I have a question on the current state of privacy and data security online. While I see an explosion of new ideas and solution, and I am very grateful for it, I think most of the proposed implementations have a basic "bug". Let me explain. The current centralized systems are of course a privacy nightmare, but are also the best for data security, in the sense that it is highly unlikely to lose anything on a cloud service due to a technical failure. Moreover, certain services like Tresor or Proton, by crypting the data, should also be fairly secure should govs try to access your stuff.

Now, most of the new solutions are based on decentralized services and self hosting. While I recognize the necessity for the first, I have some concerns regarding the second. If I have all of my stuff on a machine in my house (or anywhere else for the matter), indeed I have full control on it, but I have also created a single point of failure. In fact, I will be hardly able to implement the security measures to protect it from outside access (too costly) and I risk to lose everything in case of a local catastrophical event (flood, fire and the like). Moreover, and most importantly, my server can be easily seized by the gov. They might not be able to access the data (thought we cannot be sure), but still I lose all of it.

Any thoughts?

#gm #nostriches #plebs #nostr #decentralization #security