2011, contracting for a web marketing agency I came across a tool they used that aggregated data from Market, Salesforce and data brokers.

You could put someone's email in, and it would tell you every bit of info they ever filled out on a form for a sale or a freebie.

Name and address were often there, sometimes DoB, sometimes other PID, then there was shopping habits and history etc.

It was creepy as fuck. I dropped Facebook and twitter at the time. And I never filled a form or answered any questions at a till again. Then I started blocking trackers.

Back in the covid lock downs, I went down a rabbit hole with alternative operating systems. I found TheHatedOnes video on GrapheneOS, got the cheapest pixel from a pawn shop, and started experimenting on the mobile side of things

As for my PC, I'm not sure if this video exists, or it did and its gone, or I was just dreaming, but I'm sure there was a SomeOrdinary Gamer video about how windows 10 wanted a 1080p webcam.

That was the final straw for me, and I started duel booting to get used to Linux. I knew back then I would never go to windows 11, so I knew the sooner I start switching, the more comfortable I would be when windows 10 reaches EOL.

By working as a data engineer in ad-tech companies and seeing how big is actually an amount of information collected about you.

Data stealing? I thought people are just giving it away.

Although I remember when the fb app was discovered to be spying on other stuff outside of usage within the app, whenever that was.

I don't really remember TBH, I got into Linux at a pretty young age, but that was more about hating Microsoft than privacy. Then got into VPNs because of downloading stuff, gradually drifted down the Ubuntu > Manjaro > Arch pipeline, started hanging out on privacy forums and now I'm one of those people who needs a Yubikey to decrypt a chain of LUKS-encrypted drives to boot into a laptop that has nothing of any value on it at all lol.

I've always been concerned about it but never got around to making big changes until recently. Deleted my Facebook ten years ago but held on to IG so that says a lot about my priorities at the time. Tried a Linux dual boot but went back to Windows because Linux gaming support was almost non-existent (granted I did routinely run the Shut Up 10 tool at least).

Ten years later, I buckled down and changed everything I could. I haven't cut everything out (i.e. still on Google Fi because of costs and coverage, still on discord because no one wants to go anywhere else). But now I've been running GrapheneOS for a year, run CachyOS on both my desktop and steam deck, moved from gmail to tuta, set up an entire home server to get away from google services and media streaming platforms, etc etc. This whole year has been the bulk of it for sure.

Honestly the biggest inspiration for finally getting it done was seeing all the tech oligarchs at the nazi inauguration last year, and knowing sooner or later they're gonna start coming for communists too. Is all this gonna be enough to save my ass if they do? Probably not, but better now than never.

I was always raised not to share personal information with complete strangers on the web. I overlooked that rule for a time, but between that and the revelations by Snowden and then Cambridge Analytica I've gradually taken increasing steps towards a more privacy-oriented internet experience. I do take some pride in my tech knowledge but when I have to resolve an issue with a family members' device I have to mentally switch gears because they are set up for a completely different kind of experience.

The revelations that came out from the Edward Snowden ordeal.

started debloating my windows install and installing custom roms since i had a shit pc and phone, then got to know linux and naturally got privacy conscious

Entirely accidentally. My clinical colleague had an "odd looking" laptop screen. It was Ubuntu. He's a genius level clever lad, and after some questions, he helped me to set up dual boot on my windows machine. Within 5-months, that was an Ubuntu only machine. Now on Debian, still can't do anything much more than basic with the terminal, but the roads led here very naturally.

Secret services mass surveillance programs in 1980s and 1990s.

Group read on "Surveillance Capitalism" but in truth...

• tinkered with Linux as a kid
• contributed to Mozilla
• loved the ideal of free software relatively early on

... so it was rather coherent with related yet orthogonal efforts.

Sold on the importance of data privacy from content creators (I think it started with Techlore on YouTube). Once you're convinced on the ideology, then finding the tools and means is just the grunt work from there on out.

I moved to Mailbox.org, slowly started degoogling, stopped using Amazon, left Reddit after the API changes, switched to Linux after Steam Deck desktop mode gave me confidence, got a Synology NAS, realised docker was a thing on Synology, outgrew the NAS and got a mini PC server........the journey continues. Now I need to set up home assistant, Synapse Matrix server and see about changing to Graphene OS when I next change my phone.

