Your search history is a window into your inner life. Anyone with access to it knows what your hobbies and interests are, your sexual orientation and preferences, the things that worry you (for example your medical concerns), your political affiliations, your financial situation, and much more.  In this article, we’ll explore why it’s important to delete your search and (closely related) browsing history and how to do it, but also the limitations of deleting your search and browsing history. Unfortunately, you can’t delete everything that’s out there. However, moving forward, you can take ..read more

A DNS cache is a record of all the websites you’ve visited over a set amount of time. Simply put, your DNS cache is a list of websites you visited in the past that’s stored on your device. Your computer uses it to speed up visits to those same websites, making it an important component of how we access the internet every day.  Your DNS cache can also impact your browsing experience, security, and even privacy. For this reason, knowing how to “flush” your DNS cache, or delete all the records inside it, can be critical, depending on your threat model. What is the Domain Name System (DNS) Wh ..read more

Temu has become an unavoidable brand. Unknown to most up to a year ago, the online retailer exploded onto the digital scene in the United States with lavish ads and a riveting social media campaign, and has started its takeover in Europe now, too. As it positions itself to take on Amazon, you may be wondering whether Temu is legit. The short answer is that Temu may not be safe and presents serious privacy risks. Numerous reports show that behind the cheery exterior of the app lies a web of secrets that you may not want to be drawn into. Let’s go over how we come to that conclusion. What is Te ..read more

On Friday, March 22, 2024, a Spanish National High Court judge ordered internet service providers (ISPs) in Spain to block access to Telegram, but this ruling was suspended on March 25. The ruling was made in response to a complaint by Atresmedia, EGEDA, Mediaset, and Telefonica, some of the country’s most prominent media companies, that the privacy-focused messaging app is being used to distribute copyrighted content that belongs to them. Judge Santiago Pedraz imposed a temporary block while authorities investigated this allegation. However, following criticism from consumer rights groups suc ..read more

Since its debut in 1939, March Madness has grown into one of the most iconic and beloved sporting events in the United States, streamed by millions of fans each year.  For newcomers, March Madness features a thrilling single-elimination tournament format where 68 college basketball teams compete for the prestigious NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship.  March Madness is synonymous with bracketology, as fans nationwide eagerly fill out brackets predicting game outcomes. The sheer unpredictability of March Madness (like the emergence of “Cinderella” teams — underdogs that defy the odds a ..read more

We already shared our top picks when it comes to private YouTube alternatives and private WhatsApp alternatives. Now, we take a detailed look at the best free Zoom alternatives that respect your privacy. Zoom is a video-conferencing platform that became a household name during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s free (with limitations), easy to use, stable, and offers great video quality over even modest internet connection speeds.  Confidence in the platform wavered in the face of privacy and security concerns, however. These include sharing data with third parties without clea ..read more

This year is democracy’s biggest test in history. Beginning with Bangladesh on January 7, national elections are being held in at least 64 countries (and the EU) this year, affecting more than 4 billion people. With so many governments poised for change, this year could go down as a global watershed moment. Further complicating matters is that many of these elections will be held in countries that have histories of censorship and election interference. To return to the example of Bangladesh, the main opposition party boycotted the election for being unfair, and there was a systematic disinform ..read more

In this article, we look at the best YouTube alternatives out there. We look at both alternative YouTube frontends that allow you to watch YouTube videos without Google tracking you, and true alternative streaming sites that offer content with no connection to Google.  There’s no doubt that YouTube has forever changed the online entertainment landscape. YouTube is accessed by over 2.7 billion people worldwide every month and hosts more than 800 million videos.  The main reason for YouTube’s popularity is that most of its content is “free”. But as with all of Google’s “free” products ..read more

The most basic function of a virtual private network (VPN) is to hide your real IP address from websites you visit (and anyone else on the internet). If a VPN fails to do this, it’s simply not working.  A VPN that hides just your IPv4 address can technically be connected, but it’s still not doing its job properly if it’s not preventing websites from seeing your real IP address. If a VPN connection is technically working, but there are ways in which websites can see your IP address anyway, this is called a leak. In this article, we look at how to tell if your VPN is working (at all) and ho ..read more

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