privacy/anonymity

[Foggy-Hollow]

spanky2026 said:

Interesting stuff, every bit of it. Still, having worked in IT, I'd put it at 1000% certainty: what Americans have when it comes to privacy is an illusion, nothing more. The infrastructure for tracking every detail about you was put in place decades back, and the last missing piece came when our data was handed over to big tech outfits such as Palantir. Forget about it - privacy isn't something you possess, and it isn't something you can conjure up overnight. Behave accordingly whenever you're able, but fighting it won't get you anywhere.

I'm with you completely. For people in the US, that ship sailed ages ago.

Honestly, I doubt an illusion was ever there. What we have is closer to a don't ask, don't tell arrangement. Nobody asks, and companies disclose only the bare minimum they're legally forced to. "Ignorance" might be the better fit — just never having been exposed, never having known.

Anyone curious enough could assemble a fairly complete portrait of my life. And as data keeps getting merged together, that job gets simpler every year.

Right now it's no big deal — unless you publicly criticize certain politicians. Journalists are in for a rougher time.

Before long, human behavior will be thoroughly mapped and forecastable. We're habitual creatures. Maybe that's already the reality. After that, spotting outliers and investigating them becomes trivial.

 

[Amino Lair]

Throttle883 said:

Amino Lair said:

The "AL" List: Privacy & Security ​

Zip, I appreciate you giving me the chance to write about something that matters a lot to me.

What follows is my "AL" list of steps to take if your goal is more privacy and better security. Maybe you're doing it for self-protection, maybe you just don't want big tech and the government tracking your every move. Either way, the outcome doesn't change: you're looking out for yourself. A few of these already appear in this thread:

1) Get a UPS mailbox.

I covered this in a post a few weeks back. It's just a modest extra layer of privacy. Can't hurt.

2) Use apps that honor privacy.

Each one is different and each has downsides, for example needing a phone number or other details before you can sign up.

• Signal is awesome, but yes, you do need a phone number. More on that below.
  
• Telegram? OK... still a phone number, but it's foreign-based, so gov't obtaining information is much more difficult than, say, WhatsApp.
  
• Discord? Might be OK for you if you use a totally random email to sign up that is not connected to any of your other activities. But Discord servers are all USA-based, so good luck.

3) Order via email from vendors who only use Proton or Tuta mail.

Oh... and YOU should also use Proton or Tuta if you're ordering. I do not understand why vendors here use Gmail. It may be an inability to access Proton or Tuta from China.

4) GET A PIXEL PHONE AND INSTALL GRAPHENE OS.

This is probably the best thing you can do to protect yourself. After installing GrapheneOS, go to a public Wi-Fi and download Mullvad VPN, pay with on-chain crypto, set up DAITA, multihop, quantum resistance, and enable DNS blockers. Use this phone only for ordering.

5) Tails OS

Someone mentioned it above, and KUDOS for that! Tails OS is an awesome way to protect yourself. Use it when you're on this site if you use a PC browser. It leaves no trace and routes all the PC's network activity 100% through the TOR network. However, add another bit to this — make sure to request a bridge from TOR. Otherwise, your ISP knows you're connecting to TOR a lot. With a bridge, the first connection to the TOR network is way less recognizable and mixes your encrypted internet traffic with all the other traffic. It is just good practice.

6) Get a Silent Link phone number to set up all your apps.

Silent Link is zero KYC and you can pay via crypto.

7) Finally, use on-chain crypto only.

This is also a big one. Obviously purchasing crypto, sending to an on-chain wallet, then sending to a vendor can be tracked. But isn't it better to use that route rather than just send a wire transfer or some other fiat method that clearly identifies it's you?

OK, so some of this does require an investment, and I completely understand not everyone can afford to do this. However, you might be able to do a few of these to help protect yourself.

Thanks if you've read this!

A jump drive plus a computer for Tails, a VPN at 50bucks per year, and a free proton email… that's a solid foundation for staying anonymous!

^^^^^^This person clearly understands their “opsec”! It's worth everyone reading and picking up from. Appreciate you posting it. I wish this had been around back when I was just getting going.

For mobile devices, Orbot is also an excellent option — it routes all apps through the TOR network.

 

[CNCCurrency]

spanky2026 said:

Interesting stuff, every bit of it. Still, having worked in IT, I'd put it at 1000% certainty: what Americans have when it comes to privacy is an illusion, nothing more. The infrastructure for tracking every detail about you was put in place decades back, and the last missing piece came when our data was handed over to big tech outfits such as Palantir. Forget about it - privacy isn't something you possess, and it isn't something you can conjure up overnight. Behave accordingly whenever you're able, but fighting it won't get you anywhere.

My view is that privacy in the USA came to an end with the patriot act. I'm not trying to make a political statement, it's just what I think.

 

[ladyj779]

CNCCurrency said:

spanky2026 said:

Interesting stuff, every bit of it. Still, having worked in IT, I'd put it at 1000% certainty: what Americans have when it comes to privacy is an illusion, nothing more. The infrastructure for tracking every detail about you was put in place decades back, and the last missing piece came when our data was handed over to big tech outfits such as Palantir. Forget about it - privacy isn't something you possess, and it isn't something you can conjure up overnight. Behave accordingly whenever you're able, but fighting it won't get you anywhere.

My view is that privacy in the USA came to an end with the patriot act. I'm not trying to make a political statement, it's just what I think.

The finish was out in the open. By that point it had already vanished a long time earlier, the majority simply never noticed.

 

[moodymama76]

Buying anything from Amazon is completely legal. Lots of shipments from China get stopped by customs, and nobody ends up in jail. I've pulled off enough unlawful things over the years that I figure this whole situation is pretty minor

 

[ThatNextGril]

My 9-to-5 involves online data privacy and AI governance at a Fortune 500 MNC (yes, that's as entertaining as it sounds lately), and I can confirm too that what gets called "privacy" is diluted, to put it kindly. I still follow the standard playbook—burner email addresses whenever a site demands registration before letting me look, VPN usage, and so on—though much of that amounts to security theater for privacy's sake. The real game is calibrating what you expect and narrowing which parties hold how much of your information (pixels and tags funnel my browsing activity to hundreds of businesses and can't be fully shut off, yet I avoid mobile banking entirely, keeping it on my desktop instead). As for purchasing peps and supplies, that sits near the bottom of my worry list regarding who might be watching. That's my stance, though—your paranoia may vary.