We are all being watched. Everything we do online is being watched and recorded by both corporate and government agencies. While governments are using surveillance as a technique, excessively, to protect ‘national interests’, Corporate giants are snooping on your data just to make profits.

Data is the new gold and it is being mined through us. In this age of ‘free services’, companies are increasingly looking for newer revenue models, and almost all of them ends up with same solution, turning their consumers into their product itself. Details of what you search online, your social media activity, the contents of your email, your messages, everything is being used to create a profile of you which will then be used by advertisers to target tailored advertisements at you.

Showing you some advertisements is not the dangerous part here, what is worrisome is the fact that scores of sensitive data on you is stored on a server in some corner of the world without your proper consent, and you have no control, whatsoever, over it.

I have just started reading Permanent Record, the memoir of Edward Snowden. Hence, I didn’t have to think much before choosing this subject for my first post in this blog. Here is a list of applications and websites, most of which I got familiar with after the NSA PRISM scandal broke out(thanks again to Mr Snowden), that you could use in the place of their mainstream counterparts who spy on you.

Browsers

Firefox

Firefox will be perhaps the most popular name in this list. It is developed by Mozilla Corporation, a subsidiary of the Mozilla Foundation which describes itself as “a non-profit organization that promotes openness, innovation and participation on the Internet.” Firefox is neat, fast, flexible and secure and it also boasts a vibrant add-on ecosystem. You should pick Firefox if you are looking for a browser that respects your privacy without compromising on on any other factors such as interface, speed etc. I use Firefox in all my devices and have no regrets!

Tor Browser

Largely preferred by whistle blowers, journalists, hacktivisits etc. Tor Browser offers an extra layer of security using the technique of ‘onion-routing’. Tor Browser itself is a modified version of the Firefox ESR. Due to the way its technology works, Tor Browser generally loads webpages slower and it’s over the top security measures sometimes ends up breaking websites, including the ones you might regularly visit using other browsers, without facing any issue. Read more about The Tor Project on their website.

Search Engines

Startpage

Startpage started off as a variant of the erstwhile Ixquick in 2009. Startpage is a metasearch engine which displays results from google anonymously to it’s users. So if you search for something in Startpage, what you are basically getting is the google search result for the same query(further refined by Startpage’s own algorithms), but anonymously, which means that your data won’t be stored by Google or Startpage. If you are currently using Google as your search engine, you should definitely check out Startpage.

Startpage also prevents filter bubble. Normal search engines like Google, Bing etc collects your data and the results they provide for your search queries are tailored to show what the search considers most relevant for you, potentially omitting actually relevant links, this doesn’t happen with Startpage. Startpage also offers ‘Anonymous View’, which lets you access websites that are displayed in your search results, without letting them track or store your data. I personally use Startpage as my search engine and would recommend it to everyone.

DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo markets itself as “the search engine that doesn’t track you.” DuckDuckGo is neater and faster than other privacy focused search engines. Being a search engine that doesn’t track you also means no filter bubble. Unlike Startpage which only gathers search results from Google, DuckDuckGo aggregates results from 0ver 400 sources like Yandex, Yahoo, Bing etc, anonymously. Among the fast growing sector of privacy focused search engines, DuckDuckGo has perhaps seen the fastest growth, reaching 1 billion searches per month in January 2009(a tiny figure compared to Google).

DuckDuckGo also offers a feature called !Bangs, a small convenient feature which helps you narrow your search further. For example if I enter ‘!w wordpress’ in their search box, I will directly be taken to the Wikipedia page for WordPress.

The only disadvantage DuckDuckGo has is that it is based in the US. This means that DuckDuckGo is bound by US laws and hence is prone to snooping by US agencies. DuckDuckGo counters this criticism by pointing out that since there is no user data stored, there is nothing to snoop on.

Email Providers

ProtonMail

Run by Proton Technologies AG, a company based in the Canton of Geneva, ProtonMail was founded in 2014 at the CERN facility by Andy Yen, Jason Stockman and Wei Sun. ProtonMail’s website describes itself as a group of ‘scientists, engineers, and developers working to protect civil liberties online.’ Unlike common email providers like Gmail and Outlook, ProtonMail encrypts email content and user data before sending it to their servers. Also, their servers are located in Switzerland, keeping them outside US and EU jurisdiction. Even though their default account is free, they do have paid packages available. I am a user of ProtonMail and it meets all my needs.

Click here to read an interesting piece criticizing ProtonMail. Click here to read ProtonMail’s reply to it.

Mailfence

Mailfence is from the makers of ContactOffice, who felt the need for a mail service which gave importance to privacy after the Snowden revelations. Mailfence is based in Belgium, a country which has not been named party to the NSA surveillance schemes. Also, Belgium has pretty strict data protection laws. Mailfence also provides extra features like calendars, contacts, and free document storage(up to 500 MB). Like ProtonMail, Mailfence too offers both free and paid packages to its users.

Disroot, Kolab Now and Tutanota are honorable mentions in this segment.

Instant Messengers

Signal

Signal is an open source, cross platform, encrypted messaging service developed by the Signal Foundation. Signal uses standard telephone numbers as profile identifiers and encrypts all messages you send to other Signal users with end to end encryption. Signal has an user friendly interface and apart from text messages, it also allows its mobile users to make voice/video calls.

Jami

Jami is a cross platform, free and open source instant messenger that gives you full control over your communications along with an unmatched level of privacy. Jami lets it’s users do text messaging, video and audio calls, file sharing and video conferencing. Developed and maintained by Savoir-faire Linux, a Canadian based company, Jami also boasts a global community of users and contributors.

Kontalk and Briar are two other apps worth checking out. Briar especially is known to be ultra secure and works on a peer to peer system, and also lets its users communicate with their nearby contacts without using internet.

As privacy concerns are on the rise and governments and corporations are finding more and more sophisticated ways to mine our data, the relevance of such privacy focused services are also increasing. This is only a small list and there are many such services available out there, which you can find even with a simple internet search. I might update this article itself or write a new one to include more such applications. I always feel like promoting such projects because they are up against giants, and that itself is commendable!