Privacy Beyond Chat: Putting Your Data in Your Hands
As WhatsApp changed their terms of service, many users switched to private alternatives. But is that enough? Dan Arel shares tips on how to protect your privacy beyond messaging apps.
When WhatsApp announced a change to their terms of service allowing Facebook access to some user information, it created a mass exodus that saw users flock to apps such as Signal as an alternative. So many users flooded to Signal that the service temporarily went down and had to expand with new servers.
It is events such as this that shine a brighter light on the need for user privacy but often that discussion falls short of privacy as a human right, and only focuses on one aspect of big tech, or possibly state-sponsored surveillance of a certain platform.
We need to have that discussion because privacy goes well beyond what Facebook knows and isn’t solved simply by moving to a more privacy respecting chat app. We also need to realize that privacy isn’t a partisan issue. While many laws over the years have such as the GDPR and CCPA have sought to create more user privacy from corporations, we have also seen both conservative and liberal governments demand backdoor access to encrypted apps and services. While some governments may not believe that big tech should be able to exploit your internet usage, these governments don’t always believe those same limitations should apply to them.
While combating these attempts to stop government backdoors is crucial, we should also look beyond private chat and increase privacy in our everyday lives which puts your data in your hands and out of the reach of not only big tech, but also state-sponsored surveillance.
Non private search engines log your searches and web history, and this information can be accessed with a warrant (or without if we have learned anything from Edward Snowden). While you’re not likely searching for information that is illegal, your search history is left up to the interpretation and bias of those looking. For those living in authoritarian regimes, your search history of opposition leaders or events could put you behind bars. Even biased law enforcement investigators have personal bias that can be swayed by looking through search history without context.
Using a privacy respecting search engine such as Startpage gives you the same quality search results, but without a log and without information that can be wrongfully used against you. Startpage has no idea who you are and what you’re searching for.
Beyond search, the same can be said of your email. Most “free” email services are not putting you in control of the data stored on their servers. While they might be safe from outside exploits, they don’t put you in control of the encryption keys and can access your emails whenever they want or are compelled to. offers the alternative to in which they cannot access your emails, and if they can’t, neither can anyone else.
We know from history that user data and state-sponsored surveillance can be used against citizens in an overreach of power, and we can’t simply rely on laws that limit big tech to protect users or their data. Instead, it starts with each and every one of us to make informed decisions put privacy in our own hands, regardless of who in power and who wants our data.
At ThinkPrivacy, this is our mission and it’s why we recommend Startpage, StartMail and all of the other services we have hand-picked to protect user privacy. It’s because all of these services believe that privacy is a human right and if it’s not respected worldwide by those in power, we can put the power in our own hands.
Dan Arel is a privacy and digital rights activist, founder and curator of ThinkPrivacy.ch, as well as an award-winning journalist, and best-selling author. His work has appeared in the Huff Post, OpenSource, Hacker Noon, Time Magazine, and more. You can follow him on Twitter @danarel.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Startpage.
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