The price of digital convenience: your privacy

As Big Tech wields its heavy hand to control the flow of news and information, it’s also becoming clear that anyone who goes online has reason to be concerned about privacy.

Catholic author Eric Sammons, who has written about the topic on his blog at ericsammons.com, said even users who think no one would possibly be interested in their social media postings or emails to friends don’t realize how much their activities – what they buy, what they watch, what they say, even in so-called private messages – are tracked online. “This information is then gathered together to form a profile of each person, which is then used for advertising purposes. That’s why these services are ‘free’; unlike traditional services which sell products to you, these services sell you to the advertisers.”

Such “profiles” can be used for anything, including government or Big Tech surveillance, Sammons said. “Let’s say you sent a Facebook message to a friend two years ago that criticized transgenderism. That action can potentially impact your future ability to get work or even raise your own kids. It sounds farfetched, but it’s actually already happening.”

The bottom line is that everyone who ventures into the digital realm is vulnerable. Users of Google’s Gmail and Chrome, for example, are having their emails scanned and stored by a third party, but just about all their online activity is being tracked as well, unless they take specific steps to protect themselves.

“We all expect a certain base level of privacy, no matter how innocent we believe our activities are, but Big Tech is consistently violating this privacy, and what may seem innocent today may later be used against you.”

First steps: changing messaging and email

Users who want to protect their online privacy can start by changing their messaging and email applications to ones that encrypt messages. Signal and Telegram are two such options and, although Telegram offers more options such as groups, Sammons prefers Signal, believing it to be more trustworthy. In fact, he writes in his Jan. 13 blog post, “A Guide to Living in an Orwellian Digital Age,” that former intelligence community officer and whistleblower Edward Snowden swears by Signal.

For secure email, Sammons recommends Belgium-based Mailfence, which offers encryption and does no tracking, but he also has used ProtonMail, which is based in Switzerland and encrypts all emails as well.

Another basic step to enhance privacy online involves switching to a browser that does not track a user’s activity on the web. Among the alternatives to Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Firefox, and Safari are Brave, TOR, and DuckDuckGo. Sammons, who previously used both Google Chrome and Firefox, said he changed his browser to Brave for its functionality and privacy policies.

Similarly, users concerned that when they “Google it” their searches are being tracked by Google or another search engine can switch to an alternative such as DuckDuckGo or Presearch. Having used Google almost since its inception, Sammons said he initially changed to DuckDuckGo, but later found the grass-roots, decentralized Presearch to be even better.

When it comes to social media, some Internet users with privacy or censorship concerns have happily disconnected from platforms like Facebook and Twitter, but others continue to find them convenient ways to access news and to stay in touch with friends and family. Sammons has remained on both platforms, but he advises accessing them only on a computer and not via a smartphone app, both for privacy reasons and because it is healthier for the mind and spirit. He also suggests using a separate browser for such activity.

Repulsed by Big Tech’s censorship of certain views on social media, some have turned to Twitter alternatives Gab and Parler, Facebook alternative MeWe, and video-hosting platforms Odysee, Bitchute, and Rumble instead of YouTube.

Although he has deleted his own YouTube channel, Sammons, who is now using Odysee, still finds YouTube’s content useful and so continues to view its videos without signing in. When accessing YouTube, he also uses a VPN (virtual private network), which prevents an internet service provider or anyone else from tracking online activity. Additionally, he recommends watching YouTube videos on a computer, not a smartphone, and with a separate browser.

Cutting ties with Google

Sammons has gone even further in his efforts to disconnect from Internet services that are constantly collecting information about users by seeking to cease using most Google products. In his Feb. 1 post, “How I Disconnected from the Google Borg,” he explained how this has been no mean feat because of the many services he has come to depend on.

For instance, Sammons for more than a decade had a personal email address powered by Gmail, all his files were on Google Drive, and he was regularly accessing various Google apps and services.

He managed to find alternatives, though not all of them free, for nearly every Google service he had been using, including Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Photos, Google Analytics, Google Maps, and Google Tasks.

Instead of Google Docs and Google Sheets, he is now using Mailfence, and instead of Google Drive and Google Photos, he has switched to pCloud, a service based in Europe. For website analytics, he chose Clicky, and for Google Tasks, the Todoist app along with old-fashioned paper lists.

Finding another navigation and map app was among the more difficult challenges, but Sammons said he finally settled on “GPS Navigation & Maps,” which requires downloading individual state maps.

Sammons said he still uses Google products and services in his work for Crisis magazine, where he is the editor-in-chief, because the publication still uses Google Workspace, but he has separate browsers for work and personal activities on his desktop computer. “It’s not perfect, but it does help keep Google away from me a bit more,” he said.

In addition to his blog and work for Crisis, Sammons is the author of several books, including his latest, Deadly Indifference: How the Church Lost Her Mission and How We Can Reclaim It (CRISIS Publications).

What’s possible and what’s not

He said no one can be on the internet and be completely private or secure, but it is possible for users to increase their privacy and security levels.

Since writing both posts in January and February, Sammons has made one additional change – downgrading to a “dumb phone,” both for privacy reasons and to break any unhealthy attachment to the virtual world.

This means he can only call and text with his new phone – a Light Phone II – and has had to adjust to being without a portable camera or GPS. He still accesses social media and other messaging services on his desktop computer, where he also can take part in a regular chat with his adult children via Apple’s iMessages.

Although he made the switch largely because he realized he was using his smartphone too much, wasting time that could have been spent with his family, reading, or studying, Sammons was also influenced by a smartphone’s ability to allow Big Tech and Big Government to track online and offline activity.

“I’m not arguing that ditching the smartphone is for everyone,” he wrote in “I’m Going Dumb,” another post on his blog, “but I do think we should all be more intentional in how we use new technologies. Instead of just embracing them because everyone else is, we should be intentional in our usage, making a cost/benefit analysis and deciding if and how they will become part of our lives.”

For additional information about online protection and disconnecting from services that do not ensure users’ privacy, see: ericsammons. com/a-guide-to-living-in-anorwellian- digital-age/

JUDY ROBERTS is a Legatus magazine staff writer.