I’ve been wanting to get back into dating. However, due to a combination of my location and general interests, there’s just not a lot of stuff that happens around me where I can naturally meet people with shared interests.
Online dating seems like the only viable option, but the problem is it can’t really be done in good faith without revealing more info about myself online. Also, what about the platforms? I don’t trust what happens behind the scenes with my info on apps like tinder or some others where it’s basically required to have a facebook account which I refuse to get.
So in all, if you have to do online dating, what’s the least privacy invasive way to do it? I’m OK with paying for access to any platform/methods suggested.
-Try to seek for a website that does not require a android application. Check what form of payment the site accept, I would try to use paypal or a prepaid credit card.
-Don’t provide your real phone number.
-If you must a phone, I would reset a phone and only use it for this. Without using it from my home, only from public space (and work space if it located in a crowded area). Phone localisation is your main threat ( GPS, cellular and WIFI based).
-Dont include photos that are near your home, or have unique identifier.
-Dont use your complete real name.
Thoses are just the basic, in the end you will not be really private, but it’s better than nothing.
I found that Mozilla actually has a great write up concerning the privacy aspects of various dating platforms. It’s a couple years old, but still very educational.
Happn might be ok, but there’s a possibility you’ll have to deal with facial verification.
Eharmony seemed like the least of the evils, but the fact that they have AI scanning every message you send immediately turns me off.
