Slashdot Mirror
Defending Against Surveillance?
Extrudedaluminiu asks: "With the recent news about domestic spying by the NSA, American citizens are put in a very difficult situation. Citizens in other countries, around the globe, also find themselves in situations where their lives can be examined by government agencies or other groups of questionable ethics. What can people in this kind of world do to defend themselves? Are there any approaches to thwarting or mitigating surveillance that will work on a mass scale? What technologies can people use to hold on to their freedoms, in a difficult world?"
I really don't mind if the NSA spies on me. I don't have anything to hide. I'm not quite saying "if you're not a criminal, you don't have anything to hide," but honestly, I've sent enough passwords in cleartext, opened enough VNC ports, run enough unpatched systems, voiced enough subversive opinions in public, logged in on enough computers outside my control (including some that I know are being watched), sent my social security number to enough places, that if someone really wanted to steal my identity or my information there's nothing valuable.
Part of that is because I'm a student, so I don't have a credit account or so forth. But I'll treat my bank account with as much care as I treat a couple of other secure items; I'll maintain my prepaid phone so that I lose at most about $30, not $20000, if my phone gets stolen or "hacked", etc.
If I get a job that requires secrets, I know how to keep those safe. I've written and used a ciphersaber for personal data, I use SSH for shell connections, I've tried my hand at Diffie-Hellman - and I'm smart enough to use professional products for AES and the like if necessary. But as of right now, I really don't care if you stick Carnivore on my router. Half of what you'll see is flash games, Wikipedia, and Xbox Live, and most of the rest I'll tell you if you ask nicely.