Why the NSA Piggybacks On Consumer Tracking

An anonymous reader writes "'Snooping on the Internet is tricky. The network is diffuse, global, and packed with potential targets. There's no central system for identifying or locating individuals, so it's hard to keep track of who is online and what they're up to. What's a spy agency to do?' In a Slate op-ed, Ed Felten explains how consumer tracking makes the NSA's job much easier. Felten was the first-ever Chief Technologist at the Federal Trade Commission, serving as the agency's lead technical expert on privacy issues. Now back in academia, he argues that the NSA gets a 'free ride on the private sector,' from distinguishing users, to pinpointing geolocation, to slurping up network traffic."

Comments

Re:What else can you do?

[AndroSyn]

Encrypt everything, make life as difficult as possible for those who would snoop your traffic. You mention Firefox plugins, perhaps you should also be using the HTTPS Everywhere plugin: https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere

Also make sure you are using the SSL Observatory function, this should at least help prevent MITM type attacks against you.

Re:What else can you do?

[mrchaotica]

A post in a thread a few days ago gave a good list. (I'd link back to it, but I can't find it.)

• RequestPolicy
• NoScript
• RefControl
• Ghostery
• HTTPS-Everywhere
• BetterPrivacy
• Cookie Monster

I didn't list Lightbeam because while it is good at visualizing tracking, it doesn't actually stop it.

I also currently use

• AdBlock Plus
• Self-Destructing Cookies
• DuckDuckGo search provider

I'm also looking into running a YaCy server so that I don't depend on centralized (and therefore inherently trackable, even if some say they don't) search engines at all.