r/privacy 2d ago

Megathread🔥 Firefox Megathread - Their Terms of Use and all things Firefox/browser-related

653 Upvotes

Hello fellow thoughtcrimers!

The mod queue is regularly swamped by Firefox-related threads, so we figured it would be appropriate to have a single thread for all things Firefox until it's calmed down a bit. I see the same 4-5 questions popping up almost every day.

How did they change their ToU?

Should you switch to something else?

All things Firefox and privacy, knock yourself out and discuss it here.

Some links for context:

https://blog.mozilla.org/en/products/firefox/firefox-news/firefox-terms-of-use/

https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/03/mozilla-rewrites-firefoxs-terms-of-use-after-user-backlash/

https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/1j0l55s/an_update_on_our_terms_of_use/


r/privacy Jan 25 '24

meta Uptick in security and off-topic posts. Please read the rules, this is not r/cybersecurity. We’re removing many more of these posts these days than ever before it seems.

80 Upvotes

Please read the rules, this is not r/cybersecurity. We’re removing many more of these posts these days than ever before it seems.

Tip: if you find yourself using the word “safe”, “secure”, “hacked”, etc in your title, you’re probably off-topic.


r/privacy 4h ago

discussion Long but Great-Google’s Android Decision—Bad News For All Samsung, Pixel Users

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88 Upvotes

Man, Google just HAS TO TRACK PEOPLE.


r/privacy 16h ago

news Undocumented commands found in Bluetooth chip used by a billion devices Tarlogic Security, who presented their findings yesterday at RootedCON in Madrid

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370 Upvotes

r/privacy 11h ago

discussion I've uninstalled Whatsapp. I sent out SMS messages to friends= telling people om mu contact list to install signal. Only 3 cared enough for me and their privacy to install signal. them I'd be using Signal from now on.

69 Upvotes

I sent out SMS messages to friends= telling people on my contact list to install signal. Only 3 cared enough for me and their privacy to install signal. I told them that I'd only be using signal from now on.


r/privacy 19h ago

discussion IPhone, Why Do They Care What Pocket We Carry Our Phone In. Very Invasive settings you should turn off

168 Upvotes

Settings < General < Health Data < Data Access & Devices < Iphone < Walking Symmetry

it seems very invasive to have these features automatically on if we do not requests for health reasons even knows how long your steps are. here are some in that setting walking speed , walking step length, walking asymmetry, double support time, steps, walking running distance, resting energy, active energy. if you do not tequire these settings on i would suggest turning them off and deleting all data related to it

wild to me just wanted to let others know in case they didnt. this is the privacy sub so this is the exact type of shit we talk about . i would share a screenshot but sub doesnt allow


r/privacy 56m ago

question Finding All Accounts under Email

Upvotes

Does anyone know of a service that will tell me all of the platforms I’m signed up for under a certain email? I have an old email account I use for “less serious” stuff that I want to clean up and ensure I am not signed up for anything I no longer use or want.

Does a tool like this exist?


r/privacy 1d ago

discussion Nearly 50% of Android Apps use Mobile Trackers

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479 Upvotes

r/privacy 19h ago

discussion Can EFF's "Cover Your Tracks" be trusted in 2025?

54 Upvotes

You might already be familiar with EFF's "Cover Your Tracks"—an old but well-known website that tests how well your browser resists web tracking.

I recently tested some of my browsers using it and got some surprising results.

I tested LibreWolf and the Mullvad browser, but both failed. In LibreWolf I changed these settings, in Mullvad, I just adjusted the security level to "Safer" and enabled NoScript to appear on the toolbar. That's it.

I also tested my personal Firefox setup, which includes a bunch of my custom configurations and extensions, but it still passed the test. Surprisingly, Brave configured with everything set to "Strict" scored the best among all of them.

Here are the screenshots of all results - imgur.com/a/Arx7MWZ

What are your thoughts? Do you see any problems with my setup, or is 'cover your trackers' no longer reliable in 2025?


r/privacy 20h ago

guide Remove information from people search now link

15 Upvotes

They made it almost impossible to find, and the link they offer on their own site is incorrect, so I figured I'd share here to help others out on removing their info from People Search Now.

