Privacy: How to Take it Back

The good news is there are plenty of alternatives right now to Facebook and the other applications we use.

by A. Horrigan
April 12, 2018

It is now clear that Facebook data and sophisticated analytics have been used to profile and psychologically influence voters.

The public is awakening to the dangers of personal data profiling, which can aid con artists, hackers and election consultants alike in a wide range of manipulations and fraud.

Cambridge Analytica harvested personal information from Facebook profiles of millions without permission of users, in one of the largest data leaks in history. Facebook head Mark Zuckerberg says he doesn't recall any conversations he might have had about whether to tell the public about the data breach.

The good news is there are plenty of alternatives right now to Facebook and the other applications we use. We can protect our privacy and that of the nation's children if we want to.

Data goes stale quickly, so even if we are already heavily profiled, by backing out of the applications we use now, in a couple of years our data can be our own once again.

Here's a list of applications you can switch to now, and tools you can employ, to take back your privacy:

• Signal, for encrypted mobile phone messaging (download from Android and Apple app stores and start using right away -- very easy)
• ProtonMail for encrypted email (free and as easy to use as gmail)
• Duckduckgo.com or Tor Browser for non-tracked web searches
• Steemit, a direct competitor to Facebook based on blockchain technology -- no spying or advertising, and you can even earn some cryptocurrency by posting and commenting.
• Secure home routers to prevent hacking through modems and IoT devices

And, we can pay for our news. Paid subscriptions let publications employ investigative journalists like Matthew Rosenberg, Nicholas Confessore and Carole Cadwalladr to research, fact-check and write informative articles like this one:

How Trump Consultants Exploited the Facebook Data of Millions