I haven’t received a targeted ad on my computer or mobile phone since 2014. If you care about your privacy or the privacy of your children — or even if you’re just sick of being bombarded by ads for diet pills seconds after you send an email to a friend complaining that your pants are too tight — here are seven simple steps you can take to make your online presence more private:
Jettison Gmail. All Gmail emails, both incoming and outgoing — even the angry draft emails you decided not to send — are analyzed and stored permanently by Google LLC, with every snippet of information the company can extract from your emails added to the massive profile it has compiled about you — and to the profiles of every person you mention in your emails. I recommend using https://ProtonMail.com instead of Gmail. It’s based in Switzerland and subject to strict Swiss privacy laws. It takes only a few seconds to sign up, because the company doesn’t ask anything about you (imagine that!). The basic service is free, and the paid version is cheap. ProtonMail is easy to use, and it also uses end-to-end encryption for maximum privacy. Unfortunately, you might be using Gmail and not even know it. To save money, thousands of businesses, schools, and universities use Gmail under their own brands — even news services such as The Guardian, The New York Times, U.S. News & World Report, Salon, and The Hill. To find out whether you have been unknowingly corresponding with someone through Google servers, open that person’s email and then find and click on the “view header” option in your email software. If you find “google.com” anywhere in the expanded header, Google has been monitoring all of your communications with that sender. Even if you switch to ProtonMail, you will still have no privacy when corresponding with someone using Gmail or hidden Google servers. I tell people whose emails are shared with Google that if they want to communicate with me, they will need to use a a more secure email service, and they usually switch. Bear in mind that Gmail is nothing like the US Postal Service. Google has no legal obligation to deliver your mail, and it routinely diverts emails to people’s spam boxes, deletes emails, and even cuts people off from their Gmail accounts.
Kill Chrome. Google developed the Chrome browser because the massive amount of information they were collecting about you from their search engine (see below) and your emails wasn’t enough for them. With Chrome, they can see which web pages you visit — and what you do on those pages — even if you go to those pages directly rather than going through their search engine. If you value your privacy, never use Chrome, even in the bogus “incognito” mode, which still tracks you. Instead, use https://Brave.com, which is what I use. Brave blocks all ads, is faster than Chrome, and was developed by the software engineer who built Firefox. And what about other browsers? As I reveal in “The New Censorship,” Google can still get information about you when you’re using Firefox, Safari, and most other browsers, because they all check Google’s “quarantine list” before they take you to a website. Go with Brave.
Switch Search Engines. Google’s search engine is the best because it indexes far more web pages than anyone else. But Google (the search engine) is also the most aggressive spying tool ever invented — funded from the outset by the NSA and the CIA to identify people who are a threat to national security. Google records every search you conduct, and your Google profile contains a complete history of every search you ever conducted — even those sketchy ones! Worse still, my research has shown in recent years that Google’s search engine is also the most powerful mind control device ever devised; it shifts the opinions of billions of people around the world every day without them knowing it. Instead of using Google.com, use the new Brave search engine (https://search.brave.com), which you can make your default search engine once you switch to the Brave browser (see #2 above). The Brave search engine doesn’t track you. It gives you great search results while also preserving your privacy.
Axe Android. As I explain in “Google’s Gotcha,” even Chrome didn’t give Google enough information about you, so the company developed Android, an operating system for phones and other mobile devices — the equivalent of the Windows operating system that’s on most desktop computers. Chrome gives Google information about you only when you’re online, but because Android controls all your phone’s functions, it tracks you — the phone numbers you’re dialing, the music files you’re playing, the places you’re visiting—even when you’re offline. If you value your privacy, donate your Android phone to a charity (such as https://CellPhonesForSoldiers.com), and buy a phone from a company that doesn’t use Google’s deceptive business model. Phones from Apple and other companies protect your privacy, whereas Google phones or phones that use Google’s version of Android do not. You can also now buy a “degoogled” Android phone, which disables Google’s tracking (e.g., see https://degoogled.com). Companies like Apple and Microsoft make most of their money by selling products, whereas surveillance companies like Google and Facebook make nearly all of their money by suckering you with “free” services they use to track you and your children and then charging businesses a fee to send you and your family members targeted ads. If that doesn’t creep you out, maybe it should. Remember when your parent or grandparent told you there was “no such thing as a free lunch”? On the internet, that’s especially true. When a service seems to be “free,” you are actually paying for it with your freedom (please see my essay on this topic, entitled “Free Isn’t Freedom”).
