Top 10 Tips for Protecting Your Privacy Online
You probably already know this by now, but you are being watched. Governments, Internet service providers, and private organizations are monitoring and recording your online activities. If this concerns you, then consider following some of these tips and learning from this list. Keep in mind this list is meant for the common people, so if you're a privacy advocate or whistleblower, then don't read this list. Also, know that privacy is nearly impossible today, and even if you blindly follow everything on this list, websites and ISPs will still find ways to track you. You won't receive perfect anonymity, but good enough privacy to block most common tracking strategies.A Virtual Private Network (VPN) will help protect your IP address and keep your ISP from logging your browsing history. It won't make you anonymous or add additional security to websites, but it will help if you don't trust your ISP or if you're behind a restrictive firewall (such as at a school). If you're looking to completely anonymize your traffic, use the Tor browser instead.
I strongly recommend you use a VPN from outside of the Five Eyes countries (USA, UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia). Hide.me and ProtonVPN both have good free versions, with the latter offering unlimited data.
When using email or cloud storage, all your data is stored on cloud servers. You're giving your provider access to all your sensitive data. For the best privacy, I suggest you encrypt your files before storing them in the cloud with Cryptomator. For emails, use an external client like Thunderbird with the Enigmail addon. Download emails and store them locally after six months.
HTTPS encrypts your connections to prevent hackers from accessing and stealing your data. To ensure that you'll always connect to HTTPS, use the Smart HTTPS addon (available on Firefox and Chrome).
If you're looking to anonymize your traffic, use the Tor browser. Do not maximize the window or install any add-ons (Tor already comes with HTTPS Everywhere). You can also browse the dark web using .onion links, but keep in mind that the dark web, while not illegal itself, is filled with hackers and criminals who buy illegal drugs and weapons. It's definitely not for the faint of heart.
If you're currently using Google Drive or Dropbox to store your files, you should consider hosting your own server. Nextcloud makes this really easy. All you need is the Nextcloud software and something to store your data on (preferably a Raspberry Pi). You don't have to trust large corporations with your data anymore. You are in complete control.
Windows used to be a good operating system, but the latest version (Windows 10) has become a privacy nightmare, and it doesn't even work well. Unless you're a gamer who absolutely needs Steam and Windows-exclusive games, you should consider installing a Linux distro. Ubuntu and Linux Mint are popular distros for beginners, with the latter being targeted towards Windows users. Fedora is an innovative distro that serves as a testing bed for Red Hat. Debian and Arch are pure community distros but are aimed towards advanced users with specific needs.
If you have to use social media, consider using a decentralized service that allows free speech, such as Mastodon or Diaspora. Voat.co (though not decentralized) would have been a good alternative to Reddit if it wasn't a safe haven for the alt-right.
If a website or software has a privacy policy, read it. I know it sounds boring and nobody ever reads those things, but they contain important information about the site and how it tracks you. By not reading the terms and lying about agreeing to them, you're blindly allowing websites and software to spy on you.