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Em

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Em is a full-time staff writer at Privacy Guides. She is a public‑interest technologist and researcher who has been working on various independent projects in data privacy, information security, and software engineering since 2018.

Em is passionate about digital rights, privacy advocacy, solid security, and code for the public good. In her free time, you can find Em on Mastodon giving privacy tips or boosting photos of cats and moss.

@Em0nM4stodon@infosec.exchange

  • in News
  • 8 min read

The UK Government Forced Apple to Remove Advanced Data Protection: What Does This Mean for You?

Photo of a person reading a book. The book is George Orwell's 1984. In the upper left corner is an Apple logo with two bites taken off.

On February 7th this year, Joseph Menn reported from the Washington Post that officials in the United Kingdom had contacted Apple to demand the company allows them to access data from any iCloud user worldwide. This included users who had activated Apple's Advanced Data Protection, effectively requesting Apple break its strong end-to-end encrypted feature.

  • in Opinion
  • 4 min read

No, Privacy is Not Dead: Beware the All-or-Nothing Mindset

Photo of a protest with someone holding a sign saying Fight Today For a Better Tomorrow.

In my work as a privacy advocate, I regularly encounter two types of discourse that I find very damaging to privacy as a whole. The first one is the idea that privacy is dead, implying it's not worth putting any effort to protect personal data anymore. This is the abdication mindset. This attitude is the one that scares me the most because without giving it a fight then of course the battle is lost in advance. Like a self-fulfilling prophecy, privacy is dead if you let it die.

  • in Reviews
  • 18 min read

CryptPad Review: Replacing Google Docs

Article cover photo showing a phone icon over a protest

If you have been thinking about migrating to a privacy-focused replacement to Google Docs, now is the time. Google products, as convenient and popular as they might be, are atrocious for data privacy (not to mention ethics).

  • in Opinion
  • 11 min read

The Future of Privacy: How Governments Shape Your Digital Life

Black and white photo of a street post at night. The street post has some ripped stickers on it and a stencilled graffiti saying Big Data is Watching You.

Data privacy is a vast subject that encompasses so much. Some might think it is a niche focus interesting only a few. But in reality, it is a wide-ranging field influenced by intricate relationships between politics, law, technology, and much more. Further, it affects everyone in one way or another, whether they care about it or not.

Using Tails When Your World Doesn't Feel Safe Anymore

Photo of a hand plugging a USB stick into a laptop and the Tails logo under it.

There is a growing number of people who no longer feel safe in their own home or country. Whatever the reason, many people might not feel safe to browse certain topics online. With all the information getting collected for each internet search, it is difficult to access sometime vital information without leaving a trace. These digital footprints might not threaten your personal safety if you are living with a supportive family, and in a democratic and free country. However, there are situations where someone might be put in great danger simply for looking at a website.