How To Secure and Anonymize Your Online Activity
Summary
TLDRThis script discusses the importance of personal data privacy and the risks of centralized data collection by entities like hackers, governments, and corporations. It suggests practical steps to enhance privacy, such as using a password manager, creating multiple email accounts, avoiding biometrics, and utilizing secure communication platforms. The video also covers browser security, search engine privacy, and the use of VPNs and Tor for anonymous browsing, emphasizing the need to avoid services designed for tracking.
Takeaways
- 🔒 Personal data is highly valuable and sought after by various entities for tracking and exploitation.
- 🛡️ To protect privacy, it's essential to change online habits and use technology that enhances privacy and anonymity.
- 🔑 Decentralizing online accounts and using a password manager with multiple email addresses can prevent hackers from accessing linked accounts.
- 💼 Using offline password managers like KeePassXC or GnuPass avoids reliance on cloud services that may compromise anonymity.
- 📧 Creating separate permanent and temporary email accounts for different purposes can reduce the risk of data breaches affecting all accounts.
- 👁️ Avoiding biometrics for securing data is crucial in a model that includes law enforcement as a threat, as biometrics can be forcibly taken.
- 🔒 Using hardware security keys for two-factor authentication adds an extra layer of security, especially against government surveillance.
- 📱 Real-time communication should use end-to-end encrypted services like Signal to prevent interception by third parties.
- 🌐 Securing the browser is vital; avoid browsers that track users and opt for privacy-respecting alternatives like GNU IceCat or Firefox with enhanced security settings.
- 🚫 Disabling JavaScript in the browser can prevent tracking and fingerprinting, though it may limit functionality on sites reliant on JS.
- 🔎 Use private search engines like DuckDuckGo or Searx to avoid the tracking associated with mainstream search engines like Google.
- 🌐 Implementing multiple browser profiles for different activities can prevent cross-site tracking and protect user privacy.
Q & A
Why is personal data considered valuable and sought after by various entities?
-Personal data is valuable because it paints a detailed picture of an individual's identity, preferences, and behaviors. Entities like hackers, governments, and corporations seek this data to exploit it for surveillance, marketing, or other purposes.
What is the main issue with using a single email address for all online accounts?
-Using a single email address for all online accounts centralizes your information, making it vulnerable to data breaches. If the email or password is compromised, it can lead to unauthorized access to all connected accounts.
Why is it recommended to use a password manager and multiple email addresses?
-A password manager helps create and store unique, strong passwords for each account, reducing the risk of breaches. Multiple email addresses prevent linking personal accounts to one another, minimizing the damage if one account is compromised.
What are some privacy-respecting email services mentioned in the script?
-The script recommends using 2D, Nodameil, Mailfence, and ProtonMail as privacy-respecting email services that should be signed up for over the Tor network.
How can using biometrics for security potentially compromise privacy?
-Biometrics like fingerprints or face scans can be forcibly taken by governments or other entities to unlock personal data or devices. Unlike passwords, they cannot be changed once compromised.
What is the recommended approach for real-time communication to ensure privacy?
-The script suggests using end-to-end encrypted messaging services like Signal, Element, or peer-to-peer solutions like Briar or Yami to avoid interception of messages by unauthorized parties.
Why should browsers like Google Chrome be avoided for privacy-conscious users?
-Browsers like Google Chrome are created by companies that profit from user tracking. Their default settings may not respect privacy and could include hidden tracking features that are difficult to disable.
What is the purpose of using a hardware security key for two-factor authentication?
-A hardware security key adds an extra layer of security by requiring a physical device to access accounts. If lost or damaged, it renders the accounts inaccessible, which can be a last resort to protect privacy in extreme situations.
How can using a VPN enhance privacy while browsing?
-A VPN encrypts internet traffic and hides the user's IP address, making it difficult for ISPs, governments, or other entities to track online activities or link them to the user's identity.
What is the significance of using the Tor network for anonymous browsing?
-The Tor network provides anonymity by routing internet traffic through multiple proxy servers, making it challenging to trace the user's real IP address and browsing activity.
