this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2025
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Privacy

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A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

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Our latest blog post is aimed at people who 'get it' about online privacy, but who struggle to convince friends and family to take it seriously. We hope it helps!

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[–] calmblue75@lemmy.ml 20 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Even if its one person, you would have to start somewhere. Maybe they have your data from the last 24 years, as per your example. If you cut off now, five years later, they still have only 24 years of your data. They won't have the last five year's data, which would be crucial for them.

[–] kindred@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 day ago (3 children)

That doesn't address the other two bullet points.

It's like tracking an animal moving in tall grass. You don't need to be able to see the animal directly to tell where it is.

If I can't disappear completely, there's enough data points around me that a useful silhouette can be reconstructed from all the surrounding data.

What's the point?

[–] Paddy66@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 day ago

That is an entirely valid point - and exactly why I wrote that blog post. To help people to explain to those around them that they also need to do something about their privacy. Otherwise they're giving you away by association.

Come to think of it, I probably should have mentioned that in the post 🤦🏼‍♂️

[–] jherazob@beehaw.org 2 points 1 day ago

The point is that by fighting back they cannot get any more accurate than that, which helps, even if it's incomplete and imperfect.

There's also the spite angle, because fuck them, i am not gonna give them shit if i can help it!

[–] SreudianFlip@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 day ago

The article addresses this. Data must be fresh to be valuable. Yes old data can be useful, but can it be sold? That’s the main vulnerability to surveillance capitalism that hiding exploits.