Lesser known tips for privacy

[martyrdom]

Aside from the obvious (use a trusted VPN, use a secure browser and OS, don't mention your location or identifying information, etc) here are some tips to help users retain their privacy here and elsewhere. It is not difficult to be identified (or create correlation with other accounts) from very small details that most people don't pay attention to. In all likelihood, no one will be trying to identify you or locate you in a targeted way, and you will be safe even if you don't do all this, but for anyone majorly concerned with privacy and anonymity, maybe these tips will be useful.

• When talking about medicines, use the generic name, not the brand name. Brand names vary by country and can give away your location.
• Avoid mentioning the weather, climate, landmarks, or geographical features of where you're located.
• When sending instagram, reddit, and other social media links and so on, delete everything after the ? in the URL. This can be used to identify your account.
• Don't mention your exact height and weight. If you have to mention it for practical purposes, obfuscate the number (add or remove a little). Use both kg/lbs and feet/cm to avoid indicating your location.
• Assume everything you post here is public information, even in the private subforums.
• Don't mention model and make of any vehicles.
• Delete the metadata off of any images you upload here. Crop any landmarks and buildings.
• Use both British and American English.
• Don't mention dates of when purchases were made (especially of SN, firearms, etc).
• Don't mention current time/timezones.
• Try not to create a pattern with your posts/interactions in the forum, ie. post a few times outside of your normal hours, or space out some posts to avoid indicating through the timestamps when you might be awake, asleep, off work, the time in your area, etc.
• Use an email aliasing service.

 

[R. A.]

Digital hygiene is probably the most crucially lacking essential skill among most of the world, given the rampant rise of not only surveillance capitalism but the surveillance state. Especially among young people. Especially among young people in a place like this. I've seen people use full-on selfies for their avatars here...

An easy way to deal with photo metadata is to take a screenshot of the photo and upload that.

 

[martyrdom]

Digital hygiene is probably the most crucially lacking essential skill among most of the world, given the rampant rise of not only surveillance capitalism but the surveillance state. Especially among young people. Especially among young people in a place like this. I've seen people use full-on selfies for their avatars here...

100% to all of the above. There are many more resources worth including but most people consider it a hassle. Privacy is a human right.

 

[locked*n*loaded]

At least for me, and ofc I can only speak for myself, I'm not too concerned, as a matter of fact, not concerned at all, really, if my location, even my identity, is figured out. I've freely shared enough information with a few members, and vice versa, at least so my locality is known. There's even one member with whom I've had extensive phone conversations, even facetime with, over months, so that cat is long out of the bag. Freak it.

 

[camusfan_ig]

Aside from the obvious (use a trusted VPN, use a secure browser and OS, don't mention your location or identifying information, etc) here are some tips to help users retain their privacy here and elsewhere. It is not difficult to be identified (or create correlation with other accounts) from very small details that most people don't pay attention to. In all likelihood, no one will be trying to identify you or locate you in a targeted way, and you will be safe even if you don't do all this, but for anyone majorly concerned with privacy and anonymity, maybe these tips will be useful.

• When talking about medicines, use the generic name, not the brand name. Brand names vary by country and can give away your location.
• Avoid mentioning the weather, climate, landmarks, or geographical features of where you're located.
• When sending instagram, reddit, and other social media links and so on, delete everything after the ? in the URL. This can be used to identify your account.
• Don't mention your exact height and weight. If you have to mention it for practical purposes, obfuscate the number (add or remove a little). Use both kg/lbs and feet/cm to avoid indicating your location.
• Assume everything you post here is public information, even in the private subforums.
• Don't mention model and make of any vehicles.
• Delete the metadata off of any images you upload here. Crop any landmarks and buildings.
• Use both British and American English.
• Don't mention dates of when purchases were made (especially of SN, firearms, etc).
• Don't mention current time/timezones.
• Try not to create a pattern with your posts/interactions in the forum, ie. post a few times outside of your normal hours, or space out some posts to avoid indicating through the timestamps when you might be awake, asleep, off work, the time in your area, etc.
• Use an email aliasing service.

These are all great! Thanks alot man

 

[R. A.]

100% to all of the above. There are many more resources worth including but most people consider it a hassle. Privacy is a human right.

The human brain isn't built to default to "every single thing I am communicating is in fact being stored indefinitely" cause before a hundred years ago, 99% of interaction was ephemeral by necessity.
Users here should be well aware that requests to purge evidence of their presence on the forum will, in most cases, not be honored for reasons.

The "scams and assault" section of the below post is good to read for general safety here:

A crash course for new members.

Hi folks. In light of the massive influx of new members over the past months, and acknowledging the issue that navigating and understanding Sanctioned Suicide might initially lead to a few moments of confusion, making a thread to clear some things up seemed like a good idea. Also, since almost...

sanctioned-suicide.net

 

[LakeMungoGirl]

Aside from the obvious (use a trusted VPN, use a secure browser and OS, don't mention your location or identifying information, etc) here are some tips to help users retain their privacy here and elsewhere. It is not difficult to be identified (or create correlation with other accounts) from very small details that most people don't pay attention to. In all likelihood, no one will be trying to identify you or locate you in a targeted way, and you will be safe even if you don't do all this, but for anyone majorly concerned with privacy and anonymity, maybe these tips will be useful.

• When talking about medicines, use the generic name, not the brand name. Brand names vary by country and can give away your location.
• Avoid mentioning the weather, climate, landmarks, or geographical features of where you're located.
• When sending instagram, reddit, and other social media links and so on, delete everything after the ? in the URL. This can be used to identify your account.
• Don't mention your exact height and weight. If you have to mention it for practical purposes, obfuscate the number (add or remove a little). Use both kg/lbs and feet/cm to avoid indicating your location.
• Assume everything you post here is public information, even in the private subforums.
• Don't mention model and make of any vehicles.
• Delete the metadata off of any images you upload here. Crop any landmarks and buildings.
• Use both British and American English.
• Don't mention dates of when purchases were made (especially of SN, firearms, etc).
• Don't mention current time/timezones.
• Try not to create a pattern with your posts/interactions in the forum, ie. post a few times outside of your normal hours, or space out some posts to avoid indicating through the timestamps when you might be awake, asleep, off work, the time in your area, etc.
• Use an email aliasing service.

This is really helpful. Appreciate it.