Frequently Asked Questions

We're a privacy-first technology consultancy. We help individuals, families, and small organizations make better technology decisions — choosing the right tools, configuring them well, protecting your data, and learning enough to feel confident in your own setup. We're equally comfortable setting up a senior parent's new laptop, designing a smart home that doesn't leak data, auditing a nonprofit's website, or serving as a fractional CTO for a small business.

Three broad audiences. Personal: individuals and families who want better privacy, smarter device choices, and a real human to call when something breaks. Home: homeowners and renters setting up smart homes, networks, home offices, and family entertainment systems. Organizations: small businesses, nonprofits, and sole proprietors who need enterprise-grade thinking but don't have an in-house IT department. There's significant overlap — many clients hire us across more than one of these areas over time.

We serve the greater Seattle area in person and clients worldwide via video. Hands-on work — device setup, network installs, home tech projects — is local. Consulting, audits, training, and ongoing advisory work just as well remotely.

Use the contact form on this site to request a free 30-minute consultation. There's no sales pitch and no obligation — it's a conversation about your situation, what you're trying to accomplish, and whether we're the right fit. If we're not, we'll usually be able to point you toward someone who is.

Both, depending on what you need. Many clients start with a focused project — a privacy audit, a new computer setup, a website build, a smart home install — and that may be all they need. Others move into a monthly or quarterly retainer for ongoing advisory and support, especially organizations that want a fractional CTO without the cost of hiring one full-time. We'll suggest whichever model actually fits your situation, not whichever earns us the most.

Four things, consistently. We're privacy-first by default, not as an upsell. We're education-focused — when we finish, you understand your own setup well enough to make good decisions on your own. We're vendor-agnostic — we don't push tools because of commercial relationships, and we don't resell hardware or software. Where we earn affiliate commissions on purchases (disclosed on our Tools page), those follow our recommendations — the commission never drives the pick. And we work toward long-term partnership rather than short-term billable hours; the goal is to leave you better off, not dependent on us.

A personal privacy audit typically starts with a conversation about your situation — what devices you use, which services you rely on, and what your specific concerns are. From there, we review your accounts for security hygiene (password practices, two-factor authentication, recovery email addresses), assess your browser and search habits, look at what data major platforms hold about you, and identify your highest-priority risks. The result is a clear, prioritized action plan — not a list of things to be anxious about, but a practical path to meaningfully better privacy.

A VPN hides your IP address from the websites you visit and encrypts your traffic from your internet provider. That's genuinely useful for some threat models — particularly on public Wi-Fi or when you don't want your ISP to see your activity. But a VPN doesn't prevent tracking through cookies, browser fingerprinting, or login-based tracking. It also doesn't protect you from the VPN provider itself, which sees all your traffic. A VPN is one tool among several — not a complete privacy solution on its own.

Cookies are small files stored on your device that websites use to recognize you. They can be deleted and are increasingly restricted by browsers and regulations. Browser fingerprinting is different: it works by observing how your browser behaves — your screen resolution, installed fonts, GPU characteristics, operating system — and combining those signals into a unique identifier. It doesn't store anything on your device, which means deleting cookies and clearing your history doesn't affect it. Incognito mode doesn't help either. Fingerprint-resistant browsers like Firefox (with strict settings) or Brave are the most effective defense.

Yes. Reusing passwords is the single most common way ordinary accounts get compromised, and no human can remember a unique strong password for every service. A password manager solves that, and modern ones are easy to use across all your devices. We generally recommend Bitwarden (open source, free for individuals, paid family plans available) or 1Password (polished, family-friendly, paid). Both are excellent — pick whichever fits your taste and budget. The best password manager is the one you'll actually use.

For most people, Firefox with strict tracking protection or Brave are the strongest practical choices. Both block third-party trackers by default and offer meaningful resistance to fingerprinting. Safari on Apple devices is a reasonable default with good privacy defaults built in. We generally steer clients away from Chrome as a primary browser — it's a fine browser technically, but it's built by an advertising company whose business depends on knowing what you do online. Browser choice is one of the highest-leverage privacy decisions you can make.

Data minimization is the practice of not collecting or keeping data you don't actually need. It matters more than any specific tool because data that doesn't exist can't be leaked, subpoenaed, sold, or stolen. For individuals, that means thinking twice before signing up for the loyalty program, deleting old accounts you don't use, and choosing services that don't demand your phone number. For organizations, it means asking on every form: do we really need this field? Is there a reason to keep this record after the engagement ends? Most privacy improvements come from changes in practice, not changes in software.

It depends on the scope, but we work hard to keep our pricing honest and accessible. A focused consultation or audit typically starts at a few hundred dollars. Larger projects — a full website build, a smart home install, an organizational privacy review — are scoped and quoted up front so there are no surprises. Ongoing retainers are priced to the level of involvement you actually need. The first consultation is always free, and we'll only propose work that makes sense for your situation and budget.

Yes. We work with nonprofits and mission-driven organizations on sliding-scale pricing, and we work with community organizations at all budget levels. Many of the most impactful improvements — especially in privacy and security — are low-cost or free; they require thoughtfulness and a change in practice rather than expensive software. We'll help you prioritize the changes that matter most given your specific situation and resources.

Project-based is the right fit when you have a defined need with a clear endpoint: a new computer, a website launch, a privacy audit, a smart home install. Retainer is the right fit when technology is an ongoing part of how you operate and you'd benefit from a consistent advisor who already knows your setup — common for small organizations, families with significant home tech, and individuals who want a tech concierge on call. Many engagements start as a project and evolve into a retainer naturally over time.

It means our recommendations aren't shaped by commercial relationships. We don't resell hardware or software for a markup, and we don't change what we recommend based on who pays us more. Some tools on our recommended list carry affiliate links — those are fully disclosed, and the same tools would earn the same recommendation without them. The commission follows the pick; it never drives it. The result is advice that points toward your interests, not toward whatever pays us best.

About 30 minutes of conversation — by phone, video, or in person if you're in the greater Seattle area. We'll ask about your situation, what you're trying to solve, what you've already tried, and what success would look like. You'll get an honest read on whether we can help, a rough sense of scope and cost if so, and useful guidance either way. No sales pressure and no obligation to move forward.