Yeah, yeah, I know this isn't one of the "COMING UP" articles - but guess what, writers' block manifests itself in curious ways. Regardless, this is an issue I feel is just as important to shed light on regarding Internet privacy.
It goes without saying these days, but we live in a world that is ever more dependent on a constant connection to the Internet. Not only that, but personal information has become the new gold to seemingly every government and tech company. Literally everywhere you go, someone is trying to scrape up as much information about you as possible - usually to pass off to advertisers who serve you targeted bullshit, but sometimes for even more nefarious purposes. And as websites grow ever more clogged with cookies, third party tracking and other 'modern' bullshit, a question must be asked: Is complete and total privacy something that is even feasible on the modern Internet?
Ultimately everyone's situation is going to be different, but in my case - and I'd imagine for most people, the answer is no.
Try convincing your tech illiterate grandmother to switch from Chrome to Pale Moon, let alone appropriately configure it for privacy. Try convincing your gamer friends to quit using Steam beacuse of its built in spyware features. Try convincing your employer or school that you don't want to use their websites over privacy concerns. Exactly.
Regarding my own situation, I literally have to choose between total privacy and having an income. Take Workday, which is integrated with Microsoft tracking (and probably Workday's own trackers as well) - the site will NOT function correctly without enabling JavaShit for both Workday and Microsoft scripts. And guess what: if I don't use the site to enter my worked hours, I don't get a paycheck! I can't choose to not have an income, it's literally impossible - unless I want to be homeless, of course.
Also, a lot of these issues stretch well beyond the scope of just privacy. Even if a student could opt out of using Google Classroom over privacy concerns, it doesn't change the fact that the American public school system is still a complete and utter joke, for example.
There's also some personal choice involved - again, my situation included. Some in the privacy community might call me a sham for saying this, but I'm going to be honest nonetheless: I am not willing to compromise my hobbies and personal relationships in the name of privacy.
The line between privacy and being a straight up asshole has to be drawn somewhere. Stick it to corrupt governments and corporations instead of clueless family members, while also knowing where to stand your ground. I will never use social media like Facebook, Twitter or Discord, and will NEVER switch to Google Chrome, for instance. My family respects these decisions. On the other hand, ditching traditional SMS in the name of privacy would mean leaving family members, coworkers and friends in the dark - something that is not only an asshole move, but also impractical.
At the end of the day, you need to find privacy solutions that work for YOU. Only compromise your privacy where it is actually necessary (and by this, I mean things like your job as an instance. If you see posting about every miniscule detail of your life on social media as 'necessary' - there's already no hope) and make no room for compromise beyond that. If you don't stand your ground where you can and decide to let governments and corporations slowly chip away at your privacy, you'll eventually have nothing left...