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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.
- dschuessler 4y agoFrame challenge: You already have decided not to care about online privacy. It seems you are not looking to be convinced but rather for selected opinions making it easier for you to justify your decision to yourself. If 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.
- singedproxy 4y ago> looking [...] for selected opinions making it easier for you to justify your decision to yourself. 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"?
- jarno3000 4y agoMight not be a popular suggestion but Marie Forleo probably has just the answers you are looking for.
- singedproxy 4y agoThank you for taking the time to drop this recommendation. I will definitely look into it :)
- adaptationora 4y agoThis is the response I need to hear I think. You’re hitting the nail on the head. 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.
- baremetal 4y agoSure try this article from Forbes and the World Economic Forum https://www.forbes.com/sites/worldeconomicforum/2016/11/10/shopping-i-cant-really-remember-what-that-is-or-how-differently-well-live-in-2030/?sh=283a16a81735 https://www.forbes.com/sites/worldeconomicforum/2016/11/10/s...
- aristofun 4y agoWhat’s there to hide in the first place? Do you have such terrible skeletons in your closet or what?
- rayrrr 4y agohttps://medium.com/get-cozy/why-you-should-see-the-nothing-to-hide-documentary-f5290dc338a0 https://medium.com/get-cozy/why-you-should-see-the-nothing-t...
- kevviiinn 4y agoIf you have nothing to hide I suppose you wouldn't mind posting the following information in a reply to my comment: 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
- nostromo123 4y agoExactly! Also, don't forget detailed photos of your partner/kids, together with their workplace/school addresses.
- aristofun 4y agoDon't mix privacy and security! 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.
- kevviiinn 4y agoWell I just want to read the emails, how about posting all of the email content instead? 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?
- nicbou 4y agoTreat privacy like hygiene. People know that they should floss everyday, yet they still don't. However most still brush their teeth every night at least. 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.
- shrimp_emoji 4y agoStart a social media empire that depends on the availability of user data.
- hulitu 4y agoGoogle, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft privacy policy.
- brudgers 4y agoFind another hobby. 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.
- zamnos 4y agoread up on threat models, and how they apply to online security. Basically, what threat are you defending against, and what can they do to you? Are you protecting against your neighbor who's of normal skill but is just a bit nosy? Do you live next door to the hateful version of the lock picking lawyer that has a vendetta against you? Are you torrenting Disney movies? Are you Edward Snowden and the CIA's trying to find you in the continental US? Or are you in Hong Kong already, or are they already camped across the street? Is Mossad after you for some reason? 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.)
- jimkleiber 4y agoI struggle with a similar thing, and I've often wondered maybe a way to counteract it (or to have courage to be more open online) is to think about the benefits I may get from it. I think I can often get stuck in seeing just the downsides of not protecting my privacy. What benefits do you see, besides costs less money and more full featured?
- steponlego 4y agoHow about reading something that will make you care more?
- atomicnature 4y agoI'd make the argument: "Life is short". 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.