Customer Privacy Guide: Difference between revisions

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{{Alert|This guide is meant for, either internet online consumers, or people looking for an alternative. I (the original author) do not endorse any sensitive activity and is not responsible for any damages that may have caused. This is meant to be a longer and insightful version of the one found in the Main_Page that needs improving. It can go separate ways.|message=This guide is meant for, either internet online consumers, or people looking for an alternative. I (the original author) do not endorse any sensitive activity and is not responsible for any damages that may have caused. This is meant to be a longer and insightful version of the one found in the Main_Page that needs improving. It can go separate ways.}}

{{Delete|I have changed my mind on this, since I am new here I didn't dig deeper in such guidelines and I haven't bothered to ask an admin about this, I do not want to maintain this anymore, and I don't want to deal with this guide anymore, I will focus on making guides that is appropriate for the wiki itself, and not for my own self-interest like I have made here as an example. My apologizes if I have made any inconvenience to any staff out there, I wish I could have done better then this one, kinda new to making articles to be honest.}}

==Introduction One (1) - Why was this made?==

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===Why not security? Why isn't it mentioned?===

It can go both ways, either you use a Operating System (E.g [[Apple|MacOS]]) that is still maintained and is considered the "best of the best" in terms of security, while it is moderately privacy friendly, it still can perform ~~actions~~ actions that may be considered "Privacy Invasive" or "Surveillance Software" such as [https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Host_Operating_System_Selection#Windows_Surveillance scanning your files] such as [https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Host_Operating_System_Selection#Windows_Backdoors documents] uploaded to cloud for example, or having access to your local files.<ref>{{Cite news |first=ldsandon |date=February 24th, 2016. |title=Scaring: Windows 10 lets Microsoft access your own local files |url=https://www.sandon.it/node/104 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160325072357/http://www.sandon.it/node/104 |archive-date=March 25, 2016 |access-date=August 26th, 2025 |work=Sandon}}</ref>

It can go both ways, either you use a Operating System (E.g [[Apple|MacOS]]) that is still maintained and is considered the "best of the best" in terms of security, while it is moderately privacy friendly, it still can perform actions that may be considered "Privacy Invasive" or "Surveillance Software" such as [https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Host_Operating_System_Selection#Windows_Surveillance scanning your files] such as [https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Host_Operating_System_Selection#Windows_Backdoors documents] uploaded to cloud for example, or having access to your local files.<ref>{{Cite news |first=ldsandon |date=February 24th, 2016. |title=Scaring: Windows 10 lets Microsoft access your own local files |url=https://www.sandon.it/node/104 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160325072357/http://www.sandon.it/node/104 |archive-date=March 25, 2016 |access-date=August 26th, 2025 |work=Sandon}}</ref>

Either way, security is also important in this guide, also. But, what is important is you, the consumer, should understand that, while it may become popularized in the future (Privacy & Anonymity), there are other software services that offer security (Maintained, or Design) such those that are still updated or have by-design features such as [[wikipedia:Plausible_deniability|plausible deniability]] or [[wikipedia:Virtualization|virtualization]]. Either way, any software listed here is maintained, and those that are not are removed and instead replaced with a up-to-date version.

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*[https://hidden-services.today/ Hidden Services Today] (Clearnet, darknet available [http://q3o3hdjbf6vwxdnpskyhxw7w7rnmnfhz2szbuala4q24x6csbp7adiad.onion/ here]) - A somewhat interesting website, however, his guides and other resources he lists are something worth considering (Be aware of misleading information, especially [https://PrivacyTools.io PrivacyTools.io] being listed as "recommended").

