How do you guys stay anonymous on the internet / keep your data safe/ Privacy.

[mpc91]

as the title suggests im curious to know how others stay anonymous on the net and keep their data safe.

im talking about

Tor
Duck duck go
VPN
password manager
encrypted emails

and things of that nature.

reason why i ask is i have only recently started showing an interest in online security / privacy and i was wondering how other people go about doing things.

 

[AngerDanger]

I don’t. I try to embrace the fact that somebody is always monitoring me and have been working on my skills as an exhibitionist. The majority of my grocery spending is on whip cream, so I can put on a good show for Mr. Google, Zuckerberg, Bezos, etc. I must be doing something right because yesterday an Amazon package that I never ordered, containing black lace gloves, showed up.

 

[Mousse]

Everything I say on the Internet is a lie. That's how I keep my identity secure.

I try to mimic Elim Garak: Why tell the truth when a lie will do.

 

[1050792]

I don’t. I try to embrace the fact that somebody is always monitoring me and have been working on my skills as an exhibitionist. The majority of my grocery spending is on whip cream, so I can put on a good show for Mr. Google, Zuckerberg, Bezos, etc. I must be doing something right because yesterday an Amazon package that I never ordered, containing black lace gloves, showed up.

You must do a great show for the "openings".
[doublepost=1552099401][/doublepost]I don't follow any protocol when it comes to privacy, I try to avoid bad sites, if you care about privacy you shouldn't be using the internet.

 

[Falhófnir]

Yeah I think you pretty much have to accept anything you do online ain’t anonymous lol. All you can do is not do anything you’re not meant to be doing

 

[StellarVixen]

Basically, what Mousse said.


Internet can only know about you what you tell them.

 

[Gutwrench]

While online I wear sunglasses, even at night.

 

[upandown]

Add ublock origin to the list. Select extensive trackers to the block list.

Ghostery doesn’t count as they are owned by the bad guys.

Just one more way to help.

 

[chown33]

I don’t. I try to embrace the fact that somebody is always monitoring me and have been working on my skills as an exhibitionist. The majority of my grocery spending is on whip cream, so I can put on a good show for Mr. Google, Zuckerberg, Bezos, etc. I must be doing something right because yesterday an Amazon package that I never ordered, containing black lace gloves, showed up.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I.

 

[maxjohnson2]

Pretty sure Google and Amazon know more about me than I do by now.

I use Adguard DNS along with their other features to limit tracking. Stopped using Google Maps and Gmail and changed to Apple Maps and iCloud Mail, how much of a difference that make depends on what Apple do with my info. At the moment, there is really no viable alternative to YouTube which is the main Google service I still use.

 

[LizKat]

While online I wear sunglasses, even at night.

I'd like to put welding glasses on the darn tracking scripts...

But hey, let them follow me... I'm mostly in divestiture mode at this point so marketing stuff to me is pretty iffy. If Google is hellbent on tracking my occasional Amazon pantry re-ups, I wish they'd text me before I check out the order, and just remind me that once again I have forgotten to get more organic diced tomatoes. Dear Google: enjoy the free data via this social media post in case you missed it in my trove of emails.

I do use a password manager, don't duplicate passes across sites, and I do use Noscript to keep the tracking scripts down to a dull roar.

I don't mind ads but I loathe the trackers. I must be doing something right because I get pitches for stuff I can't afford (luxury cars) and stuff I can't use (live chicks shipped right to my rural porch that sometimes hosts a stray cat).

When I use a new app or set up a new piece of gear, I go through the setup options completely and opt out of stuff that defaults to sharing data, or I narrow it down to what I want. I wish everything like that defaulted to opt-in...

When friends ignore my requests to stop forwarding me dodgy chain mails with beacon-laden images and links to god knows what, their stuff heads direct to Junk Folder, and then I give them a throwaway email address if they can't resist forwarding me stuff their demented cousin sends them.

That and taking advantage of any "middleman watchdog" measures offered by using service providers like Apple Pay, PayPal etc. -- stuff like one-off tokens instead of revelation of an actual credit card number-- are about it for me on security and privacy measures.

