Category Archives: Software

ChatGPT vs. Deepseek: Which is Better for Privacy?

There’s no doubt that AI-powered tools have revolutionized how we work.

It’s even changed how we see the world. With the release of ChatGPT, AI became a subject that was discussed at the dinner table.

Business leaders and individuals alike are experimenting with AI apps and rushing to determine how they can integrate them into their organizations and their workflows. Nevertheless, in this rush to keep up with the times, we mustn’t let online privacy become an afterthought.

Competition Leads to Better Privacy

ChatGPT may have set the bar, but contenders like Deepseek have proven that anything can happen in the AI space, and it can happen fast.

Deepseek astonished the tech giants with its latest large language models (LLL). AI models such as DeepSeek R1 are comparable with Open Ai’s flagship ChatGPT-4o and Claude Sonnet 3.5.

This competition is not only a pivotal part of the story that will lead to better and better AI, it means more choice for users. Now, privacy-focused individuals can compare the privacy policies of AI apps and make informed decisions about how they use them.

In terms of privacy, ChatGPT and Deepseek have many similarities on the surface. However, as you dig deeper it becomes clear that ChatGPT has put more effort into creating policies and features that give users some level of control over their data.

How ChatGPT and Deepseek are Alike

Before getting into how ChatGPT and Deepseek stack up against each other, it makes sense to start with their similarities.

Both apps are chatbots. It’s a lot like messaging friends with Meta’s Messenger. Only in this case, you’re chatting with AI. Once users type in their questions or explain what they’re looking for, chatbots generate incredibly polished and detailed answers.

Like any apps that require sign-up, both apps collect personal data such as name, email, and phone number. Additionally, technical data such as your IP address as well as usage data such as feature usage are stored.

ChatGPT collects data from user prompts, uploaded files, and conversations. Deepseek collects all the same data in addition to user feedback.

Thus, in terms of input, ChatGPT and Deepseek are identical. The same chat data goes in, but the first crucial factor is to determine how that input is stored, and how it’s potentially used.

Where Your Data Goes

Deepseek’s privacy policy reveals that all user data is stored on secure servers in China. As ChatGPT is a US-based company, it stores user data on US servers.

This means that Deepseek and ChatGPT follow vastly different laws set by the countries they operate in.

Deepseek is subject to the Cybersecurity Law of China (2017) and the Data Security Law (2021). These laws grant the Chinese government access to a wide array of user data.

Data that can be requested and sent to Chinese authorities include sensitive user inputs, conversations, and even login credentials.

For US citizens and other people who live outside of China, this might be concerning because they could be subjected to the surveillance laws of a foreign country.

Controlling Your Data

Deepseek collects more user data than ChatGPT overall.

Any chats you have in Deepseek can be used to train its AI. The app also includes third-party tracking. It collects behavioral analytics, even outside of Deepseek.

To top it off, Deepseek shares data with advertisers, corporate affiliates, and legal entities and there’s no way to opt out as a user.

The data ChatGPT collects isn’t as extensive. Most importantly, it allows people to have control over their data. Functionality is provided so all user data that was collected can be deleted. Additionally, it’s possible to opt out of sharing data to train its AI.

Compliance with the Laws of Foreign Countries

ChatGPT has greater transparency in terms of which laws it is compliant with that originate outside of the US. It explicitly states that it is GDPR and CCPA compliant. GDPR is the EU data protection law and CCPA is the California Consumer Privacy Act.

Deepseek lacks transparency about compliance. Certainly, it follows China’s privacy laws but it can’t be assumed that laws in the US and Europe are followed to the same extent.

Conclusion

By default, AI apps collect user data fairly aggressively. However, Deepseek’s privacy policy reveals that it’s even more hungry for your data than ChatGPT. Deepseek is a ground-breaking AI app, but it has a long way to go in terms of considering the online privacy of its users.

Two notable differences between Deepseek and ChatGPT are the level of control the user has over their data as well as transparency.

