Tip: if you find yourself using the word “safe”, “secure”, “hacked”, etc in your title, you’re probably off-topic.

Every couple of years as far back as I can remember, I download and compare my credit reports to make sure there are no surprises. This time I got an unexpected surprise. Less than 24 hours after using the same official website (AnnualCreditReport . com ) as always, I received an email from Whitepages saying my data had been updated. I immediately went in and saw what had changed and I know it was either TransUnion or Equifax that shared with Whitepages. I have since opted-out to have my information removed.

A few years back I purchased a one time credit score service to use for a car purchase so the dealers would not run my credit beforehand, and was then peppered with unsolicited offers even though I paid for a service whose privacy policy stated specifically that they would not share or sell my data.

It just seems we can't do anything anymore without our data being shared to a third party with or without consent.

Edit: I am more interested in knowing if this switch has considerable benefits. Is there any privacy advantage in using Signal over iMessage from a technical perspective? Thanks in advance for any clarifications on this. 😊

Edit 2: I am not going to ask any of my friends to switch. It is their choice if they want to. I don't want to make suggestions. Also, I like iMessage. I posted this because I don't want to dismiss my friend’s suggestion without a reason. I know this subreddit is a decent place to get the answer.

A friend of mine predominantly uses Signal. They have suggested that I switch. As per this friend, it is a privacy boon. How logical is this switch for me? Most of my frequent contacts are on iMessage. I use Advanced Data Protection if that adds any value to my question. I am used to iMessage because of how it integrates into my life. But I didn't want to dismiss my friend’s recommendation without putting in a thought.

As per the title. I know WhatsApp “tracks” things identified to you, but all messages are encrypted and if you use it on an iPhone with “ask app not to track” enabled, then it can only get data if you purchase something through WhatsApp? Right?

I am clearly missing something - can someone explain in layman terms what the WhatsApp risk really is from a privacy point of view.

The email also has my first name and tells me how to find the same details that are in the email! Surely this is a massive security risk for customers.

“Whether you need the details to receive your salary, or for bank transfers from friends, your account information is always available and easy to find.

We've included your local account details here, for reference. You can find them in-app by tapping Details on the main screen — that's really all there is to it.”

Title. Thanks.

That's right, I've given up on privacy because it's a useless battle in the long run, for me, life is just too short to worry and I now feel free to enjoy life and enjoy communicating and getting close with my family and friends.

For years, I have avoided Facebook, that was until I truly needed it.

My father died last year, and on the urging of my brother, I created my first Facebook account and with that account, I coordinated my dad's funeral, spoke to my father's friends, my relatives and family and I sent invitations to my father's funeral through Facebook.

I also opened my own YouTube account to upload the video of my father's funeral and shared the link via Facebook to all my father's overseas friends.

Without Facebook and YouTube, coordinating my father's funeral, mass and inurnment would have been harder.

And now, I've just given up on worrying about privacy and I'm just relaxing, I'm getting updates from my friends and family and have grown more close to them by lifting all the limits that I imposed on myself for worrying, life's too short to worry and I'm now free and happy. At this point in my life, communicating with my family, relatives and friends became too important than privacy.

You guys can downvote this post all you want, but I'm lifting my tinfoil hat and enjoying my life.

So I visited a website on my phone that asked me to disable my ad blocker, etc, but I do NOT have an ad blocker installed on my phone, because I'm getting absolutely swamped by ads on just about every other website. Any suggestions?

So I need to have about 15-20 different profiles in a browser that should appear as coming from different PCs/Laptops. So I'd like “each profile to have its own unique fingerprint” but it should be constant (saved between sessions- so when opened tomorrow- profile A's fingerprint shd. be same as today but each profile shd. be very different from one another). Cookies will be saved in each these profiles. And I'll be running these profiles from a virtual machine with Win 10, on a host Win 10 PC to keep all isolated as well.  And I'm using good proxies for diff. IPs. For each of these profiles.

I moved to this setup after using a major Anti Detect browser, as its costs were not justified. So I'm basically trying to replicate the fingerprinting and other defenses that AD browsers have with this setup.