== Introduction Three (3) - Clarifications & Explanations ==

==Introduction Three (3) - Clarifications & Explanations==

=== Why should I not trust big tech? (Software/Hardware wise) ===

===Why should I not trust big tech? (Software/Hardware wise)===

Because many of us (you the viewer and the wiki contributors) know that they simply cannot be trusted, no matter what. You may have seen that [[Google]] is introducing an [[Android]] "certified devices" update regarding [[Google|Google Play]] when [[Google plans to restrict sideloading of Android apps|developers have to verify themselves]] and to prevent side-loading. Which, in the process of verification, it can lead into [[de-anonymization]]. Another one, [[Microsoft]] acknowledged the fact that what Windows 10 is doing is illegal in terms of privacy.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Davey |first=Winder |date=Aug 28, 2019, 03:40am EDT |title=Microsoft Confirms Windows 10 Privacy Investigation With A $4 Billion Sting |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2019/08/28/microsoft-confirms-windows-10-privacy-investigation-with-a-4-billion-sting/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2019/08/28/microsoft-confirms-windows-10-privacy-investigation-with-a-4-billion-sting/ |archive-date=May 7th, 2025 |access-date=August 28th, 2025 |work=Forbes}}</ref> Or how about [[Mozilla]], having their [[firefox]] to have a [[terms of service]] ([[Mozilla introduces TOS to Firefox|2]]) because they are an [https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/advertising/ advertising company]. How about [[Apple]] having their MacOS having an increased [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ84qw4ZMxc surveillance capabilities]. There are many examples of this and honestly, there are '''many reasons why you should not trust big tech corporations''' like these.

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For now this will be a list of "trusted*" corporations that we the contributors put into.

* [https://proton.me/ Proton AG]

*[https://proton.me/ Proton AG] (There are many reports that indicate its untrustworthy in recent news)

* [https://tuta.com/ Tuta]

*[https://tuta.com/ Tuta]

===Why should I not trust Governments? (Anywhere, technically)===

There are many reasons why, for example, The United States of America, their [[wikipedia:National_Security_Agency|National Security Agency]], back in 2013, When [[wikipedia:Edward_Snowden|Edward Snowden]] leaked classified information regarding the active surveillance that was deemed unconstitutional, according [https://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/nov/01/snowden-nsa-files-surveillance-revelations-decoded The Guardian]. Another example, China, [[wikipedia:National_Intelligence_Law_of_the_People's_Republic_of_China|anything established or headquartered in China must provide data to intelligence agencies]], which may include [[ByteDance|Bytedance]] such as [[TikTok]]. In Russia, there is a new app call "[https://edition.cnn.com/2025/08/21/tech/max-messenger-app-russia-smartphones-intl Max]" that is made by the state government, and is considered as a replacement to the "VK" messenger, what's concerning, for now, is that it may track Russian citizens. In the European Union, in the year 2022, the "[https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_25_920 ProtectEU]" project, they wanted every encryption to be backdoored<ref>{{Cite news |last=Chiara |first=Castro |date=May 8th, 2025 |title=Chat Control 2.0? Experts urge the EU not to undermine encryption with new ProtectEU plan |url=https://www.techradar.com/computing/cyber-security/chat-control-2-0-experts-urge-the-eu-not-to-undermine-encryption-with-new-protecteu-plan |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250508124026/https://www.techradar.com/computing/cyber-security/chat-control-2-0-experts-urge-the-eu-not-to-undermine-encryption-with-new-protecteu-plan |archive-date=May 8th, 2025. |access-date=August 31st, 2025. |work=TechRadar}}</ref>, and nowadays, it is supported by [https://fightchatcontrol.eu/ 15 member states].

The issue is that we shouldn't trust our own governments just because they are 'honest', which they aren't, we gotta be speculative on the things that they pose a danger to. Do note that we do not endorse any sort of sensitive activity when it comes to, say, endorsing or promoting [[wikipedia:Anarchism|anarchism]], that is a separate issue that you must figure it out. Ideally, there is no such thing as a true good government.

===Why should my traffic be on Tor Browser?===

It depends, if you are in a country known for state surveillance or "police state" then you should, otherwise, it is optional as long as your ISP isn't known to sell data about your internet activity (sometimes this is called "logs" in my case). For that to actually hide your usage of Tor, you need to use Tor bridges, which is in the connections tab.

===How do I manually audit the code for malware (e.g backdoor, spyware, keylogger...)===

In order to actually do this, in a literal sense, you would need to have a programming knowledge, and for this reason, you must learn the programming language it is written in, if it is C, learn C, if it Python, learn Python, and so on and so forth. However, if you don't have time for doing so, you gotta use an LLM or an AI "chatbot" to do so for you, however it may lead into inaccuracies or [[wikipedia:Hallucination_(artificial_intelligence)|artificial hallucination]], which may be a drawback but it is worth the risk, if you don't want to do so, learn programming and then learn a easy to learn programming language like Python or Go, this is an advice, so bear with us.

