Practical tips you can implement to protect yourself and your loved ones from the watchful eyes of companies looking to profit off of you.

In today’s information and constant surveillance age, it’s virtually impossible to stay off the radar if you’re not willing to give up the convenience of Internet and digital platforms. However, you can minimize the amount of data companies like Google, Facebook, Amazon and other giants are harvesting off of you.

Content

1. Facebook

1. Avoid the app
2. Deal with visible data
3. Avoid politics discourse

2. Google

1. Delete history & disable tracking
2. Delete your Google account

3. Smartphones

1. Revoke app permissions
2. Replace apps

4. Metadata Problem

5. Why you should care

6. Useful readings

Facebook

Facebook has seen a lot of public backlash for its privacy issues and manipulating users to increase engagement. If you’d like to learn more about its past in relation to data privacy, I strongly recommend you read Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe by Roger McNamee.

Here’s what you can do to limit Facebook’s reach.

1. Avoid it altogether

This isn’t viable for some people, and especially those in countries with Facebook’s Free Basics program, where Facebook is the Internet.

For the rest of us, we might have emotional attachment to all of the photos we’ve shared, or we’d simply lament the amount of time and investment we’ve spent on the app.

Maybe reminding ourselves that Facebook has over 52,000 data points for each one of its 2.9 billion users (out of which 1.9 billion use it daily), or that 50 million Americans’ data were mined in the Cambridge Analytica scandal of 2018, could help us part with the app more easily.

Unfortunately, just leaving or deleting Facebook will not guarantee that you won’t end up in one of their data bases. Facebook collects data about its users’ friends, family and acquaintances that don’t even have an account. However, avoiding it is still better than actively feeding the algorithm with your personal data.

This goes for Facebook’s other companies, like Instagram, WhatsApp and Oculus. Even though these platforms are feigning independence, their information is still shared with Facebook. I would recommend staying off Tinder as well, as it asks to connect to your Facebook profile.

An alternative to deleting could also be filling your profile with an enormous amount of spam, so that you confuse the algorithm and make your real preferences harder to trace. Of course, this would be harder to keep up if you’re actively using the platform, so only do it if/when you decide to say goodbye.

2. Dealing with visible data

Delete your Facebook history. Facebook seems to have a built-in bias in favor of disinformation and fake news, so be careful about the sources you follow on the platform as well as outside of it. Don’t use Facebook Connect to sign into other services.

Here are some specific step-by-step guides on how to minimize the amount of personal information third parties can access.

Change who can see your information and posts

This won’t change the data Facebook can access on you, but it could be crucial for protecting your identity in general.

1. Go to your profile (top right corner) > Settings & Privacy > Privacy Checkup > Who Can See What You Share
2. Press the blue ‘Continue’ button
3. Set all of your personal information (date of birth, emails, phone numbers, hometown, current city…) to ‘Only Me’
4. Set both settings for ‘Friends and Following’ to either ‘Friends’ or ‘Only Me’

The important part that none of this information is set to ‘Public’, and even ‘Friends of Friends’ could be problematic since some of your friends might add people they don’t know, and this could put your personal information at risk.

Change how people can find you

1. Go to your profile (top right corner) > Settings & Privacy > Privacy Checkup > How People Can Find You on Facebook
2. Press the blue ‘Continue’ button
3. Set the answer to ‘Who can send you friend requests?’ to ‘Friends of Friends’ and press ‘Next’
4. Set phone number and email to ‘Only Me’ and press ‘Next’
5. Make sure that ‘Do you want search engines outside of Facebook to link to your profile?’ remains unchecked

Edit which third-party apps can use your Facebook data

1. Go to your profile (top right corner) > Settings & Privacy > Privacy Checkup > How People Can Find You on Facebook
2. Press the blue ‘Continue’ button
3. Remove on all of the apps listed

Control how advertisers target you

1. Go to your profile (top right corner) > Settings & Privacy > Privacy Checkup > How People Can Find You on Facebook
2. Press the blue ‘Continue’ button and then ‘Next’
3. Uncheck all of the personal information listed and press ‘Next’
4. Scroll down and change ‘Who can see your social interactions alongside ads?’ to ‘Only me’ and then press ‘Next’

3. Don’t engage in political discourse

Don’t post or engage in any politically-charged content. It’s going to take a while, but eventually, your News Feed will clear out. This way you will be able to take control of your emotions back. If you must use Facebook already, then at least use it as something to bring positivity in your life.

