Is convenience killing our Right to Privacy?

[u/SecretFirst0309]

Most of us trade data for convenience every day, location tracking for maps, saving passwords in our browser, cloud backups for photos, and using autofill for payments. It feels harmless until we realise how much of our identity is stored on someone else’s servers.

Every device in our lives is quietly collecting data. Laws like GDPR and India’s new DPDP Act exist, but enforcement is patchy. Once your data leaks, there’s no way to “get it back”. It’s permanent exposure.

How do you balance privacy vs convenience? Do you use privacy-first tools or do you just accept that surveillance is a part of modern life?

[u/sakurakuran93]

I recently had this discussion with a couple of friends. We basically came to the conclusion that the convenience they are pushing is no longer worth it. We have reached a time that we all sort of had enough of the internet, the constant data breaches and the fact that our entire lives are online for absolute no reason.

Yes, taking notes in a notebook is not an easy thing but it’s 100% private. Printing the best photos from holidays, vacations, parties etc and making an album was the way a few years back - we don’t need thousands of photos on drives that we never look at. Same with sharing our entire lives on socials.

The internet was meant to become this the moment big corporations started putting their claws on it and pushing socials and this and that. And it’s everywhere. Download this app to get a discount and points on your coffee, email me my receipt etc. they make us addicted to points collection and karma etc. They lie about deleting our accounts and they still store the data. like why? People are just tired as we have became data.

The only way we can have complete privacy is by doing a lot of things the analog way and still we are being under constant surveillance the moment we leave home. It’s not just the devices we are using at home. For example, in the UK the average person, the moment they will leave home to go anywhere, they will be caught a minimum of 97 times on CCTV that day. Thinking about this, compared to how it was, let’s say back in the late 90s to mid 00s is just crazy.

So in the name of convenience, we have literally put ourselves in their hands and didn’t think a second time of the ramifications

[u/Top_Lake6057 → u/sakurakuran93]

I’m so with you on this, convenience is just not worth the privacy hit anymore, especially with all the data breaches and surveillance.

I was telling a friend about this group I found online called the Authenticity Alliance, and they’re doing some cool stuff to tackle things like phishing and scams. They’re building what they call “domains of authenticity” to make the internet safer.

Basically, they’re creating online spaces where your identity is verified through a super secure system, kind of like a digital ID that’s certified by a trusted authority, so scammers can’t easily fake who they are. This cuts down on phishing emails and fake websites that trick people into giving up their info.

They also use something called Quiet Enjoyment Infrastructure, which is like setting up “buildings” online with strict rules—like digital building codes—to keep out bots and fraudsters. It’s all about making sure the platforms we use are transparent and give us control over our data, not the corporations.

I’m really excited to see how this plays out because it feels like a legit way to make the internet less of a scam-fest.

[u/grilled_pc → u/Top_Lake6057]

This sounds fantastic! I've come to realize as well that the cost of convienience is just not worth the complete and utter loss of privacy anymore.

Sure i can listen to every song ever on spotify. But with new aged verification laws coming in, i'll have to submit my ID to spotify's "trusted verifier" to check me? Absolutely not!

So i'm going back to an ipod. At least this way i have control over my music, i get to appreciate it far more and i don't need to have my privacy disrespected like this in the process. Is it slightly more inconvienient? Yes. But i managed just fine for years prior to spotify. No reason why i can't go back.