Oddbean

I've always admired your ability to speak your mind without being a jerk. Always been a weakness of mine, even when unintended. Bitcoin is a tool. A very useful tool. Probably one of the best (atm) tools. But I've been coding a very long time. Nothing avoids being replaced. There is no perfect software. The values and philosophy behind Bitcoin is what really matters to me. Any system build on those fundamentals is something I can live with. Privacy is an off-putting subject to me. The fact that I have to neuter my Internet connection and constantly play the "why the fuck doesn't this work" game with VPNs in order to keep some asshole online from attempting to fix me was enough I questioned my involvement in Nostr at all. I don't give a crap about Google knowing I like pimento cheese, or Amazon knowing I have an unhealthy addiction to t-shirts. I have no issue with Microsoft collecting data about my PC. I expect these things, and I use the conveniences granted by that data collection (yes, if I use an ad supported service, I would just assume the ads be relevant). What I don't like is trying to use fundamentally worse software (SimpleX, Firefox, etc) *full time* for every single conversation I have with someone. I don't pay $1200 for a phone to reduce it to the feature set and convenience of a phone I bought 15 years ago. Then I scratch beneath the surface and find out the majority of these projects are funded by the same assholes I thought I was escaping. There is toxic maximalism on a lot of subjects. People telling other people what they should or should not do without knowing the details of their complicated lives, their threat profiles, their needs... It all reeks of arrogance and hive mind behavior. It's not exclusive to Nostr, nor is Nostr especially bad in that regard. It's the whole Internet. Thank you for being the person who shares the tools and benefits of using them so people can be informed, without making people feel stupid or small when they don't go as far as you do. It's one of your super powers, and why I always enjoy reading your posts. </end of unnecessary wall of text>

That's a lot to unwrap. The most important thing, I think, is to realise that the Googles and Metas are not interested in *your* interests for social reasons, like people would be. They are interested because it gives them asymmetric power over a massive amount of people without them realising it. To alter the behaviour of the so-called masses and the choices they make, even by a tiny fraction, is massively valuable to the companies themselves, but to state actors as well. And the way they get that power is by collecting vast amounts of user data accross the web. And making it incrementally harder to opt-out. That exact phrase "I don't care if X platform gets my data" is the product of a massive campaign against privacy, launched by Meta itself (back then called facebook), if I'm not mistaken. If the personal loss of privacy doesn't trigger any feelings of disgust for you, I encourage you to think about the issue societally. Normalised data collection and KYC practices erode society at a deep level. It's a self-growing feedback loop of fear and polarisation. Do you want to support that or could you start being more mindful about it personally? Something to consider.

I didn’t explain it all in this post. I’m a compartmentalizer. I choose what to leave in the open, for convenience, and what to hide. I also believe that those who take their privacy much more seriously are already under extra scrutiny from the fed. I’m aware of the sociological concept that individuals are rather unpredictable, but large masses are very predictable. I’m not underestimating the influence of large companies data collection efforts. I’m also not concerned with them knowing what flavors I like. I have the tools, and I know at a decent level how to use them. When I want to keep something private, I run a vpn, use a Firefox instance with privacy badger, ublock, and all the Mozilla spyware turned off. I’ve got tor browser setup if it’s that serious, and to test my relay’s onion service. That’s my personal choice, and it’s informed, suited to my threat profile, and works for me.

@nobody thank you. it means a lot 🫂. i try my best to meet people where they are with as accurate of data as i can to help them make informed decisions for themselves on whether or not it make sense for them to stay there. potential and probable consequences are indiscriminate, but like you pointed out, there is no one-size-fits-all guide to privacy, only recommended opsec based on desired outcomes and threat models.

That's been the weakness I found in privacy education spaces and communities. When a friend wants to learn, I link them resources to start and read but I have to also give them with a caveat: everyone's threat model is different. It's good to know what tools are available, basic OPSEC, and use as needed depending where your current activities fall on the privacy spectrum. I also warn them of the maximalists who will welcome a complete noob normie with "Alright sell your PC, you're gonna use TailsOS as a daily driver now and your phone will have no apps." It turns them off. A lot of advice is too broad and there's now enough about threat modeling (though it's getting better). Gotta meet people where they are and sometimes, improvement will look different based on the subjects. For some, running everything self hosted and not using any social media is a win. For others, simply tweaking some privacy settings and being aware they can turn off things like Location services and Bluetooth when not in use, is also a win. Baby steps, so it's a more digestible step in the right direction and way of thinking. As for me, like you, I'm also a compartmentalizer. I've tried many setups obsessively, reinstalled my phone and machine OS a dozen times in the past years, and compartmentalizing activities and identities is the only way that keeps me sane. In control of what I share and aware of data collection while keeping the private private and keeping a foot in that space to keep up with tools to enable privacy.