Edit: Crossed out slightly out of date recommendations, see comments.
Do not confuse privacy with anonymity. Your goal is not to defend against governments or other entities with limitless resourced, but against profit oriented companies. By reducing the amount of data you leak and obfuscating what is left, your data becomes progressively worthless as you improve your setup. This is a good thing, because companies will focus their limited resources on areas with a higher profit margin.
Given your description, I think the network side of IT security is pretty much top notch, firmly in the top 0.1% if not 0.01% of users. However most of the tracking happens at the browser level, so it alone does not protect you that much.
Firefox is a solid base, but it is optimized to not break any websites, rather then providing maximum privacy. You can try to tweak settings manually, but I’d rather recommend you to use LibreWolf on PC and Mull on Android. Both are pre-configure, hardened versions of Firefox, that also have proprietary Mozilla features like “Pocket” and some telemetry removed form the source. A standard install has basically no downsides, 99.9% of sites work normally and privacy is quite good.
Librewolf has ublock origin pre-installed and pre-configured with sane defaults. I’d recommend the following additional addons:
Decentraleyes: Local CDC cache to reduce third party requests. Improves privacy, performance and doesn’t break anything. No configuration needed.
Privacy Badger: Prevents some interactive features (disqus comment section, embedded youtube player, etc) from loading until explicitly confirmed with a mouse click. Also prevents some tracking in the background, but that might eb covered by ublock already.
Cookie AutoDelete + I still don’t care about cookies: This combo silently suppresses all cookie pop-ups, allows them for the session and cleans up afterwards. This is different then disabling all cookies, and does not brake websites then rely on them while providing all privacy benefits.
Disable WebRTC: WebRTC can leak your IP address, but disabling it breaks eg. real-time video calls. This plugin is a simple toggle, only turn it on when you need to.
If you are willing to do some fine tuning or accept broken sites, consider also:
noscript: Most privacy leaks happen because of Javascript, but disabling it basically makes the modern web unusable. noscript offers a middle ground to enable/disable javascript on a domain-by-domain basis. Can be annoying at times, but arguably the best way to defend yourself.
Canvas Blocker: WebGL powers most of the advanced visuals, and can read out a lot of data that is used for fingerprinting. This plugin can randomized requested data to protect you, but it also brakes sites in weird and unexpected ways. It’s powerful, but I rarely use it these days.
And finally consider some obfuscation techniques to throw of the remaining trackers. Right now I only use one, and highly recommend it because of its effectiveness:
Font Fingerprint Defender: Using javascript, websites can read out the list of installed fonts on your device. Some programs install fonts in the background when opening a document with missing fonts, so this list is highly unique for each user and effective for tracking. The plugin throws is some noise, and causes automatic systems to detect you as a new unique user each time.
All of this throws off the vast majority of trackers, and puts you in the top 0.1% of users. Yes, this also makes you kinda “unique”, because websites may notice the effort you put in to defend yourself. Bad idea if you try to hide from the government, you should be using TOR for that anyway, but great to signal companies that you are not worth the squeeze.
Keep your head up bro. The situation is not as terrible as it may seem, but companies want you to believe that, so that you don’t even try.
Thanks for the heads up, my setup is indeed 6-12 months old. My thoughts on the linked list:
uBlock origin is the #1 recommended plugin, and can make some other plugins redundent, see below
Decentraleyes only helps only for some scripts/sites and may be fingerprintable. Considering that it targets major CDNs and it’s widespread use, I still think it’s benefits outweigh the possible downside, especially if used in conjunction with a good VPN, so its optional but I’d keep it.
Privacy Badger used to be unique in that it creates a custom blocking list based on your behavior. There was some security and privacy vulnerability with this method, so it’s no longer done. It depends now solely on a pre-trained list just like uBlock origin, offers no additional features and should be removed.
Cookie extensions may give you a false sense of privacy as they do nothing for IP tracking or other vectors. However they do patch one area, and are useful if used correctly and together with other methods.
noscript is technically covered by uBlock origin as well, but the UI is far superior and you’ll be using that a lot.
Canvas Blocker was an optional plugin to begin with, and starting Firefox 120 the FPP (Fingerprint Protection) can subtly randomize canvas, hopefully with less problems. You should be using this build in feature instead of the plugin.
Font Fingerprint Defender is the one plugin that broke tracking on fingerprint.com, combined with VPN IP change, despite javascript being enabled. If you care about privacy, and not anonymity, you should still be using this.
Bold of you to assume “we” have electronic patient records here in Germany, when they just introduced the e-doctors certificate and e-prescriptions a few months ago and it’s already not working as intended.
I’m using open board with swipe entry (so it functions like gboard). My only complaint is I’ve noticed I have to be extremely accurate in my swiping or it won’t type out the intended word).
In this message alone: my first attempts at the word “type” came out as toe. “Out” came out as TT & “along” came out as “alone”
So it’s definitely not perfect. I might stick with it. I might just go back to gboard and not grant it network permission. It’s only been about a week so a little too early to tell…
It’s been pretty good here for a couple of months. The ability to rank up/down, block/pin sources is a really good feature. When it fails, there’s always !g.
Do not overthink they want to know about you everything.
That’s true, they probably already have everything they need… It’s not only about my personal data, and my example only points out to the web technology, but everywhere around us are some data hoarding devices that are either used to targeted ads, campaign, profiling, IA dataset feeding… whatever !
It feels like we already lost our right to privacy and how personal data, telemetry is used as a whole in our society…
Is this about browsers or about privacy in general?
