Privacy

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A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

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Doorbell anxiety (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 weeks ago by Prontomomo@lemmy.world to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

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Looking for some perspective on this, interested how y’all think about it and if I’m isolated in my concerns.

I’ve grown to be a bit anxious when I’m out and about in any neighborhood. The wide use of doorbell cameras that connect to the internet and save data on company servers, listen in to your conversations, and could be used for spying on you as an individual gives me a sinking feeling.

I like walking around, I walk my dogs around the neighborhood and I know my neighbors. I’ve started being so aware that it’s changing my habits. I don’t turn my face towards houses while I’m walking if I notice a doorbell camera, and I’ve put my shirt over my face when dropping off something to a neighbor who has one. I probably gave them a fright but I don’t feel like I should’ve expected to be OK with you surviving me in a way that compromises my privacy that expansively. I’m considering keeping a bandana with me to cover my face if I need to go up to a door, but of course that would make people think I’m a bad actor and just a paranoid privacy nut.

I feel a bit like Winston in the 1984 novel, always feeling watched and trying to find an isolated corner where I can’t be seen. How have y’all been feeling on this? Would love to get perspective, thanks

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[–] LemmyPlay@lemmings.world 8 points 2 weeks ago

You have valid concerns. It's an unfortunate shifting landscape. There's no opt-out for collection devices you don't own (it's hard enough already for the ones you do own) so consent has disintegrated completely. The reflexive reaction is threat model focus and adjusting your expectations of privacy. But what's becoming more complex at that approach is how widely and with whom the data is being shared. If the doorbell server owner was using it to improve the doorbell product only, it wouldn't be so concerning. But when it becomes a data harvesting tool for law enforcement or any other company willing to pay, relatively trivial data collection becomes much more imposing since it can be combined with other sources.

I am not at shirt-over-my-face level yet, but I would feel much more comfortable with a face mask any time I approach an unknown camera, which is increasingly common these days.