#MY ACTIVITY FEED ON MOBILE DOESNT HAVE THE MESSAGING FUNCTION | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mortuarybees · 4 years

Text

anyways

get a vpn i use mullvad it’s p cheap and just gives you an account number set it to switzerland theyve got nice solid privacy laws and arent part of the main surveillance agreements between the us and its allies (5 eyes, 9 eyes, or 14 eyes) opt out of everything the websites you visit give you the option to opt out of (bc of eu and swiss privacy laws p much every website will give you that option and breakdown clearly what info they wont let you opt out of and what theyll do with it) and install it on both your phone and computer

follow these instructions to keep google from harvesting and keeping your data. altho honestly they probably still keep that data so just avoid google when possible. on that note the google search alternative i use is startpage it uses google results but anonymizes your search bc lets be honest duck duck go kind of sucks and if a service is subpar youll probably just revert to the better one so. startpage.

use firefox google chrome is the devil why are you using google chrome. it’s terrible and you can easily import everything to firefox. clear your cookies frequently.

get rid of your alexa or google home or whatever you do not need it and dont buy one if you dont already have one. dont buy a doorbell cam and if you really need or want one definitely do not buy a Ring doorbell cam. dont buy anything you can avoid thats attached to the Internet Of Things. invite tech companies into your home as little as you possibly can

install ublock origin and privacy badger theyll block a lot of ads and trackers. also install the google analytics opt out extension which will prevent some of your activity from being reported back to google (it doesnt opt out of all google analytics functions tho)

install facebook container, twitter container, and amazon container. this will help prevent them from following you around the web at least a little. also stop visiting those sites as much as you can and uninstall their apps. this includes instagram which is rife with privacy issues. disable or uninstall as many google apps as you can and your phone will allow.

use signal for messaging (available on desktop and mobile and can be used for video, voice, and text/photo chat) and protonmail (choose the .ch domain name) for email. bc i am.....broke and dont really want to have another subscription so i can have two protonmail aliases i use a tutanota account (based in germany which is part of the 9 eyes) for random stuff i want to sign up for and protonmail for personal email.

stop using google news and flipboard they store everything you read and tailor your feed. i use inoreader for now which is an rss feed so you just subscribe to the news sources you trust but i am also searching for a better rss feed app with a good ui to use instead bc inoreader still collects user data, but they dont tailor your content at least.

theres not really a good alternative i know of for youtube but the best thing you can do there is remain aware of past and the latest right-wing dog-whistles so if you accidentally stumble on a shitty covertly alt-right video bc youtube is constantly pushing them, you can avoid that.

do not submit your dna to ancestry websites and vocally encourage your family members not to as much as you can.

im not a Tech person at all so all this is just the best i can do as a random person who doesnt want companies esp companies that notoriously cooperate with the us government given what we’re headed towards to have every tiny piece of my info.

read this article by a Tech Guy telling you all the information google and facebook have on you and some tips he has on how to delete or prevent it i might have forgotten which was the first thing to really properly scare the shit out of me about tech companies a couple years back. also this series about a journalist’s experience trying to avoid the big five tech companies for a week each and how mindblowingly difficult that was. in terms of documentaries lately ive watched the social dilemma (which was infuriating but had lots of interviews with Tech Guys who were formerly high up in many tech companies completely avoiding responsibility for their actions but also telling you all the shit they do) and the great hack about cambridge analytica. also thank you to user @crowleyraejepsen for being your friendly neighborhood librarian helping me do my bare minimum to protect my privacy

i know if anyone reads this massive rambling post theres gonna be a million people in my inbox with “well what if i NEED to do this or CANT avoid them for THIS REASON” and my answer is: then do it! why do you care about or want my approval! i know there are plenty of scenarios where these services are basically essential or unavoidable so just use them when you have to and avoid them when you dont. or do nothing! but be aware of the choice youre making at least

#henry speaks #technology #long post

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