How to protect your privacy while still retaining function of your phone?

drunkmonkey

Has any one this fully figured out?

Example, you Google how to convert mm to meters go to a calculator online and do your conversion, the following day you get an email from Amazon advertising rulers and tape measures.

srsly78

Stop using google for starters. Set duckduckgo as default.

Also use adblock everywhere.

73bc61lyohr0mu

Unlock the bootloader, install a custom ROM like Lineage OS and don't install any Google services. A lot of apps won't work without Google services but if you want total privacy its one way to go.. I had it for a while and it was fine. I don't use social media so apps like Telegram and WhatsApp worked fine for me.

oLoonatic

You can, but you have to go to extraordinary lengths.

Dont buy smartphone is the first one or else, Use duckduckgo as suggested. Use temp emails. Turn location off. Dont use social media. Use fake data when setting up your phone (playstore etc) Restrict all access to apps.

In this day and age its almost impossible to stay off the grid.

ThatGuyThere

Ad blockers are the way forward! I always struggle to believe everyone doesn't use them!
When I load a page on a stock browser I double take at the ads, it's like that movie Idiocracy.. That's only what you can see, not accounting for all the trackers in the background.

The latest android versions though, the snitchiest OS versions ever! So much info shared between apps etc. The only real privacy is not using the service, like flashing a different OS or using a dumb phone buried deep in a drawer somewhere with some remaining battery life intact.

cnocbui

Don't use chrome, use Firefox with ad blockers, use DuckDuck go as your search engine - make it the default.

Don't use Google anything, use alternatives.

Never have location services on, except when you need to use GPS for something. Don't use assisted GPS, it tells Google where you are because of the WiFi spots it can detect. I don't have the latest Android OS, but in 7, you can go settings->connections->location and then there's a long list of Google location options - go into each of those and select the f/off google options.

Don't use Google maps - download HERE and then download the offline maps for the countries you need and use that instead. I find the satellite imagery it uses to be better than Googles. For full-on paranoia, you can put your phone in airplane mode before turning on GPS, then turn it on. HERE still works like a charm because it uses offline maps. It's so clever it even caches the satellite imagery for an area, so if you look up a location while on home WiFi and load the satellite view, then drive there and use it again, but offline, the WiFi loaded satellite view will still be available.

Log into google and check what location and other data they store about you and delete it all.

Cyclepath

For absolute privacy you need a situation where your real name cannot be linked to a SIM/mobile number. So, this depends on getting a SIM without giving away your true identity, which usually means a PAYG SIM, which of course you can never top up using a bank card...

You should also buy your phone anonymously for cash from a Moore St shop so that the MAC address/IMEI number can't be traced to you.

Also, your location should not give away your identity. This means never using location services near your home and switching off cellular signalling near your home (you can be triangulated to a smallish area just using the GSM signal).

At home, and while travelling anywhere that offers wifi, you could use a privacy based device like an Invizbox Go (check them out, they're an Irish startup - highly respected in the industry). This will anonymize your identity and traffic via VPN/Geo spoofing, and Tor browsing if that interests you.

In any case it's incredibly difficult (by design) to enjoy a smartphone anonymously. All you can do is reduce the amount of information you give to The Man.

There's also a school of thought that you can and should flood your footprint with false and misleading data with random searches for completely unrelated crap like stamp collecting and fetish wear...

drunkmonkey

srsly78 wrote: »

Also use adblock everywhere.

I don't want them to get my data in the first place blocking the ad is only hiding the ad, I don't mind if I get adverts for beauty saloons in blarney, I just don't want companies passing my data from one to the other and then targeting me.
Like the example above, Google got the data obviously sold it to someone else and it ended up with Amazon and god only knows where else. I didn't click on any other weblink just used the Google measurement calculator and suddenly i'm spammed by Amazon to buy a tape measure.

I haven't an issue with location services as I use them to find my phone etc. It's taking anything I type into Google and them it being passed around and then being aimed directly back to me in the case of Google and Amazon. There sharing my personal details with each other through my accounts.

Riesen_Meal

drunkmonkey wrote: »

I don't want them to get my data in the first place blocking the ad is only hiding the ad, I don't mind if I get adverts for beauty saloons in blarney, I just don't want companies passing my data from one to the other and then targeting me.
Like the example above, Google got the data obviously sold it to someone else and it ended up with Amazon and god only knows where else. I didn't click on any other weblink just used the Google measurement calculator and suddenly i'm spammed by Amazon to buy a tape measure.

I haven't an issue with location services as I use them to find my phone etc. It's taking anything I type into Google and them it being passed around and then being aimed directly back to me in the case of Google and Amazon. There sharing my personal details with each other through my accounts.

I think you need to buy an iPhone drunkmonkey if you want absolute privacy, but once you install a Google app I'd say it is out the window from there!

Or as others mentioned above, flash your phone with a custom ROM like Lineage and do not install Google services to it....

cnocbui

So don't use Google.

cnocbui

Fieldog wrote: »

I think you need to buy an iPhone drunkmonkey if you want absolute privacy, but once you install a Google app I'd say it is out the window from there!

Or as others mentioned above, flash your phone with a custom ROM like Lineage and do not install Google services to it....

You are kidding yourself. IOS doesn't allow any web browser that's not Safari at it's core and that doesn't allow ad blocking because Apple sells ads. Remember how Apple was passing on Siri recordings to a third party?

Remember Jeff Beezos of Amazon, who had his very personal pics leaked, exposing his affair and leading to the most expensive divorce settlement in history? All because he used an iPhone, which was hacked, and because he bought into that whole relentless security and privacy line Apple sells. The irony is that if he'd used a Samsung phone with Knox and used the Secure Folder security feature, he wouldn't have been hacked in the first place.

Riesen_Meal

cnocbui wrote: »

You are kidding yourself. IOS doesn't allow any web browser that's not Safari at it's core and that doesn't allow ad blocking because Apple sells ads. Remember how Apple was passing on Siri recordings to a third party?

Remember Jeff Beezos of Amazon, who had his very personal pics leaked, exposing his affair and leading to the most expensive divorce settlement in history? All because he used an iPhone, which was hacked, and because he bought into that whole relentless security and privacy line Apple sells. The irony is that if he'd used a Samsung phone with Knox and used the Secure Folder security feature, he wouldn't have been hacked in the first place.

I genuinely didn't know apple sold ads, and nor did I know about Mr Bezos, everyone rattles on about Apple's supposed "privacy" and it obviously rubbed off on me!

The only Apple products I use is a MB Air for music stuff, and of course I use Chrome on it so my privacy is probably out the window with it also...

No nudie pics for me though :P

I'd say flash the phone with Lineage then so...