I don't know what this is about to be honest, haha. Never heard of mixing or tumbling, never used an exchange, never used a VPN, etc. I don't even use antivirus anymore. There's no such thing as online privacy, so I don't pretend there is. A false sense of privacy/security is dangerous.

For 15+ years (at least 10 years before it got on the radar of the informed online community) I've been saying EVERY keystroke, click, and even pause we have made on EVERY device (going back to early internet PCs in 1993) has been recorded for all time, and will be forever attributed to us (either already or very soon). There will be no escaping ANYTHING you have ever done digitally. I take it further and acknowledge that within many of our lifetimes, every single piece of possible information (about the past, present, and future) of the entire Cosmos will be known and calculated. You farted in 1981 in an elevator, and got away with it? No you didn't. You checked out a 17 year old's ass when you drove past the beach one time? Caught ya. Every search you ever did, even as a joke? Recorded forever, along with your thoughts, and will eventually be known to all. The future will make Revelations look simple and boring. "Judgement" isn't going to be some desert deity measuring us up against stone tablets, but I do believe some sort of judgment is coming. Not necessarily supernatural, but our current understanding makes it easier to think of it that way. Some very powerful and intelligent force(s) will indeed know everything about us, including our thoughts, but it's not going to be Jesus or "God". The machine will be omniscient and omnipotent. We are building it, or it's building itself, but it's coming.

Monero is probably good for short term privacy but within a decade not even things like that will have any relevance to privacy. Where we're going isn't going to be recognizable to anyone from today.

"But it can't ever be hacked.... super security..." I hope nobody really believes that anymore, but sadly, I think they do. Everything can and will be cracked. If it can't be cracked, it won't have to, the information will be known another way. The rotation and vibration of every atom, at every moment in time, will ultimately be known, calculated, analyzed, understood. Passwords and email verification and even "master keys" will be laughable from a security or privacy standpoint. And this isn't 100 years from today, it's any day now. I don't have to remind anyone (or do I?) that the state and military are DECADES ahead in technology than the public. What we think is high tech is extremely outdated to them. And they're peons compared to the intelligence we are creating (or which is creating itself).

And yet I'm the biggest privacy advocate I've EVER met. Nobody cares about it more than I do, except maybe Snowden, if he's real.

I still keep my cards close to my chest when I play a game. I don't post my private keys. Short term privacy in a limited way is still possible. But entering information into digital devices and hoping it won't eventually be 100% known and visible to everybody and everything is like wearing a few layers of cloth to protect yourself from a virus, or putting up a chain link fence to stop mosquitoes.

I think we have to accept that EVERYTHING we do, even our most inner thoughts, will be (or already is) knowable by all. If we let ourselves falsely believe for a moment we have privacy, we do things to incriminate or embarass ourselves. For example, an acquaintance loans us their device, and we take the opportunity to "anonymously" do some searches, make some posts, send some messages, etc. Or even simpler, say we use a public PC at the library, to look up some information on making explosives (for a backyard project). Maybe you're buying yourself a little time, but ultimately, what you did will not trick anyone. You were recorded every step of the way, from leaving your house, to the library, and even recorded typing in the search or message. By dozens of cameras and microphones (and other censors). Including the one you're carrying around in your pocket 247365.

And that's not even the half of it. Before much longer, the position and energy level of every atom will be recorded in a big program, like a simulator, and the users will be able to calculate the future to ever increasing accuracy, as well as perfectly scrutinize the past. Magical science fiction today, just like smart devices themselves were just 15 years ago. I foresaw and talked about this 10 years ago.

I see people buying $50 pouches lined with aluminum or copper, to put their SpyPhones in when they aren't being fondled. Like that's even stopping half of the privacy concerns in one of those things, half of the time?! But they think they're almost entirely anonymous and "safe" once they buy the mini faraday cage. People can't admit they're addicted to the devices that are enslaving them. Or they admit it, but laugh it off with a self-depreciating "I'd be dead without my phone LOLs" comment.

If you don't know for sure who the fish (loser who others profit from) at the table is, then it's probably you.

VPN? I've never even bothered to look into them, once I heard they are (supposedly) about anonymity and privacy. People really think they can tap away at their keyboard, on their computer or device, and use a special program to keep it all private and anonymous? Come on. That's not even doing anything NOW, let alone protecting them for all time. It's barely even temporary protection. And like I said above, temporary protection is more dangerous than being totally exposed, because it gives you a false sense of security.

Recognize that every movement of your hand is being recorded and analysed in real time, right now. If you type, or click, or move the mouse, or even hesitate for a microsecond, that is known. Even the reason for it is (or will be) known. This conversation is being analyzed and people/programs are having a laugh about it, both now and forever more. We are not, and have not been, really tricking anybody or anything. These are inescapable truths that are only momentarily laughable by the ignorant and/or hopelessly optimistic.

No offense meant to anyone who still thinks they are hiding what they're doing, in more than a temporary and limited manner. Keep it up, you're not hurting anyone, except maybe yourselves and those around you.