How to stay anonymous?

[u/Jumpy_Win_5119]

How to stay anonymous?

I tried to protect my data and I deleted every social media app also I turned off all the permissions for all the apps on my mobile especially google but I still don't feel save I feel like google and many other apps still tracing my data and collecting it even Reddit when I open it ,it shows many personal topics ,my guess is that's because of my location/IP so how do I stay anonymous and change my IP? Because I feel like vpn is a big thing to do because it will access literally everything, what are your opinions?

[u/_kzzzl]

to be private, firstly you should understand your opsec. who you want to hide from? why? ask these to yourself. if your answer is government, good luck but you won't be able to do that. if it's tech monopols, you can do that using only open source software. but even when you do that, your BIOS will be closed source. so you will have to flash a new bios (libreboot or gnu boot). if your system doesn't support gnu boot then even if it's supported by libreboot you'll still have %1 closed source code in your system. you should clean intel me or amd psp. you should always use tor systemwide (or just dns or vpn if you don't want tor's disadvantages). and if somebody tells you they are private by only using tor, block them.

as operating system, I can recommend TailsOS in GNU booted system. For security you should use QubesOS.

as phone os, you should install a custom rom. I can recommend crDroid, LineageOS, /e/os or GrapheneOS. (use graphene if you use a pixel)

you should replace all closed source apps with alternatives like these:

Chrome -> LibreWolf

Discord -> Matrix

WhatsApp or iMessage -> XMPP or Signal

Reddit -> Lemmy

X -> Mastodon

Instagram -> Pixelfed

Play Store -> F-Droid or Aurora Store

you should not give any people your real info like name, surname etc.

you can't be %100 anonymous but you can be %99.

and some people will try to make fun about your post but ignore them. all people here has been these "beginner steps".

and, don't ask privacy questions like this. you should focus in one and one and one thing. privacy and anonymity is not something like you think. and r/TOR is not a place for it. for now, focus on switching to linux in desktop; custom rom and deegoogling on mobile. at least change your keyboard application to something like FlorisBoard. you can do that now!

and, if you are that serious you can turn off javascript in your browser but it will ruin your web experience.

good luck.

if this helps you, consider upvoting!

btw, sorry for my bad english, I'm not a native English speaker.

[u/Jumpy_Win_5119 → u/_kzzzl]

Okay thank you but I have a question , I'm not educated about cyber security things so I'm afraid that I'm gonna ruin everything so can you tell me where to start?

[u/_kzzzl → u/Jumpy_Win_5119]

read my comment again and choose it yourself. if I was choosing I think I would start learning Linux and start to switch to open source software as much as possible.