HOW I STAY PRIVATE ONLINE

I write about privacy and security for a living, so you’d expect me to follow a strict privacy regime.

The best advice I can offer is this: do as I say, not as I do. The Facebook/ Cambridge Analytica scandal has helped highlight the importance of data privacy, and while the best protection is strong laws that keep Silicon Valley tech giants in line, there are plenty of tools to help. And yet I don’t use as many as I should. It’s simply too easy to put it all off until tomorrow.

However, I do have Adblock Plus and HTTPS Everywhere installed in Chrome. I’ve also set my Facebook account so only friends can see it, and regularly go through my Google dashboard ( https://myaccount.google.com/ dashboard) looking for anything untoward.

I also keep the Facebook app off my smartphone, mostly because it’s drains my battery and wastes my time, and use the Private Internet Access VPN ( www. privateinternetaccess.com) on my laptop when I’m working in a cafe.

Next on my privacy to-do list, I plan to deactivate Facebook as a half-step towards deleting it, and trying out a browser that’s not made by Google (probably Vivaldi).

Also in Facebook, I’ve removed as much as possible from the list of ‘data points’ it uses to target adverts. For Google, I’ve turned off location tracking.