Hey, folks who occupy the spaces of #tech, #opensource, #decentralization, #homelab, etc. - and avoidance of the surveillance state and/or activist circles - I could use some thoughts on this.

I have a group I am working with, who has a dedicated anti-google homelabber who wants to host matrix, jitsi, cryptpad, and a whole host of other nifty things locally for the group. I admire his dedication! But I am threatmodelling, and it feels to me that if all our data is sitting in a box in his living room, while we're free from corporate surveillance (if we take the correct precautions), we're still subject to a whole host of issues:

- People with guns show up and take the box of data
- He never checked his backups and we have no data
- He hates us now and is holding our data hostage
- He got hit by a bus and no one else has the keys
- He lost his job and all viable income and can't afford to maintain the infrastructure
- He got bored with it and isn't updating software and security
- He became a snitch and handed information over

I am curious how people mitigate this in their own lives.

I am also curious what other issues might arise that I've missed - what questions you'd ask about a person's set-up to feel comfortable using it.

(FWIW, I don't have any reason to think he's going to be a snitch or hold shit hostage; I do worry that he gets bored or busy or tired of the expenses without asking for help, because I've experienced that before)