How can users avoid being tracked by online services that collect personal data?
-Users can avoid tracking by using privacy-focused alternatives to mainstream services, employing browser privacy settings, using ad blockers, and creating separate browser profiles for different activities.
Outlines
🔒 Protecting Personal Data from Hackers and Corporations
The paragraph emphasizes the value of personal data and the risks associated with centralized online accounts and password reuse. It suggests using a password manager and multiple email addresses to prevent unauthorized access. The author recommends offline password managers like KeePassXC or GNU Pass and advises against using online services that sync data to their cloud. The paragraph also discusses the importance of creating permanent and burner email accounts, with specific services recommended for each type, and highlights the need to sign up for these services over the Tor network to ensure anonymity.
🛡️ Enhancing Privacy with a Threat Model and Secure Communication
This paragraph discusses the concept of a threat model for online security, cautioning against the use of biometrics due to their vulnerability to forced extraction. It advocates for two-factor authentication with hardware security keys for added protection. The paragraph also addresses the importance of secure real-time communication, recommending end-to-end encrypted messaging apps like Signal, Element, and peer-to-peer solutions such as Briar or Yami, while noting the potential risks of centralized services.
🌐 Securing the Browser and Online Activity
The focus of this paragraph is on browser security, discouraging the use of Google Chrome due to privacy concerns and promoting alternatives like GNU IceCat and Firefox with enhanced privacy settings. It explains how to use tools like mpv to view YouTube videos without JavaScript, which can be a privacy risk. The paragraph also covers browser add-ons for local content delivery and the use of multiple browser profiles to prevent tracking by online services, suggesting the use of a VPN for additional privacy.
🔎 Privacy-Centric Search and Online Interaction
The paragraph advises against using search engines like Google and Bing due to their tracking mechanisms, instead promoting privacy-focused search engines such as DuckDuckGo, StartPage, and Searx. It discusses the use of multiple browser profiles for different purposes to avoid tracking and the importance of not mixing clearnet and VPN accounts. It also touches on the use of a VPN to protect against ISP tracking and government surveillance, recommending Mulvad for its no-log policy and anonymous payment options.
⚠️ Advanced Anonymity Techniques and Avoiding Tracking
This paragraph delves into more advanced privacy measures, such as using the Tor network for anonymous browsing and the importance of blocking JavaScript to prevent IP leaks. It warns against using personal accounts created with a public IP address while on Tor and suggests creating anonymous accounts for services that require phone verification. The author also encourages spreading awareness about Tor to increase its user base and make it harder for individuals to be identified. The paragraph concludes by advising against using online services known for tracking users and hints at further topics for potential future videos.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Personal Data
💡Privacy
💡Decentralization
💡Password Manager
💡Data Breach
💡Anonymity
💡Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)
💡End-to-End Encryption
💡VPN (Virtual Private Network)
💡Tor Network
💡Browser Fingerprinting
Highlights
Personal data is valuable and often exploited by hackers, governments, and corporations.
Most people wouldn't share their internet history with close ones, yet they risk sharing it with entities that may exploit it.
The solution to tracking is to take privacy into your own hands by changing habits and using technology.
Decentralizing online accounts is crucial to prevent data breaches affecting multiple services.
Using a single email and password across accounts concentrates information and increases vulnerability.
A password manager like KeePassXC or GnuPass can secure passwords and prevent hacks.
Avoid password managers that require payment or online registration as they may compromise anonymity.
Creating separate permanent and burner email addresses helps maintain privacy and security.
Services like 2D NodA, MailFence, and ProtonMail are recommended for permanent email accounts.
Temporary email services like TempMail are useful for short-term or throwaway accounts.
Creating a threat model helps identify who and what you are securing your online activity from.
Biometric data can be compromised by law enforcement, so passwords are a safer option.
Using a hardware security key like a U2F adds an extra layer of security for accounts.
Avoid SMS for messaging as it's not encrypted and can be easily intercepted.
Signal is an easy-to-use, open-source messenger with end-to-end encryption.
For more privacy, federated services like Element or peer-to-peer solutions like Briar or Yami are recommended.
