Hello, Lemmy!
It may be difficult to spend time actively improving some of the services you use to have a more privacy conscious presence, and so this thread is dedicated to help people learn and grow in their privacy journeys! Start by stating which services you currently use, and which ones you may be looking for/want to improve. This thread is entirely optional to participate in, because a lot of people understandably feel uncomfortable listing which services they use. Writing those out can be a lot of work, but the payoff is huge!
Remember these rules:
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Be respectful! Some people are early on in their privacy journey, or have a lax threat model. Just because it doesn't align with yours, or uses some anti-privacy software, doesn't mean you can downvote them! Help them improve by giving suggestions on alternatives.
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Don't promote proprietary software! Proprietary software, no matter how good it may seem, is against the community rules, and generally frowned upon. If you aren't sure, you can always ask! This is a place to learn. Don't downvote people just because they don't know!
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Don't focus solely on me! Since this happened in another one of my posts, I want to mention that this thread is not designed to pick apart only my setup. The point is to contribute your own and help others. That doesn't mean you can't still give suggestions for mine, but don't prioritize mine over another.
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Be polite! This falls under "Be respectful", but be kind to everyone! Say please, thank you, and sorry. Lemmy is really good about this, but there will always be someone.
Here is my setup:
Web browsing
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I use Tor for using online accounts (such as Lemmy, etc.)
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I use Mullvad Browser for general browsing
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I use Librewolf for functionality that Mullvad Browser doesn't have (security keys, etc.)
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I use Firefox + uBlock Origin for streaming videos that break on Librewolf and Mullvad Browser.
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I always use a SearXNG instance for web searches. I always use ProtonVPN (free tier). I use a private DNS resolver.
Desktop
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I use Secureblue (yes, I'm that guy from a post a couple weeks ago)
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I sit behind a firewall.
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I only use FOSS Flatpaks with Flatseal.
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My BIOS is password locked but proprietary (due to compatibility issues).
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I occasionally use Tails because I think it's fun.
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I use full disk encryption, multiple disks, and a second layer of encryption for specific important files (NSA style)
Mobile
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I currently use hardened iOS until I can scrape together some money for a Pixel to use GrapheneOS
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Again, I constantly use ProtonVPN (free tier)
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I use a private DNS when ProtonVPN is turned off
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I use AdGuard, but I browse the internet with the DuckDuckGo app (I can't sideload)
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I use a very strong passcode
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Airplane mode is constantly enabled, I don't have a SIM
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I use a Faraday bag to store my device when I'm in public
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I use a privacy screen protector
Messenger
- I mainly use Signal with a borrowed phone number, because SimpleX is still buggy on iOS, and Signal is the easiest to switch friends to. I rarely use iMessage, but there are times when I have to.
Online accounts
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Passwords are stored in Bitwarden for mobile accounts, and KeePassXC for desktop accounts.
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Yubikey is placed on any account I can, otherwise 2FAS is used
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I keep public accounts (Lemmy, etc.) as locked down as I can.
Video streaming
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I use the native YouTube app on iOS, simply because any of the others I've tried either don't actually work or require a Mac to install. I don't have a Mac, obviously.
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I use FreeTube on desktop, but as I was writing this I was informed that FreeTube has a few issues I may want to look into (Electron).
AI
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I would love to know if there are any Flatpaks that run local LLMs well, but I currently use GPT4All (since that's what I used a year ago).
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On mobile, I use an app made by a friend that gives access to GPT-4 and Gemini. Because it's running off of his own money, I'm not going to share the project until he has a stable source of income.
Social Media
- I don't use any social media besides Lemmy.
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I use ProtonMail
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I have addy.io as an alias service
Shopping/Finance
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I currently either proxy my online purchases through someone else (have them buy it for me and I pay them back), or use a gift card
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For physical purchases I use cash
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I only use my bank account for subscriptions (Spotify, etc.)