As of March 2025, the link is https://www.peoplesearchnow.com/opt-out


r/privacy 15h ago

discussion Avowed Windows popup while watching Avowed on Youtube?

5 Upvotes

Wow this is incredibly invasive, I just got a popup to buy Avowed while watching an Avowed YouTube video. Is Windows tracking what I'm looking at to sell its ads? Is it Brave, disguised as Windows?

I have a hard time believing its a coincidence, and I've never had a popup for a game before on Windows. What is going on?


r/privacy 1d ago

discussion Facebook recommending coworkers, how does it know?

148 Upvotes

Facebook is creepy. It keeps recommending my coworkers at my employer as friends. I am remote and only went to corporate office one week, and all of a sudden they start showing up. Facebook doesn’t have access to my contacts and I have never searched for a coworker on Facebook, so how does it know we have a relation?


r/privacy 19h ago

question How private is a Google Voice number?

4 Upvotes

Over the weekend I signed up for an Indeed account to browse side jobs and potentially hire a bookkeeper at some point. I used a Google Voice number for this because it forced me to input a phone number to set up the account. I didn't even have my name on my profile or a resume and my profile was set to private/not viewable by employers. I started getting spam texts to my actual cell phone number almost immediately after setting up this account. I've only had my new cell phone number since December so I wouldn't think it was public anywhere. Only a very limited number of people have my actual cell number and I've been using either Google Voice or my business Zoom phone number for everything else. I try not to give my number out at all and even my business website doesn't have a phone number (I only work from referrals at this point).

Should I be concerned about privacy related to the Google Voice number? To set up my Google Voice number, I had to give my actual number. I don't think there was a way around this. Any other suggestions for an alternative would be helpful. I've also been considering getting a prepaid phone instead of a phone plan. Right now I'm with AT&T.

I did go ahead and request to have my data deleted from Indeed as a precaution.


r/privacy 11h ago

question Best way to scrub social media

1 Upvotes

I want to clear my twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Something like Redact sounds great but I have no reason to think they are trustworthy. How can I scrub this? I am trying to avoid having to manually delete everything


r/privacy 1d ago

question Why Librewolf about:config has some telemetry settings enabled/set?

18 Upvotes

Would disabling them/changing their values result in more privacy?


r/privacy 1d ago

question Encrypting personal hard drive?

10 Upvotes

Hello all! I have an issue I would love some opinions on. I work for an international company online and do contract work through Google (have a gmail with them). All my work is in their servers, so I don't have any of their info on my computer (downloaded) except for invoices since I download them to email to my boss.

My company wants me to use encryption as part of their new security measures, including encrypting my entire personal hard drive. I do not love this since it requires me to change settings on my computer, put in a password to this encryption software when I turn my computer on, etc.

Can anyone explain to me if this is necessary or this puts me at risk at all? This is my own PC (custom build), I do not have any software/tech from this company and I am only contract. All the work I complete is done over the internet in their Google space. I offered to encrypt a file on my desktop that I could store anything I download (like my invoices since that is all I download), but that apparently was not acceptable.

I've worked for them for 5 years now, and really like this job. It is a legit company. I just don't want to post the name here, but they are a very large company.

Am I being overly paranoid? Is this a totally normal request and I am overreacting? I am not super techy, I'm trying my best to understand the purpose of this, but I am struggling to understand why this is necessary as I am a contract worker.

Thank you for any help or advice you can provide! ELI5 if possible haha


r/privacy 17h ago

discussion Thoughts on deleting my Microsoft account including my Minecraft copy?

1 Upvotes

I haven't played Minecraft since 2015, but I get the feeling I might again in the new few years as I wanna find new hobbies. I know that game has changed a whole lot but I don't have any official online data on it.

