Browsers, search engines, and email providers

[ShaneWilder]

One last post on this subject of VPN's and TorBrowser, inasmuch it's obviously an extremely important matter about which we should all be aware and educate ourselves on how to protect our privacy and security on the web in this age of technology. I remember researching TorBrowser's tech a few years back and found a few items of interest that are worth sharing on the subject. I have nothing against VPN's, especially free ones. But one should exercise some caution when coming up with their own configuration for their security needs and do some research.

I've attachmed a screenshot of Edward Snowden's post on Twitter re the subject, plus I also found this fairly recent article on VPN's that's worth a look if this subject is of further interest to anyone here on this forum:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/simonchandler/2019/09/23/too-many-vpns-put-our-privacy-and-security-at-risk/#20aab9c661df

All the best,
SW

 

[paulgt2164]

I don't disagree with you that VPN's can be a great solution, but my biggest concern is that all VPN's are run/controlled by a single-entity (company/individual), whereas TorBrowser exploits randomized anonymity.

Hrmm, so who to trust...a random stranger or entity responsible for a Tor node (it has been proven that some Tor nodes have/are actually ran by the government or people harvesting data) - or trust a company that has a legally binding user agreement and a documented history of telling government agencies "noooope!" when it comes to user data (not that they have any anyways...) Not to mention the slew of security experts that often test/review VPN companies.

It has been well known for 5+ years that there are several exploits in revealing the IP addresses and their hops within the Tor network. Everyone from tech blogs to lawsuits have documented this. Couple that with Tor's reputation of being used by all manners of criminals (pedophiles being a major one) and it also can garner more attention by those you are trying to mask your data / travels from. Tor isn't an ironclad solution, nor does it have any way of knowing who is running the nodes. 5 years ago there was a flurry of news about government agencies hiring people to crack Tor (and they did....) The NSA and FBI have both successfully been able to snoop on Tor traffic for years - and I imagine they have only gotten better at it.

It is cool you are into the whole Tor thing. Tor was a novel thing when it came out - but recommending it over a reputable VPN is bad advice. Granted, anything these days can be cracked/hacked - but Tor has a much larger target on it's back then a VPN service. I guess Tor has some sort of 1337 status or whatever in some circles, but no one who is actually in infosec would recommend it over a VPN. Tor is a constant leaky ship of user information.

Reputable VPN is by far the most secure and anonymous option. You know who you are dealing with, it doesn't raise any red flags, it is more reliable, faster, requires no additional setup other than installing the client, and encrypts ALL your data on any network you are connected to.

 

[twoaussies]

As mentioned above, the Brave browser is the way to go. Mostly I would suggest dumping Microsoft and going with Linux. The Mint Cinnamon is easy to install and use, seriously, if I can do it so can you, almost the same as Windows 10 and Bill's not listening.

 

[High Standard]

I’m currently de-social media myself. I have closed my Twitter, WhatsApp and Instagram accounts. I have stopped posting publicly on FB due to censoring and the fact that FB makes money on you if you post anything publicly as they use active user statistics to sell advertising.

I am currently moving my email from Gmail to Proton Mail. They use end to end encryption and do not scan nor sell your personal info. They have a free account and I will be moving to their paid account as soon as I make the full move.

On my tablet I am using DuckDuckGo browser and their search engine. I have stopped using Google and Chrome. I also use FireFox and Brave when DDG doesn’t work with certain websites. On my PC I am using FireFox and Brave.

So far I have been quite happy with my choices and I have found a whole new world of conservative information that comes to me through DDG search that doesn’t show up in Google. Weird how that works.

 

[xerts1911]

Given the recent sh!tstorm of left wing censorship I just found this about Duck Duck https://freedomoutpost.com/duck-duck-gos-far-left-political-donations-and-abuse-of-user-data-have-users-fuming/

 

[paulgt2164]

As mentioned above, the Brave browser is the way to go. Mostly I would suggest dumping Microsoft and going with Linux. The Mint Cinnamon is easy to install and use, seriously, if I can do it so can you, almost the same as Windows 10 and Bill's not listening.

Linux is great, and has made great strides in the last ten years for the average desktop user.


That being said - linux has some problems that IMO makes it not a viable desktop operating system for your "average" PC users. Keep in mind, this is coming from someone who was once RedHat linux certified, SCO certified and I have at any moment at least 4 machines running linux and several servers.

- You still have to drop to a command line to do things that are just a few clicks in windows. Most
people aren't comfortable doing this.
- Some distros still haven't fixed the wireless network device issues with really common models.
- The "app stores" usually packaged with linux distros is a mess. Many come with multiple "app stores"
and only confuses and frustrates the average user.
- Certain types of devices (convertible laptops, touchscreen devices, and multiple monitor setups) can
be unsupported or difficult to configure in certain distros.
- Software support, same problem as MacOS. Some people require MS Office or other software that
only runs on Windows. For example- I require at least a couple windows machines for stuff like MS
Teams, Photoshop (yes I know there is Gimp, but it isn't as good,) Office (OpenOffice is good, but
still has issues for certain usages and types,) and Gaming. Linux is making good progress as a gaming
OS but it still is nowhere near where Windows is for the majority of games/performance.

It has been my experience that 90% of people who switch to Linux are always super excited and happy with it for the first several weeks - then the issues above start manifesting and by the second month they are back in windows. I find that only people who use a computer for very basic tasks (basically internet browsing) end up keeping it a while.

There are ways to make Windows less "talky" to it's home base. Several good utilities and guides to do so. Search for "disable windows telemetry" for tons of good guides to do so.