ChatGPT offers opportunities to opt out of data collection. Plus, it provides options for removing your data. With Deepseek, the user isn’t’ given tools to manage their data. It isn’t clear whether it’s compliant with laws such as GDPR and CCPA or not.

Is Your Data Safe with AI App Deepseek?

TikTok is the popular app that’s often been cited as a potential threat to the online privacy of Americans. However, there’s a new kid on the block that privacy-focused people should be even more careful with.

It’s a new AI app called Deepseek.

Deepseek is breaking new ground in AI. People are rushing to try it due to the hype on social media and in the headlines. However, privacy experts advise that people should exercise caution when chatting with Deepseek’s AI.

How Deepseek Made Waves

Recently, Deepseek has exploded in popularity. It’s right up there at the very top of the Google Play store at the time of this writing, right along with rival ChatGPT.

Deepseek’s rise was so dramatic that Donald Trump called it a “wake-up call” for US companies that have invested heavily in AI, such as Microsoft, OpenAI, and Nvidia. It sent Nvidia’s stock price plummeting nearly 17% in late January, setting a record for the largest single-day loss in stock market history.

The message the market sent was clear. China is a force to be reckoned with in AI. And moving forward US competitors won’t underestimate companies like Deepseek and Alibaba again.

Investors and businesspeople alike are astonished that Deepseek achieved performance comparable with ChatGPT with only $5.6M in development costs. It took OpenAI over $3B to develop GPT-4.

Diving into Deepseek: How it Works

Deepseek was founded in May 2023, and in 2025 it reached the limelight. This surge in popularity was largely due to Its newest large language models. DeepSeek-V3 and DeepSeek-R1 are revolutionary in their efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

DeepSeek-V3 is a general-purpose model that’s trained to answer the user’s questions. DeepSeek-R1 can question itself. It’s geared towards advanced reasoning tasks and deep thinking.

If you’ve ever used ChatGPT you know what to expect in terms of how you interact with Deepseek’s AI. It’s essentially a chat interface not much different from Meta’s Messenger, only with AI on the other end generating detailed and polished replies. Simply type in your question or specify what information you’re looking for.

The Data Deepseek Collects About You

So, what exactly does Deepseek collect about its users?

The personal data you share during sign-up as well as “text or audio input, prompt, uploaded files, feedback, chat history,” may be collected and stored by the company.

Additionally, when you contact Deepseek it can “collect the information you send us, such as proof of identity or age, feedback or inquiries about your use of the Service or information about possible violations of our Terms of Service (our “Terms”) or other policies.”

Certain data is collected automatically. Technical information such as your IP address and operating system are stored. Deepseek maintains a list of devices that you use to access the app so that all of them are associated with your account. This is common as it allows tech companies to deal with people who abuse their services.

The next part is a little strange at first glance. The app automatically gathers “keystroke patterns or rhythms.” This could be a way to identify bots so they can potentially be blocked from using Deepseek’s services.

To China or Not to China

Some people don’t see a big difference between Deepseek and other AI apps like ChatGPT in terms of privacy. Both Deepseek and ChatGPT may store what’s said during chat sessions.

The key difference to consider is ChatGPT is operated by a US company while Deepseek is based in China. So, the data that’s collected about you by Deepseek is stored on secure servers in China.

Even if one concludes that ChatGPT and Deepseek operate similarly as a company, it isn’t the company itself that’s in question. The political landscape is vastly different in China. And the governments in the US and China have values that couldn’t be more distinct.

As an American, when you use ChatGPT your data remains in America. When you use Deepseek your data is collected by a foreign company that must abide by laws of the land. Unlikely or not, many Americans aren’t comfortable with the idea of a foreign government probing companies like Deepseek for information about US citizens.

Information to Avoid Sharing with Deepseek

If you decide to try out Deepseek, proceed with caution. Avoid sharing information about yourself or about your loved ones that you consider private. Think twice about sharing media such as audio or images that reveal information that you wouldn’t be comfortable with distributing online.

