privacy/security/anti data-harvesting megalist!

[malice]

due to recent news about google adding onto their ever-growing list of evil, i decided to make a list of things i use to keep google and other companies from taking my data in hopes that i can help out some of y'all as well :)

EDIT: turns out a lot of these add-ons are outdated if you're using firefox! thank you pinkvampyr for linking this video for how to harden firefox!

WEBSITES

mullvad vpn (i do not recommend using any free vpns at all... or any that do paid reviews.)

firefox. don't use chrome or chromium based browsers. (EDIT: as stated by pinkvampyr you should absolutely look into hardening your firefox or using a fork such as librewolf!)

bitwarden password manager (DO NOT SAVE YOUR PASSWORDS ON YOUR BROWSER/DEVICE)

have i been pwned checks if your email was found in a data breach

bitwardens password strength checker

just delete me for deleting old accounts to most websites

mega is a decent alternative to google drive woah, thank you for letting me know about their shady business practices gans!

proton mail is a secure and lightweight alternative to gmail (you can forward any mail, contacts and calendars from your gmail or other email addresses to your proton email!)

for browsers i heard some stuff about duckduckgo's dubious "privacy" and it's just not a good search engine imo so ive been using startpage which is just google minus the tracking and stuff turns out startpage was bought out by an ad company thanks again gans! if anyone has any good search engine recs please let me know!

remove unwanted pins removes all built in ads on pinterest (requires tampermonkey)

FIREFOX ADDONS

clear urlsremoves tracking elements from all urls

don't track me google removes the tracking from google urls

track me not does random generated searches to mess up whatever data analytics websites try to scrape from you
 
privacy possummesses with data tracking by falsifying and reducing the data thats been gathered

privacy badgerblocks invisible trackers (see video above)

adblockers i use:
ublock origin
adblocker ultimate
(EDIT: thank you valeria22 for mentioning that you should not use other adblockers on top of ubo!)

if certain sites require you to use something other than firefox to work then use user-agent switcher to disguise firefox as something else

facebook containerisolates your web activity from facebook/meta
 
cookie autodelete deletes unused cookies when you close a tab

ghostery ad/tracking blocker

minerblock crypto miner blocker

decentraleyes is another great tracking protector (see video linked above)


if there's anything else y'all want to recommend or if something ended up being shady (nothings happened to me personally using any of these but who knows something might be another duckduckgo situation) let me know!


EDIT: thank you so much for the feedback! i made some edits :)

[SilkSkull]

As somebody with all too much experience hiding web activity I love this list! super good for anyone to have even if you aren't privacy centered.

These additions I have are slightly more tinfoil hatty then those but I think they are great as well!

Keepass A password manager that is off browser and is great for portable use (Like on a locked USB)

Tor Browser Aside from the ability to browse darkweb sites it also offers a great alternitive browser for people who don't want to pay or can't pay for a VPN, it's slow but very secure.

Tails OS A secure operating system primarly used for browsing the dark web but possibly the most secure OS for browsing the web and great for general use if you don't mind Linux

My last one for this list (for now) is IRC, a way to message over the internet as old as time itself, there isn't just one way to connect to IRC or use it, but my favorite client is HexChat

[pinkvampyr]

i would highly recommend anyone who's interested in internet privacy and security (it should be a right but unfortunately some effort is needed) to watch techlore's "go incognito" guide playlist. 60 videos but they're all pretty short and just explain the basics of internet security and gives many tips and suggestions for small changes to make, apps and browsers to use etc, and you can skip ones you don't think are relevant to you.

definitely seconding mullvad vpn, they collaborated with tor and now have their own browser too which works in conjunction with the VPN.

as for firefox while it is LEAGUES better than chrome and other browsers i'd definitely watch this techlore video in particular about hardening firefox and what that entails, because again, while you should absolutely use firefox over other browsers, its far from perfect in terms of security. the average person i don't think has to go all out with hardening but there's a lot i would recommend people look at it regardless.

i actually use librewolf, which is like a pre-hardened firefox fork, and don't use TOO too many add-ons.

oh, also this is a mobile thing, but trackercontrol is like. the best thing you can have on an android privacy-wise. can't be used at the same time as a vpn but you don't need to have your vpn app on 24/7 anyway.

