Moving your photos off iCloud and Google Photos
Your memories, on your own hard drive. What the subscription really buys, what happens when an account is locked, and how to get a copy of it all out.
9 min read
blog
Notes from the network
Write-ups from a private network that is actually running: what was built, what it is running on, and what broke on the way. Written as it happened, not as a product page.
$ ls blog/
// 14 posts · counted from the collection at build
How to request your data under GDPR (and delete it)
How to send a subject access request and an erasure request under UK GDPR, with email templates, the one-month deadline, and what to do if ignored.
5 min read
How to lock down your social media privacy settings
What a private account really hides, what your profile photo gives away, why stories leak your routine, and the settings worth changing per platform.
10 min read
The loyalty card illusion — what the points really cost
What supermarkets really get for those points, how the scheme earns its keep, and why the card is oddly the most honest trade in the whole data economy.
7 min read
What your internet provider sees — broadband and mobile
What your broadband and mobile providers can actually see now the web is encrypted, what happens to the logs, and what a VPN genuinely changes.
7 min read
Why an ad blocker is not enough
What a browser extension can and cannot protect, why that protection is shrinking, and what changes when the blocking moves into the network itself.
4 min read
Your car is a smartphone on wheels — and it phones home
A jargon-free look at what a modern car records during an ordinary commute, who ends up holding that data, and what it has already cost some drivers.
5 min read
Free apps are not free — what you actually pay with
What actually gets exchanged when a service costs nothing, why the profile outlives your account, and what changes if you run the tools yourself.
4 min read
Is running your own server actually safe?
Is self-hosting less secure than using a big provider? A straight answer on where you are genuinely safer, where you are worse off, and why.
4 min read
What happens when the app you rely on shuts down?
Services close, hardware is switched off remotely and terms change without warning. What the record shows, and why software you run has no end date.
5 min read
What a VPN does not hide — and what it actually does
VPN adverts promise invisibility. What you actually get is narrower, and worth understanding before you pay for one. No jargon, and nothing to sell you.
7 min read
Where does your data actually live?
Your photos, files and messages are somewhere. Three questions decide how much say you have — and most people get the same answer to all three.
5 min read
Where should your passwords live? Google, Apple or your own
Your password manager opens every other account. What Google and Apple's built-in options actually do, and when running your own vault is worth it.
5 min read
Why privacy became something you pay for
There is now a monthly fee to not be profiled. Paying it is reasonable, but it buys a promise rather than a guarantee — and that is worth noticing.
5 min read