I joined Twitter in 2008. It allowed me to connect to the InfoSec community in
a way I couldn’t in person at the time. I had a lot of positive experiences,
and it opened a few doors for me professionally. Today, after reading about
more senior folks resigning and rumors that Musk is searching for ways to
monetize user data in unethical ways, it’s time to say good-bye.
I am now happily reliving the best experiences of early Twitter on the hachyderm.io Mastodon
instance.
If you’re considering leaving Twitter, there’s a few things you might want to
do to ensure your data isn’t used in whatever the off-the-rails cry-baby
billionaire dreams up next.
After getting a few questions from concerned folks about VPN services. I
realized this might be better served as an article. This way anyone who is
curious about how to protect themselves better online can reference it.
The Bad News
Well, there’s really no easy way to this: There is very little, if any,
privacy on the Internet. Even after following all of the advice I’m about
to give, all sorts of clever folks in the Valley and beyond are envisioning
clever new ways to improve the “User Experience” (UX) and in the process
accidentally creating newer, clever means to circumvent any and all privacy
controls you might deploy.