225
submitted 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) by Charger8232@lemmy.ml to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

I use an RSS reader to curate my Lemmy feed, which means I see every post, including deleted ones. Every so often, posts will crop up with pessimistic content such as "Why try anymore?" etc. Most of the time these are a result of privacy burnout, where the individual has a threat model that is too strict for their own tolerance.

We all wish we have perfect privacy. We all wish the world could be more pro-privacy than anti-privacy. One day, that may be the case. For now, we have to accept that nobody can be completely private. Privacy is a spectrum, and doing what you can to minimize data collection goes a long way. You can't become private overnight, so taking small steps like these means you can grow a strong foundation for future privacy. Privacy takes time, so take it as slow as you need to.

Even if a company already has your data or another means to track you, by minimizing you are making it harder for them to extract that data, and it increases the odds that your data becomes stale. By caring about privacy to begin with, you're showing companies and other people that the data collection is not ok.

I've been a privacy activist for years now, and I will also face periods of privacy burnout. I handle it by stopping, taking a step back, and reevaluating my threat model. It's good to take breaks like those, because it means you don't push yourself past your limits and become burnt out.

It's really easy to get caught up in the "breaking news" of privacy, too. This is more of a personal stance, but getting caught up in politics and news often leads to stress and makes it harder to make real progress. (This is one of the reasons I use an RSS reader, I can curate my information without stressful headlines.) You don't need to use the most private software or jump ship the moment anything goes wrong. If you feel you need to switch, do it when you have time and when it won't cause problems elsewhere.

Take a look at how far you've come, and realize that even if you're not where you want to be yet, you've taken steps to get there. Every person who starts to care about privacy, even you, is one more person to help make the world a more privacy respecting place. It may not seem like you make that much of a difference, but it's not just you. You and everybody else who cares about privacy makes a huge difference.

Don't give up now. Privacy is an uphill battle by design, but the payoff is worth it.

Good luck!

top 18 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] jaggedrobotpubes@lemmy.world -1 points 2 hours ago

Burnout?

Privacy is refreshing. Get the assholes' bullshit out of your business.

[-] oldfart@lemm.ee 2 points 1 hour ago

Yeah until you try to find a cab in a non familiar city while being offline.

[-] who_knew@lemmy.ml 4 points 6 hours ago

I've been on this privacy trip for about 6 years now and every once in a while I find myself on the point of giving up, usually when trying to do things like booking a flight and the site fights back by blocking everything or wants all your personal details... every app I am forced to close, or mothers maiden name I am forced to supply, causes more and more frustration. I rage, my partner says 'why do you put yourself through this?'..... I really don't know sometimes, but basically because fuck 'em

[-] Sarcasmo220@lemmy.ml 7 points 11 hours ago

I appreciate this post. I think you are right that those of us who value privacy and try to take steps to minimize eventually having those moments of having to step back and reassess our threat model.

Every now and then I ask myself why I resist the duopoly of Apple and Google, and the answer is because I value a third option. Like you mentioned in your post it may seem bleak now, but it might not always be this way. And if we ever do reach a more privacy conscious society, it was because all of us in the privacy community kept the flame going by supporting and using that more privacy focused third option.

[-] proceduralnightshade@lemmy.ml 13 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

I would be much more okay with corpos or states invading my privacy if anything actually useful would come of it, but it kinda doesn't. I left corpo social media behind not because it was hungry for what data I could provide it, but because it used mine and others user data to make itself worse. And the desire to drop my smartphone and go full dumb tech or no tech at all grows with every passing day. But the paranoia every privacy-concious person experiences sooner or later, some more intense than others, was not something initial for me.

edit: ... as was privacy-burnout. I always keep that in mind, I try ro remember, that the reason privacy bothers me is not (only) to protect myself. It's not a futile fight for independence of anything, it's tied to a vision I have of the world.and the future

Hope this makes sense I have the feeling what I write often doesn't

[-] Charger8232@lemmy.ml 4 points 13 hours ago

Happy cake day! Unfortunately, nothing good can come from surveillance, besides slightly better AI models. The way I see it, privacy is not paranoia, but a modern day revolution.

[-] proceduralnightshade@lemmy.ml 1 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

Oh it's been a year already?!? Time flies when you have a good time I guess. Thank you!

I edited my comment I forgot the conclusion as always lol you might wanna check it again

AI is a tool that's used as a disinfo machine primarily, at least LLMs are in praxis, and they get better much faster at that in particular with such amounts of data. But I would argue that this kind of data (acquired without user consent) isn't necessary for them to get better edit: at anything else.

[-] Churbleyimyam@lemm.ee 23 points 16 hours ago

Excellent post. I hope everyone reads this.

I'd like to reinforce your point about RSS feeds. I think that being in control of the amount and type of information that infiltrates your thoughts is a form of privacy that we all we need to exercise.

For those who don't already know; one great thing about the fediverse is that you can follow hashtags via RSS. You can literally only see the things you want to see, if you want to!

[-] crimsoncobalt@lemmy.world 7 points 15 hours ago

That is really helpful, thank you! Any suggestions for clients? I like Capy Reader for Android, but how about desktop? Specifically Ubuntu.

[-] Churbleyimyam@lemm.ee 1 points 14 minutes ago* (last edited 11 minutes ago)

I use Newsboat on desktop and Feeder on android. Both are foss ๐Ÿ‘ If you dont want to use the terminal for desktop I would just use whatever is suggested for the desktop environment you use.

[-] distortwave@lemmy.ml 4 points 15 hours ago

If you're a fan of the terminal, check out newsboat. Good ol' newsboat.

Read/skim the manual page and check out some use cases on youtube

[-] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 32 points 17 hours ago

Thanks for making an effort to support your fellow Lemmings.

[-] mike_wooskey@lemmy.thewooskeys.com 19 points 17 hours ago

Thanks for this very rational pep talk!

[-] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 9 points 16 hours ago

Great advice and thanks for the encouragement. This reminds me of one of the best pieces of advice I ever heard from a nutritionist talking about personal health.

If you can only do one thing to make a positive change, no matter how small it is, it's far better than doing nothing.

[-] WhatSay@slrpnk.net 7 points 16 hours ago

Everyone has to navigate this, but we can do it together.... Captain Planet!

[-] Telorand@reddthat.com 4 points 15 hours ago

The privacy...is yours!

[-] mukt@lemmy.ml 4 points 16 hours ago

Bookmarked.

[-] SamHalfcorpse@feddit.it 3 points 16 hours ago
this post was submitted on 15 Jan 2025
225 points (99.6% liked)

Privacy

32177 readers
2902 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

Related communities

much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS