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Topic: Why beginners should pay attention to their privacy - page 3. (Read 1425 times)

hero member
Activity: 1540
Merit: 772
Things that not many people know about a privacy that is very important to maintain and most do not understand how to protect it. John Oliver conveys clearly in the video with a humorous method. I watched the video to the end and it was really scary. John Oliver also shows a comparison between 2013, May 26, 2016, 2019 and 2021.


Out of the 25 minutes of the video, one statement that will stick with me after watching it is "how do they collect personal information and then resell it or share it with other people". This is clearly a very wide and most frightening ecosystem. I can't imagine what if things that many people don't want happen to my privacy considering that almost every activity of our work today is related to the internet.
legendary
Activity: 1974
Merit: 2124
A very useful and must topic for not only beginners but also those who are into this market but ignore the security and privacy aspects which is essential because we are dealing with highly risky and online market where our one mistake could easily lead to loss of funds and private data leak on the dark web.So useful topic explaining ways to tackle it and be safe from it.

Read the privacy policy of the survey sites you are using, but almost certainly they are sharing your data with third parties. What would be the point of you doing the survey if they can't share the information they collect from you? And if you are getting a reward or incentive for doing the survey, then your data is definitely being shared with even more third parties. They have to generate that revenue from somewhere, and that is from sharing or selling or data.
For sure sometimes the online surveys you are taking are from the direct company or most of time they outsource this service so your data is bound to go over the net and how come your personal information is circulated to many different sources you come across? The answer is simple that you fill up those survey forms and they intend on collecting your personal information from it to use it for their own purpose.

The paid part is interesting one like you get nothing out of it most of the times opposite to what they have promised or in crypto market you will get some shit tokens listed on some fake exchange with fake volumes and you can't get any liquidity for them to sell so your profit motives out of them is shattered and your data is also prone to leak.

If there is no consequence to you using fake information, then there is no real reason not to do it. If you give a fake name to a centralized exchange, for example, then you will end up having your account frozen and your coins seized. But if you are signing up for an email account, a mailing list, some sort of crypto giveaway, then there is no reason not to use a fake name, email address, or other information.
On the Centralised exchange you have to go through KYC and other verification process so giving out fake names is not going to work at all and if found suspicious your account gets freezed and you lose all your funds at once as you have agreed to the terms also.On the counter part it's never advisable to keep the funds over CEX in the first phase which is always prone to hacks and account freezing.But yes for the other giveaways you can use fake name and for SMS services you can use the mailing service as you suggested.But your privacy is in your hands and taking steps is required so be safe from all these things.
legendary
Activity: 2268
Merit: 18771
With the issue of privacy today it is more complicated every day, for my part, as I am not a specialist in computer science or cybersecurity, I use very simple techniques, but they can be useful to many.
You've made a good start, but you can go further:

- Multiple email addresses, which do not coincide with different platforms. Example my personal Gmail account does not match my Gmail account on my cell phone. (I know that the same if they wanted to link me).
Multiple email addresses is a must, but avoiding Google is also a must. You should considering moving to a more privacy respecting provider. Even better, use different providers for the different addresses to prevent a single provider linking your accounts via IP addresses, browser fingerprinting, etc.

-Never use chrome (except when there is no other option left for some compatibility).
If you need to use a chromium based browser for compatibility issues, then the best one to use is Ungoogled Chromium.

Most are more dangerous than walking without one. There is a documentary (by a Spaniard) that shows how most of the (paid) VPNs belong to the same person and they all have ties to the IDF in Israel.
VPNs serve some specific purposes and uses, but anonymity is not one of them. Consider Tor instead.
legendary
Activity: 1470
Merit: 1049
Argentine representative on gambling board
Sorry for being late to this post.

With the issue of privacy today it is more complicated every day, for my part, as I am not a specialist in computer science or cybersecurity, I use very simple techniques, but they can be useful to many.

- Multiple email addresses, which do not coincide with different platforms. Example my personal Gmail account does not match my Gmail account on my cell phone. (I know that the same if they wanted to link me).

-More different addresses for not so "official" sites and others for sites where I manage money.

-Never navigate from the computer with Gmail open and if I leave one open I leave one from a company.

-Never use chrome (except when there is no other option left for some compatibility).


Thus, I feel that there is a point that we cannot skip and that is our Achilles heel, which is under our own fingers and we always use it. YES the KEYBOARD.
Many times I feel that on the cell phone keyboard, no matter how much I use a special incognito VPN browser or whatever you want, I have that feeling that they are already seeing me write on the KEYBOARD itself, and here there is not much to escape from, or is it Android (GOOGLE) or Samsung's or Microsoft's Swiftkey.
obviously they gather a lot of information out there.

