Let's kick it up a notch.
In this session we review our privacy plans, take a look at password managers and VPNs (with both free and paid options), talk about email masking, and discuss some more in-depth habit shifts.
We also dig into open-source solutions, and what it means to approach the internet without reliance on corporate products and platforms. In other words, a commons-based approach to our digital spaces.
Finally, we do some dramaturgy on tools to move more securely through the world under short-term, higher-risk scenarios. So you can write your plays about it accurately, of course.
As always, hop in the chat with your questions or email [email protected] with privacy tools or best practices that you want to contribute!
Need a step-by-step worksheet to follow along? Keep an eye on this space for more resources and how-to guides.
About the Series
Need a step-by-step worksheet to follow along? Keep an eye on this space for more resources and how-to guides.
Whether you're emailing about your upcoming season choices or sending tasteful nudes to that special someone, you deserve to know that your chats, emails, and digital identity are free from prying eyes. But when the biggest Peeping Toms these days are the platforms we use, it can be hard to feel like we have agency over our online existences, let alone take it.
It's an overwhelming task, especially if you—like me—have been weaving your online identity into these platforms for over a decade. But if you—like me—have a petty streak, it may be motivating to remember: these companies profit when you believe that protecting your privacy is an impossible task.
It's not. I'm here to help you break this overwhelming task into little steps, and give you the motivation and space to reclaim your online identity.
In this series, we'll talk about why it's important to protect our right to privacy for ourselves and our community, and also give you space and time to take immediate actions. Have you been meaning to install a VPN or set up a password manager? We'll make space for that. Do you keep forgetting to change the passwords on your online bank accounts? Do it while we're on this call. Don't leave the tab open in the background for months—join the party and get it done.
Some of the solutions will be easy, and some will take a little more investment. But each little action you take becomes a part of your commitment to a better future.
About Thea
Thea Rodgers (she/her) is a writer, actor, space nerd, and HowlRound TV Producer. She grew up in the Bay Area through the tech boom-and-bust of the early 2000s and, before joining the team at HowlRound, worked as tech support at her college's IT Desk. These experiences gave her a superficial interest in how technology works and a deep, deep interest in the ways it's used to shape and change society—some ways that feel beautiful and exciting, and other ways that feel driven by an insatiable desire for profit. Thea is a proud union member of the WGA-West. She is not a coder, programmer, hacker, or console cowboy. She's just a girl, standing in front of her computer, asking it to stop updating every five minutes and help her build a better future.
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