have you ever used coinjoin before? joinmarket? lightning? silent payments? payjoin? analog coinjoins via satscards/opendimes ?
Bitcoin can help with your privacy if you know how to use it privately.
Did you order your hardware wallet online? Did you have it shipped to you? Do you exclusively use tor? Have you religiously kept all of your devices, including your router, up to date with the latest security updates? Have you ever indicated online that you just bought or sent bitcoin?
Assume your adversary is your ISP, your cell service company, your hardware wallet manufacturer, and owns every server you’ve ever interacted with. You have to think through anything you’ve ever done that could make it easier to find out what your public keys are.
You’re right, there are things you can and should do to obscure your digital footprint, but there’s a saying in the cyber security community… obscurity is not security.
And… The things that help with privacy are not inherent to bitcoin itself. They’re tools built around bitcoin, and it’s not likely they’ll be used by the general public. That’s ok, it’s not essential.
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The internet doesn't have privacy enabled as default. That is not bitcoin fault. If you are really interested in making your online life more private, you can.
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Sure, if you want to assume every single person, device, or service is against you then yeah you can run around and say everything is broken and that it's "easy" to break. Great analogy. We should pack up and go home.
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I mean, yeah we kinda should get our lives off the internet as much as we can tbh.
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You are right to be worried about those privacy best practices when concerning state actors.
My point still remains. You, I and many people can still use Bitcoin privately, and do today.
Being aware of the tools available, how to use them properly, and what not to do is the first step.
Is it easy? no.
Is it possible.
Yes.
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Yeah I mean my main point is just… a lot of people think bitcoin solves the privacy problem as well as every other problem, but privacy is still a matter of knowledge and intentionality.
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