Personal Privacy Guide Track

The personal privacy guide is one of anoni.net's three tracks for 2026, alongside Tor relays on campus and anonymous payments. We sort privacy tools and the steps for using them into three situations, everyday use, sensitive work, and high risk, and write them up as guidance people can follow. The material lives on the docs site, layered into concepts, tools, scenarios, and advanced topics. People with teaching, writing, translation, design, or security backgrounds are welcome to join (see ways to take part), and the annual plan and quarterly progress are in the 2026 Roadmap.

Reasons for a separate track

After years of advocating for Tor, Tails, and OONI, the question we hear most is "what do I actually do next to be safer". Answering it takes privacy guidance that is graded by situation and that people can act on.

Existing Chinese-language material mostly stops at introducing a single tool or listing techniques, with nothing connecting concepts, tools, and situations. A reader often finishes a tool page without knowing which risk it addresses, and finishes a concept or scenario page without knowing where to start. We want to connect the three layers, so that a reader can get from knowing a tool's name to actually adopting it in their own circumstances.

Research goals for 2026

• A three-level threat model framework: reference tables mapping tools and steps to everyday use, sensitive work, and high-risk situations
• A decision process from concept to practice: criteria between threat modelling and operating a tool, such as when to raise the level of protection and when more protection is unnecessary
• Common misconceptions: unpacking the frequent ones, that a VPN is not anonymity, HTTPS is not safety, private browsing is not privacy, and decentralization is not anonymity. Two have dedicated pages already (VPN: risks and how to choose and Networks Mistaken for Anonymity), and HTTPS and private browsing do not yet
• Scenario guidance: practical workflows for journalists, activists, domestic violence survivors, LGBTQ+ people, and other specific roles
• Connecting the threads: integrating the connection layer, identity and personal data, and money (see Why networked freedom matters) into a single personal plan
• Teaching material: turning the research output into material for workshops and meetups

Related articles

The articles follow the layers of the docs site's guides, spread across concepts, tools, scenarios, and regional regulation, with the underlying principles in this site's articles:

• Concepts: Anonymity, privacy, pseudonymity, and confidentiality, Threat modeling, Metadata, and why it matters, How platforms collect your data, and the microphone question, What surveillance can actually do, Maintaining multiple online identities, A browser fingerprint cannot be cleared the way a cookie can, The Scope of End-to-End Encryption, Networks Mistaken for Anonymity
• Tools: What Is an Anonymity Network?, What Is Tor?, What Is Tails?, Tor Browser advanced settings, Tor Snowflake, Tails vs Whonix vs Qubes, GrapheneOS, a hardened mobile operating system, Secure messaging compared, OnionShare, What Is CryptPad?, Getting Started with Password Managers, Email aliases, and who you hand your trust to, Asian Diceware, an Asian-flavored passphrase wordlist, VPN: risks and how to choose, How to choose encrypted DNS, and how to check it actually works, Using AI at work without leaking data, Phone privacy settings, step by step
• Utilities: Threat model checklist
• Scenarios: What an ordinary person should actually do, Journalists and source protection, Activists and protest digital safety, Domestic violence and tech-enabled abuse — digital safety for survivors, LGBTQ+ — anonymous social life across the Sinophone region, Election observer self-protection, Posting on mainland Chinese platforms, Device minimization and border crossings in Asia, Phone numbers and connectivity abroad, Pre-departure digital safety — brief yourself with AI prompts
• Articles: Post-Quantum Cryptography, Decentralized Website Publishing
• Regional: Taiwan's 2025 Data Protection Overhaul, Taiwan's Whistleblower Protection Act, from a Technical Angle

Most first drafts are published, and they are revised and extended on a quarterly rhythm.

Done so far

• Nine concept pages: Why networked freedom matters, Anonymity, privacy, pseudonymity, and confidentiality, Threat modeling, Metadata, and why it matters, Why anonymous payments matter, How platforms collect your data, and the microphone question, What surveillance can actually do, Maintaining multiple online identities, A browser fingerprint cannot be cleared the way a cookie can
• The three-dimension framework: Why networked freedom matters sets out connection, identity and personal data, and money as the structure for the whole guide
• Regional regulatory references: Taiwan's 2025 Data Protection Overhaul and Taiwan's Whistleblower Protection Act, from a Technical Angle are both complete
• Writing standards and taxonomy: the Writing Style rules, the docs site's seven-section structure, and the guides entry page, which give readers a path through the layers

Work in progress

• Revising each layer: drafts across the tools, scenarios, and advanced layers are published and being revised against reader feedback
• The remaining misconceptions: HTTPS is not safety, and private browsing is not privacy, still have no dedicated pages
• The consolidated three-level guide: the track's core deliverable, originally planned for the third quarter of 2026 to integrate the layers above
• Workshop material: turning the research output into handouts for workshops and meetups
• Translating outside resources: candidates are listed in the next section

Translation candidates and further reading

We have marked a few outside resources as translation candidates, and volunteers are welcome to translate them or summarize the key points:

• EFF Surveillance Self-Defense: a complete personal security guide with threat model tiers and tool instructions
• Privacy Guides: a community-maintained list of privacy tool recommendations
• The Citizen Lab: evidence-based research on surveillance software and transnational threats
• Security in a Box: a digital security toolkit for NGOs and activists
• The Tor Project's user support documentation

Ways to take part

Discussion happens on Matrix (homeserver im.anoni.net), with the privacy guide conversations in the relevant rooms of the community's public Space. Collaborative writing uses CryptPad, and regular calls use Jitsi. Account requests and service entry points are on Services.

Backgrounds we would particularly welcome:

• Teaching or workshop facilitation: turning technical concepts into something people can act on
• Writing or translation: working through long technical resources
• UX or design: making guidance visual through flowcharts and comparison tables
• Front-line experience as a journalist, NGO worker, or activist: knowing what guidance usually leaves out
• Security expertise: reviewing for technical accuracy

No security background is required. Wanting to learn is reason enough to join.

At our booth at Global Gathering 2026 in Estoril, Portugal, on 6 September 2026, one of the things we wanted to hear about was guidance that misreads the situation in a given region.

Ground rules

All discussion presumes lawful use. This track presents material for education and understanding risk, and does not assist evasion of legal responsibility, harassment, stalking, or other unlawful conduct. For legal questions about a specific situation, consult a professional. Community members' observations do not substitute for legal advice.