A good rule of thumb is if you wouldn’t post it on Facebook or Instagram you shouldn’t share it with Deepseek. Keep in mind that anything you type in the app could theoretically be stored on servers in China for years.

Conclusion

Hot apps like Deepseek often incite a feeling of missing out. When it seems like everybody knows all about it and you haven’t even created an account, it’s normal to want to catch up to the crowd.

All popular AI apps have privacy implications to be aware of, but since Deepseek is based outside the US, there’s a whole other layer to consider.

Social Media Isn’t Safe and McAfee Has a Solution

As the way we use the internet evolves, so do the tactics of hackers and scammers. More and more, social media is becoming the preferred channel for the bad guys.

It’s a goldmine for them because it’s where the eyeballs are at. As of 2024, there are over 5 billion social media users in the world. On average, people spend 2 hours and 23 minutes on social media apps per day.

Security software suites protect you from the type of threats that have been around for many years such as phishing and scam websites. Protecting people on social media has been a blind spot for software developers.

It’s only recently that companies like McAfee have stepped up their games and offered a solution developed to deal with the pitfalls of social media specifically.

As the name implies, their Social Privacy Manager allows users to adjust their privacy settings for the social media apps they use in one place. This keeps their private information out of the wrong hands. It’s a proactive approach, and a step forward for making online privacy accessible.

It won’t protect users from scams and deceptive content that continue to be a widespread problem on social media. Only awareness and continued education can boost one’s safety in this regard.

Security Software is Adapting

Big tech companies have given people the tools to manage their online privacy, but the reality is not enough people are taking advantage of them.

If you use Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube, that’s five places to adjust privacy settings alone.

Additionally, apps change their menus to manage privacy settings all the time. You can start following a guide online to tweak your privacy and find that how they’ve organized and labeled the options has shifted.

McAfee’s idea to simplify changing privacy settings by giving people presets and the ability to make changes across many apps at a time solves a timely challenge for people who value online privacy.

McAfee’s Social Privacy Manager: The Start of Something Big?

Nearly everybody uses smartphones and social media, but most people aren’t geeks when it comes to configuring their social media apps.

The reality is maintaining better online privacy needs to be easy, or most people won’t find the time for it. Although people have mastered the basic functions of apps, privacy settings are known territory for many.

There isn’t one approach to privacy for all that’s right for all people. That’s why McAfee allows users to describe their usage, from names ranging from ‘unplugged’ to ‘socializer.’ This allows users to change their privacy settings across platforms with a few clicks so they can quickly get back to being entertained and educated.

To learn more about the features of Social Privacy Manager, see this blog post announcing its release.

Why Cybercrime Growing on Social Media

Apps like Facebook brought social media to the masses many years ago. Why is protecting your privacy and security on social media apps more important now than ever?

In short, cybercriminals have moved with the times.

Practically everyone has an old email address they rarely check.

Why would scammers continue to focus on email when people check apps like Instagram and Facebook several times every day? Users are more likely to engage on their favorite app, whether the content is legitimate or not.

Many have grown accustomed to phishing attempts found in their email inbox, and they’re able to identify shady websites. Spotting attacks on social media isn’t always routine because the bad actors are using new techniques.

Social media was pretty safe in comparison to other online channels in its early days. Thus, a lot of social media users have a false sense of security.

Trust is a Double-Edged Sword

Building an audience online is all about gaining trust.

For big companies like Microsoft and Apple, trust and reputation are the backbone of their business. It’s no different for the public figures you follow on social media. They also realize if they don’t have people’s trust, posting on social media won’t get them anywhere.

Nobody wants to get people’s trust more than scammers. They can cheat their way to it, but can rarely earn trust.

Scammers often pretend to be people you follow and companies you do business with because trust has already been firmly established. Once they have established a phony veneer of legitimacy, some people they reach will put their guard down and fall for their schemes. It’s a numbers game.

Traps to Avoid on Social Media

By familiarizing yourself with common pitfalls on social media you won’t be caught off guard. Education is the first line of defense.

