Des Femmes Updates March 2024
Privacy, compensation in web3, and new companies from community members
I’ve been on a bit of a privacy kick for a number of reasons. Tornado Cash’s Alexey Pertsev stands trial today, 26 March. ETHDam, a defi and privacy conference, is coming up in April. More and more states in the U.S. are passing age verification laws for access to adult content.
And what is the best phone for performance, longevity, and privacy? Asking for me.
I am the kind of person who will use something for as long as possible—and it seems that seven years is my phone’s top lifespan.
Over the past few months, I’ve had issues with deteriorating battery quality and overall slow app performance. It didn’t bother me because I could still use the phone. Recently, however, some apps have informed me that my OS is no longer supported, which means I can’t use them at all.
I’ve had my eyes on the Fairphone for a while now for a few reasons. (They’re not sponsors, they don’t pay me. I just like their mission and product.) They want to reduce the impact of electronic waste, and their phones are replaceable and repairable.
However, for customers based in the States, the only option as of early 2024 is to buy it deGoogled, and I’m not sure I’m ready to break up with all things Google.
My work email, calendar, and deliverables are all through Google Suite. Their apps make it really easy to collaborate on documents and streamline life administration. It’s helpful to have those things on my phone, but I’m slowly coming around to the idea that maybe I don’t need those things on my phone.
I’ve been following some channels and forums about deGoogling, and I also thoroughly enjoyed Shubham Agarwal’s story in The Hustle about his Big Tech diet. The overall conclusion is that yes, it’s difficult to “detox” from big tech because it’s so deeply integrated in our daily behaviors.
If, however, we want to reclaim our sovereignty over our time, data, and personal activities, we should make changes wherever we can—or at least, however much we can tolerate.
Community Updates
Women in Blockchain is still surveying women, men, and non-binary individuals working in Web3! They are conducting their annual compensation and benefits survey in order to gather as large a data set as possible.
Community question for freelancers and job seekers: when leads or employers ask you “How familiar are you with DeFi?”, what are they really asking?
Sari Azout launched Sublime—like StumbleUpon, but better. Have you seen it yet?
Until next time, stay curious…