==Manual One (1) - The basics==

let's start off with the things you use.

=== ~~Why~~ should ~~I not trust Governments? (Anywhere~~, ~~technically)~~ ===

===Google LLC===

~~There are many reasons why~~, for ~~example~~, ~~The United States~~ of ~~America~~, ~~their [[wikipedia:National_Security_Agency~~|~~National Security Agency]]~~, ~~back in 2013~~, ~~When~~ [[~~wikipedia:Edward_Snowden|Edward Snowden~~]] ~~leaked classified information regarding the active surveillance that was deemed unconstitutional~~, ~~according [~~https://www.~~theguardian~~.com/~~world~~/~~interactive~~/~~2013~~/~~nov~~/01/~~snowden~~-~~nsa~~-~~files~~-surveillance-~~revelations~~-~~decoded~~ The ~~Guardian]~~. ~~Another example~~, ~~China~~, ~~[[wikipedia:National_Intelligence_Law_of_the_People's_Republic_of_China~~|~~anything established~~ or ~~headquartered~~ in ~~China must provide~~ data ~~to intelligence agencies]]~~, which ~~may include [[ByteDance~~|~~Bytedance]] such as Tiktok~~. ~~In Russia, there~~ is a ~~new app call "~~[https://~~edition~~.~~cnn~~.com/~~2025/08/21/tech/max~~-~~messenger~~-~~app~~-~~russia-smartphones-intl Max~~]" that ~~is made by~~ the ~~state government, and~~ is ~~considered~~ as ~~a replacement to the "VK" messenger, what's concerning~~, for now, ~~is that it may track Russian citizens~~.

We all know why, but let me list some reasons why not to use them and list some adversarial traits that may have been documented.

{| class="wikitable"

|+Google Adversarial Attack Tree

!Traits

!Aftermath

!Mitigation's

!Notes

|-

|Advertising

|Selling your data to third party data brokers

|Opt-out, Adblockers.

|While opting out maybe isn't as effective as it should be, but it will do the job.

|-

|Backdoored Software/Services<ref>{{Cite web |first=GNU is Not Unix |title=Google's Software is Malware |url=https://www.gnu.org/proprietary/malware-google.en.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250520022029/https://www.gnu.org/proprietary/malware-google.en.html |archive-date=May 20th, 2025 |access-date=August 31st, 2025 |website=GNU Operating System}}</ref>

|Law enforcement (or your government) can actually subpoena your data to be handed over, soon, you might get arrested for something you didn't or did do.

|Keep illegal activities away from Google, Create a purpose for a Google account, keep it minimal as possible, aka low profile.

|Do not put all eggs in one basket, keep them in a separate account and do not defeat the purpose of such accounts, do it somewhere else.

|-

|Remote installation of what was once disabled (Systemic issue, check google play store for further details)

|Once you have disabled or uninstalled a google software from your phone, it can be re-enabled and/or reinstalled by tomorrow.

|No new information is available on how to mitigate this issue.

|While invasive, there are some apps that cannot be deleted whatsoever, which is just another example of what will happen if it becomes the next [[Apple]].

|-

|Location Tracking (Many sources)<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hautala |first=Laura |date=Aug. 20, 2018 |title=Google sued over tracking user location amid privacy concerns |url=https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/google-sued-over-keeping-location-data-amid-privacy-concerns/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210920093729/https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/google-sued-over-keeping-location-data-amid-privacy-concerns/ |archive-date=September 20th, 2021 |access-date=August 31st, 2025 |work=Cnet}}</ref>

|It can profile and track whenever you go, full surveillance on your habits when going outside.

|Turn off location tracking (Ineffective because of dark-patterns)

|Not exactly sure if turning it off is good or not, as we can agree that it does have dark-patterns in many ways.

