Veronica ExplainsYou still deserve privacy, even if you:
- don't use Linux
- use big social media sites
- aren't "techie"
- are just an average computer user
Those of us in the FOSS space need to do a better job of saying that everyone deserves privacy.
(cue folks coming in saying they use BSD, lol)
Ozzelot 
@veronica even if i did put this particular laptop where my one not-technically-emoji-but-also-not-not-an-emoji in a displayname is, i'd still be using linux at work, so... a linux user i would remain
Droid Boy 
Claude@switch
Its developer (yes, one guy - Terry A. Davis) was sadly just as mentally ill as he was talented, and while it's easy to poke fun at the views and behaviors he held (he coined the term "glowie" ffs), I can't help but feel sorry for him. Even his death wasn't clearly concluded to be accident or suicide.
@droidboy @veronica
Its developer (yes, one guy - Terry A. Davis) was sadly just as mentally ill as he was talented, and while it's easy to poke fun at the views and behaviors he held (he coined the term "glowie" ffs), I can't help but feel sorry for him. Even his death wasn't clearly concluded to be accident or suicide.
@droidboy @veronica
Darth Osler@veronica I have been roundly excoriated for asserting in the past 3 decades it is more important to consider 2A covering cryptography than firearms
Juffo-Wup
πΉπππ π²πππππ β π€ͺ@veronica we achieve privacy because our BSDes donβt support HTTP yet!
Antony@veronica I do use (Open-) BSD, but you're entirely correct. Saying people should get off the big platforms and Windows for privacy feels, to me, a bit like telling people not to live near factories if they're concerned about smog. It doesn't address the predatory systems that are actually driving the issues. Everyone deserves privacy and everyone deserves clean air. 'Just move lol' is a crap response to both concerns.
Tattie
purple: licenced to sticky plaster
Draken (on my way to ACen)@veronica
The default needs to be privacy. Most people don't change the defaults.
The default needs to be privacy. Most people don't change the defaults.
Emilio Marin
UkeleleEric@UkeleleEric @emar404 @veronica i am very serious. Tech minded people should be the ones sounding the alarms about corpos like Meta and their criminal activities.
@UkeleleEric @emar404 @veronica
Years ago I was able to educate my non-techie mother on the importance of E2EE by using "would you trust the federal government with a copy of your house keys?" as a metaphor.
Years ago I was able to educate my non-techie mother on the importance of E2EE by using "would you trust the federal government with a copy of your house keys?" as a metaphor.
@draken @UkeleleEric @veronica using metaphors is the way to go for sure, I feel like most non techie people kind of stop listening when tech gets explained lol (which I understand there is a big misconception that anything tech is magic and only smart people understand it). Or I even hear the attitude of "well they already got everything on me so might as well not care" 0_0
Gabriel Markley@veronica que age verification discussion in primary flavors...
teresa_athome@veronica Thank you for saying this! The rights to privacy and security are platform agnostic. Solutions to protect them should be too.
CassandraVertWithout jumping through hoops.
Mx. David SnyderI usually combat the "if you aren't doing anything wrong what's the problem" line with my bathroom analogy.
I don't need privacy in the bathroom because I'm taking secret, sinister poops. I deserve that privacy, and that's good and normal. I should be able to write a (digital) letter to my friends and family without the government or corporations reading it because I deserve that, we all do. And that's good and normal.
Also Google is locking down the android store and AAGGHHHH FUU
Eggs now in different baskets.@mxenbionix @veronica My version of that reply is:
"OK. So, what is the URL of the live-stream webcam in your toilet?"
Tina@veronica But we tend to do. We just don't have the PR budgets that Google, Meta, Microsoft, Apple, X, ... have. So the only thing we can do is telling people: "If you care about your data privacy, don't use Chrome. Don't use Windows. Don't use the only OS your phone supports."
No one here says: "I think as tech-savvy FOSS people at least we should have data privacy". We say "Data privacy should generally be mandatory". But we cannot change what Google, Meta, ... do. We can only advice against using their products.
And then it becomes a fight against convenience and habits. There are amazing people in the FOSS world who work hard to make Software more accessible to "normal" users. But still in the end this is a fight you can only take yourself.
Rainer KΓΆnigPrivacy laws are like the laws of physics. They apply to everyone without exception.
Father HardstoneExcept they are 'man-made' laws and big corporations and companies get away with violating them all the time, sometimes the govts are also part of this (who are supposed to regulate such behaviour)
Now, the whole world has gone nuts to 'Save the Kids' and they are pushing for Digital ID, mandatory facial verification laws while everyday you keep hearing news about user data being breached 
Robson Muniz@veronica We dont, lets go back to Facebook, instagram and whatsapp.
7heoSome of us in the FOSS space are fed up of being the benevolent doormats that get pissed on "for fun" before being begged for help when shit goes south.
