Intro

"Hello Everyone and welcome to another edition of Privacy Tips, the sister podcast for Stupid Sexy Privacy.
I’m your host, BJ Mendelson
Today’s show is made possible by our friends at DuckDuckGo.
So, if you enjoy what we do, check out DuckDuckGo’s Privacy Pro Subscription Plan.
It comes with a simple, easy to use VPN, identity theft protection, data removal services, and more.
Additional information can be found at DuckDuckGo.com backslash pro
Some features and offerings will vary based on your location.
Now, my friends …
***
I believe these three things to be true:
Privacy is a fundamental human right; and it must be defended on behalf of all people, no matter where they reside on Earth.
When we talk about privacy, what we're really talking about is power. Information is power. That's because information can be abused by fascists and weirdos. For example, to control and suppress our brothers and sisters all over this planet.
Once a week — assuming you followed our advice and are using a MacBook Pro with the settings tweaked — you should run Task Explorer, KnockKnock, and Block Party.
I know. I know.
One of these things is not like the other.
If you aren’t familiar with Task Explorer and KnockKnock, we're going to talk about them in a future epiosde
And — if you're not using a MacBook Pro with the settings tweaked — that's ok too.
That’s just the ideal device we encourage most people in most cases to use keep them safe from fascists and weirdos.
But we recognize that these laptops are expensive, and so it’s not doable for everyone.
That’s ok. You can still follow our advice to make sure the devices you are using are still as secure as possible.
And here’s additional good news: it doesn't matter what device you’re currently using, Block Party will still work.
So today, we’re going to take a moment to talk about Block Party
(Amanda’s Ad)
This week’s Privacy Tip is to Get a Paper Calendar & Run Block Party
Block Party helps you secure your social media profiles and perform a deep clean of most of those profiles. So if you’re using Instagram, BlueSky, Reddit, or LinkedIn, BlockParty works great.
I just used it to clean up a decade-old LinkedIn account.
Now BlockParty costs about $30 for the year, but they often run sales, so you might be able to save some money depending on when you hear this epiosde
And just an FYI: Outside of DuckDuckGo, we don't advertise other companies and businesses. This is not an advertisement for Block Party.
Block Party is a tool I personally use and that I recommend you use.
Is it perfect? No. No tool that we recommend to you will be.
And if you’re looking to deep clean an old Facebook Profile, you’ll run into some issues. Block Party can make that Facebook Profile more secure, clean up old chats, and tighten some other things, but Facebook as a company, has made it incredibly difficult for tools like Block Party to really do a deep scrubbing of your likes and your comments for example.
Could you manually do all the things Block Party offers? Sure. But here’s the catch, like a lot of the tools we’re going to talk about in this series, there’s always a trade off.
You can get the free version, or do it yourself, in exchange for spending a considerable amount of your time.
Or, if you have the money, you can buy the tool that’ll save you that time.
We firmly believe that time, like information, is power.
And right now, you should be using your time to volunteer, organize, and advocate offline.
So, if you have a couple of extra bucks, tools like Block Party offer an efficient way to manage that time.
But if you don’t, sort of like with the Mac Book Pro, that’s ok. Do the best you can and forgive yourself for the things you can’t.

One more thing on the Block Party Front
While we prefer most people, in most cases, use the DuckDuckGo browser, Block Party works best in Google Chrome.
So, I have Google Chrome installed and use it only for running Block Party, which we recommend you do once a week.
And I use LuLu to make sure Google Chrome doesn't get up to no good on my laptop.
We'll also talk about LuLu later.
But let’s talk about calendars for a second. I have a paper calendar on my wall here in the DuckDuckGo Podcast Studio.
It’s something PETA sent me. The odds are good you’ll get a free paper calendar in the mail at some point, but you can always buy an inexpensive one.
Whenever possible, you should use a paper calendar. Keep your important stuff like doctor’s appointments out of Google Calendar for example.
I also carry around with me a Bullet Journal where I make a new calendar in there every month. But you can buy a pocket calendar as well.
If you absolutely, positively, must use an online calendar, we recommend using the encrypted one Proton offers.
We push for everyone to have a ProtonMail account anyway, so you might as well use their calendar too.
And If you want to download your Proton calendar for use in something like Thunderbird — Yes. We will talk about Mozilla's Thunderbird later — all you have to do is navigate to the calendar page, select the setting icon, select "Import/Export", select your calendar, then"Download ICS", and finally "Save ICS."
No matter what calendar you use, on the first of each month, make a reminder to run Block Party.
This way, you can manually flush out all of last month's social media posts and make sure your security settings are as tightened up as they need to be.
But personally I run it once a week every Friday with Task Explorer and Knock Knock.
As always, your mileage may vary, and you should do what works best for you. All I can say is that good habits are the key to good privacy hygiene, and if you read the news, you’ll know that good privacy hygiene can keep you safe from fascists and weirdos.
-BJ

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Outro

"Today’s episode of Privacy Tips was recorded at the DuckDuckGo podcast studio in Los Angeles, California.
It was written, produced, and hosted by me. B.J. Mendelson.
Before we go, I want to give a shout out to the production team at Stupid Sexy Privacy which includes Andrew VanVoorhis, Rosie Tran, and Amanda King.
And, of course, our friends at DuckDuckGo.
If you enjoyed today’s show, we hope you’ll take a moment to leave a review on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you may be listening.
This won’t take more than two minutes of your time.
You see, we have this crazy goal, and we need your help to achieve it.
We want 5% of Americans to be 1% better at protecting themselves from fascists and weirdos.
Leaving us a review can help make that happen.
That’s because your reviews will help other people find this show.
So, please take a moment to leave us a review, and we'll see you next time."