Hello. Privacy is really important. Today, we’re gonna make our privacy good again.
Step 1: Use a open source operating system
When you’re using a closed source operating system, you won’t know what’s going in the background. That’s why you should use a open source operating system.
Desktop
Fedora Linux
It’s a Linux distro which is not rolling release but close to it. It’s stable, latest, secure and innovation friendly.
- Package Manager: dnf
- Package Manager: rpm
- Desktop Environment: GNOME (others exist as spins)
- Sound System: Pipewire
- Init System: systemd
Arch Linux
It’s a Linux distro which is very much minimal. It’s minimal, latest. It has AUR, which you can find “every” software. Biggest downside of it is, it’s not that stable. It can break anytime if you are not using snapshots.
- Package Manager: pacman
- Desktop Environment: none
- Sound System: none
- Init System: systemd
Artix Linux
It’s a Linux distro to built up for freedom lovers. It doesn’t have systemd, which is good but freedom lovers.
- Package Manager: pacman
- Desktop Environment: none
- Sound System: none
- Init System: runit/openrc/s6
Gentoo Linux
Compiling and minimalism at the rise.
- Package Manager: portage (emerge)
- Desktop Environment: none
- Sound System: none
- Init System: openrc/systemd
Mobile
GrapheneOS
GrapheneOS is a ROM to make your life easy but with private. You don’t need to remove Google if you’re using GrapheneOS unlike other ROMs to care about your privacy. It quarantines Google services like a normal app. But when you’re using another ROM and install Google services, it will be your system’s king. And this is bad.
Biggest downside of it is, it only supports Google Pixel. If you aren’t in a country which you can have Pixel, you can’t use it.
CalyxOS
It’s like a regular ROM but with pre-set things. It already set up MicroG, browser etc. for your privacy and serves it out of the box. It’s really useful if you want a stable thing.
Biggest downside of it is, it only supports Pixels, Fairphones etc.
And, it doesn’t get updated right now.
LineageOS
It’s AOSP but configured for daily usage. If your system is bad, you want simplicity etc, you should use this.
crDroid
It’s LineageOS based but adds dozens of configurations there. It’s really useful if you want to configure every pixel on your system.
Step 2: Switch to open source apps
If you’re using Linux but with Chrome, your whole history can get tracked by Google. If you think it’s a good thing, it’s not. Google can see it. That’s why you should switch to open source apps. There is some alternatives:
NOTE: W means web app, D means desktop and M means mobile
| App | Open Source Alternative | Open Source Alternative | Open Source Alternative | Open Source Alternative | Open Source Alternative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proton Mail (W/D/M) | Tutanota (W/D/M) | FreeMail (W/D/M) | Self-hosted mail (W/M) | ||
| Videos | Invidious (W) | Odysee (W/M) | PeerTube (W/M) | NewPipe (D*/M) | FreeTube (D) |
| Search Engine | SearXNG (W) | Whoogle (W) | DuckDuckGo (W/M) | Brave Search (W) | |
| Browser | Zen Browser (D) | LibreWolf (D) | Helium Browser (D) | Mull (M) | |
| Drive | Nextcloud (W/D/M) | FTP (W/D/M) | Flash drive (encrypted with VeraCrypt) (D/M) | ||
| Maps | Organic Maps (M) | ||||
| Photos | Ente (W/M) | Immich (W/M) | Nextcloud Photos (W/D/M) | ||
| Authenticator | Ente Auth (W/M) | Proton Authenticator (M) | Aegis Authenticator (M) | ||
| Passwords | KeePassXC (D)** | KeePassDX (M)** | Proton Pass (W/D/M) | Bitwarden (W/D/M) | |
| Media Player | MPV (D/M) | VLC (D/M) | |||
| Chat | Signal (D/M) | SimpleX Chat (D/M) | Session (D/M) | XMPP (W*/D/M) | |
| Chat (complex) | Stoat (formerly Revolt) (W/D/M*) | Fluxer (W/D) | Matrix (W/D/M) | ||
| Code Editor | Neovim (D) | VSCodium (D) | Helix (hx) (D) | ||
| Terminal Emulator | Ghostty (D) | Alacritty (D) | Kitty (D) | Termux (M) | |
| Local file sending | LocalSend (D/M) | ||||
| App Store | Aurora Store (M) | F-Droid (M) | Neo Store (M) | GNOME DIscovery (D) | KDE Discover (D) |
| Keyboard | FlorisBoard (M) | OpenBoard (M) |
* = Experimental, not stable
** = KeePassXC on desktop and KeePassDX on Android can work together using Syncthing
Step 3: Take your freedom in your network
Use a Private DNS
If you’re using your default DNS, you’re doing wrong. You’re giving your freedom to your ISP just like anything.
There is some servers you can use:
- quad9
- mullvad dns (i recommend this one)
- adguard
Browser Hardening
This is really important. Using an open-source browser is not enough. You should make settings to your browser. There’s how you can do that.
Extensions
You can use these extensions to make your browser more private.
- uBlock Origin (uBlock Origin lite in Chromium)
- Privacy Badger
- ClearURLs
Settings
If you already have something like Mull (M), Ungoogled Chromium (D), Librewolf (D) or Zen Browser (D), you won’t want to do this. If you’re using Firefox, check Arkenfox here.
Step 4: Take freedom in your keyboard
Yes, your keyboard. This is a really easy step but it’s most important one. If you do all of these but not this one, you’ll not free.
Closed-source keyboard apps are really risky. You’re giving your whole typing to them. You won’t know are they protecting it or stealing it. That’s why we’ll change our keyboard.
If you want to change it, I can recommend FlorisBoard. It’s simple but powerful.
If you want to use a closed-source keyboard app, know you’re taking all risks and disable internet for it using AFWall.
Step 5: Clean your tracks in media
You leave a trace when you’re taking a photo. That’s EXIF!
You can see these in your photo’s exif: - Where it’s taken - Which phone it’s taken These are so important. We should remove EXIF.
Happily, Signal auto removes it. If you send a picture to someone using Signal, it’s meta-data cleaned.
If you won’t send it using Signal, you should use Scrambled Exif (M) app.