this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2023
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Lemmy
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Unfortunately, once you share something online it's moved beyond anyone's control. Even if the platform respects your wishes and does everything right, there's always 3rd party web crawlers, data harvesters, archival services, etc. They are always around, busily vacuuming up everything they can on the web. Few if any shared posts or comments will ever be truly deleted. Storage of text is cheap, and a lot of entities love hoarding data.
So, try to only post stuff you wouldn't mind your parents, coworkers, friends, etc. knowing about. Corporations and governments are moving more and more towards 100% surveillance and away from privacy and anonymity. It's a giant problem, and I hate it. But the only element of this you can control is your own behavior.
I genuinely don't mind it existing somewhere not available easily. But I mind it being stored out in the open when I took the steps to have it removed. To censor oneself is an awful, very mentally unhealthy advice. Had I not used the Internet the ways I do, I'd probably be long gone. Internet is a great space for free alternative therapy (and normal therapy is very expensive and nowhere as efficient). I knew this comment would come, but I chose to let it happen so I could respond. If you wish to not be yourself, feel free to! I choose to embrace myself for my own sake.