Privacy is Possible, but You Need to Think About It

It isn't hard to maintain privacy, though it is getting harder. Turn off your phone once in a while. Leave it at home, or buy a Faraday cage for it. (Amazon will sell you one, though I truly HATE Amazon.) But the real issue is you need to THINK. Your ‘Private’ Messages Aren’t Private

This is about Pedro Gonzales and how his “private” messages turned out to be not-so-private.

First let me echo this thought:

This is not to defend Gonzales or anything he said in the messages; it’s just acknowledging the reality that politics explains why this leak happened.

Here is a #1 rule of privacy. It requires installing no software. It requires nothing except thinking, which is why no one will follow this rule.

As for Gonzales and his “private” messages, young people need to learn a lesson I’ve repeatedly taught my kids: Never say anything in a text message, email or a DM that you wouldn’t want to see screencapped and printed on the front page of the New York Times. There are few beliefs more dangerous in the modern world than thinking that your “private” messages will stay private, if anyone ever has a motive to leak them.

And it isn't just today. Will they be your friends in 15 years? 25? Because as a lot of people have discovered recently, the internet is forever.