What is the cost of privacy?

I have been pro privacy and anti data harvesting for many years now, however it is becoming increasingly more difficult staying off some platforms. Mostly Meta.

Over the years I have convinced most of my friends and family to use Signal instead of WhatsApp. However, there are still chat groups that I am missing from, and trying to keep up to date with local events seems next to impossible without Facebook or Instagram.

Additionally, I am finding it more and more tiring to have the awkward “No I don’t have WhatsApp. No I don’t have Facebook either. Or Instagram, sorry. Do you want to try an app that you’ve never heard of to stay in contact with me?” every time I meet someone new.

I saddens me that it feels like the multi-billion dollar data harvesting companies are winning, but I no longer know if this is a hill that I’m willing to die on.

What are your thoughts on what we have to give up in our lives just to stay in control of our personal information?

Iceblade02,

Honestly, it sucks. I’ve been increasingly falling back on regular SMS, because a lot of people seem to prefer cutting me off to the slight effort of a different communication medium. I was thinking that everyone has a phone, but there’s a lot of resistance to using it in my age group.

mydude,

Eternal vigilance.

AnAnonymous,

It’s easy, use a VPN and as many fake data as you can, also you can use an AI generated profile pic, if you need a phone number you can use a virtual number like TextNow app.

original_reader,

You are right on all counts.

Just not sure if “easy” is the operative word here.

joat_mon,

Thanks, yeah I’m always on a VPN, but as you suggested, maybe nowadays it’s not about trying to live without an account, but having the account with generic/fake profile data.

AnAnonymous,

Yeah the point it’s into giving them fake data, you keep using the service and they get fake stuff at exchange. Better than not using their service.

shrugal, (edited )

It can be a bit annoying sometimes, but there are solutions for almost anything, like alternative clients and frontends. I also think it’s important to remember that this is not an all-or-nothing situation. Every little bit of privacy you can preserve helps, even if you still have to use their services sometimes.

If your example is mostly about chat then Beeper might be a good option for you. The messages on FB and IG would still go through Meta, but at least you don’t have to install their apps.

joat_mon,

Oh I hadn’t heard of Beeper. Thanks I’ll look in to that.

noodlejetski,

it’s not private, and could technically read and collect messages sent via e2ee services, FYI.

joat_mon,

Good to know, thanks

shrugal,

If you have an always-on-and-connected device then you can self-host their bridges. It preserves e2ee because messages are de- and reencrypted on your device, and it’s relatively easy to set up.

joat_mon,

Thanks, I do run my own server so this is a possibility

schwim,

Man I got so excited about beeper but it just fails to log in to anything I try to set up. FB, sms, anything at all, it successfully logs me in and then hangs on the spinning wheel of death

delirious_owl,
@delirious_owl@discuss.online avatar

About 3 fiddy EUR per month on mullvad

joat_mon,

I do run ProtonVPN on all of my devices, daily drive Linux on my PC and laptop, and have GrapheneOS as my ROM. So device privacy is not really the issue. This is more about not wanting to have accounts with the likes of Meta who have time and time again shown that they are completely against user privacy, but I feel it is more and more difficult to live without as most people don’t know/don’t care about personal privacy.

lemmyreader,

I saddens me that it feels like the multi-billion dollar data harvesting companies are winning, but I no longer know if this is a hill that I’m willing to die on.

It is a very sad thing indeed :(

What are your thoughts on what we have to give up in our lives just to stay in control of our personal information?

I guess it depends whether you want to be reachable 24/7 on mobile or not.

With Signal and with things like WhatsApp and for that matter Telegram a phone number is only required to sign up. And you do not have to restrict yourself to one phone number.

Actually that is not correct because contacts syncing is another thing. If you are willing to have a private life without Meta and a second life which includes Meta Zuck it is technically possible. Buy a cheap smartphone with another SIM card for signing up and for syncing contacts and then link it to desktop apps that you can check a few times a day to check in with your friends via the Meta Zuck channels. The cheap smartphone can stay off unless you need to sync contacts.

joat_mon,

Thanks, yeah I had thought about using separate SIMs to sign up but then, like you said, would still need to sync contacts.

Although I hadn’t really though about only using the desktop apps.

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