One benefit of using libre software is the privacy you’re getting. Libre software usually contains no spyware, no trackers and no ads, because if it did, it could be easily pointed out in the source code and removed by forking the project.

The same can’t be said about closed-source software, because, not being able to audit the source code, its privacy is as good as the developer promises. There have been many cases of software lying about it’s data collection, or hiding it deep inside their terms of service.

Thus, the first step to have a more private internet experience is using libre software only. However, even with libre software, there are some additional steps required to ensure better privacy.

Identifying a threat model

You cannot have both privacy and convenience. There is always a tradeoff between the two. For this reason it is important to establish a personal threat model you want to protect against, to know how far to go. The goal should be obtaining a balance between the two, not going all out on one.

Possible threat models

  1. Strangers
  2. Family, friends
  3. Stalkers
  4. Companies
  5. Governments
  6. Everyone

The higher on the list, the higher privacy you should seek. This guide will help you improve only your online privacy. If you set a thread model between the last two, you should also look into hardware privacy, such as libre boot and degoogled Android phone.

Step 1 ➤ Browser

The browser is the program you use the most, so it makes sense to secure it. There are a few things to look out for in a good browser:

  • Provides a way to disable javascript
  • Is open-source
  • Does not phone home (or provides a way to disable phoning home)
  • Does not connect to any unsolicited IPs

Knowing this, we can definetely say that the following browsers are a threat for your privacy: Google Chrome, Opera, Safari, Microsoft Edge.

Good practices

  1. Clear your cache everytime you close your browser
  2. Use only non-javascript website when possible
  3. Spoof your user agent to fit in with the others. Make sure you are not unique
  4. Use privacy-friendly alternatives for popular websites (see the guide below)
  5. Only use HTTPS
  6. Check what connections your browser is making, with a tool such as iftop

There are a few browsers out there that provide good privacy, while also having modern features. I will rank them based on the privacy they provide outside the box. You should choose a browser based on your threat model, needs and experience with tinkering with configurations.

Browser list

Firefox

Privacy Level: Low

Firefox is the default browser on most Linux distributions. This makes it a solid option for new users and people just beginning their privacy journey. Although not a good solution in the long run, Firefox provides an indispensable basis for other browsers, being a direct competitor to Chromium.

Firefox phones home by default and has javascript enabled. Firefox can have a decent privacy level if applying arkenfox’s user.js and installing privacy extensions. A simple and efficient guide for hardening Firefox can be found here.

If you are not willing to configure Firefox, you should look into its forks that provide better privacy defaults.

[Download] [Website]

Librewolf

Privacy Level: Medium

Librewolf is a fork of Firefox aiming to fix all of its parent’s problems. It hardens Firefox and ships uBlock Origin by default, a powerful ad blocking and javascript blocking tool.

Librewolf phones home at startup, although it can be disabled from about:config. If all you want is a browser that works, Librewolf is the middle ground for privacy and convenience. Definitely use over vanilla Firefox.

[Download] [Website]

Tor Browser

Privacy Level: High

TOR Browser is a fork of Firefox built to be used on the onion network. Depending on your threat model, you might need to use the onion router to access certain websites. Tor is the recommended browser for doing so in order to blend in with other tor users.

TOR Browser does NOT have the best privacy settings outside the box. Javascript is enabled by default, and you absolutely don’t want to use that on onion websites. You also don’t want to use DuckDuckGo, the default search engine. Not only it does not index onion sites, but it is also not good for your privacy. Use a privacy respecting search engine instead (see below).

To disable JS, go into settings and select the Safest option from Privacy & Security.

Note that TOR might be blocked on your network / in your country. In that case, you need to use a TOR bridge to connect to the onion network.

[Download] [Website]

GNU IceCat

Privacy Level: Very High

IceCat is GNU’s fork of Firefox. It is the best Firefox alternative because it provides the most privacy features, however they come at the cost of usability. IceCat is known for easily breaking website due to its LibreJS feature.

It is a good option if you need to browse the internet safely and don’t care about some sites that require javascript not working. If your thread model is high enough you shouldn’t use websites that require javascript anyway.

IceCat can be used to connect to the onion network, however that is not recommended due to your unique fingerprint related to using another browser than TOR.

[Download & Website]

Brave

Privacy Level: Medium

Brave is the browser based on Chromium that advertised itself as the browser for privacy. It comes with good privacy features outside the box, however it is known for adding spyware features in the past, such as telemetry, auto-updates and Brave Rewards.

Should only be used if Chromium engine is required and Ungoogled Chromium cannot be compiled in a reasonable amount of time, or the binary cannot be installed, for some reason.

Brave can be used to connect to the onion network, however that is not recommended due to your unique fingerprint related to using another browser than TOR. Moreover, its suspicious privacy features make it a bad tool to browse onion websites.

[Download] [Website]

Ungoogled Chromium

Privacy Level: High

Ungoogled Chromium is Google Chrome without trackers, ads, phoning home, Google search engine, Google Extension Store, Google accounts. Therefore, it is very minimal and does not provide any privacy features out of the box.

Its downside is that you have to compile it and it is not user-friendly, installing extensions being a tedious task. However, if you need a chromium based browser, it is the best solution out there.

[Download & Website]

Step 2 ➤ Privacy-friendly online services

Even if you have a secure browser, your data is still accessible if you simply hand it over to Google, Facebook or other companies. You should aim to replace all of your services from these companies with privacy-friendly alternatives.

You can see the privacy-friendly services hosted by ElPengu here.

Search Engines

LibreX

Privacy Level: Very High

LibreX is a meta search engine that pulls Google results. It uses no javascript, therefore your search queries can’t be tracked.

LibreX is written in php, therefore it is lightweight and can be easily hosted by anyone.

Useful features LibreX includes:

  • Torrent search
  • Onion links indexes
  • Custom searches such as crypto converting
  • Configurable privacy-friendly instance URL replacer
[Recommended Instance] [Instance List] [Source]

SearXNG

Privacy Level: High

SearXNG is a fork of SearX, a meta search engine that pulls results from a lot of search engines, including Google, DuckDuckGo, StartPage. It requires javascript for proper use, which can be maliciously modified by the host, but has the advantage of being very customizable.

Features:

  • Torrent search
  • Vim keys
  • Tracker URL remover
  • Special queries
[Recommended Instance] [Instance List] [Source]

Whoogle

Privacy Level: High

Whoogle is a customizable search engine pulling results from Google. It doesn’t require javascript and is lightweight on the system. It is written in python, therefore it can be slow at times depending on server load. Can be easily deployed locally.

Features:

  • Tracker URL remover
  • Randomly generated user agent
  • Proxy support
[Recommended Instance] [Instance List] [Source]

YouTube alternatives

Short note on YouTube and other media platforms

YouTube is probably the last platform you have control over. Due to its nature, YouTube is often used to manipulate through the user data it collects, because after using it for a while, the platform knows more about you than you yourself proably do. This applies to other media platforms as well, such as Instagram and TikTok, but you can still use a privacy-friendly alternative to watch your favourite content creators on YouTube.

Privacy-friendly instances do provide a good workaround to the data collection problem, recommending videos not based on your viewing habits, but based on the instance’s userbase subscriptions. You still have complete control over your subscriptions and can easily disable the recommandation page.

Particularly, on ElPengu’s Invidious instance, recommandations are disabled by default and cannot be enabled by the user. The idea is that you should only watch content you wanted to watch in the first place and you should search for new types of content. There are better things to do than to spend all day mindlessly watching videos spoonfed to you by any type of algorithm, ethical or not.

Invidious

Privacy Level: Very High

Invidious is a javascript-free alternative to YouTube. It is by far the most popular and feature-rich privacy-friendly frontend for YouTube. Keep in mind that you cannot interact with the video through comments or likes, but you can still see what others commented, similarly to the original platform.

Features:

  • Recommended page based on what the instance’s users are watching
  • Highly customizable settings for the administrator
  • Accounts (for subscriptions) that can easily be exported to a json file to move to another instance
  • Tracker-free
  • Downloading videos
  • …Many More…
[Recommended Instance] [Instance List] [Source]

PeerTube

Privacy Level: Very High

Invidious is a javascript-free alternative to YouTube. It is by far the most popular and feature-rich privacy-friendly frontend for YouTube. Keep in mind that you cannot interact with the video through comments or likes, but you can still see what others commented, similarly to the original platform.

Features:

  • Recommended page based on what the instance’s users are watching
  • Highly customizable settings for the administrator
  • Accounts (for subscriptions) that can easily be exported to a json file to move to another instance
  • Tracker-free
  • Downloading videos
  • …Many More…
[Recommended Instance] [Instance List] [Source]