I recently tried to clean up my digital life. I switched to Linux and switched to GrapheneOS and made more use of my proton subscription to replace google. But I have a few questions :
I tried https://coveryourtracks.eff.org/ on Librewolf on my PC and Vanadium on my phone and it say I have a nearly unique fingerprint. Is the benefit of using a privacy focused browser neglected by the low userbase and unique fingerprint ?
I did not have a great digital hygiene before so I have a google account, meta… How do I clean this up ? Are services like Incogni any good or is it just marketing ?
Finally I wanted to use tails with persistent storage to use as a live system if I ever need to use a PC that is not my own to connect to my accounts. However, I don’t want the ISP to know I use Tor. I see it as a big “I have something to hide” flag for the ISP. But my understanding is if I install a VPN on tails it will be Tor over VPN (bad if I understand correctly) instead of VPN over Tor. Should I use something else than tails since I only want/need always on VPN with kill switch.
Thanks a lot for your help. I want to say the journey is much easier than what I anticipated. The hardest part is making people switch around me. The lobbying has started.
Thank you ! It’s way more clear now.
Hardened browsers prioritize security over privacy right ? Vanadium is that kind of browser ?
“Browser hardening” is a somewhat nebulous term; I’ve seen it used for both privacy and security interchangeably. I continue to hear that Gecko-based browsers (i.e. Firefox and its forks) are less secure, but I do not know exactly how that plays out in the real world. Security and privacy are sometimes at odds, and your threat model should help you choose which to prioritize and when. If you don’t know how to weigh them, you may need to refine your threat model.
Vanadium is a hardened browser, yes. I don’t have personal experience with it so I can’t make any recommendations on its settings.