Dec 1. Day one of becoming “digitally woke” I decided to start by switching from Google to Duckduckgo. Duckduckgo is a search engine with all the features google has, such as images, videos, news, and maps. The fundamental difference of Duckduckgo is that it does not collect and sell your search data. I would like to add another benefit is that because your search data is not stored each time you search you receive an unbiased result.
Dec 2. I was happy with the new feel of Duckduckgo, so I decided to switch to another browser. Tor was the first and obvious choice. The makers of Tor have a mission of ending the “digital fingerprint” which is a unique series of information on your computer hardware. Tor is not as pretty or smooth as Firefox or Google Chrome, but I think the mission it stands for is worth the switch.
Dec 3. For day three I must go back in time. A little over a year ago I set a Pihole in my house. Pihole is an ad blocker that works on all devices on your internet. It is highly configurable with an administrator portal. The setup is not easy for people with little programing experience. You must buy a Raspberry Pi and configure the software to work as a Pi-hole. My family and I really enjoy having no ads, and it also increases the speed in which websites load.
Dec 4. Day four is still in the past shortly after making the Pi-hole I decided the next step was to setup a household VPN using Open VPN. The setup for the VPN is similar to the Pi-hole and I was able to put it on the same Raspberry Pi. The benefits of having the VPN hosted from my house are that I can access devices on my network from anywhere. The VPN also ads an extra layer of security when accessing my network. Having a VPN also stops your internet service provider for tracking you.
Dec 5. Today I bought five dollars’ worth of bitcoin or 0.00026000 of one coin. Bitcoin is a useful way to take back your privacy from being tracked for purchases online and even at some stores and restaurants. Bitcoin is encrypted end to end on transactions. There are no receipts to track your uses of bitcoin.
Dec 6. I wanted to use a new email service that was encrypted. I did some research and decided to try Protonmail hosted in Switzerland. The service has a mobile app that syncs with the desktop and is user friendly. A great feature of using the service is that Swiss privacy laws cover it. The biggest downside of using the service is that if you lose your password your account is gone if you do not have a recovery email set. The service is similar to any other email, but the user interface is nothing exciting.
Dec 7. Today I decided to do a check on what comes up on me online using OneRep. The service informed me of 17 different websites where my information was available, including where I was from and my phone number. I investigated one of the websites that had my information, it was called social catfish. The website claims to be able to reveal info on people such as usernames, arrest records, previous relationships, and other sensitive information. But once the scan of myself was done it had me under a different last name, and I did not want to pay to see someone else’s information. OneRep claims to remove the information from the websites it finds, but it charges a fee, so I am unsure if it is worth paying for.
Counter-surveillance is a form of protecting oneself from being surveilled. The ways in which I used counter-surveillance to take back my online privacy were Duckduckgo, Tor, Pi-hole, Open VPN, Bitcoin, Protonmail, and OneRep. I used Duckduckgo to stop having my search data collected, used, and sold by Google. I used Tor to erase my digital fingerprint. I made a Pi-hole in order to remove ads while using internet browsers on all devices in my home. I set up Open VPN to stop my internet service provider from tracking me online. I bought Bitcoin to purchase stuff online without a trace. I created a Protonmail account to send encrypted emails. I scanned myself with OneRep to see what information of mine was available online.
My goal in using the aforementioned counter-surveillance techniques was to take a step in gaining back my online privacy. I would also like to spread awareness of what steps you can take to protect our data online. Additionally, I would like to inform readers about the ways that websites, apps, and other services collect, store, and track our data. I believe that we need to take a stand and draw the line on what information is taken, and who can take and see it.
The self-knowledge I gained from taking back my online privacy were: how much data is collected, who collects the data, and how my data is used. After learning of how my data was being taken advantage of I realized that I am not okay with it anymore. I learned of new ways to take back my privacy online. Taking the steps that I did make me feel much more secure in my online activities.
Data becomes valuable information to me when it can be used against me in any way, such as spam callers contacting me, or my phone location being used to track me. It is under uses like those that it can be manipulated to cause impacts on society. Data is also valuable in predicting the behavior of different groups of people. This can have negative side effects, especially when used in terms of race, gender, or country of origin.
If I were to have my own terms of service, they would allow for less data collection. I would allow for data to be collected that is anonymous, meaning that the data could be collected but not linked back to me. The data would be for purposes of improving services related to the data, such as improving algorithms. I also would like for the data to not be stored for more than thirty days. I also am not okay with information on my computer’s hardware being collected such as monitor sizer, or what video card is installed. Additionally, I would like the data to be encrypted end to end when being collected so it is not subject to an outsider attack while data is transferring. I am okay with my data being collected so long as it meets these terms and has a benefit for the website or service that is useful to the community and myself. These are my five rules for equity and fairness when it comes to data sharing.
I have become a big fan of Duckduckgo, I installed their additional browser extension for Firefox. Overall, I think the community that uses Duckduckgo is fed up with Google and other companies that collect and use their data. Duckduckgo is unbiased, and in my opinion that provides greater search results.
I will not use Tor as my daily browser just because it lacks some features of Firefox that I have grown used to. I like the goal of Tor to reduce and eliminate digital fingerprints. I also like how it is open source and transmits your privacy thought the community. The idea of Tor is very appealing to have an anonymous internet, but it is honestly unpractical for daily use.
I cannot express in words how happy I have been with my Pi-hole. The community is regularly active on Reddit and you can get responses to any questions within hours. I have been working on computers for years. I had done some work on Raspberry Pis before, but this was by far the most user-friendly installation I had ever done. I did what is referred to as a headless installation, meaning I did not connect the pi to a monitor, instead I remoted into it from my computer. The whole process took under thirty minutes, I have had to do little updating to the list of sources to block from and there are lists you can copy online.
Open VPN was extremely useful until I moved, and my configuration no longer worked. I liked being able to remote into my network and use my devices from anywhere. I connected to it if wanted to connect to unsecure Wi-Fi and not have them see my data.
My bitcoin will fluctuate in value and likely increase after a while. I look forward to spending my bitcoin in the future anonymously. I think the way how algorithms make the transactions happen is incredibly unique and interesting.
Protonmail is a service that I believe could be developed to become a main source of email. The Swiss take their online privacy seriously, and since Protonmail is hosted in Switzerland you benefit from their privacy laws.
OneRep is a website that looks online based on your name and location to what pops up online about you and what websites that information is available. I was not happy with the idea of paying them to remove data that I could not see, and I would not recommend using their services.
My findings from the group reflection are that we used similar strategies of taking back our online privacy. Michael, Harrison, and I all used Duckduckgo which is a great tool for taking back online privacy.