Reply To: On Tyranny Lesson 14: Establish a private life
I think perhaps he means that emails that are sent to others over platforms are never really private. They can be leaked by someone, they can be reviewed by the hosting providers, and they can be retrieved by court orders. There’s always a digital footprint. But will the emails that I write be of consequence to the government? I don’t think so. But for people involved directly with protests and organizations that are noticed by the current US administration, they might need to worry. On a broader scale, I do worry about my American friends who now have DOGE poking around in social security and the IRS and have access to the personal data that citizens have entrusted to the government.
I think we’re seeing what “nastier rulers” will do already to people they don’t like or want to make an example of etc already. People travelling into the US need to note that border control have access to any individual’s phones and computers. The other thing to note is that your social media presence can be weaponized. Just this past week, Valerie Costa, a community organizer in Seattle who founded an environmental group recently, helped organize a peaceful protest as part of the “Tesla Takedown” demonstrations going on globally. Musk singled her out on X and claimed her group was backed by a Democrat fundraising platform (she isn’t) and then alleged she was committing crimes, according to NPR.
“When one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful, people in the world is saying you’ve committed a crime, it doesn’t matter what the truth is,” Costa said. As a result, she knew she had to protect herself—she was being flooded with threats and harassment.
The NPR article quotes, “She removed as much personal information as she could from the web. Even her work email was being flooded with attacks, so she deleted the address from her consulting business website. She connected with a lawyer. Then she brought together her roommates to map out a safety plan.” She says her freedom of speech is being threatened, so she doesn’t plan to be silent. For me this definitely is a case of intimidation tactics being used to try and silence protest and other people’s rights to freedom of expression. Source: https://www.npr.org/2025/03/17/nx-s1-5328626/elon-musk-protests-tesla-takedown
