Happy winter and merry festivities!
Last year I made a post outlining many gift ideas for privacy enthusiasts. I'm back this year with an updated list. Privacy enthusiasts, by nature, are sometimes difficult to buy gifts for. This list is here to make it easier for you to come up with ideas, even if you don't directly gift what's on the list. I've decided to make a rule this year: only physical items. You can't put a subscription under the tree.
3D printers
3D printers can turn plastic into any shape you want. While a lot of 3D printers include proprietary privacy-invasive software, there are open-source options such as RepRap. The privacy benefit of these comes in the form of homemade firearms. Traditional firearms include many elements to trace the ammunition back to the firearm, but homemade firearms (such as ones made using a 3D printer) exclude these. The reliability of the firearm depends on the quality of the 3D printer, but the designs are getting easier and easier to make.
Accessories
Especially for phones, there are a few of privacy accessories that are simple but effective.
- Faraday bags
- Lens covers (which some phone cases include)
- Microphone blockers (which is more effective as a recording jammer)
- Monitor filters (better known as privacy screen protectors)
Anonymous dress
Anonymous dress is clothing that conceals your identity in public. Obtaining these items of clothing is a chore, so it's always easiest when it is gifted by somebody else. Black, unthemed clothing does the best job of protecting privacy. The holy grail of anonymous dress is:
- A balaclava to hide your face.
- A baseball cap to further hide your face, although a sun hat does a better job.
- A hooded down jacket to hide body shape and skin color. There are significantly long down jackets that extend below the knees that can somewhat conceal your gait too. Last year I included jackets that spoof AI recognition or blind infrared cameras, but those are very difficult to find and can be very identifying.
- Elevator shoes to conceal your height.
- Sunglasses to hide your eyes. Reflectacles do the best job of this.
- Touchscreen gloves to prevent fingerprints and still be able to use touchscreens. Normal gloves work when paired with a capacitive stylus.
- An umbrella to hide your clothing from surveillance cameras.
Ciphers
Not all encryption is digital. Traditionally, complex codes and ciphers were created to conceal messages. Hardware devices like the enigma machine were used to further aide the process. Modern versions of those devices, as well as related items such as invisible ink are still around and can be a fun project.
Computers
Laptops, desktops, and servers are all useful devices for accessing digital services privately. While there is no best choice, some lists can help shine some light on which hardware is considered secure:
Concealment devices
Concealment devices are things that look like ordinary objects, but in some way or another, have a hidden compartment used for storage. These are excellent ways to hide sensitive items such as cash, backup security tokens, and more. These are excellent gifts if you're giving one-on-one rather than at a party.
Cryptocurrency wallets
Cryptocurrency wallets are devices used to securely store (the keys for) cryptocurrency such as the private cryptocurrency Monero. The two best options are:
Dumb tech
Dumb tech is the opposite of smart tech. It doesn't connect to every device in your house. It doesn't broadcast that data to a corporation. It doesn't get exposed in a data breach. It doesn't get hacked. It doesn't go down when the internet goes offline. Things like dumb TVs or dumb cars are becoming harder to find but more and more valuable for privacy.
Mail is almost always sensitive. For that reason, it's useful to protect the contents by using security envelopes. For delivering packages privately, it's also useful to have a label printer capable of printing shipping labels.
Money
Banks and payment service providers are almost always incredibly privacy invasive and offer poor security. While some of these issues can be mitigated with services like Privacy, it doesn't fix the underlying issue. Anonymous payments not only protect your privacy, but protect your money too, and having the ability to make payments like these is what allows privacy to further grow. Anonymous payment methods include:
- Cash
- Gift cards (when purchased with cash and adequate anonymous dress)
- Monero (which is physical when paired with a cryptocurrency wallet)
- Stored-value card (when purchased with cash and adequate anonymous dress)
Optical discs
Optical discs are a physical way to store movies, shows, music, games, and more. The idea is that, instead of paying a subscription and streaming content, you can pay a one-time fee and get the full quality media offline. This is also excellent for ripping to create a digital archive to stream from your own servers for free.
