See, these were people that were sick and tired of being oppressed. They had already lived through the whole "only the guilty need privacy" thing, and knew what a dangerous notion this is. This is why we have things like the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. I'm sure if you're an American you treasure these documents. They give you rights such as you are innocent until proven guilty, protected from unreasonable search and seizure, and have a right to personal privacy. Can you imagine what this country would be like if the police could waltz into your house at any time they like to 'make sure you're obeying the law'...? I hate to break it to you again, but this already happening in the United States. If we do not act than we loose the rights we do still have! We cannot be okay with the NSA collecting our metadata and hacking any computer it wants to. Your government has actually created computer viruses and infected its citizens computers so that they could spy on them. We cannot be okay with this. It is sets a dangerous precedent. It sends a message that says we are exploitable, weak, and powerless. We cannot accept this.
Although many more things like this are happening in this country, this entry is about communications surveillance. More to come on the other atrocities later. So, at this point you're either exiting this browser tab or hopefully you are with me, or at least see my point. The thing that I hope you are wondering is what you can do about it. After reading about what Edward Snowden leaked, a scary picture of reality has emerged. The Orwellian future is here. If the NSA wants in your computer or phone, it's in. They are collecting and hoarding massive amounts of personal information from people all over the world. Privacy has become a thing of the past. But there are many things you can do to fight back and reclaim your internet anonymity. Besides, that was always one of the cooler things about the internet. Nobody really knew who you were unless you wanted them to.
When you browse the web, you leave a digital trail. In fact, just having your computer online and idle can tell someone a lot about a person. What kind of computer you have, where it is located, whether or not it's a laptop, desktop or android, and where you use it. If it's your cell phone, then you're every move can be tracked. Doesn't that scare you, just a little? The digital trails often start with an IP address. You're IP address is geographically constructed, so it reveals a pretty precise location. Many servers log your IP each time you access their site. Google apparently keeps records of your search logs, I was shocked to see that when I viewed my 'account activity report' a couple years ago. So what can you do?
Use Tor, for one thing. It is the one thing that drives the NSA crazy. Ironically, it was invented by DARPA and is still partially funded by other parts of the US government. The USA advocates citizens of oppressive countries to use it for anonymity and freedom of press. Tor, originally an acronim for The Onion Router, is a network that anyone can access for free that allows a user virtually complete anonymity. Note that I didn't say privacy, I'll get to that later, they're two different things. When you connect to TOR, anything you send over the network is encrypted in multiple layers and bounced off multiple servers (usually 3) before reaching it's destination. It works like this:
You're Computer>Tor Entry Node>Tor Middle Node>Tor Exit Node>Destination. Since anyone snooping on you're computer can only ever see that you're accessing a Tor node, anyone trying to intercept traffic at any point during the circuit can never know for sure where the traffic originated. There are thousands of nodes around the world, operated largely by people like you and me. All information is encrypted in 3 layers from and to your computer, and one layer is encrypted at each node. The information is only visible in text after leaving the exit node before hitting its's destination. Unless of course you encrypted whatever you sent in first place. This gives you complete anonymity and some privacy. The only way anyone is going to figure out who you are is if you screw up and send personal information through the network without encrypting it. End to end encryption is the only way to remain truly private, but being anonymous protects people on knowing who you are. The Tor Browser Bundle is very easy to set up and configured correctly. While this gives you a great advantage, Tor alone cannot save you. You must be very careful what you send through Tor, and also assume that you're computer is not already compromised to begin with. If it is, nothing will help you. You can find tor here.
The next thing I'd like to address is proprietary software like Windows and how terribly insecure it is. Microsoft actually allowed the NSA to put back-doors in their security protocols so that the government could always crack them. Windows is so damn insecure that without virus protection and a firewall, I could probably hack and infect your Windows PC in a less than an hour from my Linux computer. So, why does everyone use it, and a better question, why did you pay $100 for it? Linux is free and open sourced. This means that anyone can see the source code and check for vulnerabilities. If one is discovered, the community is alerted and a developer will usually patch it within a week. You're Windows computer may not be updated for months, if ever. I personally use Ubuntu, a Linux distribution, although there are dozens of flavors of Linux to choose from. Ubuntu is "Linux for Human Beings." It is free, very secure and stable, user friendly, and awesome. It's a Debian based version of Linux. That may mean nothing to you, I know. Oh, did I mention that there are virtually no antivirus programs for Linux? That's because it does not need one. Linux computers are not immune to malware, but they are pretty damn close. What's funny is that out of the few anti-virus (they're actually called rootkits in Linux because the only way you're going to harm a Linux device is if you get root access, which requires a password every time a program requests it) that exist for Linux, most test for Windows viruses as well so that they are not inadvertently passed on to a Windows computer. Talk about ridiculous. Most software for Linux is also free and open sourced as well. Why pay for something that only hurts you? Make the switch. Give your computer a second life. You can sleep better, and it will probably make your machine run much faster. Never have to defragment again, either. Linux solved that one decades ago.
Which brings me to TAILS. Tails is "The Amnesiac Incognito Live System." It is a Linux distribution specifically designed for for privacy&anonymity. It is ran off of a DVD or USB flash drive. You boot to the disc/flash and your computers hard drive is never touched, so nothing is ever left on your computer. Only RAM is used, which is forever gone after shutting down the computer. (Even if you delete a file off a hard disc, it can easily be recovered by an advisory.) TAILS routes all communications through the TOR network without you having to configure a thing, and it can be used on almost any computer, anywhere. You can carry an untraceable virtual computer in your pocket and never leave a clue as to who you are or what you were doing. Since TOR and all the encryption tools you need come with TAILS, a person who knows almost nothing about computers could use it. You can either find it online, (make sure you VERIFY that it is a legitimate copy, even if downloaded from a seemingly official site, or you could be phished.) or I can custom make you one depending on the size drive you want.
If anyone is interested in obtaining a TAILS USB virtual computer, configured and ready to go, contact me and I'll make you one. On the outside it's just a flash drive, inside its a very powerful OS. I've seen these things selling for $100 a piece on the internet, and I'll only charge you $20 for setting it up and whatever the USB drive costs, around $10-$30 depending on how much memory you want. That's just for my time and the material. The software is free, but takes some IT knowledge to configure and verify. If you just want a DVD, I'll give you one for $5. DVDs are read only, however, so you would not be able to save anything to the disc. With the flash drive, there is an encrypted storage volume that needs a password to be accessed. I accept bitcoin, email donotaccept@gmx.com. You don't have to be a victim of mass surveillance. You can fight back. Use Linux and Tor. Do not accept.
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