Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Geek Speak => Topic started by: Schema on 15/07/2013 07:02:41
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It's not a surprise that we are being spied on. Whatever illusion of privacy we once had a decade ago has long since been shattered. Our Government is spying on us. Our web browsers are spying on us. Our email services are spying on us. Our applications are spying on us. Our search engines are spying on us.
I wasn't shocked to learn of Google's sleeping arrangements with the NSA because I have known for years that Google has been the biggest privacy offender on the internet. Google has a monopoly on everything- our media, our email, our web searches, our youtube videos of cats chasing laser pointers. Due to the recent PRISM scandal that unfolded before our eyes like some kind of televised presidential sex affair gone wrong, I've decided to part ways with the mainstream Google culture that I had been such a loyal servant to. I don't care to exist as a profile on an NSA database, and I certainly don't feel like having my emails read by the same organization of government twits that brought us the Watergate scandal. If you reach the same decision I have, here is a small guide to help you get started- to point you in the right direction. This is how you drop off the radar:
i. Search Engine Alternatives:
Ixquick is a search engine that promotes user privacy.
https://ixquick.com/
There extensive privacy statement can be read at the link below.
https://ixquick.com/eng/protect-privacy.htmlivacy.html
DuckDuckGo is another
https://duckduckgo.com/
There extensive privacy statement can also be read at the link below.
https://duckduckgo.com/privacy
for free email alternatives, see this site below:
http://www.csustan.edu/Stan4You/Free...email_web.html
ii. Anonymous Surfing
Proxies
Proxy servers and VPN services have become increasing popular over the last few months. I am going to give you a quick guide on what they are, what they do, and what the difference is between them.
If your computer were a person, your computer's IP address would be that person's mailing address. It is an address that marks your computer's geographic location. Your IP address is everywhere: It is in your packet headers, your email headers. Your IP is stored in a log on every single web server you connect to. Exposing your naked IP to the internet is like wearing a sign that says "Here I am, this is where I live".
A proxy server is a server that exists somewhere in cyberspace -often in another country- that acts as an intermediary between you and the internet. Using a proxy server effectively changes your IP address to that of the server's. This is the first layer of anonymity, and for most people, the only layer needed.
There are many free proxy servers available to you. Configuration varies depending on your browser. Here is a resource to get you started:
http://whatismyipaddress.com/using-proxies
To find free proxies, simply search for "free proxies".
Tor
Tor is software designed to give you a more effective layer of anonymity- much more effective than a single, translucent proxy. Tor works by connecting you to an open network that bounces your traffic across multiple relays before reaching endpoint (the website you are requesting). By bouncing across hops -across the entire globe- not only is your IP masked, but your information is also encrypted along the way. The route that your traffic takes to reach the internet resets every ten minutes. The purpose of that is to make it impossible to link your activity to you through logs. It would take years for a government agency to trace you through said logs. And even if they tried, they would eventually reach a relay in a country that has no disclosure agreement.
There are a few draw backs to using Tor. First, your data, while being re-encrypted at every relay, will not be re-encrypted at endpoint. Tor has a service included (Privoxy), however, that will scrub personal information from your packets. The second draw back is that Tor will bog your browser down. (It is slow).
https://www.torproject.org/
VPN
VPNs, or Virtual Private Networks, are a bit different than translucent proxies or Tor. A VPN is a client side program that makes a point-to-point connection through a secured "tunnel". The encryption capabilities of a VPN is far superior to that of Tor in that your information is encrypted at end point through various optional protocols. This keeps your information secure as it is transmitted from your computer to the web. VPN's are ideal for computing at wifi hotspots, be it a college university or your local coffee shop. The encryption will keep your information safe from "packet sniffing" and various man-in-the-middle attacks which are prevalent in public places. There are free VPNs for download, but I will not suggest any. I do not recommend free VPN services. If you are on the market for a trusted subscription to a VPN service, I recommend checking your Anti-Virus software first as most tend to have an optional one included (for a fee), For more information, see link below.
