2026 privacy resolutions
I saw a great post on Privacy Guides the other day on privacy resolutions for 2026. Achieving true privacy in our modern world is pretty much impossible.1 But I do think there are a lot of things I have been far too lax about with my own online privacy in the past. And while that lode may be impossible to achieve, it's actually very easy/practical to take a lot of steps towards a more secure and private online life. These are some of my privacy goals this year:
- Delete Facebook, finally. I haven't used Facebook in years, but my account has been there sitting idle. I've finally completely deleted it.2
- Use a privacy focused browser. Safari is pretty privacy forward itself, but I don't love that it's an Apple product and locks you in. I've been toying with Firefox. I may or may not stick with this one. Safari just works so well.
- Remove myself as much as possible from Google's grasp. I plan to write about this more soon, but I've just had enough of Google.3 This one is going to be tough because there aren't really a lot of alternatives to Search and Youtube.4
- Don't hand out my primary email to most people. I recently switched to Proton Mail. I've been loving it, I don't have anything bad to say about it so far. And on top of allowing me to set up custom domains, it has very robust aliasing software built in. So now I have a setup of: primary email, secondary emails, burner catch-all, and a slew of aliases.5
- Use a VPN. I know they do not do a whole lot on their own. But they do still help a bit, and it's so easy to use a VPN. So may as well!
- Block as many ads as possible. Enough is enough. I'm sick of being tracked to sell me new shoes. This is another great feature of a lot of VPNs at the DNS level. I also plan on subscribing and tipping more publications that I read as part of this.
- Pay for services instead of being the product. Similar to blocking ads but subscribing or tipping. I think I'd rather pony up $5 or $10 than have my information sold. This also seems like a better business model for developers.
Bonus resolutions:
- Stop confusing anonymity and privacy. I've made this mistake in the past, but there's a big difference between not being known and controlling what people know. (Privacy Guides has a great article on this too](https://www.privacyguides.org/videos/2025/03/14/stop-confusing-privacy-anonymity-and-security/).
- Don't let privacy be an all-consuming hobby. Again, ultimately complete privacy and anonymity on the internet are impossible. I see a lot of people on privacy forums going out of their way to self-host, anonymize, and re-route everything they do online. And that just.. doesn't seem like a useful way to live. I often get too into the projects I take up, and I won't be doing that here (I hope).
- Try to convince other people in my life to care a little more about online privacy. Not trying to be a Reddit Atheist-type here, but it's actually pretty easy to do a lot of these common sense privacy things.
- Don't shop at Wegman's and its peers. For obvious reasons.
Will probably add more or expand on this list at some point! There's also something to be said about deleting data that's already out there. Unfortunately the US does not have a right to be forgotten (or really any nationwide privacy laws at all!), but it's still usually possible to get your data deleted if you try.
And maybe a bit fruitless too? You're only ever as secure as your weakest link.↩
I still use Instagram, because for all of Meta's spyware, I still need to watch Reels and keep up with the Joneses somehow.↩
The trigger here was Google announcing they're bringing their AI overviews feature to Gmail... which.... yuck.↩
Quite frankly, Youtube is in some ways the last "good" big-tech product. So I don't have any plans to leave it.
Sidenote: Some might argue Facebook Marketplace is decent too. But what it replaced (Craigslist and posterboards at cafes) was better in most ways. And also, if we're being honest here, Facebook Marketplace kind of sucks... how many hours have we all wasted trying to save $5 on a broken item from some stranger across town?↩
It's worth noting that iCloud can basically do the same stuff as Proton. But I chose Proton for four reasons:
- It's not Apple.
- If you get locked out of your iCloud and your email, passwords, 2FA, etc. are all there, you're screwed.
- Your emails (and calendar) are encrypted via PGP.
- I decided I actually don't want smart email filters. This is "convenience" I think was foisted on me years ago by Gmail and its ilk that I never really stopped to think about. Why do I need a "smart filter" reading my email to tell me that receipt is a receipt?