Level 0: No VPN on unmodified commercial cell phone, tablet, or computer. By default, everything you do is captured, shared, and monetized, with no benefits back to you. You are literally giving away everything.
Level 1: Offramp VPN on unmodified commercial cell phone, tablet, or computer. Using the Offramp VPN you will prevent your DNS lookups from leaking and stop any snooping by your service providers and mitigate MITM exploits. Level 1 – VPN only, does not stop telemetry on you at the system level from Apple, Google, or Microsoft hardware.
Level 2: Offramp VPN + ZenCloud on unmodified cell phone, tablet, or computer. Adding the ZenCloud returns control of your data to you. ZenCloud replaces your existing backend services from your communications provider. In practice it is pretty easy to get to Level 2 privacy because it does not require installation of custom operating systems. Proprietary commercial products from Microsoft, Google, Apple cannot exceed Level 2 privacy because of the integration between proprietary hardware and software.
Level 3: WireGuard VPN + ZenCloud + Custom ROM + Open Source GPS. Operating System hardening provides a high degree of control over your data. System level data like motion sensing and GPS is now private because you are not using any low level Google services. DNS lookups are encrypted and anonymized protecting you from surveillance by your own service providers. All data transmitted to/from the device is encrypted protecting from snooping and man in the middle surveillance. Your data is held in the private ZenCloud, you use ZenTalk for encrypted messaging/audio/video and you use open source GPS offering a high degree of privacy. Only voluntary use of logged in services whether via web browser or dedicated app will leak information.
Choosing the right hardware for compatibility with the hardened Android custom ROMs is the key. Any Google Pixel phone/tablet is easy to install on because they are “developer friendly”. If you require logged in services, by definition, you have given permission to use your data. The extent that you use those services will limit your ultimate privacy level.
Level 4: Level 3 + No Logged In App Usage. This is the maximum privacy you can achieve today. At Level 4 privacy, you are using hardened Android on your hardware, WireGuard point-to-point encryption, encrypted and anonymized DNS lookups, ZenCloud data storage, ZenTalk private encrypted messaging/audio/video communications and open source GPS. Additionally, you use no services that require logging in. At Level 4 privacy, you have no measurable internet footprint and do not leak data to any service provider. Level 4 privacy is “off the grid”.