical changes or collecting as many features as possible.” Keeps it close to stock with minor upgrades, and a faster release cycle for fixes. The RT-AX88U_PRO is one of the higher end routers that is supported by Merlin.

I’m on mobile so can’t see the sidebar…

Then I recommend upgrading your mobile experience to one that does. I personally prefer Voyager, “an Apollo-like open source web client for Lemmy. It’s a mobile-first app, but works great on desktop devices, too.”

Voyager PWA: https://vger.app/ Source code: https://github.com/aeharding/voyager

I guess people just started to realise that mini x86s exist too

People always knew x86s existed. I think the main culprit is the price gap between them and Pis is decreasing. Pis used to be around $35, which has skyrocketed to 3-5x MSRP, plus they were unavailable for a long time. Now the Pi’s performance to price ratio isn’t justifiable to most, so people pay a little more for the x86 but get so much more capability.

uses something called tellynet (aka telnet but I was playing dumb)

I wonder if he got the joke, or was a scriptkiddie who just relies on existing tools without understanding them, and thought you meant television or similar.

“There are no seeding rules…if you fall below a 0.5 ratio, your downloads will be disabled.”

That there sounds like a seeding rule.

It’s just hardware. Almost any device can act as your router if you put the proper OS and/or software on it.

I have like 5 years using Niagara and paying for it…

If you would’ve paid for the lifetime, you only pay once and it’s cheaper than annual once you hit 3+ years.

Yearly subscription: $9.99/9.99€/₹120 a year Lifetime purchase: $29.99/29.99€/₹360 (once)

No Homers Club

They posted it on the Internet, so it has to be.

If you don’t use a VPN on the router, you won’t need it.

But what if you decide to set one up so you can VPN in while on the road? Personally, I’d rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it…as well as “buy once, cry once” rather than need to upgrade down the line.

But OP is, and still asking…

Amazon’s logic is you paid a subsidized/cheaper price that is offset by included ads. You can buy it without ads (more expensive, obviously) from the start.

1. Blocking older known malware still blocks them, so that’s good (and saves bandwidth because the connection never happens, so this is really good).
2. If the site is hijacked, it needs blocked till it’s unhijacked. So this is good as well.
3. This is not really a point?

Number one above, stopping the connection before it happens, is really the best benefit, in my opinion. And if they boast a high false positive, you need better lists. You keep saying “they don’t block this or block that.” They are (nothing is) a one stop shop. Simply because they don’t block what you’re cherry picking does not make them bad. Use multiple layers. You say “don’t use a blocklist, use MS Defender instead.” Why not use both the blocklist, MS Defender, and even more stuff? Multiple layers. Defense in depth.

I use ProtonVPN’s Secure Core. Their entry nodes are in privacy-friendly countries — Switzerland, Iceland, or Sweden — and exit nodes can be to any of their VPN servers in dozens of countries around the world. It’s a double hop which increases latency slightly, but I don’t real-time game on this configuration.

https://protonvpn.com/features/secure-core

It’s part of defense in depth. No single piece will protect you from everything, so you you use multiple layers of protection.