|-

|The walled garden<ref>{{Cite news |last=Jatain |first=Vishveshwar |date=16th of June, 2021 |title=The walled gardens of ad tech, explained |url=https://blockthrough.com/blog/the-walled-gardens-of-the-ad-tech-industry-explained/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210616182313/https://blockthrough.com/blog/the-walled-gardens-of-the-ad-tech-industry-explained/ |archive-date=June 16th, 2021 |access-date=August 31st, 2025 |work=Blockthrough}}</ref>

|It makes you tightly integrated into the Googles ecosystem, in any shape of form of escaping this walled garden, it becomes impossible, due to laziness or highly dependent on.

|Breaking out the habit of staying in one ecosystem. Break the laziness and start working on removing yourself from it, and look for other options instead.

|None. It is obvious.

|-

|Artificial intelligence training data about you

|If you shared something sensitive, like your medical or disability status, your vulnerabilities, or as such. It could lead into increased AI capabilities that it will understand natural language processing, and for the worst, reinforced bias (which is a ethical implication).

|Don't use artificial intelligence, simple.

|There is a [https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-gemini-privacy-warning/507818/ article] that details it. However, for the time being it is at least for now okay to use alternatives such as Duck.ai and Brave Leo, all of which are for now, safe to use as an alternative.

|}

==Manual Two (2) - Consumer-friendly alternatives==

Just a clear heads up, we do not endorse any of these, just that it is recommended, nothing else.

===Software-level alternatives and recommendations===

====Operating System (OS)====

A side note: if you are going to use those distributions for production work, make sure to encrypt your hard drive upon installation (the partitioning), this will increase security in case of theft or the law enforcement or dubbed as "feds" trying to snoop in on your unencrypted hard drive.

#[https://linuxmint.com/ Linux Mint]

##Often recommended for beginners to those that are familiar with the traditional Windows desktop experience. Stable, but it is generally a lightweight version of Ubuntu. Does not contain any form of OS-level tracking whatsoever.

#[https://www.debian.org/ Debian]

##A one distribution that has inspired many distributions that are based off of, such as Ubuntu for example. It is rock-solid stable, it is lightweight, and has customization options in the installation menu when you start Debian for the first time.

#[https://www.kicksecure.com/ KickSecure]

##Based on Debian (but hardened), it is secure, and has a great documentation detailing your usage on that said distribution. It is free software, as they have claimed to be, and has [https://xfce.org/ Xfce] as its default desktop environment, making the distribution lightweight and performant.