I’ve tested Brave and Vivaldi with some extensions but still not getting there. After many hours of research on various forums, I’m still not on a clear path! There is just 1 issue that is stumping:

1.    Each of the profiles, must have a different fingerprint (main components I think being- Navigator, Canvas, Fonts, Port scan etc.) – so I need an extension to generate that unique fingerprint and then SAVE it in that profile forever (NOT Randomized ever so often, as most extensions do).

I’ll also use extensions for WebRTC and Geolocation by Proxy- those are not an issue for chrome, e.g I could use WebRTC network limiter extn (by Google) and for timezone spoofing     link

Regardless of whether I go with Firefox or Vivaldi (or any Chrome fork)- I’d like user-agent to spoof as “Chrome on Windows”- as for every 1 other browser user, there are 60 Chrome users and I want the profiles to blend in crowd. That also is doable with extensions.

I heard that Arkenfox on Firefox  can serve – but not sure if it deals with this and if so, how? And I can test profiles using  browserleaks.com;  amiunique.org or  Bromite.org

So big issue is really – any tool/extension to generate a unique fingerprint for each of these profiles and then SAVE it in profile forever (NOT Randomly change it ever so often).

I'm surprised that in various forums I still dont see any light for this “rather simple use case” – to generate “completely new fingerprint for each browser profiles” and save it until profile is deleted.

And just FYI- I’m a “below Noob” at coding.  So sincerely hope the experts here can chime in with some direction, in language I can follow!  Thanks and looking forward. Cross-psted

So , I received a pop from some software which was not even installed in my phone , I was getting Pop-ads to play games on random sites but today I got from somewhere which was not even on my phone , I tried going to the app through system settings but didn't find it,

I quickly factory reset my phone because I was scared, is it possible that my pictures and other similar data could've been compromised.?

A friend from uni is working on a project and I'd like to help. However, he's using a Google Survey (class requirement), and I'd rather my responses aren't tied to my existing Google identity.

Is there any way to contribute to the survey anonymously? Like with a burner gmail account and a VPN?

I am new to digital privacy and de-googling, so sorry if this is a dumb question.

if 2 parties are both using advanced data protection and imessage, is that more secure than signal?

How secure are digital phone number services like TextFree which provide digital phone numbers?

Edit: Im looking for a free solution, forgot to mention that .

This probably is a somewhat recurrent topic but I haven't found any relevant resources for what i need, specially recent posts , so i hope i can find the solution here.

Im looking to implement a digital calendar on my life alongside my physical calendar on a notebook, mainly to have notifications and a widget on my android phone. I also want to be able to access it on my windows computer (web or app).

I need to have different colors on the events so its easy for me what each thing is.. Encryption/privacy is also important for me. Proton has that behind the Plus paid tier, which for now i dont want to pay, maybe in the future tho. Same for Tuta.

I could use Simple Calendar Pro, which has Caldav support but i dont know of a good calendar provider that supports caldav and is encrypted (IDK if this is even possible tbh).

Im not looking to self host for now, so nextcloud is out.

I hope you can help me find good solution :)

Thanks for the help.

Hi everyone,

Since yesterday, my iPhone XS has been acting strangely. The touchscreen seems to be malfunctioning—I couldn’t press anything, and the apps on my home screen started to wiggle (as if in edit mode). Then, apps were randomly selected and even deleted from the home screen without me doing anything. Restarting the phone temporarily fixed it, but the issue happened again today.

Does anyone know what might be causing this or how to fix it? Thanks!

I’ve decided to build a new email system that lasts a lifetime. (M, 25)

Domain: lastname.email

Mailbox: firstname@lastname.email -> Shared with family and friends -> add wife and kids should I ever have

Aliases: tax@lastname.email -> For taxes only gov@lastname.email -> All things related to government fin@lastname.email -> Banking, finance and investing insu@lastname.email -> Insurances health@lastname.email -> Doctor, dentist and other health related services like gym membership service@lastname.email -> Services e. g. car maintenance

Up until here are the addresses I will be giving out to contact me/send me information. They should not be tied to an account. Does that make sense?

Whenever possible I will order online as a guest.

For all online accounts and shopping I will use eithher Proton Pass w/ SimpleLogin or Firefox Relay. I’m not sure whether I wanna host on Proton Mail or M365.

