Computer Privacy

In recent months it has been brought to light how the US government is spying on US citizens. In June of 2013, the Washington Post and The Guardian have revealed a US government mass Internet surveillance program code-named "PRISM". They report that the NSA and the FBI have been tapping directly into the servers of nine US service providers including: Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Apple, Yahoo, YouTube, AOL and Skype. This surveillance program started at least seven years ago and continues today. That is a lot of data that has been and continues to be collected. 

Now many people will respond with statements such as, “I’m not doing anything wrong and I have nothing to hide.” True, most of us are law abiding citizens with no intention of breaking the law. Yet, information is still being collected on you which reveals a lot about your: habits, likes and dislikes, political affiliation, sexuality, medical conditions, education, friends, where you travel, hobbies, preferences, etc. The information collected on you includes your: email to include Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo, chat, videos, photos, stored data, VoIP, file transfers, video conferencing, logins, and online social networking. Now think back to all the companies that are supplying the government with YOUR information: Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Apple, Yahoo, YouTube, AOL and Skype. The government is able to aggregate all this information from these different providers and develop a significantly huge amount of data to not only profile you but actually PREDICT your behavior. If this does not scare you then you are foolish. I want the government to catch terrorists before they commit acts of terrorism but not by throwing a net over the whole country and collecting our information. Benjamin Franklin said:

“Those who give up their liberty for more security neither deserve liberty nor security.”

Even in the times of Benjamin Franklin he clearly understood the dangers of government. Again you claim you are not doing anything wrong. Are you okay with the government having access to?

• Every Google search you enter, i.e. medical conditions, political information
• Reading your email from Gmail, Hotmail, or Yahoo
• Reading your personal chats
• Having copies of every picture or video you post on Facebook
• Knowing every “Like,” comment, or share that you have posted on Facebook
• Having a copy of every video that you posted on YouTube. Or if you don’t post videos on YouTube knowing every video that you have searched, watched, liked, or commented.
• Having a record of every Skype call that you have made

I could go on and on but you see the trend of invasiveness. Unfortunately, by using any form of electronic communication such as the Internet we are providing a wealth of information about our lives. When we carry a cell phone, which most of us do, the government is able to know our location 24 hours a day. They know who we talk to, how long we talk, the content of our conversation, the regularity of our communications, etc. They have access to our phone contact list, notes, location, pictures, video, etc. Their ability to gather intelligence on us is almost beyond comprehensible. Now think of the access they may have to your medical records, insurance records, utility bills, banking records, financial records, etc. Overwhelming isn’t it! Clearly, the United States has the most robust intelligence capabilities of any country in the world. And, they know more about you than your closest friend.

A function of the country is to protect us yet they are using their capabilities to spy on us under the guise of making us safer. Yet, they failed to stop the Boston Marathon bombing from occurring. With so much information being stored it becomes extremely difficult to sort through the massive amounts of information to determine a threat in a timely manner. It is easy to connect the dots after the fact but by then people are already injured and killed. So we see that the system is far from perfect. Yes, they can collect significant amounts of information on all of us and many sources claim they can even predict behavior with a high degree of accuracy. But, can they perform this in a timely manner to actually prevent acts of terrorism? And, is it necessary to cast a wide blanket on all Americans of which most are law abiding citizens? I don’t know if companies such as Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Apple, Yahoo, YouTube, AOL and Skype are forced into a cooperative with the government but we do know they are cooperating. Sadly, Americans are not outraged. They go about their days with blissful ignorance and hide behind the mantra of “I have nothing to hide.” Benjamin Franklin would be so disgusted and disappointed with this situation. Big brother is no longer just a concept in a book. Big brother is a reality. Big brother is alive and well. Big brother is your government. The slippery slope between freedom and security is lined with grease and US citizens are on the losing end.

What is the Solution?

This is the billion dollar question and I really don’t have the answer. Even if I did most people more than likely would not follow the advice because it would be inconvenient. There is a reason that the National Security Agency is building the Utah Data Center which will intercept, decipher, analyze, and store vast amounts of data. We will keep supplying the data and the NSA will collect it. I doubt most people are willing to give up their cell phone, email, Internet, or Facebook page. And, all of these items do provide a useful value. If you want to protect your privacy, and you should, I will provide you with a list of useful links. It will be up to you to conduct your own research on how these products work and if they fit your needs. It will take time and energy on your part. The ball is in your court.

Computer Security

TOR: https://www.torproject.org/

GnuPG aka, GPG: http://www.gnupg.org/

TureCRYPT: http://www.truecrypt.org/

BleachBit: http://bleachbit.sourceforge.net/

Tails: https://tails.boum.org/

Silent Circle: https://silentcircle.com/

OTR (Off the record messaging): https://otr.cypherpunks.ca/

Password Safe: http://pwsafe.org/

Start Page: https://startpage.com/

Start Mail: https://beta.startmail.com/

Mailvelope: http://www.mailvelope.com/

Recommendations:

1. Use Tor to be anonymous. It will be slower than you like and will not work with all websites especially for videos but you are anonymous. Yes, the NSA targets Tor users but it is work for them.

2. Encrypt your communications.

3. Use open-source software which is typically FREE. Be suspicious of commercial encryption software especially from large vendors as they probably have NSA friendly back doors.

We cannot control all of the information that has already been collected on us but we do have the ability to somewhat control the future. It is work and requires diligence.

Like us on Facebook at: www.Facebook.com/SurvivalSkillcraft

Yes, I realize liking us on Facebook contributes to the problem. Are you willing to delete your Facebook account?

//TC

© 2013