Of course, everyone should be concerned about their online privacy. However, I do believe that some take that concern to extremes, almost to the point of paranoia.
Windows Privacy
Remember the furor over telemetry when Windows 10 was first released, with conspiracy theories aplenty and comments such as “Windows 10 is spyware” common? I said at the time that the majority of telemetry (data collection) was necessary to enhance the experience for users travelling with a laptop, and those users running a desktop PC that never leaves home could very easily disable all that additional telemetry.
Windows has always included a certain amount of telemetry (since Windows 7), the sort of anonymous telemetry that lets Microsoft learn and analyze user habits, but when Microsoft decided to take on the mobile market with Windows 8 and beyond, the amount of telemetry was increased out of necessity.
Take Location Services for example; if you’re travelling and stop for the night in an unfamiliar town, you can’t expect your Windows laptop to let you know where the nearest pizza shop is if it doesn’t know where you are.
Not only did the amount of telemetry increase, but when Microsoft did the right thing by providing settings to disable much of it, that also inadvertently made it far more apparent.
The bottom line is, the Windows 10 that was once maligned as being spyware is now one of the most popular Windows operating systems ever. We are a fickle lot!
Browser Privacy
The browser is one component that I firmly believe should be as private as humanly possible. Your browser divulges multiple snippets of information about yourself and your system that can easily be used to form a unique “fingerprint” to follow your activities around the web.
At the time of writing, Brave is the only browser that includes an effective anti-fingerprinting feature. Brave’s built-in shields also automatically block third-party ads, trackers, cross-site cookies, and phishing attempts.
For ages I was a dedicated Firefox user but converted when Brave was released. I occasionally use Edge, but I would never use Google’s Chrome, and it amuses me no end how it can be the most popular browser on the planet.
Cloud Storage Privacy
Cloud storage is another area where users tend to voice privacy concerns. In my opinion, those concerns are largely unfounded. No, cloud storage services do not read your documents, nor do they look at your photos. And, if you have those sorts of concerns, the solution is a simple one – encrypt your data before uploading.
On a final note, there is one aspect of online privacy that does concern me, and that is with data over which we have no control. You would be amazed at just how many organizations have your personal data stored in their databases, the very same databases that we are continually reading about being hacked, with millions (and even billions) of personal information compromised.
I would like to see all governments legislate for punitive measures against any organization that doesn’t properly secure its user database.
BOTTOM LINE:
It’s prudent to be concerned over online privacy, but please don’t let paranoia spoil your experience. If you disable all non-essential Windows telemetry, use a privacy-centric browser, and treat everything with a good dose of caution, there is nothing to be overly concerned about.
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What is your opinion of the DuckDuckGo Browser?
Hey Dick,
DuckDuckGo is a very good choice for privacy, probably second only to Brave. It includes strong tracking prevention but, alas, no anti-fingerprinting measures. That said, none of the other mainstream browsers, except for Brave, include an anti-fingerprinting feature either.
One minor concern from the past is when DuckDuckGo got caught allowing Microsoft trackers as part of a deal to gain access to Bing search results. DuckDuckGo stopped allowing Microsoft trackers as soon as the situation was made public, but it is a concern to me that DuckDuckGo only acted to fix the problem after it had been revealed.
That ‘fingerprint’ that you refer to is certainly a powerful tool in the right hands.
My way to solve it is don’t have accounts with anyone. So I either pay cash across the counter in person or I’ll pay the bill over the net right there on the spot using a generic payment method of which I use two.
Keeping life as simple as possible seems to be the only way out these days.
I just looked up my recent search history and discovered I’ve been online 5times in as many months. So that means I’ve only been online in the outside world and visible to possible scammers 5times in 5mths.
I really think they would just give me the flick as being not worth the effort.
The only constant bills I have now are my govt bills like rates, car rego and licence. I pay my rates over the counter usually with cash. My car rego and licence I can also do with cash as there is a govt office in town.
They know my address anyway so I can’t escape that.
But I’m slowly withdrawing from the net.
. All good!
Hey Charlie,
A browser fingerprint has nothing to do with accounts. With every website the user visits the browser reveals multiple snippets of information about the browser, the device, operating system, and peripherals, which can then be used to form a unique identifier (fingerprint) to track the user’s online activity.
I hope that clarifies.
A useful test of a browser’s protection against tracking and fingerprinting is Cover Your Tracks from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Yes AJ, we’ve written about Cover Your Tracks many times:
https://davescomputertips.com/the-threat-of-browser-fingerprinting/
IMHO, two additional browsers that offers superior privacy and security out of the box, like Brave, are LibreWolf (essentially a privacy-enhanced version of Firefox, with telemetry disabled and privacy settings preconfigured); it is regularly updated and comes as both installed and portable versions (like Brave), and the Floorp browser (another privacy-enhanced version of Firefox in both an installed and portable version, though less frequently updated).
As Firefox derivatives, all Mozilla extensions (addons) are available for both.
I agree with you on LibreWolf but would not recommend Floorp which doesn’t pass muster through Cover Your Tracks.
Neither includes any sort of anti-fingerprinting measures, but that’s not unusual. As I’ve pointed out, Brave is the only browser that includes an effective anti-fingerprinting feature.
That’s an interesting result for your version of Floorp, Jim.
Here are the results for mine:
Our tests indicate that you have you have strong protection against Web tracking.
Is your browser:
Blocking tracking ads? Yes
Blocking invisible trackers? Yes
Protecting you from fingerprinting? Yes
Perhaps this is a function of my extensions.
Hey AJ,
This was with the latest portable Floorp edition with zero extensions.
Cover Your Tracks reports:
Our tests indicate that you have some protection against Web tracking, but it has some gaps
Blocking tracking ads = Partial protection
Blocking invisible trackers = Partial protection
Protecting you from fingerprinting = Your browser has a unique fingerprint
A unique fingerprint is not good.
You might have a broad content blocker extension, such as uBlock Origin, installed. Or perhaps an anti-tracking extension, such as Privacy Bader. These types of extensions will definitely harden up a browser’s protections.
You do realize AJ that browser extensions do elevate the risk of browser fingerprinting? The more extensions one has installed the easier it is for third-parties to create a unique fingerprint and track one’s online activity.
Hi Jim,
Thanks for your reply.
My Floorp is also the portable version (all of my browsers are: Brave, Firefox ESR, Floorp, LibreWolf & Ungoogled Chromium).
Appreciate the heads-up on extensions (which I believe you’ve discussed previuosly), but overall security is more important to me than fingerprinting. Plus I employ the Quad9 DNS with Malware Blocking & DNSSEC Validation on all browsers, as well as the computer itself, and NordVPN if needed.
Cheers.