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c/WomensStuff · by CheeseToastie@lazysoci.al · 1y

What online safety tips do you have to share?

Online danger can take many forms, from men tearing apart your comments on social media to harassment and doxing. How do you keep safe?

14 points · 10 comments · view on lemmy.world

10 Comments

CheeseToastie@lazysoci.al · 13 pts · 1y (4 replies)

I went for a gender neutral name on lemmy despite being a girly girl. The MRA sorts are a lot less likely to attack you IME! I then started a women's group so thought I may as well give myself a girly girl name.

On social media I know when to walk away, and usually can. It's frustrating if someones attacking you in comments, and hitting your head on a brick wall just hurts your head.

I never have my location on when posting on social media. I mix up usernames, registration emails etc to stay safe. I never give out my location, post photos or my name.

So far it's worked!

dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 11 pts · 1y (3 replies)

these are all great!

Here's a resource on more ways to approach safety and security online: https://ssd.eff.org/

This is also a useful resource: https://www.privacyguides.org/en/

and some tips that come to my mind (some of these overlap with the EFF guide):

  • use privacy centered apps for chatting, instead of SMS use Signal for example
  • use an offline password manager like keepass to generate very strong and unique passwords for every account
  • use a privacy-conscious VPN like Mullvad to make it harder to track you down by IP and to safeguard your location
  • enable disk encryption on your devices like laptops
  • use NoScript to disable js from running by default
  • use uBlock Origin to block malicious content (malware, scams, etc.)
  • use a privacy conscious browser like LibreWolf and change your browser settings to not save history, to delete cookies upon closing, etc. - don't use other browsers like Chrome which have surveillance baked in
  • use privacy conscious search engines instead of Google
  • don't have corporate social media accounts, delete your Facebook, Insta, Pinterest, TikTok, X / Twitter, Bluesky, etc.
  • use Facebook Container to prevent Facebook from profiling and spying on you (even when you don't go to Facebook and have no account, they still profile and track you as a non-user through other websites that put Facebook widgets on them)
  • use Canvas Blocker to make it harder for websites to profile you through your unique canvas data
  • use EFF's Cover Your Tracks tool to test how safe you are and what you need to do better
  • use a tool to wipe EXIF data from your images before you post them - even just taking a screenshot of the picture on your computer and sharing that can be better than uploading the original
  • use Linux and configure it to respect privacy instead of using corporate operating systems like Windows or macOS that have baked-in surveillance
  • on Android use F-Droid as an alternative to the Google Play Store to find and install secure and open-source app alternatives to corporate apps that spy on you

Remember that in this day and age, the enemy includes the government, ISPs, and tech companies like Google, Apple, Facebook, etc.

CheeseToastie@lazysoci.al · 6 pts · 1y (2 replies)

Holy shit Dandelion that's amazing! Do you work in tech? And can I refer people to your comment in future? It's really, really useful

Edit: downloading that app now

dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 6 pts · 1y (1 reply)

Yes, I'm in tech - and of course, feel free to share this comment. It's just pulled out of nothing, though - so I'm sure there's a lot I'm missing 😄 Still, whatever helps - also happy to answer questions or help in other ways!

CheeseToastie@lazysoci.al · 5 pts · 1y

Great thanks Dandelion 😊

Corno@lemm.ee · 12 pts · 1y (3 replies)

  • Don't post photos of yourself online. You never know what someone could do with them!

  • Don't feed the trolls! They're looking to get a reaction out of you, so it's best to give them blue horns.

  • Don't say what city/town etc you live in, country is enough in most contexts!

  • Disable geolocation wherever possible

  • Don't save passwords for your accounts to your computer! Write them down in a diary.

frankenswine@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 1y (1 reply)

disagree with the last one. instead: practice safe digital habits

badcodecat@lemux.minnix.dev · 4 pts · 1y

a password manager works great instead, i reccomend the open-source (+selfhostable!) bitwarden

MangoPenguin@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 1y

For the last one a password manager like Keepass or Bitwarden is generally a better option as it's much safer.

MangoPenguin@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 1y

A big one IMO: Scramble/remove EXIF data on any photos you upload online: https://f-droid.org/packages/com.jarsilio.android.scrambledeggsif/

If you don't and a photo was taken with location enabled, that photo has a location attached to it accurate down to a few feet in some cases. It also contains data on which direction you were facing.

Some others:

  • Don't mention where you live (other than country), or obvious identifiers like a unique store you visit that only exists in 1 or a few locations.
  • Avoid faces in photos uploaded on the internet, unless you have a good reason like you're a public figure or something like that where people are going to see your face in media or news.
  • Backgrounds in photos can sometimes be highly accurate for finding a location, so for photos you upload keep that in mind.
  • Even photos uploaded to 'private' cloud storage can become public due to security leaks, improper passwords, or plain old getting phished and user error. Encrypt before upload if it needs to stay private.
  • Use a password manager! Having a 100% unique and random password for every service is the best way to keep yourself safe from password leaks, re-using passwords is incredibly dangerous. If you don't feel comfortable with online PW managers, Keepass is 100% offline.