most adults i know have a filing cabinet. most don’t leave it unlocked on their front porch. when i talk about protecting your online data, this is what i mean.
it’s not about paranoia of the government or google knowing how much you masturbate. it’s about that data being protected for no other reason that it’s very valuable. you may think it’s not, but it’s worth a lot. and large silicon valley corporations want you to believe that your data is worthless so they can convince you to hand it over.
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/kzvgbm/marriott-hotels-500-million-data-breach-hack
another day, another massive hack. companies yawn. they don’t care when they lose your data. they pay a small fine or whatever—if you’re lucky—but it costs a lot less than paying for good security. still, hacks like this can fuck you over big time.
it doesn’t take long to figure out things like https or 2fa or creating complex passwords or learning how not to get phished. start today, pick one topic and in a few months, you’ll be pretty secure. eff.org has you covered.
but it takes forever to convince people that this is worth doing and that you should throw away your alexa/google/whatever, stop letting companies know where you are via satellite, who your friends are, what your phone number is and everything else. things are just going to get worse, aren’t they?
here’s a good article that explains why companies can afford to not give a shit about losing your data. idk why it uses the same image as this marriott article.
and while i know it makes a lot of people uncomfortable to talk about more regulation, i think the government should probably do something about this. clearly the corporations in question have no incentive to do anything.
until then, it’s up to you to protect your own data. your data is very valuable and it’s worth keeping safe.