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I don't have accounts at any major online businesses, except Visa. Can't really avoid that one easily. My browsers block connections to trackers and 3rd party cookies. Sometimes scripts too, for good measure, and some selected stuff from user.js ( https://github.com/arkenfox/user.js ). Separate profiles for each service just to make really sure important stuff doesn't get affected by casual browsing, and vice versa.…
What device do you use, then?
OS/Applications:
- Linux on the desktop since 2007.
- I was using Firefox with uBlock, switched to Brave because I like the model: it lets users "vote with their wallets" (by collecting the rewards and giving back to content creators they like) while keeping their personal data out of reach from advertisers.
- Went through a series of Android phones that could be rooted, installing Lineage OS whenever possible. I'm now on /e/OS, and I use only the apps that are available on F-Droid. I keep an old android around just for my banking app.
Online Storage:
- Avoid external cloud service at all costs. If the data is not on a server that I do not directly control, I treat it as a liability. No Google Drive, no Dropbox, no Spotify. Instead of being dependent on webapps, I prefer to sync my data between my machines with Syncthing and use the "proper" application to work/consume the data. I wrote more about it at https://raphael.lullis.net/thinking-heads-are-not-in-the-clo...
Social Media:
- Still using Twitter and reddit, but using libredirect. On mobile I browse through Fritter and Infinity for Reddit.
- Heavily encouraging anyone I can to switch away to the Fediverse. I may be biased though becuse I run a managed provider for Mastodon and Matrix (https://communick.com)
- only Linux in my home network (which I prefer either way) - only using my own cloud (NAS, Home Automation) - heavily filtering internet (Pi-Hole or AdGuard + ublock when possible) - no public social media (FB, Twitter, discord, whatever) - Only throwaway accounts on some social media - Not having a real phone number - Using rented throwaway phone numbers when necessary - Only use credit card for a few trusted servi…
What do you mean by "not having a real phone number"?
In the context of privacy it mostly means you can't easily link my accounts trough my phone number.
As of why is a long story that mostly resolves around how bad and annoying a phone number as security measure is and how you have no way of actual owning your own number.
Apps - I selfhost most of my stuff. Very similar to https://axbom.com/indieweb/ OS - Ubuntu everywhere Online Storage - This is part of my selfhosting stack. My server is in my house (but accessible from internet), no need for at rest encryption. Social Media - Not much apart from some reddit and HN. Never got into other things.
I mostly use OpenBSD these days, but any security is a bonus. I mostly do it for the minimalism. The pledge and unveil stuff built into the browsers is nice.
I have at this point dumped pretty much everything but self curated Reddit and HN, not just for privacy but for general sanity as well... That is also mostly the reason that I keep my phone (which is dumb anyway) turned off unless I need to use it.
I use a VPN because I don't trust my ISP.
I use LineageOS with microG because I don't trust the phone manufacturer and Google to not track me.
I use Linux coz fuck Windows. Hardened with secureboot and FDE with TPM.
I use ungoogled chromium with uBlock and NoScript.
I also selfhost most of the services that I can replace with FOSS alternatives. Can be a PITA maintaining them at times but I sleep happy at night knowing my data is not on some Google(-like) farm. E.g For Youtube I do make use of public invidious instances etc.
Any app (on phone and PC) that doesn't need internet permissions (or any other unnecessary permissions) has them toggled off. Flatpaks and flatseal makes this so easy on Linux.
Any social media app that works well as a PWA is not installed. And if needed on my phone, it's installed into the secondary work profile where it can't read my files/contacts/etc.
All data I consider private is encrypted at-rest. Same is routinely backed up to different cloud storage providers.
Any account that I consider important has 2FA behind it. Most accounts I just use disposable emails to register.
Ads are all effectively blocked on the devices I use courtesy of dns filtering.
- Avoid cloud services
- Avoid services that require an account
- Avoid installing proprietary apps
- Use Free and open-source software (FOSS) if possible
There are of course always situations in which it is unavoidable to do one of those mentioned not-to-do things, but if you stick to those simple rules most of the time, you should be able to avoid the bulk of the undesirable stuff out there.
linux distro with full disk encryption, unique password for every site (self managed), nextcloud provider + cryptomator for cloud storage, opensnitch or similar for firewall, agressive ad/tracker blocking at dns and browser level, lineageos for mobile devices, preference foss software, pirate all media, mullivad vpn sometimes
Apps - I selfhost most of my stuff. Very similar to https://axbom.com/indieweb/ OS - Ubuntu everywhere Online Storage - This is part of my selfhosting stack. My server is in my house (but accessible from internet), no need for at rest encryption. Social Media - Not much apart from some reddit and HN. Never got into other things.
At rest encryption helps if your threat model includes someone stealing your server. Junkies probably aren’t going to go through your files, but would you rather worry? Similarly, offsite backup for if your server is stolen / house burns down /you accidentally rm -rf everything
Nothing. Nothing bad ever happened to me due to lack of privacy protection. I am only happy if I get ads tailored to my interests. Even if Backblaze, where I store backups of all my data, would be hacked and leaked – nobody would probably care enough to dig through my personal data. People wildly overestimate how much other people care about them or their secrets.
And while I'm diametrically opposed to the "if you have nothing to hide" argument, I really don't have anything to hide, so individually it doesn't impact me.