I started my privacy journey a couple years back, and I’ve learned a lot. Much, thanks to this forum.
Where I see a lot of frustration and misconceptions (some of which I may have once shared) are with people who are suddenly confronted with the surveillance state and freaking out. Things are so far gone, that it’s beyond overwhelming just to get a handle on where to start.
Something I’ve been thinking about doing is dipping a toe into consulting as a service to help individuals 1) figure out their threat model, 2) apply that to someone’s life, 3) provide concrete steps forward.
Having worked in other industries, I understand that once I provide steps forward, I can’t force anyone to follow them. I also can’t make companies or governments follow all the good advice they’re given, either, and I’ve seen plenty of highly-paid consulting firm projects collecting dust on a shelf. But that’s on the people paying for the info.
Obviously, use of a full NDA and hard line about no illegal stuff is fundamental.
Can ChatGPT do this job? Not really, IMO. Things move so quickly, and the “it depends” level pretty high, that I don’t think any LLM will effectively do this in a way that works. I do freelance research for authors on the side, and there are huge blind spots where LLMs simply don’t have a good knowledge base. (on top of general incompetence) People can try to compare (and my test case would be to compare) what I give them against an LLM and see where the gaps are that are practical and tailored to their lifestyle.
Does this sound like an insane thing to think might work? Do people already do this and I’m just not searching for the right terms online? I do think there’s a market for this, and I would also, personally, lean into an audience that is more sensitive to privacy issues in the first place.
Any thoughts welcome!
I don’t think it sounds insane. It would certainly be a very niche market so you’d likely need to cast a wide net to find customers. Intel Techniques seems to offer these services and has a waitlist for customers.
My question as a customer would be what your credentials are to help me? Ok, you do privacy as a hobby. Cool. I can go buy a 500-page book from Intel Techniques for $50 that will tell me how to do a lot of the leg work on my own to start living a more private life. What knowledge do you offer that I can’t get from the book for cheaper? I’m not trying to dissuade you because I believe competition is good, but it’s certainly going to be a hard market to break into and you’ll need a way to stand out.
It’s already here.
There is that one online service in my country that is know in my bubble that offers digital life consultations and defense with various level of pricing/help.
All of their podcasts is on low level of details about it with paid service advertisement.
Thanks, and all good questions. FWIW, my credentials are solid, I just don’t want to enumerate them here and doxx myself too much. I’m also looking more at the beginner stages, where the most significant gains stand to be made. So even getting to or beyond things like self-hosting are beyond the scope of what I wold want to cover.
I grew up in a part of the US where people have always been paranoid about the government. Which is not a hugely lucrative market, but I feel like I can speak to that specific experience in more detail, and I know there’s huge interest in that population. To your question about a 500 page book - who the hell wants to read a 500 page book when, for a reasonable fee, I can provide an individual with information specific to them and their situation? I think with the level of “it depends” and subjectivity of each person’s threat models, even an interested person can’t just jump in here without some growing pains and confusion. I see it all over reddit and here, where the learning curve is steep and takes time, and when you’re starting from day 0 on it all, even knowing what questions to ask, or having someone to ask without getting slammed, could be helpful.