Em

The goal isn't to protect children,
the goal is to de-anonymize every comment and action on the internet, associating it with a legal ID, by eventually requesting official identification from every adult using a computer.

Some politicians have already stated this plainly.

This leads to censorship of anyone criticizing their government.

This leads to repression of marginalized people, especially immigrants, people of color, and trans and gender diverse people.

This leads to self-censorship of any comments or actions that could be interpreted against the system. Such as speaking out against fascism and authoritarian surveillance, or defending human rights publicly.

This leads to total control of the population and its tools of communications.

This leads to the end of democracy, centralizing power even more in the hands of a few.

Do not let them do this to us.

#MassSurveillance #AgeVerification #Authoritarianism #HumanRights

First they ask for your date of birth,
but later they claim it's not enough.

Then they ask for your full name and location,
but later they claim it's not enough.

Then they ask for a copy of your passport,
but later they claim it's not enough.

Then they ask for your facial scan,
but later they claim it's not enough.

Then they ask for your fingerprints,
but later they claim it's not enough.

Then they ask for your palm scan,
but later they claim it's not enough.

Then they ask for a scan of your iris,
but later they claim it's not enough.

Then they ask for ...

#MassSurveillance #Authoritarianism #AgeVerification #Privacy #Democracy #HumanRights

Whenever you hear "ban for kids" on the internet, read in reality "ID collection by a sketchy third-party company that will definitely use it or leak it or both for every adult."

Because that's what this truly means.
Also, it doesn't even help the kids.

#AgeVerification #Privacy #MassSurveillance #Authoritarianism

A world without privacy is also a world without intimacy, without individuality, without diversity, and without democracy.

Certain politicians have clearly expressed they want a world without privacy.

We cannot let them have it passively. We must fight back for our rights. Now.

Or we will lose them.

#Privacy #MassSurveillance #Authoritarianism #AgeVerification

Bad news 😔💔

I am sad to announce today that unfortunately I will not be working with Privacy Guides anymore after the end of this month.

Good news! 🚨

I will be available for a new position or contract, starting in April!

I am looking for a position or contact for:

✊ Digital rights activist (with a specialty in privacy rights)

🔒 Privacy expert or consultant

Fediverse and Mastodon advocate

🙌 Managerial position

📰 Tech journalist

💻 Technical writer

💚 Or any other fitting positions

I am especially interested in working with nonprofit organisations, cooperatives, open-source projects, privacy-oriented software companies, or any other organisations working for the public good.

🇨🇦 Remote from Canada

All the work I produce is guaranteed to be AI-free

Let me know if you hear of any good opportunities!

#FediHire #GetFediHired #Tech #Jobs

You can refuse to provide official ID or biometric data for social media accounts requiring age verification.

Actually, I bet if everyone did refuse, and let their account dormant for a couple of weeks, you would suddenly see American Big Tech transforming into the fiercest defender of your privacy rights, using their powerful network of lobbyists to fight these invasive government regulations.

They need you more than you need them.
Force them to work for your rights.
Do not comply.

#Privacy #AgeVerification #Biometrics #AusPol #USpol

Here's the thing about Proton Mail:

With Proton Mail, the content of your email is fully end-to-end encrypted and inaccessible to service providers IF (and only if) you are communicating with another Proton Mail account, or you have set up a PGP key exchange otherwise.

The metadata of your email, however, isn't end-to-end encrypted. It is accessible in plain text to Proton. This includes:

• Your payment information
• The subject line of your emails
• Your IP address(es), which can reveal your location
• The email addresses you have communicated with
• The time you have sent and received emails

If Proton is legally forced to provide this information to law enforcement, they will. They have to.

If your threat model makes it that it's dangerous for you when this metadata is shared, you need to use another, more private, method of communication.

#ProtonMail #Privacy

Good News! 🚨👀

I am delighted to finally announce today what I've been working on in the past few weeks:

Privacy Guides' new Activism section!
https://privacyguides.org/activism/

The Activism section offers a new way to empower the digital rights community. It will progressively grow with more tools to support the community in its privacy activism effort, both for individuals and organizations 💛

As Privacy Guides' new Activism & Outreach Lead, I will be working hard on developing this section even further in the coming weeks, adding many more tools to support our community.

I hope this can be a helpful resource for anyone who is ready to fight for privacy rights ✊🔒

#PrivacyGuides #Activism #Privacy #DigitalRights #HumanRights

AI corporations can't get your money, because most people don't want to pay for that. And they need a lot of money to justify their investment.

So they're going after government contracts, with their powerful network of lobbyists. That way, your government can give them your money anyway. To pay for that, they will very likely cut in public services.

If you don't want that to happen, email or call your government representatives.

#NoAI

I wish I could force every legislator
in favor of Age Verification to watch this amazing talk by Carissa Véliz,

So that they understand the dangers
of the surveillance infrastructure they are currently putting in place.

