CyberSwaraj: Digital Privacy for Beginners
When someone mentions privacy, here's what you're probably picturing.
When Rockwell sang Somebody's Watching Me in 1984, he was ahead of his time...
Forty years later, the feeling he was describing is just daily life. Your phone knows where you slept last night. Your browser knows what you almost bought and changed your mind about. Your keyboard knows what you typed and then deleted. None of this is a secret anymore, it's just something most of us have stopped noticing.
If you've ever had a faint sense that something about the internet doesn't feel right anymore, this session is for you.
Privacy is not about hiding
Most conversations about privacy start by making you feel paranoid. This one won't.
Privacy is something ordinary and human. It's the ability to decide what parts of your life get shared, when they get shared, and with whom. In the physical world this feels obvious. You close the door when you change clothes. You lower your voice in a crowded room. You don't hand your diary to a stranger.
Online, we've slowly given up all of that, usually without realising we were giving anything up. Each app asks for a small permission. Each service collects a small piece of information. Individually, none of it feels like much. Put together, it forms a surprisingly complete picture of how you live, think, move, and talk to people you love.
This session is a starting point for anyone who has never thought seriously about this before. No cybersecurity jargon. No lectures. Just a clear walkthrough of what's happening, why it matters, and what you can do about it this afternoon.
What we'll cover
Part 1: Where privacy actually leaks
Why "I have nothing to hide" misses the point
The difference between privacy, secrecy, and safety
How ordinary apps and devices observe and track far more than you think
What changes, slowly and invisibly, when people lose their private space
Part 2: What you can actually do about it
One of our speakers runs an almost entirely open-source setup on his phone. No Google Play Store, no surveillance-heavy apps, just tools built by people who believe your data belongs to you. He'll walk you through what his setup looks like, what's possible today, and the small realistic changes anyone in the room can make on their own phone before they leave.
After the showcase, we'll do a hands-on session together. You'll install a few open-source alternatives, replace a couple of the worst offenders on your device, and leave with a phone that's meaningfully more private than the one you walked in with.
Who this is for
This is not a cybersecurity workshop. No technical jargon. Just honest discussion about something that affects every one of us.
This session is a starting point for anyone who hasn't deeply explored the need for privacy before.
If you've ever had a faint feeling that something about the internet doesn’t feel right anymore, you'd fit right in the room.
What is the 'CyberSwaraj' event series about
CyberSwaraj is a gathering for anyone interested in digital privacy, open-source tools, and taking back some control over their digital life. We run sessions for beginners, workshops for people ready to go deeper, and occasional deep-dives for the technically curious. Developers, privacy advocates, and people who've simply had enough of being tracked are all welcome.
Stay Connected
Join us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CyberSwaraj
Venue Partner
Bitshala Bitspace, HSR Layout Sector 7, Bengaluru.
Join Our Community: http://discord.gg/atjEPVTdsQ
Subscribe to our Calendar: https://lu.ma/bitspace
Contact: 9118592188