🌟 Dear Scientists, Researchers, Scholars, and Privacy Enthusiasts, 🌟

I am thrilled to announce the pre-print of my latest research paper, now available on the International Association for Cryptologic Research (IACR) ePrint archive. 📚✨

Goal: To authenticate accurately and securely without revealing both virtual public identifiers (e.g., usernames, user IDs) and real-world identifiers (e.g., passwords, biometrics, or other secrets).

💡 Introducing COCO: A full-consensus, zero-knowledge authentication protocol designed with:

• 🔒 Efficiency
• 🕵️‍♂️ Unlinkability
• ⏳ Asynchrony
• 🌐 Liveness

COCO is built on Coconut credentials—a selective disclosure, re-randomizable credential scheme—and Oblivious Pseudorandom Functions (OPRF) to ensure both privacy and scalability in distributed frameworks.

🎯 This research is part of a larger project under Statecraft Laboratories to create a privacy-first virtual space.

🛠️ Explore the Codebase: Check it out on GitHub.

📩 Let’s Collaborate!

Your expertise and feedback—whether on theoretical foundations, practical implementations, or potential optimizations—are invaluable.

Feel free to reach out via:

• Email: [reiki.yamya14@gmail.com](mailto:reiki.yamya14@gmail.com)
• Or connect on Reddit itself!

Looking forward to insightful discussions and collaborations! 🤝

Warm regards, Yamya Reiki 🌿

Can government access your telegram account (even the deleted ones) once they've got your IP and Mobile number ?

I have been thinking about making a social media account on sites like facebook, instagram and bluesky, because nowadays if you are looking for a job not having social media will harm you. how do i go about this while staying privacy orintated? also since i will have to have pictures of my face

I live in a place where criticizing religion is punishable by death, let alone the fact that if i was doxxed it'll also harm my relatives since it'd be a scandal

anyway i just met that online friend who shares me similar thoughts since 3 months and i started to feel safe and comfortable when i talk to them and thought of just letting them know how i look like just as a memory since we live too far from each other

If there's no guarantee I won't send any, so I'm just asking?

Not expecting this post to stay up, but the past 48 hours I’ve noticed a moderate increase in posts/ comments mostly serving to undermine many of the flagship technologies ordinarily recommended to improve privacy and security. I also noticed that none of these are directing people to less safe alternatives, more just blatantly wrong or misrepresented details that on the surface seemed aimed at moving people away from said technologies entirely. It spiking on Christmas and the eve of inspired posing the question. I’m probably just paranoid

I’m not calling it out, but subs I noticed it in were: r\Adblock r\ublock r\VPN r\Piracy r\Privacy

Yes the slash is intentionally backward, but you can figure it out. Again, not a call out and it can be people confused over articles they read regarding new gifts, but it seemed awfully coordinated and all from users with less than 500 collective karma. Is anyone eyeing similar upswings here or elsewhere in subs I’m just not subscribed to?

Minimizing your exposure and optimizing privacy settings is valuable, but it’s not enough. True, permanent, and workable change can only be achieved through communal action—not just individual privacy maximization.

While withdrawing from modern technology might seem like a solution, it ultimately limits your ability to engage with and influence the systems that shape our digital lives. Instead, focus on action that makes a tangible impact: • Vote for representatives who prioritize digital rights and privacy. • Contact your representatives and share your concerns about privacy-related policies. • Spread awareness thoughtfully, without resorting to alarmist or conspiratorial tones. • Vote with your wallet: Punish companies that don’t respect privacy by refusing to support them, and reward those that do by choosing their products and services. • Support privacy-focused organizations like the EFF, Privacy First, Access Now, and NOYB (None of Your Business) through donations, volunteering, or active involvement.

We’ve seen that organized action works: for example, the EU ban on biometric surveillance in public spaces, California’s privacy laws, and GDPR protections demonstrate how regulation can safeguard privacy when people demand change. These victories show what’s possible when we advocate together for systemic reform.

These steps are far more effective at creating meaningful, long-term change than isolating ourselves from the technology that connects us to our communities.

Let’s work together to protect privacy while staying engaged and empowered.