==References==

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 {{StubNotice}}
 {{Alert|This guide is meant for, either internet online consumers, or people looking for an alternative. I (the original author) do not endorse any sensitive activity and is not responsible for any damages that may have caused. This is meant to be a longer and insightful version of the one found in the Main_Page that needs improving. It can go separate ways.|message=This guide is meant for, either internet online consumers, or people looking for an alternative. I (the original author) do not endorse any sensitive activity and is not responsible for any damages that may have caused. This is meant to be a longer and insightful version of the one found in the Main_Page that needs improving. It can go separate ways.}}
+{{Delete|I have changed my mind on this, since I am new here I didn't dig deeper in such guidelines and I haven't bothered to ask an admin about this, I do not want to maintain this anymore, and I don't want to deal with this guide anymore, I will focus on making guides that is appropriate for the wiki itself, and not for my own self-interest like I have made here as an example. My apologizes if I have made any inconvenience to any staff out there, I wish I could have done better then this one, kinda new to making articles to be honest.}}
 ==Introduction One (1) - Why was this made?==
@@ Line 9: / Line 11: @@
 ===Why not security? Why isn't it mentioned?===
-It can go both ways, either you use a Operating System (E.g [[Apple|MacOS]]) that is still maintained and is considered the "best of the best" in terms of security, while it is moderately privacy friendly, it still can perform actions actions that may be considered "Privacy Invasive" or "Surveillance Software" such as [https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Host_Operating_System_Selection#Windows_Surveillance scanning your files] such as [https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Host_Operating_System_Selection#Windows_Backdoors documents] uploaded to cloud for example, or having access to your local files.<ref>{{Cite news |first=ldsandon |date=February 24th, 2016. |title=Scaring: Windows 10 lets Microsoft access your own local files |url=https://www.sandon.it/node/104 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160325072357/http://www.sandon.it/node/104 |archive-date=March 25, 2016 |access-date=August 26th, 2025 |work=Sandon}}</ref>
+It can go both ways, either you use a Operating System (E.g [[Apple|MacOS]]) that is still maintained and is considered the "best of the best" in terms of security, while it is moderately privacy friendly, it still can perform actions that may be considered "Privacy Invasive" or "Surveillance Software" such as [https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Host_Operating_System_Selection#Windows_Surveillance scanning your files] such as [https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Host_Operating_System_Selection#Windows_Backdoors documents] uploaded to cloud for example, or having access to your local files.<ref>{{Cite news |first=ldsandon |date=February 24th, 2016. |title=Scaring: Windows 10 lets Microsoft access your own local files |url=https://www.sandon.it/node/104 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160325072357/http://www.sandon.it/node/104 |archive-date=March 25, 2016 |access-date=August 26th, 2025 |work=Sandon}}</ref>
 Either way, security is also important in this guide, also. But, what is important is you, the consumer, should understand that, while it may become popularized in the future (Privacy & Anonymity), there are other software services that offer security (Maintained, or Design) such those that are still updated or have by-design features such as [[wikipedia:Plausible_deniability|plausible deniability]]  or [[wikipedia:Virtualization|virtualization]]. Either way, any software listed here is maintained, and those that are not are removed and instead replaced with a up-to-date version.
@@ Line 25: / Line 27: @@
 *[https://hidden-services.today/ Hidden Services Today] (Clearnet, darknet available [http://q3o3hdjbf6vwxdnpskyhxw7w7rnmnfhz2szbuala4q24x6csbp7adiad.onion/ here]) - A somewhat interesting website, however, his guides and other resources he lists are something worth considering (Be aware of misleading information, especially [https://PrivacyTools.io PrivacyTools.io] being listed as "recommended").
-== Introduction Three (3) - Clarifications & Explanations ==
+==Introduction Three (3) - Clarifications & Explanations==
-=== Why should I not trust big tech? (Software/Hardware wise) ===
+===Why should I not trust big tech? (Software/Hardware wise)===
 Because many of us (you the viewer and the wiki contributors) know that they simply cannot be trusted, no matter what. You may have seen that [[Google]] is introducing an [[Android]] "certified devices" update regarding [[Google|Google Play]] when [[Google plans to restrict sideloading of Android apps|developers have to verify themselves]] and to prevent side-loading. Which, in the process of verification, it can lead into [[de-anonymization]]. Another one, [[Microsoft]] acknowledged the fact that what Windows 10 is doing is illegal in terms of privacy.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Davey |first=Winder |date=Aug 28, 2019, 03:40am EDT |title=Microsoft Confirms Windows 10 Privacy Investigation With A $4 Billion Sting |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2019/08/28/microsoft-confirms-windows-10-privacy-investigation-with-a-4-billion-sting/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2019/08/28/microsoft-confirms-windows-10-privacy-investigation-with-a-4-billion-sting/ |archive-date=May 7th, 2025 |access-date=August 28th, 2025 |work=Forbes}}</ref> Or how about [[Mozilla]], having their [[firefox]] to have a [[terms of service]] ([[Mozilla introduces TOS to Firefox|2]]) because they are an [https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/advertising/ advertising company]. How about [[Apple]] having their MacOS having an increased [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ84qw4ZMxc surveillance capabilities]. There are many examples of this and honestly, there are '''many reasons why you should not trust big tech corporations''' like these.