Securing the browser is essential; avoid browsers like Google Chrome that may track users.
GNU IceCat is a spyware-free browser with good security settings, but has limitations with JavaScript-heavy sites.
Using mpv with YouTube URLs can bypass JavaScript limitations and age restrictions.
For a more user-friendly browser with security, consider Firefox with additional privacy settings and extensions.
Decentraleyes add-on can block unnecessary connections to CDNs and speed up page loading times.
Avoid search engines that track you; use DuckDuckGo, StartPage, or Sir X for more privacy.
Implementing multiple browser profiles for different use cases can reduce tracking.
Using a VPN like Mulvad can increase privacy by shifting tracking responsibility away from the ISP.
When using a VPN, avoid mixing clearnet and VPN accounts to prevent linking activities to your identity.
For true anonymity, use Tor, but also block JavaScript and avoid linking accounts to your real IP.
Spreading information about privacy tools like Tor can increase its effectiveness by making it harder to identify users.
Avoid online services known for tracking users, such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter.
Securing home Wi-Fi, computers, and smartphones, as well as anonymous internet surfing, are also important aspects of privacy.
Transcripts
your personal data is very valuable
it is no wonder that hackers governments
and corporations are trying to collect
and catalog
everything about you your search queries
your entertainment choices web history
online chats and posts all paint a very
detailed picture
about who you are most people wouldn't
even share their internet history
with the closest people to them in their
lives so
why would you want to share it with
people that actually have
an incentive to exploit all of your
personal data
and have access to it there is a
solution to
stopping the tracking though and that is
to take matters into your own hands
and start protecting your data by
changing habits
and using the correct technology to
enhance your privacy
and anonymity now right off the bat
i will tell you that these steps are
going to add
a bit of a challenge to your computer
and browsing habits
the web is designed in such a way to not
be private
and combine that with a life of people
being conditioned
to trade off their privacy for
convenience
well i'm going to show you will enhance
your privacy
and your security but it's going to make
things a bit more complicated
the first step is to decentralize your
online accounts
most people are using a single
non-privacy respecting
email to sign up for everything from
netflix to spotify
grubhub uber etc and what's worse
is they will oftentimes use the same
password across all of these accounts
including
the email and there is so much of your
information that is going to be
concentrated within that single email
address especially if you're also using
it
as your primary email for correspondence
and if you're reusing passwords well
if any one of the services that are
connected to it has a data breach that
releases that password
your email and password will become
available to that hacker
and then they have access to everything
and vice versa if the email
service itself has a breach then all of
the accounts that are connected to it
become vulnerable to hacking the
simplest way to prevent this
issue is to use a password manager
along with multiple different email
addresses
this is this way your accounts they
can't get hacked
and your services cannot be personally
linked to one another
for securing your passwords i recommend
using
keepassxc or gnu pass
you should really avoid any password
manager solution that asks you to pay
money
or does an online registration and
syncing of your data to their cloud as
that would compromise the anonymity of
it
unless you use tor and a burner email to
sign up for it
then it's going to be a little bit safer
than just using clearnet
and an email that is connected to your
identity
but again i just suggest using an
offline password manager
and that brings me to the next subject
which is creating
your email accounts so
there's two kinds of email services that
we'll be using here
there are permanent email addresses and
burner emails permanent emails are ones
that you are going to be using
indefinitely you'll want to use these
either for
sending and receiving email for the
foreseeable future
or doing any kind of email
correspondence
using it for things like job hunting and
so on and so forth
uh or if you need to get alerts for
accounts that are created
using this email so the services that i
would recommend for using this
is 2d noda mail fence and
protonmail these services they should be
signed up for over the tor network
and it's also advisable to request a new
identity
on the torn network meaning you get a
different ip address
before creating each one or if you're
going to
create multiple emails using the same
provider
and that way none of those different
email addresses can be linked to one
another
in any way and for temporary email
you should be using tempmail.org
tempmailow.com or gorilla mail
and these are mostly helpful for
creating
what you would call throwaway accounts
so these are going to be accounts that
you either don't really care about
or something that you're just going to
be using for a short period of time
like to redeem some type of coupon or
something like that
