I mostly prefer to avoid giving out my personal information to folks I don't know or to businesses (if I can help it). Unfortunately, there's times when it's not really avoidable. I mean, I consider my credit card number a piece of personal information I'd prefer not to give out, but I also enjoy buying things online. Thankfully there's a slew of services to help mitigate some of my privacy concerns. ## What I use ### [Privacy.com](https://privacy.com) Privacy lets your generate ephemeral credit card numbers to use with untrusted vendors. Once a card is used it's locked to that vendor so even if the card number were to leak, no one else can use it. You can also set limits to avoid unexpected charges. It connects to [1password](https://1password.com/) which enables you to easily generate new credit card numbers while you're checking out. I've had some issues with that process not fully working (the number is generated but not autofilled), but overall it's been useful. Something to note here is that these cards are treated like debit cards and pull from your bank account. That means you're trading off credit card points (if that's something you're into) for privacy. ### [Fastmail](https://fastmail.com) Fastmail is my email provider of choice. I've slowly been migrating away from gmail over time and fastmail provides a great service. One of the things I particularly like is their [masked email service](https://www.fastmail.help/hc/en-us/articles/4406536368911-Masked-Email) . It autogenerates a unique email address that you can dispose of later. My email automation is pretty good so I'm not as strict about email privacy, but this is particularly nice when signing up for potentially spammy services. As with Privacy, 1password can generated masked emails directly inline while you're filling out a form. ### [Burner App](https://www.burnerapp.com/) The last service, burner, does what its moniker suggests: gives you a burner number. You pay per number so it's not exactly as flexible as the previous two services, but having a number per specific usages is _extremely_ useful. You can get calls and texts through these numbers like normal, but their managed through a dedicated app. Other services like google voice provide virtual numbers, but they're both limited in how many you can have and fairly static. Being able to rotate a number when you're getting too much spam is nice. ## Honorable mentions - [Firefox Relay](https://relay.firefox.com/) - Provides email and phone masking and optionally a VPN service. Great to use if you're using firefox and want to manage everything from one place. - [Hide my email from Apple](https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210425) - Apple provides a built in way of hiding your email when signing up for things via apple sign up. I've noticed that the option isn't always available (which is a bit confusing) but it's nice when it is. - [Google voice](https://voice.google.com/u/0/about) - As mentioned previously, if you just want a digital number then google voice can be a good option. It's pretty much just like having a second line though and it's _not_ easy to change, so be careful. - [Citi](https://www.cardbenefits.citi.com/Products/Virtual-Account-Numbers) / [mercury](https://mercury.com/blog/inside-mercury/virtual-cards) / other banks that generate cards - Some banks directly give you the ability to generate one time cards. If your bank offers that, it's probably a better bet. ## Suggestions? Do you use a service you think would make a good addition to this list? Let me know @ [`[email protected]`](mailto:[email protected]) (the irony isn't lost on me)