I cannot help but wonder if the use of such tools as the ones listed in the article are not just "privacy theater", in the same sense that we have come to realize that much of what happens in the name of security is just "security theater". Ironically, of course, is that much of what happens in the name of security is exactly what takes away our privacy in the first place.
What is needed is for people to tangibly suffer from lack of privacy. It is obvious to people how they suffer from lack of security.
Germans remember what a lack of privacy can do (Stasi in East Germany), and as a consequence, they are much more privacy-minded than in many other places.
Ther is a wakeup call already but it needs to come from us (tech workers). We do understand what is going on, we do use use adblockers, application firewalls, obfuscate our online fingerprints, use multiple accounts etc.
On the other side we also produce tools for mass survailance, ads networks, tracking, implement telemetry, adding ads providers frameworks to our applications.
In same breath we are protesting against selling technology to military, ICE, disallow their children playing online games where gambling is the revenue (opening boxes and similar), gitlab enforced telemetry,...
I see a huge discrepancy between what we want for ourself (privacy), what we preach and on the other side, what we do and we fuel the survailance society.
The solution is to stop on our side and dont do to the others what we dont want to be done to us. (... and even if there is always going to be someone "selling drugs to kids", most of people dont do it).
>We do understand what is going on, we do use use adblockers, application firewalls, obfuscate our online fingerprints, use multiple accounts etc.
That seems like a broad statement. I tend to use adblockers (but not religiously). But I generally don't obfuscate my online behavior or firewall different identities for most purposes. I certainly would for certain types of online behavior--and certainly for things like political dissent in some countries--but by and large I try to avoid doing things online I wouldn't want someone to find out about.
(Obviously I'm talking about actions that don't carry an expectation of person to person communications as opposed to broadcast. Though, even then, I'm pretty careful about what I commit to digital text or image that could potentially leak.
Do to others anything they accept to take. But tell them about what you do. One way or another, don't hide what you do, explain what you do.
On your drug analogy: sell drugs, and tell exactly what drug you are making. Or others, less scrupulous will make all sort of drugs, hiding what's exactly in them.
Do what you are good at, and make sure to inform, if whoever you are doing it for isn't playing transparency then whisleblow what they do. Then quit or stay, that part will depend on what impact you want to make to this world.
the various 'cancellations' , celebrity images leaking, revenge porn etc should serve to remind people about its dangers. Maybe we need more hackers to put stuff online?
What is needed is for people to tangibly suffer from lack of privacy. It is obvious to people how they suffer from lack of security.
Germans remember what a lack of privacy can do (Stasi in East Germany), and as a consequence, they are much more privacy-minded than in many other places.
What will be the wake up call for other nations?