Claw Back Your Data From Big Tech With Cyd

The Lockdown Systems collective presents Cyd, an open source desktop app for people who want to recover and control the data they have posted to large platforms. The speakers explain why this matters: old posts can resurface years later, accounts can become professionally awkward, and platforms can restrict access or change terms at any time. Their position is that users should decide where their data lives, how long it stays, and whether it can be moved elsewhere.

The app runs on the user's own computer and signs in through an embedded browser, so the developers never hold account credentials. It scrolls through a profile by injecting JavaScript, and much of the needed data comes from internal API responses that the app captures through a local proxy with its own certificate authority. Deletion sends requests from the logged-in browser context, which is far faster than clicking through each post, and the app backs off when rate limits are hit. The speakers also cover the limits of relying on official archive exports, the cost of reverse engineering sites that change often, and migrating posts to Bluesky with backdated timestamps.

The talk ends with the collective's other projects, OnionShare and a map of ICE detention facilities, followed by audience questions about countermeasures, how often changes break the tool, planned Facebook and Mastodon support, and whether deleted posts are truly gone from company backups. The practical takeaway is that users can keep their data locally, and that contributors are welcome to help add platform support.