Why most services that want to protect user privacy. Also those on privacyguides, don’t have anonymous payment methods like cryptocurrencies? I pay for a few such services like email or cloud etc. but I don’t know if it makes sense if my bank knows I’m using it anyway so they can sell that info to advertisers, gov, etc. In EU services like mysudo or privacy.com are unavailabe so I can’t use masked cards. What is then the profit of using such services if I don’t pay for them with cryptocurrencies and they can be easily linked to me?

@pound_heap@lemm.ee
link
fedilink
English
16M

TLDR: “privacy” services can’t be bothered and you shouldn’t too if you are not doing illegal stuff.

These “privacy-oriented” services are businesses that need to earn money, not scare away potential clients and avoid legal issues. Accepting cash or crypto is a risk for legal and accounting reasons. They just don’t think it’s worth it.

Now, to link a particular activity on a particular service with you via your payment is not a trivial task. Government can do it, but it really matters if you think you are or will be targeted by it. Data miners can correlate bank payment with an account at a service provider only if both bank and service provider sell or leak data, which is less likely if you are using a privacy a oriented service.

@gamedeviancy@discuss.tchncs.de
creator
link
fedilink
English
16M

So in your opinion is not worth to use any these online services and better go offline?

@pound_heap@lemm.ee
link
fedilink
English
26M

No, I didn’t say that. It depends on your risk model. If you are an average Joe don’t worry that services are charging your credit card. If you are hiding from government then better use less online services, and if you must then find ones that accept crypto

Create a post

In the digital age, protecting your personal information might seem like an impossible task. We’re here to help.

This is a community for sharing news about privacy, posting information about cool privacy tools and services, and getting advice about your privacy journey.


You can subscribe to this community from any Kbin or Lemmy instance:

Learn more…


Check out our website at privacyguides.org before asking your questions here. We’ve tried answering the common questions and recommendations there!

Want to get involved? The website is open-source on GitHub, and your help would be appreciated!


This community is the “official” Privacy Guides community on Lemmy, which can be verified here. Other “Privacy Guides” communities on other Lemmy servers are not moderated by this team or associated with the website.


Moderation Rules:

  1. We prefer posting about open-source software whenever possible.
  2. This is not the place for self-promotion if you are not listed on privacyguides.org. If you want to be listed, make a suggestion on our forum first.
  3. No soliciting engagement: Don’t ask for upvotes, follows, etc.
  4. Surveys, Fundraising, and Petitions must be pre-approved by the mod team.
  5. Be civil, no violence, hate speech. Assume people here are posting in good faith.
  6. Don’t repost topics which have already been covered here.
  7. News posts must be related to privacy and security, and your post title must match the article headline exactly. Do not editorialize titles, you can post your opinions in the post body or a comment.
  8. Memes/images/video posts that could be summarized as text explanations should not be posted. Infographics and conference talks from reputable sources are acceptable.
  9. No help vampires: This is not a tech support subreddit, don’t abuse our community’s willingness to help. Questions related to privacy, security or privacy/security related software and their configurations are acceptable.
  10. No misinformation: Extraordinary claims must be matched with evidence.
  11. Do not post about VPNs or cryptocurrencies which are not listed on privacyguides.org. See Rule 2 for info on adding new recommendations to the website.
  12. General guides or software lists are not permitted. Original sources and research about specific topics are allowed as long as they are high quality and factual. We are not providing a platform for poorly-vetted, out-of-date or conflicting recommendations.

Additional Resources:

  • 1 user online
  • 1 user / day
  • 5 users / week
  • 69 users / month
  • 650 users / 6 months
  • 1 subscriber
  • 664 Posts
  • 11.1K Comments
  • Modlog