Hi -
Maybe this was covered before with some different angles but lately I’ve been having this uneasy feeling, kind of a quiet panic, about how privacy could be becoming more and more of a luxury. With everything going on globally (governments tightening controls, corporations expanding data collection, tech evolving fast), I can’t help but wonder, are we slowly leaving people behind when it comes to digital privacy?
I’m lucky enough right now to afford a private email service (I know also that private email has very limited impact if the rest of us are not in the same spot) and a decent VPN. But that made me think, how many people can’t afford even those basic tools? What happens when access to privacy starts depending on how much money you have?
Are we getting to a point where someone’s email address tells you something about their financial situation? Like, is a @proton.me @pm.me address going to say “this person cares about privacy and can pay for it,” while a @gmail.com says “default, no-frills, mass surveillance”?
Is that where we’re heading? Is privacy turning into a kind of status symbol?
I’m aware that there are ways to get privacy conscious emails for free but they are very limiting and I’m not sure that we have a single free VPN service that we can recommend. Those I think are the minimal things nowadays to integrate the society. Luckily we still have some real-time chat applications that are free and offers some decent level of privacy. If you want to step up the game, then you need a home server, time, etc (the toll can be as high as the sky), that doesn’t include all the comfort that you may need to sacrifice, like reduce the use of credit cards, don’t adopt social medias, use uncountable amount of security everywhere, etc… Don’t you get some level of anxiety if you will be able to keep up with the costs?
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How do we make privacy tools more accessible and sustainable for everyone?
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What are the real “costs” of maintaining privacy today financially, mentally, socially?