The New Oil

I started The New Oil in 2018. TNO began simply as a way to share what I was learning about privacy and security with my friends and family in a way that they could learn at their own pace. After starting it, I began to see a lot of entry-level “where do I get started with privacy” questions online, so I began to share TNO around with those people, too, just in case it helped them out. Before I knew it, I had people asking how to support the project and found myself getting recognized in chat rooms and conventions and even recently had the opportunity to take Surveillance Report on the road with Henry, as far from home as Poland. I was driven by the desire to be fact-based, transparent, and beginner-friendly to the best of my ability. I don’t claim to be perfect, but I believe my motivations are in the right place, and I believe that’s been a large part of my success.

That success reached a new level recently. Privacy Guides decided to hire for a new role, Digital Content Producer, and I was invited to apply. And it seems I got the job. However, as you might expect, that does create some questions about the future of The New Oil, so I’d like to take a moment to explain exactly what supporters can expect for the future of both myself and the project.

What Exactly is Happening?

Starting this month, I am working full-time at Privacy Guides. It is my day job and I make my main paycheck doing work for them. What kind of work, exactly? Primarily content creation. You can already catch me co-hosting This Week In Privacy, and in the coming weeks I’ll start popping up on other PG videos, as well as some written content. I’m excited to work with a team who’s got some resources behind them – the kind TNO & Surveillance Report simply don’t/didn’t have – so I’d expect to see more in the future. But for now those are the immediate things you’ll likely see from me at PG.

What This Means For The New Oil

Rest assured: The New Oil isn’t going anywhere. I will retain full, 100% editorial control over the content I produce here. PG will not have any say whatsoever in the tools I recommend, videos I make, or advice I give (no more than any other typical person who can offer feedback by opening an issue on GitHub or GitLab).

That said, there will be some small changes. I’ve already removed my affiliate links from the website to avoid any perception that it’s influencing recommendations. I’m also not entirely sure what my video schedule will look like. This is an entirely voluntary choice. As I will be making videos for PG – and I have been given a large amount of creative freedom regarding what topics to cover and how to present them – it’ll take some time to figure out exactly what content I want to continue hosting on TNO and how to approach that. We’re working live, as some would say. I do still want to make videos, but it’ll just take some time to understand which videos make sense under which project’s umbrella.

But it’s not all “things going away.” In fact, you will absolutely see an uptick in other content. I still have so many topics to cover on the blog and now I’ll have time and energy to devote to them. And as I said, I do plan to make videos still, so more of those will definitely be coming, hopefully with consistency. (I’d like to aim for one per month to start, but we’ll see how things shake out.) I’m also interested in making more shorts for YouTube and Tiktok. I would expect to see things streamline a bit at TNO. For starters, I have a backlog of infrastructure changes I need to implement, and I also want to streamline some services. You may see new projects pop up from TNO, and I want to offer more perks to Patrons as time goes on. But I’ll outline those in detail at a later time.

What This Means For Surveillance Report

As some of you have likely already seen, there is some sad news here. Henry and I have decided that with me taking on a regular role co-hosting This Week In Privacy, it would be best if I were to focus on that instead of Surveillance Report. Therefore, I have stepped down as cohost. SR will return to the Techlore umbrella, which makes sense as it began there. I truly wish Henry the best. I know that no matter what I say some people will always assume a certain narrative, but I want to assure more reasonable readers that Henry and I are on good terms. I’m proud of what we’ve built over the years and I hope Henry will continue to bring the news each week with his unique perspective. I am a huge proponent of having multiple perspectives in the privacy space. If you’re a subscribing Patron to SR, you should’ve already received information on what your options are regarding refunds, joining new communities, and more. If not, please let either myself or Henry know.

A Reminder for Support

I have to be honest: leaving SR will be a huge financial blow to me. As I disclosed in the most recent transparency report, SR was 80% of TNO’s income (probably more at this point). With affiliate links being paused, TNO will struggle to pay bills, and I will probably have to start covering expenses out of pocket again. I also want to confess that moving to PG is a pay cut for me compared to my previous day job in audio video.

As luck would have it, though, all this coincides with a move to a much lower cost-of-living area. (In fact, had this job not opened at just this right timing, I certainly wouldn’t have applied.) With a bit of discipline and budgeting, it should all work just fine. Still, it won’t be an easy transition. It’s a temporary hardship I’m willing to endure because I believe in the mission of Privacy Guides and I think it will pay off dividends in the long run in many ways – personally, professionally, and ethically.

That’s why I’m reminding readers that The New Oil is – now more than ever – reader supported. There are a few ways you can help. For starters, my Patreon, Ghost, Open Collective, and other support methods will all remain active. You can help by subscribing, buying some merch, or sending donations regularly. It would really mean a lot right now as I (and my family) make this huge life transition – both geographically and vocationally.

Of course, likewise, you can sign up to support Privacy Guides. Right now PG is actually offering a limited-time discounted introductory rate to early adopters. Join now and your price won’t go up. Right now there are only a few perks (though I think they’re worth the price, even without me being part of the team), but there are more to come. I personally have a small handful of ideas to pitch. Presumably the more budget PG has to work with, the more they can pay all their employees (and not just me), so signing up gets you the introductory rate and helps support myself in addition to the whole team. And in case you weren’t aware, they’ve already got a crack team over there pumping out a prolific number of articles, videos, a weekly news podcast, and more. If you like my work, now more than ever is the time to go check them out and support us both.

Of course, I realize that now more than ever money is tight for a lot of people, so I want to remind people that the privacy community is incredibly smaller than we realize sometimes, especially for those of us knee-deep in it frequently. So if you’re unable to support financially, boosting our reach always helps: sharing videos, blog posts, articles, websites, etc.

Thanks for all your support so far. I’m excited about this next phase of things. I’m excited for the opportunity to do privacy work full time with a group of people equally as passionate as me and make a bigger impact along the way. I hope you guys will continue to join me on this next phase of the journey, both here and over at PG.

Tech changes fast, so be sure to check TheNewOil.org for the latest recommendations on tools, services, settings, and more. You can find our other content across the web here or support our work in a variety of ways here. You can also leave a comment on this post here: Discuss...