now one important thing to keep in mind
when you're going to be
securing your online activity is to
create a
threat model so this is going to be who
and what you are actually going to be
securing from
if your threat model includes law
enforcement
then you should take the additional step
of not using
any biometrics to secure any of your
data or devices
because fingerprints face scans and ira
scans
they can be forcefully taken from you to
unlock your data
and unlock your devices by governments
well
passwords cannot unless of course
you willingly give them up which could
likely happen
if you are subjugated to enhanced
interrogation techniques
so in addition to not using biometrics
a government threat model should include
a two-factor authentication with
a hardware security key like a ub
key for example and the thing about
using
a hardware security key is that if this
key were to become lost or damaged
all of your accounts that are requiring
it would become
inaccessible so this would be a last
stitch
a good last stitch effort if the glow
boys come knocking you can just
destroy your ub key and then all of
those accounts would be
inaccessible now we're going to talk
about
real-time communication for that there
are a few options
but this is where some additional work
needs to be done
for messaging you want to avoid sms
at all cost green bubbles on an iphone
would be an example of an sms
conversation
these communications are not encrypted
at all meaning that they can be
intercepted in plain text
by cellular carriers governments or any
hackers that are
snooping on the conversation so in order
to avoid
sms being used both parties have to use
the same kind of service that supports
end-to-end encryption and that's where
the tough part is going to come in
because
obviously you're going to need to get
your friends family whoever you want to
communicate with
to use one of these services that
they've probably never heard
of you know these services generally
aren't advertised
very much so it's going to be a little
bit tough to get normies to use them
but they're not terribly difficult to
use
the easiest one for noobs is going to be
signal so it's an open source messenger
that features
end-to-end encryption it also supports a
voice as well as video calling
so this is pretty easy to use but
there is a disadvantage to using
something like signal which is that
it's still a centralized service which
means that it's going to be more
susceptible
to backdoor access by any governments
the ownership of the service could also
very easily change
into the hands of someone who doesn't
really care so much about
the end user's privacy so
if this is more of a concern to you then
i recommend that you use and
convince your friend to use a federated
service
like element or use a peer-to-peer
solution
such as briar or yami
next we want to secure the browser
because this is another tool that is
often used by corporations to collect
information from people
so it's important to use one with good
security settings
out of the gate as well as to go through
any configuration
options to further harden it and it's
also a good idea to
not use a browser like google chrome
that is created
by a company that profits from tracking
because obviously there's going to be
incentive in there to have the default
settings
to not be privacy respecting as well as
to put hidden settings in there
that are still going to track you that
the user either can't easily delete
or cannot disable at all so a good
option for a spyware free browser that
meets all these requirements
right out of the box is going to be gnu
ice cap
now you will have limited options
for viewing sites that heavily rely on
javascript though
one very commonly used example would
be youtube so you can see
in gnu icecat when you try to load a
youtube video
it doesn't really play it kind of plays
like one frame
at a time if you hit the play button
sometimes you can refresh it
and it will sort of start playing the
video at first for a few seconds
but then as you can see it stops now
there are some ways to get around
something like this
um you'll want to download
mpv and use that to
be able to view youtube videos uh
whenever you
come across one in gnu ice cad so all
that you have to do
is copy the url we'll get rid of this
bit here
so copy the url and then open up a
terminal
and then you just type mpv and then
paste in
the video url
okay i had to pause and update
my youtube dl you can still update it by
the way there's
tons of forks of it available on github
you might not be able to just do it
through your package manager
so all you have to do because mpv
to do this particular function utilizes
youtube dl
is just download it from github the
updated one
and install it and then it should
automatically plug
into mpv but anyway as i was trying to
show you before
you could just type mpv followed by the
url
of the video that you're trying to watch
and
in ice cat it's going to be right before
this
and disable polymer equals true
and hit enter
and there's actually some pretty handful
things that you can do in here like for
example you can
step through frame by frame so this is
something that
not even youtube itself supports
now obviously you're not going to be
able to comment or leave a like or
anything like that within mpv so
if you really need to do that if you
need to actually interact with it
via your youtube account you're going to
want to
sign into youtube probably from a
