5 Commandments of Online Privacy | Do You AGREE or DISAGREE?

There is no “privacy switch” in life. In other words, instead of binary, your online privacy should be measured in levels. And each of us has different levels of comfort and paranoia about our data privacy. Today I’m going to share with you my privacy framework, which can be distilled down to 5 commandments that I try my best to follow (although I don’t always!).

This framework is always evolving, and I’m open to discussion in the comments below for those of you who think I’m missing something or who just outright disagree with me. Check it out:

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I’m not passive about my privacy, nor am I insanely paranoid. I land somewhere in the middle. I do care about my online privacy, obviously, but instead of seeing every big data and social media company as a cancer I need to get rid of, I prefer to make intentional, calculated decisions about my privacy.

These are the 5 commandments I discuss in the video above:

1. Know Who I’m Trusting: Be intentional about where I place my trust (because you have to trust someone!)
2. Limit the Trust Given to any Single Entity: As much as possible, I want to limit how much I trust any single company or person with my data.
3. Divide Control of my Data: Minimize how much I use any single company and use specific applications for specific privacy uses.
4. Control my Own Data (as much as possible): Control my own data as much as possible through various means such as client-side encryption, local storage and data segregation.
5. Backup, Backup, BACKUP! Create a safety net with any kind of security or privacy service by making sure you have a backup in case of total failure or data loss.

What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with my 5 commandments of online privacy? These are the rules that I use to develop the content I create here and to determine which security and privacy products I recommend.

Feel free to leave a comment here on website, but honestly you’ll find most of the discussion happening over on the video’s YouTube page.