Comment by night-rider | Hacker News Reader

Comment by night-rider | Hacker News Reader

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The extent can mean doing basic things like installing and AD blocker, using a password manager, surfing in isolated sessions (incognito mode) to stop cookie tracking and to leave no forensic artefact on your device, always posting with pseudonyms, using privacy-aware operating systems like Linux, etc

Then you have the extreme options available like Tor, using Qubes, GrapheneOS on your phone, changing your legal name, using burner phones, Faraday sleeves, VPNs for public Wi-Fi, network segmentation for IOT devices, disabling Intel Management Engine. Having multiple operating systems for compartmentation purposes, etc

There is a privacy rabbit-hole to get lost in. Luckily I’ve found a reasonable middle ground and am not one of those LARPer types who take it all too seriously.

OP Here. I'm interested in the balance you found. Happy to include it in the part 2 and reference you.

By balance I mean I don’t go full LARPer when doing basic stuff like online banking and buying stuff from Amazon. LARPer means Live Action Role Play and refers to someone overly paranoid about every little thing. In other words, their threat model is wrongly applied to basic things. If you’re a journalist you may want to use Qubes and use disposable VMs to open PDF documents, for example. Most people would be fine just opening the PDF in Google Docs. The extreme options I mentioned can be used if you’re a target of harassment, like changing your legal name, or if you’re a prominent activist you may need a burner phone to attend a protest. It’s all about your threat model. Also: disabling Intel Management Engine could be useful for protecting your business secrets and intellectual property, but for most people doing mundane things it’s an extreme step to take.

Thanks, makes sense. I will explore how the Intel Management Engine can make an effect on privacy.

Is your middle ground the same as what you listed in basic things? You always surf in incognito mode?

I use incognito mode sometimes for NSFW stuff and when I don’t want to be tracked with cookies. I have a browser profile for when I need to be logged into something, like Amazon for example.

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