{"id":13894,"date":"2026-04-07T01:01:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T05:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.both.org\/?p=13894"},"modified":"2026-03-27T09:44:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T13:44:54","slug":"privacy-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.both.org\/?p=13894","title":{"rendered":"Privacy matters"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pld-like-dislike-wrap pld-template-1\">\r\n    <div class=\"pld-like-wrap  pld-common-wrap\">\r\n    <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\" class=\"pld-like-trigger pld-like-dislike-trigger  \" title=\"\" data-post-id=\"13894\" data-trigger-type=\"like\" data-restriction=\"cookie\" data-already-liked=\"0\">\r\n                        <i class=\"fas fa-thumbs-up\"><\/i>\r\n                <\/a>\r\n    <span class=\"pld-like-count-wrap pld-count-wrap\">    <\/span>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>In 2026, privacy isn\u2019t a niche concern \u2014 it\u2019s a daily negotiation. Every device, every app, every operating system wants a piece of your data. Windows and macOS increasingly tie core features to cloud accounts, telemetry, and background analytics. Linux stands out because it flips that relationship: instead of your computer watching you, you decide what your computer does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most mainstream operating systems collect usage data by default, whereas Linux distributions generally do not. The vast majority of Linux distributions send no telemetry at all. Among those that do\u2014such as Ubuntu\u2019s optional system information report\u2014they always ask for permission first and make it easy to disable data collection. In Linux, privacy is not an obscure setting; it is the default approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You don\u2019t have to trust a corporation\u2019s promise about what\u2019s happening behind the scenes. Linux is open source, which means anyone can inspect the code. Security researchers, universities, nonprofits, and independent developers constantly audit it. That transparency creates accountability that no proprietary OS can match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Want to install apps without signing in? Use your computer without syncing your identity? Linux lets you. There\u2019s no requirement to create an account, no pressure to store your files in a vendor\u2019s cloud, and no ecosystem designed to track your behavior across devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Linux doesn\u2019t push silent background processes, advertising IDs, or \u201cexperience improvement\u201d services. You choose what gets installed, what runs at startup, and when updates happen. That level of control dramatically reduces the surface area for data collection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Live USB systems, encrypted home folders, and privacy\u2011focused distros like&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/tails.net\/\">Tails<\/a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.qubes-os.org\/\">Qubes<\/a>&nbsp;give users powerful tools for secure work, travel, or sensitive research. Even mainstream distros like&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/linuxmint.com\/\">Mint<\/a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/fedoraproject.org\/\">Fedora<\/a>&nbsp;can be configured for hardened, low\u2011trace computing with just a few clicks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Linux isn\u2019t just software \u2014 it\u2019s a philosophy. The community values transparency, consent, and user control. That ethos shapes everything from package managers to desktop environments. When you switch to Linux, you\u2019re choosing an ecosystem built around your rights, not your data. <a href=\"https:\/\/donwatkins.info\/category\/linux\/\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 2026, privacy isn&rsquo;t a niche concern &mdash; it&rsquo;s a daily negotiation. Every device, every app, every operating system wants a piece of your data. Windows and macOS increasingly tie core features to cloud accounts, telemetry, and background analytics. Linux stands out because it flips that relationship: instead of your computer watching you, you decide [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":4837,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[748,503,728],"tags":[491,508,797],"class_list":["post-13894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-freedom","category-linux-101","category-musings","tag-freedom","tag-getting-started","tag-philosophy"],"modified_by":"David Both","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13894"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13895,"href":"http:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13894\/revisions\/13895"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.both.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}