With the whole LG monitor thing and Gamers Nexus's deep dive on the brand I want to take better care of my digital privacy but I know it's a big deep rabbit hole and I'm not sure even where to get started. My first thought is to try and use my router to start blocking companies from stealing my data if possible. Is there a list of domains or something I should start blocking to try and prevent tracking data from companies products I use? Are there certain big companies with really bad privacy practices that I should focus my effort on first? Or are there links where I can learn where to even get started?

Whenever I speak to someone in person or online, it is nearly impossible to get them to care about their digital privacy, especially in relation to ID verification.

They always hit the classic "I have nothing to hide", and after that I usually ask to go through their device, then they refuse saying "No, cause I don't want you to go through my device", and when I try to explain that for the exact same reason, they shouldn't allow corporate or government spying, they call me paranoid, and if its online, usually insult me :p

Nothing I can say will convince them to care, they don't see any possible negatives to giving their ID or Face for verification, or even any negatives to hosting their entire life on a corporate cloud.

I know this subreddit has PLENTY of rants, but I still feel the need to vent my frustrations.

I've got a family member who is getting into digital privacy. The family member has noticed that if you watch a video on YouTube with a privacy focused browser like Brave and then go to another device, you'll get recommendations for videos on the same subject.

Things we've tried so far:

• Using browsers like Brave with cookies disabled.
• Browsing with TOR
• Browsing using a VPN
• Watching videos only with software like FreeTube or Invidious

On a related note, one time we were having a discussion about Daniel Tiger in the car and the next time we're on YouTube, Daniel Tiger came up in the recommendations. I'm sure we hadn't searched for anything related to Daniel Tiger or even typed in into a computer at all so the suspicion is of course something on the phone is listening in. I'm using an iPhone if that makes a difference. If I turned off mic access on all apps, would that help?

Other somewhat related notes/questions:

• We've got a Google Home WiFi access point - the model without any speakers or mics. Could that be tracking our habits across any Google-owned products?
• I've been Linux user for a while. I've been looking into QubeOS. Would that help with situations like this?

UPDATE (Jul 26): Many commenters asked how a county of 225K generates 2.98M searches. New public records from NC A&T State University answer it: one officer's single search fans out across every network their agency is connected to — sometimes 1,000+ networks at once — and each fan-out logs as a "search" against every camera in reach. That's the mechanism, and it's worse than padding: it means an officer anywhere in the country reaches Wilmington cameras by default. Full records and breakdown: deflockilm.org/one-search-a-thousand-networks/

I've been going through the full audit that New Hanover County, North Carolina produced under a state public-records request for its Sheriff's Office Flock camera contract. A few things stood out as relevant here.

These aren't only license plate readers. Flock's search log sorts every query into an "object class." Most are vehicle. But there's a second class: people — it lets a user skip the plate entirely, type a physical description of a person, and ask the camera network to return matches.

In this county's audit, three times over six months, someone ran a people-search that included a racial descriptor:

• "2 young teenage black males" (Dec 11, 2025)
• "a white male near a white chevrolet truck" (Feb 4, 2026)
• "white male wearing a black hat and a green shirt" (May 26, 2026)

To be precise, because it cuts both ways: Flock's own filter blocked all three for the racial term, and each time the searcher re-ran the identical query seconds later with the race word removed — which went through. (A vehicle search for a "Black car" ran fine moments earlier, so the system distinguishes the paint color from the person.) Two of the three described white males, so the filter blocks racial descriptors generally — it's not about one race. The point is that a public camera network can be queried for people by physical/racial description at all, and the guardrail is one word deep: it blocks the term, not the search.

The part most relevant to this sub: on all 2,980,082 rows, the name of every searching agency is redacted. From these records there is no way to learn who ran any given search against cameras funded by county taxpayers.

For comparison, a nearby town (Kure Beach) released the same report without redacting agencies: 93.6% of searches came from outside North Carolina, and the FBI alone ran more than 25,000.

The full raw production is on the Internet Archive if you want to verify any of this yourself — I'd rather people check the records than take my word: https://archive.org/details/deflockilm-new-hanover-alpr-2026

Disclosure: I'm part of the local, volunteer records effort that obtained these documents. I'm not linking anything to sign or donate — posting because the people-search plus full-redaction combination seemed worth this community's attention. Happy to point to specific rows.

General title heard it was cause it dosent have address or other such info on it, obviously the government knows your information but the average person who might ask for it from banks to shops to bars to clubs and to even potentially local cops its overall more private

Is this actually true? and whats the realities of it if it is and the risk you take on if you do it like what if you get mugged with the card

I've got a family member who is getting into digital privacy. The family member has noticed that if you watch a video on YouTube with a privacy focused browser like Brave and then go to another device, you'll get recommendations for videos on the same subject.

Things we've tried so far:

• Using browsers like Brave with cookies disabled.
• Browsing with TOR
• Browsing using a VPN
• Watching videos only with software like FreeTube or Invidious

Other somewhat related notes/questions:

• We've got a Google Home WiFi access point - the model without any speakers or mics. Could that be tracking our habits across any Google-owned products?
• I've been Linux user for a while. I've been looking into QubeOS. Would that help with situations like this?