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I am working on using Monero and privacy.com
Music streaming
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I use Spotify on my phone
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I use Spotube or locally downloaded files on my computer
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I have multiple AM/FM receivers with some yard long antennas and direct metal connectors
TV shows
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I stream from ethical services for some movies
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I go to a theater or buy a DVD for other movies. I am the proud owner of a USB DVD player.
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I also have an antenna hooked up to my TV
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There are certain IPTV services I have used in the past
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I do not use a smart TV.
Gaming
- I download local games, plain and simple. Or I code my own game.
Programming
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I code in Python using PyCharm. I'm looking for alternatives.
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I will use GitLab when I decide to publish some of my work.
Productivity
- LibreOffice, although the UI is iffy
Misc
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I don't use any location services
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All my clocks are set to UTC
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I don't have a smart watch
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I don't have a smart car
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I use Bluetooth earbuds
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I cover my webcams with paper and tape. Reason: It's worth taking a couple seconds to peel tape off when you use the webcam than to risk a massive breach.
Thanks for reading!
Note here: I found out the other day that a Google Streetview car passed by my house, and my blinds being shut were the only thing keeping my room away from prying eyes. Is there an easy way to blur/censor my house without giving up my soul?
Special thanks
Lots of people kindly contributed their personal setups in the comments, and some even made their own posts! I'm really glad I could spark inspiration and start a way for people to learn and grow in their privacy journeys. To think, just this morning, I was stressing on if people would even enjoy the post at all! Thank you all again, and please go forward to inspire others. I am not the person who made this happen, all of you are!
Glad to see you use cash. It's often forgotten in privacy advice, despite being one of the most importants.
My main issue is with change. Sales tax means I get funky prices, like $2.37, so I get lots of small change. If prices were rounded to the nearest quarter, I'd use cash a lot more.
I keep a jar in my glovebox. My local grocery store has cash-based self checkout registers with a spot to input change. Whenever I go, I grab a handful of change and dump the lot into there. It usually takes like $3-6 off my purchase with some change left over. But it's an easy way to keep the collection low.
Keeping change in the car is a decent option. If I only need to carry change to/from the store, that's really not so bad. I'll consider it.
Most of my money is spent at Costco (they obviously have my data anyway) and online (virtual cards FTW). So it's really just my grocery store and a handful of other local stores that I'd need to worry about, all totaling ~$100/month (Costco is ~10x that). It would still be nice, especially now that my local grocery store has been bought out by a statewide chain.
When I say Costco already has my data anyway, the only way around that is to not use Costco. To buy anything there, I have to either scan my membership card or use a Costco gift card, paying with cash just limits the info my credit card company has since Costco would have it linked to my account. To get a Costco gift card, I need to use my membership card, so it's already linked. I suppose I could use the gift card to reduce the likelihood that they associate the purchases with my account, but they could assume I'm using the cash card myself if I establish a pattern.
So I just accept that Costco knows my spending patterns. I think that's reasonable, given the benefits that Costco provides:
Costco has also never given me a reason to distrust them, so I make don't see a reason to go out of my way to limit what they have access to. If I didn't trust them, I wouldn't shop at their warehouse.
The grocery store is different though. I don't trust my local grocery store because they have no obligation to keep me happy aside from my going to their competitor, who is part of an even larger chain. That said, I spend very little at the local grocery store, so it's not a lot of information.
The old jar full of change at home is how most people handle this.
It’s normal to have some change. Theres a famous movie, reservoir dogs maybe, where a cop has to blend in and scoops some change up off his nightstand and considers its weight before he stuffs it in his pocket.
Part of privacy is anonymity and one aspect of security is obscurity. Look normal, carry change.
Carrying change isn't normal these days, at least in the US. And it's not something I want to do anyway.
If we had a law that advertised prices must include sales tax, I'd probably use cash again because stores like to advertise simple prices. In the current situation, a $1 item would actually cost $1.08, so I would get $0.92 in change. I rarely go to multiple stores in a given day, and I'm not going to carry change just in case I happen to buy something that day. I do have a change jar, but I almost never use it because change is a hassle.
