Complete Online Privacy is a Hoax, Try to be Tracked Less Instead!

Let me be very clear at the onset: complete online privacy cannot be achieved! The systematics of the web is not designed for that. The big tech giants who provide us web services and platforms, such as social networking, email, messaging, and IPs, will require some form of information from the end-user as compulsory. Over here, Federal Trade Commission describes how online tracking works and what technologies are used to provide personalized user experience, as well as why they are mandatory for web service providers.

However, on the other hand, there are sure and certain ways with which you can ensure being less and less tracked online. This, and not the claim of achieving complete online privacy, is the motto of this brief narrative. This inspiration for this article on the current on-going privacy-friendliness battle has been taken from this brilliant narrative published at MIT News – though a bit old, but still relevant.

Therefore, web users who are seriously privacy-concerned and do not want anyone to sneak peek at their private information, much more than what is legitimately required, should pay heed to the methods which will be described in the upcoming paragraphs. So, keeping this philosophy in mind, let’s find out how you can keep your online presence less in the scrutiny.

Using an Across-The-Board Approach

One of the first and most effective ways to protect your private information online, as much as possible, is to do an overall switch. Confused? Let me describe! An overall switch, or professionally known as an across-the-board approach, is a method where the end-user makes a switch across all the known and established platforms to more secure and privacy-friendly platforms. The philosophy behind this, again, corroborates the same ideology – using less data-sucking alternatives.

This in turn helps your private online information being tracked within legal limits, only. When your personal information is collected within the limits of the legal spectrum, and what is being collected will also have user consent, the end-user will have sufficient legal support to contest the unlawful breach of privacy. There is a detailed narrative published on this approach at Medium which you can read for further knowledge.

For example, the recent privacy policy update by Facebook-owned WhatsApp has led its global user-base to a mass exodus on rival messaging apps such as Telegram and Signal. And here’s the catch in this approach: Did all of them switched their cloud storage, social networking accounts, and email addresses from the same providers to other alternatives as well? Seems not so much! Even if one leaves a single platform because it became a huge hit in the news due to a hot topic these days, isn’t their massive private data on other platforms is enough to compensate for one single loss?

Therefore, a web user must need to make an overall switch. For example, new privacy-friendly or paid alternatives are constantly appearing on the horizon. Services such as MeWe, FriendlySync, Threema, and couple others are a shining example for less-tracking outlets. So, if you want your private data to get less and less exposed online, you should always follow an overall approach to make your online presence safer within legal boundaries. The practice and application of such international laws like the EU’s GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and the CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018) are all shining examples of legal jurisprudence to held online privacy data thieves responsible.

Avoid the Habit of Signing Up on Each and Everything

This is another area where web users must pay great attention if they wish to keep their info safe and limited on the World Wide Web. While this is an agreeable fact that signing up on some platforms may provide convenience and a personalized experience, but there is always a chance of integrity-breach if you keep signing up on every service/platform on the web. When you willingly sign up on unnecessary sites, you also willingly give your personal information for tracking, and possible exploitation as well.

Apart from the established and most necessary sites and services, such as emails, data syncing services, project/schedule management sites, etc.; signing up on every e-commerce store, browser extension services, video platforms, etc., will greatly maximize chances of a personal data breach. And even for the necessary sites and services, as mentioned in the previous chapter, you should always look for either paid or more privacy-focused services online.

One of the main points to be emphasized here is signing up for helpful web extensions and plugins, namely ad blockers, tracking blockers, downloaders, etc. These extensions/plugins are available freely in most cases and can work independently. If you sign up on any service, you give them a part of your personal information that can be hacked, breached, or sold to third-parties by those services. Therefore, limiting your sign-up process can greatly help secure your privacy on the web.

Reading Terms & Conditions Carefully Before Use

This is one of the aspects where most people lack completely. Before using any software or web-based service, you are forewarned by that application or service in the form of Terms & Conditions or Privacy Policy. According to an article published at Website Policies:

“Only 7% of people online read the entire terms and conditions document. At the same time, 20% of people have suffered in one way or another by not reading it.”

The T&C, as they are shortly known, is a set of rules, regulations, standards, arrangements, and practices which a service provider will use when providing you services. This is a legal protectorate between you and the service provider on the other hand. It is the only document that can protect your integrity in case of a mishap. Unfortunately, few people care to read it fully before clicking “I Agree.”

This can prove to be a fatal mistake on your end. These ToU’s indicates everything between you and the provider, and most importantly, they indicate what data they will gather from you and how it will be used/processed. For example, if a clause in the privacy section indicates a no-responsibility factor in case of an illegitimate attack, you can no longer contest the damages caused to you by a cybercrime act against the service provider. That same ToU which can protect your rights can also strip you off from it all. So, make it a habit to read the entire ToU’s before using any service online.

Conclusion

So, a little care on your end will save you from a lot of unnecessary tracking and troubles later. While one can continue to use updated antivirus and other reliable security techniques to protect privacy, but the real responsibility lies on the user’s shoulder by being careful and wise about what they use online. Keep in mind that completely online privacy can not be achieved on the current dynamics on which the internet runs, but one can always try to be tracked less by avoiding pitfalls and using rationale on the web.