if total privacy means i can’t have a phone or talk to most people then does that really make me more free?

I have a phone; it runs GrapheneOS; I’m using it type this. I have attempted, in total, to get five of my friends and my own mother to talk to me on Signal. I have, so far, succeeded at getting four out of the five friends and my own mother to talk to me on Signal. That’s five out of six; I would call that being able to talk to most people.

what do you mean by free?

If you’re asking me personally, pretty much that. If you’re asking someone way smarter than me, pretty much that.

People should be able to pick up the phone and call their family. People should be able to send a text message to their loved one. People should be able to buy a book online, they should be able to travel by train, they should be able to buy an airline ticket without wondering how these events are going to look… To an agent of the government, possibly not even your government. Years in the future, how they’re going to be misinterpreted and what they’re going to think your intentions. We have a right to privacy.

—Edward Snowden