this post was submitted on 01 Nov 2023
50 points (96.3% liked)
Privacy
32169 readers
418 users here now
A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.
Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.
Some Rules
- Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn't great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
- Don't promote proprietary software
- Try to keep things on topic
- If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
- Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
- Be nice :)
Related communities
much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Good point, I am in fact nothing compared whoever celebrity you might think of. In my case though the idea would be of some family member or friend unlocking any device (say for something like looking for a picture together or whatever file they might need) and casually stumbling on something I didn't want share. I want to have that kind of control where if I shared something with someone it's because I wanted to, everything else nobody knows about should stay that way. I mean, it's not like I'm hiding nuke codes or bigtiddygothgf.jpg but still, if I didn't tell you then you shouldn't know.
Lastly, yeah I'm dead so it's not my problem but people will remember me for a little while more so might as well think of that too.
You have never been able to control how the people around you think about you when you are alive and won't be able to once you pass.
Everyone has their secrets and I doubt that any you have will be that shocking to friends and family.
I am not saying this to mock your preparations just to offer some perspective.
If you didn’t want it shared, why did you write it down? The only way to leave no trace is to leave no trace. Don’t want Alice to know something? Don’t tell Bob. Once the information leaves your control you genuinely have no control over it.
That is true, for real life it's harder but as for digital, again. Until I'm here I think my data are protected simply because I'm pretty often around my devices and when that won't be the case I would want it to stay that way.
To answer to your second reply, I do understand that evryone has their own secrets. I know that and I'm pretty sure that whatever secrets the people I know may have won't bother me. We all have our things that might appear weird, strange or wrong to others and that's common to everyone. But to me, if I applied that tought there would be no point in being into this foss and privacy movement at all. If I don't care about my friends knowing my secrets then why would I care that a computer does? I've spent the last copule years trying to find alternatives to companies like google and I tried finding trusted software while also minimizing the amount of data I have online (I have around 30 accounts compared to the 100+ I had when I started) so since I'm so invested in this I aim to improve as much as I can.
100% privacy won't be possble until the day I dig a hole on the bottom of the ocean to live in but for whatever can be done I aim to do it.
I'd sum up all this into something like I'm more of an "everything or nothing" kind of person when it comes to digital stuff, since I put effort into not using the convenient mainstream options, might as well always take it to an upper level.
When Bob is active part of what you don't want Alice to know, it doesn't matter whether you "tell" Bob or not, he knows.
You can try and hide it from him, add layers like an onion, but even that isn't necessarily a failproof guarantee that you left no trace, even onions can be peeled or holes pierced.
It’s no longer your secret then, is it, if someone else is a part of it? That’s part of my point. If anyone other than you knows the secret, you cannot guarantee its secrecy. You can establish some sort of trust relationship and a classification policy. If you’re dead, all bets are off with those things. Some people with intersecting policies, eg doctors or lawyers with professional requirements, will continue to preserve secrets in some cases. Even that’s not a guarantee.
Yes, I got your point. Mine was that many of the things we do (specially online) cannot be protected by trying to keep it "secret" in the way you previously described. Because they often involve a "Bob", even if it's one we sometimes don't even notice.
So it makes sense for someone to try and look for ways to at least get some level of protection from Alices in other ways than just "don't tell Bob" even if they might not be flawless (you gave some examples of such ways in that last response).