Here are some tactics nefarious social media users have been using in recent years.

Fake Accounts Pretending to be People You Follow

Search for any popular influencer or celebrity on social media and you’ll see a genuine account and under that an avalanche of fake accounts.

Imitators use the same profile pics as the real accounts, have deceptively similar user names, and even repost content pulled from the genuine account.

These doppelgangers will typically follow accounts in an attempt to get a follow back from people who believe it’s the real person.

It isn’t clear what their objectives are at first glance. Fakers commonly send DMs containing scam offers.

Compromised Accounts Posting Scams

Influencers can post scams when their followers least expect it. This happens when an account that has gained a big following and credibility is compromised.

Attackers hijack accounts to spread their scams or endorse products that the real person would never endorse.

Sometimes influencers post content that’s off-beat or out of place when compared with their usual content. However, if a post is suspicious and pushes people to take action quickly, there’s a good chance someone managed to get into their account.

Scammers post salesy messages in this context. They add links to their offer and hope for quick results before the owner of the account discovers the post and removes it.

The Treat of Deepfakes

In the past, seeing was believing. People have used Photoshop to concoct fake images since the early days of the internet, but manipulating video footage required a high degree of skill.

Deepfake technology allows anyone to create fake video footage of influential people saying anything the creator desires. It uses deep learning to study the facial expressions, movements, and speech of its subjects.

The output is convincing on a technical level. However, for now, many of the scammers who leverage deepfakes fail to craft a message that convincingly replicates how the real person would communicate. In short, bad writing and their predatory motives give them away.

Any video that pushes you to take immediate action should be viewed with suspicion whether it’s a deepfake or not. Messages that promise the viewer some type of gain rely on the oldest trick in the book. it if sounds too good to be true, it almost certainly is.

Conclusion

McAfee’s Social Privacy Manager is an important step forward for online privacy. It’s a great idea for people who lack the time or technical chops to tweak their privacy settings on each platform.

Undoubtedly, other software developers will follow their lead.

Still, social media privacy settings alone won’t protect people from scams. Innovations that aid people in spotting bad actors and scams should be developed. If community notes can be added to fake news, so can community-driven warnings that content is believed to be a scam.

The power of community is the best way to keep people safe moving forward. Let’s build upon what’s already there.

VPNs Have Exploded in Popularity in Canada, Here’s Why

A recent VPN usage survey commissioned by NordVPN found that over one-quarter of Canadians use VPNs.

As a country, Canada landed in the top five in terms of VPN awareness too. Nearly seven Canadians in ten have heard of VPNs. Other countries with above-average awareness include the U.S., United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Poland, Singapore, Taiwan, Spain, and Brazil.

Demographics of VPN Users

If you’re wondering what the typical VPN user looks like, I’ve got you covered. They’re more likely to be male and the largest age group is between 25 and 44 years old. This group leads the way in most other countries as well.

There are two big factors intersecting here: being old enough to have a budget for the extras in life and young enough to recognize the need for better online privacy. Millennials, Gen Xers, and Xennials are right in the sweet spot.

So, getting to the main topic, why are Canadians adopting VPNs faster than countries such as France, Italy, Japan, and South Korea?

What Canadians Say About Their VPN Usage

HelloSafe surveyed Canadians across the country about their VPN usage and there are some notable differences in their results compared to NordVPN’s findings.

First things first, here are the reasons Canadians said they use a VPN:

  • To secure a Wi-Fi connection – 68%
  • To enjoy content from other countries – 36.8%
  • To hide an IP address – 31.5%
  • To avoid censorship – 26.3%

Interestingly, they found that only one in ten Canadians use a VPN at least once a week. That’s a big difference from what the study for NordVPN found. However, how HelloSafe phrased the question pushed the figure down. How many people are aware enough of their VPN usage to give an accurate response?

Although general adoption is undoubtedly higher, HelloSafe’s study could indicate that Canadians are using VPNs with a purpose in mind. While there are plenty of reasons to have your VPN enabled all the time, it’s common for people to use their VPN only when they want to achieve a specific outcome.