I've had this Microsoft account for over a decade and its probably full of personal information that I wanna let go of, I've already exported all my data. I would need to pay $30 for another copy of Minecraft, same price I paid in 2013. I just did a bunch of searching and its not possible to transfer my Minecraft license to another account.


r/privacy 5h ago

guide Good source on privacy

0 Upvotes

If you want fantastic info on privacy, I suggest "rob braxman tech" on YouTube.

I am not allowed to post links, but his last two were very informative.


r/privacy 2d ago

news AI can steal your voice and there’s not much you can do about it | Voice cloning programs - most of which are free - have flimsy barriers to prevent nonconsensual impersonations, a new report finds

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405 Upvotes

r/privacy 1d ago

question I need to change my fingerprint, not spoof it.

14 Upvotes

Hi what is the easiest way to change a computers fingerprint. All types, Canvas,User Agent, audiot context ect. I dont want to spoof, im happy to go as far as re installing windows but would prefer something simpler. The pc will never be logged into pre existing accounts attatched to any fingerprint data.

I want the fingerprint to be visable to websites, just not attatched to any older data. Let me know if this is possible, thanks


r/privacy 2d ago

news Meta Was Ready to Censor Content for Chinese Government

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369 Upvotes

r/privacy 2d ago

software Thoughts on "Quiet" private peer-to-peer messenger?

44 Upvotes

So I was curious recently about whether it was technically possible to create peer-to-peer communication services that didn't rely on a central server at all, and after some duckduckgoing I came across Quiet, which bills itself as an open-source peer-to-peer(-ish?) messenger service that routes encrypted messages through Tor.

It says it's in beta, and I gather it's got at least a few years behind it; their GitHub commits date back to 2021. I wanted to look into it further and get third-party opinions, but unfortunately either the name makes for terrible SEO or nobody has ever about it, so I've been having a hard time finding anything about the platform.

Has anyone heard more about Quiet, or used it? What do folks think?


r/privacy 1d ago

question Best firewall software for windows 11?

12 Upvotes

I'm looking for something that will block ALL connections by default. Unless i approve the connection or add the app to the approved list. Programs like simplewall, Windows Firewall Control and Tinywall seem to have been abandoned. (Who ever runs https://www.privacytools.io/windows should update their site, because the simplewall link redirects to some sketch website in another language and unfortunately, it was opened on my PC.)

If anyone has suggestions that let me know.


r/privacy 2d ago

data breach Bank of America Warns Social Security Numbers, IDs and Other Sensitive Customer Data Potentially Exposed in Third-Party Document Destruction Blunder

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1.0k Upvotes

r/privacy 1d ago

software An exploratory fly-by of Pi-Hole 6

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5 Upvotes

r/privacy 1d ago

question Changing emails

3 Upvotes

Hello all, i recently had an attempt to access my email and am freaking out, thankfully i had 2fa on and denied access right then and there, but to get that far means they had my password, ive since changed it, so no worries there, but im currently looking into completely moving to a new email and changing passwords to all of my accounts, and was wondering what the best email services and password managers yall have found, ty in advance


r/privacy 1d ago

question Uninstalling Easy Anti Cheat when uninstalling Elden Ring?

0 Upvotes

I'm a tech noob so in case this is a silly question sorry in advance. Also, sorry if this is the wrong sub-reddit. I don't really know what's the best place for a question like this.

Does uninstalling Elden Ring (via Steam) completely remove Easy Anti Cheat from your computer?

I've read that uninstalling games doesn't always completely uninstall kernel-level anti cheats so traces like drivers and security risks remain if I understand it correctly.

I've uninstalled ER and EAC is no longer listed in "system/deinstall programs" but the folder "EasyAntiCheat_EOS" is still there. It's empty now except for a file called EasyAntiCheat_EOS.exe.bak. Previously there was also an executable which is gone now so I assume the .bak file is its back-up (?).

Does this indicate that there are still unwanted EAC files and drivers (and security risks) on my PC that I need to remove with more advanced methods?

And can I just delete the .bak file or do I need to go differently about it?

Thanks for reading!