Privacy 0.8 – My Never-ending Privacy Story

Privacy protection is not a state of being; it is not a quantum state that needs to be achieved. It is a mindset. It is a process. And that process is never-ending. Like the movie from the eighties, the never-ending privacy story features an inquisitive yet fearful child. [Yes, I’m casting each of us in the that role.] This child must assemble the forces of goodness to fight the forces of evil. [Yes, in this example, I’m casting the government and corporations in the role of evil doers. But bear with me. This is just story-telling.] The story will come to an end when the forces of evil and darkness are finally vanquished by the forces of goodness and light.

It’s too bad that life is not so simple.

My Never-ending Privacy Battle Begins

There is a tremendous battle going on. Selfish forces are seeking to strip us of our privacy while they sell us useless trinkets that we don’t need. There are a few people who truly know what is going on. But most folks only laugh whenever someone talks about “the great Nothing”. And then they see the clouds rolling in. Is it too late for them? Let’s hope not – because ‘they’ are us.

My privacy emphasis began a very long time ago. In fact, I’ve always been part of the security (and privacy) business. But my professional focus began with my first post-collegiate job. After graduation, I worked for the USAF on the Joint Cruise Missile program. My role was meager. In fact, I was doing budget spreadsheets using both Lotus 1-2-3 and the SAS FS-Calc program. A few years later, I remember when the first MIT PGP key server went online. But my current skirmishes with the forces of darkness started a few years ago. And last year, I got extremely serious about improving my privacy posture.

My gaze returned to privacy matters when I realized that my involvement on social media had invalidated any claims I could make about my privacy, I decided to return my gaze to the 800-pound gorilla in the room.

My Never-ending Privacy Battle Restarts

Since then, I’ve deleted almost all of my social media accounts. Gone are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Foursquare, and a laundry list of other platforms. I’ve deleted (or disabled) as many Google apps as I can from my Android phone (including Google Maps). I’ve started my new email service – though the long process of deleting my GMail accounts will not end for a few months.

At the same time, I am routinely using a VPN. And as I’ve noted before, I decided to use NordVPN. I have switched away from Chrome and I’m using Firefox exclusively. I’ve also settled upon the key extensions that I am using. And at this moment, I am using the Tor browser about half of the time that I’m online. Finally, I’ve begun the process of compartmentalizing my online activities. My first efforts were to use containers within Firefox. I then started to use application containers (like Docker) for a few of my key infrastructure elements. And recently I’ve started to use virtual guests as a means of limiting my online exposure.

Never-ending Progress

But none of this should be considered news. I’ve written about this in the past. Nevertheless, I’ve made some significant progress towards my annual privacy goals. In particular, I am continuing my move away from Windows and towards open source tools/platforms. In fact, this post will be the first time that I am publicly posting to my site from a virtual client. In fact, I am using a Linux guest for this post.

For some folks, this will be nothing terribly new. But for me, it marks a new high-water mark towards Windows elimination. As of yesterday, I access my email from Linux – not Windows. And I’m blogging on Linux – not Windows. I’ve hosted my Plex server on Linux – not Windows. So I think that I can be off of Windows by the end of 2Q19. And I will couple this with being off GMail by 4Q19.

Bottom Line

I see my goal on the visible horizon. I will meet my 2019 objectives. And if I’m lucky, I may even exceed them by finishing earlier than I originally expected. So what is the reward at the end of these goals? That’s simple. I get to set a new series of goals regarding my privacy.

At the beginning of this article, I said, “The story will come to an end when the forces of evil and darkness are finally vanquished by the forces of goodness and light.” But the truth is that the story will never end. There will always be individuals and groups who want to invade your privacy to advance their own personal (or collective) advantage. And the only way to combat this will be a never-ending privacy battle.