Heave Home. If Google has bamboozled you into installing its “Home” surveillance device all over your apartment or house — and, yes, the company is urging people to install one in every room — send those cute little cylinders straight into those large cylinders we call garbage cans. The Home device records everything you and your children say, and even when you think it’s inactive, it is still sending a signal back to headquarters. Google has recently been issued patents on techniques that allow it to interpret all kinds of sounds its devices are detecting — including your bedroom behavior and your kids’ tooth brushing. Unfortunately, Home is not the only device Google is using to listen in; your Android phone never stops listening, and it was revealed recently that after Google bought the Nest home thermostat company in 2014, it started slipping hidden microphones into some Nest devices. And, yes, in case you were wondering, Amazon’s Alexa device also records everything it hears. When my eldest son got the facts about Amazon’s surveillance device, he tossed it straight into that garbage can, and you should too.
Clear Cache and Cookies. Companies and hackers of all sorts are constantly installing invasive computer code on your computers and mobile devices, mainly to keep an eye on you but sometimes for more nefarious purposes. On a mobile device, you can clear out most of this garbage by going to the settings menu of your browser, selecting the “privacy and security” option and then clicking on the icon that clears your cache and cookies. With most laptop and desktop browsers, holding down three keys simultaneously — CTRL, SHIFT and DEL — takes you directly to the relevant menu; I use this technique multiple times a day without even thinking about it. You can also configure the Brave browser to erase your cache and cookies automatically every time you close the browser.
Pick a Proxy or VPN. For even more privacy, sign up for either a proxy or a VPN (Virtual Private Network) — a service that creates a buffer between you and the internet, fooling many of the surveillance companies into thinking you’re not really you. VPNs provide more protection than proxies. My favorite VPN at the moment is https://NordVPN.com. For under $40 a year (with discounts), you can install the Nord app on up to five devices. It’s lightning fast, and you don’t need to be a computer geek to install or use it. And keep an eye out for the next level of privacy protection, called a “DPN.” It’s on the market now, but it will probably take another year or two before it’s running smoothly.
Okay, I lied. There are really eight simple ways to protect your privacy, and here is the eighth one: For privacy in your texting, use the Signal app, free of charge at https://signal.org. The Signal organization is nonprofit, and they protect texting from one Signal phone to another with end-to-end encryption, just like Proton protects emails. And that same Signal app can also be used to make secure voice calls and video calls!
Hmm, maybe there are nine! My research team and I now use BraveTalk (built into the Brave browser) for secure group video chats. Neither Skype nor Zoom are secure. Sorry!
And for the fanatics and geeks among you, privacy expert Sven Taylor and his like-minded friends maintain a website that lists dozens of Google alternatives. Check out: https://restoreprivacy.com/google-alternatives/
So, to sum up, here are my current and most essential recommendations for using the internet safely and privately:
Use Brave for browsing, search, and group video chats.
Use Proton for email — and for storing or transferring large files using their new Proton Drive service. Start out with their free email. At some point, you might want to move up to paid email. It costs about $7 a month, and it’s well worth it.
Use Signal for texting — and, when needed, for secure voice and video calls.
Finally, please retire, toss, or donate your Android and Google Home devices. These are surveillance devices, and Google, Gmail, Google Docs, Google Maps, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, TikTok, and all the other big online platforms are surveillance platforms. Don’t use them, and if, at times, you must use them, clear your cache and cookies immediately after you end your session.
(I use ad blocker ultimate to improve my viewing experience.) There is a bit more at the publisher, no paywall.
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