Privacy and Protection is still the name of the game.👻

Use a VPN at home, WebRTC blocking, CyberSec…

It might be the movie I just watched about some dude who blew a whistle on a major surveillance program or it could be the massive attacks on an oil pipline. But I’m back on the privacy train… all aboard! (sorry, I had to) Using a VPN at home now seems more and more important, making sure you have WebRTC blocking, find an app that will enable CyberSec… etc etc.

Do I need a VPN? A detailed look at the world's essential privacy tool

CyberSec best VPN feature for Ad blocking | NordVPN

What is a WebRTC leak & How To Test It

Trust the gut

We have a lot to learn about privacy and trusting our gut. Create the allowance to be private and protected. Being private is ok, don’t forget that. Don’t want marketing agency tracking and creating a fingerprint profile on you? That’s very ok. Don’t want to think someone is watching you though your laptop camera? Totally understandable (That movie really got to me). We have to stop worrying about what other people think and be ok with protecting ourselves. Especially here in the US of A—we have amazing rights and privacy is one of them.

Protections

There are so many tools out there and where to start? There’s a little bit of blind trust but I suggest focusing on the team around services. For example, NordVPN has a very private organization but the team around the organization is pretty cool—specifically they added Troy Hunt to the advisory board, he’s the dude behind “Have I Been Pwned”—the guy works with agencies and helps countries develop better security. This is a huge win for NordVPN and helps clarify any hesitation behind the product IMHO.

There’s even more advancements happening with privacy with Apple. They’re creating a “VPN” of sorts for Safari and working on payment privacy… etc. It’s amazing that a company—as huge as Apple—is working on solutions that will just be apart of the ecosystem. As they state, “Privacy is a fundamental human right”.

I’ll link my previous articles at the end but I’m still using Brave as my main driver. Awesome advancements with a Firewall + VPN integration for mobile and now the recently launched Brave Search. Pretty cool stuff coming from that team!

You get to choose how protected you want to be. I didn’t use a VPN for over a year because I didn’t think I needed it. I didn’t go to coffee shops and I was home most of the time. So why use one? The articles above can help explain… but also watch a movie about mass surveillance and you’ll get super creeped out. 🤷‍♂️

Resources:

i2Coalition - The Voice Of Those Who Build the Internet - i2Coalition

Privacy First 👻 — End of Year Check-in

Privacy First — Trying to become a ghost to trackers and ads 👻