different browser profile
or a different browser altogether
because again with good new ice cat
the javascript limitations make a lot of
those features not really work so well
and then you can do uh whatever you need
to do
with your youtube account uh also by the
way
using mpv to view youtube videos is a
way that you can
bypass age restricted videos so mpv
it's not going to ask you to verify your
age
youtube of course if you click on an age
restricted video it's going to ask you
hey
sign in to verify that you're over 18 or
whatever
you can just do exactly what i showed
you here copy that url
and paste it into the mpv command and
you're good to go it's also worth noting
that
this is usually lighter on your system
resources
than just watching a youtube video in
your browser directly
and it's not actually downloading the
video to be saved it's just streaming it
so
there's not going to be any privacy
concerns or
storage space concerns there either
for an easier to use browser that still
has good security settings
i would recommend using firefox however
you're going to want to change some of
your
security settings um certain things
like you don't want to store cookies you
want to just delete those
after firefox is closed you don't really
want
to autofill addresses or credit cards
and in your address bar you probably
don't want it saving browser history
browsing history bookmarks
uh anything else like that and you'll
also want to install
the ghax user.js
to automatically import the most secure
browser settings that disable things
like webrtc
uh geolocation and unique fingerprinting
and you're also going to want to install
an ad blocker
like u-block origin
that way you can selectively disable
javascript on sites because basically
all of the ads that are displayed to you
those are all driven by javascript
as we saw with gnu icecat it just
disables all of them
so you're not going to see any
javascript at all but
that breaks websites using ublock origin
you can go into the advanced user
settings
and also disable javascript here and
then
what that does is it basically shows you
individual scripts that are getting
loaded on
a webpage usually i would globally
disable third-party scripts and you
could just lock that so that's
automatically going to do it on every
new page
but then whenever you load another site
then it's going to show other domains
that you want to block scripts from
obviously two denoted they don't have a
whole lot of ads showing here but
if you're on a site that is heavy in ads
this is going to be really really long
and you can go through uh blacklisting
as many sites as possible or as many
domains as possible that are showing
scripts
until you get the site to a point where
it's still functional but it's just not
showing
anything additional that isn't necessary
for the site to actually work
and you'll also want to use the
decentralize
add-on for local content delivery
network emulation
so this is going to block unnecessary
connections to
cdns like cloudflare and google
and it can also speed up the loading
time of some pages by
loading the relevant web libraries
locally
on the user's machine now
while we're still in the browser you
should also avoid
using search engines that are built to
track you this means that
google and bing they should not be used
for your search queries moving forward
at least not within
the same privacy browsing profile
instead you should use services like
duckduckgo
or start page to emulate google results
in a more
private way what i would recommend most
though
is sir x as it is the most open source
uh well not open source but most open
and transparent search engine
that is currently available on the web
and finally you're going to want to
implement the use of
multiple profiles within the browser
for different use cases this is
useful for situations where you might
want to use
youtube to leave comments on your
favorite creators page
uh or maybe even upload a youtube video
if you're a content creator yourself
but if you just want to view other
random things that
you know you aren't going to need a
youtube profile for
to interact with it's best to just
browse to those pages
from another browser profile altogether
where you aren't signed into your social
media accounts
and that's going to prevent those
companies from tracking your watch
history
within the accounts themselves because
of course they
ultimately control the account they let
you have it for
free but anytime there's a service where
something is free chances are you are
the product
so this is going to reduce the amount of
information that they're able to harvest
from you
by not using it when you don't need it
and if you do
happen to stumble upon a video that you
want to
comment on or do something else that
requires an account
you know just keep in mind age
restriction doesn't require an account
to bypass
you can use mpv for this but if you do
need to interact with it
you can just copy the url of whatever
page you're on
and then go to about profiles
launch whichever profile you're going to
use and you can name these however you
want
and open that up and then you can
interact with that page
using your signed in profile and
you can take this a step further by
purchasing
a vpn and using specific
servers with specific browser profiles
uh for specific purposes and
this would even prevent your isp from
being able to link all of your different
activities