Linux does however have some benefits :

- Certain distros are made to run on older hardware. You can make that older computer in the corner
usable in with a lightweight linux distro.
- It is more "private" than Windows (of course this completely depends on what the user installs and
what services they use..
- Linux is free, and open source.
- There is usually really good support on internet forums, and active userbases depending on the
distro if you have issues.
- There are hundreds of distros to choose from. Ones aimed at the "average user" like popOS, Mint,
Ubuntu, Manjaro, etc and ones even aimed at security (Kali) or privacy (Qubes, Tails, etc.)

And the best IMO part of linux is the "live" USB options. You can make a bootable USB thumb drive and the OS will run off of it. This is super handy if you are interested in trying linux but do not want to risk your Windows install. On a more recent computer, with fast USB ports (2.0+) it is completely usable. I carry a bootable linux drive with me, so if I have to use a "public" PC I can just pop it in, boot off it - and I have my own configured OS and I don't have to worry about any security risks from shared PCs.

 

[Delfuego]

I am currently moving my email from Gmail to Proton Mail. They use end to end encryption and do not scan nor sell your personal info.

Just so you know, SMTP (email) is not encrypted, ever. Protonmail is a good option, but "sent email" is only encrypted if sent to someone else using Protonmail. Same for Gmail. If the email leaves their system, it is clear text. End-to-end email encryption sounds easy to do, but is not. Also Google is reading, indexing and scanning every email regardless of what settings are in you Google account.

It has been my experience that 90% of people who switch to Linux are always super excited and happy with it for the first several weeks - then the issues above start manifesting and by the second month they are back in windows. I find that only people who use a computer for very basic tasks (basically internet browsing) end up keeping it a while.

Agree 100% with this. Linux sounds like an easy option, but it can make routine tasks into an all day event filled with frustration. The average person would require a separate windows machine running just to research how to build, install, use, run and repair Linux. Of all the Linux distros, Mint is the easiest for beginners.

People often "want" real security. That is until the see the amount of effort and money involved in it. Then they usually give up and go back to whatever is easiest.

 

[twoaussies]

As mentioned above, the Brave browser is the way to go. Mostly I would suggest dumping Microsoft and going with Linux. The Mint Cinnamon is easy to install and use, seriously, if I can do it so can you, almost the same as Windows 10 and Bill's not listening.

Linux is great, and has made great strides in the last ten years for the average desktop user.


That being said - linux has some problems that IMO makes it not a viable desktop operating system for your "average" PC users. Keep in mind, this is coming from someone who was once RedHat linux certified, SCO certified and I have at any moment at least 4 machines running linux and several servers.

- You still have to drop to a command line to do things that are just a few clicks in windows. Most
people aren't comfortable doing this.
- Some distros still haven't fixed the wireless network device issues with really common models.
- The "app stores" usually packaged with linux distros is a mess. Many come with multiple "app stores"
and only confuses and frustrates the average user.
- Certain types of devices (convertible laptops, touchscreen devices, and multiple monitor setups) can
be unsupported or difficult to configure in certain distros.
- Software support, same problem as MacOS. Some people require MS Office or other software that
only runs on Windows. For example- I require at least a couple windows machines for stuff like MS
Teams, Photoshop (yes I know there is Gimp, but it isn't as good,) Office (OpenOffice is good, but
still has issues for certain usages and types,) and Gaming. Linux is making good progress as a gaming
OS but it still is nowhere near where Windows is for the majority of games/performance.

It has been my experience that 90% of people who switch to Linux are always super excited and happy with it for the first several weeks - then the issues above start manifesting and by the second month they are back in windows. I find that only people who use a computer for very basic tasks (basically internet browsing) end up keeping it a while.

There are ways to make Windows less "talky" to it's home base. Several good utilities and guides to do so. Search for "disable windows telemetry" for tons of good guides to do so.

Linux does however have some benefits :

- Certain distros are made to run on older hardware. You can make that older computer in the corner
usable in with a lightweight linux distro.
- It is more "private" than Windows (of course this completely depends on what the user installs and
what services they use..
- Linux is free, and open source.
- There is usually really good support on internet forums, and active userbases depending on the
distro if you have issues.
- There are hundreds of distros to choose from. Ones aimed at the "average user" like popOS, Mint,
Ubuntu, Manjaro, etc and ones even aimed at security (Kali) or privacy (Qubes, Tails, etc.)

And the best IMO part of linux is the "live" USB options. You can make a bootable USB thumb drive and the OS will run off of it. This is super handy if you are interested in trying linux but do not want to risk your Windows install. On a more recent computer, with fast USB ports (2.0+) it is completely usable. I carry a bootable linux drive with me, so if I have to use a "public" PC I can just pop it in, boot off it - and I have my own configured OS and I don't have to worry about any security risks from shared PCs.

Well written description of the operating system and it's limitations, I agree completely and made sure I left my main PC with a dual boot option to overcome most of them but at this point I mostly use and prefer Linux

 

[vvalter_vvhite]

Use Brave browser. I heard it's creator is the previous creator or owner of firefox which is now owned by the left. It has built in ad blockers and filters. Tor browser is another good one.
Use protonmail for email but be careful because if you forget your password and try to reset, your emails will automatically be shredded/unreadable.

 

[Manitu]

So I have been tracked since they were doing it I suppose. It is much to late to take your everything out the game of tracing and profile building, adapt.

 

[vvalter_vvhite]

So I have been tracked since they were doing it I suppose. It is much to late to take your everything out the game of tracing and profile building, adapt.

Even if you use VPN, your provider can still track you. Another downside of using VPN, it's slow if you choose an offshore site away from US and Canada. Yes it's too late, but better late than never.

P.S. never store your data online like the "cloud".. look at what they did to Guilliani, the fbi hacked into his account to look for dirt...