Computers have been part of our Daily lives for almost two decades, but a lot has changed since the beige boxes of the 2000’s: they have come off our desks and into our pockets in the form of smartphones, and have become more and more important in our work and our social lives. But our smartphones and computers now collect more data on us than ever before, and when their security is at risk, so is our privacy. This short guide will take you through some basic changes you can make to improve your security and privacy, both on your phone and your computer.

1. Get up to date

Outdated systems and applications are the easiest way for hackers to gain access to your system. The single most important thing you can do to keep your computers and phones secure is to keep them up to date. Below, you can find guides to updating various types of devices.

Updating the System

Updating Windows / Updating your Mac / Updating Android / Updating your iPhone or iPad

Updating your apps

On Windows PC’s and Macs, apps can be installed both manually by downloading them and through app stores. In most cases, apps are responsible for updating themselves. On Android and iOS, app updates are managed through the Play Store and App Store respectively.

Updating Android Apps / Updating iPhone or iPad apps

2. Uninstall unused apps

Devices often come with lots of apps pre-installed that we don’t use. You can free up space and improve your devices security by removing these apps.

If you’ve just bought a new Windows PC, we recommend using the Fresh Start feature, which will clear of all pre-installed applications, leaving you with a fresh state. You can also use this on a PC you have had for a while, but keep in mind that while it will preserve your files, it will remove all apps!

If you’ve had your PC for a while, you can remove individual apps you don’t use.

3. Browse better

The single most important app is your Browser: it’s the tool you use to browse the web and access social media on your device. It is also the app that makes you the most vulnerable: a security hole in your browser could put your system’s security at risk, and your browser itself has access to all the websites you visited and what you did on them.

Try Firefox

Consider switching to Firefox as your everyday browser: it is available on Android, iOS, Mac and Windows, it is fast, secure, non-commercial, respects your privacy, provides support for privacy-enhancing addons and has an excellent built in password manager. You can download it here.

Once you’ve installed it, you can follow our guide to improve your experience and protect your privacy in a few clicks:

Block adverts

Adverts are intrusive and often make the web confusing: we’ve all gone through the experience of trying to find the “real” download button among a field of fake adverts, or having an inappropriate ad suddenly pop up on your screen. On Firefox or Chrome, install the uBlock Origin addon to block adverts and pop-ups, and make websites load faster!

Automate GDPR consent

The GDPR has given us the freedom to prevent websites from tracking us, but it hasn’t made it easy: sometimes trying to reject cookies feels like going through an obstacle course: carefully unticking checkboxes and clicking the right buttons can be exhausting, and many people end up just clicking “Accept All”. Luckily, there is an addon for Firefox that lets you set your consent preferences, then tries to apply them automatically on sites you visit, doing the hard work for you! Install Consent-O-Matic to save yourself time and effort!

4. Secure your accounts

So much of our personal information is stored online, but every year tens of millions of accounts are hacked. We all struggle to remember our passwords and come up with good ones, and sometimes we use the same password for multiple sites. This makes it easier for hackers to gain access to all our accounts, so using different passwords is really important. Luckily, you won’t have to constantly think up new passwords, as there are easier solutions available!

Checking for compromised passwords

The first thing you should do, in any case, is check to see if any of your accounts have already been hacked without you knowing. Go to haveibeenpwned.com, grab a pen and paper, enter your email address then note down any accounts that have been hacked. Try to remember the passwords you set for these accounts, and if you have used them on other sites then note those sites down too: it’s safer to change them all!

Use a password manager

The next recommended step is to set up a password manager: This is a piece of software that safely stores all your passwords, and automatically fills in login forms for you! Firefox has an integrated password manager.

When signing up or changing your password on a website, Firefox will automatically offer to generate a secure password, and store it, meaning there is no need for you to remember it, and if that website gets hacked then your other accounts are safe!

5. What else you can do

Check out our articles on tools for privacy and digital resistance! I also recommend the website “privacy tools”.

patrick-breyer.de/en/improve-s…

📜 Oggi 26 novembre una piccola delegazione del comitato Privacy Bene Comune, ha portato presso la sede dell'Autorità Garante per la Protezione dei Dati Personali il manifesto del Privacy Pride.

🤝 La nostra delegazione, costituita da Andrea Laisa (amreo), Francesco Macchia (macfranc) ed Enrico Nardelli, ha consegnato nelle mani del dott. Guido Scorza, membro del collegio del Garante, e del dottor Baldo Meo, direttore della comunicazione, la copia originale del Manifesto corredata delle dediche apposte da alcuni dei manifestanti intervenuti durante il presidio del 13 novembre.

