Vix

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erase your digital footprint

bad actors like big corporations, law enforcement, and stalkers rely on the internet to track you down and harass you. this guide tells you some steps you can take to erase your digital footprint, in a tiered order of difficulty and practicality. before doing anything, it's important to determine your threat model.

Tier 1

these are the essentials for everyday people. for anyone who doesn't want to be easily found by strangers, employers, or data brokers.

BEGINNER

1. Strip File Metadata

one of the most common ways people are traced online is through metadata in the files they share. the first thing you should do is disable location access for the camera on your smartphone, which is often on by default. this is already a big step, but you can take it even further by stripping metadata from every file before you share it online. for the desktop, i recommend ExifTool, and for mobile, ExifEraser. while many social media platforms nowadays strip photo and video metadata by default, it's still a good idea to get in the habit of doing it yourself.

BEGINNER

2. Google Yourself

look up your full name and phone number to see what pops up. this will tell you exactly what's out there before you start removing it. try Google, Bing, TruePeopleSearch, and NumLookup first. you can also sign up for Optery's free plan to get a comprehensive list of all the websites that you appear on. if any shitty websites ask you to pay for access to your personal information records, don't.

BEGINNER

3. Request Removal From People-Search Sites

how you approach this depends on the severity. if you couldn't find anything about yourself on the internet, you're probably better off not doing anything at all. if there are only a select number of websites that you need removed from, you can request removal manually. IntelTechniques is a great resource to look into. in more severe cases, it's a good idea to use a paid opt-out service that can handle it all for you. there are plenty of services that do this, but the only two that i recommend are EasyOptOuts and Optery. the issue with most other services like this (especially the free ones offered by banks) is that they simply blast out a cookie-cutter email requesting the removal of your personal information to every single data broker they have on file. If they didn't have your information before, they do now. only use a service that performs opt-outs after verifying that your information actually exists there in the first place.

BEGINNER

4. Lock Down Your Social Media

if you are going to use social media, it's a good idea to set profiles to private, turn off all device permissions, disable all personalization settings, and if possible, randomize your profile details. there's often no good reason to have your personal accounts set to public, and doing so ensures everything you ever post or do will be scraped and archived permanently.

BEGINNER

5. Audit Smartphone App Permissions

apps on your smartphone should only have the absolute minimum permissions they need to function at any given moment. this greatly reduces your attack surface and potential for vulnerabilites. on iOS, go to Settings → Privacy & Security → Safety Check → Manage Sharing & Access and on Step 2, tap "Select all & Stop Access." this will force all apps to re-prompt you for permissions, and you can grant them as needed. on Android, go to Settings → Privacy → Permission Manager and revoke all unecessary app permissions.

Tier 2

for those who want to stop creating new footprint and start taking their online privacy seriously. for anyone who doesn't want to be easily found or tracked, and especially for those concerned about organized harassment, civil litigation, private investigators, or tracking and data collection by large corporations.

INTERMEDIATE

5. Delete Online Accounts

delete as many online accounts and apps as possible, especially social media. not only is it good for your mental health, but it's a huge improvement for your privacy. social media algorithms are inherently exploitative. it's understandable that there are going to be certain social platforms that you simply aren't willing to give up. for those, refer to step 4. you should make an effort to keep your presence online as minimal as possible. JustDeleteMe is a great tool to find the deletion page for hundreds of services.

INTERMEDIATE

6. Regularly Erase Your Post/Message History

as a general rule, you should never post anything on a public-facing social platform that you aren't comfortable with being permanently archived, and you should never message someone with personal or intimate information via unsecure channels. however, if you are going to do this, it's a good idea to regularly scrub your post and message history. if you don't have an extensive post or message history on a given platform, you can simply do this manually. if you have a lot to erase and want something automated, a solid all-around tool for this is Redact, but it's expensive and might not be necessary if you don't need all of its features. many free options exist for specific websites, it just takes a quick search. if you use discord, Undiscord is a great free tool to get the job done.

INTERMEDIATE

7. Compartmentalize

your browsing habits and online accounts should be compartmentalized with different browser profiles, perceived identities, phone numbers, usernames, emails, and profile pictures. for usernames, you can simply pick a random assortment of words or characters. however, you don't want to have a clear pattern. don't make every online username the same 16 character assortment of letters and numbers. change it up every time. for email, you can use one of the many aliasing services, such as SimpleLogin, addy.io, or even Apple's Hide My Email. for phone numbers, consider getting a few VOIP numbers and using a one-time phone verification service like JuicySMS. one of the most common ways Tor users have their identity exposed is by failing at this very basic OPSEC.

INTERMEDIATE

8. Use Virtual, Disposable Cards (FIAT)

there's almost no reason to have your real information associated with purchases you make online. many credit card issuers offer free services that do this, but you should only use these if they allow name anonymization as well. i recommend Privacy.com. they have a pretty generous free tier and allow both vendor-locked and disposable cards. when making card purchases online, use a virtual card number, fake name, and fake address (within your zip code).

