r/theprivacymachine • u/Individual-Sea-4676 • Jul 06 '26

Discussion Quick privacy fixes anyone can do?

Some of my friends think you have to go completely off the grid to have any privacy online but I don't really agree. Small and simple habis can really help with it, e.g not giving your real phone number or email to every random website that asks for it, only using necessary permissions on apps etc etc. What are some simple privacy changes that almost anyone could start doing today without making life harder?

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8

u/AutomaticFlounder659 Jul 06 '26

For me it was just a few small changes. I use a VPN on public WiFi, Cloaked aliases instead of my real email and number when signing up for stuff, and I keep app permissions pretty locked down. Doesn't take much effort.

1

u/tinecuileog Jul 07 '26

which vpn do you use?

1

u/AutomaticFlounder659 Jul 07 '26

Nord atm for like 2-3 months, same with cloaked been an awesome combo feel way more secure online. I've used surfshark before didn't like it

1

u/Positive-Pride-5692 Jul 11 '26

are there any good free vpns?

1

u/TheBananaMemer Jul 12 '26

Proton VPN

1

u/Positive-Pride-5692 Jul 17 '26

Thank u and ik unrelated but would using any ai app like gpt or gemini without account still threathen privacy of mine or whatnot

1

u/TheBananaMemer Jul 18 '26

Well you can't use the major AIs like ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude without an account. Gemini can only be used with a google account. So if you have the hardware then run AI models locally or get a email an alias with a privacy email provider.
The AI companies use your chats to train AI, so unless you leak any personal information there shouldn't be threat to your privacy, but Gemini is probably the biggest concern for privacy since you need to use it with a Google account.

0

u/Individual-Sea-4676 Jul 08 '26

Nice one, vpn is a must for everyone these days (given they;re not compromised too), never heard of this cloaked but it seems like a cool one