Nobody Understands Online Privacy.

Almost nobody understands online privacy. That's why you see so many privacy noobs confused and overwhelmed because they heard you have to use Tor and host your own email and cut off all your friends that don't use Signal. How much do you need to worry about privacy? Can you trust this company? Somebody told me was good but somebody else told me it's terrible for your privacy. Who do you trust? Relax, and let me explain threat levels, the level of privacy you need, and everything else in this video.

0:00 Privacy is confusing
1:25 Why do you care?
2:23 The Privacy-Anonymity Spectrum
3:10 The Normie
4:43 The Privacy-Conscious
6:34 Privacy vs. Anonymity
7:41 The Activist
9:47 The Ghost
11:05 Which level are you?
12:02 Conflating levels of privacy
13:16 Can we improve discussions about privacy?
14:00 Conclusion

[moltzer]

build your own computer (including the parts themselves), code your own os, move to an underground bunker in the woods, faraday cage it, build an antenna and a satellite to steal wifi

[AmadeMuse]

I'd rather have my info be given to the swiss government than the american government when using protonmail

[Seacat]

There's another problem about "normies". Since they "have nothing to hide" they can be a huge problem for people who are privacy-conscious. They use all the poop that corporations want them to use and being close to them can be fatal for your privacy or anonymity.

[dubfather]

"On this channel, were all on the spectrum" FACTS!!!

[MichaelMaurakis]

I’ve found that misunderstandings of privacy are usually baked down to not understanding basic networking.

[NothingXemnas]

I think the most important thing really is, at the end of the day, to live intentionally. Awareness goes a long way and helps you already gain some privacy back to you and act upon it. Activism requires a lot of time and effort, choosing targets well and sometimes losing money for it, but I also don't live in a cave away from civilization, nor do I want to.

[SidheKnight]

Anonymity is also a big concern for me.

I don't want people who want to hurt me to be able to find out who I am, where I live, my personal info, who I work for, what I do/like/etc and use it against me.

Stalker exes and weirdos with extremist political beliefs tend to do this a lot.

[rohitchaoji]

The best privacy practice imo is to just not have information you'd like to protect uploaded anywhere online or even on your computer. Don't list your current workplace anywhere, don't upload pictures of your family, don't fill out your social media profiles (if you intend to use social media at all), never share your location with apps when they ask for it (even though Google still tracks you regardless). Just make it such that the highest detail of information available on you online is nothing more than you'd willingly give out.

[FractalParadox]

It's a mess. I use ghost level stuff one day, then watch YouTube videos on my phone 20 mins later. Convenience makes anyone wildly inconsistent I guess

[Sam-nvs]

Privacy is essential for a free society.

[ekki]

I think a big problem is that a lot of people believe that they should strive for "perfectly private, impossible to trace", so they dismiss anything that shows any flaws. Unfortunately, perfect privacy is impossible, and hoping to leave no trace back to your person is like trying to hide your face from CCTV when going grocery shopping. A lot of work for something ultimately useless. Kinda like that comic where a nerd is super proud of his encrypted PC but says the password when physically threatened. If someone big like the government wants to trace you, they will, and unless you already have no trace on the internet by that time (what you called "the ghost"), they will find you, and then there's not much a single person can do against being physically traced.

[Tennouseijin]

