✨ Feature Suggestion | Do and don't when shopping online #2119

New Issue

2020-11-08T22:01:37Z

efb4f5ff-1298-471a-8973-3d47447115dc commented

2020-11-08 22:01:37 +00:00

(Migrated from github.com)

Description

Questions on the forums that are asked very often :

How do i make purchases online while keeping my anonymity?

Or is there any service or privacytool that helps me keeping my anonymity?

What things u certainly should not do when shopping online?

Maybe this can be somehow implemented in the wiki pages

## Description Questions on the forums that are asked very often : How do i make purchases online while keeping my anonymity? Or is there any service or privacytool that helps me keeping my anonymity? What things u certainly should not do when shopping online? Maybe this can be somehow implemented in the wiki pages

👍 2

lynn-stephenson commented

2020-11-18 07:23:25 +00:00

(Migrated from github.com)

It is not possible to "anonymously" do online shopping, at least with the internet's current state.

There can be very basic measures to preventing account theft, and such. But with the majority of purchases being done on invasive services that legally require your personal information, is not very effective.

Encouraging some privacy measures may encourage users to break laws. Such as not providing your legal name for some services that explicity require it.

By the design of such systems it means that it is legal, and by the design of their service (both back-end, and front-end). They (such as Amazon, and PayPal) are privacy invasive on three ends of the spectrum.

But I am not closing this issue down just yet. There could be methods that are legal, and do help retain your privacy. With so many other bits of information on you it will be trivial to track you, and your purchases, even if you adopt some privacy respecting processes.

At that point you may as well give in and accept their security features instead.

It is not possible to "anonymously" do online shopping, at least with the internet's current state. There can be very basic measures to preventing account theft, and such. But with the majority of purchases being done on invasive services that legally require your personal information, is not very effective. Encouraging some privacy measures may encourage users to break laws. Such as not providing your legal name for some services that explicity require it. By the design of such systems it means that it is legal, and by the design of their service (both back-end, and front-end). They (such as Amazon, and PayPal) are privacy invasive on three ends of the spectrum. But I am not closing this issue down just yet. There could be methods that are legal, and do help retain your privacy. With so many other bits of information on you it will be trivial to track you, and your purchases, even if you adopt some privacy respecting processes. At that point you may as well give in and accept their security features instead.

👍 1

freddy-m commented

2021-03-14 12:26:06 +00:00

(Migrated from github.com)

See this from ThinkPrivacy: https://blog.thinkprivacy.ch/5-online-shopping-tips