Master snowden blog post

_publications/2022-11-27-snowden.md

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ layout:   blog
 title: "After Snowden, We Quit Our Jobs to Build Privacy Software - It Just Reached 1.0"
 date: 2022-11-27
 author: David
-summary: 'aaa'
+summary: "In 2013 the Snowden Revelations shook up the entire world. Impacted by this, three guys from Austria quit their well-paying jobs to build privacy software for the masses."
 custom_thumbnail_name: portmaster-1.0
 portmaster_plug: true
 portmaster_update: true
@@ -19,29 +19,27 @@ There were talks about bad actors, true, but those were dismissed by the large p
 
 This all reminds me of the movie "The Truman Show". Truman, the main character, lives a perfect life: Great job, happily married and his best buddy is there for him anywhere, anytime. But what he does not know yet - is that he is the main character in a massive reality TV show. His entire life is being broadcast to the entire world. He is being exploited and monetized without his knowledge or consent.
 
-All along, Truman always thought he controlling his life. But since his childhood he was pushed towards the goals of the show runners. He was manipulated. Without ever noticing.
+All along, Truman always thought he controlling his life. But since his childhood he was pushed towards the goals of the show runners. He was manipulated. Without even noticing.
 
 ### But Something Was Off
 
 ![image showing Truman looking up towards a camera, while his suspicions start to manifest]({{ site.img_url }}blog/snowden/truman_show_something_is_not_right.png){:style="margin: 2rem 0 0 0;"}
 
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-something is just not right
+something was just not right
 
 And then - just like us - Truman had his "Snowden moment". The moment he realizes something is just not right. Something is off. And even though he knew his perfect world was about to crumble, he could no longer look away. He had to face the truth.
 
 ### Snowden Revealed How Threatened Our Freedoms Are
 
-In summer 2013, the Snowden Revelations unarguably showed that mass surveillance is happening on a global scale. Right in front of our eyes.
-
-And still, to this day, citizens across the world are being spied upon. They are monetized, exploited and sometimes even persecuted because of what they say or do online.
+In summer 2013, the Snowden Revelations unarguably showed that mass surveillance is happening on a global scale. Right in front of our eyes. And still to this day, citizens across the world are being spied upon. They are being monetized, exploited and sometimes even persecuted because of what they say or do online.
 
 At the same time, little or no transparency is given about the programs of mass surveillance and how they are being utilized. The same applies to big-tech algorithms. In hiding, they decide what billions of people see every day.
 
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 > As such, mass surveillance is a threat to our democracies and freedoms.
 
-Snowden did not stop these programs, but his revelations made it impossible for the world to continue looking the other way. So while things did not change or even got worse, Snowden still changed the world. He changed everything. He changed our perception.
+Snowden did not stop these programs, but his revelations made it impossible for the world to continue looking the other way. So while things did not change and some things even got worse, Snowden still changed the world. He changed everything. He changed our perception.
 
 ### We Quit Our Jobs to Develop Privacy Full-Time
 
@@ -59,13 +57,13 @@ After lots of thought, three guys from Austria quit their day jobs to fully inve
 
 Us three being quite the nerds, we knew there were ways to protect yourself from mass surveillance. The only problem: it was hard and technical. For everyday people it was just not realistic to easily protect yourself from mass surveillance.
 
-Too much hassle was involved. We knew there HAD to be a better way. Was it too much to ask wanting our moms to be able to manage their own privacy? It SHOULD be that easy. That is what Safing was all about. Making privacy easy for the masses.
+Too much hassle was involved. We knew there HAD to be a better way. Was it too much to ask wanting our moms to be able to manage their own privacy? It SHOULD be that easy. That is what Safing is all about. Making privacy easy for the masses.
 
 ### From A Spare Room With Crude Desks to an Office With Employees
 
-So we just went for it and quit our well-paying jobs. To start out, we set up base in a spare room in one of our homes. We moved some crude desks inside and got going.
+So we just went for it and quit our well-paying jobs. To start out, we set up base in a spare room in one of our homes. We moved some desks inside and got going.
 
-Many obstacles lied ahead. Financing our research and development phase with no income yet. Hiring our first amazing! employees. Creating company culture. Building team structure. Getting our first "alpha" users. And of course, moving from that spare room into our first office.
+Many obstacles lied ahead. Financing our research and development phase with no income yet. Hiring our first amazing employees. Creating company culture. Building team structure. Getting our first "alpha" users. And of course, moving from that spare room into our first office.
 
 ![image s howing the three co-founders in the first empty office - big smiles!]({{ site.img_url }}blog/snowden/first_day_in_first_office.jpg){:style="margin: 2rem 0 0 0;"}
 
@@ -74,29 +72,28 @@ Oh my, what a day with big smiles!
 
 ### With an Amazing Team and "Alpha" Testers, We Reached 1.0
 
-Things sped up since. With an amazing team, as well as countless efforts from privacy enthusiasts - who used and tested our software from the earliest days - we could mature and develop Portmaster into what it is today.
+Things sped up since. With an amazing team, as well as countless efforts from privacy enthusiasts - using and testing our software from the earliest days - we could mature and develop Portmaster into what it is today.
 
-What started out as a dream, a dream caused by the Snowden Revelations, is now a dream which became reality.
+What started out as a dream caused by the Snowden Revelations, has now became reality.
 
-With version 1.0, Portmaster does the heavy lifting for you. It is an install & forget solution. Perfect for beginners, like my mom. At the same time, advanced users can configure everything to their hearts desire.
-
-We are super proud to have made it this far!
+With version 1.0, Portmaster does the heavy lifting for you. It is an install & forget solution. Perfect for beginners, like my mom. At the same time, advanced users can configure everything to their hearts desire. We are super proud to have made it this far!
 
 ### People WANT Privacy - That Is Clear
 
-And do not take our word for it. If anything was made clear through our journey, it is that people WANT privacy, if they can easily get it. Just look at what happened to our [GitHub stars]({{ site.github_url }}/portmaster) when we got to 1.0 - can you spot when it happened?
+And do not take our word for it. If there is any learning from our journey, it is that people WANT privacy, _if_ it is easily available. Just look at what happened to our [GitHub stars]({{ site.github_url }}/portmaster) when we got to 1.0 - can you spot when that happened?
 
 ![image s howing the three co-founders in the first empty office - big smiles!]({{ site.img_url }}blog/snowden/star-history-20221125.png){:style="margin: 2rem 0 0 0;"}
 
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-Correct - the 1.0 release was not long ago.
+correct - the 1.0 release was recent
 
-Even as our software was labeled as "early development" - it managed to get 4k GitHub stars. Thousands of people downloaded and tested early software. They were in search for easy privacy.
+Even as our software was labeled as "early development" - it managed to get 4.0k GitHub stars. Thousands of people downloaded and tested early software. Those people were in search for easy privacy.
 
-The masses do not want their entire lives to be surveilled by default. It is just that they did not have a realistic choice so far. And this is about to change. Portmaster is not ending with version 1.0. There are still tons of features planned, and we want to continue to make things simpler and simpler. To grandma and beyond!
+The masses do not want their entire lives to be surveilled by default. It is simply that they did not have a choice so far. And this is changing. We see it in our growth. And you see it too. More and more people are standing their ground to make privacy possible in the age of mass surveillance.
 
+And along our societies, Portmaster will continue to evolve to a better future. There are tons of features planned, and we want to continue to make things simpler and simpler. To grandma and beyond!
 
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+<div class="flex space-x-2 max-w-max mx-auto" style="margin-top: 30px;">
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       <span class="block">Portmaster</span>