to your ip address that they give you
and same goes for any government
agencies that could subpoena your isp
for the browsing records now
keep in mind a vpn does
not anonymize you all it does is
shift the burden of privacy from your
internet service provider to the vpn
provider of your choice
and for this reason it is very important
to pick a vpn provider that
is as secure and anonymous as possible
and with these requirements your
vpn of choice should be mulvad
as far as i know they are the only one
that is a log
free vpn provider meaning that they
don't really store
any history of what you're doing on
their service uh they don't have a
history of selling user data
and they also have a pay-by-cash option
as well as the ability to
create an account without giving up any
user details
um so you have to be very mindful though
if you're going to
go to this extreme not to mix your
clearnet accounts
meaning accounts that you created on
your own ip address that your isp gives
you
and your vpn accounts uh for example if
you created an account from your real ip
address and then logged into it with
your vpn
when it's connected then those login
details are going to be collected
by the owner of whatever service the
account belongs to you know take
facebook as an example the time of day
and the ip
is going to be collected and now your
real ip address
and personal information that is
connected to that account
can then be connected to this vpn and
all it takes is one server because uh
like mulvade they offer you i think 600
different servers
and they're all going to have different
ip addresses but
you can figure out who an ip address
belongs to
fairly easily you know you can even tell
uh what
isps somebody is using you can tell
whether it belongs to a vpn you know
this is how
uh online services or online websites
they're able to ban entire ip ranges
like if somebody is just
abusing their platform over and over
again then
they'll ban the entire range of whatever
vpn service they're using or isp they're
using
but the same thing can go for tracking
you down and identifying you
it just takes one slip up one server
that gets connected
to an account made with your real ip
address
and then the whole thing is essentially
compromised they can say hey
you know we know that john smith here he
also uses
mulvad we know that for a fact even
though he paid in cash
and he created it in an anonymous way
without giving up any of his
user details but as long as you avoid
that
and you create the vpn account in an
anonymous way
meaning that you do it over tor and you
mail in
a cash payment option for your account
then
you're going to be good now for
situations where
you truly need to browse anonymously you
should resort to using tor
but again just because you're using tor
doesn't make you completely anonymous
you should also
block javascript as this can be used to
reach
through the three proxy hops of the tor
network and grab your real ip address
as well as hardware info about the
computer that you're using
which could uniquely identify you you
also shouldn't use
any accounts that are created on your
public ip address
especially the ones with your personal
identifiable information
because you've got the same problem as
using it with your vpn
those accounts they can easily link your
personal information
to the tor ip address that's in use at
the time and then track
all of the activity back to you um even
things that go
outside of that particular network like
say you signed into your gmail
over tor and then you go do a bunch of
other stuff with that same ip address
you're the only person in the world that
is probably using that ip address at
that specific time right like it can be
it can really be narrowed down to you
especially because there's not that many
tor users out there
that which is another thing you could do
by the way to increase the effectiveness
of the tor network itself
is to spread this information let other
people know about it because the more
people that are actually using
the tor network the more difficult it is
for any one person to be identified
on it and finally you should really just
avoid
online services that try to track you in
the first place
google facebook twitter they're all
designed to track you
every social media is purposefully
designed to track you
so it's very difficult to actually
create
and use these accounts especially when
they require
a phone number just to verify the
account during sign
up obviously your personal phone number
is going to be out of the question for a
private social media account
but if you all are interested in finding
out how to create
these accounts anonymously that require
phone verification
let me know as the process to do so is a
little convoluted
to really do it correctly and it's
likely going to require
another video on its own there's also
much more to be taken into account to
really protect your online
security like securing your home wi-fi
securing your computers your smartphones
and also how to just surf the internet
without
really revealing your identity so
i've done brief coverage of these
subjects already on my youtube channel
but if you're interested in a deep dive
into all of those subjects
let me know and i'll make another longer
video like this
covering those different subjects but
that's it for this one
really glad you stayed to the end hope
you enjoyed peace out
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