One last comment on the subject of VPNs.
Most are more dangerous than walking without one. There is a documentary (by a Spaniard) that shows how most of the (paid) VPNs belong to the same person and they all have ties to the IDF in Israel.
hero member
Activity: 910
Merit: 5935
not your keys, not your coins!
Does this also apply to online surveys? Cause I have always partook in many surveys and have provided many informations and data about my self and economic conditions alike.
Generally, anything that's offering a reward for information from you, is almost certainly sharing that data on the mass.
Heck, even most sites and services that offer no rewards at all collect and sell data! Of course anything people submit in these stupid surveys is sold for very good money. That's actually pretty much one of the worst things you could ever do for privacy - directly giving away your 'data about [yourself] and [your] economic conditions'.  Shocked

staff
Activity: 3304
Merit: 4115
Does this also apply to online surveys? Cause I have always partook in many surveys and have provided many informations and data about my self and economic conditions alike.
Almost certainly selling or sharing your data. For a start, companies tend to go to mass survey providers, and therefore any data you give that survey company, will then share it to the company that asked them to do a survey, so instead of having one company have your data, you now have two companies. Plus, survey companies I would argue have an incentive to share data between all of their clients, since they're basically a honeypot for data. Personally, I would steer clear of them, especially since the downsides outweigh the rewards.

Generally, anything that's offering a reward for information from you, is almost certainly sharing that data on the mass.
legendary
Activity: 2268
Merit: 18771
Does this also apply to online surveys? Cause I have always partook in many surveys and have provided many informations and data about my self and economic conditions alike.
Read the privacy policy of the survey sites you are using, but almost certainly they are sharing your data with third parties. What would be the point of you doing the survey if they can't share the information they collect from you? And if you are getting a reward or incentive for doing the survey, then your data is definitely being shared with even more third parties. They have to generate that revenue from somewhere, and that is from sharing or selling or data.

Secondly, does this article implies that I shouldn't always give the right informations about myself as this can affect my privacy in other areas of online businesses am involved in?
If there is no consequence to you using fake information, then there is no real reason not to do it. If you give a fake name to a centralized exchange, for example, then you will end up having your account frozen and your coins seized. But if you are signing up for an email account, a mailing list, some sort of crypto giveaway, then there is no reason not to use a fake name, email address, or other information.
member
Activity: 336
Merit: 41
Does this also apply to online surveys? Cause I have always partook in many surveys and have provided many informations and data about my self and economic conditions alike.

Secondly, does this article implies that I shouldn't always give the right informations about myself as this can affect my privacy in other areas of online businesses am involved in?
legendary
Activity: 2268
Merit: 18771
where is our right to privacy.
You don't have one, unless you fight for it and actively avoid companies and other entities which seek to violate it.

are there any justifiable reason to give out peoples data?.
There are some. Sharing your data with other third party services which are providing you a service is one example. For example, if my bank offered me preferential rates on some insurance product from a third party as a perk of being a customer of said bank, then they would need to share my data with that insurance provider so they can complete the deal, should I instruct them to do so. What absolutely isn't justifiable is the mass surveillance that most centralized exchanges take part in, and the sharing/selling of that data with absolutely any interested third party.

cryto being a decentralize market should have policies that help keep peoples private data.
Crypto isn't the problem here. There is absolutely no requirement for data collection or privacy invasion with bitcoin. You can use bitcoin completely anonymously, if you have the knowledge and desire to do so. The problem here is centralized exchanges, and privacy considerations is but one of the reasons you should avoid them if at all possible.
member
Activity: 372
Merit: 11
elysian.finance
this bring to mind the question, who is now save?. where is our right to privacy. i believe this is a bridge of trust which is the fundamental of any relationship. are there any justifiable reason to give out peoples data?. cryto being a decentralize market should have policies that help keep peoples private data. now we are not only worried about scammers but also government agencies and some organizations. honestly this post is very educating thanks
legendary
Activity: 2268
Merit: 18771
Use an open-source browser such as Firefox, degoogled Chromium or similar.
Firefox is a good starting point, but isn't super private by default. There are a variety of guides and tools (straightforward example, more complex example) you can follow to harden it up. Alternatively, there are open source forks which are more privacy orientated, such as LibreWolf. Obviously Tor is the best.

I would only use Degoogled Chromium if you really need to use a Chromium based browser for a specific task. Despite best efforts, it is impossible to fully remove all the Google spyware embedded in to Chromium.

