On the nature of privacy

The author argues that individuals should take primary responsibility for their own data privacy, and that people should minimise their digital footprint rather than wait for companies or governments to protect it. After requesting their Google data, the author reports finding over 100 gigabytes of personal data tied to one account, including a record of every page visited containing Google or Facebook ad trackers and a six-year GPS location history. The article distinguishes security, meaning protection from unauthorised access, from privacy, meaning limits on what can be derived from data, and it lists practical steps such as using a VPN without logs, uBlock Origin, and disabling Google and Facebook tracking.