Privacy is about control and to decide who sees your information, when, and for what purpose. You expose yourself to concrete risks such as cybercriminals exploiting leaked data for identity/financial fraud, companies building invasive profiles for advertising and governments/employers/family using person information against you.

You have a right to exist online without unwanted intrusions, including control over what content or contact reaches you.

These are some ways I try to keep my online life private. I thought I’d share them with you.

Let me be upfront and transparent with you: some of the links below are affiliate links. If you sign up with Proton services, I get a credit to my account.

I do not use Chrome or Edge. I use privacy-hardened options such as Firefox, Vivaldi. Mullvad Browser or Brave in conjunction with a VPN with a kill switch enabled. Use ad blocking extensions that are well documented and trusted (like uBlock Origin with Firefox). I use Privacy Badger by the leading digital rights nonprofit EFF to stop companies from spying on me.

Do not use free VPNs! They very likely monetise your data. I have used Mullvad in the past, but currently use Proton. Proton has a very generous free tier for you to use.

I avoid connecting to any public Wi-Fi networks for most of my web browsing and definitely do not use a public Wi-Fi to do banking or shopping. If I connect to a public wifi network, I use a VPN.

I use end-to-end encrypted email such as Proton Mail instead of Gmail. Also, in relation to emails, remain skeptical of any unsolicited requests for personal information.

I keep my laptop’s and phone’s operating system, apps, and firmware updated to close any known security holes. I regularly review app permissions and revoke access to my location, camera, or microphone for apps that don’t need them.

I have switched to encrypted messaging for sensitive conversations. I use Signal for this reason.

I use a password manager so I can use a strong, unique password for any website I go to.