Librarians have a long-standing professional tradition of advocating for the privacy of their patrons and users. This tradition continues today in the digital world. It is especially more important today because the Internet is often confusing and full of hidden technologies that make user behavior far less private. Various trackers—including cookies, web beacons, device fingerprinting, third-party trackers, and other invasive scripts—follow users across websites and social media platforms, often for targeted advertising.

This guide is a starting point, intended for students, staff, faculty, and anyone who wants to improve their digital safety by adjusting their phone and app privacy settings. Since privacy-related information is constantly evolving, feel free to ask us questions online or in person if you attend one of our workshops.

Parts of this guide were created with the help of ChatGPT, and the content was checked, revised, and curated by librarians

To explore broader issues related to online privacy, we recommend visiting the Electronic Frontier Foundation at https://www.eff.org/issues/privacy and Surveillance Self Defense.