Start paying twenty bucks a year for a VPN. Use Linux instead of Windows (even if just through a bootable flashdrive). Download the Tor Browser Bundle and start getting the hang of it. For everyday surfing, use Firefox as your browser, with the extensions Adblock Plus, Adblock Plus Pop-Up Addon, AdNauseum, BetterPrivacy, Decentraleyes, Element Hiding Helper for Adblock Plus, Flashblock, Ghostery, HTTPS Everywhere, NoScript, Privacy Badger, Random Agent Spoofer, RequestPolicy Continued, Self-Destructing Cookies, TrackMeNot, U2F Support Add-on, uBlock Origin, and uMatrix, so that when one add-on fails you another can fill the gap. Use two-factor authentication, including paying ten bucks for a physical U2F dongle to plug into your USB port (and a second dongle to keep at home as a backup), and preferably not using SMS messages sent to your phone. Start teaching yourself about particular items such as various cryptocurrencies, BitMessage, and Ricochet. Don’t forget the basics, like clearing your Google and Youtube histories, and turning off personalized ads.
And, even if you start doing all of that right now, it’ll still take time and practice to avoid various privacy-destroying mistakes. So it’s better to get the practice period over as soon as possible, so you can then spend as much time as possible browsing with a modest level of privacy.
The article suggests “The pair found that 95% of the data they obtained came from 10 popular browser extensions.”
Given that the prime leakage of data seems to be browser extensions, why do you think the solution is to install more browser extensions? Do you have strong reason to believe that the ones you listed (especially adblockers) don’t leak any data?
The leaky extensions in question, like “Web of Trust”, phone home with browsing data, and say that they do. The extensions I use either just plain don’t do that, or have an option to turn off such feedback. It’s just one more detail that an eye has to be kept on.
The obvious way is usually enough: check through the addon’s settings to see if there’s an option to disable it. Eg, under Ghostery’s hamburger-menu is a ‘Support Ghostery’ setting section, with three different boxes for enabling or disabling phone-home behaviour. Besides that, you can glance at the user reviews on the Mozilla add-on download page, on Reddit, the top few Google results, and so on. It also helps to be careful about where you look for privacy addon suggestions in the first place.
Start paying twenty bucks a year for a VPN. Use Linux instead of Windows (even if just through a bootable flashdrive). Download the Tor Browser Bundle and start getting the hang of it. For everyday surfing, use Firefox as your browser, with the extensions Adblock Plus, Adblock Plus Pop-Up Addon, AdNauseum, BetterPrivacy, Decentraleyes, Element Hiding Helper for Adblock Plus, Flashblock, Ghostery, HTTPS Everywhere, NoScript, Privacy Badger, Random Agent Spoofer, RequestPolicy Continued, Self-Destructing Cookies, TrackMeNot, U2F Support Add-on, uBlock Origin, and uMatrix, so that when one add-on fails you another can fill the gap. Use two-factor authentication, including paying ten bucks for a physical U2F dongle to plug into your USB port (and a second dongle to keep at home as a backup), and preferably not using SMS messages sent to your phone. Start teaching yourself about particular items such as various cryptocurrencies, BitMessage, and Ricochet. Don’t forget the basics, like clearing your Google and Youtube histories, and turning off personalized ads.
And, even if you start doing all of that right now, it’ll still take time and practice to avoid various privacy-destroying mistakes. So it’s better to get the practice period over as soon as possible, so you can then spend as much time as possible browsing with a modest level of privacy.
The article suggests “The pair found that 95% of the data they obtained came from 10 popular browser extensions.”
Given that the prime leakage of data seems to be browser extensions, why do you think the solution is to install more browser extensions? Do you have strong reason to believe that the ones you listed (especially adblockers) don’t leak any data?
The leaky extensions in question, like “Web of Trust”, phone home with browsing data, and say that they do. The extensions I use either just plain don’t do that, or have an option to turn off such feedback. It’s just one more detail that an eye has to be kept on.
How do you know whether an extension such as Adblock Plus or uBlock phones back?
The obvious way is usually enough: check through the addon’s settings to see if there’s an option to disable it. Eg, under Ghostery’s hamburger-menu is a ‘Support Ghostery’ setting section, with three different boxes for enabling or disabling phone-home behaviour. Besides that, you can glance at the user reviews on the Mozilla add-on download page, on Reddit, the top few Google results, and so on. It also helps to be careful about where you look for privacy addon suggestions in the first place.