[Memory]

Well, I was planing to link to various resources that I use, but most of them have already been linked by others. Here's the few that weren't:

• TOSDR - A site that simplifies and rates website and platform terms or service and privacy policy so they're more humanly readable.
• FilterLists - A site that catalogs different block lists for different content blockers.
• LocalCDN - An extension similar to Decentraleyes, however LocalCDN is more up to date compared to Decentraleyes which as of this post had its last update over a year ago. The only major difference being that LocalCDN takes some setting up to do before you can use it.

adblockers i use:
ublock origin
adblocker ultimate

ghostery ad/tracking blocker

I should give you and others a heads up on this from uBlock Origin's Github, it actively discourages using multiple content blockers along side uBlock Origin:

Do NOT use uBO with any other content blocker. uBO performs as well as or better than most popular blockers. Other blockers can prevent uBO's privacy or anti-blocker-defusing features from working correctly.

[Bede]

Yesss... More internet privacy resources..... YEEESSSS

Here what I use in place of Google products! (Or, at least, the ones that haven't been mentioned already.)

Google Docs -> LibreOffice
LibreOffice is free and open-source software, which includes functions like writing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, etc

-

YouTube -> PeerTube, NewPipe, LibreTube or FreeTube
PeerTube is its own new product entirely, and is open-source and decentralized.

If you're still looking for access to YouTube, though, one of the last 3 options are the way to go!

NewPipe scrapes YouTube’s API so you can watch YouTube videos without Google collecting your info. LibreTube does the same thing, but instead of using YouTube servers, it uses piped servers, so Google doesn’t even get your IP address.

LibreTube and NewPipe are both Android apps, though. If you're looking for something on your desktop, then check out FreeTube! It's another YouTube client focused on making it so you can browse YouTube more privately, and is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

All of these YouTube alternatives are free and open-source!

[Memory]

A couple of critics:

Mega doesn't look too good. On the german  wikipedia, there is a part about the Mega giving away data to "authorised resellers and service providers". Kim Schmitz, the founder of Megaupload/Mega and a rather "interesting" character in himself, is also not too happy with Mega, calling it "being taken over by a chinese investor, which is publicly accused of scamming". This project is about money only, no matter what.

Firefox... the financing behind them is also problematic. They get the money from Google, promoting (guess what) Google decisions (putting it as the main search engine for example). Firefox also gatheres an awful lot of data while running, just measure it, you'll be surprised.

Startpage, being owned partly by an ad company now, can't be the super trustworthy service it claims or it maybe was once.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Startpage.com
See paragraph "Startpage, acquired. Any mention ?"

----

First of all, the operating system (OS) you're using is the most important piece. Everything after Windows 2000 filtering the Hosts-file for certain links being one example. That can't be trusted.

Speaking of which, the Hosts-file comes onboard on every computer. It's very basic, to just throw a couple of links in a list. But many adservers still use the same names like 15 years ago, so once put in, it's filtered. Of course this requires occasional updating.

Having a powerful network with good filtering methods is also important and an OpenWRT router or some other Free Software device gives even better options to filter.

[TheNothingMonster]

Aside from Proton Mail, I reckon Disroot is a pretty trustworthy service with various providers to choose from, including emails.

I use VLC media player to watch videos on my pc, as it does not have any trackers.

I have been using Decentraleyes as a browser add-on for blocking further trackers, though I am not fully sure of how efficient it is in terms of security.

And I have heard of Signal being a recommended messaging app supporting encryption but I have yet to use it.

[pinkvampyr]

Firefox... the financing behind them is also problematic. They get the money from Google, promoting (guess what) Google decisions (putting it as the main search engine for example). Firefox also gatheres an awful lot of data while running, just measure it, you'll be surprised.

yeah this is why I would say people should look into hardening Firefox or using a fork like Librewolf. Firefox is better than pretty much anything else in terms of both privacy and like just being a good-ass web browser but the bar is like. so low. basically, use Firefox or a fork, but don't treat Mozilla like they're the anti-google.

when I get to my laptop I'll drop some windows OS fixes or maybe just link the techlore video on it.

