Privacy 101
Don't know where to begin? Here are 6 steps to get started on your privacy journey!
Regaining the Right to Consent
In today’s hyper-connected world, the right to control our own information is often stripped away without our knowledge or consent. Companies, data brokers, and governments collect vast amounts of data about us—more than we might imagine.
The good news? We can take back control.
Privacy isn’t about hiding—it’s about reclaiming the right to decide who gets access to our data and how it’s used.
Surveillance apologists normalize invasive practices, but you have the power to push back and reclaim your digital life.
If you’re overwhelmed by where to begin, don’t be. Every small step you take makes a big difference. This guide will help you get started with six simple changes that can significantly improve your daily privacy.
In this guide, I’ve highlighted a few tools I personally use and find effective, but there are so many incredible options available. For a deeper dive, check out our other articles and videos that explore the tradeoffs of other alternatives. If you’ve discovered tools we didn’t mention, share them in the comments so others can benefit from your experience!
6 Simple Steps to Start Reclaiming Your Privacy
1. Switch Your Browser
Your browser is your gateway to the internet, and it’s often a major source of privacy leaks. Popular browsers like Chrome and Edge collect massive amounts of data about your online activity.
Solution: Switch to a privacy-focused browser.
Resource: Use privacytests.org to compare browsers and see how they handle tracking and other privacy measures. Some browsers that stand out on the list include Brave, Mullvad, and LibreWolf (with a special mention that goes to Tor, obviously).
Steps:
Import your bookmarks from your current browser to make the transition seamless.
You can also import any saved passwords if that is a barrier to you switching over. Even better is to import any saved passwords directly into a password manager: this is a more involved setup so we have a deep-dive on password managers that we didn’t include in this 6-step introduction.
Set your new browser as the default for easy use.
2. Change Your Search Engine
Google Search dominates the market, but it also builds detailed profiles of your interests, habits, and even medical concerns, and countless entities aggregate this data on your and exploit it.
Solution: Try privacy-focused search engines, there are countless, including Brave, Mojeek, Metager, SearX, Whoogle, Startpage, Duckduckgo, Swisscows, and Presearch to name a few. Let us know which ones give you the best results!
Pro Tip: Make a secondary search engine your browser’s homepage for easy access to multiple options.
Why It Matters: Switching search engines is one of the easiest privacy wins—90% of people use Google, so just making this change puts you ahead of the curve.
3. Secure Your Messaging
SMS and regular phone calls are not private. Almost all countries require telecom providers to build backdoors for government surveillance, but these backdoors are exploited.
Solution: Use private messaging apps that are E2EE.
Resource: Check out securemessagingapps.com for an in-depth comparison of private messaging apps and their features. My favorite is Signal, but you can try out others like Threema, or SimpleX, or whichever stands out to you on the list.
4. Upgrade Your Email
Popular email services like Gmail analyze your inbox to build detailed profiles on you.
Solution: Use privacy-focused providers like ProtonMail or Tuta, which offer E2EE in-network, and tools like password-protected emails for anything out-of-network.
Steps:
Import your Gmail history and contacts into your new email provider for an easy transition - you can do this with a single click.
Set up email forwarding from your old account to your new one, gradually transitioning your contacts.
5. Migrate Your Calendar
Your calendar holds sensitive information, including your daily habits, appointments, and locations.
Solution: Switch to end-to-end-encrypted calendars from providers like Proton or Tuta.
Steps: Import your existing calendar data with just a click, and all your future appointments will now be private and secure.
6. Use a VPN
A VPN encrypts your internet traffic and hides your IP address from the websites you visit, protecting your location and online activities.
Solution: Choose reputable providers like Mullvad or ProtonVPN. Be very careful which VPN you download: a large part of the industry are just scam apps run by shell companies that collect you data. Only choose reputable providers.
Why It Matters: A VPN adds an extra layer of protection, preventing websites and data brokers from easily profiling you.
Takeaways
Reclaiming your privacy is about taking control of your digital life and asserting your right to choose who gets access to your data.
While it may seem overwhelming at first, the steps outlined in this guide are simple, actionable, and make a huge impact. They’re also quick wins that don’t require technical expertise. Each step builds on the last, making privacy less daunting and more empowering.
Privacy isn’t about perfection or doing everything at once—it’s about progress. By starting small and gradually adopting tools that align with your values, you can reclaim control over your data one step at a time.
This journey is about more than protecting yourself—it’s about building a better, more secure digital world for everyone. Your privacy is worth it, and you’re more capable than you realize. Take that first step, and you’ll quickly see how much power you really have.
Consider supporting our nonprofit and helping us create free educational content that teaches people how to reclaim control over their digital lives. Visit LudlowInstitute.org/donate to set up a monthly, tax-deductible donation.
NBTV. Because Privacy Matters.
a lot of replies miss the fact that perfection is the enemy of good/better ;-)
Ditching mobile apps as much as possible is another easy, no cost high ROI move.