Guides & Tutorials

06
Apr
2026
Privacy Tools Every Brazilian Activist Should Know

Privacy Tools Every Brazilian Activist Should Know

Privacy Tools Every Brazilian Activist Should Know

If you organize actions or share sensitive plans, start with these three tools. They work on phones and computers common in Brazil and require little setup.

Secure your chats

WhatsApp logs everything to Meta servers. Switch group planning to Signal instead.

  1. Download Signal from the official site or app store on your phone.
  2. Register with your number, then enable disappearing messages for each chat.
  3. Turn on the screen lock inside Signal settings so others cannot open the app without your PIN.
  4. Invite the rest of your group one by one so everyone moves over at the same time.

Real case: A São Paulo collective used Signal voice notes with five-second deletion during the 2023 land rights actions. Police seized one phone but found nothing readable after the timer ran out.

  • Check daily that your security number matches your contacts.
  • Never forward Signal messages to WhatsApp.
  • Use the note-to-self feature for quick reminders that stay only on your device.

Hide your browsing and files

Public Wi-Fi at protests and home connections can be monitored. Combine Tor Browser with a simple password manager.

Tool When to use Quick start
Tor Browser Access blocked sites or read reports without your ISP seeing the address. Download from torproject.org, open it, and type the site you need.
KeePassXC Store logins for activist email or cloud folders. Install the app, create one strong master password, then save each new account inside it.

Carry a small USB with the portable version of Tor so you can plug it into any borrowed computer. Delete browser history after each session if you must use Chrome. Test the setup once at home before you rely on it during an action.

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20
Feb
2026
Securing Your Communications: GNU/Linux and Encryption

Securing Your Communications: GNU/Linux and Encryption

Securing Your Communications: GNU/Linux and Encryption

Encryption on GNU/Linux keeps your messages and files private. You can start with tools already in most distros and add a couple more when needed.

Generate your GPG key

Most people use GnuPG for email and file signing. Run this in a terminal:

gpg --full-generate-key
  1. Choose RSA and RSA (default).
  2. Set key size to 4096.
  3. Pick an expiration date you can manage, such as two years.
  4. Enter your real name and email exactly as you use them.
  5. Set a strong passphrase and store it in a password manager.

Encrypt email with Thunderbird

Thunderbird handles GPG out of the box once you install the Enigmail extension or use the built-in OpenPGP support in recent versions.

  • Import your key: Account Settings → End-to-End Encryption → Add Key.
  • Send an encrypted test message to yourself first.
  • Ask a contact for their public key and add it to your keyring with gpg --import.

Replies stay encrypted only if both sides have each other’s keys.

Encrypt files before sending

Use age for simple file encryption when you do not need the full GPG feature set.

age -r [email protected] -o file.txt.age file.txt

The recipient decrypts with their private key:

age -d -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 -o file.txt file.txt.age

age works well for sharing documents over email or cloud storage that you do not fully trust.

Choose chat apps with real encryption

Signal Desktop runs cleanly on GNU/Linux and uses the same protocol as the phone app.

App Protocol Notes
Signal Signal Protocol Default E2E, works on most distros
Element Matrix Self-host option, good for teams
Session Oxen No phone number required

Install from your package manager or Flatpak to keep the app updated automatically.

Back up and protect your keys

Copy your private key to an offline USB drive you keep in a safe place:

gpg --export-secret-keys --armor [email protected] > backup.asc

Never store the backup on any machine connected to the internet. Test restore once a year so you know the passphrase still works.

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16
Feb
2026
How to Start Using Linux in Brazil: A Beginner’s Guide

How to Start Using Linux in Brazil: A Beginner’s Guide

How to Start Using Linux in Brazil: A Beginner’s Guide

Start by running Linux inside your current Windows setup. This avoids any risk to your files while you test the waters.

Pick a distro that works well here

Most people in Brazil do fine with Ubuntu or Linux Mint. Both come with Portuguese language support out of the box and have local download servers that keep updates fast.

  • Ubuntu: good if you want the most community help in Portuguese forums.
  • Linux Mint: feels closer to Windows and runs lighter on older machines common in Brazilian homes.

Install it without touching your hard drive

Download VirtualBox from the official site, then grab an Ubuntu ISO from ubuntu.com. Follow these steps:

  1. Open VirtualBox and create a new machine with 4 GB RAM and 25 GB virtual disk.
  2. Attach the ISO and start the machine.
  3. Choose “Try Ubuntu” first so nothing installs yet.
  4. Once inside, open the browser and test if your Wi-Fi and mouse work.