One thing that I still find a little puzzling is, whether it makes much sense to try a 'hybrid' approach, where you have one public 'normie' identity and one or more anonymous identities.
For example, on one hand having social media accounts, using 'normie' communicators, doing some innocent stuff using plain un-private internet.
And then doing other stuff, say stuff related to finances (maybe not banks because they don't like it, but online shopping, crypto, investments etc.) or other information you would prefer to keep more secure, using more privacy-focused and anonymity tools.
Or does it make more sense to make a complete switch and stop using internet like a normie.
As far as I can tell, there is no obvious answer - both approaches have advantages and disadvantages. For some people, like those whose life is already in danger or who are wanted by the government, they may have to go into full hiding. For others, those who are simply privacy conscious and follow the 'better safe than sorry' mindset, but don't want to sacrifice too much convenience, a hybrid approach might perhaps make sense. You're not going to use Tor to watch youtube or download large files. Even a VPN can slow down your internet and introduce latency, so you might turn them off when playing an online multiplayer game. As long as you are careful to always crank up your security when doing more important stuff, intuitively you should be ok...
Or are you?
Well, I guess it depends. Even innocent information can be used against you so you might argue the less information others have about you, the better. Also, you might argue that someone malicious might try to attack you when you're more vulnerable, for example they may find it easier to install malware on your computer when you're doing 'normie' stuff, to then use that malware against you when you're trying to do anonymous stuff. The more I think about it, the more I realize one should probably have separate hardware for doing normie stuff and separate for doing high security stuff (luckily, there's a simple solution of having a liveUSB or such for your high security stuff, so you can theoretically use the same computer for both, but another option would be to find some old outdated, and thus cheap computer, and use that... you probably don't need a powerful gaming rig). That also reduces the risk of you ever forgetting to crank up your security after lowering it down for an online game.
Another question is if it makes sense to try fooling others (big corporations, your internet provider, the government, any third parties) into thinking you're a normie. I guess it would be very, very hard. Most likely, they will figure out you are doing stuff to enhance your privacy, they may know you're using a VPN or Tor, they may know you use Linux, they may know you are tech savvy, and they may know a lot about you from the time before you started caring so much about privacy and anonymity. They may have limited access to all the details, but they still see the big picture. And they likely still have a lot of useful information about you (such as knowing when and how much data you download/upload, even if they don't know what it is or where it goes). So I guess doing the hybrid approach to fool them isn't going to work. You could try, doing the high security stuff from a different physical location e.g. using public WiFi instead of your home or mobile internet. But even then, they may still find it suspicious that you appear to be a tech savvy person, but act like a normie when using your home internet.
So, in all likelihood, from their point of view you will remain a 'suspicious person, but innocent until proven guilty'. Though they are known to persecute even people who aren't proven guilty.
And then there are third parties, such as black hat hackers and criminals, who should be considered separately from threats such as the government, because they likely have less information about you. In that case, while they may be easier to fool into thinking you're a normie, the benefits of doing so are also questionable. I suppose if they find out you're 'hybrid', they may assume you have something valuable to hide, and even if it is better secured, it might be worth targeting anyway? But AFAIK most black hats either target normies, or they target businesses. Attacking a poor nerd who, say, uses some privacy tools to hide his visits to the piratebay, might not be a valuable endeavor.

So, I guess the main benefit of going hybrid is that it helps you maintain relations with normie friends and family. And has some convenience benefits. But it's probably less secure than going full anonymous. Even if the government still considers you a suspicious person either way.

[lovesick]

Hey again, it's me. I totally get you, and I don't think we're alone in this perspective.

Your spectrum image is awesome. Super clear and easy to understand. If I had to pick where I stand, I'd go with The Activist.

Privacy on the internet is a big deal to me. I use a mainly tor, tools like Mullvad and VPNs. I'm all about Linux, never using my real name, and I've got multiple fake accounts.

[happygofishing]

Full understanding of the TCP/IP stack must be taught in school.

[abadenoughdude]

It's rather sad that the common mentality has become "I have nothing to hide" when it should've been "you don't need to know this".

[sihamhamda]

I'm surprised that "disable all cookie and javascript" is NOT a privacy option despite many many people suggesting it (but it is somewhat still effective to bypass exclusive article or read limit in some news websites)

[JudoP_slinging]

I think you've hit the nail on the head there. When getting into this stuff it's easy to go down the rabbit hole and aim for *perfect* privacy and anonymity, and then subsequently give up when you realise that requires unfathomable commitment and technical knowledge (and even then you can never be sure). There's a huge gulf between: 1) my data is just channelling directly into the hands of corporations, and 2) my data could potentially be obtained by a motivated actor with resources and expertise. For most people the latter case is way beyond their threat model and basically isn't worth thinking about. In fact, its actually detrimental to think about, because it demotivates the smaller and easier changes which help with scenario 1). These would be basic privacy/security recommendations: good passwords with a password manager, 2fa, privacy respecting browser and search engine, sensible social media usage etc.

[TheSensationalMr.Science]

I think a better way to think of privacy is that it is *data discretion: I choose what data I share and with whom.* it is easier to explain, easier to get out of the all or nothing category, and not only more accurately describes peoples true intentions, it also removes the stigma of people thinking privacy is only for evil people. also it is a good idea to note that there are industry terms such as op-sec and threat models which is designed to make your behaviors less traceable and make you more data aware, not "completely private". [just noticed these two actually work with the idea of data discretion... huh... also lindunn threat modeling is a good first start into threat modeling]
Hope you have a great day & Safe Travels!

[bettercalldelta]

While I am on the "Privacy-Conscious" point, there is that problem of my parents and friends being absolute normies and they upload everything to "the cloud", making my privacy way worse. And when I try to explain to them, I get told things like:
- You're schizophrenic
- Stop with the conspiracy theories
- Do you think they really care about what you're doing
- Go live in a cave
- (from parents) When you buy your own house, you'll decide what you do
... etc
It's seriously annoying and I'm wondering if you know the best way to talk with normies about such stuff.

[verumignis]

To answer your question about what the best email provider is for privacy, its yourself. Self hosting email means that only you can read your email, and nobody can start lawsuits to get your personal info. Its a pain to set up but ive done it and its 100% worth it.