this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2026
15 points (100.0% liked)
Privacy
48159 readers
422 users here now
A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.
Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.
Some Rules
- Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn't great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
- Don't promote proprietary software
- Try to keep things on topic
- If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
- Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
- Be nice :)
Related communities
much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)
founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
The way I like to think of it is this example. For clarity of explanation, let's assume these ones are mutually exclusive. (IRL, they may overlap but need not be). Let's assume the user wanting to increase privacy/security/anonymity is the 'sender', and the receiver is your threat model.
Privacy - you receive an unlabelled box. Upon opening the box, you can't exactly tell what is in there, only something. There's a receipt, but you can't read it.
Security - you receive a box from a sex toys store. You try to open it, but it takes way too much effort, so you don't bother.
Anonymity - you receive a box from a sex toy store. Upon opening it, you only find a sex toy, but don't find a receipt.
Bad practice would be to receive a box, clearly labelled as from a sex toys store (and it also is a sex toy). It's easily opened and you find a receipt telling you who ordered it.
Good practice is that you receive an unlabelled box, can't open it, and if you somehow managed to open it, you don't find a receipt. At most, you'd find there's something in there, but what?
Would that be a good illustration?
I found that very confusing but I’m not very smart so that’s not a judgement to set your watch by.
Privacy is who can see or hear you, security is how protected from an adversary you are, anonymity is if people know who you are when you’re being seen or heard.
Open bathroom window facing the street is a privacy issue. Unlocked front door is a security issue. Uncovered face or tattoos or whatever when out in public is an anonymity issue.