Reasons Canadians Should Use a VPN

Now that we’ve looked at the responses Canadians gave about their VPN usage, let’s look at the benefits in detail.

1. Safeguard Your Data

Companies and Institutions want your data to make informed decisions. Data about customers and potential customers is a valuable resource to them.

When you use online services, data about your usage and behaviours become part of a massive data set. It often happens without the user’s knowledge and their ongoing consent. Rather, the details about data collection are buried somewhere in the companies’ terms of service or privacy policy.

Additionally, malicious users and cybercriminals are always looking for ways to gain personal information to aid in their agenda.

VPNs give you a powerful way to opt out of excessive data collection which is now the norm. It protects your identity online by hiding your IP address. This makes it difficult or impossible for others to pinpoint your device and your location.

2. Get Access to Geo-Restricted Content

It’s normal for Canadians to feel left out when their favourite TV shows and movies aren’t available on streaming apps. Harry Potter, Good Fellas, and Seven are just a few examples of classic movies that aren’t available on Netflix Canada.

Canadian subscribers typically get access to less content overall than Americans on streaming sites such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video. It works the opposite way too as shows like The Office and Fargo are available for streaming in Canada but not in the U.S.

Websites and apps sometimes use geo-targeting to determine which content or content libraries to display to the user. It’s annoying when music in social media posts, videos on websites, news, etc. are blocked in specific countries.

VPNs replace your IP address with a different IP located in the country of your choice. This allows you to view content intended for people in any country in the world.

3. Make Public Wi-Fi Safe

Public Wi-Fi is notorious for its slow speeds and spotty stability, but it’s security that people should be most concerned about. A survey by All About Cookies found that one in four experienced a security issue from accessing the internet through unsecured networks.

It’s best to assume the Wi-Fi you use in restaurants, hotels, or at the airport isn’t secure. That means your private data, including login credentials associated with sites you visit, is being transmitted with no encryption and could be intercepted.

Any time you use a VPN, the data being transferred from the network to your device and back is protected with the highest level of encryption.

4. Protect Your Identity When Playing Online Games

Online gaming is huge, and while it’s incredibly fun to explore digital worlds, being connected with so many other players has its risks.

Gamers have to watch out for malware, account takeover, phishing attacks through messaging, data breaches, and many other threats.

Gaming platforms like Steam and PSN collect plenty of data about their customers. While you can drill down into the privacy settings and make changes, there are certain types of data collection you might not be able to opt out of.

VPNs make it impractical or impossible for malicious gamers, gaming platforms, and third parties to see the IP address of your PC or pinpoint your location.

Looking for the Best VPNs?

It’s getting more common to see VPNs packaged with other software and services such as comprehensive online security suites. However, there’s power in choosing the best VPN for you rather than settling for solutions that try to do everything.

If you’ve never used a VPN before or are looking for a new one, have a look at LetMeBy’s top 3 VPNs.

Conclusion

There’s been a big boost in awareness and usage of VPNs. At this point, most people have heard of VPNs and they have a rough idea of what they do. Canadians are pushing forward and taking control of their destiny online.

Still, we’re in the early days in terms of leveraging privacy enhancement tools like VPNs. Canadians are using VPNs to achieve their goals but if the data from HelloSafe is accurate, most haven’t jumped in with both feet yet.

VPNs Protect You but Aren’t a Substitute for Antivirus

VPNs get a lot of praise for their ability to boost one’s privacy online. Many wrongfully assume that because VPNs hide their IP address and offer a high level of encryption, they’re protected without antivirus software.

In actuality, VPNs and antivirus software serve completely different purposes.

Although using a VPN makes it nearly impossible to determine your identity through certain means, it won’t stop other methods to get hold of your private data such as phishing.

It’s estimated that one-fourth of PCs have no virus protection. That’s a camp you don’t want to be in. Unprotected machines are 5.5 times as likely to get infected.

