Privacy - Have you given in yet?

Ice Tea

Ice Tea

Ice Tea

Soldato
Joined
1 Nov 2004
Posts
4,955
Is it still worth the battle or can Microsoft , Google , Facebook and alike have it all so you can just get on and use the internet?
 
I use googleplus or google one or w/ its called at this time of year.
I'm assuming that some privacy has eroded by allowing them to store my photos/data.

As for the usual slew of social media sites wanting to know the far end of a fart, nope still don't use them
 
Ice Tea said:
Is it still worth the battle or can Microsoft , Google , Facebook and alike have it all so you can just get on and use the internet?
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They don't have to "have it all", you can still choose what information you give them.

The question is, are the services provided good enough for you to give them more information than you normally would be comfortable with?

For me, the answer is yes.

Even as recently as two years ago I used a secure email system, used non-systemd Linux OSs, didn't use a smartphone and wouldn't be seen dead in a video chat.

Now I own a smartphone [which I love], use whatever system I want, use Gmail more and I livestream. Before I was going on one or two forums talking incessantly about how I was better because I didn't give in to "the man". Now I do a lot more and have a lot of fun doing it.

So to answer your question, is it worth the battle? I would personally say no. Just have fun and live your life, go online, meet other people, try new things, just be careful about what info you give away. There are some revolutionary services out there on the net, and shutting them out because of 'muh privacy' is just a waste. It's the 21st century and the technology we have is awesome.
 
Everything in moderation. I use GMail and I'm sure Google, Amazon, etc, have a huge amount of my data. But where there are options to restict it, then I do so.
 
I think you always have to be aware of your privacy as it has a value.

I seem to remember years ago there was a way to calculate how much your information was worth to advertisers, which depended on how much information you give away.

I always try and minimize the the release of information. But if you're using the services for a legitimate reason then there isn't anything that will happen. They just see you as a $ sign.
 
BowdonUK said:
I think you always have to be aware of your privacy as it has a value.

I seem to remember years ago there was a way to calculate how much your information was worth to advertisers, which depended on how much information you give away.

I always try and minimize the the release of information. But if you're using the services for a legitimate reason then there isn't anything that will happen. They just see you as a $ sign.
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I guess the think for me is that it might be worth something to someone, but it's certainly not worth anything to me.

I recall there being a browser which allowed you to monetise your info, but i can't remember what it was.
 
I still don't have a Google account or anything Facebook related and actively block them in browsers. I do have Microsoft and Apple stuff as that's where I've drawn the line in convenience for privacy ratio for my general use.

You know the game now, so it's up to you to draw your line where you see fit.
 
[FnG]magnolia said:
Ah, Ice Tea with his challenging *checks notes* questions or statements if you're pre-Law and I do not think he is pre-Law, so awkward oh no
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Do you have anything good to say about any of the posters here, or do you just find yourself endlessly hilarious with your "witty" critiques?

Don't really see you posting anything else other than taking the mick out of people. Even in GD people sometimes contribute to the thread topic rather than being a dick in every post.
 
FoxEye said:
Do you have anything good to say about any of the posters here, or do you just find yourself endlessly hilarious with your "witty" critiques?

Don't really see you posting anything else other than taking the mick out of people. Even in GD people sometimes contribute to the thread topic rather than being a dick in every post.
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He's just a forum troll living in the arse end of the world with nothing better to do isn't he?

As to the OP, I'm pretty much the same as Lysander these days.
 
Switched to DuckDuckGo for search rather than Google and use an adblocker, thats about it. Never really used facebook anyway but I doubt that stops them creating a marketing profile on you.
 
Lysander said:
So to answer your question, is it worth the battle? I would personally say no. Just have fun and live your life, go online, meet other people, try new things, just be careful about what info you give away. There are some revolutionary services out there on the net, and shutting them out because of 'muh privacy' is just a waste. It's the 21st century and the technology we have is awesome.
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Pretty much this. I limit the amount of info I give out, but it's never possible to hide everything. Firefox with uBlock, Cookie AutoDelete and container tabs will do some of privacy work for me.

~Divine~Wind~ said:
As for the usual slew of social media sites wanting to know the far end of a fart, nope still don't use them
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We are apparently both users of social media as I read somewhere (Wikipedia) that forums count as being SM although I don't agree with that because forums pre-date social media.

It applies to YouTube as well, but again that pre-dates SM.

I even read that World of Warcraft counts as SM, but again I disagree with that.
 
Don't care really. It's all out there really. You'll have to make a load of work for yourself to keep private

I don't chuck my phone number out for everyone to see but completely accept all big tech have access to such things.
 
Router/firewall: OpenBSD (x86_64) with pf.

DHCP + DNS servers: AdGuard Home (with OISD.nl blocklist, DDG trackers list and AdGuard DNS blocklist) for network-wide tracker, ad & malware blocking. DNS over HTTPS/TLS/QUIC is used both for the resolver (i.e. resolving queries upstream), and the local and wider clients connecting to use the adblocking server itself. Everything encrypted, end-to-end.

WiFi: Ruckus R710 enterprise. Only used by iPhones and iPad, locked down with WPA3 and authentication, network segregation and client isolation.

PCs: Linux, *BSD and macOS with hardened Firefox and Brave browsers. All have uBlock Origin plus DDG extension and localcdn with CookieAutoDelete. Strict site isolation, cookie isolation, encrypted HELO/ESNI, default private mode and fingerprint resistance enforced. All device filesystems and bootloaders are encrypted (LUKS or FileVault).

All devices are using an audited 10Gbps VPN 24/7, and I use Tor over the top when doing anything private or sensitive. Live USB of Parrot or Tails carried and used when required. No social media. Matrix/Element or Signal only for messaging (default e2ee).

I use a NAS for storage rather than 'the cloud', everything is encrypted transparently using either SSH (ed25519) or GPG (same), and synced seamlessly using rclone (with AES crypt). VaultWarden (Bitwarden self-hosted) for encrypted password management. Nothing is cleartext unless you have my SSH key, GPG key + Yubikey to hand, plus a 30 character password. Good luck.

Definitely still privacy conscious here. :p
 
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Rainmaker said:
Router/firewall: OpenBSD (x86_64) with pf.
DHCP + DNS servers: AdGuard Home (with OISD.nl blocklist, DDG trackers list and AdGuard DNS blocklist) for network-wide tracker, ad & malware blocking.
WiFi: Ruckus R710 enterprise. Only used by iPhones and iPad, locked down with WPA3 and authentication, network segregation and client isolation.
PCs: Linux, *BSD and macOS with hardened Firefox and Brave browsers. All have uBlock Origin plus DDG extension and localcdn with CookieAutoDelete. Strict site isolation, cookie isolation, private mode and fingerprint resistance enforced. All device filesystems and bootloaders encrypted (LUKS or FileVault).

All devices are on-VPN 24/7 and I use Tor over the top when doing anything private or sensitive. Live USB of Parrot or Tails when required. I use a NAS for storage rather than 'the cloud', everything is encrypted transparently using either SSH (ed25519) or GPG (same), and synced seamlessly using rclone (with AES crypt). VaultWarden (Bitwarden self-hosted) for encrypted password management. Nothing is cleartext unless you have my SSH key, GPG key + Yubikey to hand, plus a 30 character password. Good luck.

Definitely still privacy conscious here. :p
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:eek: I admire the effort.

I store nearly all my passwords in chrome :o
 
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