What is the best safeguard if you have to use Google?

[tiredMuppet]

@JG

Not sure what you’re referring to here nor don’t I know why you believe this.

I don’t necessarily believe this, I am just unsure. This is all new to me. I thought I had seen multiple posts, but maybe I was just reading from this post where the author stated “If you are located in a civilized, human rights respecting country in the western hemisphere, you should probably not be using a VPN” and in the comments someone said that some countries have made “VPN usage illegal”. The author also commented that “VPN servers are valid targets for warrants”.

Apologies, maybe that was just one person’s opinion. I’ve been sifting through so much information it all gets confusing. I am certainly not doing anything illegal, I just don’t want to draw unnecessary attention to myself.

@JG

Look, if you need to use Google and its products for work stuff, then you have to. There’s no expectation of privacy at work or with your work.

I will be logging into “work” google accounts on my personal computer. I am not concerned about being monitored by an employer.

@JG

The best option here is to use a VPN, create a new browser profile in which you only do your work stuff and anything else can be on another profile or browser altogether.

Is a VM required to run the VPN or do you think that is overkill?

@JG

When you say safeguard, it implies you’re scared of it as malware or from a security POV. But Google is very secure and is indeed not malware. It is absolutely horrendous for privacy and from a privacy perspective however. So, perhaps that’s how you should look at it too.

I am not scared of malware or confusing Google as malware, I just don’t want the work I do in Google to be at all associated with my personal life in any way so my concern is with Google’s privacy practices and data tracking.

I’ve been on the internet for a long time and was not concerned about privacy in any way prior to recently so this is just an experiment to see how I can setup a new computer. I am new to this whole privacy thing so I am starting with the strictest of privacy/security protocols for educational purposes. Just for funsies.