It feels like I am too overwhelmed about my online privacy when I know that it is entirely not in my control. I am trying to completely block GAFAM+other privacy violators. But after some hours/days, I re-enabled it. Because most of the time I can’t avoid them, maybe it is essential to use some privacy tools too.
For example, Using NoGoogle in Adguard, then when signing up on Matrix, the Google Captcha got blocked. Blocking cloudflare and Amazon blocks also signal connections. Blocking entire Google made it hard to install/update apps and watch or download YouTube videos.
I don’t know what to do, but this is what is happening in my life as a loop. Unable to take a decision and stand still on that decision.
This also affects my feeling like too much worry and fear about online privacy.
Also, my screen time gets extremely increased by always being online to find a perfect solution for online privacy. Almost Everyday. Then I lose my beautiful life events and the time to get some relaxation and enjoy nature.
Any solution for this at all? Do you guys ever face an issue like this?
You need to step back and review your threat model, then figure out the balance point between privacy and convenience/QoL. There is no such thing as complete privacy unless you go completely offline and live like a hermit. So something has to give, and your threat model will help you identify that. Figure out first what exactly you’re protecting, and from who. Then you can assess which ones you will deem non-negotiable when it comes to privacy, some where you can relax a bit in exchange for covenience (and this has levels as well), and lastly the ones where you have no choice because blocking something will make it cease to function. Having this threat model will also help you figure out what extent you would want to expose yourself depending on the service. Don’t put everything into the same tier because that will be impossible. Good luck.
You will always have to interact with these company’s servers at some point. Stay in control, but don’t obsess. What matters is getting further away. You have succeeded in many ways by taking these steps. Do not lose sight of that.
My solution? Just not care.
I do things that help my privacy, but don’t make my life harder. When investing in a new product privacy is one of the things I try to attain, but if option A works perfectly for me, but has some questionable things in their TOS, and option B just straight up doesn’t work but is great for privacy then I’m going to go with option 1 10/10 times.
I’m figuring this kind of thing out too. I’m taking a few steps in directions that I can, like using duckduckgo, migrating off of gmail, using this instead of twitter and alternative Reddit. Trying to enjoy blogs on the smoll web. The hardest part was family. I still have to use WhatsApp since that’s the one platform my family collectively uses. But I keep it on my botnet phone which I keep around for work. I still have one gmail but its main purpose is for backup and when I’m using YouTube. I’ve stopped keeping content tied to it, and I’ve stopped posting myself on social media. Making a website instead. Idk. You reach an age and social media apps stop being a fun way to connect with your peers, and becomes a liability.
You don’t know why you’re doing what you’re doing. People saying “define a threat model” are right.
Figure out what you’re trying to accomplish.