Paper
Your most sensitive information is put at risk the moment it becomes digitized, so pen and paper isn't so bad for some uses:
- Earlier this year, Amazon removed the option to download and transfer ebooks. It's becoming increasingly harder to "own" an ebook, especially without using privacy-invasive software. For that reason, books are much better for privacy.
- Calendar apps are convenient for reminders, but they often sync to cloud services or include telemetry. Physical calendars are a good way to have peace of mind knowing that your personal events are away from prying eyes and can be erased without a trace.
- Notebooks are also useful for the same reasons as books. There are also numerous benefits to writing things down instead of typing them.
Paper shredders
Paper shredders destroy sensitive documents to prevent obtaining sensitive information by digging through landfills. However, shredded documents can be recovered using automated software. The paper shredder industry hasn't discovered fire yet, it seems.
Power cables
Most cables carry both power and data. However, that can be exploited by cleverly designing fake power stations that discreetly steal data when plugged into devices. Some cables only deliver power, without delivering data. These are incredibly useful for protecting vulnerable devices in public settings.
Printers
Printers suck. So much so that not even Framework wanted to make one. Nevertheless, a new printer called Open Printer is in the works. Until it's finished, the best option is to gift a printer that allows printing over a wired connection.
Promotional merchandise
There is no shortage of promotional merchandise for privacy. Some of my favorites include:
I also recently found products like this that serve a functional benefit of telling people you don't want to be recorded without explicitly talking to them.
Rayhunter
Rayhunter is a device created by the Electronic Frontier Foundation to detect Stingray attacks. It can be installed on supported devices, which are great gifts for high threat model people.
Safes
Safes are a secure box to store sensitive items. I shouldn't need to explain why this is a good idea.
Security seals
Security seals are a special type of sticker that makes it very clear if the seal has ever been broken. This is useful to place on the case of computers or other containers that shouldn't be opened often.
Security tokens
Security tokens are hardware devices used to authenticate accounts at a hardware level. When setup correctly, they are one of the most secure way to login. The most popular open source options are:
Smartphones
GrapheneOS is the most private and secure operating system available. They recently announced that they are partnering with an OEM to manufacture devices designed for GrapheneOS. However, until that device is made available, Google Pixels are still the only device GrapheneOS can be installed on.
USB flash drives
USB flash drives are the unsung heroes for so many areas of privacy. Whether it be installing operating systems such as Qubes OS and Tails, or creating offline Seedvault backups for GrapheneOS, USB flash drives have a multitude of uses. Just remember: it's better to have many, smaller USB flash drives than one, large USB flash drive.
Wi-Fi hotspots
Wi-Fi hotspots are (for privacy use-cases) hardware devices that allow connecting devices to the cellular network in a much more private way. The best one that supports an excellent privacy organization is the Calyx Internet Membership.
Wired headphones
Wired headphones not only provide higher quality audio output, but they also avoid the history of security issues with Bluetooth and the surveillance capitalism that comes with Bluetooth Low Energy beacons. Which type of wired headphones you gift depends on a lot of factors, but one that pairs nicely with Google Pixels are the Pixel USB-C earbuds sold by Google themselves.
Wireless routers
Wireless routers often leak everything sent through them. For that reason, custom software such as OpenWrt was designed to replace the privacy invasive software preinstalled on routers. OpenWrt also created their own router called the OpenWrt One. Earlier this year, they announced that they would be creating a new router called the OpenWrt Two. It hasn't come out yet, but maybe it will be on the list next year.
Conclusion
There is no shortage of privacy tech. The same technology that empowers privacy is the thin veil slowing down the world from its dystopian target. Giving the gift of privacy means giving the gift of a better future for those of us fighting on the front lines.
Lack-of-AI notice
I’ve been burned before, so I always try to mention that none of my content is AI generated. It isn’t even AI assisted. Just because something is comprehensive and well-structured does not make it AI generated. Every word I write is my own. Thank you for your understanding.
The worst that can happen is you get escorted out if the location is really stingy. As long as you can deal with social pressure (it helps that nobody will know who you are) you should be fine.