Take Control of
Your Online Privacy

What’s New in Version 5.1

This minor update makes the following changes:

• Mentioned the RockYou2024 data breach in “Major Data Breaches Are Increasingly Common”
• Made several edits to the list of data-removal services in “Purge Your Info from Data Brokers”
• Adjusted the wording in several spots to reflect minor user interface changes in macOS 15 Sequoia, iOS 18, and iPadOS 18
• Added a sidebar, “What Are TLS and SSL?,” and adjusted the wording throughout to refer to “TLS/SSL”
• Added Orion to the list of “Browsers You Should Consider”
• Mentioned additional techniques you or a family member can use to avoid being scammed in “Spear Phishing and Impersonation”

What Was New in the Fifth Edition

The fifth edition was the biggest revision to this book since its original publication in 2013 (and that’s saying something). It would almost be easier to list what didn't change than what did! Given the huge shifts in both the threats to online privacy and the tools to protect your privacy, I rethought much of my advice, rearranged the outline, added over 30 pages of new material, and deleted things that no longer seemed relevant.

Here are some of the biggest changes:

• Revised “Understand the Evolving Online Privacy Landscape” extensively, including the addition of new topics “Hardware Bugs Pose Challenges” and “Is It Too Late to Protect Your Privacy?”
• Combined what had been two chapters into “Learn About the Risks,” with a bigger focus on advertisers (“Advertisers—and Beyond”) plus new topics “Your Risk Profile” and “What You Can’t Control”
• Added a series of sidebars (see “Additional Resources for High-Risk People”) with extra advice for people with unusually high risk for being individually targeted
• In the chapter “Develop a Privacy Strategy,” added new topics: “What I Wish I Could Tell You,” which explains some measures you could take to massively improve your privacy, but at a significant cost; “Remove Your Info from Google,” which does what it says; and “Keep Yourself Informed,” which urges you to keep up with privacy-related changes in the world
• Added an entirely new chapter, “Discover Apple-Specific Privacy Features,” which details some of the extra privacy tools available to users of Macs, iPhones, and iPads
• Renamed the social media chapter “Confront the Social Media Threat” and thoroughly updated it, with a significantly expanded topic “Learn About the Facebook Problem”
• In the “Keep Your Internet Connection Private” chapter, largely rewrote “Use a VPN” and “Consider a VPN Router or Privacy Appliance”
• Expanded the “Browse the Web Privately” chapter with more information in the “Browsers You Should Avoid” and “Browsers You Should Consider” topics; advice on what to do if you have to use Chrome; a new topic, “Say No to Selling Your Personal Info”; additional information on private browsing modes; and revised advice on how to block ads and search privately
• In the “Improve Email Privacy” chapter, added the topic “Use Burner Addresses”
• Greatly revised “Manage Your Mobile Privacy,” including new topics “Spear Phishing and Impersonation” and “Spyware”
• Beefed up “Keep the Internet of Things Private” with more information on smart TVs, streaming devices, and smart speakers
• Deleted the chapter “Share Files Privately” as it was out of scope for the book’s current direction