Many have stopped using the Internet the way they used to

I'm one of those many who changed my Internet use.

I took down my Facebook profile several years & stopped posting on it years ago -- mainly because I don't trust Facebook's privacy settings.

I've deleted many personal emails rather than keep them in perpetual storage online. I'm more concerned about identity thieves and fraud than I am about the government. I rarely email anything that is confidential; I'll call or talk in person instead. I'm careful not to email comments that I wouldn't want forwarded to a family member, coworker or friend.

I used to keep a complete up-to-date backup in the cloud of everything on my hard drive. I quit that years ago due to privacy concerns.

I do keep some encrypted zip files in the cloud of some files that I would really miss if my computer and on-site backups were ruined (such as original writings & music I've composed). I store photos online too, but not many documents.

I make many posts on Reddit, but I censor myself more than I like. I'm fully aware that what seems to be anonymous now could haunt me later. I know I'm taking a risk being political online, but I refuse to stop fighting for change (things are too screwed up to not speak up).

I don't search for things I'm curious about that might trigger an unnecessary NSA investigation. I'm using search engines that claim to be more private than Google is; I don't want my searches sold or analyzed by others. I like Google's search engine but don't like what they do with the information it gathers.

I also switched to Linux online because I got tired of Microsoft meddling with my computer and not trusting it with my documents & privacy. I use NoScript now when I browse the Internet; I want to minimize opportunities for unwanted script to add keylogging or other viruses to my computer.

Worrying about privacy online has definitely diminished the Internet experience for me.

/r/technology Thread Link - post-gazette.com