Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

How to Prevent the Internet from Tracking You

How to Prevent the Internet from Tracking You

The internet is tracking your every click, every purchase and every "like." Here's how to go dark and prevent the internet from tracking you.

You are in a fishbowl, fully exposed to all the watchful eyes on the internet.

Big Tech has every click, every purchase, every “like” - going back at least a decade - cataloged and replicated across sprawling data centers the size of suburban shopping malls. Your digital history isn’t just for posterity, it’s for sale. And it’s valuable, fueling artificially intelligent systems used by groups such as political consulting firms to predict interests and behavior. It’s a highly lucrative bottom line: Google and Facebook, two companies that sell AI ad-targeting technology to the highest bidder, are valued at over a trillion dollars combined.

Most people don’t even realize they need to protect themselves, and even fewer know how. But it’s time to admit that the precautions you should have taken years ago are now just a start. Exactly how deep you want to go is up to you.


Step One: Protect Yourself

Large tech companies aren’t the only ones out for your data. Organized cybercriminals and rogue hackers trade known vulnerabilities to break into phones and computers for financial gain. On dark-web markets, “fullz” - a full set of personal information, including Social Security number, birth date, address - can sell for a few hundred dollars if the credit score is right.

The good news is that subpar digital security is one of the easiest things to fix. First step: examine every URL. Do you trust the site? Will it infect your computer with a drive-by download? Are you staring at an imposter page designed to steal usernames and passwords? Only install software from sites you absolutely trust, and run downloads through VirusTotal, a free service (owned by a subsidiary of Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc.) that checks for malware by running files through dozens of antivirus services.

To protect your growing number of logins, use two-factor authentication with every site that supports it, from Amazon to Snapchat to your online bank, and faithfully apply software updates to patch vulnerabilities. Enable full disk encryption – standard on Windows 10 and OS X Yosemite or later – which converts exfiltrated information into mumbo jumbo, making it worthless to prying eyes.

As a final precaution, revisit your passwords. All of them. Repeated names and phrases are a single point of failure; once cybercriminals break into one internet account, they have access to everything – email, social media, banks. Use a password manager like LastPass to generate and store strong, unique passwords. Also consider buying a physical two-factor authenticator, such as Security Key ($20) or YubiKey 5 NFC ($45) from Yubico.


Step Two: Avoid Detection

If you’re wary that Facebook manipulates users with AI to boost engagement, as critics charge, there’s a simple fix: delete your Facebook account. If you can’t quite take that leap, at least reduce your footprint on social media. Unfriend everyone you don’t know. Install Social Fixer to turn off Facebook’s AI-ranked posts and ads; the plug-in lets users choose from ready-made filters that strip newsfeeds of unwanted subjects (like politics) or keywords (“Putin”). If you want to do something similar on Twitter, try Larry Filter.

Even creepier: it’s time to worry about facial recognition. Today’s software can identify objects and people - not just who those people are but what they’re doing and how they feel doing it. Amazon Web Services provides image recognition technology to companies and developers on a pay-per-use model, and use of the tech is widely unregulated. One previous client: the White House.

You can opt out of facial recognition on Facebook, with one catch: the software has to remember you in order not to recognize you. Instagram is no better: photos posted there are stored in Facebook’s data centers, where the company pulls identities and context from the photos and stories. Next time you consider a selfie, ask yourself how much that like is really worth.


Step Three: Close the Blinds

Ditch Chrome for Firefox. Google’s business model depends on collecting and monetizing your data. Firefox is operated by Mozilla, a nonprofit corporation that promotes privacy.

Toggling Firefox’s Do Not Track setting tells websites not to track you, meaning ad networks won’t be able to spam you with ads for products you browsed on other sites. The catch: there’s no legislation or regulation requiring companies to honor this setting, and a website can ignore it with little or no consequence. The fix: a browser extension called Privacy Badger prevents uncooperative websites from using third-party tracking, while another called uBlock Origin uses customizable lists to block ad servers. Install both.

Also, it’s hard to hide from Google when you’re googling. Switch to an anonymous search engine like StartPage, Qwant or DuckDuckGo. The results are generated independently from your identity or geography since these sites don’t store personal information.


Step Four: Cover Your Tracks

It’s time to disassociate from Verizon, Comcast or whatever internet service provider (ISP) gets you onto the web. Most people do this with a virtual private network (VPN), such as NordVPN, which encrypts web traffic and assigns users a virtual IP address. This means no one can pin your internet use to a physical location.

To stay truly anonymous, you’ll want to purchase the VPN service through Tor, a group of volunteer-operated servers that let you surf the web anonymously, using a fake email account. Use a prepaid Visa card and a burner phone — preferably one bought with cash at a garage sale with cash.

You’ll also need your own Wi-Fi router, not the cheap one that your ISP rents to you monthly with your internet service plan. Get a Linksys WRT3200ACM ($179) or ASUS AC5300 ($245) — both are fast and customizable. No matter what you choose, pay for it with cash and bolster its defenses by installing DD-WRT, an open-source, Linux-based firmware that gives you additional security options.


Step Five: Become a Nomad


If you’ve completed steps one through four properly and practice good operational security, only a supremely sophisticated entity, like a nation-state’s security agency, will be able to penetrate your defenses. But there is a deeper level of impermeability.

To become a true nomad, untethered from any fixed position on the internet, you need to boot your computer from a USB stick carrying TAILS, or The Amnesic Incognito Live System. This replaces default operating systems, like Microsoft Windows or macOS, ensuring your browsing activity is both anonymous and immune from forensic discovery. Buy a USB stick with at least eight gigabytes of storage from a reliable manufacturer like SanDisk or Kingston Technology.

Still, a thorough scan of your network activity could identify a Tor browsing session — a way in. The only unassailable defense: make public internet connections in public cafés and libraries, and never return to the same location twice.

Then and only then will you truly be a ghost in the machine.

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Trump Says Ukraine Can Fully Restore Borders with NATO Backing
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Germany Weighs Excluding France from Key European Fighter Jet Programme
Cyberattack Disrupts Check-in and Boarding Systems at Major European Airports
Björn Borg Breaks Silence: Memoir Reveals Addiction, Shame and Cancer Battle
When Extremism Hijacks Idealism: How the Baader-Meinhof Gang Emerged and Fell
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
Trump Orders $100,000 Fee on H-1B Visas and Launches ‘Gold Card’ Immigration Pathway
France’s Looming Budget Crisis and Political Fracture Raise Fears of Becoming Europe’s “Sick Man”
Three Russian MiG-31 Jets Breach Estonian Airspace in ‘Unprecedentedly Brazen’ NATO Incident
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
The New Life of Novak Djokovic
German police raid AfD lawmaker’s offices in inquiry over Chinese payments
Volkswagen launches aggressive strategy to fend off Chinese challenge in Europe’s EV market
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
Poland Shoots Down Russian Drones in Airspace Violation During Ukraine Attack
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Macron Appoints Sébastien Lecornu as Prime Minister Amid Budget Crisis and Political Turmoil
Vatican hosts first Catholic LGBTQ pilgrimage
Apple Unveils iPhone 17 Series, iPhone Air, Apple Watch 11 and More at 'Awe Dropping' Event
France joins Eurozone’s ‘periphery’ as turmoil deepens, say investors
France Faces New Political Crisis, again, as Prime Minister Bayrou Pushed Out
Nayib Bukele Points Out Belgian Hypocrisy as Brussels Considers Sending Army into the Streets
France, at an Impasse, Heads Toward Another Government Collapse
×