What can I read to convince me I shouldn’t care about online privacy as much?
I spend a lot of time reading about and trialling alternatives to popular services to try to protect my privacy online, but it’s a struggle, because typically it costs more money to have privacy (like paying for things like Protonmail) and the services tend to be less full featured (like Protonmail, which is not even close to the same experience as Gmail).
So now rather than continuing to spiral with the many places I’m reading about online privacy, I thought I’d see if I can challenge my brain to just care a lot less. That would make my life simpler and less expensive.
Any articles, videos, whatever anyone would refer me to?
I just have way too much other stuff to be anxious about, so I’d rather not care about online privacy.
25 comments
[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 56.5 ms ] threadIf I am right, I suggest just moving on with your life. That is your ultimate goal, and your search for the articles and videos you requested is getting as much in the way of that as your struggle for online privacy.
Exactly this! I noticed I have a habit of doing this for everything I "choose" in my life. If I choose to buy X, I go online looking for opinions to validate my decision; if I choose to take Y sport, I do the same; if I feel inclined to belive in Z theory or follow W philosophy, I do the same.
I know what I want and believe, but I still find it hard to just trust myself and dive into it, rather I have to always justify it to myself by means of external opinions.
This may not be the best place to ask, but do you have any idea on how to deal with this "lack of confidence in my own choices"?
I guess my only hesitation is that I’ve tried having this sort of resolve before, and then something changed (no idea what - the weather, my workload, my mood, my kids sleep patterns, or something) and I slipped back into this pattern of migrating my email around to different services. So I guess I’m shopping for evidence or reasoning to help me both decide to not care, and to remember not to care when things change again.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/worldeconomicforum/2016/11/10/s...
Your full name, address, and phone number(s)
All emails you use and their passwords
Links to all of your social media accounts and their respective passwords
Bank account balances and transaction logs
Phone call and text records
Contact and address books of your friends and relatives
Edit: I suppose the people down voting do, in fact, have things to hide
More than half of info you mentioned I give ona daily basis to different merchants and services I interact with.
And guess what — it is Okay.
The security part (passwords etc.) is a different story, but as I see it — most just buy into this privacy scam without real understanding what exact goal they're trying to achieve.
Does posting bank transaction statements impose a security risk?
Part of it is that you trust and choose who to trust with the specific information you share, the rest remains private
Why aren't you sharing this stuff publicly, got some skeletons in your closet you're trying to hide?
And yes, if i ever want to bore you to death i will share all my emails (security data redacted) with you ;)
Ooh a fun one could be private messages from social media and your text message history as well.
Of course I assume we can get right on this because you have nothing to hide, right?
Anything taken to the extreme will sound ridiculous. Which hides the original issue and my point — nobody really care average person’s typical internet footprint.
With advertisers being one exception, and even their intent in most cases are harmful (show you a better targeted ad and minimize money waste).
And even with all the regulations they find a way to gather necessary data, because you just can’t avoid leaving footprints if you use internet.
So it’s _mostly_ an artificial battle against wooden windmills.
You just waste your time and money on that privacy crap while wheels keep spinning.
Of course there are important edge cases and concerns we can’t ignore. But I skipped them to illustrate my point.
Unless you don't want to post your information because you like your privacy?
Not caring about privacy is how we get even more detailed and widespread surveillance which is used in numerous discriminatory ways such as police using data for "targeted policing"
With privacy, less-than-perfect is still good too. You can take more precautions, change your settings for the products you use, erase data about you, etc.
The idea is not that you should stop caring, but that you should be pragmatic about the amount of work you're willing to put in.
Preferably one that channels your creative impulse in a positive way.
Not one that thrives on fear.
And hopefully doesn't involve computers.
Google doesn't make oil paints.
It doesn't make lap steel guitars.
It doesn't make pruning sheers, mulch, and garden gnomes.
Dogs aren't connected to the internet.
Etc.
Good luck.
All those are different threats, of different sophistication, with different ways and things to protect yourself against. If your average neighbor's just a bit nosy, encrypting your WiFi with a strong password with wpa2 or 3 is sufficiently. If they're a motivated attacker with an advanced skill set, then either 802.11X, or go wired-only for using the Internet. If you're torrenting movies in contravention of copyright laws, use a VPN. Any one, really. If, however, you're trying to defend against the CIA, You can't trust any VPN to protect you, you can't even really trust Tor to protect you. And if you're trying to protect against Mossad, you're already dead.
Take that modeling and apply it to your concerns. What is the worst Google is going to do to you with everything they have on you aka your search history? Take steps to prevent that. Incognito mode, using a VPN, different browser, clean cookies; go to whatever lengths you deem necessary to protect yourself against the threat they pose to you, and if you could wind up behind bars if you Google for "how to get away with murder" and then kill your spouse. (I mean, don't kill your spouse unless they're trying to kill you, but it's a true story.)
What benefits do you see, besides costs less money and more full featured?
Think of all the other exciting and great things you could do with the time you save. Maybe you can read more, build some creative software, write, learn a new skill, play a musical instrument.