My fear is that special AI systems will appear that will analyze every message I send and every action on my device.
What skills should I have? What Linux knowledge should I have? What should I know about routers and how the Internet works, VPN, and so on?
I’m still on Windows, and it’s starting to scare me. I just found out that the system records almost everything I do and sends the data to servers. And someone also told me that if I want an anonymous system, I have to figure it out myself, completely.
before learning all the new tools like Linux distros, vpns, compartmentalization, offline storage, security…etc.
You better start controlling the apps/services you are using NOW !
Youtube, Gmail, Facebook, X, Maps…etc. all has shit tons of data about you. Limit what they can use. Dont give your info out easily (main email account).
For anything like this, start with your threat model. Are you trying to protect yourself from Microsoft, from your ISP, from the Ad agencies, or from the government? Depending on which you’re most worried about it will change the actions you’d need to take pretty drastically.
Trying to chase “maximum” anonymity without deciding who you are anonymous to is too vague.
It sounds like you’re at least worried about Microsoft though. At minimum, turn off all the settings you reasonably can to limit what is collected about you. “Windows Privacy Dashboard” used to be a good third party app that made that easy, not sure if it’s still relevant (it’s been a few years for me).
Next level of effort would probably be switching to Linux. Realistically any distribution would be loads better than Windows for privacy.
Using a VPN stops your ISP from seeing (most of) your behavior online, but the VPN company would see it instead, so it’s just trading one adversary for another if you’re focused on privacy. (Not saying it’s useless, but it’s not the panacea that people make it out to be.)
Next most beneficial step would probably be moving your data (emails, photo backups, chat messages, etc) to trustworthy locations.
Anything beyond that depends on who you’re protecting yourself from.
Maximum anonymity would be to fake your death and go live in a cave, never speaking to a human ever again. Which is obviously silly.
And on the whole your ISP knows what you are doing. It’s not entirely true unless you are in specific countries where you have a government CA certificate installed in your browser.
A normal ISP can see you are accessing bing or google, but don’t know what you are searching for. They can see you are accessing Netflix, but can’t see what show you are watching. VPN providers will likely see the same information.
More concerning is your browser, it will know what show you are watching and what thing you searched for on Bing or Google.
+1
A lot of the VPN hype is sort of left over from before we had “https” everywhere. Most of your Internet traffic is encrypted these days.
I guess there’s a slight advantage with VPNs (vs ISPs) having your data is you can at least choose your VPN provider more freely than you can choose your ISP so in theory you can pick one you can trust.
But this is chasing a pretty small amount of anonymity for most people. It’s not worth it most of the time.
And tbh, you’re most likely worried about the Ad companies and social media giants, not your ISP.
I mean, vpns have additional value by allowing people to circumvent geoblocks, possibly local censorship, and in general the whole nonsense tied to access based on where you are and what nationality you have.
Definitely. And theres also the ability to use it to “hide in the crowd” if you have decent OPSEC and are being anonymous in other ways.
Step,
- Install linuxmint
- Change you’re Browser to a privacy focused and open source one like librewolf
- Change your search engine to a privacy focused one like searxng
- Remove unnecessary apps from your phone. Lock it down with firewall like rethink. Change your DNS Nextdns is recommended
- If possible move to a private custom ROM like graphenOS
- Use email aliases
- Don’t use real identity. Start deleting everything related to you.
- Don’t use cloud ai bullshit
- Delete your Google, Microsoft, Facebook accounts one by one.
- Maintain online hygiene. Don’t sign up for everything you see.
- Move to open source software
It’s a pretty complex topic but ever more valuable skill. I too believe AI will be used for mass surveillance that I don’t want to be a part of. Free, open source software is your best friend in general.
Windows and microsoft are particularly nasty in that they’ll record you where you interface with the computer (i.e. what the screen is showing and what you tell your own computer to do) and at some point will offer everything to the highest bidder. The offences of ISP and websites are pale in comparison.