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Ask HN: How do you reduce your online risk profile?

4 points by lighthammer ↗ HN
Looking to minimize privacy concerns in every day life from tech use. I see videos online about users switching to dumb phones and eliminating iOS/Android, using NAS for their on-premise storage or USB drives, using Linux vs Windows/Apple, and essentially reducing the dependency and exposure to 3P companies.

Was curious what others are doing if embarking on this route? My goal for asking is to establish a good baseline for making any changes whether retro tech that is still functional, single use devices, etc.

5 comments

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lulzury
I went down this road and it's mostly a lose-lose situation at the moment. There's just too many things to consider.

My personal and most practical take:

(1) install an adblocker, and if you have the energy:

(2) message your representatives asking for stronger privacy protections

mtmail
I learned (recent Tales-from-the-darknet podcast episode) some people use iPhone Touch and now iPads instead of phones to avoid SIM card swapping(?) attacks. So all calls via VOIP or other apps. It apparently also makes it harder to track the device because an attacker can't rely on cell tower information.
worik
* Use Firefox as browser

* install UblockOrigin

* Use tor for a lot of things

* Use cookie cleaners

* Do not use Google for anything

I never see ads following me.

fsflover
Use Qubes OS as a daily driver. Open websites in a disposable, self-destroying VM, which is based on Whonix.
sumsome
0. pihole, firewall, filter non-marketing shit you don't want to read about. 1. ubo is ok, uMatrix is better. takes time though 2. Get rid of all the big players' software, Firefox is one of them 3. You need your own proxies. Tor is a must for a lot of things 4. when it comes to hardware, nothing established, best not to have bluetooth devices when you are in cities or commuting on trains, buses and so on 5. the dumber the phone the better, always unbloat, be in control of automation and init systems, control what happens after restarts and updates. 6. don't use saas. never use saas. if you can, check out the data sets they collect. 7. have an air tight system for a diverse range of use cases, like re-installing stuff 8. obfuscation, not just your fingerprint but your entire life. have two or three. get some bots, let them run weird shit on your networks. 9. if your place and time and social circle allow it, build your own physical networks. 10. the byte streams relevant data can be packed into are really tiny, your bluteooth, the connection to your cell tower, your m1 or snapdragon going brrr for a tiny fraction of time can tell whole stories

but that's waaaay too much to just keep the ads away. just don't look