Over the past three months, Decentralize.Today has been publishing a step-by-step guide to regaining and retaining control of your privacy and property on all devices, media and networks in the comprehensive guide that is growing into The Privacy Cookbook.
The principal author and architect of the book, The Privacy Advocate, shares below an open letter on the what, why and wherefore of the project plus some insight on feedback received to date.....
I've had some interesting discussions with family and friends since we started pulling the Privacy Cookbook together. To my surprise, it seems that some people including some who I thought would get it, don't! So I had to ask myself, why?
I heard that 'when you block ads, the websites don't make money'. Or 'but google is so easy to use' then the 'I have nothing to hide, so why should I be concerned?'
Well sure, I could have used the Edward Snowden argument:
Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say. - Edward Snowden
Or I could have said when you go to the bathroom you close the door, right? Or when you shower do you lock the door? Why bother when you have nothing to hide! But I did try to explain it better and that is what I am going to lay out for you guys now.
The blocklists, the nextDNS Setup or using Pi-hole is not to hurt the website owner, it's to block trackers. Many people assume this is just about your physical or virtual location, well, it can be but it can also be about a whole lot more.
Trackers take your data, your interactions with and on the web and allow that information to be used to profile you to predict your preferences and behaviours. How does it feel to be a lab rat? And then to add insult to injury, they make money out of you in the process!
It is also to save bandwidth, the more you block the faster your internet will run which in turn will save you time and money. The DNS setup stops your ISP from slowing your internet connection when you stream, use torrent or download things.
The Privacy Cookbook is way more than a 'tinfoil hat' guide on how to avoid Google learning what I was drinking last night, it is more about avoiding profiling whereby you can be sitting in the same bus as a terrorist and end up on a metadata profiling list, guilt by association, however inadvertent. I know this sounds extreme and maybe it is but I am just exaggerating to make a point.
So let's keep our data safe, keep your internet faster, save time, money and bandwidth safe in the knowledge that no-one can use your pictures for ads or other nefarious purposes....yeah, right.....all those nude shots you have on your oh-so-secure android phone.
It's a guide that costs you nothing but a little investment of your time, so please read, reflect, adopt, adapt and stop pretending you have nothing to hide, because believe me it's not about having nothing to hide......
I for my part see it very differently for I HAVE NOTHING TO SHARE
- by The Privacy Advocate December 2019
The first 4 chapters of The Privacy Cookbook are available on the site already and publication of new chapters and frequent updates will continue next year.