💡 Durante l'incontro abbiamo avuto modo di confrontarci su come promuovere la cultura della privacy semplificando i processi che consentono ai cittadini di comprendere il valore della privacy e della sua protezione, attraverso la promozione dell'educazione a una vera e propria difesa personale digitale e attraverso la sensibilizzazione delle pubbliche amministrazioni centrali e locali nel portare la propria comunicazione istituzionale anche su piattaforme e protocolli che non compromettano la privacy delle persone, come per esempio quelli del fediverso.

🙋🏻‍♂️ Abbiamo infine auspicato la possibilità di organizzare insieme alla Autorità un nuovo incontro in videoconferenza per presentare le proposte che l'intera comunità del Privacy Pride elaborerà per promuovere una cultura attiva della protezione dei dati personali.

🗣 Chi volesse entrare nella comunità del Privacy Pride, potrà unirsi alla nostra chat, raggiungibile sia tramite Telegram, sia tramite Matrix! 👇

Telegram: https://t.me/PrivacyBeneComune
Matrix: matrix.to/#/#privacybenecomune…

The EU supported trials of the use of “artificial intelligence” at its borders by testing a “video lie detector” on travellers. On 15 March 2019, MEP and civil liberties activist Dr Patrick Breyer (Pirate Party) filed a lawsuit for the release of secret documents on the ethical justifiability, legality and the results of the technology. The European Court of Justice will deliver its judgement publicly in Luxembourg on 15 December 2021 (Case T-158/19). A landmark ruling could generally shed light on EU-funded „security research“.

In April 2021, it emerged that the „iBorderCtrl“ project, which was entirely funded by the EU, used part of its funding to lobby legislators for fundamental rights restrictions which would allow the use of its controversial technology on travellers. The EU Commission tried to hide this in a partially redacted document that was reconstructed by technical means. In her response to a written question by Patrick Breyer, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson denied that the lobbying— which was clearly proven in the document— had taken place. In October, the European Parliament expressed “concern” about the iBorderCtrl project. Under a follow-up project, “TRESSPASS”, the EU has again funded the testing of unscientific technology to “assess the sincerity of the traveller and his statements.

“The European Union keeps funding illegal technology that violates fundamental rights and is unethical,” Breyer criticises. “It declares the projects a ‘trade secret’ of the corporations involved. With my transparency complaint, I want to have it clarified once and for all that the taxpayer, science, media and parliaments have a right to access publicly funded research – especially in the case of pseudoscientific and Orwellian developments like the ‘video lie detector’.”

In China, technology for emotion recognition based on CCTV footage is already being used in prisons, schools, retirement homes and police stations on the Uighur minority.

Text of the statement of claim and further information

patrick-breyer.de/en/transpare…

Yesterday afternoon, the new German government coalition of SPD, FDP and the Greens presented its coalition agreement to the public. MEP, civil rights activist and lawyer Dr Patrick Breyer of the Pirate Party hails the new positions Germany is taking on EU digital policies:

“Regarding the Digital Services Act negotiations, the new German government says: “The right to anonymity both in public space and on the internet must be guaranteed.” This right needs to become part of the Digital Services Act in order to prevent unauthorised disclosure, identity theft and other forms of abuse of personal data.

The new German government also demands that ‘biometric recognition in public spaces … must be ruled out under European law’. This is great support for an EU-wide ban on biometric mass surveillance and provides important backing for the negotiations on the upcoming AI act.

Germany is likewise speaking out against the EU’s plans for chat control, i.e. the error-prone warrantless screening of all private communications on the Internet. It now supports the ‘right to encryption’. The new government thus sends a clear signal to Ursula von der Leyen and Ylva Johansson to stop the insane plans for chat control on all smartphones, which violate fundamental rights and threaten the secrecy of and trust in digital communications.

Finally Germany wants communications data retention “on an ad hoc basis and by judicial order” only. Commissioner Ylva Johansson should immediately stop her work on bringing back mandatory communications data retention throughout the EU. Such invasive surveillance of unsuspected citizens by collecting sensitive information about their social contacts and movements is totally unacceptable in a free society.

I am looking forward to seeing Germany fight side-by-side with human rights defenders in the future on essential policies.“

patrick-breyer.de/en/chat-cont…