Online Privacy

When using the internet, until recently (And still in some ways we will cover) everything we do was/is being tracked and collected.

This invasion of privacy begins with The Patriot Act which was an attempt to fight domestic terrorism by monitoring and tracking our every move.

When visiting a website, there is usually a pop-up banner prompting you to “Accept” or “Decline” all cookies.

You should only allow the “strictly required cookies” by managing the cookie options in the banner.

These cookies are used to identify, monitor and track your online activities and behaviors.

A stored cookie from one site can carry over to another site, collecting as much info about you as possible for usually marketing/advertising and for just keeping tabs on individuals.

An advertising ID is assigned to each user, especially mobile, and this is unique to you and is used by companies to sell to you or sell your data to another company. When you buy a new device, the devices are configured to store, collect and send your data to companies, for example Apple or Google, by default.

This includes App usage and behaviors, SMS activity, phone calls and even your keyboard (Everything you type).

You would have to manually disable all the features to prevent this. (In settings, under privacy)

Never agree to send any usage data to your device provider (i.e., Google or Apple) This is usually first asked when setting up a device, so pay attention before you just rush through clicking “Agree”.

Websites can track and identify you through ads just on the website you are visiting.

There are ways to prevent being tracked online because who really wants to be monitored and tracked?

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Best Online Privacy Practices:

- Block all Cookies (Especially Third-party)

- Enable send “Do not track” request

- Clear cookies and website history, frequently. This is best practice.

- Use incognito mode (Chrome) or an In-private window (Edge) to greatly reduce the chance of being spied on.

- Use a VPN such as ProtonVpn along with a secure Wi-Fi network.

- Use a browser such as Tor. With a combination of a VPN and Tor, you are basically anonymous. Using a browser such as Google, will track everything you do and across multiple websites and apps.

Facebook is terrible, as well, in terms of privacy. There is none.

- Another simple trick is block access to your location in settings under privacy as well as never turn the location on, on the device.

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We all deserve common privacy online.

Companies sell you these devices configured to watch and study your habits and behaviors so they can “tailor” the experience for you and other users.

My advice: When buying a new device, perform the steps listed above.

Configure your privacy settings always as well as location settings.

When going through agree or disagree prompts, read the jest of it before agreeing to anything.

When visiting a website and the cookie banner appears, always click “decline all”.

If you cannot decline all cookies, click “manage cookies” and allow only “strictly necessary” cookies and then once you are done with the website, clear your cookies under privacy/history in settings.

Using Tor and a VPN, basically protects your online identity and gives you well deserved privacy.

I have provided trusted download links below for you guys’ convenience.

Tor Download: https://www.torproject.org/download/

ProtonVPN Download: https://protonvpn.com/download

Recently, laws are being passed that protect our privacy online and stopping entities from collecting and storing our information online.

Even with these laws in place, we must perform our own due diligence as well, to be as secure and private as possible.

These are just a few good practices and methods you can use to protect your privacy online.

Just like in real-life, everyone deserves their privacy so let’s spread the word and stop the collecting and selling of our data, together.