A paradox that you are probably aware of
Let’s be clear. The technological (internet) revolution that has taken place over the last few decades has been absolutely transformative in a positive way. Being able to do your work all over the world, always having access to all your files, always having access to your bank account, always being able to see your family through a video call. The internet revolution has been a communication revolution.
And because of all the benefits this not only gives to you, but basically to all of society, it has become really difficult not to participate. Mankind has been living without this technology for hundreds of thousands of years. But try leaving your phone off for just a week nowadays and I can assure you’ll have a hard time.
Next to that, you have something called the ‘Privacy Paradox Problem‘. You are probably going through this too. This is the situation in which you know that you are being spied upon by big tech and intelligence agencies, but it seems really hard for you to do something about it. This mainly has two reasons:
- You have been conditioned to use these platforms, just like your friends and family. So this became a habit and it seems like this is the only way to go.
- You think giving up privacy is just a trade-off for using modern day technology.
Both are false.
In the first section of the course we’ll dive deeper into the privacy problems that we’re facing while using the internet. This section is divided up into three lessons:
- What is the definition of privacy?
- How big techies violate your privacy BIGTIME
- How the public and private domains are melting into each other
This section is now completely available for free. You can enter the course page here. Creating an account will cost you 30 seconds and will give you the ability to comment and track your learning-progress.
Section two and three are coming up soon. Here we will dive deeper into what we can actually do. Little surprise: there is a lot we can do!
Little tip for now: are you still using Gmail, Yahoo, or another Big Tech e-mail provider? Start moving to a privacy-respecting service like Protonmail or Tutanotamail.
You can ask questions by replying to this mail, or by commenting on a specific lesson/topic.