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One of the most frequent answers I receive when I propose to use privacy friendly software is that the software is “useless because (almost) nobody uses it“.
It is dangerous to rely on a certain choice (for example a software like whatsapp) just because its dominant position in the market makes it more “comfortable”.
Conforming to the majority’s choice, for convenience at the expense of reasonableness, can lead to catastrophic consequences (a somewhat extreme but obvious example is the emergence of a dictatorship, like fascism in Italy). Thinking about this, when someone says that installing a safe App is too demanding, I wonder what he would have been willing to do in much more demanding circumstances, as in our grandparents’ struggle against Nazifascism.
The more we care about a certain relationship, the more we should be careful to protect it. If you look at the frequency of your communications, you will notice that the people you contact most often are those with whom you have the most essential relationship. By convincing them to use privacy-friendly software, you have protected them and most of your communications.
When I began to learn about the issue of data protection, I was the only one of my acquaintances to use some privacy-conscious applications. Convinced of the importance of this fight, I continued to inform and discuss this topic with friends and colleagues, and to insist on its essential aspects. Two years after that, over 60 of my most frequent contacts use a software like Signal, with which I exchange over 95% of my instant messages.