The first thing is to do more research. Whatever you do, don’t assume that everything in any single video is entirely true or entirely thorough.
The second thing in keeping your data private from Google and the TLAs is to look for easy ways not to give them as much. You can move your email to Protonmail. If you have an Android, you can uncheck some of the settings about syncing your data or sharing information. You can use OpenStreetMap instead of Google Maps… There are many small things like this, and one of the key points is to try to do things that are fairly simple for you. If you make a large change and your new setup is incredibly inconvenient, you might get pissed off and stop using it a month down the road. So work with some small stuff and see how that goes over the next three to six months.
Third. If you want to spend a little money, you could get a VPN. Or you could use Tor, which is good but it can slow down some of your web browsing. Many of us have a VPN and we also sometimes use Tor.
Fourth. Remind yourself that Apple is worse, or at least no better. Don’t think that you can go buy an iPhone and solve any problems.
Fifth. Whenever we’re talking about security, it’s good to bring up the specific threat model. Who do we think might try to do what to us? How much are we willing to invest in trying to stop that? Do they have any obvious alternatives? … Sometimes we can get excessively paranoid because of all of the theoretical possibilities that the spy agencies have, and it can be comforting to recognize that in fact they mostly don’t care. Thinking about the above questions is one way to figure out how little you think they care.
Sixth. If the spy agencies really want to spy on you directly, probably they will find a way to do so. Some small fraction of the population actually has to worry about this, and probably you don’t, but if you do, spend a lot more time learning about various threats and ways you can mitigate them, but expect that to some degree you will fail because they have more resources than you.
The first thing is to do more research. Whatever you do, don’t assume that everything in any single video is entirely true or entirely thorough.
The second thing in keeping your data private from Google and the TLAs is to look for easy ways not to give them as much. You can move your email to Protonmail. If you have an Android, you can uncheck some of the settings about syncing your data or sharing information. You can use OpenStreetMap instead of Google Maps… There are many small things like this, and one of the key points is to try to do things that are fairly simple for you. If you make a large change and your new setup is incredibly inconvenient, you might get pissed off and stop using it a month down the road. So work with some small stuff and see how that goes over the next three to six months.
Third. If you want to spend a little money, you could get a VPN. Or you could use Tor, which is good but it can slow down some of your web browsing. Many of us have a VPN and we also sometimes use Tor.
Fourth. Remind yourself that Apple is worse, or at least no better. Don’t think that you can go buy an iPhone and solve any problems.
Fifth. Whenever we’re talking about security, it’s good to bring up the specific threat model. Who do we think might try to do what to us? How much are we willing to invest in trying to stop that? Do they have any obvious alternatives? … Sometimes we can get excessively paranoid because of all of the theoretical possibilities that the spy agencies have, and it can be comforting to recognize that in fact they mostly don’t care. Thinking about the above questions is one way to figure out how little you think they care.
Sixth. If the spy agencies really want to spy on you directly, probably they will find a way to do so. Some small fraction of the population actually has to worry about this, and probably you don’t, but if you do, spend a lot more time learning about various threats and ways you can mitigate them, but expect that to some degree you will fail because they have more resources than you.