If you want ultimate privacy in a computer, just go with Linux. That said, many people can't or choose not to. So here are some fast recommendations for making sure your Macbook is as private as possible. This is not comprehensive, so if anyone has more ideas that I can share with folks, please add them! Going to add this to my personal site, too.

(Also because I'm dorky, if you want to use this as a checklist, you can replace the ☑️ grayed out box with a ✅ when you accomplish it 😁 )

☑️ BROWSER - use Firefox and uBlock Origin for Mac, and choose a private search engine (DuckDuckGo - though beware, they are censoring; Mojeek; Brave; SearX; etc.); this will keep your identity private when it comes to fingerprinting and keep most sites and trackers from following your activity

☑️ VPN - Use a VPN when you are doing anything that you want private! If you use Proton for your email, it comes with Proton VPN. If you don't, Mullvad VPN is available for Mac, as well!

☑️ OFFICE SOFTWARE - if you need office software, I highly recommend LibreOffice. Apple and MSFT office software mine data now. Libre does not!

☑️ BACKUPS - I do not recommend using iCloud, nor do I recommend using Google Drive or a similar service. I would recommend using an affordable secure service, such as Internxt. https://internxt.com/drive or PCloud or Nextcloud (I like NextCloud a lot and I run it hosted locally on my home server.) Ideally you'd have multiple backup methods, so choose a cloud method and choose another hard copy method, like an external drive.

☑️ ANTIVIRUS - use a good antivirus, not the one that Apple provides. I recommend WebRoot - I used them for years and years until I switched to Linux. You can get keys for it discounted on kinguin.net

☑️ FILEVAULT - turn it on. This will encrypt everything on your computer and is built into the Security & Privacy section on your laptop

☑️ STEALTH MODE - turn it on. Prevents people from trying to access it from any network you're on

☑️ 2FA- use that for everything

☑️ SIRI - turn that sh*t off (remove improve Siri & dictation, remove Siri suggestions, remove sharing of any data with Apple period)

☑️ SPOTLIGHT - consider whether you need this or if you need to set up privacy folders that prevent it from searching certain documents. You can configure folders that aren't scanned by using the Spotlight Privacy area.

☑️ SHARING - limit your sharing options in System Preferences if you don't need them

Preppers when SHTF

I have some concerns about the US dollar right now so have opened a bank account in another country. Here are some quick points about my experience:

• I went with Royal Bank of Canada after speaking with a Canadian friend and looking at this link (https://gfmag.com/award/worlds-safest-banks-2024-global-50/) & seeing they're basically third after all of the banks in Switzerland and Germany. They were also largely not impacted by the 08 depression like other countries/banks. Switzerland requires multi-six figure minimum deposits and I just can't swing that, and Germany has demonstrated severe lack of judgment in the last few years (rise of their far right, removing their nuclear power for coal, etc). I also think that if the U.S. attempts to seize or freeze women's assets that Canada would not comply since that's a basic human rights violation.
• I called and explained what I wanted to do. I explicitly said I wanted a Canadian savings account so that it wouldn't be FDIC backed, it would be Canadian insurance backed. They said that was fine and I didn't need a Canadian SIN (SSN) or a Canadian address to open one. If you go to their main site that is offered if you're in the U.S. and just search for it, or you sign up at one of their branches in the U.S., AFAIK it is an American account that is a subsidiary and is backed by the FDIC. It is not the same thing.
• I opened it over the phone. I could have made an appt, but they are booked out through the end of March in the areas nearest to me. Over the phone means I can go in person on my own time to verify my identity. For phone account creation they need passport identification and another government id (I used my driver's license.)
• There are no minimums required; they only allow 1 free transfer per month from their savings account unless you have a chequing acct with them, in which case all transfers between the two are free.

This is a very succinct explanation of the psychological warfare. It is nearly impossible to identify it, but being aware it can be used against you can help temper responses. This is a very, very important article for people to thoroughly read and understand.

A really helpful overview of Lemmy can be found at this post: https://lemmy.world/post/37906

The easiest thing to remember is that it's very much like Reddit.

Wanted to make a place for everyone to use given that Reddit has started bowing to censorship demands and threatening paywalls. We also have a private encrypted Signal group and maintain resource documents within an encrypted drive; please message me here if you're interested in access!