If I have nothing to hide why should I worry?
Some reasons why privacy matters
Trust
Reputation Management
Change
Self-sovereignty
Privacy isn't Cheap
We are not saying to go to extremes, but if you really want complete privacy, that costs money, a lot of money, and time. Especially in the US where companies don't want you to protect your privacy, they will constantly question your motives. That is not to say that other jurisdictions may not, but the US will absolutely question it, and fight you on privacy tooth and nail.
Computer technology is on the verge of providing the ability for individuals and groups to communicate and interact with each other in a totally anonymous manner. Two persons may exchange messages, conduct business, and negotiate electronic contracts without ever knowing the True Name, or legal identity, of the other. Interactions over networks will be untraceable, via extensive re- routing of encrypted packets and tamper-proof boxes which implement cryptographic protocols with nearly perfect assurance against any tampering. Reputations will be of central importance, far more important in dealings than even the credit ratings of today. These developments will alter completely the nature of government regulation, the ability to tax and control economic interactions, the ability to keep information secret, and will even alter the nature of trust and reputation - The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto (emphasis mine)
Let's review
In today's world, we expect connectivity to be instantaneous. We want the convenience of being able to go to a website, and be logged in ASAP. However, everything comes at a price. And in this case it is your privacy. Which means what, for you ...
Privacy - what is it
Basically, our privacy is a fundamental right, or so we think. Corporations, and other entities would like you to think otherwise. It all comes down to what is stored, what is displayed, and what information you are prepared to hand over. Information it consists of two types: personally identifying information (PII) and non-personally identifying information. Between the two bits of information you provide, information like birthday, age, location, which can also imply financial information, as well as information like website behaviour, how you behave on a certain site, what you purchase, where you go, after you've left etc.
None of this should be new information to you, as it has been discussed over over and over on various forums, articles etc.
What impacts your privacy online ... they can typically fall into 4 categories or behaviours:
Staying logged in to sites
Not reading the Terms & Conditions
Opening mail attachments that are questionable / downloading files you are unsure of
Using the same credentials on multiple accounts.
The follow up to these 4 things:
How can you change your behaviour to make your online life more secure:
Adjust your FAGA (Facebook, Amazon, Google, Apple) settings. These four giants pretty much control everything online, and adjusting the privacy settings on these platforms will go a long way to managing your privacy. To be fair, Apple does do some serious work to ensure your privacy, moreso than the other three. The other three help manage your privacy reluctantly. Remember Google was fined €200MM for violating GDPR, and most recently (2022) Meta has been fined €430 MM (between its various properties). Factor in that Google are currently in a court battle with Norway about online privacy (which could cost Google billions), there are many questions about how Google actually views privacy (see below).
Check your cookies and delete as necessary.
Use your firewalls (Mac's have a pretty good firewall inbuilt), not sure about Windows.
Use a TOR browser or a VPN.
Keep your software up to date.
Use HTTPS for your online connections as much as possible.
Use our software, (official release date will be forthcoming) we anonymize your data online and you have full control over it. You determine how much of your data is given to a particular organization. The only exceptions are government or financial institutions and we have a specific setting for them (contact me directly to book a conversation, either as a client or investor).
What Countries have the best Internet Privacy Laws
According to Privacy International the following countries rank in the top 5:
Norway
Australia
Denmark
Sweden
Finland
Canada ranks 7th with a privacy score of 81.8%
US ranks 18th with a privacy score of 68.6%
The bottom 5:
Zimbabwe
Vietnam
Cambodia
Uzbekistan
China
How Norway achieved top honors for internet privacy
With an internet privacy score of 90.1, Norway offers the highest internet privacy in the world. Norway also has some of the highest internet usage rates and some of the highest broadband speeds available.
But, what does the country do to earn such high marks in data privacy? Here are several of the biggest measures taken by Norway to protect internet privacy:
Internet privacy regulations
Norway has some of the toughest internet privacy rules in the world. They have several pieces of legislation that protect the privacy of their citizens both physically and digitally.
The country set up the Norwegian Data Protection Authority, which is an independent public authority created with the purpose of protecting individual’s privacy.
To collect or process any personal data in Norway, consent must be given. Citizens are also given the right to be forgotten, which means they can decide if they want a company to delete their personal information from their database.
The country has even taken on Google, asking the internet giant to remove online content about several of its citizens. In total, the country is fighting with Google to remove about 2,000 items from its searches, according to the Library of Congress.
Protection from foreign governments
Norway doesn’t allow foreign governments to “spy” on citizen data either. The country takes a strong stance on data protection, requiring any government to gain permission from a Norwegian court to gain access to private information.
Number of secure servers
Norway boasts some of the highest number of secure servers for citizens to utilize, which means data that’s being exchanged online is mostly encrypted. - https://bestvpn.org/privacy-index/
Internet Privacy Facts
While many social media sites and search engines can be used free of cost, they often come at the cost of your Internet privacy as they track your browsing history and sell it to the highest bidder or use that information to show you targeted advertisements.
Private browsing doesn’t protect your privacy from entities that monitor your activities on the Internet. It only prevents your browser from recording information about you – third-parties can still see what you’re doing online.
Everything you do and everywhere you go on online has already been saved and archived by your ISP. Since they assign your IP address, your Internet traffic (what websites you’re visiting, which apps you’re using, etc.) can be seen by them as it goes through their servers.
What's the biggest threat to your online privacy: weak passwords. Too many people still have their default passwords as their passwords. They don't change them, or change them frequently enough.
Why Privid
We use anonymization to protect your privacy. Our technology is blockchain based and as a result is practically unhackable. Not only is your information safe and secure, we also encrypt it as well as anonymize it. The party that you are talking to will know that you are who you are, because of verification protocols that we use. Or technology is safe, secure and is fully compliant with GDPR and CPPA and PIPEDA.
In other words our protocols are in line with the top five privacy jurisdictions according to Privacy International. Not only do we help organizations to be fully compliant, we help you, the end-user make sure your data is safe, secure and anonymous.
Contact us for more information
We are also actively seeking investors and will be happy to discuss how you can invest.
