This is straightforward with browser addons like uBlock Origin where you can add and choose blocklists, but I did searches for doing so system wide and using a VPN but didn't find clear answers. I could use a DNS service that provides blocklists but isn't it best practice to leave DNS to the VPN provider? I looked up blocklists and VPNs but didn't find relevant results.
On Android, I didn't find any apps that let you filter blocklists and using your own VPN other than Rethink, but the blocklists feature requires using Rethink's DNS.
So what's the best way to filter ads and trackers on both 3rd party apps and on OS's like Android (specific Samsung phones) while still using a VPN?
I've had a Galaxy S22+ for 2 years and still want to use it. When I look up how to maximize privacy on Android, many results say to install custom ROMs which I can't since its a US model and the bootloader is locked. I just want to minimize tracking and sharing of personal information. I could use a firewall app like RethinkDNS to block trackers, but could I completely block tracking from Google and Samsung? Are there any lists of packages to uninstall to improve privacy? (I've used ADB to remove a bunch of bloatware. Ex: `pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.arzone`)
Like when I read [3 Billion National Public Data Records with SSNs, Addresses Dumped Online](https://reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1emmz1r/3_billion_national_public_data_records_with_ssns/), am I supposed to access that data dump or something to see if I got pwned? Are there equivalents to [haveibeenpwned.com](https://haveibeenpwned.com) for this type of stuff? Any guides on what to do when these happen? I feel like I'm doomscrolling or watching the news, and feeling depressed about the world as a result because I should be doing something but I can't or it seems like I can't.
Even though I know better than to put such personal info online, but that doesn't eliminate the odds of them getting into breaches like these, and having started to be careful about digital privacy has opened my eyes to the sad state of privacy.
I tried looking for lists but didn't find any.
The Work Number is US-specific and where your employers input your salary data for future employers to see. You can opt out here: https://employees.theworknumber.com/employee-data-freeze/.
One example would be state disability programs, they already need my real name and identity to work with me. Are there any downsides to sharing a simplelogin alias containing my real name vs no containing my real name? I just think it would be easier record keeping for them.
I just tried changing my email on studentaid.gov to a simplelogin alias (using SL is a habit at this point) and I got notifications that emails from it were bounced while trying to verify the email change with sent codes. I looked it up and found a bunch of Reddit posts about issues with SL and iCloud.
I want to keep a timeline of the places I go like Google Maps can, and export it to mac for my diary*. The maps app doesn't have to be great, it just needs to keep a timeline in the background, I would still use Apple Maps as my main navigation app.
*(ideally I can automatically export it somehow, perhaps with the Shortcuts and Scriptable app but just tell me any apps with a timeline and export feature)
That's a use case for aliases, catching if any company or service gives out your email to be abused by advertisers and whatnot. I tried looking for stories but didn't find any, I wonder if you have any to share.
I want to be logged in so I can do most things on Reddit like post and comment. I want it to be a web frontend rather than an app because I keep many tabs on Reddit open in my browser while doing research on things (like digital privacy for instance!). I did some searching and didn't find any currently working frontends with login support.
Privacy@Lemmy.ml: What are benefits for using privacy friendly frontends for apps like Reddit and Yo
It seems like the main benefit of such frontends is the lack of trackers and fingerprinting, but what if the browser, like Firefox, already did that with UBlock Origin and fingerprinting protection?
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Privacy@Lemmy.ml: What are benefits for using privacy friendly frontends for apps like Reddit and Yo
It's now been two weeks since I created an account and tried making a post, but immediately so I got a message saying my account is on hold. I tried emailing Jonah Aragon who's listed on the site, and messaging the mods on the forum, but still haven't heard back. Any ideas for what to do? This is really annoying.
**Solution:** I came up with this uBlock Origin filter rule: `startpage.com$removeparam=/abp|lui/`, I started by removing all the paramters and then took them out one by one while testing if searches made on [startpage.com](https://startpage.com) worked with them: `startpage.com$removeparam=/abp|t|lui|sc|cat/`. I also got a [response](https://reddit.com/r/StartpageSearch/comments/1e1jn1f/comment/lcuxsmp/) from [u/SPSupport](https://reddit.com/user/SPSupport/) that the paramters don't show when I search from the URL bar with my search engine set to [https://www.startpage.com/sp/search?query=%s](https://www.startpage.com/sp/search?query=%s), which I did.
