Sashajade Posted March 18, 2014 Posted March 18, 2014 Since we know that our pc's, cellphones, and other gadgets are being spied on. I was just curious about what measures anybody has taken to reduce being spied on or tracked. Like i cover my camera on pc and phone if not in use. I know that certain apps can be bad to use, like banking through your cell phone. I would like to hear everybody's thoughts on this.
Pepin Posted March 19, 2014 Posted March 19, 2014 None really. I could really care less about the government's involvement in my personal affairs as I do not do anything illegal, nor do I have any burning secrets. If I was buying or dealing drugs, I'd certainly take measures to hide it, but I am not. My privacy concerns mostly center around other people. I have a password on my computer to inhibit people from gaining access. There is an annoying tendencies for certain types of people to go through your pictures and personal documents when you are away from your computer, and they will often change your desktop to some shock picture. This was more of an issue in high school than it is now. If there is any vital information, or dirty pictures of a girlfriend on my computer, I usually put them in an encrypted folder. Again, this behavior has little to nothing to do with the government, and rather to do with other people and maybe computer viruses. If say laptop was stolen, I want to disallow people from gaining access to this information for obvious reasons. If I was going to go through a TSA checkpoint, I'd likely take some measures to protect my information as the people who work there can be quite sleazy. I can imagine if there was anything embarrassing or nude photos of a girlfriend that they would upload them to internet quite quickly. There is also the issue of avoiding hassle, as if they were to see a book on anarchism I'd likely be held up for a number of hours. The issue of protecting your privacy from the government is not one I can relate with. The intrusions are certainly immoral, but I am more apathetic to it happening to me. I can understand why others are concerned and take measures to protect their privacy from the government, but I just don't care.
cobra2411 Posted March 20, 2014 Posted March 20, 2014 None really. I could really care less about the government's involvement in my personal affairs as I do not do anything illegal, nor do I have any burning secrets. If I was buying or dealing drugs, I'd certainly take measures to hide it, but I am not. ... The issue of protecting your privacy from the government is not one I can relate with. The intrusions are certainly immoral, but I am more apathetic to it happening to me. I can understand why others are concerned and take measures to protect their privacy from the government, but I just don't care. You don't do anything illegal that you know about... With all the new technology out there it's quite possible for information to be stored literately forever. Given the direction that most states go, this information could later be used ex-post-facto against you. I don't mention this to be paranoid, only as a reminder to speak with integrity and understand that what you post on the internet on someone else's server, even if a private message, is not very private. If you wouldn't say it in public, then don't say it on the internet because it will be forever cast in stone. With that said disconnecting your speaker or covering a web-cam is a good idea IMO. Not just because big brother could be watching but because there are plenty of rouge apps out there. Around where I live (Lower Merion High School) the school administration was using the locating software on it's computers to spy on children. They actually suspended one child because they thought he was doing drugs. He was eating Mike & Ike candy in his bedroom. There was no mention of any nude photo's being taken, but it's certainly possible it happened or at least could have. Of course that was a quasi-state agency but the point is that with a rouge program your seemingly innocent technology can be spying on you. I also like to keep up with regular spyware and virus scans. Like Pepin I lock my computer and cell phone with a password. There is software for encryption, one source is TrueCrypt. You can encrypt a whole drive with it if you like. I did that with my laptop when I traveled in case someone other than me accessed it or stole it. You'd have to reformat it to use it. I use encrypted containers to store credit card information in case of theft I have account numbers, passwords, phone numbers, etc. Bottom line, live with integrity. I don't say anything on the internet that I wouldn't say in a public forum. If that's going to be illegal some day than so be it.
Prochange73 Posted March 20, 2014 Posted March 20, 2014 Nice thread - good question. I think it is very important to protect yourself against government spying or everyone who want to spy you. The argument that you do not do something illegal or have big secrets I read and hear a lot, but I don't think it is a good one. Even If you don't do any illegal, there is still something like privacy. There can be a lot of things you don't want others to read or see - even it is legal. Maybe you are so used to use your computer that you don't even think about that. Your computer, tablet smartphone and so on contains a lot of privacy information and is used daily for all kind of things, like mailing, searching, talking, storing documents, business things, photos etc. I do a lot to protect myself for spying. I try to make it harder. I know I can't make it impossible. You can use VPN and/or proxies if you like, or even Tor. Tor is free (and slow), but gives high anonymity. Vpn is mostly not free, but gives good speed and also an extra layer of privacy. I do not use cloud servers a lot, only to share some songs and funny pictures with friends. If you want to store files on a cloud server - (in case all your storage device(s) fails) - you can encrypt it with a strong password using 7zip for example. Covering your cameras is a good one. Of course I use software that delete my history, check for spyware, adds, malware and viruses - but I think and hope most of us do. Especially if you using Windows. Photos, documents and passwords I store encrypted like the guys above. For personal conversations I use encryption, like my mail or chats. If I want a personal talk, I avoid Skype but use an open source replacement with the option to encrypt. If I erase a file I use programs that overwrite it more than once. I like Facebook because I'm interested in social media and like playing some games on it, but I do not use my real name. It is against their policy, but I have no problem with that. My opinion is that they have no respect for privacy at all and use all your data for their interest. The options to protect your privacy I find very complicated and they do change them from time to time, so I try to do my best to find and understand them, but I also use a program that scans your privacy settings and give suggestions you can change. Even I do not use my real name. Google is one of the best search engines, but I like to use more privacy friendly ones. I'm a big fan of opensource software. I have also Linux as dual boot with my Windows. Linux is open source and can (and will) be checked on backdoors, Windows is not open source and can't therefore be checked. The things that I can do on Linux (which is a lot) I use mostly Linux for. And I almost forgot: when I throw my mail or paperwork in the bin (the one in the kitchen or outside) I like to use a shredder
cynicist Posted March 23, 2014 Posted March 23, 2014 Good topic. I'm careful about what I install on my phone or computer. I use Ubuntu instead of Windows (and try to use open-source software when possible) Keep my software updated (especially browser) Use browser addons to block ads and javascript (which is where a lot of malware comes from) Limit what personal information I give to websites (and don't use facebook) Don't use security questions (they are easier to guess than a password) or make up answers that people can't look up on a social networking profile. Use a VPN to encrypt my network traffic (most importantly when I'm using a public wifi network) I don't use cloud storage unless my stuff is encrypted or I don't care about it. Treat everything I do on the internet as public (unless I use encryption) Shred sensitive documents Avoid standing out in crowds lol (or in the presence of law enforcement)
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