Digital Privacy Tools

### Digital Privacy Tools

There's a lot to keeping Big Tech, your Internet Service Provider (ISP), and the Feds from spying on you. Here are some tips to get started. Many of you know this already, but in case you don't:

**1. Use Brave Browser or similar.** This is just a reworked Chrome browser with some extra privacy features added. It doesn't do much but is less invasive than Microsoft Edge, Chrome, Safari, and Firefox. Note that "private mode" in browsers does nothing to encrypt your traffic; it just keeps your cookies, cache, and history from being saved.

- https://brave.com
- https://vivaldi.com

**2. Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN).** This routes all your internet traffic through a remote server so that your computer or phone's IP address is hidden, and the ISP (or hotel or business) can't monitor your internet activity. Otherwise every website, email, download, etc. is logged by your ISP forever. Using a VPN gets around that. These are paid services. Beware that free VPNs are likely hacker or fed honeypots. Suggestions:

- https://protonvpn.com
- https://mullvad.net
- https://nordvpn.com

**3. Use TOR Browser.** TOR is a decentralized encrypted network to anonymize internet use. The TOR browser lets you surf the internet through that network, and also access the dark web if you choose. It's way more secure than Brave or other browsers, and TOR is even more secure than VPN. Some servers on the TOR network are owned by the feds, however, so it's not foolproof, but it's much harder to be traced on TOR than VPNs or neither. VPN + TOR together is even better for that reason. However, TOR is slow, and you have to connect to a different TOR circuit if one fails, and some sites block it... but if you need more security, TOR is open-source and free:

- https://www.torproject.org/download

**4. Use a privacy-focused email service.** Anything is more secure than Gmail, Hotmail, iCloud, AOL (lol), etc. These places monitor your email and build a profile of your social network and interests under the guise of serving you ads, but like any dual-purpose service it also goes straight into a gov database to assess your threat level and weaknesses. Private email services offer end-to-end encryption (but only to other users of the same service). And because the inbox is encrypted too, message bodies can't be searched. Further, using a third party mail client via POP or IMAP isn't as straightforward. Services like ProtonMail also require an existing email address during signup. Loss of convenience is the tradeoff with privacy. Options:

- ProtonMail: https://protonmail.com
- Tutanota: https://tutanota.com

**5. Use a messaging app with TRUE end-to-end encryption.**  What's NOT end-to-end encrypted: SMS, WhatsApp, WeChat, Skype, Facebook Messenger, Telegram. SMS is a joke, might as well send a postcard. The others tout encryption but it's only between you and their Big Tech servers; they hold the keys and can store and read your messages. A supposedly more secure option is Signal https://signal.org but Jack Dorsey of Twitter endorses it, it's the one everyone's heard of, and it requires your phone number so that's suspicious. Alternatives:

- Wire: https://wire.com/en/download
- Session: https://getsession.org
- Element: https://element.io

**6. Switch to Linux.** Linux is a free and open-source (most of the time) operating system. It's a more secure, lightweight, and private alternative to Windows and Mac OS. It's not a privacy nightmare with all the monitoring, profiling, and telemetry being sent back to Microsoft and Apple. Linux is a very fast and stable operating system, but the available apps can be rather janky. Unless you find a diamond in the rough, you may not be able to use it effectively for serious work. But for email, web surfing, reading ebooks, watching videos, listening to music, messaging, and programming it's great. So people tend to have a work/production computer, and then a simpler Linux computer for everything else. There are many versions of Linux. In my opinion, Linux Mint is the best for everyday use:

- https://linuxmint.com

**7. Use an even more secure operating system.** While Linux is better than Mac OS or Windows, it's only a start. Even more private, but less convenient, are security-focused derivatives called Tails, Whonix, and Qubes. Tails can be run from a USB drive without leaving obvious traces on the default operating system. It also spoofes/randomizes your MAC address so when connecting to a public wif-fi network your hardware won't leave that as an identifier. Meanwhile, Whonix routes all traffic through the TOR network, and is meant to be run from within a Virtual Machine (a software-emulated "fake" computer within your real computer, ex: https://virtualbox.org). Qubes goes even further by segregating apps and services into their own individual virtual machines (and can therefore run Whonix within one of those) so that if one VM is compromised the others are safe. Qubes is meant to be installed as the sole operating system and requires a decent amount of RAM. Each has its pros and cons.

- https://tails.boum.org
- https://www.whonix.org
- https://www.qubes-os.org

**8. Make/Buy privacy-focused hardware.** Phones are the worst; they are listening and tracking devices. Phone security is a whole topic in itself. There are also backdoors built into CPUs/Motherboards. One example is the Intel Management Engine, a "convenient" way for "tech support" to remotely access and update corporate computers even if they're turned off. All Intel CPUs have that feature, and others like AMD/ARM have their version. You have to reprogram the firmware or design custom hardware to get around that. Hobbling it yourself using me_cleaner and flashing new firmware is not trivial. Fortunately, companies are starting to offer hardware that's a bit more secure. Options (including phones, laptops, and PCs):

- https://system76.com
- https://puri.sm

More Tools at https://www.privacytools.io