Nostr Web Client

Reflecting on this, likely given the poster, bait tweet, but a good discussion to be had:

You should be free and able to use what you want. What's not valuable to somebody may be valuable to somebody else. I'm a complete nobody with a normal life and I use GrapheneOS, Monero, I2P, LUKS etc. like this picture says.

However, there is a different conversation to be had that you could use this same image with. Many people treat software choices like a subculture purity test. Software choice is treated like Console Wars or sports teams.

There are certain groups of people who use things simply to be performative rather than just being honest that it is a preference. It serves no relevance in their threat model to use what they have to (counterargument: threat model doesn't need to be your sole reasoning to use something anyway). Some like to believe you need to be part of a certain group and you need to follow the rest of the trends of that group to fit in. Used Linux? Now you got to use Firefox.

It's fine to say GrapheneOS is superior to something (we say that a lot). What is not fine is believing you are a superior person for using it, same with any other software. Classical FSF bros, Reddit users, and performative activists stink up discussions like skunks with this attitude. Every major project has this problem.

If I had to TLDR this, then: Don't be sheep. Use everything in your preference, not to just reflect looking like others. You shouldn't see all these and be like "I want to use all of this!!", because really, you likely do not.

Scoundrel 1mo ago

This tweeter is correct and privacy fans need to have a bit more self awareness. Unless someone actually catches a person and uses their private activities against them, that person's attempts at anonymity are entirely personal and subjective. Until someone actually gets them, they are just larping as a secret agent and their thoughts on real anonymity have zero objective value.

Personal privacy and anonymity cannot and should not be viewed as a personal obligation or a necessary measure. Instead, it should be viewed as a hobby. Thinking about and working on my privacy and anonymity are some of my favorite passtimes actually. I personally believe that working on one's infosec is a great hobby, and that a person should never be ashamed of or persecuted for their privacy hobby.

Shit man, I'm a pedophile and I will argue that my interest in privacy and anonymity is almost entirely academic. And many people would say I'm the kind of person who has the MOST reason to run away and hide my identity.

Reply to this note

Please Login to reply.

Discussion

John Satsman 1w ago

I’ve had my data leaked more than enough times so I actually do need SOME of those things. alot of them Idk what they are or don’t need them. Everyone has their own threat/preference model. It shouldn’t be performative though. You use what you use and keep quiet about it.

Scoundrel 1w ago

What do you mean you had your data leaked? Like, your phone number or credit card?

John Satsman 1w ago

That and a lot more.

Scoundrel 1w ago

Literally none of those technologies will prevent you from experiencing credit card fraud. (Except maybe Monero?)

All of these technologies are made to protect people from far more sophisticated threats than the average credit card thief, and all of these technologies count on a person having a baseline level of information security. I don't know how you managed to get your credit card information stolen, but none of these would have helped you.

The primary way that hackers and even darknet vendors get caught is due to mistakes completely unrelated to these technologies.

John Satsman 1w ago

You said credit card and came up with this threat model not me. It seem to be what you’re focused on and talking about. It’s not even what I was even referring to until you brought it up. Credit cards are by definition not my money so the companies will fix that no problem.

Scoundrel 1w ago

Whatever works for you I guess. Personally hate spending other people's money, so I only use debit.

In any case, if credit card theft is irrelevant, then do you have any specific examples of data that you've had leaked that you do care about and that these technologies would actually help with?

John Satsman 1w ago

Not that I’m willing to share in this conversation. Building your own threat model is best practice.

Scoundrel 1w ago

Ooh, mysterious... Good job larping as a secret agent. I don't get why you are so insistent that privacy isn't performative when your reasons are just as subjective and baseless as I said everyone's are. The only best practice when engaging in hobby activities is to have fun. It's fine to invent your own threat model based entirely on vibes, just have some self awareness about it!

John Satsman 1w ago

It’s not on vibes it’s on past security breaches and the inevitable certainty of future ones if left unchecked. Just because I want to keep my set up private doesn’t make me mysterious. You’re some anonymous scoundrel on the internet whom I owe nothing to. Performative would be telling you what I use when you didn’t ask. Private is not telling you even when you want to know.

Scoundrel 1w ago

That's true, so why are you half-assing your performance?

If your infosec "only works" if you don't tell anybody about it then that's security through obscurity, and obscuring one's infosec is never a robust defense.

It's a great thing that I'm anonymous on the internet. That's what allows me to be so open and objective. There's nothing that could create a conflict o

interest for me besides my own beliefs or insecurity.

If you aren't trying to be mysterious, and you aren't just hoping nobody guesses your infosec, and you aren't just insecure about your choices and know you can't defend your choices against criticism, that what even reason could you have for avoiding engagement and objectivity?