Privacy

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A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

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Cheap US cloud computer (VPN minus fingerprinting?): I need a social media account for a contract job, and want to register/login without the account tying back to me. Provider & spec recs? (lemmings.world)

submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Hey friends,

I'd like to:

Register for a social media account under a client's company name
Research the presence companies in the client's industry have on the site
Have a reasonable assurance the account will not be linked to my real name nor my network
Use a VM for 10-30? hr/mo, short term

I am:

US West Coast based
Tech savvy but don't code (unless copypasta)
Price conscious
Privacy conscious in terms of social media companies linking my account and my identity

Assumptions and Understandings

Given the complexity of fingerprinting techniques, I am under the impression logging in to a remote computer and doing all this work from a browser there has one of the highest likelihoods of success. I'd measure success by not getting spammed with work-related ads, whenever I have to disable Ublock Origin at least. It seems likely a social network will know I'm using a remote desktop (based on IP and loading time/delays), but seems difficult for them to understand who exactly is using the cloud machine if I only use it for a singular purpose. I would hope data brokers aren't efficiently tying VM usage back to VM leasers.

I understand a VPS isn't typically suited for GUI usage, and VPNs can leave me more vulnerable to fingerprinting.

Finally, it looks like most of the low-end cloud PC options would support web browsing at a reasonable speed.

Questions:

Have I betrayed any misconceptions?
Is a cloud PC one of my best options, and if so:
Can you recommend a provider and specs?
Is there anything I'm missing?

Providers in consideration w/screenshots

Caution: aggressive anti-privacy corporate behemoths below

Azure Virtual Desktop

Too cheap to be true? Requires some agreement...

Amazon WorkSpaces Personal

Yay Amazon. Inexpensive.

Windows 365 Business Cloud PC

Priciest option.

Vagon Remote Windows Desktop Cloud Computer

A little guy!

Thank you!

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago

Running a VM on your own machine (using VMWare or VirtualBox) with a clean install of the OS and a browser in that should suffice to prevent that. Fingerprinting would be mostly on things like installed apps/fonts, screen resolution, free disk space and such.