We didn’t all arrive at Wary Canary the same way, but we all arrived with urgency.
We come from different generations, different communities, and different relationships with technology. But we’ve all experienced the shift: privacy isn’t something you have anymore. It’s something you have to protect.
Here’s why.
The erosion of consumer privacy in the U.S. is a story about money.
In the early 2000s, Google and Facebook were still scrappy startups. They provided truly useful tools—tools we embraced. But by 2007, things started to change. Google acquired DoubleClick. Facebook launched Facebook Ads. Real-time bidding (RTB) emerged. And the online ad industry stopped guessing who we were, and started knowing.
The more data they collected, the more precise the ads. Third-party data marketplaces exploded. Our location, shopping habits, beliefs, votes, family, income, all for sale. The result? Every one of us has a digital twin, and they are used to predict and manipulate our behaviors.
This system presents the illusion of choice. Either accept the terms or don’t use the service. There’s no ad-free Instagram that doesn’t track you. No version of YouTube that isn’t shaping what you see.
And the problem isn’t just personal, it’s societal. These companies optimize for engagement, not well-being. They fuel division, not discourse. They shape our lives to serve the algorithm.
I joined Wary Canary because Wary Canary is a pushback. A reset. A way to help people reclaim control of their data and decide what privacy means for themselves. If we can change the tools—we can change the system.
I grew up before 9/11, when privacy was more of a given. The streets of my neighborhood weren’t lined with cameras. My childhood had pockets free of screens. Quiet, safe, and mine.
Now, we’re recorded without consent every time we leave our home. Our kids carry the best and worst of humanity in their pockets. They’re unknowingly tracked, targeted, and exposed. I see it as an aunty, as an educator, every day.
And it’s not just kids. Our parents and grandparents are vulnerable too. I’m a daughter. A granddaughter. The people who once protected us now need protection.
My data isn’t abstract. It defines how I access the world, and when that data is collected, sold, or used against me, I am compromised. It’s a violation. And it’s happening to all of us.
Wary Canary is about protecting our communities. Giving us a voice in systems that would rather we stay quiet. I believe in a future where privacy is a right, not a loophole. Where we can live freely, speak up, and show up without fear of being watched, tracked, or erased.
I moved often in my 20s. With each new apartment came a 3-5 day ‘installation window’ of suffering: no internet, pre-smartphone, no tethering. It was boring, an empty quiet that demanded I decide how to fill it. These days I once loathed now seem a precious memory: the internet is everywhere, in everything, always on, always recording. It is ceaseless.
The pop-ups and robo-calls of the past have evolved into something more sinister—something that learns from us and pushes back. Every click, every scroll, every purchase fuels a system designed to manipulate. Not just to sell, but to shape.
Retailers and platforms gather data on me, my family, my habits. I’m rarely informed, much less asked for explicit permission. I’ve started to wonder – what happens if I’m not a customer, but a target? What if the system isn’t used to sell to me, but to exploit or undermine me?
Uh-oh.
Wary Canary is my answer to that “uh-oh.” It’s a signal that we’re paying attention. That we’re building tools that respect people instead of profiling them. That we believe privacy is worth protecting.
We come from different lives, but we’re building Wary Canary together, because we all want the same thing:
The bag is just the beginning. It’s a physical tool for a very real problem: how to move through the world with less exposure. But we’re not stopping there.
We’re building digital tools too, designed to help you protect your privacy online, the same way our first product protects you in public. Because the systems that track us don’t stop at the door and neither will we.
Wary Canary exists to help people take back control of their privacy, online and offline. This isn’t just about products. It’s about giving people real choices in a world that’s made privacy feel out of reach. And we’re just getting started.