Privacy Is Punk

I bring up digital privacy, and privacy generally, to people… a lot. Like I insert it into conversations where it may have no place. It’s earned me some friends who thought it was an interesting topic of conversation, and just about no one I know trusts the feds anyway, so it scratches that itch. The culture has pretty well accepted that people dress how they want, listen to whatever music they want, read what they want, and generally express themselves how they want. It’s not perfect, and there are still plenty of taboos and cultural shaming to keep people grounded in a certain band of expression, but it’s a hell of a lot better than it's ever been.

Punk is more than this kind of expression though. It’s often about questioning power structures and is steeped in leftist politics. In my encounters with people who I would describe as punk, they’re often ready to criticize capitalism, the power elite, and other phenomena that continue to place a boot firmly on the throat of the people. So, what does privacy have to do with this?

Though we’ve had the internet for a few decades, surveillance blew up with the advent of products like Facebook and other social media platforms. People started divulging private information about their lives that before would’ve seemed overly telling or simply not possible to convey to all of their friends at the same time. Then Instagram came and people posted their photos, probably not realizing that their smartphone captures tons of information and stores it in each photo’s metadata. In other words, they were giving away tons of personal information about exactly where they’ve been, when, and what they were doing. Of course, all of these feeds are vainly and sometimes obsessively curated by the poster, but what is often not realized is that many intuitions about activities, locations, and preferences are apparent to fill in the gaps when tons of data is provided in this way. Let's not even talk about Snapchat or TikTok.

Many people who align with what they may call punk values already abstain from buying Nike, buying and/or growing local food, making their clothing, or modifying clothing they buy from thrift shops, and otherwise try to shop ethically or abstain from unethical shopping. Many don’t, unfortunately, and care more about a sticker on a skateboard than anything else, but this post isn’t for them. Rather, it’s for people who care about more than aesthetics and may not be caught up on the ethics of digital products and services.

So, let me provide a summary of the issues. Many of the products and services we use digitally, including the physical products that enable digital use like computers and smartphones, are tracking you. Tons of information (your data) is collected and aggregated to form character profiles, then sold to data brokers. Sometimes data brokers buy bulk data and form their own profiles. These profiles are often focused on figuring out how to get you to buy more shit you don’t need, but unfortunately, this data is also not encrypted, and with the NSA running the PRISM program, among others, all of that data is available to the feds. In other words, the corpos and feds work hand in hand, directly and indirectly, to monitor vast quantities of your internet life, which translates to… your entire life, on or off the internet.

Scary? Yeah, it’s another thing you need to worry about. However, organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation and companies like Signal keep you up to date on the privacy battles big and small and offer products that improve your privacy and security. If you care about making your middle finger visible to the corpos by not purchasing their products and criticizing them where and when you can, then digital privacy is arguably just as important.

In the novel 1984, Big Brother watches all. You are under constant surveillance. Though this is obvious to the citizens living under the regime, and all-encompassing, we live in a world where the Big Brothers of our time are more discrete. We need not indulge in conspiracy theory here. Read The Age of Surveillance Capitalism to see how far the rabbit hole goes.

There’s a deep well of information to consume on this topic, but for now, I want to propose some simple solutions. As plenty of activists understand all too well, activism is time-consuming, hard, and takes a lot of groundwork to achieve a series of hard-won little victories. When you can find a simple solution to even a single problem, it’s worth looking into, and fortunately, there are plenty of cypherpunks who have got you covered.
If you’re using Gmail, Google can read your emails. Advertisements are in the product, which is a nice fuck you to the consumer. Instead, use Proton Mail. Some CERN scientists got together and decided enough was enough. It’s free, though I pay for their premium service which is fantastic because it comes with calendars, a password manager, a VPN, and more, all solid products.

If you’re using SMS or messenger apps to communicate, those can be read by the companies that maintain them. Even with Facebook stating that Messenger will now be encrypted by default, they’ve done so much damage that… how could you ever trust them at this point? Signal Messenger is a fantastic messaging app that doesn’t have a history of Russian voter manipulation, massive data collection, or a slew of other issues.
If you use an iPhone or Android phone, get a Google Pixel and install Graphene OS. Eschew some convenience to give a damn about your privacy. You’ll adapt quickly. Feel free to pick up a Faraday cage so you’re not leaking your location everywhere you go.
If you take notes, chances are your app of choice is not encrypting your notes so people can read ‘em. Move on over to Standard Notes.

If you’re using Windows or Mac OS, consider switching to Linux. Ubuntu is a good starting place. Windows records just about all user activity, down to granular details, and Mac OS is closed-source, so you’ll never know if, when, and how you’re being watched.
Spotify tracks a creepy amount of information about you and your listening habits. Netflix and the video streaming platforms are creepy as well. Torrent and share or get music, movies, and TV shows from friends. Store it on encrypted cloud storage or a hard drive. Your wallet is now a little heavier. It’s fun to get together with people and go to record stores or give each other music files that aren’t behind a paywall. Remember when you paid for a CD once? Bring it back.

If you’re using Chrome browser, or any Google product really, stop. Go with Brave or hardened Firefox or LibreWolf (Firefox with the hardening done for you). If you’re going with Firefox make sure you use the correct privacy and security settings.

If you use YouTube, another Google product, go with FreeTube. You can watch and even download videos without all the tracking. I try not to watch a lot of YouTube regardless, but I save occasional videos because the nature of the content I watch makes it possible that it may be buried by YouTube's neoliberal algorithms or taken down for nefarious or at least suspicious reasons. I like having an offline copy of important vids so I don't need to be connected when I'm out and about. I do the same with articles, research papers, and books. Ctrl+P on an article you like, and save. Article paywall? Try 12 ft. ladder. Research paywalls got ya down? Try Sci-Hub or email the researchers of a particular paper and ask for a PDF copy. Need books? LibGen. Spread the love.

There’s more of course. I recommend looking at PrivacyGuides.org and PrivacyTools.io for recommendations. Look for open-source, end-to-end encryption (E2E), and if you don’t trust using your debit card on the internet, crypto and cash options.

What you don’t do online is just as important. Drop all social media unless you’re accessing the platforms using an email alias, a strong randomized password, and never post personal information. Again, even with these checks in mind, the data collection and aggregation of all your posts can eerily intuit things about your private life. The best option is to abandon these products. There are other issues I won’t get into here, like manipulative attention algorithms, their effects on mental health, etc. They don't care about you. The less you do on the internet, the more secure you are.

You may be despairing over yet another battle to face against a new enemy, Big Data, but realize, these are the same assholes using additional tactics. Tech surveillance used to be, arguably, less prevalent, or at least the scope of the information collected was, but now you’ve got a large community of pro-privacy techies who are developing great free products that don’t track you. You’ve held strong by talking with your wallet and by showing up with boots on ground. Now, secure your digital life. When the corpos think they’re going to have open access to your data for dollars, give them total blackout. It’s about the most punk thing you can do.