Cybercriminals have gotten craftier and bolder than ever. On top of that, bad actors are taking more action than ever. Cyberattacks increased 125% in 2021 compared to the previous year. And there are no signs of it slowing down.

The bad guys have adapted and so will internet users. Those who use both antivirus and VPN are being proactive and are best prepared for threats now and in the future.

How Antivirus Software Protects You Online

One of the key components of antivirus software is its database. Online threats are always evolving so antivirus software downloads the latest threat database automatically before scanning your computer.

Security software either detects threats in real-time as soon as they appear or during a scheduled or manual scan of your hard drive. If malicious code is detected it’s either quarantined or deleted.

Malware is a generic term that includes many types of harmful software such as viruses, trojans, worms, and spyware. The next category everyone needs to be aware of is phishing. This is when bad actors pretend to be legitimate companies and services to extract personal data such as login details and credit card numbers.

Security software such as Norton 360 and Kaspersky Internet Security have a comprehensive approach so you’re defended from information security threats, network attacks, phishing attacks, and spam.

How VPNs Protect You Online

Data is incredibly valuable to businesses and institutions. There’s a whole industry dedicated to it, often referred to as big data. In 2022, the big data analytics market size was estimated to be worth USD 272 billion.

Private data is also valuable to shady third parties and cybercriminals which is the most immediate threat to the average internet user.

Thus, with each passing year, it’s more and more important to be mindful of how you protect your privacy online. There are plenty of improvements you can make by drilling down into the privacy settings of the online services you use. However, companies will never give you full control of your privacy. By using a VPN, you easily and effectively level up your privacy across all the apps and platforms of your choice.

VPN is short for Virtual Private Network. Essentially, you can think of a VPN as a tunnel that encrypts all data that moves between your internet connection and your device.

It replaces your true IP address with an IP associated with the location you select. This makes it nearly impossible for people and organizations to determine who you are and where you’re located by viewing your IP address.

To learn about the top 3 VPN services recommended on LetMeBy, visit this page.

Using Both Antivirus Software and a VPN is the Best Defence

Antivirus software and VPN apps complement each other perfectly. One if your best defense against malware and the other is your best defense against companies, third parties, and organizations compiling data about you based on your actions online.

VPNs have security benefits as well as it encrypts data during transit. This protects you from attackers that aim to intercept data going to your device or network. Once the data has reached your device, it’s up to antivirus software to deal with threats.

Antivirus software is essential. This is why Windows Defender is pre-installed on any current Windows machine. VPNs have seen an incredible boost in adoption in the past several years, but not every internet user needs a VPN. Everyone can benefit from using a VPN, but you need to value your online privacy to want it.

Wide-ranging security software is becoming more common. These solutions include both antivirus and VPN software.

Is Windows Defender Enough?

You might be old, but are you old enough to remember downloading McAfee on your new PC after installing Windows XP?

Windows has come a long way since then in terms of security features. Before the release of Vista, Windows users had to get third-party antivirus to protect their computers. Today, Windows Defender is preinstalled and Windows automatically downloads and applies the latest security updates.

Windows machines don’t really need third-party antivirus software since Windows Defender is perfectly capable.

The main reason to get third-party antivirus software is you find its features compelling. For example, gamers appreciate “gaming mode” which is found in software such as Kaspersky Internet Security. By enabling it, functions such as system scans and notifications won’t interrupt your gaming experience while the antivirus works in the background.

Full security suites provide the most added value. These software packages protect you from spam, unsafe websites, shady applications, webcam breaches, and more.

Conclusion

It’s easy for Windows users. Simply add a VPN to complement the antivirus software already preinstalled: Windows Defender. This gives you protection where it matters most. Still, when something is easy, we sometimes lose sight of what’s working for us in the background. Antivirus software is essential and VPNs are in no way a replacement for it.

Online privacy and protecting yourself from malware are related and more than ever there’s overlap between the two. However, for the best solution is to use both a VPN and antivirus.