Do you remember that old segment in Mad Magazine called Spy vs. Spy?
Basically, there are two Spies, a black spy, and a white spy, and they are mortal enemies. The running joke is that each spy is always one step in front of the other one.
It is a constant competition of plot twists. But what’s really funny is how similar that is to real life and the privacy field online.
The internet is a constantly changing landscape, and that’s also why getting private is more complicated now than it used to be.
Whenever hackers find a way into a software, developers patch it, and make it stronger. Whenever the government finds a new way to spy on its citizens, the citizens find a way to fight back.
For example: One of the main reasons crypto was originally created was to be private and de-centralized. That way, the power goes back to the people, and not the fed. But the Government did not like this. They want to be able to track everyone’s money closely. So, they implemented laws and created pressure for crypto exchanges.
That’s why so many crypto exchanges became KYC (know your customer). This effectively took a lot of power away from crypto, but people fought back. There are many ways you can still get completely anonymous crypto. It comes down to having cold wallets, using the right exchanges, and getting the right coins.
Another good example of this is when people found out that the government was spying on them through their cameras and microphones, they began covering them. And people also started using microphone blockers. You can find webcam covers and microphone blockers here.
And it also goes for software. Now, there are tons of options when it comes to private internet browsing, private email, and other services.
This is all great, but as I mentioned it is all subject to change. When one spy pushes, the other spy pushes.
And this might seem tedious or overwhelming, but that’s one of the main reasons we designed the Privacy Action Plan. We want to keep people up to date and present the information in an easy to digest way.
At the end of the day, privacy is your right to protect. And it is vital that you do.
I hope you enjoyed this article. Please share our blog with your friends and family.
Thank you!
Eric Meder