By Henry Bueltmann
You have a right to privacy. Corporations and governments are able to spy on you though the internet, selling your personal information and creating a profile on you that can be used for advertising and surveillance. The Five Eyes alliance, formed after WWII, is a joint intelligence agreement between the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. These countries freely share information between each other, including info on the citizens of each country. In 2017, the Trump administration repealed online privacy and net neutrality restrictions, allowing internet service providers to spy on users and sell their activity and information to third parties. Due to this and more, it is important to take steps to protect your right to privacy in the digital world.
How will this article be written?
This article contains lots of information on how to stay private, ranging from minor changes of services you use to major shifts in how you interact online. Some of the first few things in the article will likely be a net improvement in your online experience or even enable you to do new things, while the later steps will require sacrifice. Any of these steps that you are comfortable doing, you should do. All mentioned software, services, or companies will have links to their website or privacy policy. If you choose to read the privacy policies of major corporations, please be aware that the language they use carefully dances around what they legally have to say and uses very specific wording to seem better than they are. All major claims will have hyperlinks. I cannot possibly make a complete guide to absolute privacy in just one article, so it is important that you continue with your own research if you want real privacy and security. Links to further reading and resources are at the end of the article.
1. A private web browser
Chances are you’re reading this in Chrome, Edge, or Safari. These browsers are owned by large corporations that make millions from selling user information, and nothing you do on them is secure, even in incognito mode. There are alternative web browsers that respect your privacy while still functioning well and having plenty of plugins. My personal web browser recommendation is Firefox for your computer and smartphone, which respects your privacy. Firefox makes the switch over to it easy, with one-click transfer of bookmarks and saved passwords from your previous browser. Firefox also has a great plugin market with plenty of Mozilla approved plugins that can enhance your experience. On Firefox you can get the plugin uBlock Origin, which is a flawless ad blocker that even removes the ads before YouTube videos. uBlock also blocks trackers and cookies, further enhancing your privacy. If you depend on a plugin that is on Chrome or Edge but not on Firefox, then the browser Brave is a good option. It comes with a great integrated ad blocker in the browser, and all Chrome and Edge plugins will work on it.
2. A private search engine
Chances are you’re using Google or Bing. Google and Bing both sell all of your activity, which is how they make the majority of their money. Luckily, there are alternative search engines that do not sell your history while still providing good results and being easy to use. My personal recommendation for a secure search engine is DuckDuckGo. DuckDuckGo is a reasonably credible search engine that does not spy on you and still provides great results. It provides good results that are not filtered based on your past searches. However, DDG does censor some search results relating to piracy, adult content, and misinformation. Other private search engine options are Brave Search (default in Brave browser), MetaGer, Swisscows (for Bing results, blocks adult content), and SearX (advanced users)
3. A private VPN
A VPN can prevent your ISP from spying on your activity. Without a VPN, all other steps in this guide are not completely effective because your internet service provider can still spy on all your activity. It is critical for safely torrenting and using public WiFi, but is not a master privacy tool and the other steps of this guide are still important. What makes a VPN truly private and credible is strong encryption, anonymous payment methods, operation outside of Five Eyes countries, use of OpenVPN, a no logging policy, and a long reputable operation history. Truly private VPNs are Mullvad, ProtonVPN (paid version), and IVPN. I personally recommend Mullvad, as it is a very reputable private VPN. A free VPN is never fast or reliable, and almost never private.
4. A private email
Gmail is not private. Google has full access to your activity, including anything you sign up for with that email. A private email provider can make a huge difference in your privacy, even though transferring to a new email is hard work. ProtonMail is my personal recommendation for an email provider. Other options include Tutanota, Disroot, mailbox.org (paid), and StartMail (paid).
5. Private social networks
Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp are all owned by Meta, a massive data harvesting corporation. They have been sued many times in the past for extreme violations of privacy and abuse of user data to bring actual harm to users in the name of more profit and keeping people addicted. Meta apps can even access personal files on your phone and computer outside of the app, spying on you completely and unlike anything else. Anything owned by Meta should be deleted. The majority of mainstream socials such as Twitter, Snapchat, and TikTok make the majority of their profit from analyzing user activity and selling it to third parties. They also use this data to feed users the most addicting content possible and keep them hooked to their phone for hours. Have you ever laid in bed for hours scrolling through TikTok, missing out on sleep and not even remembering the majority of videos you see? Some private social medias are Mastodon, Diaspora, Friendica, PixelFed, and Aether. The key terms you may notice here are “decentralized”, “peer to peer”, and “transparent”. These are important elements of a truly private and open service. The key term you won’t notice in these is “algorithms”, which analyze your behavior and feed you addicting content. These alternatives are not as popular and will not feed you dopamine like any mainstream social media will, which is why some may consider a custom frontend for your socials instead of a complete replacement.
The rest of the tips are for more advanced tech users and are radical changes. If these are too advanced or too extreme for you, then read after step 7 about other things you can do to protect your privacy in these ways.
6. A custom operating system
Microsoft’s Windows and Apple’s OS X are not private operating systems. The only private OS options are Linux distros. The most beginner friendly distros are Ubuntu based, notably Linux Mint and Pop!_OS. These operating systems often require workarounds to run traditional Windows and Mac applications, but they are still effective working and even gaming environments for your computer. Please do much more research than just this paragraph before you consider switching to Linux. Some good resources are Mental Outlaw’s Top 5 Linux Distros for Beginners and How to Switch From Windows to Linux.
7. A custom smartphone operating system
Your phone is a major spying device that is on you 24/7 (except at MSA). It is possible to put a custom operating system on your Android device. iPhone users, I suggest you buy a Pixel and put one of these alternatives on it. Android alternatives that respect your privacy include CalyxOS and GrapheneOS for Google Pixels only, and Ubuntu Touch or LineageOS for many other smartphones. Replacing the OS of your phone is a very difficult and potentially risky process, and not even possible on many phones, but it is the single greatest step you can take in protecting your privacy.
IF THE ABOVE IS TOO ADVANCED OR EXTREME
Enhancing security on Windows or Mac with scripts:
You should be running Windows 10. If you are running Windows 11, please don’t. Windows 11 majorly violates privacy in ways that simply cannot be undone. If you have a Mac, I highly recommend that you buy or build a non-Apple computer, as Apple can spy on you extremely well through their devices. The scripts privacy.sexy can be used to greatly improve your OS (Mac or Windows) and to reduce espionage. All you need to do is go to their website, select what options you want, and download and run the scripts. 100% of the code that goes into this is available for anyone to view, so it is guaranteed to be safe and private. You can see exactly what the scripts are doing as you select the options. Other options for improving privacy are O&O ShutUp10++ for removing spying tools and simplewall or Safing Portmaster for controlling network access. These scripts and programs will improve privacy, but cannot completely make you safe. Linux is still the only way to be truly private on a computer.
Enhancing privacy on Android:
Abandon the Google Play store. F-Droid is a free and open source app store filled with other FOSS apps that are safe, secure, and private. You should also get a custom keyboard such as OpenBoard to prevent Google from tracking what you type. These steps can help, but the only way to truly have a private Android smartphone is a custom OS. The Freedom Phone is a scam, it is not private. The Freedom Phone is a smartphone promising privacy and zero censorship out of the box, but it’s all smoke and mirrors and is really no more private than an ordinary Android device while also being a very weak and low end phone. It is a scam and a waste of money.
Further reading and resources:
This article has received zero funding from anywhere. I am not getting paid for this. None of the links in this article are affiliate links that make me money.
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