When someone is giving you countless warnings that you're doing something stupid, along with explanation, proof, examples, etc., and your reaction is "stfu lol, gtfo you useless dumbfuck nerd", don't be surprised said "nerd" doesn't hold you in high regard, or wants to help you later on.
Robots can be gay deal with it@veronica "No, Linux users also deserve their privacy violated" - Canonical
Gadfly (-booq-)@veronica I so often feel exhausted by how much I need to repeat this.
Also:
- privacy is about consent and agency
- privacy is not a binary state
- the goal of privacy advocacy is supporting the interactions people want and deserve to have
nLupo 
screwlisp
Moe Lassus@veronica Agreed, there is a lot of victim blaming in the privacy space.
Magnus Ahltorp@moelassus @veronica A lot. I had an argument here with some people who apparently believe the user is always wrong when it comes to privacy, security and safety.
Yes, a user can do things wrong in a way where the blame should be put on them, but usually not. Accounting for user error is one of the most fundamental principles of cryptography, and that should be the case for other aspects of technology as well.
GhostOnTheHalfShellEspecially if youβre an average computer user.
We all need to tell the Supreme Court to get the fuck out of here with this unreasonable search and seizure of our information for no reason. The state has to have reason.
Age verification is bollocks
Webber-e-bop@veronica Thus EU regulations of governments and corporations, they benefit the techy and the average.
We already have some EU regulations already, but clearly we need more.
RokosunHonestly there should be better regulations for these things. It shouldn't be people's responsibility to choose and pick every single piece of software they use to make sure it respects their privacy, and currently it's not just that but you also have to be on top of everything and switch apps/services when they get bought out by a shady company or start getting enshittified - most folks frankly don't have time for all that.
David Goldfield@meadow @veronica Absolutely. If someone says to me, "I have nothing to hide", I'll say, "Great. I'm glad to hear it. In that case, would you mind giving me your social security number? How about the key to your house or apartment? Your bank account and routing number? Your annual income?" ...
When people say "I have nothing to hide", what they're really trying to say is "I'm not doing anything illegal." Which is great but we all have something to hide.
When people say "I have nothing to hide", what they're really trying to say is "I'm not doing anything illegal." Which is great but we all have something to hide.
Kyle Memoir ππ§@DavidGoldfield @meadow @veronica
The 'I have nothing to hide' crowd is the same cohort who are happy to passively accept Nazism or whatever we want to call what's going on right now - which sounds hyperbolic, until we recall 'I have nothing to hide' in this environment also means: I'm white, I'm straight, I'm privileged, I'm not overtly critical of the regime, etc.
I've got no time for that s___ myself.
Every 'I've got nothing to hide' person I've ever bumped into has been of that ilk.
Cameron@f800gecko @DavidGoldfield @meadow @veronica yes a lot of the people who donβt care are people like this
@cameron29 @f800gecko @meadow @veronica Maybe some but there are others who may say such things who don't necessarily feel that way.
@DavidGoldfield @meadow @veronica
My current default response is:
"Let me ask you something. When you go to the bathroom, do you close the door? Why? Pooping isn't illegal, is it? You doing something shady in there you don't want me to know about?
Would you support security cameras installed in public bathrooms to make sure nobody was doing drugs in them?"
(Criminalization of drugs in general is also deeply unhelpful to society, but that's a separate issue.)
I can't decide whether I like mine or yours better. I'm going to start using both going forward.
sylvie@AVincentInSpace thats kind of long, surely you can shorten it to just "well youre literally hiding your body under clothes", wont work all that well during winter, so maybe go with "if you have nothing to hide then you can strip naked" or such
@sylvie it literally is illegal to be naked in public, though, so
@AVincentInSpace who said in public, but sure, ask them to unlock their phone and show <whatever they use for messaging> since they have nothing to hide
Gabs
Em 
That VW Guy@veronica I agree, now how do make that happen?
Are there list of things the average user can install to help?
@VW_Guy @veronica Good question!
The EFF is usually a good place to start:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/09/opt-out-october-daily-tips-protect-your-privacy-and-security
Opt Out October: Daily Tips to Protect Your Privacy and Security
Trying to take control of your online privacy can feel like a full-time job. But if you break it up into small tasks and take on one project at a time it makes the process of protecting your privacy much easier. This month weβre going to do just that.
How many non-tech people have even heard of the EFF?
@VW_Guy Not many.
So spread the good word.
You might have a Linux and/or repair cafe in your local area. They might be able to help or give advice as to where to get help and advice.
Public libraries might have information about such groups as well.
@the_wub I'm far to much of an impatient asshole to teach or persuade.
I agree that local clubs might be part of the answer
@VW_Guy At the very least you helped by asking your original question as there is now a link to the EFF privacy tips in this thread.
And so in asking your question you may well have helped another non-techie who stumbles across this thread and reads your toot to work out how to start improving their privacy.
Every act of curiosity helps.
Thank you for your contribution!