I like knowing what my computer is doing and that was noticeably less and less the case as I went from Windows 98 to 10 and all the major versions in between. Before learning about Linux, simply going through the options in debloat scripts made me realize how invasive Microsoft was behind the scenes.

I know that he's not necessarily the best resource, but Rob Braxman's videos were first to bring mobile privacy concerns to my attention. Also, while his promotion of his custom phone didn't lead to me buying one of them, it did lead to me learning about custom Android ROMs and eventually buying a Pixel for GrapheneOS.

A long time ago. I'd guess it was around the time Facebook became popular, because it was inconceivable to me that people were just sharing their private info online, and treating people who didn't as the odd ones. Later on my I was vindicated, but I've been wary of Google and Microsoft's data hoarding from the beginning I think. It has been frustrating to see tech go this way, and people just accepting it, gleefully.

By installing linux, and then rabbit hole came by itself

because of this sexy boi

I think it was ~2008 I was shopping for something online. Then for the next several days, every website I went to would feed me ads for that website I was shopping on. I didn't understand why it was happening and it was deeply concerning. Oh, to be ignorant again...

Probably around the time when the internet became a thing. I've always lived a rather private life. Not a lot of fanfare, I just need the basics. Then I started a fully licensed internet radio station, promoting indie music. At the time I probably had 4k - 5k listeners a day. This was back in the pre-Napster era and Napster was just starting to get popular. So, I self hosted and automated the entire set up. When I was at work, everything operated like a terra-radio station would, with announcer drop ins, promo drop ins, multiple playlists that would randomly select maybe 5 songs from the top 50 list, 5 or 6 songs from the 'b' side and deep cuts, etc. I honestly had a blast and I was doing it all out of my own pocket. I personally feel enriched by the experience. I got to work with a lot of companies like the now defunct MP3.com, and others.

Then the RIAA got involved and deemed internet radio the same as illegal downloads off of Napster, even tho we paid ASCAP, BMI, SESAC et al, licenses. and fees A bunch of us went to Washington to plead our case for internet radio in front of a special panel, but in the end, the RIAA made it so difficult, with fees that didn't even apply to terra-radio. A big swath of us just went dark. We just couldn't cough up the additional required fees and such. That was by design tho from the RIAA itself. I will say tho, that if Shawn Fanning had not have scripted Napster, I think the music industry on the internet would look quite different than it does today. He pushed the envelope.

Dating back to the first Android phone, the G1. I was installing custom ROMs on that first, and then when I eventually got a Nexus 5, I started to de-Google.

I’m on an iPhone now because I had a string of bad luck with how shit most Android phones are, but I’m still privacy and security-minded:

• I have no social media accounts - no one can actually find me except through my personal website or LinkedIn (but they obviously have to know my name first for either). If/when people complain about it, I shrug at them. I’m not signing up for TikTok so you can send me some vapid video
• I use a VPN 24/7
• Proton as my mail provider
• My wife and I don’t use any streaming services - Stremio for everything (through Real Debrid so no torrents can be tracked)
• I use a virtual card service so that absolutely nothing has our actual credit and debit card numbers (some with limits set so a service can’t arbitrarily raise rates on us, or go rogue and accidentally charge too much)
• Windows is not allowed to touch a single computer I own. It’s either macOS for work stuff, or Linux for everything else

Check each app for a libre software license text file, do we control the app or not? Easiest way to purge 99% of scams and abuse. Then, check for an libre app to replace each online service.

I saw an ad for something I had just purchased and it bothered me very much. I began researching how that was possible and found all the privacy stuff. I started to Linux, then GrapheneOS, then my router, finally took my TV offline

I started my privacy journey last year. My gf at the time, was really into privacy and told me all about data collection and selling. I bushed it off, justifying it as the cost of a using a free platform, until I noticed that topics from our Discord convos would appear on my YouTube recommendations (or I Googled something similar, still creepy none the less). It was so oddly specific that I freaked me out and I almost immediately changed my search engine, browser, email, etc.

I was wondering if my VPN works basically, from a young age. This led me to reading about Cold War intrigue and assassinations quite a bit, everyone was recommending NATO's Secret Armies in 2016 for some reason, which is a solid Gladio book. You come to the conclusion that any intelligence agency tied to the US or unable to defend against it makes any server, manufacturer, person etc in that country potentially compromised pretty easily

If you're only worried about the privacy concerns of a commercial IT guy you're just not seeing the big picture