http://www.whatismyip.com/what-is-a-vpn/
iii FireFox Addons
I am an advocate for FireFox due to their addons. Here are some that I think are neato:
Darkside of the Prism
This addon will inform you every time you are on a website that is being monitored by the NSA. It will flash an icon on your screen and play "Money" by Pink Floyd (how cool is that?). Try it out. You might be surprised at how many pies the NSA has their fingers in. The Draw back to this is that the song will trigger every time you reload the page, and multiple songs will overlap if you hit a website that has additional services on it that is also being monitored by the NSA. I just enable it every-so-often and go around checking the websites I tend to visit and then switch it back off.
BetterPrivacy
BetterPrivacy will allow you to view, monitor, disable, and remove a new type of tracking cookie that is exclusive to Google (wow, they just love spying on us).
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/fir...dl-mostpopular
Ghostery
This addon handles all other types of cookies. It is easy to use, easy to understand.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/fir...dl-mostpopular
Collusion
This is new, experimental addon that has to do with 3rd party tracking cookies. It is cool to play around with.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/fir...cb-dl-featured
If I've left anything out, or if you have more suggestions, please share.
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Proxies
To find free proxies, simply search for "free proxies".
IMO don't do any financial transaction via a free proxy.
... if you have more suggestions, please share.
encrypt any sensitive email messages ... http://lifehacker.com/180878/how-to-encrypt-your-email
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Seen this?
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/aug/08/lavabit-email-shut-down-edward-snowden
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Wonder if he was thinking of http://www.businessinsider.com.au/the-story-of-joseph-nacchio-and-the-nsa-2013-6 before deciding to just quit? Yeah, conspiracy theories, isn't it? But you don't give up your company without first thinking of all possible outcomes, I think?
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I personally like NoScript for FFox and then there is TrackMeNot "issuing randomized queries to popular search-engines, including Google, Bing, and Baidu, TrackMeNot obfuscates users' search data"
One might also consider (windows) using STDU viewer (personal favorite), as I don't think it supports java scripts, or https://projects.gnome.org/evince/ as your standard pdf viewer.
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And of course, there is this..
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-31/the-public-private-surveillance-partnership.html
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How comes all Americans when discussing, whether it be climate, or, as now NSA surveillance, always succeed to make it into some political issue, either democratic or liberal. Don't they know that all of the people inside a Country are supposed to belong to a same democracy?
It may sound naive, but from my point of view the shoe should be on the other way, it shows a disastrous inability understanding the principles and ideals creating a democracy. And it fits my ideas of the United States Of America poorly, if one keep mixing up threats to ones democracy with ones own political 'color', consistently blaming 'the other party' for whatever flaws there is. If laws are unconstitutional, then they will be so, no matter which party introduced them. Also, a lot of the discussions only discuss 'internal surveillance', but to my eyes just as big a worry is the way people outside America, using American companies as FaceBook, Microsoft, Google etc etc, becomes just as 'targeted'(or more targeted, as they're not American citizens possibly?) by this surveillance.
In the end this may result in those same companies losing a lot of revenue due to customers leaving them for more honest alternatives, showing stronger integrity, outside the USA.
Secret Court Ruling Put Tech Companies in Data Bind. (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/14/technology/secret-court-ruling-put-tech-companies-in-data-bind.html?hp&_r=0)
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If you use too much security are you not inviting a visit from the later day equivalent of the SS who will invite you to give them your passwords
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You're thinking of encryption, right :)
And absolutely, encryption is a touchy subject for all security organizations, just look at Zimmerman and PGP. Still, if it's not explicitly forbidden in your country's laws you are free to use it as you like. And no foreign agency can complain to you about it, at worst they can 'influence' the provider of your emails, but as long as those providers can't read them either? There is always someone else offering a same service. Maybe we all should use it, just to phreak those guys and gals out a little, civilian disobedience I think they call it :)..
"OMG , the whole world are becoming terrorists"