BigTechBlows Jul 8, 2023

What have you done lately to increase your privacy?

https://mander.xyz/post/1054063

What have you done lately to increase your privacy? - Mander

In the last week: I started using Syncthing. I was using cloud storage as a way of copying files from one device to another. Syncthing is so much better. I signed up with Mullvad VPN yesterday. Deleted my Surfshark account today which I signed up with over two years ago when I didn’t care about privacy. Finally convinced my sister to start using Signal.

Show threadneuromancerJul 8, 2023
I stopped using Reddit
Show threadMane25Jul 8, 2023

Was that a privacy concern?

I mean fuck Reddit, but with tracking blocked was it ever more of a concern than other websites?

Show threadneuromancer
Reddit is collecting users data, there is a lot of data from your Reddit history linked to your Reddit account.
Jul 8, 2023 at 8:58pmWeb
Show threadMane25Jul 8, 2023
Is that posting history or more than that? Because stuff that I’ve posted in a public forum is for public consumption, same as on here. If there’s underhanded tracking involved for things I do outside of Reddit that’s more concerning, but back when I signed up to Reddit it didn’t even need an email address, my Reddit account could have just been a fictional character for all Reddit knows.
Show threadneuromancerJul 8, 2023

A lot of the ad tech profiling is based on your interests, because it can be used to predict your purchase intent, e.g. if you are active in video game subreddits there is a high chance you are willing to buy video games.

Your Reddit history has a lot of information that can be used for targeting ads, and you can don’t know who Reddit is sharing it with or how it’s used.

You can use a VPN, fake email, block cookies, etc., but the only reason you have to do all this is that they are collecting data.

Show threadMane25Jul 8, 2023
I understand that, and that’s why I block ad servers, but the subreddits I’m active on is also something I’ve shared publicly, albeit under a pseudonym, I kind of think of that as fair game for algorithms to analyse because it’s done in public. Good luck to them showing me ads because I’ve not seen an ad on the internet since the early 00s. Sneaky tracking of activity off of Reddit is another matter.
Show threadRevan343Jul 8, 2023

I would assume IP address, browser fingerprint, and handle if you reuse it are all being tracked between sessions, even assuming no tracking cookies.

Obviously some of these are more trackable than others, but there’s the risk of re-establishing identity between sessions-- say if your user-agent resets when you close your browser, but you sign in to a sight that keeps track of you and shares it.

I very lax about opsec places like here or Reddit, my username is enough for you to find my city without much effort, and almost certainly find me in person with significant effort, and is certainly an easy start for trying to find me elsewhere online. My main defense there is that my password is different across every site, but many people aren’t even that careful, and that’s like the barest level of careful