INTERMEDIATE

6. Reduce Your Browser Fingerprint

your browser leaks a ton of information about you, even without cookies. a combination of browser identifiers are used to uniquely identify you across the web. the best solution for this is to switch to a browser dedicated to reducing fingerprinting and making you blend in with everyone else, such as Tor Browser or Mullvad Browser. the second best solution is to use a trusted VPN to mask your IP, minimize extension usage, and switch to a privacy-respecting browser that receives regular security patches, such as Orion, Vanadium, or Trivalent. for any other browser, such as Safari, keep it as bone stock as possible. please keep in mind that any setting you change and any extension you install in any browser is a potential fingerprinting technique.

Tier 3

for anyone trying to maximize their privacy while using the internet. builds on everything in the previous tiers, and is especially relevant for those concerned about law enforcement surveillance, intelligence agencies, state-sponsored actors, corporate espionage, or anyone whose safety depends on their digital identity remaining unknown, such as journalists and activists.

ADVANCED

9. Browse With Tor

the Tor Browser is one of the best ways to truly browse the internet anonymously. tor routes your traffic through three independently operated relays. an entry node, a middle relay, and an exit node. no single relay knows both who you are and what you're accessing.

ADVANCED

10. Use Monero (XMR) For Online Purchases

Monero is the gold standard for financial privacy. it's an untraceable decentralized cryptocurrency that ensures anonymity and private transactions through various cryptographic techniques. obtaining Monero is becoming increasingly more difficult due to government pressure and censorship, but the best way I've found is using a decentralized Tor exchange like Haveno to purchase XMR with FIAT money. for a list of websites and services that support Monero purchases, refer to Monerica. to make purchases online with XMR for websites that don't already support it, you can use a service like Coincards to purchase gift cards with Monero.

ADVANCED

11. Switch Your Daily Operating System

for the desktop, the gold standard for everyday usage is Qubes OS. Qubes is a Xen-based operating system that runs every application in its own isolated virtual machine called a "qube." Qubes has Whonix integration, which makes it easy to safely and anonymously browse the internet with Tor. for mobile, the only recommended operating system is GrapheneOS. GrapheneOS doesn't require an account and provides a vast array of privacy and security improvements over other mobile operating systems.

ADVANCED

12. Leave The Smartphone Behind

regardless of the operating system your phone is using, good cellular network privacy is basically impossible. your carrier knows every cell tower your phone is connected to, and cell tower triangulation means your exact pinpoint location is known at all times. if you don't feel comfortable having your location tracked, leave your phone powered on at home. this just makes you look like a person who stayed home, while a phone that goes dark for a regularly scheduled period of time can raise some flags. if you're travelling and must bring your phone, consider a faraday bag, but be careful not to create a pattern of behavior.

13. Use Common Sense

absolutely nothing you do matters if your behavior gives you away. in the vast majority of cases, leaks caused by poor OPSEC are behavioral and not insufficient tools. the person at home using Tor on their outdated Windows 8 craptop with perfect discipline and the ability to keep their mouth shut is much harder to track than the person running Qubes-Whonix on rotating public WiFi networks who brags on the internet over multiple forums with the same username.

Name	Vix
Species	Domestic Cat
Gender	Male
Height	5'6
Colors	Black - Gray - Blue

CPU	Intel i5-9500
RAM	1x16GB DDR4
OS	Debian GNU/Linux 13
Data	2X 4TB T500 NVMe (ZFS)
Backup	8TB WD HDD (EXT4)

Management	Dockge
Monitoring	Beszel
Containers	Navidrome Jellyfin Invidious

Desktop	macOS¹ Qubes Secureblue Tails Whonix
Mobile	GrapheneOS iOS²
Server	Secureblue Fedora IoT openSUSE MicroOS

Desktop	Mullvad Browser Orion Tor Browser Trivalent
Mobile	Orion Vanadium
VPN	iVPN Mullvad
Search	Brave Search DuckDuckGo Kagi SearXNG Startpage

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Tier 1

1. Strip File Metadata

2. Google Yourself

3. Request Removal From People-Search Sites

4. Lock Down Your Social Media

5. Audit Smartphone App Permissions

Tier 2

5. Delete Online Accounts

6. Regularly Erase Your Post/Message History

7. Compartmentalize

8. Use Virtual, Disposable Cards (FIAT)

6. Reduce Your Browser Fingerprint

Tier 3

9. Browse With Tor

10. Use Monero (XMR) For Online Purchases

11. Switch Your Daily Operating System

12. Leave The Smartphone Behind

13. Use Common Sense

Hardware

Services

Operating Systems

Browsing

Account Security

Self-Hosting

Social

Finance

Passwords	Bitwarden KeePassXC Strongbox Vaultwarden
2FA	2FAS Aegis Authenticator NitroKey YubiKey

Messaging	Briar iMessage Matrix Session Signal
Media	Lemmy Mastodon

Coins	Litecoin MWEB Monero XMR
Wallets	Cake Wallet Feather Wallet Monero GUI Trezor
Exchanges	CoinCards Haveno

Files	Nextcloud
Music	Finamp Navidrome Slskd
Video	Jellyfin