+- we live in hell (https://weliveinhell.net)
+-- Forum: general topics (https://weliveinhell.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=1)
+--- Forum: general chatter (https://weliveinhell.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=2)
+--- Thread: Take Back Your Privacy Now: 2 Steps (/showthread.php?tid=198)
Take Back Your Privacy Now: 2 Steps - FrodoSwaggins - 02-24-2025
Here's just 2 huge steps you can take today to reclaim your privacy and protect yourself from identity theft. I'm sharing these because I procrastinated on doing them because they required snail mail and I wish that I had not. Do yourself a favor and start on this today.
Permanently Opt-Out of Pre-Screened Credit Offers
No more junk mail credit or insurance offers for life! This is huge. It means no more half filled credit apps waiting to be stolen out of your mailbox and just less junk mail in general. Why did I wait so long to do this? The permanent opt-out requires sending in a form with a copy of your drivers' license.
I can't deep-link the form unfortunately, so you will have to follow the directions here:
https://www.optoutprescreen.com/
Permanently Freeze Background Checks (The Work Number)
The Work Number is an Equifax subsidiary that sells your very accurate work history to requesters, often to potential employers. it's a very good idea to freeze this so that it can't be used for identity theft and so that employers can't do a background check without your consent:
https://employees.theworknumber.com/employee-data-freeze
Again, it requires snail mail, but I hope you'll learn from my procrastination and get on it!
Do you have some high-powered opt-outs I've missed? I'd love to hear about them!
Here's a wish-list of opt-outs that I am pretty sure don't exist:
Facebook - Meta tracks you EVERYWHERE across the internet and even with a VPN, I bet it strings together your browsing sessions and identities. How can we stop it? No idea.
Google tracking - Again, especially in the US we have no legal rights here, so no idea how to stop that.
RE: Take Back Your Privacy Now: 2 Steps - gorzek - 02-24-2025
Check this out: https://github.com/m1k1o/neko
The key technology for avoiding tracking at this point is disposable containers. No persistent data is kept and the fingerprint-related data is randomized each time so other than tracking you by IP (which you could defeat using VPNs), they can't really pinpoint you as a specific user.