[malice]

as for firefox while it is LEAGUES better than chrome and other browsers i'd definitely watch this techlore video in particular about hardening firefox and what that entails, because again, while you should absolutely use firefox over other browsers, its far from perfect in terms of security. the average person i don't think has to go all out with hardening but there's a lot i would recommend people look at it regardless.

i actually use librewolf, which is like a pre-hardened firefox fork, and don't use TOO too many add-ons.

thank you for letting me know! i'll look into getting librewolf :3

[malice]

A couple of critics:

Mega doesn't look too good. On the german  wikipedia, there is a part about the Mega giving away data to "authorised resellers and service providers". Kim Schmitz, the founder of Megaupload/Mega and a rather "interesting" character in himself, is also not too happy with Mega, calling it "being taken over by a chinese investor, which is publicly accused of scamming". This project is about money only, no matter what.

Firefox... the financing behind them is also problematic. They get the money from Google, promoting (guess what) Google decisions (putting it as the main search engine for example). Firefox also gatheres an awful lot of data while running, just measure it, you'll be surprised.

Startpage, being owned partly by an ad company now, can't be the super trustworthy service it claims or it maybe was once.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Startpage.com
See paragraph "Startpage, acquired. Any mention ?"

----

First of all, the operating system (OS) you're using is the most important piece. Everything after Windows 2000 filtering the Hosts-file for certain links being one example. That can't be trusted.

Speaking of which, the Hosts-file comes onboard on every computer. It's very basic, to just throw a couple of links in a list. But many adservers still use the same names like 15 years ago, so once put in, it's filtered. Of course this requires occasional updating.

Having a powerful network with good filtering methods is also important and an OpenWRT router or some other Free Software device gives even better options to filter.

thank you SO MUCH for letting me know about all of this, i made some edits on my main post :)

[malice]

ok, so for search engines i looked into searx, which doesn't hold any logs, can be completely self-hosted (it looks like you can only do that if you're using linux?), and has a lot of publicly hosted instances if you want results from other engines but with the privacy and security of searx.

does anyone else have any experience with searx/searx instances? i would love to hear any suggestions for instances (i'm trying out https://searx.tiekoetter.com due to the google and marginalia search results support) or other search engines in general!

[pinkvampyr]

So everything there is to be said about OS privacy can pretty much be summed up in this techlore video (seriously, go watch the whole go incognito series, its awesome) it's only about six minutes, but to put it simply wrt windows os in particular, yeah, windows is pretty much a privacy nightmare, but a lot of us don't really have a choice or don't want to switch over for reasons like access to more apps. you can mitigate a lot of data collection by using w10privacy, but it won't be perfect. in the video they recommend anyone who can't make the full switch to give dual-booting linux and windows a shot, or even using a virtual computer to run linux, so you can have the best of both worlds. it's not gonna be for everyone but i'm kind of goin' a little privacy crazy rn so if you're like me you might be into that.

[shevek]

I really like privacytools.io as a website to keep track of different options sorted by what and where it's needed; from email and VPN to keeping notes, calendars, browser extensions, storing and syncing photos, password managers etc.
It's always kept up to date and is pretty quick to remove or update their selections and rankings on stuff.

[pinkvampyr]

@malice thought you should know that although they say not to use other adblockers with ublock origin there ARE actually a lot of features that UBO doesn't have that extensions like decentraleyes, clear urls, and cookies autodelete do. you can use them alongside ublock origin, just don't use other extensions that essentially do the same as UBO, like privacybadger and such.

[starbreaker]

If you use GNU/Linux, one of the BSDs, or macOS you can use hblock to block ad servers and similar malware by modifying your /etc/hosts file.

https://hblock.molinero.dev/

You can use this with uBlock Origin on Firefox for redundancy; it might block stuff that uBlock Origin might let through and vice versa.

Also, if you need for whatever reason to use a browser that doesn't support uBlock Origin, blocking ad servers in /etc/host will still provide a measure of protection.

If your router lets you specify a DNS server other than the one provided by your ISP, it might be worthwhile to consider using AdGuard DNS. I use it myself, and they aren't paying me, but it lets me block ads on devices that don't support plugins like uBlock Origin or allow their operators to tamper with /etc/hosts. It also protects my guests when they use their devices at my house. It can also protect you from ads on a smartphone browser if your phone is configured to not use cellular data when wifi is available. It should also protect you from ads and tracking on your smart TV and internet-connected game consoles.

Hope this helps.