I want to be able to see the search query in the URL, and have a URL that I can always go back to if I restart my browser. I set the HTTP request method in settings to GET instead of POST since that shows the query, but it adds a bunch of extra paramters:
- The URL I want: https://www.startpage.com/sp/search?query=wizard+of+oz
- The URL I get: https://www.startpage.com/sp/search?query=wizard+of+oz&abp=1&t=device&lui=english&sc=evp2qxFIy8iZ00&cat=web
Privacy@Lemmy.ml: Any Google frontends that look like Google, or at least show info cards on right s
I tried Startpage and Searx but when I search things celebrity info or health conditions, the kind of searches where Google and other 1st party search engines would show info cards on the right, they show them on the left above all the search results rather than on the right side like Google search does. Its bad design because I have to scroll down to see the results when I wouldn't have to otherwise, and I'm used to the Google search layout, it probably takes some getting used to for other people as well. Its a waste of screen real estate on wide screens, it looks like the UI was made for mobile only.
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Privacy@Lemmy.ml: Any Google frontends that look like Google, or at least show info cards on right s
Privacy@Lemmy.ml: Should I get a phone number through the US lifeline program to use on websites and
I'm eligible for the US Lifeline program to get a phone number for free. I would use it on websites that require a phone number, like Discord, which doesn't accept numbers on services like Google Voice, and replace my personal phone number with it wherever necessary. And I would start using my personal phone number only with friends and family. I would NOT be using a provided lifeline phone, but rather a sim on my iPhone.
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Privacy@Lemmy.ml: Should I get a phone number through the US lifeline program to use on websites and
Privacy@Lemmy.ml: Which email alias services allow unlimited aliases for websites *with a custom dom
SimpleLogin doesn't allow too many aliases for a given site like Reddit, even with a custom domain. I get that services don't want to ruin their own email domains, but I should be allowed to do whatever I want with my own domain.
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Privacy@Lemmy.ml: Which email alias services allow unlimited aliases for websites *with a custom dom
Privacy@lemmy.ml: Do you count switching from official YouTube apps to watch YouTube as having "de-g
If you quit YouTube then you also quit all the content on YouTube that isn't elsewhere. The best solution if you still want to use it is to use 3rd party apps. Personally I would actually count that as having no reliance on Google in particular anymore. If a video platform owned by Google wasn't the most popular then it would be another platform. I don't think you should think of 3rd party apps as YouTube frontends, but rather, apps that scrape videos hosted on Google's servers.
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Privacy@lemmy.ml: Do you count switching from official YouTube apps to watch YouTube as having "de-g
Privacy@Lemmy.ml: Could websites and data brokers track you with your profile pictures?
I only just thought of this. I have the same cartoon-y profile pic from a foreign TV show on a bunch of my accounts, I wonder if its unique enough and worth tracking.
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Privacy@Lemmy.ml: Could websites and data brokers track you with your profile pictures?
Privacy@Lemmy.ml: Can Google access your data Google Workspace & their education services? How can I
By data I mean anything / everything: telemetry, contents in emails and files, and other user data. My school uses Google Workspace and I don't like the idea of having to depend on it but I can't change that. Give me tips and advice.
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Privacy@Lemmy.ml: Can Google access your data Google Workspace & their education services? How can I
Privacy@lemmy.ml: An open source two factor auth app that syncs keys between devices?
Isn't the value of two factor auth that it requires a physical device (your phone or computer) with the auth key to authenticate you? Then why don't many two factor auth apps seem to support syncing? If it's fine to do so, are there any open source cross platform apps that sync keys?
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Privacy@lemmy.ml: An open source two factor auth app that syncs keys between devices?
Privacy@Lemmy.ml: On Simplelogin, are there any practical differences between public and premium dom
All I found was [this comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Simplelogin/comments/y4qwgb/comment/isfqkaq/) about the difference.
>Premium domain is only available when you have premium, because fewer people pay and fewer people use it, so there is less abuse and the domain name has better reputation, so when you public domain is not working, using the premium domain may be able to register.-
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Privacy@Lemmy.ml: On Simplelogin, are there any practical differences between public and premium dom
Privacy@lemmy.ml: What are your thoughts on this old r/Privacy post? 1.6K upvotes "Apple tracks you,
[https://reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/v624di/apple\_tracks\_you\_even\_if\_you\_dont\_have\_apple/](https://reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/v624di/apple_tracks_you_even_if_you_dont_have_apple/)
>We investigate what data iOS on an iPhone shares with Apple and what data Google Android on a Pixel phone shares with Google. We find that even when minimally configured and the handset is idle both iOS and Google Android share data with Apple/Google on average every 4.5 mins. The phone IMEI, hardware serial number, SIM serial number and IMSI, handset phone number etc are shared with Apple and Google. Both iOS and Google Android transmit telemetry, despite the user explicitly opting out of this. When a SIM is inserted both iOS and Google Android send details to Apple/Google. iOS sends the MAC addresses of nearby devices, e.g. other handsets and the home gateway, to Apple together with their GPS location. Users have no opt out from this and currently there are few, if any, realistic options for preventing this data sharing.