@@ Line 34: / Line 36: @@
 For now this will be a list of "trusted*" corporations that we the contributors put into.
-* [https://proton.me/ Proton AG]
+*[https://proton.me/ Proton AG] (There are many reports that indicate its untrustworthy in recent news)
-* [https://tuta.com/ Tuta]
+*[https://tuta.com/ Tuta]
+===Why should I not trust Governments? (Anywhere, technically)===
+There are many reasons why, for example, The United States of America, their [[wikipedia:National_Security_Agency|National Security Agency]], back in 2013, When [[wikipedia:Edward_Snowden|Edward Snowden]] leaked classified information regarding the active surveillance that was deemed unconstitutional, according [https://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/nov/01/snowden-nsa-files-surveillance-revelations-decoded The Guardian]. Another example, China, [[wikipedia:National_Intelligence_Law_of_the_People's_Republic_of_China|anything established or headquartered in China must provide data to intelligence agencies]], which may include [[ByteDance|Bytedance]] such as [[TikTok]]. In Russia, there is a new app call "[https://edition.cnn.com/2025/08/21/tech/max-messenger-app-russia-smartphones-intl Max]" that is made by the state government, and is considered as a replacement to the "VK" messenger, what's concerning, for now, is that it may track Russian citizens. In the European Union, in the year 2022, the "[https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_25_920 ProtectEU]" project, they wanted every encryption to be backdoored<ref>{{Cite news |last=Chiara |first=Castro |date=May 8th, 2025 |title=Chat Control 2.0? Experts urge the EU not to undermine encryption with new ProtectEU plan |url=https://www.techradar.com/computing/cyber-security/chat-control-2-0-experts-urge-the-eu-not-to-undermine-encryption-with-new-protecteu-plan |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250508124026/https://www.techradar.com/computing/cyber-security/chat-control-2-0-experts-urge-the-eu-not-to-undermine-encryption-with-new-protecteu-plan |archive-date=May 8th, 2025. |access-date=August 31st, 2025. |work=TechRadar}}</ref>, and nowadays, it is supported by [https://fightchatcontrol.eu/ 15 member states].
+The issue is that we shouldn't trust our own governments just because they are 'honest', which they aren't, we gotta be speculative on the things that they pose a danger to. Do note that we do not endorse any sort of sensitive activity when it comes to, say, endorsing or promoting [[wikipedia:Anarchism|anarchism]], that is a separate issue that you must figure it out. Ideally, there is no such thing as a true good government.
+===Why should my traffic be on Tor Browser?===
+It depends, if you are in a country known for state surveillance or "police state" then you should, otherwise, it is optional as long as your ISP isn't known to sell data about your internet activity (sometimes this is called "logs" in my case). For that to actually hide your usage of Tor, you need to use Tor bridges, which is in the connections tab.
+===How do I manually audit the code for malware (e.g backdoor, spyware, keylogger...)===
+In order to actually do this, in a literal sense, you would need to have a programming knowledge, and for this reason, you must learn the programming language it is written in, if it is C, learn C, if it Python, learn Python, and so on and so forth. However, if you don't have time for doing so, you gotta use an LLM or an AI "chatbot" to do so for you, however it may lead into inaccuracies or [[wikipedia:Hallucination_(artificial_intelligence)|artificial hallucination]], which may be a drawback but it is worth the risk, if you don't want to do so, learn programming and then learn a easy to learn programming language like Python or Go, this is an advice, so bear with us.
+==Manual One (1) - The basics==
+let's start off with the things you use.
-=== Why should I not trust Governments? (Anywhere, technically) ===
+===Google LLC===
-There are many reasons why, for example, The United States of America, their [[wikipedia:National_Security_Agency|National Security Agency]], back in 2013, When [[wikipedia:Edward_Snowden|Edward Snowden]] leaked classified information regarding the active surveillance that was deemed unconstitutional, according [https://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/nov/01/snowden-nsa-files-surveillance-revelations-decoded The Guardian]. Another example, China, [[wikipedia:National_Intelligence_Law_of_the_People's_Republic_of_China|anything established or headquartered in China must provide data to intelligence agencies]], which may include [[ByteDance|Bytedance]] such as Tiktok. In Russia, there is a new app call "[https://edition.cnn.com/2025/08/21/tech/max-messenger-app-russia-smartphones-intl Max]" that is made by the state government, and is considered as a replacement to the "VK" messenger, what's concerning, for now, is that it may track Russian citizens.