Bottom line, as I'm sure others have said, if you want 100% privacy, go live off the grid and walk into town with your pile of US bank notes and your penny stash once a week to get your chow list refilled.

 

[Plett]

Considering how unimportant I am, I have yet to figure out why I should worry about it.

 

[LizKat]

Considering how unimportant I am, I have yet to figure out why I should worry about it.

Just a few datapoints about your identity can come in handy for any thief who just needs to borrow it to open some door somewhere while dressed up as "someone else" for whatever purpose.

If you're lucky all he wanted to do was get a cellphone plan with a major carrier and not reveal who he was with all his uncreditworthiness. You may never even know that your identity (and maybe your unlocked credit file) was used by someone else for a credit check, for instance.

If you are unlucky and pretty careless, you could end up owning a house on which you owe $2300 in monthly mortgage payments because someone fraudulently bought it and figured on flipping it to make a fast buck but "something went wrong" and he skipped, leaving the house keys in a mailbox and now the owner of some mortgage-based derivative bond --on the other side of the planet no less!-- wants $2300 a month and you're basically who he wants it from. Good luck trying to prove to some bank that you're not who applied for that mortgage. All but your sig on the paperwork says you're the deadbeat. And maybe he's a pretty good forger, too. Are your bank statements paper ones left in your mailbox every month by the USPS?

All this because you used HarryJr as your username and "Rex" as your password in a few dozen online sites to keep your life simple, and never bothered to take advantage of assorted ways to keep your personal data more secure. And now meanwhile someone pretending to be you is out and about and selling your personal data quickly to someone else because so far only he knows he's messed up your life enough so the data's no good to the next thief.

Recovery from identify theft as an adult can be bankruptingly expensive. Build up a few good habits about protecting your personal data and credit card info, etc. while you still think you're "nothing special". You're much more special to potential thieves than you imagine.

 

[Plett]

Just a few datapoints about your identity can come in handy for any thief who just needs to borrow it to open some door somewhere while dressed up as "someone else" for whatever purpose.

If you're lucky all he wanted to do was get a cellphone plan with a major carrier and not reveal who he was with all his uncreditworthiness. You may never even know that your identity (and maybe your unlocked credit file) was used by someone else for a credit check, for instance.

If you are unlucky and pretty careless, you could end up owning a house on which you owe $2300 in monthly mortgage payments because someone fraudulently bought it and figured on flipping it to make a fast buck but "something went wrong" and he skipped, leaving the house keys in a mailbox and now the owner of some mortgage-based derivative bond --on the other side of the planet no less!-- wants $2300 a month and you're basically who he wants it from. Good luck trying to prove to some bank that you're not who applied for that mortgage. All but your sig on the paperwork says you're the deadbeat. And maybe he's a pretty good forger, too. Are your bank statements paper ones left in your mailbox every month by the USPS?

All this because you used HarryJr as your username and "Rex" as your password in a few dozen online sites to keep your life simple, and never bothered to take advantage of assorted ways to keep your personal data more secure. And now meanwhile someone pretending to be you is out and about and selling your personal data quickly to someone else because so far only he knows he's messed up your life enough so the data's no good to the next thief.

Recovery from identify theft as an adult can be bankruptingly expensive. Build up a few good habits about protecting your personal data and credit card info, etc. while you still think you're "nothing special". You're much more special to potential thieves than you imagine.

I guess you may be more risk averse. You do your thing friend. Thanks for the info.

 

[LizKat]

I guess you may be more risk averse. You do your thing friend. Thanks for the info.

Yah the risk aversion rubbed off on me from doing corporate data security and finding out how much they really don't give a flying fig past being able to say they've made an effort if they get hacked. They don't like anything including security to get in the way of speedy conduct of business. I understand that.

It's not cheap to try to secure a corporation's data... and there are those moments where someone needs to get something done that's a bit off the beaten track... and without stepping through all the usual security hoops.

The trick is limiting who gets to ask for dispensing with those limitations. The trick for someone like me on the privilege-granting side was to document the hell out of who asked, what for, and what exactly I let them do, and for exactly how long. I always spelled out the risks. The decision was not up to me.

