Maybe it’s just me, but the state of the world has me thinking more about data privacy than ever before. I always knew I had to be mindful about my online activity, but now it’s constantly on my mind—and even on my Instagram feed. It all started when I saw a post about how data from Strava was used to identify the locations of active military bases and operational routines. That led me down the rabbit hole of the latest #StravaLeaks, where Le Monde uncovered the location of the Charles de Gaulle, a French nuclear-capable submarine, based on one personnel's running data. Then there was the case of a Russian commander allegedly shot during his jog after posting his route on the app.
Now, Strava is just a fitness app on our phones. I’m sure none of us think twice before installing it, especially regarding privacy. But it really shows how intertwined our data is and how easily it can be accessed. So, I started looking for privacy-aware alternatives for the things I spend most of my time doing. Here are some of the major areas I focused on:
Surfing the Web
In a recent report, SurfShark analyzed how data-hungry popular browsers are. Unsurprisingly, Google Chrome topped the list as the most data hungry, while Brave and Tor came out as the least. Similarly, for search engines, Google was less privacy-aware compared to options like DuckDuckGo and Brave. I already use a combination of Firefox and Brave with DuckDuckGo as my search engine, so I didn’t have to shift anything there. And ofcourse, regardless of the browser you use, you can always secure it further by tweaking your settings.
De-Googling
I’ve noticed a rising trend of people trying to 'de-Google' their lives, which is essentially replacing Google Drive, Maps, Mail, and other services with alternatives. If you’re interested, the r/degoogle subreddit is a great place to start exploring.
Apps
Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I checked app permissions or their data practices before installing something. But, I've recently found out that even children's games like Talking Tom are a privacy nightmare. While reading every term and condition isn’t realistic, the easiest step is to always turn off cross-app tracking and limit permissions. Why does YouTube need access to my photos if I don't post anything anyways.
AI Training Data
There’s not much to explain here: I don’t want my poorly written code or casual text used to train AI models. There are so many examples I could include here, right from Linkedin, Github to games like Pokemon Go. I usually opt-out from this if I get a notification or sometimes, going through your settings can help you here again.
Meeting Apps
Well color me surprised when I got to know that meeting apps like Zoom or Teams do not enable end-to-end cryption for calls by default. You actually have to switch it on manually. I get that some features, like call recording, don’t work with encryption enabled, but I don’t need to record every call anyway. Shouldn’t this be the default setting?
Coincidentally, the day I was looking into this, I had Zoom open when I received a WhatsApp call. Guess what popped up?
Why would I need Zoom to take notes of my Whatsapp call where I was listening to my friend talk about her bad dating choices is beyond me.
General Tips for Better Privacy
Beyond the big categories, here are some common suggestions (and well-known) I’ve gathered:
- Using password managers and multi-factor authentication.
- Not accepting all cookies or enabling notifications from random sites.
- Asking apps not to track info from other sites/apps.
- Using dummy emails or aliasing features to hide your real address.
- Keep reviewing your app settings regularly.
- Use VPN when connected to Public WiFi or in general.
- Using containers or separate profiles to keep searches categorised.
- Double checking URLs.
What I Personally Do
On top of those, I personally:
- Do not grant global permissions to browser extensions.
- Do not share my usage analytics.
- Do not sign into a website or a product unless I really need to.
- Delete my data from apps I no longer use.
- Try to copy 'clean-link' to remove any tracking parameters where possible.
- Enable 'Ask where to downlaod' in my browser so that I get notified whenever a file is being downloaded. (And it helps manage my already cluttered folders)
Does This Ensure My Privacy?
Naturally, my next question was: Does doing all of this guarantee privacy? The short answer is no. There are shadow profiles tracking people who don’t even use social media. What if you’re in the background of a random vlog? What if sharing your data reveals your contacts too?
The point of this isn't to be preachy. All the above are general suggestions, and privacy doesn’t look the same for everyone. What works for me doesn't work someone else. It always comes with a trade-off—either with security or convenience. We can't argue about privacy if we are required to use our work systems where data is collected for security and legal compliance. We also can't live like a nomad, with an old Nokia, because that means giving up on the convenience of life we are used to right now. So the only way is to be mindful, aware and find out what works for you.
[1] https://www.mapulus.com/blog/strava-fitness-tracker-military-secrets-location-data
[2] https://apnews.com/article/france-aircraft-carrier-sailor-sports-app-location-acbd3595a2317c2b8068dc42082c3d51
[3] https://www.kyivpost.com/post/19325
[4] https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tQCdd1DjJ5gDzDypZzlBAsr4ma9Dnbq5OOoqoQM4aVQ/edit?gid=1612375941#gid=1612375941
[5] https://www.reddit.com/r/degoogle/wiki/index/
- Written by Brahmani Nutakki
