Opt Out

Latest Episodes:

Escaping the technocracy w/ Gabriel Custodiet and UrbanHacker Sep 10, 2025

Show notes

If you’ve ever wanted to dive deeper into personal privacy and security, there’s no better resource out there than Escape the Technocracy. I chat with the creators on why they started the project, what to expect from it, and where they’re taking it next.

More about Gabriel and Urban

Gabriel’s guest profile – https://optoutpod.com/guests/gabriel-custodiet/
Urban’s guest profile – https://optoutpod.com/guests/urbanhacker/

More about Escape the Technocracy

Website: https://escapethetechnocracy.com/
Newsletter: https://escapethetechnocracy.com/product/watchmans-torch-newsletter/
Twitter: https://x.com/WatchmanPrivacy

Supporting Opt Out

Donations – https://optoutpod.com/donate
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Making Bitcoin dev great at Bitcoin++ w/ Nifty Nei Jun 29, 2025

Show notes

Tired of Bitcoin conferences for suits and TradFi bros? Nifty has been making Bitcoin conferences great again with Bitcoin++ for years now, and she’s joining me on Opt Out to chat all things Bitcoin dev, Bitcoin++, and more.

More about Nifty

Nifty’s guest profile – https://optoutpod.com/guests/nifty-nei/

More about Bitcoin++

Website: https://btcpp.dev/
Bitcoin++’s Twitter: https://x.com/btcplusplus

Supporting Opt Out

Donations – https://optoutpod.com/donate
Leave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible!
Share it with your friends, family, and other communities!

Support the show

The next step for VPNs w/ Carl Dong from Obscura Mar 30, 2025

Show notes

The VPN paradigm has grown stale, with simple one-party providers being the best available. But what if we could further minimize trust by shift to a two-party hop system? Obscura is doing just that, and we’re sitting down with their founder Carl Dong to learn all about it.

More about Carl

Carl’s guest profile – https://optoutpod.com/guests/carl-dong/

More about Obscura

Website: https://obscura.net/
Obscura’s Twitter: https://x.com/obscuravpn
Technical Blog Post on Obscura: https://obscura.net/blog/bootstrapping-trust/
iCloud Private Relay: https://www.apple.com/icloud/docs/iCloud_Private_Relay_Overview_Dec2021.pdf
MASQUE at the IETF: https://datatracker.ietf.org/wg/masque/about/

Supporting Opt Out

Donations – https://optoutpod.com/donate
Leave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible!
Share it with your friends, family, and other communities!

Support the show

Can AI be private? w/ Marks from OpenSecret Mar 27, 2025

Show notes

AI is all the rage, but with it come new privacy questions and concerns. Marks from OpenSecret joins to walk us through how we can have our AI-generated cake and eat it too.

More about Marks

Marks’ guest profile – https://optoutpod.com/guests/marks/

More about OpenSecret and Maple AI

OpenSecret’s website – https://opensecret.cloud
How does OpenSecret work? – https://blog.opensecret.cloud/opensecret-technicals/
Maple AI’s website – https://trymaple.ai

Supporting Opt Out

Donations – https://optoutpod.com/donate
Leave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible!
Share it with your friends, family, and other communities!

Support the show

Improving SimpleX w/ Evgeny from SimpleX and Daniel Keller from Flux Jan 24, 2025

Show notes

Two years after our first episode on SimpleX, we’re back with an update on all they’ve been working on, including a new approach to chat relays with Dan from Flux.

More about our guests

Evgeny’s guest profile – https://optoutpod.com/guests/evgeny-poberezkin/
Dan’s guest profile – https://optoutpod.com/guests/dan-keller/

More about SimpleX

Website – https://simplex.chat/
Quantum-resistant encryption blog post – https://simplex.chat/blog/20240314-simplex-chat-v5-6-quantum-resistance-signal-double-ratchet-algorithm.html
“Privacy-preserving content moderation” blog post – https://simplex.chat/blog/20250114-simplex-network-large-groups-privacy-preserving-content-moderation.html
Network operator monetization plans – https://github.com/simplex-chat/simplex-chat/blob/stable/docs/rfcs/2024-04-26-commercial-model.md
Run your own SimpleX SMP server – https://github.com/simplex-chat/simplexmq

More about Flux

Website – https://runonflux.com
Flux’s new AI product – https://ai.runonflux.com/

Supporting Opt Out

Donations – https://optoutpod.com/donate
Leave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible!
Share it with your friends, family, and other communities!

