why?

i like technology, well maybe even love it at this point. i enjoy making things that make a change in the world somehow, even if it might be just a little bit.

for example, the Al Yamamah app i made a few years ago for my university students and then my university took it as the official client. at the time of this blog, it had 80+ 5-star reviews on the App Store, and students love it and enjoy using it since it solves a real world problem for them. i enjoy making things that change the world and love to share it with the world.

i also like privacy and controlling how and where my data is. i might not be able to fully have control but at least i am aware of it and try to get more control as time passes.

i wish that people would be more aware of their privacy and not just be like “let X, where X is big companies like Google, Meta, etc… that sell your data for profit, do whatever they want as long as they give me the service for free”.

the wake up call for me was when i realized that by me using a “gmail” email, i have put all my eggs into one basket that Google owns and they could with one click end my access to my digital life so to speak.

at that point in time, i had already owned alkhalaf dot dev domain for like 4 years and decided to buy it for 10 more years, and i am currently renewing it every year to have 10 years of buffer.

i also bought another domain that i use with my accounts, and started making sure each account has one unique email that i also own. the reasoning behind that is, that if whatever happens, as long as i own the domain, i can spin up an email server and point the DNS records at it and i would still have access to my stuff.

currently i use Fastmail since i believe their business model doesn’t include selling my data, but if that happens, i can easily switch and with minimal effort, my accounts stay intact.

some people might think this is extreme, but i think this is how internet was meant to be. i am still exploring how to enhance this setup with time, but at the time of writing this blog, this is my setup.

my wish is that people get more aware of their privacy and start caring about it so companies start respecting it.

~ have a nice day!