Is Your Data...Yours?
Every day, your devices harvest your data.
Your computers, your tablets, and your phones collect your data: your browsing habits, your swipes, your location, your searches, your purchases, your contacts, your political leanings, your religion…and on and on. Who is responsible for all this data collection? Nearly everyone: Google, Microsoft, Meta (Facebook/Instagram), Apple, app creators, internet providers, and shady VPN providers.
What happens to my data?
Your data is valuable. So valuable that it can and does get sold on an open market. Companies buy your data – generally – so they can profile you and create targeted advertising campaigns. They get so good at this that they have moved from mere analysis to predictive modeling. Oftentimes, they know what you are going to do before you do.
It’s important to know that advertisers aren’t the only ones interested in your data. The US government has discovered that they can bypass getting warrants by purchasing your data through these data brokers. It is legal for the government to do so and they are doing it more frequently as they discover the rich trove of information available to them. Talk about a legal loophole! In some instances, the government can simply request information from corporations and get the information they need – no cost, no warrant. For example, they could ask a mobile network operator (Verizon, for example) to provide data on which cellphones were in a specific area during a specific time. If you happened to be in that area for innocent reasons, you end up a suspect because of this wide dragnet.
What Can Be Done?
Actions You Can Take
There are actions you can take today to reduce the amount of data that makes it to the hands of data brokers, Big Tech and government. There are no magic bullets, but the objective is to reduce the data flow to the point where it becomes difficult to profile you. Here are some steps to take immediately:
- Delete most of the apps you have loaded on your phone. Yes, apps are convenient, but they are one of the primary methods for gathering your data. If possible, use the apps website instead of the application itself as this reduces the data collected – especially if you are using a good browser. You will find you don’t need most of the apps you have loaded.
- Speaking of browsers – use a privacy respecting browser. We like Brave for its built-in features like ad and tracker blocking.
- Don’t “Google” things. Google searches are not private. Use a privacy-respecting alternative such as Startpage, Mojeek or Swiss Cows.
- Use E2EE – end to end encryption – alternatives whenever possible. Text messages are not secure and are similar to sending postcards that everyone can see. There are excellent alternatives such as Signal and Session. Not only do you get encryption, but they also provide an encrypted way to make voice and video calls.
- Speaking of encryption, use encrypted options instead of Gmail or Outlook. Encrypted emails are extremely simple and there are some full-suite options (email, calendar, etc). We recommend Proton or Tuta.
- Use a VPN. Another encryption tool, a VPN prevents your data from being seen and tracked. Your internet service provider (ISP) would typically “see” your data as it goes through their network, but a VPN “hides” your traffic. Yes, ISPs have been caught harvesting their customers’ data and selling it. Use a Parallel VPN WiFi router to protect all of your devices on your home network and the Parallel VPN to protect your devices on-the-go.
- Switch out your phone hardware. Although cell phone manufacturers talk about privacy, the truth is that your data is too valuable to them to provide a truly private experience for you. The Parallel Carbon phones have modern hardware, but unique privacy software that also provides better security features.
- Stop syncing your photos to the default cloud location. Photos are an important part of today’s cell phone experience, but storing those photos in the cloud is another privacy vulnerability. Many companies admit that they are scanning your photos, using your photos to train their AI, and who knows what else. Do you want their eyes on your photos? Parallel offers the Amber X – a device you plug into your WiFi router and serves as your photo backup “cloud” that is completely in your control. Another alternative would be to use an encrypted, private service such as Ente.
