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Pointers from Monique

I (Monique) recruited a bunch of help from privacy pros as you’ll see in the next section, but here are a few quick things I try to do now that I’m paying attention and advocating:

  • FREEZE YOUR CREDIT. Do it now. For all 3 Credit Reporting Agencies (links in next section).
  • DISABLE ALL AD/CONTENT CUSTOMIZATION. A lot of accounts allow you to opt-out of ad customization, tracking, content customization, marketing customization, or whatever else they choose to call it. Turn off and and all customization on every account and device. Otherwise, they’re tracking what you’re doing in order to provide customization.
  • DISABLE ALL AI (ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE) LEARNING. Most services/devices at this point have AI features pre-loaded and they opt you into using your content to teach their models. Just turn it off.
  • DISABLE ACCESS TO LOCATION/MIC/CAMERA. Just do it. On all devices for any app that doesn’t explicitly need access to these features. Like, you’ll need to allow your phone app, Signal, etc. access to your Mic/Camera if you use those features. And if you’re using something like Apple Maps, you’ll need to give it access to Location, but your games don’t need this access. Most apps don’t need this access.
  • SWITCH TO DUCKDUCKGO, BRAVE, OR OTHER PRIVACY BROWSER… and then adjust all of the settings as needed to opt-out of everything you don’t need. Turn off tracking. Turn off learning from your content.
  • USE A PREMIUM VPN ON ALL PUBLIC NETWORKS. Do NOT use a Free VPN. If you do, your data is the price. I recommend Proton VPN as it comes with other Proton apps.
  • SWITCH TO APPS THAT CARE ABOUT PRIVACY. I highly recommend all of the Proton apps. They have (and are otherwise building) replacements for everything you can think of.
  • PLEASE STOP USING WHATSAPP & OTHER JUNK MESSENGERS. Use Signal Messenger. Just do it. Many of the other messenger apps are built on Signal, but then they weakened them with bad features.
  • LEAVE META/TIKTOK/SNAP PRODUCTS ALTOGETHER. This one is super hard and I get it. I’m still working on removing myself. I recommend Bluesky and Substack. I’m learning of other platforms and hope to find something to replace the ability to host community groups.

Pointers from the Experts

I (Monique) asked my LinkedIn connections for tips. The following is a collection of articles I’ll keep updated along with tips that I gathered from this post where I asked for help.

  1. Don’t link every account you have to the same name, email address and phone number. That’s how your data gets aggregated into profiles by data brokers.
  2. If you have an Apple ID and a device, whether it’s iOS or Mac OS, you can spin up an alias with an icloud.com domain in seconds. Emails that are sent to that alias are automatically forwarded to your primary email address.
  3. Stop using social media.
  4. This is one that I don’t think gets enough attention… keep your smart TV’s dumb. Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) is a thing and it’s super creepy. The safest way to defeat it is to keep your TV’s off the internet – don’t configure the WiFi, don’t connect an Ethernet cable.
  5. Tip 1: Learn about your car, take all the privacy-preserving option your manufacturer offers in your state: https://vehicleprivacyreport.com
    Tip 2: Turn on Global Privacy Control on your browser (https://globalprivacycontrol.org/) and OptOutCode for everything else (https://optoutcode.com)
  6. Don’t choose “use your Google account” to sign up for other services. Create a new account for that app or service. Passing your email account credentials through other apps exposes that info to more breach failure points- and you’re also monetizing your acct info for that app.
  7. Common Actions: keeping camera covered when not in use, refusing cookies, clearing cache regularly, using vpn when using publicly available wifi, disabling location tracking.
  8. Here are a few of my favorite simple privacy moves people can start with 👇
    1.  Switch your default browser to Brave or Firefox. They block most trackers automatically.
    2. Use DuckDuckGo or Startpage instead of Google for search.
    3. Go to Settings → Privacy → Tracking on iPhone and turn off “Allow Apps to Request to Track.”
    4. Check data broker opt-outs at optoutprescreen.com and privacyrights.org/resources.
    5. Use a password manager like 1Password
    6. Turn on multi-factor authentication (MFA) everywhere you can.
    7. Review app permissions regularly (camera, mic, location — most don’t need constant access).
    8. Treat data like money. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.
  9. And for parents specifically:
    1. Set up family sharing with approval required for app downloads.
    2. Turn off location sharing in apps kids don’t need it for (especially Snap Map and Life360 public modes).
    3. Create a shared password vault so kids learn strong password habits early.
    4. Disable “data for model improvement” in AI or photo filter apps.
    5. Use privacy-first email for school or gaming accounts (Proton Mail, Tuta).
    6. Teach kids how to spot fake friend requests and AI-generated “friends.”
    7. Have a monthly digital check-in together: review what apps they’re using and why.

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