Vivien: Hello Andres, thank you so much for taking your time today and talking with us about your experience with Tuta and your stance on privacy and its importance in the film industry. Firstly, could you please say a few words about yourself. When and how did you start working as a freelance writer?

Andres: I started my writing career back in 2015 after graduating from FAU. I’d been writing since I was thirteen. My love for writing came from growing up watching films, which I always believed carried not only an artistic component, but I also felt that because of the multifaceted nature of those culminated elements, there was always room for the sort of intellectual inquiry that the works of film makers like Fritz Lang, Stanley Kubrick, or Martin Scorsese always presented. But my writing has focused on more than film criticism. I’ve always enjoyed writing fiction – short stories, poetry, and screenplays.

My work in film festivals came from personally reaching out to various outlets, beginning with the Big Apple Film Festival and, more recently, to other festivals like Austin and Seattle. In general, my work involves reading scripts, editing notes, or even serving as a judge on the films that were submitted. It varies from each festival, but it never gets boring to learn more about the variety of passionate storytellers out there who I have no doubt love film to the same degree as I do.

Vivien: Wow, that sounds really exciting. Is there anything interesting you’re currently working on?

Andres: I have recently finished working for the Austin Film Festival as a copy editor and I might have the opportunity to be working for the Seattle Film Festival as it proceeds following the judging phase, which will mean writing press releases and organizing lists of the films that were selected. When disussing my own writing, I continue to write film analyses on my Substack, where I publish them alongside my short stories. I also write the same analysis on letterbox.

You can find a selection of Andres Benatar’s work here.

Vivien: Thank you for sharing your work with us. Now I wanna talk more about privacy and data protection in the film industry. How come a film critic is interested in privacy and data security? Is there an intersection between data privacy and the film industry?

Andres: My personal interest in privacy and security came from my own fascination with technology, which a lot of notable films like Inception, the two Blade Runner films, and the TV show Mr. Robot contributed to when it came to the complex nature these topics covered. I also kept track of stories on the news regarding the moral implications of evolving technologies in a variety of sectors. Privacy, security, and encryption were among the most interesting, given not only how they could easily be violated, especially following the Snowden leaks, but also how they could even be watered down in terms for any product that would detract from the deeper/ more personal investigation they require. In my view, just because a major tech company like Google promises privacy, doesn’t mean that it’s to the same level as Tuta.

Vivien: I can see that you already know a lot about the topic revolving around privacy. Now I would like to talk a bit about Tuta with you. When did you start using Tuta and how or where did you hear about us?

Andres: I started using Tuta back in late 2019. I had begun listening to a YouTuber called “The Hated One”, and in one of his videos he mentioned Tuta while discussing the number of private email services that he claimed were much more secure than Google. Tuta was among the ones mentioned.

Vivien: Interesting, so you’ve really been using Tuta for quite a while now. What made you eventually choose an end-to-end encrypted email provider for your emails?

Andres: Out of the principle of privacy, and how the fact that we currently live in a digital age where not only hackers and malicious actors threaten that principle, but the fact that governments do the same thing without our permission is why I chose an end-to-end encrypted email provider like Tuta. I didn’t give someone who I didn’t say could speak for me, permission to violate the privacy that is a basic human right.

I’ve always found the argument of “If you have nothing to hide, then you got nothing to worry about” to be insulting to a person’s dignity regarding the self-determination that compels them to value their privacy. It’s really no different from telling them that they have nothing to say, and for better or for worse, our modern digital age is filled with people that are more than eager to give their opinions on any particular manner, as they have the right to along with their privacy.

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Vivien: Well, thank you for sharing your insights on privacy. Since you also use Tuta for your work, why is it important for you to use a private and secure email service when it comes to your business emails?

Andres: For the same reason I apply to personal matters, whether they’re big or small. I didn’t give someone else the right to violate something that was mine from the beginning, whether it was in a business capacity or a personal one. It’s always about the principle and the self-respect it gives a person to determine their own life as opposed to the complacency such wide-scale acceptance of having all our information being monitored breeds.

Vivien: And what would you say, is generally important for you? Not only personally but also more globally, especially with regards to privacy and data security?

Andres: On both fronts, I think it’s important that privacy and data security are respected. I also think that the measures taken to protect them should be prioritized, considering how, in addition to the violation of privacy, the current discussions concerning the evolutionary capacity of artificial intelligence have become centered not only on the dangerous hacking abilities it could develop but also on the variety of technologies it could disrupt. Nuclear weapons are scary enough, but the idea of privacy and data security being vulnerable enough for AI to access a bio weapon is terrifying enough to make Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer look like a slice of life comedy film.