After an hour of use you can decide whether to install it for real later.

Adjust settings for Brazilian daily life

After the first boot, open Settings and set these items right away:

Setting What to do
Language Switch to Português (Brasil)
Keyboard Choose ABNT2 layout
Time zone America/Sao_Paulo
Updates Pick the nearest mirror in Software & Updates

This makes LibreOffice show dates in dd/mm/yyyy and lets you type accents without extra work.

Handle real tasks right away

Open the terminal and run these commands to get common tools:

  • sudo apt update && sudo apt install vlc gimp libreoffice
  • sudo apt install steam for games

If your bank app refuses to run, install it through the browser first. Most Brazilian banks now work fine in Firefox after you enable the “Use hardware acceleration” option.

Join the Ubuntu Brasil group on Telegram or the local subreddit for quick answers when something breaks. People answer in Portuguese within minutes during the day.

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12
Oct
2025
Contributing to Open Source Projects from Brazil: A Starter Guide

Contributing to Open Source Projects from Brazil: A Starter Guide

Contributing to Open Source Projects from Brazil: A Starter Guide

You’re in Brazil and want to start contributing. Focus on projects with active maintainers who reply within a day or two, then open small, clear pull requests. This works even with the time difference to Europe and the US.

Pick a project that matches your routine

Look for repos that already have Brazilian contributors or issues labeled “good first issue”. Check GitHub in the morning your time so you catch maintainers online in the afternoon their time.

  • Browse the BrasilAPI repo and translate a missing endpoint description.
  • Fix a broken link in the VS Code Portuguese language pack.
  • Update an outdated example in the Django docs that still shows Python 2 syntax.

Make a short list of three projects you already use. Read their CONTRIBUTING.md once, then pick the smallest open issue that takes under an hour.

Day of week Best window for PRs Why it works
Monday-Wednesday 9am-11am BRT US East Coast is just starting their day
Thursday 8am-10am BRT Europe maintainers still online before lunch

Send your first pull request

  1. Fork the repo and create a branch named after the issue, such as fix-typo-in-readme.
  2. Make the change, then run any tests the project asks for in CONTRIBUTING.md.
  3. Write the PR description in English, one sentence on what changed and one line linking the issue.
  4. Post the PR before lunch your time so replies land while you’re still at the computer.
  5. If a maintainer asks for edits, push the fix in the same branch instead of opening a new PR.

Many Brazilian devs start with documentation or test fixes because those need less back-and-forth than new features.

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13
Jun
2025
Free Software in the Brazilian Judiciary: Case Studies

Free Software in the Brazilian Judiciary: Case Studies

Free Software in the Brazilian Judiciary: Case Studies

What free software changes in daily court operations

You see immediate differences once a court moves away from proprietary licenses. Staff no longer wait for approval to install a PDF reader or update a browser. Documents open in the same format across departments without extra plug-ins.

  • LibreOffice replaces paid office suites and handles the same .docx and .odt filings used in federal courts.
  • Firefox or Chromium serves as the default browser for the e-process systems run by the CNJ.
  • Local IT teams gain the ability to script routine tasks instead of opening support tickets with vendors.

TRF4 reported lower annual license costs within the first year after the switch. The money stayed inside the budget for hardware upgrades.

TRF4 migration to LibreOffice

The regional federal court in Porto Alegre began testing LibreOffice in 2015 on a single floor. Within eight months every workstation used it for internal memos and external filings.

Key points from their rollout:

  • They kept the existing document templates and only adjusted macro buttons that already existed in the old suite.
  • Training consisted of two-hour sessions focused on the three menus most used by clerks.
  • One IT staff member handled the help desk for the first month; call volume dropped after week three.

Other courts copied the same pattern. TJSC later adopted the same image and training outline.

Steps other courts followed after TRF4

  1. Audit current licenses and list every machine still tied to paid software.
  2. Pick one pilot department that handles mostly text documents and run it for sixty days.
  3. Measure time spent opening files and printing before and after the change.
  4. Document the three or four file types that caused problems and create a short internal wiki page for each.
  5. Roll out to the next department only after the pilot team signs off.

Courts that skipped the pilot step usually faced resistance when macros failed on the first day. Those that kept the pilot small fixed issues before they spread.

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