To avoid being stalked, harassed, and doxxed by bad actors, first assume that any online service you are using is potentially unsafe, including this one! There is no such thing as 100% security or anonymity, but you can make finding you more difficult than the average person may want to invest time into.

Online services are run by humans and humans can make mistakes or act maliciously. Your personal information could be stolen by hackers or leaked by someone who works at the company. Once your stolen information is on the internet, it can be found by anyone with a bone to pick.

You will need to mentally divide your online world into "personal" and "anonymous".

Personal accounts are those that are linked to attributes you have in the real world: your name, your telephone number, your address, your job, etc.

Anonymous accounts are independent of the real world. You sign up for them using a privacy e-mail service that you've created using a privacy web browser that is using a VPN (or two). You don't give any of these services your real name, address, mobile number, etc. Confused? Keep reading.

Here are the basics:

1.) Do not use the same password twice.

If you're reading this and cringing, immediately make sure you have a different password on your major social media and e-mail accounts. There are many secure password generators on the internet. You will probably need a password wallet program. Research those and pick one you think you can trust. Remember that even those can be hacked, because they are tempting targets. Use a password wallet that allows you to encrypt your password file with a key that is never stored on an internet connected device. That will give it some protection if it is stolen.

2.) Do not use the same e-mail account twice.

You can make anonymous e-mail addresses through many privacy services (ProtonMail is one example). Do not use an e-mail address that is associated with your real name or workplace to register for extremely public platforms like Twitter, Reddit, etc.

3.) Do not use the same username twice for any anonymous account.

If you're given the option to pick a user name, pick a different one each and every time. That way, somebody who is mad at you on Twitter can't go search you on Instagram and find out what you look like.

4.) Think very carefully about using any online service that wants your telephone number. Avoid it if at all possible.

Online services tell you it's to "secure your account" or for "account recovery", but two-factor authentication using text messages is less secure than other methods. Your information is just sitting in their database waiting to be stolen or sold, and it connects your account to the real world.

Tip: You don't always have to fill in every field of information that is requested. If you can get away by leaving the phone number or e-mail, blank, do so.

5.) Turn on two-factor authentication for personal accounts.

Although using text messages as an authentication method can be spoofed, it's still safer than using only a password to secure your personal accounts.

Do NOT turn on two-factor authentication for anonymous accounts. That's giving them extra information about you. Consider those accounts disposable and don't get attached, because you should be deleting them frequently.

6.) Stop using phone apps to log into social media. Use a regular web browser on a proper computer.

You have very little control over the information an app is sending back to the social media service. That's why most social media services try to direct you to use their apps. (Hint: It's not for your convenience or for "a better user experience". It's to strip away your anonymity to better serve you ads.)

Tip: Make sure the computer isn't also reporting your location. Most browsers ask if a website wants to know your location. Be sure to say "no".

7.) Stop using Chrome/Firefox/Internet Explorer on your computer.

The major browsers are tracking you, even if you think you're in "Incognito Mode". There are open source private browsers like Epic, Brave, and Tor that not only block tracking of you by websites and advertisements, but anonymize your internet address and location using a VPN (virtual private network). Any employee who goes rogue and looks in the user logs will find an internet address in a different country. The trail back to your actual IP address stops there without a court order.

8.) Stop using Google/Yahoo/Bing as your search engine for sensitive topics.

They are tracking you and monetizing you and manipulating your search results. DuckDuckGo doesn't track you. There may be others.

9.) Do not use your phone/tablet to access your anonymous accounts.

Unless you've rooted your phone/tablet and installed an open source operating system, your phone is essentially bugged. It is constantly reconstructing a physical location for you and tracking it using GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc. Assume it does this even if you explicitly turn those settings off. You've invited a telescreen from 1984 to sit in your pocket and record everywhere you go. Treat it with as much fear as you would a real telescreen.

10.) Be wary about clicking on links.

Google Docs/Sheets are convenient ways to share information, but please stop. Every woman who clicks on those links is probably signed in to Google with her phone/web browser and is immediately identified to Google (even if the document itself is anonymous). If you need to share a file, use an anonymous service.

Online petitions may not be as anonymous as you think. Be very careful about giving information that can be linked back to you. Hackers may target the petition site to steal information. Bad actors may have set up a bogus petition as a way to collect personal information directly. I was cringing when I read some of the Twitter threads about people using the Google petition to write cheeky messages that went directly to Gendered Intelligence. Do you think they are above creating lists of enemies?

Also, any link in here could potentially be posted with the intent of infecting your computer with malware.

Remember, many of the people you'd like to have a civil debate with are not interested in likewise. Quite a few are riding high on an authoritarian power trip cloaked beneath the guise of a civil rights movement. Some are positioned to have access to private data at online services, or have friends who would be willing to access that data for them and leak it. Make this task as difficult as possible.

There may be no such thing as total safety online for as long as women are underrepresented in tech, but the longer you can delay their attempts to doxx and harass you, the more time you have to speak.

Stay safe.