You wake up on a typical Thursday morning to your smartphone's built-in alarm clock. You get dressed and head out the door for your daily commute, stopping to grab a coffee on your way to work. After you greet your coworkers you sit down and check your email as you go about your daily routine. During a break you open up Facebook and comment on a new post from your niece. You invite your coworkers for lunch and split the bill with Venmo. On your way home, your thermostat kicks on as you pull into the driveway.
When you first woke up, your phone was tracking your sleep and sending it into the cloud. That morning coffee purchase went into a database where your spending patterns can be analyzed. Your workplace can read your emails and see everything you do on their network, even on your personal Facebook account. Venmo makes your lunch break a matter of public record and your smart thermostat conveniently keeps track of everywhere you take your phone so it can tell when you're on your way home—Privacy is dead.
While I think it's fair to say we live in a world where most people have less privacy now than ever before in human history, I'm not quite that pessimistic. There are some new projects and technologies that, if used properly, will improve privacy as time goes on. But in the meantime, there are still things you can do to keep more of your information in your hands.
In life, one of the tradeoffs people often end up making (whether they realize it or not) is the balance between the security of being stable and the freedom of being in control. In this post, I'll be exploring some of the strategies everyone can use if they'd rather trade some of that security for a few doses of good old fashioned liberty.
Less Security for Everyone?
So the less you care about your security (physical, financial, digital), the more freedom you'll have—right? We all just need to mindlessly throw out the things that keep us secure in order to capture more of the illusive liberty we desire. As you might'e already guessed, this couldn't be further from the truth.
Instead, you'll just need to assert more control over the things you'd like to—well—control! That means things like using a password manager, staying away from "big data" networks, keeping your conversations secure and asking your bank not to sell your spending habits (yes, they most likely do). These won't make you into a privacy guru or even keep you completely off the radar, but if you can get into the top 10 or even the top 20% of the population (not a high bar at all), you'll be able to avoid 80 or 90% of the exposure. For those who want more, check out my internet censorship guide.
Use a Password Manager
My fellow privacy guru friends will be quick to point out that a password manager in itself doesn't actually make you more private. But I think it's something most people should be doing, and having one will remind you about the other things I'll talk about in this post.
A password manager keeps all your passwords in one place so you don't need to use the same passwords across all the websites and apps you use. You can easily synchronize your passwords across devices with apps like 1Password and LastPass. While some cloud-based password managers cost money, I think they're well worth it for the added security afforded to the average internet user.
Stay Away from Big Data
Companies like Facebook and Google learn about you the more you interact with their services. There are some basic things people can do that will give these companies less information about who you are and the things you do:
Use iMessage and FaceTime over Facebook Messenger or a Voice Call
If you own an iPhone, FaceTime and iMessage keep your data encrypted as it goes over the internet. Whenever you have the chance, you should choose FaceTime over the traditional telephone system. The telephone system is one of the least secure technologies on the planet. Using iMessage over Facebook Messenger is another good way to keep conversations private. If you're on Android, Signal is a decent alternative.
DuckDuckGo over Google
Just like Google, DuckDuckGo is a search engine where you can find information about your favorite topics and websites. Unlike Google, DuckDuckGo provides strong privacy protections for its users. It keeps your searches anonymous and its performance is comparable to Google. You can change your default search engine in your web browser's settings.
FireFox over Google Chrome
FireFox is a web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and it's available for all major platforms. If you currently use the default browser on your Android phone, or if you use Google Chrome, you should consider switching to FireFox for better privacy. on iOS or macOS, Safari has a pretty good privacy track record.
Anything but Facebook
People like Facebook because their friends are there. If there's another way—any other way—for you to stay in touch with your friends outside of Facebook, you should use it if you want to keep your privacy intact. I won't go so far as to suggest that people remove Facebook from their devices (you'll just end up putting it back), but you should interact with it as little as possible.
Never Click on Ads
This one might seem a bit silly—but I make a point never to click on an ad. Even if it's for something I want, I'll look it up later on another device. Why? Clicking on ads (a) reveals your intent to buy a product, causing a whole slew of related ads to be sent your way and (b) makes Facebook and Google more money. This gets easier with time because if they can't figure out which ads you're likely to click on, they can't tempt you as easily.
Secure Communications
If you want your communications to remain private, don't conduct them over the internet unless you really know what you're doing. Just arrange to meet someone in a public or remote location and conveniently forget to grab your phone. That should work for most people most of the time. If you must use the internet to communicate securely, my recommendation is to use Signal. Edmond Locard said it best: Every contact leaves a trace.
Stop Selling what I Buy
One final pointer—banks and especially credit card companies sell your spending patterns. But some institutions respect your privacy much more than others. Since I don't have accounts at the major banks, I can't give too much insight into how you might go about this, but for me it was just a matter of logging into my online portal, delving deep into the account settings page and unchecking the relevant checkboxes.
From personal experience, I'd recommend choosing the smallest local bank or FDIC-ensured credit union you can find in your area. Of course, this works much better if you live in a rural area—Don't pick a small branch of a big bank, what you want is something locally-owned. If you don't mind an online bank, Ally Bank has worked well for me over the years (just remember to uncheck those pesky checkboxes!)
For credit cards, I recommend the Apple Card for privacy. According to their website, your transaction details are encrypted and only accessible on your Apple device—So you'll also need an Apple device before you can apply. Despite what some people might say, Apple has a good reputation for protecting the privacy of its users. Unlike Google or Facebook, it makes its money from selling devices, not mining data.
Conclusion
So—I hope I've managed to convince you that your privacy hasn't gone 6 feet under just yet (I'd say it's closer to 2 feet under at this point.) We've covered password managers, staying away from big data, keeping your conversations secure and preventing your bank from becoming the next Google. I hope you've found this guide to be informative and useful. Do you think privacy is dead? Leave your thoughts in a comment below!