So taking that stuff back out to the personal sector: how much attention to pay to security and privacy maintenance efforts is still always a choice but the decision actually is up to us. Everyone gets to make that choice in their own setups, or else one automatically defaults to the possibility of letting someone else make those choices. Their choices will serve them, not us.

It's a lot like figuring hey, who needs to back up files. Some people lose data on a regular basis and can actually shrug it off. Their interest or need for continuous records is apparently minimal, like a series of snapchat photos. Others would be devastated to lose work they spent months or years on.

The choice for data security and privacy is always ours. The possible consequences of wearing that responsibility lightly should be anticipated and figured into the gamble if we're going to work without a safety net, or if we prefer to figure for sake of convenience that no one would bother to hack us.

 

[MacNut]

The best way to stay anonymous on the internet is never to use the internet.

 

[christarp]

Multiple internet personalities so nobody can pinpoint me in real life

 

[Apple fanboy]

I’m always reasonably careful online.
I never use my mobile number for example online.
Keeps the spam calls to a minimum.
But some years ago O2 had an issue where any site you visited on your iPhone could get your mobile number.
Started to get spam calls then which really annoyed me!
But I don’t use my regular name, date of birth etc on anything online.
Funny thing was a work colleague wished me happy birthday one day and I looked at him strangely. Apparently Skype had said it was my birthday!

 

[Plett]

Yah the risk aversion rubbed off on me from doing corporate data security and finding out how much they really don't give a flying fig past being able to say they've made an effort if they get hacked. They don't like anything including security to get in the way of speedy conduct of business. I understand that.

It's not cheap to try to secure a corporation's data... and there are those moments where someone needs to get something done that's a bit off the beaten track... and without stepping through all the usual security hoops.

The trick is limiting who gets to ask for dispensing with those limitations. The trick for someone like me on the privilege-granting side was to document the hell out of who asked, what for, and what exactly I let them do, and for exactly how long. I always spelled out the risks. The decision was not up to me.

So taking that stuff back out to the personal sector: how much attention to pay to security and privacy maintenance efforts is still always a choice but the decision actually is up to us. Everyone gets to make that choice in their own setups, or else one automatically defaults to the possibility of letting someone else make those choices. Their choices will serve them, not us.

It's a lot like figuring hey, who needs to back up files. Some people lose data on a regular basis and can actually shrug it off. Their interest or need for continuous records is apparently minimal, like a series of snapchat photos. Others would be devastated to lose work they spent months or years on.

The choice for data security and privacy is always ours. The possible consequences of wearing that responsibility lightly should be anticipated and figured into the gamble if we're going to work without a safety net, or if we prefer to figure for sake of convenience that no one would bother to hack us.

We need people like you to protect us from ourselves!

 

[someoldguy]

Someone stole my info. once ........ they gave it back .

Seriously ... Hardware & software firewalls , spam filter in my e-mail , avoid skeezy web sites ,don't do 'surveys or give ' reviews of purchases , secondary e-mail so spam from stores and vendors I purchase from doesn't crap up my real e-mail (take THAT Lord & Taylor) , Adblock , DuckDuckGo.

 

[LizKat]

We need people like you to protect us from ourselves!

Talk is cheap though, right? For some of us, nothing makes us back up a drive until we lose one (and the term paper on it), and nothing at all makes us stop using MyCat as a universal password unless the company we work for makes us change it and prevents re-use of prior ones. Then when we get home we sigh with relief and sign into Facebook on our own gear with... MyCat....

 

[Peace]

I was one of "those" Eqifax people..They got ALL my information..And tried to use it..

When i got that email from them i changed EVERY ONE of my passwords..Changed PIN's..

Canceled credit cards . Did everything i possibly could do..
They still tried..
My iPhone now has about 1000 blocked phone numbers.

Luckily they didn't get any money or ruin my credit..
I did learn a valuable lesson.

Do not EVER use the same password on different websites..Not even close ones..

Don't trust ANY cloud service..Know why ? The "cloud" is just another mainframe computer in some data center.

I could go on but...

Screw Eqifax.

thanks

 

[0388631]

I'm a peacock.