I've considered using gift cards, but the reloadable ones still require your name and the non-reloadable ones are too much of a hassle and too expensive. I do have one reloadable store gift card for a grocery store, but that's it. Unfortunately, the only options for in-person digital payments are Google Pay, Samsung Pay, and Apple Pay, and I think those are each worse than paying with a credit card (now Google, Samsung, or Apple have all my payment information).
So, I just live with stores being able to track my purchases at their store. It's not ideal, but at least there's no one central institution with all of that data (and I use and rotate multiple cards).
That’s weird. I’m in the us and it’s normal to use change or cash. The vending machines all take it, stores all take it. You gotta prepay for gas but whatever. There’s special self checkout registers festooned with cameras that you can’t use but idk if you’d want to go through one of those anyway.
No worries if you don’t want to, but I haven’t seen any weirdness around it.
What are you worried about with the existing cashless payment options?
Vending machines are reasonable because they're almost all in increments of $0.25, except a handful of weird ones.
And yeah, I could pay in cash at most stores, but then I'd have a pocketful of change. Much of the time, I'm riding my bike when I go to stores, so now I'd need to carry change as well on my bike, which is really uncomfortable.
I'd really like to switch to a Linux phone once they are daily driveable (just need MMS, decent audio, and all day battery life), and Google Pay et al aren't compatible with that.
I really wish virtual credit cards were usable at the POS, which would allow me to change the name and switch the card number periodically.
That said, credit cards have a decent trade-off. I spend relatively little at physical stores (except Costco, but they track everything anyway), and I can use virtual cards numbers online, so my exposure is relatively small, and I get purchase protection and chargebacks as an option.
If cryptocurrencies weren't so volatile and we're accepted in more places, I'd totally use it.
If you’re worried about your name being given at checkout and being stored and indexed by the merchant or the processor, you’re on the money about credit cards. They have a name associated with them every time like clockwork, it’s how the system is designed and it’s absurdly hard to get gift cards without receiving them as gifts or having people make straw purchases (yes, when pursuing financial crime the police use the same terminology as guns).
Some kind of device tied nfc might work, but the merchant still gets your id along with the transaction.
If you could get okay with apple devices id say that’s the contactless option that helps you the most in the situation you’re describing. But it doesn’t do you any good if you’re not on the devices.
There is an unexpected solution though…
You could always set up a corporate structure that you use to make purchases through. I’m not a lawyer, but something with a principal agent that’s not you but has you and or others as officers would let you buy stuff with a card and not have your name exposed to merchants and processors.
Now there are paperwork requirements and you’re opening yourself up to investigation by your state and federal authorities, but there are often enough kinds of local pass through entities that you can do a low key fake sort of money laundering through them.
Such a thing might seem antithetical to a privacy focused person, but consider that the wealthy use different corporate structures to hide the origin and disposition of their funds all the time. If it didn’t work it wouldn’t take incredible amounts of resources to prosecute.
I actually had something like this when I was contracting, and I know you can legally set up a trust for a family, just not sure if that's enough to justify funneling expenses through.
Good idea though, I'll have to think about it. I'd like to keep things legal because, unlike a rich person, I don't have the resources to drag things out in court if someone (say, the IRS) wants to investigate me.
Oh don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting that you break the law. Plenty of structures exist explicitly to improve people’s financial privacy. Call up a lawyer that does trusts and ask what their consultation fee is. Set aside that amount and go pay them for their expertise. Laws vary from place to place, so don’t rely on some internet source. Go to a person who deals hands on with the municipality you’ll be working under the jurisdiction of every day.
You’re not gonna fight the government. Using a corporate structure to handle money means you’re gonna keep accurate books and be 100% compliant with the law. It trades some small level of privacy to the government in exchange for privacy against everyone else.
Yeah, that's certainly interesting, and I'll have to look into it. I have some lawyer friends who could probably tell me whether it's worth even looking into.
My local gas station charges extra for using a credit card
I like to use cash. Used it all the time. But now I've fallen for the bank-card convenience... (especially self-checkout counters).
I've been considering to start using cash more again, but also I've noticed a bunch of places that don't take cash anymore :/