Privacy – easy ways of increasing it

With all the advertising, analytics, telemetry, and data selling online, sometimes it’s hard to have decent privacy. You can try to ditch FAANG (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google), but even if you do succeed then you sacrifice quite a lot.

Here, we’ll share our tips for increasing your privacy, and software you can use.

Word of caution

There’s no way to achieve total privacy, do not assume this is a such guide. Assume your ISP is spying on you, along with your government. Instead, we plan on sharing some tips to increase privacy.

Of you need total privacy for whatever reason, you’ll need things like Tails and more, but that’s outside the scope of this post.

Let’s dive in.

Web browser privacy

I’m sure most of you use the default: edge or chrome or safari. But if you want a shred of privacy, you’re going to want to ditch them. Heaven knows Google tracks you using chrome, and the others most likely do.

I’m sure you’re familiar with such alternatives as Firefox, but that they are slow and just sometimes awful, sites don’t work, etc.

But the good news is there’s good alternatives out there! Some include (based on user privacy, and being open source):

This is not a definitive list, but it’s a good start! They have features to protect you and some block ads and trackers too.

P.S. Did you know Webview Manager can help you change your webview and browser to something better? Check it out!

Messenger/Chat privacy

Oh by the way, Mark Zuckerberg thinks that cat of yours is so cuuuuute! How does he know this? Why, from Facebook Messenger of course!

Facebook and similar track anything and everything about you, and should be the first to go.

Time to ditch Facebook and Twitter. Text them those catpics, or see our alternatives:

Social media

We all know Zuckerberg and Dorsey know everything about you because of what you post. (Nice hairdo by the way!)

Our advice here is to ditch traditional social media entirely, and see our messenger section above. Social media is anything but private by nature, and can be unhealthy.

Operating System (OS) privacy

Windows, iOS, and OEM builds of Android are all collecting data on you. You can opt-out of some telemetry, which we recommend you do, but not all. What to do?

Time for an OS switch, if it’s an option for you (it’s not for Apple users)! Here’s some options:

General advice

Unfortunately, in some cases, privacy isn’t that easy.

Take ads for instance. They can be annoying and they track you. On the other hand, publishers (like ourselves!) rely on them for income. How do you handle this?

Simple! Disable your adblocker for the sites you love, and opt-out of IAB (Interest Based Advertising). Here’s where you can do so:

Other cases involve using services you require, for work or otherwise.

In general, don’t post or do anything online you’re not comfortable with the world knowing. Chances are, they will find out.

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Thoughts? Questions? Drop them in the comments!