How to Break Free from Tracking and Take Back Your Digital Freedom
Digital IDs: While convenient, government-issued Digital IDs must be scrutinized for their architecture. If they centralize too much data, they create a single point of failure and a powerful tool for monitoring citizens’ activities. Remember, if it’s digital it can and will be hacked.
Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs): A CBDC could potentially program money, allowing a central authority to track, control, or even place expiration dates on your funds. The shift from anonymous cash to fully traceable digital currency is a massive concern for financial freedom.
This is guest post by NBTV community member Incognito Cat.
The internet promised us a borderless world of connection, but what it often delivers is surveillance. This isn’t a future threat, it’s the present reality. Governments and Big Tech are building a digital cage, luring us in with convenience while tightening the bars of control.
Every click, post, photo, search, and setting on our devices is designed to treat your personal life not as private, but as a resource to be harvested.
The good news is, you can leave the cage. Digital privacy isn’t about being paranoid; it’s about being sovereign. Control over your data is fundamental to a free life, and thanks to the growing number of easy-to-use, privacy-preserving tools like the ones in our Toolbox, there has never been a better time to choose that freedom.
Here is a practical, step-by-step framework for reclaiming your privacy and securing your digital existence.
1. Break Free: Embracing Privacy-Preserving Alternatives
Most people use the software that comes pre-installed on their computers and phones simply because it’s the default. Yet, these defaults are often the very mechanisms designed to maximize data collection.
The Action: Don’t just accept the software giants’ offerings. Seek out alternatives built with privacy as a foundational principle.
- Browsers: Move from data-hungry browsers to options like Brave or Mullvad, which block trackers by default.
- Search Engines: Ditch Google search for Brave Search or StartPage, which do not track your search history.
- Email: Use end-to-end encrypted services like Proton Mail or Tuta Mail instead of standard free services.
- Operating Systems: Investigate Linux distributions for desktops and more privacy-focused alternatives, like GrapheneOS, for mobile devices to minimize telemetry and data collection from the core operating system itself.
2. The Future of Security: Embracing Passkeys
For years, passwords have been the weakest link in digital security. They are susceptible to phishing, weak guessing, and data breaches. Passkeys, developed by the FIDO Alliance are the modern, phishing-resistant solution.
The Action: Where available, move to Passkeys immediately.
A Passkey is a digital credential stored securely on your device (like your phone or computer) and uses biometric verification (fingerprint, face scan) to log you in. They are based on cryptographic public-key technology, making them virtually immune to the common attacks that plague traditional passwords. They are more secure and significantly more convenient. Learn more about them here.
3. Foundational Defense: Passwords, Managers, and MFA
While more services are moving to support Passkeys, they are not yet universal. For every service that hasn’t made the switch, you need an impenetrable defense.
The Action: Establish an unshakeable security foundation:
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