Why?

Last Updated: Wednesday, 26 January 2022 14:07

One of the reasons I am starting to write this article was a comment to the news I read today. It stated that Microsoft does no longer provide the ability to create a local user account. At least on Windows 10 Home and for now only in the US.
The user who claimed to be a knowing amateur said "to prevent tracking online is an illusion". To what I have to strongly disagree.

This persons note signals one of the major problems with why we have this tremendous privacy problem today. Knowledge...

Simple said, people are outsmarted. The same way as someone who doesn't "care" and therefore doesn't understand how a car works and is told by his mechanic that the breaks are due. Is she or he paying several hundred € for new break disks? The chances are, maybe not because it is something to take hold on but our privacy, our everyday produced data is not. That is one reason why it is so hart for common people to have an idea what actually happen and what long term impact this all will have.
It's simple with breaks, no breaks and my car may crash. That's however is why many people will pay the mechanic so they can drive safely.

Why is personal privacy important?

There are many examples where a lack of privacy can have major consequences on your personal life and I am not talking about advertising.
By now many financial institutes already verify at least partly by your online data if you are creditworthy or not. Insurance companies starting to offer policies that get cheaper if you share the data of your activity tracker. The same with car insurance. It is only a matter of time you will receive a worse contract if you do not share your daily generated data.
Of course is it a fact that many authoritarian countries are or starting to mass surveil their citizens.

But what now?

In my opinion one of the first measures we need to take is to create the perception in people that we have an privacy issue. This is partly done but what it generates in most people is a attitude that nothing can be done. As seen in the user comment above.
We need to disassemble the processes that happen when we are producing data. Where we do it (online, offline) and what impact the shared data can have to yourself.

This part of my site should help a little bit to understand what is happening and what can be done. Please be aware that this section is work in progress and should grow with time.
There are also many experts on this field and a good starting point to get more information is here https://duckduckgo.com/?q=privacy