But your privacy should be tailored to your specific threat model and desires. Or, you can choose to be private as possible while keeping your convenience, and slowly be more private. You should not just be hardcore and right away. This will leave you feeling hopeless.
As far as browsers, i recommend Librewolf or mullvad browser, or Brave for Chromium. You do not need to use TOR for everything. A good quality VPN like mullvad vpn or proton is more than sufficient for most people.
This post was about browsers but my feelings when I wrote It was a more general “conclusion”. I only found out recently about some “hidden” privacy concerns with browsers (WebRTC leaking your real ip, fonts fingreprinting…) But when I found out about android’s default keyboard sending samples, IOT weaknesses, smart devices data hoarding… It really feels like a losing battle while being connected to the world…
yeah the android thing is a huge privacy hole. getting a custom OS like Lineage, Calyx, or Graphene should be in everyone’s top 3 first things to do. it will plug a lot of holes.
dont worry. this step isnt super difficult, definitely not a losing battle. just take it one step at time! i did the same, and i feel like im in a good place now, so it’s definitely doable :)
I’ve kind of come full circle on all this to where I no longer care. The slippery slope arguments are largely hypothetical imo…Google knows some stuff about me and attempts to show me ads, the vast majority of which I block, so what?
I pay taxes, have a social security number, my bank and credit card companies know my purchase history, the credit bureaus know my mortgage payment and lender, etc…
The myth of an off the grid life is exactly that, a myth. And what does it achieve for you other than some vague sense of idealistic pride?
Google provides tremendous utility to the world essentially for free; its search engine, maps, mail client apps, browser, etc. are tools billions of people use every day. How do they maintain a global network of data centers and localize their products to hundreds of languages…none of that is free. If big companies want to give them money in an attempt at to get me to pay attention to them then so be it, let them finance it. Imagine if only those who could afford to pay could use these tools.
Google provides tremendous utility to the world essentially for free; its search engine, maps, mail client apps, browser, etc. are tools billions of people use every day. How do they maintain a global network of data centers and localize their products to hundreds of languages…none of that is free.
Pretty much this. I get the “you don’t know what the bad guys will criminalize next” argument, but I have a hard time seeing it, when it comes to my browsing patterns.
It doesn’t have to be black and white. As many comments have already mentioned, it all depends on your threat model. Sure, it’s literally impossible to be completely private or anonymous unless you never go online and live like a hermit, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take steps to minimize what personal information companies get from you. You can still care about your private data while at the same time not sacrificing convenience.
I’ve kind of come full circle on all this to where I no longer care.
I’m at a similar point. I saw how people who don’t think about privacy handle the world and realized its not so bad.
In the end its all datamining for targeted ads, which only works if I can see the ads they’re trying to target me with.
It also helped that I had a job directly working with the kind of data I worked so hard to block and saw both how unreliable the data was, and how much companies struggle to actually put that data to use
Haha yes! People assume data brokers “know” a lot about a person, but really it’s fuzzy signals. It is far from a crystal ball or a perfect record of every website you’ve ever visited, etc…
At some point it is not about individuals but big corporations that need their services, and they buy them.
They should have built their business model as per their financial requirements from the outset then, if that was the problem for them.
But that should not justify or excuse them for doing things that are immoral and unethical.
Sounds more like a greedy approach than anything.
If I was an ethical and moral CEO of Google, and sought it costly to maintain such a huge infrastructure for millions of people around the world that are using their services freely, I would have made measures to shut them down or close them, instead of maliciously inserting things and harvesting stuff from them.
Then if they have such data, then they should be held accountable and responsible in the future for any damages as a result of their work processes, and that happened many times historically speaking. And any crime that happens, they either offer evidence or be complicit to hiding fugitives. Which alone is a process that will cost them alot, just having to do it, and cooperate w them any governmental party.
If I get in trouble in the future, I sure would love to have Google assist me in proving that I was innocent, by providing evidence through data that it has. But would they be willing to do so?
This is very interesting in a way to think about, as it shows where their weakness lies in their business model, and where they are strong.
But it goes to show how monopolistic they are, and, if anything, neglectful to basic human rights. Where I’m from, privacy is a human right. So there are many dimensions to take into consideration here - but ultimately they are only a small aspect of this whole complex dimension to boot.
Ultimately, it is their fault for not setting up their business model to meet up with their own financial requirements. And not ours.
IBM did it first. It wasn’t a secret. There was a Watson Health group dedicated to training ML models on medical records from large insurers and hospital networks. Among other things, the game plan was to have the system provide oversight for the notes of physicians and other medical practitioners - to spot poor quality/repetitive notes and alert the practitioner and/or their boss to the risk of malpractice/inability to bill for the encounter.
Wayyyy overdue. I havent been using google maps because of this total infringement on rights and the staggering number of criminal cases that you can become a suspect for just by being in the area
The key points are that Google Maps location history will be stored on-device, with an option to back it up (encrypted) to the cloud so if you switch devices you can keep the history. The default auto-delete will be three months, and you can increase or disable that limit.
I guess that means location history will no longer be accessible via the web site.
I don’t think Google has implemented any E2EE system for backups before (correct me if I’m wrong). I wonder how exactly this will work.
Yes, this seems designed to target the broad “who was in this area” warrants. Must have been a big enough headache for them that they came up with this new system. For me, I keep this location on indefinitely. Has been handy for me in a couple situations: I’m a scientist and helped me reconstruct my field work locations when I lost some field notes, and it helped me contact trace when I caught covid!
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