The worst are crypto exchanges, where I have already completed KYC in order to gain full access to their services.
If you want to stop using a centralized exchange, don't just abandon your account. Go through the process of having your account formally closed, and contact their data handling department or similar and request that all your data on their system is deleted. Success will depend on where the exchange is incorporated and where you live, and most will likely have to keep some of your data for a minimum of 5 years to comply with various regulations, but it is still better than letting them continue to store, analyze, and monetize all your data indefinitely.
staff
Activity: 3304
Merit: 4115
While NoScript can be a massive change to normal browsing, I don't think it's overly complex. You allow the scripts you believe you can trust or are comfortable with, if you don't then you don't use that website, and go to another one with the same information. NoScript actually increases decentralisation of information, otherwise people would revert to their normal searching habits, and only go to certain websites, which they'll find a bunch of them are using Facebook scripts, Google etc without them actually knowing that before.

But how many people would bother buy Raspberry Pi and initially configure Raspbian OS/PiHole?
I have, and know several others. Yeah, it might be considered niche at the moment, but we've got to consider that advertisements are starting to take over our lives, you can't go anywhere without being subjected to them. I do believe if Pihole was a tad more supported, and easier to setup people would be willing to pay the £20 for a low powered Raspberry Pi to setup an effective network wide ad blocker.

I'm actually surprised that universities, and the like don't adopt this approach, since effectively blocking them you're also increasing the security of the network, which should be top priority when there's multiple students sharing a connection.
hero member
Activity: 910
Merit: 5935
not your keys, not your coins!
So vpn and TOR is a must then?  What about if you want to casually browse online but privately?  Let say you use it to visit forums like this or watch tv or movie stream online?
I believe we do have a thread somewhere in off-topic or so with resources on privacy, but a few easy, quick steps that already make a difference are:
  • Use a PiHole DNS to block ad tracking domains.
  • Use NoScript to block JavaScript.

I would hesitate those two to average person since NoScript could be tricky to configure (whether on global or website level) while PiHole only official support Linux and Docker Image.
Why though? I mean if they configure NoScript too 'open', worst case it can't be worse than without the plugin.
And PiHole is usually installed on a server or a RaspberryPi (as the name suggests) which always run Linux, and are always on. This way you can route all DNS requests in your local network through it.
hero member
Activity: 1022
Merit: 744
I don't often/ever encourage people to watch videos, but this would be 30 minutes well spent, even if you don't like his humor: Data Brokers: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

Going through this video has made me fearful because I realize how careless I have been all this time while revealing my personal details/data on various websites. The worst are crypto exchanges, where I have already completed KYC in order to gain full access to their services. I am discouraged from performing KYC on any so-called exchange because no one knows where his/her personal data, which should be his/her privacy, is leading.

Quote
A good place to start taking back some control in general: https://www.privacyguides.org/
Peer to peer bitcoin trades, avoiding the privacy invasion of centralized exchanges: https://bisq.network/, https://localcryptos.com/, https://hodlhodl.com/
Run your own node, and avoiding leaking information about your addresses and transactions: https://bitcoin.org/en/bitcoin-core/
I have also gone through the links provided; I found them useful and will refer to them in order to understand how to properly take control of my personal data while also avoiding data leakage.
hero member
Activity: 910
Merit: 5935
not your keys, not your coins!
So vpn and TOR is a must then?  What about if you want to casually browse online but privately?  Let say you use it to visit forums like this or watch tv or movie stream online?
I believe we do have a thread somewhere in off-topic or so with resources on privacy, but a few easy, quick steps that already make a difference are:
  • Use an open-source browser such as Firefox, degoogled Chromium or similar.
  • Use a good non-tracking search engine. Depending on how much effort you're willing to put in, this can range from switching a toggle in the browser settings to just use DuckDuckGo (and trusting them to hold their promises), all the way to hosting your own searx search engine.
  • Use a PiHole DNS to block ad tracking domains.
  • Use uBlock Origin to block even more trackers.
  • Use NoScript to block JavaScript.
  • Use DecentralEyes to improve CDN privacy.
  • Use a privacy-friendly email provider or host your own email server, otherwise they can and will read all of your emails.

Most of these things you're either already doing or are easy to spin up within under half an hour for everything tops.

