5 Beginners Steps for Privacy

You’re not clueless.
Just exposed.

The system was built to make you leak without knowing it.
Your name. Your number. Your habits. Your location.
Default life is surveillance by design.

But you’re here now, which means you’re ready to claw it back.

This is the ground zero protocol. The 5 moves that shift you from wide open to baseline hardened. If you are a total beginner but privacy curious, this is where you start.

1. Stop Giving Yourself Away

You don’t need to be anonymous, but stop handing out your identity like a coupon.

• Phone Number: No one except your friends and family should know your personal phone number.
• VOIP Number: Get a second VOIP phone number for the service center, cable guy, etc.
• Email address: Use aliasing (SimpleLogin, Addy) or burnable inboxes.
• Home address: Give them a local hotel’s address or a PO box. Not where you sleep.
• Loyalty programs: Every “reward” is paid for with profiling. Opt out.

Every time you give data, it becomes someone’s asset.
Refuse the default.

2. Ditch the Spyware

The apps aren’t yours, it’s corporate property you’re renting.

• Social media: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok just burn them. Delete your account, not just the app.
• OS level tracking: Windows, Google services, most default apps are baked in surveillance.
• Smart assistants, keyboards, “free” apps: All leaky. All suspect.

If the product is free, you’re the product.
Clean house.

3. Lock Down Communication

Plaintext is a gift to eavesdroppers.

• Ditch SMS and unencrypted calls. They’re wide open by default.
• Use Signal. Easy, strong, familiar. End-to-end encryption that holds up.

Bonus: Use disappearing messages and don’t back up chats to the cloud.

This is basic hygiene, not paranoia.

4. Purge Your Email

Your inbox is a profile waiting to be mined.

• Delete Old Emails. It’s not made for storage.
• Unsubscribe from everything. If you don’t read it, kill it.
• Block spam outright. Don’t just ignore it.
• Switch providers. Gmail scans everything. Move to Proton, Tuta, or Mailfence.

Use aliases. Rotate inboxes. Keep them task specific.
Email is a vector, control it or get burned.

5. Browse Without Leaking

Every site you visit fingerprints your setup.
Your browser tells on you.

• Stop using Chrome, Edge, or Safari.
• Use hardened Firefox or LibreWolf.
• Install uBlock Origin. Use HTTPS-Only mode. Disable WebRTC.

Brave is a decent middle ground. But it’s not pure.

BONUS: Fix Your Base Security

Strong privacy means stronger security.

• Enable automatic updates. Every exploit is a hole you left open.
• Use a password manager. Bitwarden, KeePassXC. Never your browser.
• Turn on 2FA everywhere. App based only. Not SMS.
• Consider a YubiKey. Hardware beats password fatigue.

Privacy without basic security is theater.

NEXT STEPS: Know What You’re Up Against

This isn’t just cleanup. It’s preparation. The next step is to perform a basic threat assessment of your personal situation.

Ask yourself:

• Are you a target? Activist? Journalist? Whistleblower? Rich?
• Are you vulnerable? In a toxic relationship? Public facing?
• Who’s watching? Big Tech? Government? Abuser? All of the above?

Your answers shape your next steps.
Threat modeling isn’t paranoia, it’s mapmaking.

Final Word

You’ve taken yourself off autopilot.
You’ve stopped trusting the defaults.
And you’ve started building your own stack.

This is the beginning.
You won’t get it perfect. That’s fine.

Just don’t stop here.

-GHOST
Written by GHOST, creator of the Untraceable Digital Dissident project.

This is part of the Untraceable Digital Dissident series — tactical privacy for creators and rebels.
Explore more privacy tactics at untraceabledigitaldissident.com.