Steps I Have Taken to Protect Myself from Big Tech

 

Okay- they won’t miss me but I have been taking steps to not support certain businesses and protect my privacy:

1: Uninstalled Firefox browser because their CEO issued this broadside against free speech. As you can see, she wants to de-platform people she doesn’t agree with and who say things she doesn’t like. She also wants to attack advertisers who support those who utter bad speech. She is a wicked person. I should have done this when they fired Brendan Eich, but their security features were good so I didn’t. My bad.

2: Started using the Brave browser on my phone, laptop, and desktop. It has great security features. On my phone alone it has blocked 538,000 trackers and ads since August 2019 and I don’t even do most of my browsing on the phone.

3. Downloaded Surfshark VPN for privacy so Google, Friendface, and others cannot make money from my information. It is faster and a lot cheaper than Express VPN. Cnet has good reviews of them.

4. Use the Startpage search engine. It is more private than DuckDuckGo and you can use proxy servers to follow links. Of course, I don’t need this feature since I use Surfshark VPN, but their privacy features are first class. If I ever have to use Google (motto: Be Evil) I will go to it through a proxy so they don’t know who I am and thus cannot profit by selling my private information.

5. Have never allowed location services on my phone or computers, except for Find My Phone, and on the apps I do have to allow location services I set it to be allowed only when using the app.

6. Never allow third-party cookies and block all trackers and ads.

We are under siege from big tech, the MSM, and the government. I wish we could outlaw cookies, trackers, etc., and the use and selling or sharing of private information. Big Tech poured hundreds of millions into Democrat hands, so I am sure that will not happen. At least they will not make any money from me. I try to use Amazon as little as possible but it is hard (sigh). We need to make concerted efforts, though, to not use woke businesses and not support woke institutions. It is one of the few things we can do at present.

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There are 14 comments.

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  1. Bob Thompson Member
    Bob Thompson
    @BobThompson

    Some are reacting as if the moves we are taking are a form of boycott. You have done a service here by showing that not to be the case. Thank you.

    • #1
  2. Vince Guerra Inactive
    Vince Guerra
    @VinceGuerra

    Every VPN site I try to go to keeps getting blocked by the server. Hmnn.

    • #2
  3. Barfly Member
    Barfly
    @Barfly

    You’ve got me beat. I have to use Firefox for work. I confess I’m not using a VPN since Nord annoyed me, but I’ll look at Surfshark when I get bored at 3:30 PM tomorrow at work. I use DDG but thanks for the tip about Startpage, I’ll try it. Hope it’s better at technical stuff than DDG; sometimes I have to bail out and use Gargle. I already use Brave for everything personal. Or curl.

    And I’m stupid about location services. Maybe it’s that one’s movements can be reconstructed from cell tower pen logs that makes me discount the threat. I use a few mapping apps, sometimes traffic apps. And if away from home or sometimes even in the Springs I get around by Uber, which times naturally are those which are out of the ordinary. So even turning off location services where I can, one may still reconstruct my movements easily. (“One” being a midsize neural network, I mean.)

    • #3
  4. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    I had start page until a few years ago, and it anonymously brought up google searches using googles algorithm.

    • #4
  5. Brian Clendinen Inactive
    Brian Clendinen
    @BrianClendinen

    Vince Guerra (View Comment):

    Every VPN site I try to go to keeps getting blocked by the server. Hmnn.

    Try like a Belize or Mexican Server. When I have issues I just go to some small country. I have Surfshark. It seems to work.

    • #5
  6. Concretevol Thatcher
    Concretevol
    @Concretevol

    Some good suggestions thanks!  There are a few of us here that aren’t IT types but still would like a modicum of privacy.  :)

    • #6
  7. dukenaltum Inactive
    dukenaltum
    @dukenaltum

    Vince Guerra (View Comment):

    Every VPN site I try to go to keeps getting blocked by the server. Hmnn.

    If you are using OpenDNS for your DNS resolution. The default is to block VPN/Anonymizer utilities. 