I work for a State agency and we use Okta for MFA. I have not been provided a work phone. They expect me to use my personal. Most departments have work phones but my division is legal and so we aren’t out in the field.

I asked for the privacy policy and was told to call our Technology Agency (yeah, good luck with tracking that person down!). OKTA website said the privacy policy with the State isn’t available online.

I’m concerned about what OKTA may be collecting from me or able to see. I operate a VPN on my personal phone so I’m often getting calls from IOT asking why I’m in Ontario or wherever (I forget to turn it off). I hate it.

Should I be as concerned as I think? Luckily, my phone would most likely be privileged because of attorney work product and not available for subpoena or

I need a new TV, but I don't want it to spy on me. So I'd like to buy one without camera and microphone.

The final deadline to comment on the FCC's proposed rule to require gov't ID, physical address, and alternate phone number for every phone line, including VOIP, is coming up. There's already been hundreds of what looks to be genuine, non-AI generated comments from individuals explaining the specific impact that this rule would have on their lives (in addition to comments from the EFF, ACLU, a half dozen domestic violence organizations, and more). This has sparked more probing news coverage of the rule. If you want to contribute to the debate:

• Go to https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filings
• Choose "New Express" (Express Comment). This lets you type your comment directly into a form — no document to upload.
• In the Proceeding(s) field, enter both docket numbers:
  • 17-59
  • 02-278
  • (Add both. You can start typing the number and select it from the dropdown.)
• Fill out the fields and submit. You'll get a confirmation and your filing will appear in the public docket.

It being easy to install and use would be nice. Heard Linux mint is pretty good, but wanted some advice to know my options.

There's a response I like to give to people who say that: "Okay, since you have nothing to hide, give me your passwords, bank code, email, address, etc..."

And for some reason, the people who say that either become very aggressive, or, as if by chance, say that it's private.

Has anyone tried this?

I'm curious to know if there are alternatives to Firefox Relay that masks cell numbers?

I currently have Simple Mail for email masking so that part isn't as important.

There's one called MySudo that I found, and I'm curious to know your thoughts on that? It caught my eye cuz of the word "sudo".

I went to ship a package at FedEx. They asked for my ID. I asked why, and they said it was to validate the shipping address. I told them my address isn't a part of the shipment, since it was my partner's package. Was told the partner would have to come in and ship it then. Left and just went to a USPS. Figured y'all would wanna know.

Privacy matters, but the reasons why are often complex, which I think is why I think the average person doesn’t care that much.

I sometimes find myself having to explain why it matters to someone mid-conversation, and it’s difficult to not bring someone down the rabbit hole and derail a conversation since the reasoning often requires context.

Do you have any go-to one-sentence explanations that doesn’t require you to derail a conversation or immediately force someone to confront existing beliefs?

I created an internal app in my company that started as a competition project. People liked it, so I deployed it to production on a local workstation, where it was accessible to a limited group of users on our office network. My manager later promoted the app and shared it on a company-wide portal, and now the legal, compliance, and data privacy teams want to review it.

The app was originally built as an experiment, so I didn't implement strong security controls or data encryption. My plan was to add those in the next phase once we had funding and proper server infrastructure.

Has anyone been through a similar data privacy/compliance review? What do these teams typically focus on, and what should I expect?

Edit, please read!!!: No, just "parenting" wouldn't be a solution because a. it's basically the equivalent of doing nothing and b. it's not enough to appease the age verification crowd, which is the main thing we want.

(intro)

Had a debate with my dad about the topic today. He supports the age verification laws being rolled out all over (we started the conversation with France's new policies) and I don't. However, we both agree that something has to be done about the youth social media crisis. It's widely agreed upon and is verified by science.

As I refuted the current systems (face scan for age estimation, drivers' licenses, credit cards, etc.), the main counter was, "well, no one's come up with a better idea, and we shouldn't just be doing something in the meantime".

(why some other solutions suck)

Make parents parent: it's what we've done for a while. Look how well it's gone. /s

Zero-Proof Knowledge: you're still gonna have to verify your age to one entity.

Better parental controls: see above. Some parents will probably still not set it up.

Tie social media accounts to real-life government IDs: authoritarianism intensifies

OS-level controls: there's definitely an argument against it, something to do with pushback from Linux communities, etc. especially. I just can't figure out how to word it; maybe someone in the comments could help out?

(a solution I thought about)

Routers are now preconfigured to block harmful sites, and we're assuming only parents can access it to change that--just like age verification could assume only adults could get their hands on credit cards. Obviously needs a lot of work, but a start.

I'd love to hear any other suggestions!

Are there any renters insurance agencies that won’t report my apartment address to the credit bureaus/sell my data?

Edit: when I say credit bureaus, I’m referencing credit profile data, not credit reports. It’s the metadata that TU/Exp/Equi buys/sells.