One day I will do a massive thread of just the worst digital privacy and security advice that people have given in my mentions.
Threat models matter.
When a platform/service/app tells you they are “private” or “secure” always ask “from whom?”
Criminals, domestic abusers, law enforcement, data brokers, and intelligence agencies are all different attackers with very different capabilities.
When I talk about digital privacy, there is always some smug genius who shrugs and tells me, "Who cares? We all know we don't have any privacy anyway." Nothing could be more wrong. Convincing you that the fight is already over to the way people in power get you to stop resisting.
"Cisgender is a slur" has some real "people pointing out racist behavior are the real racists" energy to it.
I see that everything is going fine over at the Hellsite.
I have spent this week declining work requests that are unreasonable in scope or that make me uncomfortable and I would like a goddamn medal.
Buying a new car in 2024 is a goddamn privacy nightmare, part 3591 of an endless series: https://sherwood.news/tech/how-to-opt-out-of-the-privacy-nightmare-that-comes-factory-installed-in-new/
If you're the person who stole the package from my foyer, I hope you're enjoying Police and the Empire City: Race and the Origins of Modern Policing in New York.
This website says you should send it a photo of your partner's penis and they will tell you if they have an STD, using the power of AI.
This is so misleading, inaccurate, dangerous, YIKES, that I assume it is an elaborate joke.
You know what I absolutely do not want? A humanoid robot stumbling around my house, using the power of AI to confidently but incorrectly do my chores.
#tormentnexus
https://thenextweb.com/news/1x-humanoid-robot-neo-investment
No, I don't want to know your "skincare secrets." Your skincare secret is that you are fifteen years younger than I am.
I did not have "unauthorized secret Lubovitcher tunnels" on my 2024 Bingo card, yet here they are: https://apnews.com/article/brooklyn-synagogue-chabad-tunnel-2c03a40c9150bdf6d9d899436789d8cf
There have been many stories of companies giving up user data to stalkers and other criminals pretending to be cops with emergency data requests, but this one stands out because it's so utterly shambolic. The stalker submitted his request using a protonmail address FFS.
https://www.404media.co/verizon-gave-her-data-to-a-stalker-this-has-completely-changed-my-life/
Men, how often do you think about the Golden Path?
OpenAI has just booted Sam Altman as CEO and removed him from the Board of Directors and they are not being shy about their reasons.
https://openai.com/blog/openai-announces-leadership-transition
If you give privacy/security advice without an explicit threat model, all that you're doing is using an implicit threat model that may not match the needs of the person you're trying to help.
If you're mad at EFF for making it possible to use Chrome with less tracking instead of yelling at people to use a different browser, then I assume you have never heard of harm reduction. Giving people digital privacy and security advice means meeting people where they're at. Otherwise, you're just running your mouth to make yourself feel smart.
There are mornings when I do not have the level of mental resiliency necessary to take on an inbox full of abuse cases and this is one of them.
Thorn sucks and Ashton Kutcher sucks, but now they will suck separately.
https://time.com/6314436/ashton-kutcher-steps-down-thorn-danny-masterson/
Adtech surveillance and spyware are merging in disturbing and surprising ways. Israeli companies are at the leading edge of undermining your privacy, as usual.