Mind Your Business!

I’m saying this every day, all the time, to social media. Mrs English Al thinks I am swimming up river and will never succeed in staying private, and to a point she’s right. But it doesn’t mean I have to make it easy. I will continue to block all unnecessary cookies, use VPN locations all over the world, give a dozen different email addresses (including some made purely to absorb garbage), and the wrong date of birth to anyone who thinks they need it, but doesn’t.

Privacy matters. I like to write. I like to debate. And don’t misunderstand me, I’m genuinely glad to know you and interact with anyone who reads what I write. But, I’m not sharing personal information online, and neither should you. Where I live, where I’m from, what I do for a living, what guns I own right now, where and when I shoot, is none of your damned business. And what you do is none of mine.

It’s hard to overestimate just how much information is shared when you log onto the internet. All the “necessary” cookies shared by the big tech companies give a detailed blueprint of your location, and everything you’ve ever done online. You can opt out of as much as you like, but the footprint you leave will always be worthwhile to them. Don’t be fooled by the rivalries between the big players – Meta (Facebook), Google, Microsoft, Apple, etc. They do compete, and some of their leaders really do despise each other. But they’re too smart to stop cooperating. What you share with one, you share with all of them. In the USA, it’s the Wild West as far as regulation goes. They own your ass and sell it around for free.

So, I choose not to put personal stuff online. You won’t be seeing pictures and videos of me, my life, or anything that’s mine. Certainly not my family or home. You won’t hear details of where I’ve been recently, what I’m doing at work or what I had for lunch.

I’m not saying this because I have some secret undercover operator-operatin’ lifestyle. I go to a few places but my job is mostly boring enough that I enjoy writing this! I’m saying this because it’s good advice to anyone.

The internet is awesome. The sum total of human knowledge accessible from a tiny device in your pocket or a screen on your desk. Or, cat videos, if you’re a dumbass. OK, gun videos. I’ll give you that one. But it’s also a market, and if you’re online and you’re not paying or being paid, then you’re the product. Remember that.

Stay safe, stay private, and don’t be a dumbass.

English Al