It’s been a while since I started my privacy journey, but there was something I always wanted to do even before I started to care about my privacy. I always have loved the idea of having a blog to talk about different things that I am interested in, and creating content of value for others, and not gibberish content full of SEO spam, completely generated by AI as these are more frequently seem now, completely making the web worst.
I know the primary source of income on the internet are ads, but now that I am aware about all the tracking that is being made, and all the dark pattern companies make on the internet, has make me second thought the idea of making an income (I know is hard) out of something I would love to do.
Ads on the web are dominated by google, I have been de-googling my life since I started learning about better privacy focused alternatives, and following my thread model, but If I would add ads to my website or a create a youtube channel, I feel everything I have been doing would’ve been in vane. Currently I block ads because of all the tracking they required, so it feels kind of hypocritical if I started a blog with ads.
Obviously, instead of ads, I could create a support page somewhere, like patreon, ko-fi, and others. But again, I am sure that these platforms in a way or another is doing something I don’t feel comfortable with.
Does anyone else feel like because of their care for digital privacy they are missing out and are afraid to do things? I know this is a price you have to pay. Do you have any recommendations or alternatives? or should I still do it, but with more caution? If you make money online with your content, what is you strategy and recommendations to keep your privacy while doing it?
I understand that you cannot obtain absolute privacy, by the way I would not consider myself as paranoiac, and I didn’t started by changing everything in one night, it’s been two years since I started to care about all of this.
I sell specialized content on one particular specialized platform. That platform requires a scan of your ID card, and a selfie of you holding your ID card to your face when you open a seller’s account.
For payouts, they partnered with one particular payment processor that also uses the same system (ID card scan + selfie with ID card) to open an account.
Well, I opened both accounts using a fake ID and heavy makeup - of course under a fake name and with a Tutanota email account. I bet they didn’t actually check the ID and they didn’t:
In the case of the content platform, how would they?
In the case of the payment processor, in theory they’re supposed to abide by KYC rules. But they’re headquartered in the Dominican Republic, so I bet they only paid lip service to KYC and it seems I was right: I’ve had both accounts for over a year and earning money from my content without any problems since.
So it’s just a matter of knowing who you can feed fake information to and what the consequences are if you get found out. In my case, the only risk is having my payment account shut down and losing whatever earnings I haven’t withdrawn yet.
Of course, don’t feed fake information to your real-life bank, your employer or the IRS or something… But for internet content, that’s your pretend life: unless your content creation activities are frowned upon by the real-life laws of your country, assess you risks feeding the platforms BS and have at it.
What a detailed post, that was a fun read. You clearly live a much more interesting life than some of us
Haha thanks 🙂 But no, I don’t lead a super-exciting life: I just happen to be able to provide something people want to buy and I rabidly defend my right to stay anonymous at much as possible. So I just put two and two together, is all.
No amount of makeup will break facial recognition
You’re correct: certain facial features always stay the same, such as interpupillary distance. But you know what? On my selfie, I’m blind in one eye: ain’t that a shame for the poor algorithm eh?
Besides, they’re not the police: they don’t have a database of facial features of everybody in the world. So even if they do have my exact facial features despite the makeup, what are they gonna match it against?
It would only be of use if they went to the Dominican fuzz with my selfie, who then would have to contact the police in my own country, to have a chance to cut through my disguise. Good luck with that…
And at the end of the day, the aim isn’t necessarily to be 100% impossible to identify: it’s just to make it as hard and least cost-effective as possible for the fucking data brokers who sell our lives for pennies on the marketplace.
Police often pay data brokers for getting data on people; its easier than getting a warrant from a judge. Its often the same private companies that KYC companies use.
Most international* airports collect facial recognition data now. Private companies get it from social media or news articles or public mugshot data. Its possible to keep your facial data private, but it’s extremely unlikely.