Privacy and anonymity

I was reading the post from Kash Be anonymous and it resonated with me.

Anonymity is a tricky thing. It’s helpful to think of it as a spectrum instead of a black and white “status.”

I liked this bit in particular and how Kash explains that the average Joe simply doesn’t care. Almost all my friends and family have TikTok, Instagram, WhatsApp, and/or Facebook installed on their phones. I try to reduce that by using the web version of those services when I want to see some of its content.

What I want to get out of privacy and anonymity is control. I want to control what I share with companies and the world. That’s my problem with the current status quo. I know most people don’t care, but I do. I want to be able to tick off checkboxes in my Google account so they don’t store my browsing history or YouTube views. I want to be able to switch off location sharing with my Android apps, or microphone access, camera, etc.

At the same time, just like Kash, I do have a blog (several, a podcast… Yes, I like to share stuff). I even share photos on my Instagram account (I know… Instagram, don’t hate me) and use Mastodon and Twitter more for reading than posting. That I’m ok with, I control what I share. That’s all I want, control over my data.

How to get there?

It’s never easy. The more tech-savvy the easier it gets (browser extensions to block tracking, Pi-hole to block domains at my home network, self-hosting…).

How to convince people to care?

That’s a different topic. I’m fine with just trying to raise awareness with posts like these.

Ricard

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