[Ta3m-Seattle] A question about protecting digital privacy

[Andrew Kane]

On 11/20/2017 03:06 PM, Jigna Kotecha wrote:
> Hello everyone,
> 
> I'm a grad student at UW, working on a project to find
> innovations/practices/methods to protect digital privacy>
> I'm concerned about my digital footprints from being misused for
> marketing, stalking, abuse, doxing. And I want to take precautionary
> measures to hide/protect my footprints. I am looking for methods that
> are suited for people who are situationally disadvantaged, who cannot
> totally opt out of social media and who also lack technical expertise.

I recommend EFF's Surveillance Self Defense as a good place to start:
https://ssd.eff.org/

I also urge people to divest from Facebook, from Twitter and from
Google. This does not mean "totally opting out" of social media, but
withdrawing from those companies who have demonstrated a willingness to
monetize, and in some cases weaponize, user data they should not have
collected in the first place.

I also recommend ditching software that is owned and controlled by a
single company or entity and using freedom-preserving open-source
software. Alternatives exist.

Use of Tor Browser is a good first step that requires little effort or
learning: https://www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser.html

If you have money, EFF and the Tor Project need it and would put it to
good use IMO. I am not affiliated with either project.