Here’s a little quiz from a chonky cat & a pandemic-weary-but-undefeated me:

Why am I putting stickers in the background? What’s the purpose?

It’s a serious question and I’ll post an explanation, but would like your thoughts first.

OK. So! As many of you noted, I am obviously concealing my location.

Why am I bothering to talk about something so obvious?

Well, here's the thing. A lot of us have a false sense of security when we take pictures inside.

A simple identifying feature or two won't necessarily lead someone to your location.

But think about the totality of the information that you're putting out about yourself online: People can go through that and put clues together.

The feature becomes a piece of a puzzle.

My colleague @AricToler, for example, is scarily good at this.

Much like Spiderman, he understands that great power comes with great responsibility.

This isn't the case for everyone out there, however.

Even something as seemingly innocuous as *the way sunlight is falling in a particular picture* can be a big clue.

I think a lot of us are already conditioned to be careful with pictures outside. But your indoors pictures can also be used to track you. It's why I made the thread

Now, I'm a very relaxed person who believes that privacy is dead and we're never getting it back. I'm cheerfully resigned to that.

But I don't like making it easy for people to track me. And if you have privacy worries, you shouldn't either. Take note of that with indoors pics.

As per the chonky cat I am holding, here are some key details:

— Her name is Ruby
— Her alias is Kitty Sweetie
— She started getting spoiled during the pandemic, hence the extra chonk ( @SKozakMedia, to answer your question)
— She is a hunter
— More pics of Ruby are forthcoming.

Because I'm being asked about paranoia:

This thread is not meant to encourage paranoia! It's a very general suggestion of what to be aware of when you post pics online, using laypeople terms

My goal is to make you understand that you know what you're doing. Not to scare you!

"I'm not some blue check! I don't need to have the same privacy concerns!"

Perhaps you don't. Perhaps you do

Consider how online communication has resulted in deteriorating standards for how we treat each other. Tomorrow you could get into a bad argument with someone online...

... And that someone can decide to track you down. Because they're mad, or because they're offended, or because it's fun for them.

Your individual tweets, posts, and pictures are like pieces of a mosaic. People with zero formal training can come along and assemble the picture.

Or, for example, consider people who post "innocent" lies. Perhaps about they're lies about their military service ( @Snakeeater36, you can back me up here)

Guess what? If they're putting enough information about themselves out there, their identities can easily be revealed.

I've seen this happen over and over again, and my goal is not to go, "Here's how to lie more easily!"

It's to make you aware of the dynamics of online communication *in tandem* with privacy concerns.

And I'm not telling you what to do. I'm telling you what to watch out for.