Ask HN: What are you doing to protect the privacy of your notes?
I’ve used many note-taking tools. But over time, my expectations have changed. Right now, my focus is entirely on privacy. When I looked at privacy-focused note-taking tools, I couldn’t make up my mind.
For example, I’m currently using Obsidian. But some of its features aren’t quite what I want, and it still feels like it’s lacking in terms of privacy.
I wanted to ask this question in case you use any privacy-focused note-taking tools or have some techniques you use with existing tools.
Such as, I came up with an idea like this for Obsidian, but I didn’t implement it. It keeps notes in a folder. I even thought about creating something that would constantly scan that folder using Python so I could encrypt new notes and store them on my own server. But as I said, I didn’t do it. It was just an idea.
I haven’t done it yet. I just wanted to ask you all to expand my knowledge.
I made an iOS app for tasks/notes and privacy was my main concern, it stores notes locally with optional browser sync - stored encrypted in the DB, if you want to try it: http://elmway.app
I would say just continue using Obsidian but encrypt your devices. If you want to back up the files use rsync with encryption.
I don't let them go outside of my device
I even considered setting up a private storage device connected to my local network. I thought that as soon as my device connected to that local network, the notes there would automatically sync to that storage, and the note on the device would be deleted.
There was one problem: synchronization. Since I couldn’t figure that out, I couldn’t move forward with the idea.
Even if encryption alone seems sufficient, being able to access my notes from different devices just isn’t enough.
I want to be able to access my notes from my computer and my phone—even when I’m not at home—but with maximum privacy and security.
I realize this is a bit of a challenge. But I’m still pursuing a solution.
What's your plan for when that device gets lost or stolen or you get mugged?
I don't know. That's a big problem, too. That's why I want to rely on synchronization. That's why I'm thinking of saving to the cloud—to my own server. But if I entrust my data to just one place, any problem that arises there could affect something else. Filing a lawsuit won't bring my notes back.
Just use tarsnap if something more mainstream doesn't work for you. Having permanently lost videos of my past due to theft, I worry more about being forgotten than remembered.
I keep them local and if it's online I keep them encrypted.
local plain text plus syncthing
It seems like you have an implicit premise that "note taking" somehow involves transferring data between devices and then worrying about how to secure that transfer.
You could just not. My "technique" is to open a text editor and write something and save a local plain text file, just like I have since the 90s. And I'm writing from a physically secured desktop. You don't need to worry about encryption when someone else accessing your data isn't part of your threat model.
I actually have in mind a more sophisticated, tailored system for notes of the form "I just did X again" (automatically timestamped, and later queryable for patterns in the timestamps). But still with the expectation of just keeping local data in a simple format.