Security on the Web

This page documents what I personally do to guard my privacy online. There are many guides like this one out there—some good, some bad—but most are unread or disregarded. This guide—which is specific to desktops—is not meant to be exhaustive in any way. Rather, you should consider this to be a bare minimum in terms of privacy. I have avoided screenshots of anything, as these can quickly become dated. Breathless article, yes, we know that, here's what you can do:

Welcome to the Block Party

Spock We'll look at some suggestions (or replacements) in the areas of browser choice, search, tracking, advertising, and encryption. This guide can be approached piecewise; in other words, just choose what is compatible with your personal needs.

Use Firefox

Consider replacing your current browser with Firefox. I will put my trust in a non-profit (as opposed to a multinational corporation) until wisdom changes.

Firefox: Privacy & Security

Go to Preferences (or Options) --> Privacy & Security. Select either Standard or Strict. (Aside: the extension Disconnect.me is meshed into Firefox.) Next, under "Do Not Track", select Always. The rest of the options you can configure as you see fit.

Replace Google with DuckDuckGo

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Block Targeted Advertising

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ABP filters
Adblock Warning Removal List
EasyList
EasyPrivacy
Fanboy's Social Blocking List

Stop Trackers

Firefox, like many browsers, can be configured to to send "Do Not Track" signals to the sites that you visit. Honoring this signal, however, is voluntary, and most sites choose to ignore it. Vox explains:

There currently is no consensus among industry participants as to what "Do Not Track" means in this context. Therefore, like many websites and online services, the Services do not alter their practices when they receive a "Do Not Track" signal from a visitor's browser. To find out more about "Do Not Track," please visit All About Do Not Track.

So, the meaning of "Do Not Track" is unclear. One would think, down here on planet Earth, that "Do Not Track" means do not track. Anyway, let's fix this.

If you would like learn more about how one form of tracking works, please see the excellent article How tracking pixels work.

Encrypt Everything

Safeguard Your Privacy

Shields Up

Hide Your Location

You will want to disable this tool when doing any commerce (e.g., shopping, banking, etc.) since the site will need to know your actual location.

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