[https://www.scss.tcd.ie/doug.leith/apple\_google.pdf](https://www.scss.tcd.ie/doug.leith/apple_google.pdf)
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Privacy@lemmy.ml: What are your thoughts on this old r/Privacy post? 1.6K upvotes "Apple tracks you,
Privacy@Lemmy.ml: Do browsers block websites from uploading data that could be used for fingerprinti
Fingerprinting works by collecting bits of information about the browser and device to identify users. Couldn't browsers see when a website gets such info with JS and either prevent or ask permission from the user for the website to make HTTP requests to upload such information to the website. Idk if they do something like this already.
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Privacy@Lemmy.ml: Do browsers block websites from uploading data that could be used for fingerprinti
But would it not be easy for a user to catch when the app is using the mic or camera when it’s not supposed to? the lights are an iOS feature that can’t be disabled.
Privacy@Lemmy.ml: Are there any privacy issues with keeping camera or mic access on for iOS apps?
iOS is very good about sandboxing and only letting apps run things while the app is open and focused on. It shows green and orange dots when the camera or mic is being used, and none of my use them without saying so and they only do so when they actually need them. If that is the case, are there any potential privacy issues with it?
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Privacy@Lemmy.ml: Are there any privacy issues with keeping camera or mic access on for iOS apps?
Privacy@Lemmy.ml: Why use catch-all email domains over email aliases?
I've been looking at using email aliases services, and right now I'm thinking of using Simplelogin for all my online accounts and accounts where I can change my email easily, and getting my own domain to share with people and where I can't easily update my email. It seems like I shouldn't use my own domain for online services because it would be unique and can be tracked.
I did lots of reading about this and am still wondering why someone would want to opt for catch-all domains over aliases. Catch-alls seem highly susceptible to spam and while I haven't actually done any email aliasing yet, it doesn't seem to take much effort to make a new alias if you have a plan with unlimited aliases.
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Privacy@Lemmy.ml: Why use catch-all email domains over email aliases?
You’re absolutely right micro-optimization, I found that I did too much of that in 2022 and 23 and really cut down on that this year, I found that doing so is basically never worth it. I’m not gonna do that with privacy either, I’m focusing on what actions I can take that will make big improvements to my privacy rather than tweak every little thing.
Privacy@Lemmy.ml: What are the best ways to minimize fingerprinting on Firefox?
I did the tests on fingerprint.com/demo/ and https://coveryourtracks.eff.org/ and they both said I have a unique fingerprint, even when I enabled `privacy.resistFingerprinting` to `True`.
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Privacy@Lemmy.ml: What are the best ways to minimize fingerprinting on Firefox?
Privacy@Lemmy.ml: How well do sites like Blacklight work for checking if sites use trackers?
https://themarkup.org/blacklight, I put in a few sites, including a full Reddit post URL and it reported 0 trackers. Does this site work well, are there other sites for seeing trackers on websites that work well?
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Privacy@Lemmy.ml: How well do sites like Blacklight work for checking if sites use trackers?
Privacy@Lemmy.ml: How can I make email sub-addresses with only letters or numbers and no special cha
I want a bulletproof way to give email sub-addresses, since some websites strip out special characters like `+` and `.`. I have an idea for how it could work, let's say my email is TheTwelveYearOld@Reddit.com and I have the following:
* All emails sent to TheTwelveYearOld@ get blocked
* I specify a suffix that would be used instead of `+`, perhaps "From"
* I whitelist phrases that go after "From": TheTwelveYearOldFromDoorDash, TheTwelveYearOldFromGoogle, TheTwelveYearOldFromReddit
Are there any services that can do this? I'm thinking I should make my own domain for emails that way my email addresses aren't tied to any companies and I can easily switch.
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Privacy@Lemmy.ml: How can I make email sub-addresses with only letters or numbers and no special cha
Are there actually Windows users that say Linux is too complicated but then jump through hoops with registry even CMD prompt?!