Hi all,

I haven’t used Discord in a while, but it became so that now I have to use it for communication with certain people getting support for some services that I use. What I’m doing currently is:

  • using a separate randomised e-mail address only for the Discord account
  • using a randomly generated username
  • no profile picture
  • tweaking the settings as best I can for privacy

Other than these points, I’m also being wary of talking about anything personal on Discord. Would you add anything so I can be even safer when using Discord?

  • breadsmasher@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    5 months ago

    If youre just talking to friends directly without joining servers so this might not matter. But discord might require a phone number for verification? Im not sure what triggers it specifically- I dont think its required just for an account though

  • jet@hackertalks.comEnglish
    0·
    5 months ago

    What is your threat model?

    If your running discord on your computer, you have to assume they know its your computer, your location, and any other PII on your computer.

    If you just dont want third parties (other than discord) to know which groups your in, then what you describe is probably fine.

  • UnfortunateShort@lemmy.world
    0·
    5 months ago

    You can use it in a browser or opt for WebCord.

    Note that any text send to discord currently stays there forever. I don’t know when, but you can bet your ass they will be investigated for a violation of the GDPR, which hopefully stops that for good.

    • JustMarkov@lemmy.ml
      0·
      5 months ago

      or opt for WebCord.

      There is also Vesktop by Vencord devs, which uses web version too and allows to install plugins and custom themes with ease.
      Also, please note that using any 3rd-party client/tool/script is against Discord’s TOS.

      Note that any text send to discord currently stays there forever.

      Yep, but there are Undiscord and discord-delete, that can bulk-delete your messages. Both are outdated, though and don’t work perfectly well.

  • GolfNovemberUniform@lemmy.ml
    0·
    5 months ago

    Discord doesn’t have encryption and, according to the terms of service, can read your messages. If you care about privacy, I definitely would not recommend using it for private conversations, especially after recent rumors about adding ads. I think they won’t lose the opportunity to use your DMs for it

    • refalo@programming.dev
      0·
      5 months ago

      That could potentially open them up to legal problems. Whether it’s technically legal or not, nobody wants the possibility of their livelihood being taken away by court costs just because some idiot who is wrong wants to fight them and lose anyway, because they can afford it and you can’t (and often times they know it).

      I once paid for access to a stock options trading group, but they only used discord. Their website had no other contact info at all. My discord account got randomly banned (it happened right after I joined an innocent server, but maybe because a bunch of people were joining at once, that triggered it? idk), so I could no longer use the service I was paying for. The service auto-renewed on my credit card and I had no way to contact the people to cancel my account (couldn’t even make a new discord account). I had to dispute the charge with my CC company and it took months of back and forth with them because they simply could not understand that I could no longer access the only method of support that they offered.

  • LazerDickMcCheese@sh.itjust.works
    0·
    5 months ago

    I know interested people don’t like to talk about it…but we, the people, should really be moving away from Discord. A bucket of water doesn’t fix a burning house, ya know?

    • flux@lemmy.ml
      0·
      5 months ago

      Moving away from Discord can mean you need to stop interacting with the community using it. My personal examples are: Tilt5, Makera, Turbo Sliders. In the these cases Discord is also the way to access support for something you’ve paid for.

      Getting thise communities to move into something open (e.g. Matrix) can be a tall order.

      • LazerDickMcCheese@sh.itjust.works
        0·
        5 months ago

        I get your point, but that’s exactly what I do. When someone say “just use discord”, I drop their product/service/etc. and move on. I’m not saying everyone else should do that, but my life is too short for “support” via Discord

      • rar@discuss.online
        0·
        5 months ago

        It’s a hostage situation they’re doing like any proprietary social network. You want to encourage people to move away from them, but then you need to interact with those same people in order to do that.

  • mox@lemmy.sdf.org
    0·
    5 months ago

    In that situation, I would also:

    • Only use it through a browser (with fingerprinting protection), never a Discord app.
    • Dedicate a browser installation, or at least a user profile, to Discord alone.
    • Only use it over a VPN connection dedicated to Discord, or Tor if it works.
    • Have an alternative channel (maybe Matrix?) ready and waiting for contacts who might be willing to switch.
  • asudox@lemmy.world
    0·
    5 months ago

    Don’t share any personally identifiable information and use the TOR network when using it for additional privacy.