If you wish to follow political content, do so in the form of weekly newspapers or journals. Anything that has a clear beginning and end, and won’t suck you into an endless loop of negativity and filter bubbles, which are designed to keep you engaged on the platform for the purpose of refining algorithms and turning profit.

Google

Google has entrenched itself into the daily lives of users by providing a reliable way of accessing information instantly. It has created an empire by providing free and convenient services like Gmail, Google Maps, Google Calendar, and other G-Suite software. AdWords is probably the most successful advertising system ever made. It was a worthy tradeoff in the eyes of the consumers – they got a free and capable system of programs that could be accessed from anywhere, and the only thing they had to give up was the abstract concept of privacy.

Similarly to Facebook, the first advice would be to avoid using the default Google Chrome if you can. Add the DuckDuckGo extension, as it doesn’t filter results nor track your searches, and it also blocks Google’s trackers on websites. On top of that, add uBlock Origin extension, as it blocks distracting advertisements on webpages and YouTube.

1. Delete search history and disable tracking

The methods outlined above should make sure that your future searches are safer. But what to do about the searches you’ve already made? Here’s how to delete your search history and disable tracking of your search, YouTube history and more. You will need your

1. Go to Gmail and click on your account avatar in the top-right corner
2. Click Manage Your Google Account
3. On the left sidebar, click on Data & Privacy
4. You will see a list under Your data & privacy options; click on the Things you’ve done and places you’ve been tab
5. Pause tracking (you can’t stop it completely) for every element: Web & App Activity, Location History and YouTube History
6. After you’re done, go back to the previous page, and scroll down just a little. Right under the History settings tab (the one we were just on) should be Ad Settings and Personal results in Search
7. Turn both settings off and go back to the main (Data & Privacy) page
8. Continue scrolling to Info you can share with others, and set all options in Profile and Location Sharing to ‘Only Visible to You’
9. Go back to the Data & Privacy page and keep scrolling to Data from apps and services you use
10. Click on Third party apps with account access option, and disable all apps/websites you no longer want or need
11. Delete any other services under Data from apps and services tab that you don’t use, as those will unnecessarily track your use

2. Delete your Google account

This is probably the best option, but it’s easier said than done. First, a lot of people are dependent on Google Suite’s infinite convenience. It’s cross-platform, free, smooth, offers a million of services and that ‘Sign in with Google’ button is just so irresistible.

However, Google is a nightmare for people concerned about privacy, which should be everyone. This means that you’d benefit from ripping off the band-aid and deleting your Google account(s), if at all possible. I understand that it might not be viable for everyone, for example, if your workplace requires you to use Google services (i.e. Google Classroom has been an industry standard for teachers).

But for everyone else, you’ll be better off switching to an email provider with an end-to-end encryption, such as ProtonMail and Tutanota. You can also look into self-hosted options if you’re more tech-savvy.

Deleting your Google account might prove to be a bigger challenge than just simply clicking a button. You’ve probably used your Gmail address for a lot of websites and services – Google’s services like YouTube, Maps or Calendar, social media, Apple ID (for Apple users), Amazon, food delivery, random apps you’ve got installed on your phone, and many more.