Screenshot of Andres Benatar’s Substack.

Vivien: What would your ideal version of the internet be? Or what would you like to change in the future?

Andres: My ideal version of the internet would be the one we were originally promised, one with the sort of transparency to say or learn about anything we want without feeling like we’re being watched or on the verge of being punished just because we might’ve misspoken or said a politically incorrect statement as though somehow it were a threat of violence. I think that if you make a direct threat to someone, that there should be repercussions. However, living like we’re in Orwell’s ‘1984’ is hardly a healthy way of navigating a digital space whose major selling points were free, open, and transparent speech.

Vivien: You’ve mentioned that measures to implement privacy and data security should be prioritized. Therefore my question: Are there any other privacy-first services you use, besides Tuta? If yes, which ones?

Andres: I use a Linux laptop as well as GrapheneOS as the operating system for my phone, where I mainly communicate via a multitude of private messengers like Signal, Sessions, and Briar.

I also use VPN services and search engines like IVPN, Nym VPN, Tor, Startpage, Brave, and DuckDuckGo. I essentially try to make every aspect I can out of my value for the principle of privacy as opposed to choosing the more commonly accepted approaches that I already mentioned breed the sort of complacency that can be consequential in the long term.

Vivien: Awesome, thank you for recommending other privacy-first alternatives you use. Now I would like to hear more of your thoughts on Tuta Mail: What is important for you when it comes to email communication? What is the challenge that you are solving with Tuta Mail’s secure mailbox, calendar and contacts?

Andres: I think that email communication should remain between the two recipients. The fact that when I emailed you via Tuta to your own Tuta account, it immediately became end-to-end encrypted was enough for me to know why I value the service, which is something I can choose to use or not use when sending a Tuta email to a non-Tuta user. For me, Tuta has solved that problem by making it an imperative in its mailbox, its calendar, and its contact list, which I have the right to share with whomever I choose to.

Vivien: And why exactly did you choose Tuta Mail instead of another email provider? For example, Proton or Gmail?

Andres:

“I chose Tuta because of its prioritization of privacy. Moreover, I find how Tuta’s approach to privacy to be more humble in terms of it being focused on function and efficiency more than just simply growth, which it is certainly doing in what I find to be far more responsible.”

The rapid growth of Proton in terms of the amount of products they are developing is a matter of concern I share with our mutual friend, “The Hated One”, given how often mismanaged anything can become if it grows too large and too fast to establish some organized form of stability. When it comes to Gmail, again, I go back to my research on the way privacy has been violated to a degree where it’s laughable to trust companies as large as Google or Apple given how notorious they are for meta data collection and the sale of it to whoever is the highest bidder. Past experiences of that have proven that the consequences of such actions have never been a priority for them.

Vivien: What would you say do you like best about Tuta Mail and why is it important?

Andres: Tuta certainly has style when it comes to its design and color palette. But from a functionary standpoint, I like that it prioritizes the principle of privacy where it never detracts from the element of efficiency. The recent inclusion of post-quantum encryption was certainly a major plus in reaffirming why I love this service.

Vivien: Have you introduced Tuta Mail to your friends and family?

Andres: I’ve tried, but when it comes to the way convenience is often sold to anyone using the modern tech of today, be it smartphones, email services, or any device, it’s hard. I still mention it from time to time, but not in a way where I try to force it or repeatedly recommend it because much like me, I came to the decision of upholding my own approach towards privacy and security. That won’t stop me from making recommendations. But much like I respect the right to privacy, I also respect people’s ability to make choices of their own in that field for the sake of their own self-determination.

Vivien: Why is it important for you that Tuta Mail end-to-end encrypts all data possible?

Andres: Because it’s my data, and the only person I know is telling the truth that they’re using it responsibly is myself. As much as another person says that they mean well, that doesn’t guarantee anything, and although that doesn’t say anything malicious either, the fact that I have the right to it and Tuta respects that is why it’s important to me.

Vivien: Tuta Mail is often considered to give customers a reputation benefit due to the encryption. What would you say, how does it benefit you?

Andres: Yes, it benefits me greatly in that I can feel secure that no malicious actors can have access to something they can use to profit for themselves, hurt me, or just simply put on the open dark web market, which should entail anyone to prioritize end-to-end encryption to the same level that Tuta does.

Vivien: Thank you very much for doing this interview with us Andres and taking your time. I really hope that you keep enjoying our email solution for your business. I look forward to receive regular feedback from you on any features you are missing or updates!