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There are much more billionaires and multimillionaires that are utterly invisible yet they rule over us. Only the couple that want to do publicly visible things, are.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> we decided to make the service free > One of the problems is that there is very little funding I think your problem is self-made. > Not sure how to reconcile the two. Accept money in exchange for the value you create.
The title of the article is "Restoring your privacy costs money, which makes it a marker of class", GP says they want to avoid that problem, and your solution is to have them charge money?
Everyone seem to forget the fact that, if you are able to pay just for the sake of privacy, your data is now even more valuable, since you signal that you have disposable income to spend on things that "common folk" can not afford to. Advertisers want to target you specifically. The better idea should be to feed them incorrect information and intentionally poison the data.
What are the best ways to feed advertisers incorrect data? If they already have valid data on who I am and what I do, what could make them overwrite this knowledge?
TrackMeNot does a similar thing with google/bing/yahoo, submitting random popular queries to search engines in the background. It even emulates "bursty" search behavior, where you might not input a query for an hour, and then do 5+ queries in 5 minutes. I use this and have actually seen its effects, my "filter bubble" is much less tech-oriented and this effects auto-complete, result ordering and even the news articles I get in my Google Now shelf on my android phone.
I'm the creator of YourDigitalRights.org, a free and open source service in the privacy space. When we started 3 years ago we decided to make the service free precisely because of the reasons outlined in this article. Almost every week I get an offer to monetize the service in some way, but I still think you shouldn't need to pay for privacy (literally as I was writing this comment I got an email offering to pay for…
Digital privacy is mainly focused upon preventing siphoning of data, PiHole, uBlock, NetGuard(Android) can save data and thereby results in saving Internet costs. NoScript along with aforementioned tools can save compute and thereby power.
Many of the privacy focused alternatives are idealistic passion projects and so is often free. Linux ecosystem can cover almost all of our computing needs without the need for proprietary tools. LineageOS can give second lease to capable smartphone hardware limited by planned obsolescence, thereby saving costs on new smartphone.
I'm sure there are lot more to add here, But I've my point to why I think privacy not only recovers cost but is also capital efficient.
But the real question as the parent asks should be how can we make these projects sustainable? I'm sure the Linux Foundation wouldn't go bankrupt as the commercial implications are huge, Mozilla looks precarious but I feel its largely because of the management but what about that indie developer like the one above or the one developing NetGuard? How can we establish this value proposition to a layman for making a pro-privacy lifestyle choice?
Err, you shouldn't conflate privacy from private companies with privacy from the government. The latter always was and always will be around, you can't hide from the ultimate authority. Nothing will help you, short of living completely off the grid in an RV, maybe. It's not a good thing, but governments everywhere are pushing for more surveillance and knowledge and they will get it. But they also help increase privac…
I trust the government (U.S.) more than I trust the companies. In the U.S., companies seem to have more influence on people's everyday lives than government.
I'm the creator of YourDigitalRights.org, a free and open source service in the privacy space. When we started 3 years ago we decided to make the service free precisely because of the reasons outlined in this article. Almost every week I get an offer to monetize the service in some way, but I still think you shouldn't need to pay for privacy (literally as I was writing this comment I got an email offering to pay for…
I appreciate your work and agree with the premise of this article that privacy needs effort; But I think it needs to be also told that the cost of privacy can be recovered in the long run directly and I don't mean by just healthier lifestyle or social good. Digital privacy is mainly focused upon preventing siphoning of data, PiHole, uBlock, NetGuard(Android) can save data and thereby results in saving Internet costs.…
If the author's premise is correct, that privacy is a marker of class, then a conclusion drawn from that is more people will be striving for greater privacy. TBH, the comments are more interesting than the author's opinion. https://forums.theregister.com/forum/all/2021/07/15/privacy_... It's true that "privacy" from "tech" companies is not easy and could cost money if someone tries to replace every "service" that tec…
People don't know how to recognize privacy as a class indicator. If I pay cash for something, or use my non-gmail address, people don't understand it's because I value privacy, but just that I'm "weird".
Whereas using uBlock, e.g., is not weird at all, IMO.
The latter contributes to an improved experience but not the former, IMO.
Using a non-Gmail address is definitely not weird. Millions of people use non-Gmail addresses every day at work.
That said, I wonder if the OP author used cash to pay for his ProtonMail subscription. Also, the OP fails to mention that ProtonMail offers a free tier of 150 emails per day.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The bartender typically doesn't sell your data. Scammers sell your data all the time. Try going to some third world country to some shady hotel, and the receptionist will tell the taxi driver exactly whre you came from and how rich they think you are, taxi driver will then take you to a scammy club, where they'll already know how much they can scam out of you, sometimes even the police is in the whole scam, so even…
This regularly happens in USA, EU, and Japan which are not a third world country, whatever that's supposed to mean in 2021.