+We all know why, but let me list some reasons why not to use them and list some adversarial traits that may have been documented.
+{| class="wikitable"
+|+Google Adversarial Attack Tree
+!Traits
+!Aftermath
+!Mitigation's
+!Notes
+|-
+|Advertising
+|Selling your data to third party data brokers
+|Opt-out, Adblockers.
+|While opting out maybe isn't as effective as it should be, but it will do the job.
+|-
+|Backdoored Software/Services<ref>{{Cite web |first=GNU is Not Unix |title=Google's Software is Malware |url=https://www.gnu.org/proprietary/malware-google.en.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250520022029/https://www.gnu.org/proprietary/malware-google.en.html |archive-date=May 20th, 2025 |access-date=August 31st, 2025 |website=GNU Operating System}}</ref>
+|Law enforcement (or your government) can actually subpoena your data to be handed over, soon, you might get arrested for something you didn't or did do.
+|Keep illegal activities away from Google, Create a purpose for a Google account, keep it minimal as possible, aka low profile.
+|Do not put all eggs in one basket, keep them in a separate account and do not defeat the purpose of such accounts, do it somewhere else.
+|-
+|Remote installation of what was once disabled (Systemic issue, check google play store for further details)
+|Once you have disabled or uninstalled a google software from your phone, it can be re-enabled and/or reinstalled by tomorrow.
+|No new information is available on how to mitigate this issue.
+|While invasive, there are some apps that cannot be deleted whatsoever, which is just another example of what will happen if it becomes the next [[Apple]].
+|-
+|Location Tracking (Many sources)<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hautala |first=Laura |date=Aug. 20, 2018 |title=Google sued over tracking user location amid privacy concerns |url=https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/google-sued-over-keeping-location-data-amid-privacy-concerns/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210920093729/https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/google-sued-over-keeping-location-data-amid-privacy-concerns/ |archive-date=September 20th, 2021 |access-date=August 31st, 2025 |work=Cnet}}</ref>
+|It can profile and track whenever you go, full surveillance on your habits when going outside.
+|Turn off location tracking (Ineffective because of dark-patterns)
+|Not exactly sure if turning it off is good or not, as we can agree that it does have dark-patterns in many ways.
+|-
+|The walled garden<ref>{{Cite news |last=Jatain |first=Vishveshwar |date=16th of June, 2021 |title=The walled gardens of ad tech, explained |url=https://blockthrough.com/blog/the-walled-gardens-of-the-ad-tech-industry-explained/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210616182313/https://blockthrough.com/blog/the-walled-gardens-of-the-ad-tech-industry-explained/ |archive-date=June 16th, 2021 |access-date=August 31st, 2025 |work=Blockthrough}}</ref>
+|It makes you tightly integrated into the Googles ecosystem, in any shape of form of escaping this walled garden, it becomes impossible, due to laziness or highly dependent on.
+|Breaking out the habit of staying in one ecosystem. Break the laziness and start working on removing yourself from it, and look for other options instead.
+|None. It is obvious.
+|-
+|Artificial intelligence training data about you
+|If you shared something sensitive, like your medical or disability status, your vulnerabilities, or as such. It could lead into increased AI capabilities that it will understand natural language processing, and for the worst, reinforced bias (which is a ethical implication).
+|Don't use artificial intelligence, simple.
+|There is a [https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-gemini-privacy-warning/507818/ article] that details it. However, for the time being it is at least for now okay to use alternatives such as Duck.ai and Brave Leo, all of which are for now, safe to use as an alternative.
+|}
+==Manual Two (2) - Consumer-friendly alternatives==
+Just a clear heads up, we do not endorse any of these, just that it is recommended, nothing else.
+===Software-level alternatives and recommendations===
+====Operating System (OS)====
+A side note: if you are going to use those distributions for production work, make sure to encrypt your hard drive upon installation (the partitioning), this will increase security in case of theft or the law enforcement or dubbed as "feds" trying to snoop in on your unencrypted hard drive.
+#[https://linuxmint.com/ Linux Mint]
+##Often recommended for beginners to those that are familiar with the traditional Windows desktop experience. Stable, but it is generally a lightweight version of Ubuntu. Does not contain any form of OS-level tracking whatsoever.
+#[https://www.debian.org/ Debian]
+##A one distribution that has inspired many distributions that are based off of, such as Ubuntu for example. It is rock-solid stable, it is lightweight, and has customization options in the installation menu when you start Debian for the first time.
+#[https://www.kicksecure.com/ KickSecure]
+##Based on Debian (but hardened), it is secure, and has a great documentation detailing your usage on that said distribution. It is free software, as they have claimed to be, and has [https://xfce.org/ Xfce] as its default desktop environment, making the distribution lightweight and performant.
+==References==
 <references />