[steponlego]

Different account names for everything. I never use my real name and usually browse over Tor or with a VPN. If I watch a video it’s after I liberated it with yt-dlp. Reset my home Internet connection to get a different IP daily. I long ago deleted all my posts to Reddit and Facebook. I also ditched my gmail I had for over 20 years, I don’t trust those weasels.

[chirau]

Sounds like a lot of effort for very minimal gains. Is there anything that important about you that you have to go these extremes?

And you don't have a cellphone? Kudos to you but I, for one, do not envy you.

[lukeasch21]

Minor nitpick, but why are you adamant that you've had your Gmail for "over 20 years"? Gmail was made public in 2004.

[AtlasBarfed]

Gmail was invitation only for a solid, what, year or two?

But if you were remotely in IT, you could get an invite. I did, and I was peanuts.

[steponlego]

Did it exist before 2004? I bet you know!

[lukeasch21]

Wouldn't that imply that you were an employee at Google sometime between 2002-2004? :P Unless I'm not getting the full picture (I was not old enough to be fully aware of Gmail's existence in 2004)

[steponlego]

2001? Could be the '90s really...

[blisterpeanuts]

These are very good suggestions. Do you use a smartphone? I was wondering if calling-over-wifi is less trackable than using a tower.

[steponlego]

I have never owned a cell phone. My Librem 5 is “coming soon” LOL!

[72deluxe]

VoWiFi for LTE is what carriers (in the UK at least) try to encourage if you have poor signal at home. It still relies on your SIM being in the phone and actually makes a L2TP or SIP connection through to the carrier's server. I know because I disabled all these NAT passthroughs on my router and VoWiFi didn't work at all for me on EE with an Android phone (but did for my wife with her iPhone on Virgin). So you can still be tracked since the connection to the carrier's server requires an identity - it won't carry calls for just anybody!

[expertentipp]

> calling-over-wifi is less trackable than using a tower.

Not if using whatsapp/messenger for calling over wifi and the probability that the other person has an app capable of calling over wifi different than whatsapp/messenger is rather low.

[blisterpeanuts]

My Samsung with T-Mobile is capable of connecting to cellular networks via wifi, which is useful in my neighborhood where T-mo is a weaker signal.

[MattDemers]

A reminder that if you pay for ProtonMail, you get a free SimpleLogin account to go with it.

[2fast4you]

Do you really get a new IP every day? Every ISP I’ve had usually gives me the same IP after a restart

[steponlego]

You should change the MAC address of your router. That'll trigger the cable or fiber modem to give you a new IP address usually.

[miked85]

For me at least, that means calling support and giving them the new MAC address.

[xp84]

At least in some systems, assuming you have a separate modem device and router, only the modem is involved in the authentication/billing which is where they care about the modem's MAC to identify you. If your router's MAC changes, DHCP would issue it a new IP.

My modest understanding is that the modem is operating at a lower layer of the networking stack, so the DHCP server involved in actually issuing you an IP, higher up in the stack, doesn't need to worry about identifying you -- it's happy to give anybody an IP because it knows that if it can see you, the modem-level authentication has confirmed you're someone who is paying your Internet bill.

I used to run an open source router a long time ago, which made changing your router WAN MAC something you could easily script.

[zamnos]

Who's your ISP? That would make me worried.

https://xkcd.com/463/

[miked85]

Cox. At least in the past when I upgraded a modem, it required me calling support to give them the MAC address.

[mfcl]

Is the CIA after you?

[steponlego]

Snowden leaks proved they’re after everybody.

[scarface74]

And if you fly, drive, use credit cards, use cellphones, etc the government already knows enough about you.

[steponlego]

Heh, I see people like you pop up every time there's a discussion about privacy online. My guess is you work for the US government or a contractor, the messaging is always the same: "Don't bother trying for more privacy."

But it's a lame, weak gambit. If the collective you weren't terrified of privacy you wouldn't try this every time there's a discussion about privacy online.

[scarface74]

Where I work is not hard to find from my posting history on HN and under my same user name on Reddit.

It’s a company I know you have heard of

Where’s the lie in my statement? Do you fly? Use credit cards? Use a cell phone? Have a bank account? Ever applied for credit? Go to a doctor?

I’ve worked with both payment processors and integrated with EMR/EHR systems. I’m well aware of the information captured. No one cares about your Reddit history.

[xp84]

> No one cares about your Reddit history

This seems like a stretch, right? It could be in someone's *major* financial interest to care. For instance, imagine if someone takes out a life insurance policy and a year later, they tragically pass away. If the person posted on Reddit that they did certain illegal or quasi-legal substances, and the insurance company wants to see if they can avoid paying, wouldn't they perform a cursory Internet search to see if they can make a case that you "obtained your policy through fraud"? (i.e. if you didn't disclose in your application that you use those drugs -- which if you did they would have declined you). Or for instance, if a death was ambiguous and could be argued to be a suicide, and the person posted online that they were depressed. Suicide in many situations forfeits life insurance.

I'm picking life insurance as examples, but this is just one reason why it's probably wise to have almost zero public communication about yourself that's able to be tied in any way to your real identity.

And note: I'm not disagreeing at all with your main statement, that unless one is living the real hermit life, "the government," if motivated enough, already can access so much information about you that this kind of stuff is small potatoes.

[steponlego]

The problem with dominating the info-battlespace with scripted replies is it becomes so obvious over time. I suppose that's the idea, the chilling effect is part of the plan.

[expertentipp]

these are very "low hanging fruit" measures TBH