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VPN providers do not protect your privacy online. Here's what you can do:

TechBrunchBy TechBrunchSeptember 30, 20248 Mins Read
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If you've heard that a VPN provider can help protect your online privacy and security, don't believe the hype. The truth is, most people don't actually need a VPN.

By concentrating all internet traffic on their servers, VPN providers are able to protect against the very privacy risks they claim to help protect against, such as having your internet browsing records stolen by cybercriminals or obtained by legal authorities. Exposing your customers.

So, if you think you need a VPN, we'll show you how to set up your own private, encrypted VPN server.

Even if the majority of people don't need to use a VPN, there are still simple and effective ways to reduce the data trail left behind while browsing the web. These methods include using simple tools in your browser that can automatically prevent online trackers from collecting information about you in the first place, and encrypting your web browsing traffic so that you can easily access the sites you visit and This includes making it more difficult for others to view the Service. .

There is no one-size-fits-all solution or panacea for absolute privacy. Instead, all of these simple steps can provide you with additional meaningful privacy when using the web. Here's how.

Install and use an ad blocker

Love it or hate it, ad blockers are an important security and privacy defense for online users. Even the FBI recommends the use of ad blockers, given the rise in scams, fraud, and malicious ads used to distribute malware and spyware.

Ad blockers are web browser extensions that automatically prevent ads from loading on websites and search results. The obvious benefit is a better visual browsing experience, but ad blockers also stop your browser from loading the underlying tracking code that ads rely on to collect information about you. Blocking the code prevents advertising companies from tracking the websites you visit as you browse the web, allowing advertising and technology companies to infer your preferences and interests and monetize your browsing data. It becomes more difficult. (Of course, you can temporarily turn off your ad blocker on any website at any time.)

Using ad blockers is the most effective way to prevent most online tracking by making it more difficult for advertising companies and tech giants to know which websites you visit when you browse the web. One of the.

Screenshot showing that the AdBlock browser extension in your web browser is active and blocking ads on the search page.Ad blockers prevent ads and their privacy-invasive tracking code from being loaded on websites and search results. Image credit: TechCrunch (screenshot)

One of the best low memory ad blockers for web browsers is uBlock Origin. It works with most modern browsers, and its code is open source (anyone can look at the source code to see if it's safe to use). AdGuard also has open source ad blockers for various devices and platforms. Before installing, make sure to download from a trusted and verified source, such as the official page.

Once you've set up your ad blocker, you can use a tool called Cover Your Tracks from the online rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation to stress test your browser's anti-tracking defenses and tell you what you can do to improve them. Masu. This another online open source tool makes it easy to test ad blockers on any device.

Use an encrypted DNS provider

Almost every website on the Internet today can be delivered to your browser over an encrypted connection (known as HTTPS). This prevents anyone else on the internet from seeing what loads on your screen or tampering with it before it gets there.

However, because of the way the Internet essentially works and routes information around the world (through a public, global system called DNS), DNS traffic has historically been largely unencrypted, meaning that the specific web sites you visit You can keep a record of your site.

In most cases, unencrypted DNS traffic (which can reveal the websites you're visiting and the apps you're using) typically goes through your internet provider. Internet providers, like advertisers and big tech companies, can monetize and sell that data or create personal information. Available upon request to legal authorities.

Switching to an encrypted DNS service is very quick and easy, with immediate results.

Some browsers (such as Chrome and Firefox) started encrypting DNS traffic by default in 2020, using encrypted DNS providers such as Cloudflare and NextDNS to handle DNS traffic instead of your local internet provider. We have long had the option to do so.

You should be aware of how long your provider will keep your information. Some of the larger DNS providers offer reasonable security and privacy guarantees. Additionally, if your DNS provider goes down temporarily, your internet activity will be affected until the issue is resolved or you switch DNS providers. This is also why choosing a trusted DNS provider is helpful.

By changing DNS in your device settings, you can ensure that all DNS traffic on your device is encrypted, not just your browser settings. If you want to make encrypted DNS available to all devices on your home network, you can also change the DNS settings on your network router.

Multi-hop services like Apple Private Relay have privacy benefits

The main problem with VPNs is that you have to trust that a single provider won't sell or snoop on your data, or give it to someone who will sell or snoop on it. Starting in 2021, Apple has enabled paying customers to maintain more privacy online through a “multihop” service called iCloud Private Relay. The service sends your encrypted Internet traffic through two separate Internet relays (or “hops”). It is not operated by Apple.

iCloud Private Relay uses two separate Internet relays to route your traffic, so neither Internet relay, including Apple, can see or analyze your Internet traffic. This also means that your information cannot be retrieved from a single Internet relay, even if you request law enforcement to do so. Instead, you need to request data from both relays. Apple's partners, such as Cloudflare, help provide multihop relay services.

Screenshot showing the iCloud Private Relay settings menu. Some of them look like this: "Private Relay hides your IP address and browsing activity in Safari and protects your unencrypted internet traffic so everyone, including Apple, knows who you are and what sites you visit. I can't."iCloud Private Relay hides your browsing activity in Safari and other apps to prevent prying eyes on your web traffic. Image credit: TechCrunch (screenshot)

iCloud Private Relay helps protect both web and app traffic on Apple devices and is available to Apple customers who pay for Apple's premium iCloud+ service. iCloud Private Relay is not available in all regions, such as China and Russia, where Internet freedom is severely restricted.

Services like iCloud Private Relay have some privacy benefits, but be wary of disreputable providers that claim to offer multihop services or make other claims that cannot be independently verified.

Tor is the gold standard for online anonymity

No matter where you are in the world, using Tor is one of the universally best tools for allowing users to circumvent censorship and surf the web freely while avoiding surveillance.

For some, Tor is synonymous with “dark web,” and some automatically (and mistakenly) confuse it with criminality. In fact, Tor is a privacy tool used every day by journalists, researchers, activists, and anyone else who wants to browse the web with a high degree of privacy and anonymity.

You may want to browse the web anonymously for some reason, and this includes searching the web without wanting search engines (or anyone else) to connect to your search results, browsing news websites, This includes simply accessing news sites or resources that are prohibited by news sites or news sites. Government or local government.

Screenshot of the BBC News website loaded in the Tor browser from the .onion domain, which can only be accessed using Tor.BBC News website accessible through the Tor browser. There's no need to be afraid of the dark web. Image credit: TechCrunch (screenshot)

Rather than relaying data through a single virtual tunnel (such as a VPN) or two separate relays (such as a multihop service), Tor encrypts a user's Internet traffic and uses thousands of servers installed around it. It works by routing multiple times through the thing server. world. In this way, your Internet traffic is protected from other users on your network and from the regular Internet. As a result, using Tor is often slower than the regular Internet, and it is not designed to be used to access high-bandwidth services such as music or video streaming.

Most people use Tor by downloading and running the Tor browser, a custom version of Firefox. The Tor browser privately routes everything that happens in your browser window through the Tor network. Other implementations of Tor are also available, including mobile apps.



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