PrivacyTools.io: A Good Resource for Privacy Tools and Services
October 30, 2024
Keeping up with the latest in global mass surveillance by private and state-sponsored groups can be a challenge. Here is a resource that can help: Privacy Tools evaluates the many tools designed to fight mass surveillance and highlights the best on its website. Its Home page lists its many clickable categories on the left and describes the criteria by which the site evaluates privacy tools and services. It also educates visitors on surveillance issues and why even those with “nothing to hide” should be concerned. It specifies:
“Many of the activities we carry out on the internet leave a trail of data that can be used to track our behavior and access some personal information. Some of the activities that collect data include credit card transactions, GPS, phone records, browsing history, instant messaging, watching videos, and searching for goods. Unfortunately, there are many companies and individuals on the internet that are looking for ways to collect and exploit your personal data to their own benefit for issues like marketing, research, and customer segmentation. Others have malicious intentions with your data and may use it for phishing, accessing your banking information or hacking into your online accounts. Businesses have similar privacy issues. Malicious entities could be looking for ways to access customer information, steal trade secrets, stop networks and platforms such as e-commerce sites from operating and disrupt your operations.”
The site’s list of solutions to these threats is long. Some are free and some are not. And which to choose will differ depending on one’s situation. One way to simplify the selection is with the group’s specific Privacy Guides—collections of tools for specific concerns. Categories currently include Android, Encryption, Network, Smartphones, Tor Browser, and Tracking, to name a few. This is a handy way to narrow down the many solutions featured on the site. A worthy undertaking since, as the site emphasizes, “You are being watched.”
Cynthia Murrell, October 30, 2024
Comments
Got something to say?
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
