The Privacy Diet James Patrick

Start Here · My whole home · Your path

Browsing and search

A browser and search engine that don't profile you, and when a VPN helps. Work down the list — each step builds on the ones above it.

Pick a different goal · Change device

Start here

  1. Quick Win 1

    Switch Your Browser

    ⏱ 15 min    ★ Impact: High

  2. Quick Win 2

    Switch Your Search Engine

    ⏱ 5 min    ★ Impact: High

  3. Compare

    Browsers

    Seven browsers by engine, out-of-the-box privacy and how far you can configure them.

  4. Compare

    Browser Extensions

    The minimum useful set of privacy extensions, in priority order.

  5. Compare

    Search Engines

    Seven search engines by index, business model and verdict.

  6. In the book

    Browsers, fingerprinting and search

    The Privacy Diet · Chapter 4

  7. Tutorial

    Test Your Browser, and Read the Results Properly

    Three checks for the browser you use every day — blocking, fingerprinting and leaks around a VPN — what a good result looks like for Brave, Firefox and Mullvad Browser, and what to change when one fails.

    Check the switch worked, and read the results properly.

    beginner⏱ 20 min

VPNs and Tor

  1. Compare

    How to Judge a VPN

    The seven factors that actually matter, each with its corresponding red flag.

  2. Compare

    VPN Providers

    Six providers by jurisdiction and audit status — including the ones to avoid.

  3. In the book

    VPNs and Tor

    The Privacy Diet · Chapter 6

  4. In the book

    Proton VPN, set up everywhere

    Proton Suite: The Definitive Guide · Chapters 13–15

    If you choose Proton VPN.

Run it yourself

Optional, and a bigger step: host it on a small server at home so the data never leaves your house. Do these in order — each one assumes the last.

  1. In the book

    Plan the server: threat model, hardware, networking

    Be Your Own Cloud · Chapters 1–4

    Decide whether self-hosting suits you before buying anything.

  2. Compare

    Self-Hosting Trade-offs

    What you gain against what you take on, stated plainly before you invest.

  3. Compare

    Homelab Hardware

    Six starting points by cost, power draw and what each is good for.

  4. Tutorial

    Installing Ubuntu Server for a Home Lab

    From USB stick to a headless, static-IP, auto-patching box you can SSH into — the machine every self-hosting guide assumes you already have.

    beginner⏱ 60 min

  5. Tutorial

    SSH: Key-Only Login and Sensible Hardening

    Turn off password authentication, lock down root, and stop the log noise — the twenty minutes that closes the most-attacked door on any server.

    beginner⏱ 25 min

  6. Tutorial

    Docker and Compose, Properly Installed

    The right repository, the docker group and what it actually grants, a Compose file you can read, and the update routine that keeps a homelab from rotting.

    intermediate⏱ 45 min

  7. In the book

    Storage

    Be Your Own Cloud · Chapter 7

  8. In the book

    Reverse proxy, HTTPS and local DNS

    Be Your Own Cloud · Chapter 8

  9. Tutorial

    Reverse Proxy and HTTPS, Set Up Once

    Chapter 8's Nginx Proxy Manager from empty folder to a trusted padlock: the shared proxy network, a DNS-only API token, one wildcard certificate for every service, and a way to test it all before Pi-hole exists.

    Every service page assumes this is done.

    intermediate⏱ 45 min

  10. In the book

    Secrets and .env files

    Be Your Own Cloud · Chapter 9

  11. In the book

    SearXNG

    Be Your Own Cloud · Chapter 15

  12. Tutorial

    SearXNG: Going Deeper

    Chapter 15's private search engine: what SearXNG writes on first start, where the book's engines block goes, how to run only the engines you list, and making it your browser's default.

    beginner⏱ 25 min