    From their website:  “Proxy/Anonymizer blocked with your OpenDNS settings.  If you want to access expressvpn.com, unselect this category or add expressvpn.com to your “never block” list at your dashboard.  Please note, if you use the FamilyShield addresses 208.67.222.123 and 208.67.220.123, the category Proxy/Anonymizer is always blocked, and you cannot unblock it with your dashboard settings. “

     

    p.s. I purchased your book “Beyond the Golden Hour” on Monday after seeing one of your posts.  So, it is in the queue to be read. 

    Cheers.  

    • #7
  8. dukenaltum Inactive
    dukenaltum
    @dukenaltum

    Nice job but you should have left Firefox/Mozilla in the rearview mirror when they forced out Brendan Eich who is one of truly decent man in tech and real innovator.   Cheers.  

    • #8
  9. Mountie Coolidge
    Mountie
    @Mountie

    Good stuff, and all valid steps. I’m putting together a posts that’s gonna be similar to this but I’m gonna have a little bit of data in it about tracking  cookies.

    You’re right this is the time to start looking over your shoulder. They are, after all, talking about reeducation camps. Or some of the more radical ones are.

    • #9
  10. Vince Guerra Inactive
    Vince Guerra
    @VinceGuerra

    dukenaltum (View Comment):

    Vince Guerra (View Comment):

    Every VPN site I try to go to keeps getting blocked by the server. Hmnn.

    If you are using OpenDNS for your DNS resolution. The default is to block VPN/Anonymizer utilities.

    From their website: “Proxy/Anonymizer blocked with your OpenDNS settings. If you want to access expressvpn.com, unselect this category or add expressvpn.com to your “never block” list at your dashboard. Please note, if you use the FamilyShield addresses 208.67.222.123 and 208.67.220.123, the category Proxy/Anonymizer is always blocked, and you cannot unblock it with your dashboard settings. “

     

    p.s. I purchased your book “Beyond the Golden Hour” on Monday after seeing one of your posts. So, it is in the queue to be read.

    Cheers.

    Thanks for both. I managed to get them through CNET’s download page and I’m trying to decide between Strong, Surfshark, or maybe Express. I used to use Strong every four years for two weeks to watch Olympics via Canada’s live streams.

    Hope you like the book, and thanks again.  

    • #10
  11. Quietpi Member
    Quietpi
    @Quietpi

    Barfly (View Comment):
    I confess I’m not using a VPN since Nord annoyed me

    Really?  I’ve been using Nord for years, never had a problem.  What’s the issue?

    • #11
  12. Tennessee Patriot Member
    Tennessee Patriot
    @TennesseePatriot

    dukenaltum (View Comment):

    Nice job but you should have left Firefox/Mozilla in the rearview mirror when they forced out Brendan Eich who is one of truly decent man in tech and real innovator. Cheers.

    You are right. I did go to Brave at that time on my phone, but the windows/PC version of Brave sucked at that time so I went back. BTW, I believe Brandon Eich is a founder of Brave.

    • #12
  13. Headedwest Coolidge
    Headedwest
    @Headedwest

    Tennessee Patriot (View Comment):

    dukenaltum (View Comment):

    Nice job but you should have left Firefox/Mozilla in the rearview mirror when they forced out Brendan Eich who is one of truly decent man in tech and real innovator. Cheers.

    You are right. I did go to Brave at that time on my phone, but the windows/PC version of Brave sucked at that time so I went back. BTW, I believe Brandon Eich is a founder of Brave.

    The current Brave is much better. It’s based on Chromium (the open source version of Chrome) but Brave cuts out the spying bits and adds additional privacy. Highly recommended!

    • #13
  14. Barfly Member
    Barfly
    @Barfly

    Headedwest (View Comment):

    Tennessee Patriot (View Comment):

    dukenaltum (View Comment):

    Nice job but you should have left Firefox/Mozilla in the rearview mirror when they forced out Brendan Eich who is one of truly decent man in tech and real innovator. Cheers.

    You are right. I did go to Brave at that time on my phone, but the windows/PC version of Brave sucked at that time so I went back. BTW, I believe Brandon Eich is a founder of Brave.

    The current Brave is much better. It’s based on Chromium (the open source version of Chrome) but Brave cuts out the spying bits and adds additional privacy. Highly recommended!

    Brave is the only browser I use outside of work or hacking.

    • #14
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