I would actually advise against a VPN for privacy in most cases, since it introduces a point of failure and it makes you 'stick out' more compared to looking like any other user in the regular internet traffic (smaller anonymity set, you could argue). They are also often hacked and their data leaked, or simply sell the data (if you look at the bottom of the barrel prices they're somehow able to offer). Anything that gives you a 80% off deal smells like scam to me.
Tor is good, but Tor alone is not enough and you can also achieve a good amount of privacy with the methods above and without Tor. If I don't want a website to know my IP, I do use Tor though. Better than VPN, free and easy to set up (just download Tor browser). On the other hand, if I'm targeted by a 3-letter agency, as I said, Tor won't be enough and you'll need good application-level encryption and such. For instance, you'd be looking at having a completely separate machine, bought with cash anonymously for transmitting sensitive info (if you're targeted as I said), since even with Tor and everything, you might get hacked or doxxed using various fingerprinting techniques if using your main machine.
full member
Activity: 1792
Merit: 186
So vpn and TOR is a must then?  What about if you want to casually browse online but privately?  Let say you use it to visit forums like this or watch tv or movie stream online?
legendary
Activity: 2268
Merit: 18771
For example;
  • Browsing with browser private mood: I do this with chrome by using the incognito mood. I thought I was safe but little did I know that my ISP still see my browsing activities
  • When I use VPN, I had the feeling that I was so safe and my data save till o_e_l_e_o said this  Re: Identity Security: A Newbies' Priority
  • More often people enjoy using known and popular search engines like Google instead of using anonymous search engines
All common mistakes that people make. Private browsing does literally nothing to protect your privacy, VPNs can hide your IP address by do not provide anonymity (Tor is a better option), and anything owned by Google is a terrible option. DuckDuckGo, Startpage, or Searx are good alternatives.

It's probably true that most of us have already leaked a metric tonne of information, and that information has probably reached someone who you never thought would've been able to gain access, but the older that data is, and the less its being renewed the less valuable it is.
Not only that, but avoiding linking new data to old data can be a very valuable exercise. Let's say you start searching for cancer symptoms. With a clean slate, maybe the data brokers know that someone in your IP range is searching for cancer symptoms and can't do much with that information. Without it, perhaps they know your full name and address, and then pass that information on to some insurance companies, and then suddenly your premiums triple in price. Or perhaps you are sending some bitcoin to a political party or cause that your government doesn't take too kindly to. With your new data being linked to all your old data, then your government agents maybe pay you a little visit. With your new data being separate, then perhaps they can't track you down quite so easily.

What I've found a useful tool over the years is using the feature of adding a "+" to your email address.
It's not a bad idea, but a better solution is to have different email addresses for different purposes.

However, all being said, I think the new crypto browser by "Opera" will be of better use here
This browser is designed to integrate wallets and NFTs directly in to the browser. It is not designed with privacy in mind, and it is based on Chromium, so I really wouldn't recommend it.
legendary
Activity: 1722
Merit: 5937
This is an educative piece of content, I watched the YouTube video and I must say I have learned a lot about how our activities can be monitored even without our prior notice on the internet, which is outrageous and preposterous. However, all being said, I think the new crypto browser by "Opera" will be of better use here, as its promise to offer top-notch internet security with a free VPN, Ad Blocker, and Tracker Blocker built into the browser. But actually, I don't know true their statement is as I'm not a tech wizard, but you can go try it.

So here is a picture of it on the Google Play Store for you to download and start using because that's what I'm using now.

Tor is a better option. Another advice: download applications directly from the website, don't trust Google PlayStore as they are known for lack of due diligence.
hero member
Activity: 1176
Merit: 785
This is an educative piece of content, I watched the YouTube video and I must say I have learned a lot about how our activities can be monitored even without our prior notice on the internet, which is outrageous and preposterous. However, all being said, I think the new crypto browser by "Opera" will be of better use here, as its promise to offer top-notch internet security with a free VPN, Ad Blocker, and Tracker Blocker built into the browser. But actually, I don't know true their statement is as I'm not a tech wizard, but you can go try it.

So here is a picture of it on the Google Play Store for you to download and start using because that's what I'm using now.

 
copper member
Activity: 2156
Merit: 983
Part of AOBT - English Translator to Indonesia
this article supposed to reach everyone not just begginer only  Cheesy and yes scammer getting smarter and involved everyday.

And as you can heard of that selling and buying identity is real, i just want to tell everyone especially newbie to stay decentralized right now there is couple of airdrop thay give u free money only with do KYC and this very danger "its like u give ur personal data for couple of dollar" and they can sell you data for hundred of dollar and we dont know what data for. is not worth the risk?

only do kyc if u really trust with the site and u are using frequently ex. i only using 2 exchange just for withdraw and trade even tho site like exchange have big security things and rarerly been hacked
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