Support the show

An open-source security platform w/ Zach Herbert from Foundation Dec 16, 2024

Show notes

If you're frustrated by the need for multiple hardware wallets, security keys, two-factor applications, or even phones and looking for an easier way to secure your digital life, Foundation has just what you need. Zach Herbert, co-founder and CEO of Foundation, joins me to talk through their latest product, Passport Prime, and how they're seeking to lower the barrier of entry to proper digital security with a single open-source security platform.

More about Zach

Zach’s guest profile – https://optoutpod.com/guests/zach-herbert/

More about Foundation

Foundation's website -- https://foundation.xyz/
Foundation's X account -- https://twitter.com/FOUNDATIONdvcs/

Supporting Opt Out

Donations – https://optoutpod.com/donate
Leave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible!
Share it with your friends, family, and other communities!

Support the show

How Kagi is fixing search w/ Vlad Prelovac Nov 23, 2024

Show notes

Ever wondered why your Google search results are so bad? Looking for an alternative that puts your interests first instead of an ad company’s? Today we chat with Vlad Prelovac, founder of Kagi, a new type of search engine that rethinks finding information on the internet from the ground up.

More about Vlad

Vlad’s guest profile – https://optoutpod.com/guests/vlad-prelovac/

More about Kagi

Kagi’s website – https://kagi.com/
Orion, Kagi’s fast, zero-telemetry browser for macOS and iOS – https://browser.kagi.com/

Supporting Opt Out

Donations – https://optoutpod.com/donate
Leave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible!
Share it with your friends, family, and other communities!

Support the show

Bitcoin and Ossification w/ Jameson Lopp Nov 13, 2024

Show notes

We get to the bottom of what ossification is, why it's harmful to Bitcoin to push for premature ossification, and why we need to improve the building blocks available to developers to enable trustless and useful layers to be built on Bitcoin.

More about Jameson:

Jameson's guest profile -- https://optoutpod.com/guests/jameson-lopp/

More about ossification:

Lopp's recent blog post: https://blog.lopp.net/on-ossification/
Lopp's debate with Jimmy Song on ossification: https://x.com/LuganoPlanB/status/1855321782581924245

Supporting Opt Out:

Donations -- https://optoutpod.com/donations
Leave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible!
Share it with your friends, family, and other communities!

Support the show

Proton Wallet w/ Andy Yen Jul 31, 2024

Show notes

I sit down with Andy Yen, founder and CEO of Proton, to discuss the release of Proton Wallet, the decision to focus on Bitcoin despite its lack of privacy, why they don't accept Monero, and much more.

More about Andy:

Andy's guest profile -- https://optoutpod.com/guests/andy-yen/

More about Proton Wallet:

Website: https://wallet.proton.me/
Launch blog post: https://proton.me/blog/proton-wallet-launch
Bitcoin via email primer: https://proton.me/support/wallet-bitcoin-via-email

Supporting Opt Out:

Donations -- https://optoutpod.com/donations
Leave a review on your favorite podcast platform, if possible!
Share it with your friends, family, and other communities!

Support the show

SimpleX chat and how privacy aligns with the future of computing w/ Evgeny from SimpleX Feb 26, 2023

Show notes

Heard of SimpleX chat and curious what it's all about? This episode, we're sitting down with Evgeny, the founder of SimpleX Chat to talk about SimpleX, privacy, data sovereignty, and the future of computing.

More about Evgeny:

Evgeny's guest profile -- https://optoutpod.com/guests/evgeny-poberezkin/

More about SimpleX:

Website: https://simplex.chat/
Chat protocol: https://github.com/simplex-chat/simplex-chat/blob/stable/docs/protocol/simplex-chat.md
Whitepaper, including threat modeling: https://github.com/simplex-chat/simplexmq/blob/stable/protocol/overview-tjr.md
Run your own SimpleX SMP server: https://github.com/simplex-chat/simplexmq

Opt Out's Sponsors:

Cake Wallet, an easy to use Monero mobile wallet -- https://optoutpod.com/sponsors/#cake-wallet
LocalMonero, an excellent and privacy-preserving way to buy and sell Monero -- https://optoutpod.com/sponsors/#localmonero
IVPN, an ethical, no-nonsense, non-logging VPN provider -- https://optoutpod.com/sponsors/#ivpn

Supporting Opt Out: