How SmarterEveryDay's 4privacy can, and cannot, meet its goals October 22, 2021 on Drew DeVault's blog

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2021-10-24 00:30:04

I don’t particularly find myself to be a fan of the SmarterEveryDay YouTube channel, simply for being outside of Destin’s target audience most of the time. I understand that Destin, the channel’s host, is a friendly person and a great asset to his peers, and that he generally strives to do good. When I saw that he was involved in a Kickstarter to develop a privacy product, it piqued my interest. As a privacy advocate and jaded software engineer, I set out to find out what it’s all about.

There are several things to praise here. I honestly thought that Destin’s coverage of the topic of privacy for the layman was really well presented, and took some notes to use the next time I’m explaining privacy issues to my friends. The coverage of the history of wiretapping and the pivotal role played by 9/11, complete with an empathetic view of the mindset of American adults contemporary to it that many find hard to express, along with great drone shots of Big Tech’s mysterious datacenters, this is all great stuff. For the right project, Destin is a valuable asset with a large audience and a lot of experience in making complex issues digestible for the every-person, and 4privacy is lucky to have access to him.

A lot of the buzzwords and things found on their technology page are promising as well. The focus on end-to-end encryption and zero-knowledge principles, and the commitment to open source, are absolutely necessary and are great to see here. A lot of the tech described, although briefly, seems like it’s on the right track. The ability to use your own service provider, and the focus on decentralization and federation, is very good.

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