@Blaise

Blaise wrote:

1) Does e-privacy actually matter to you? I honestly question my sanity when I get an email about tech-bros/regulatory capture/4&5 amendment rights/whatever, and it comes from a "gmail" account where we can both be quite sure it's been read, stored permanently, analyzed, and appropriate authorities or fixers called about it.

In the areas that e-privacy matter to me I am quite able to handle that. As far as someone going through my junk mail in and giving me services that are useful for me in exchange for that, I am all for that. Hey, I am still trying to get the electric, water and grocery store to extend their services to me in exchange for reading my junk mail. Hell I I'll even through in my snail mail junk mail! I have my own email servers for business. Most of my personal emails I could care less about.

Blaise wrote:

2) Do you see privacy and security concerns as separate issues, or as stops on the same spectrum of data hygiene?

Yes, very much so. I can easily use Tor Browser on Tails and private email servers for privacy related topics. Security is a whole different topic. I am not a very private person. There is not a lot I care whether Walmart.com, Amazon.com or Google know or share about me. It just simply is a non issue to me.

Blaise wrote:

3) Would you support some kind of "guaranteed no matter what" system, maybe from the government, maybe not, to ensure that no one can be entirely removed from online life by a government or organization for any reason, at all, no matter the reason? For example, an online identity that must be accepted by any government agency or communications/social service that can't be turned off at a base level, so folks you know can always find/communicate with you, even if you get on the wrong end of a block. I guess I'm asking if even someone who (for some examples) offended a service owner, said "bad" things in public and became cancelled/blocked, got accused of being a bot, etc. should still be allowed to participate at least at a survival level in the 21st century, so long as they haven't done or said anything that caused them to be imprisoned?

I really do not know how to respond to this as I am not sure where you are going with this statement. Could you elaborate.

Blaise wrote:

4) Assuming you were too busy/confused to build your own carefully constructed personal data protection regime, would you consider paying an organization to do the heavy lifting about keeping your digital life safe? If so, what might that service look like, and how much might it be worth to you? Do you know of any existing services that for you match these functions in whole or part?

I will let you look through my junk mail, that is all I pay now and that is as much as I am willing to pay.

You know what really makes me laugh. Is when people use MS/Windows that periodically screenshots everything they do and sends it back to MicroSoft and then worry about their email . The idea of Google going through my junk mail does not bother me. The idea of a corporation screenshotting everything I do, now that is a real privacy concern. Why are so-called privacy advocates not up in arms about that? Every day I hear nonsense about de-googling from people using MS/Windows??? Why? If you are going to use an OS, that in my opinion, is spyware then why are you concerned with your email? If you have business to do online that requires privacy. I suggest taking a few minutes to set up an email server. If not and you are really sensitive about your junk mail accounts then I suppose you could use protonmail .

If you cannot tell, this really is not a major issue to me that I lose sleep over. I know how to keep my private business private and I do not care about the privacy of my junk mail. And let's not even get me started on the gimmick they sell as a VPN which is nearly completely useless in the way they deploy it.