Deleting your Google account is, in theory, a three-step process:

1. Created an account with one of the more private options mentioned above
2. Make a list of every app or website you’ve ever signed in to with your Google account
3. Go into every individual app/website and either delete the account (if you don’t want or need it anymore) or switch to your new address

In reality, it’s gonna take some time. The effort is going to be worth it though. You can use a website like Just Delete Me to help you out. You might be disappointed to find out that it’s impossible to delete your account off of some platforms. But it also serves as a good heads-up if you ever wanted to create an account for them in the future.

After you’re done deleting your Google account, you will probably be interested in finding replacements for G-Suite. You can scroll down this page to take a look at the alternatives for all of the Google Suite apps and services. There’s an even more detailed list on the r/DeGoogle Wiki page.

Smartphones

Mobile phones, and smartphones in particular, are what revolutionized communication. Most people access internet through their phones, and most people get hooked on social media through mobile apps, purely from its everlasting presence around us.

What a lot of people don’t know is that smartphones contribute to our profiling. Using Google or other apps and giving them access to our location services, contacts and other sensitive information help form a clear picture of who you are – where you live, where you go for a cup of coffee, where you work, what you like, how much time you spend on your phone, etc. All of this makes you more prone to being exploited.

Here’s how you can quickly make your smartphone more private.

1. Revoke app permissions

Go to your settings, and then click on an app. Think about what that app really needs to function, and only allow permissions that are absolutely necessary for the app to function.

For example, Skype or Zoom require access to your camera and microphone because those are the tools they need to operate. Similarly, there is no reason for a calendar app to require camera or microphone.

Only allow location services permission for Navigation or similar apps, like the Weather app.

2. Replace your current apps

Not all apps are created the same. Although it’s not really possible to completely stop all tracking, you can switch some commonly used apps for alternatives with better privacy.

The Metadata Problem

‘Metadata’ is data that one cannot see immediately upon looking at a report. In the context of online privacy, it refers to patterns in your behavior that can shape and identify your personality, preferences, gender, age, sexuality, religious or political alignment. This metadata can then be analyzed and sold to advertisers.

For example, if Facebook logs that you tend to like and engage in posts about young motherhood or tips on parenting, they can start showing you advertisements for motherhood or parenting books, or events. This might seem rather convenient and harmless, which is why a lot of people tend to disregard privacy issues. But this isn’t the end of the story.

Aside from the ethical issues of big tech companies analyzing your searches, and targeting you with ads that match your current interests, the large scale issues arise when this data is used in other ways. Back in 2014, Facebook conducted a psychology experiment on 700,000 users, without their consent or awareness. The experiment consisted of manipulating the News Feed to control which emotions the users were exposed to. The real scary part is that Facebook’s algorithm has gotten much more refined over the last five years. We’re yet to see the long-term effects of the non-stop emotional manipulation tech giants are exposing their users to.

Why you should be concerned

A lot of people tend to fall back on the old “I’ve got nothing to hide” argument when asked about why they don’t care about their privacy.

But the thing is, you don’t have to be a criminal to care about privacy. We all have personal limits on what we see as ‘ok’ to share about ourselves. For some, talking about financial matters is a no-go while talking about their sex life if perfectly okay. For others, health issues might be where they draw the line. There’s a reason why we stand a bit further back when we’re standing in line at the bank.

Privacy is a necessity and right that needs to be protected. r/privacy provided a great list of things you might want to do in private, without tech giants or governmental bodies snooping around.

Some activities that privacy plays a crucial role in include but are not limited to:

• Discussing money matters with a business partner
• Entering your bank details to make a purchase
• Watching adult content
• Texting private matters to your loved ones
• Sending messages to your significant other (especially valuable for LGBT+ community members, who are not yet out of the closet)
• Talking about past trauma or struggle
• Discussing and seeking help for physical and/or mental health issues
• Whistleblower activities

Lastly, I would like to end this post with the following quote:

Arguing that you don’t care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say.

Edward Snowden

Useful readings

Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe by Roger McNamee

Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal

Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked by Adam Alter

The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr

Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Jaron Lanier