You should watch it too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSPRouBvgFE

#Privacy #Democracy #HumanRights #AgeVerification #MassSurveillance #Fascism

First, they'll ask for your official IDs to confirm your age and identity.

This will create a large treasure trove
of sensitive data, which will attract criminals, and will inevitably leak from either negligence or malice, sooner than later.

Then, they'll claim your official ID is
unreliable, because it was stolen so many times, and demand you share your biometric data.

They will collect your face scan,
your palm scan, and even your iris scan (no exaggeration, these are all already being collected by some companies for identification). They will claim it's super safe.

This will create a large treasure trove
of sensitive biometric data, which will attract criminals, and will inevitably leak from either negligence or malice, sooner than later.

Then what? Rinse and escalate.

You will have lost control of not just your corporate social media accounts by participating to this, but to any data capable of validating your identity, to your privacy rights, to the protections you could use online to stay safe.

We don't have to wait that it escalates.

We can, and must, push back and say No now. Start to say No now.

#Privacy #Biometrics #DataMinimization #AgeVerification

If enough Canadians contact
their local representatives, as well Mark Carney's office this week, we might be spared from this authoritarian mass-surveillance measure called "Age Verification" in Canada.

The time to fight back is NOW: https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/article/social-media-ban-for-kids-under-consideration-in-online-harms-bill-carney/

Privacy is a human right essential to safety and democracy. If we do not fight to protect it, we will lose it.

#AgeVerification #MassSurveillance #Privacy #Democracy #HumanRights #Canada #CanPoli

Thinking about that time someone called me a "sweet summer child" and I very much feel like calling me a "bitter winter elder" would be so much more appropriate.

I'm going to sound biased here, but people should hire more women in tech.

Yes, I'm looking. Why do you ask? 👀

#InternationalWomenDay #WomenInTech

If you store the data of others:

1) you are responsible for protecting it,

2) you are responsible for determining if harm could be caused if this data leaked,

3) and you are responsible for deleting it properly once you do not need to retain it anymore, especially if it could cause harm.

This is a moral obligation and, in many circumstances, can also be a legal one.

#Privacy #DataMinimization #DataDeletion

When people are not celebrating the small victories in the long battles for human rights we are fighting, I am terrified.

I am terrified of the worse threat of all to our movements: Giving up.

I am terrified that when people forget to celebrate their wins, they get so tired and discouraged that they give up the fight entirely. Discouragement leads to apathy. And apathy leads to defeat.

Please please, I implore you:
Take care of your mood
Celebrate the small wins 🎉
Give others some time to celebrate, even when victories are only partial

We need hope to survive and thrive 💚

#HumanRights #DigitalRights #Activism #Burnout

Mass surveillance is incompatible with freedom and democracy.

Which one do you want to pick?

#Privacy #Democracy #HumanRights #MassSurveillance

Pseudonymity saves lives.
It is vital to healthy democracies.

#Privacy #Pseudonymity #HumanRights

If demanding an industry respects human rights and respects the laws would kill this industry, this industry should have never been created to begin with.

It's okay to let unruly human-rights-destroying industries die.

Innovation at all cost is no innovation at all.

#NoAI

We need to push much harder against
Age Verification laws and law proposals.

Contact your local representatives NOW to tell them you firmly oppose these privacy-destroying laws that will harm democracy and civil liberties in unprecedented ways.

#AgeVerification #Privacy #MassSurveillance #Authoritarianism

I had a rough week. Send cats please

Please keep in mind:
Surveillance capitalism is surveillance.

It's not mild surveillance,
it's mass surveillance.

#Privacy #MassSurveillance

Today October 21st is
Global Encryption Day! 🔒🎉

This is a good time to remember that encryption is essential to online security and digital privacy.

Despite some governments pushing hard to weaken it, we must remind them that we all need encryption, and especially end-to-end encryption, to stay safe online 💚

Privacy is a human right
and end-to-end encryption is one of the best tool we have to enforce that right.

https://www.privacyguides.org/articles/2025/04/11/encryption-is-not-a-crime/

#GlobalEncryptionDay #Encryption #E2EE #Privacy #RootForE2EE

Facial Recognition is slowly
getting embedded in most systems in the name of security.

This needs to stop.

Not only it will not help, but it will definitely harm a lot of innocent people: Identity theft and doxing when the inevitable data breaches happen. False positives, which can be very high and even higher for people of color. Normalized discrimination for many.

We collectively need to
refuse each time facial recognition is requested, and we need to write to our public representatives to demand better legislation against it.

If we do not refuse to participate and
we do not fight for our privacy rights collectively, we will lose them.

Here's how it works for airports in the US: https://gizmodo.com/senators-say-tsas-facial-recognition-program-is-out-of-control-heres-how-to-opt-out-2000528310

#Privacy #Biometrics #FacialRecognition #SecurityTheater

Are you ready to be a privacy activist and fight for your digital rights?

We will need all the help we can get ✊

#Privacy #Activism