Privacy … NOW!. Your pragmatic field manual to privacy…
Privacy … NOW!

The Problem

I had a conversation recently with a very intelligent person whom I respect greatly and has deep knowledge of encryption and privacy-enhancing technology (PETs). We were discussing the idea of digital privacy in the modern age during a dinner meeting and she stated sardonically, “Privacy’s dead.” I tended to agree.

Over the past few weeks as I have socialized in my industry, continued to study and research the various topics I am interested in, and walked around conferences throughout the country, I gave deeper thought to this topic. Perhaps it was inspired by conversations with industry friends about the notion, or perhaps it was inspired by my listening to Bitcoin Privacy & OpSec, or perhaps it was inspired by the small army of large-font-imprinted-on-plain-black-hat clad evangelists wandering around at crypto conferences, or perhaps a combination of the above.

Regardless, I came to the firm realization that Privacy is NOT dead …

It’s just unreasonably difficult to ensure internet privacy for the average person.

And now, I realize, that my very intelligent and knowledgeable colleague is more ‘complacent’ than ‘right’ when it comes to this assertion. Though I don’t blame her. Maintaining any substantial degree of privacy whether it be digital or not, is a difficult, inconvenient, time consuming and often expensive task.

“Privacy is the power to selectively reveal oneself to the world” — A Cypherpunk’s Manifesto

The Good News:

The notion of data self-sovereignty and digital privacy have become mainstream discourse in many circles due to the increasing awareness for encryption-based technologies over the past several decades. Most notably, this ethos was brought to mainstream awareness over time by the Cypherpunk community and memorialized by Eric Hughes’ A Cypherpunk’s Manifesto. So much so, that there are now broad communities, mature projects, dedicated teams and noble companies committed to helping individuals (re)claim some degree of privacy (this is a good thing!).
['Alex Rabke']
['Privacy', 'Encryption', 'Security', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Technology']