Protecting oneself from surveillance capitalism

As an author I find occasional use of Facebook and Twitter to be useful for “broadcasting” notifications of my new books, open source projects, etc. I also find gmail to be useful for some types of email.

Still, I do like to take a few easy steps to push back a little against the free use of my web behavioral data to profit corporations who I don’t do business with (and those I do):
  • Use ProtonMail as my primary email
  • Use Firefox on my Linux and macOS laptops with individual containers for Google, FaceBook, etc.
  • On iOS devices, favor browsing with private tabs.
  • Use a VPN when I am traveling and when I  need to use public WiFi 
  • Limit use of my gmail address to a backup email and as a junk email address.
  • For online purchases from Amazon, etc. use a secure email service that does not use the contents of your email to market to you and as data to sell to 3rd parties.
  • Frequently delete all cookies from web browsers that you use.
  • Use private browsing windows for routine use of the web
  • Prefer to access the web on an iOS or  Chromebook - probably more secure than a laptop or PC.
  • Logout from web apps like Facebook, LinkedIn, Amazon, Google, Twitter, etc. to avoid active sessions.
  • This takes some time, but on mobile devices, Apple/Windows laptops, etc. turn off tracking on as many apps as possible.

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