The app tracking, the lack of privacy in your digital life, the feeling that someone is always watching or listening… does this all sound familiar? We’ve become conditioned to accept these costs in order to live a productive life in the digital world. The question is, can you take back some of that privacy without sacrificing your ability to function? Julia Angwin wrote an article in the Sovereign Man Confidential monthly letter that describes six methods she used to move away from the services or apps that were collecting her data. She decided that if an app was free, it was likely using her as the product. She stopped using Google for her searches, she bought a burner phone that was not associated with her, and she stopped using WiFi on her phone. She even covered the webcam and microphones on her devices, to keep services from listening in on her. While some of these methods could be deemed as “extreme,” let’s check out some of the more basic steps you can take to protect yourself from Big Tech and gain more control of your data as you go about your daily activities.
Fire Alexa, Siri, or Google Assistant
Basically, get rid of anything that is a smart speaker and listens to you. Did you know that Amazon employs thousands of workers from all over the world to listen and analyze Alexa voice recordings? They say that it’s to improve functionality, but companies like Amazon track your every move and sometimes record without your permission. Google admits that their device sometimes accidentally records a user if what they say sounds enough like “Hey Google,” and that your phone might start recording if you use the word “ok” as if you were about to say, “Ok Google.” The moral of the story is that these devices may be capturing more than you think, and it can be tricky to find out what has been recorded.
If you have an Android, go to myactivity.google.com to view your data, listen to your recordings, or see what your search history looks like over the years.
Check Your Passwords
The biggest questions you need to ask yourself regarding passwords are:
• Are you using the same password across many different platforms?
• Are you using easy to guess passwords like spouse, children, or pet names?
• Are you using a password less than 10-12 characters?
• Are you using common English words that a computer could eventually figure out?
The more characters you have in your password, the less likely it can be guessed. A password can be easily cracked if it contains fewer than 10 characters – it can take less than a day to crack! Even adding numbers to common dictionary words will likely result in a hacked account if the hacker is dedicated. You can use a website like mouseware.org to generate creative passwords. You could use password vaults like keepassxc.org or lastpass.com to store and manage all your unique and complicated passwords.
Use a VPN
“VPN” stands for Virtual Private Network. Cellphones, laptops, and smart devices use your IP address to track and monitor you. An IP address is a unique address that helps to identify the device that is using the internet across the IP network. Typically, your Internet Service Provider will be logging all your online activity. A VPN can help encrypt your data against that. The sites you visit will not see your real IP address, they will just get the encrypted data that is funneled through your VPN, concealing your real location.
Change Your Web Browser
Web browsers go hand in hand with using a VPN, as the web browsers tell the websites you’re visiting where you’re coming from. Browsers like Google Chrome are likely reporting back to Google your browsing habits and how long you visited specific websites, and what you may or may not have clicked on. Seeking an alternative browser? Firefox was created by a nonprofit, Mozilla, and is known to be privacy orientated. You can enhance their privacy features by turning off any selected Data Collection and Use options in the Privacy & Security section in the Firefox browser options tab. Another alternative is Brave. It’s an open source browser that automatically blocks trackers and ads to protect you and your information while browsing the web.
Ditch Gmail
Like most things in life, there is always a price. While Gmail is free to use, that doesn’t mean it’s not costing you something to use it. Google uses algorithms to scan your emails for data about you that they can use for advertising purposes. For an alternative, ProtonMail is an encrypted email service based in Switzerland that uses end-to-end encryption to block third parties from accessing your information. ProtonMail allows users to create an account without any personal information, and even allows you to set emails to self-destruct after a specified amount of time. You may be interested to know that Proton also offers a VPN, which can add another layer of security to your life!
Conclusion
This may seem like a lot of information, but hopefully you’ve jotted down some pointers if privacy is of interest to you. Protecting your information is up to you. Of all of the above, the most important item may be protecting yourself from hackers by maintaining a strong, unique password for your accounts. Let that be your first step. Good luck!