Internet Privacy/Security

[FreeBirds]

What is true exactly? That any electronic device can be used against us? I think that is a given. Therefore, the odds are they are doing it (if it can be done most likely they ARE doing it). So then the issue is how can we foil their efforts w/ TV and PC (like I said, Cell Phone is easy, just put it in a drawer or glove box and never talk about anything sensitive while actually on a cell call). I would think there is a software that could use to block it or simply remove the hardware????? I mean, it's beyond creepy to think that when I was TV they are watching me!

[netwrkranger]

I just said there are white papers and theories on the issue.

They may (or may not) have the technology sufficient enough to do what you stated.

As far as some of my other opinions, TV is mind rot. You are better off throwing it out. PCs are handy, but it is so easy to ease drop on an internet connection.

Any sniffer would do the trick as long as you can gain physical access to the line or route.

[FreeBirds]

would a router help your PC from being used as surveillance?

most TV is pure rubbish but some is really good. i still like to watch sports, some documentaries, an occasional movie, and a couple of comedies. how people can watch those reality shows though is beyond me. and anyone who gets their news (other than local events) from the TV is just lost. having said that, the only way to watch and listen via a TV is if the TV has a mic and a camera. So I'd have to examine the TV's to see if they have those features and if so, disable them. It should be that simple but the trick will be to finding these features. Maybe I should call a TV repairman???

[netwrkranger]

No, a router would not protect your computer from surveillance.

A router (with a firewall) can protect your computer from infiltration from the Internet.

What a router does is that it works at Layer 3 of the OSI model. The name of that layer is the network layer. The network layer handles routing and addressing (for most people that addressing protocol will be IP or Internet Protocol). A router forwards your traffic along the most efficient path with backup paths on standby when needed for when a route goes down. This applies more so for routers on Internet backbones.

Routers demarcate broadcast domains as well.

If you want some security from surveillance you will need to focus on securing your machine from fingerprinting as well encryption protocols to secure the traffic. The host will need to be secured from viruses, spyware, malware, keyloggers, and rootkits

[lost and found]

the ''net'' (tool for capturing game) or the ''web'' seems to force you to traffic in commerce.catching those who are unaware of its ''nature''. someone did a ''study'' of it not so long ago and came up with some interesting results.

[macerico]

My 2 cents. Much of which comes from How To Be Invisible.

Originally Posted by andrewmitch

I'd like to use an off shore server from a country with no Information Sharing Agreement/Treaty w/ the US, Inc. Pay them with a Post Office Money Order.

Largely irrelevant. NSA has all telecom routed through central servers that copy EVERYTHING being sent electronically. The biggest comfort you can take in this is that they have no real way to track what EVERYONE does in real time. So, unless you are a person of interest already being monitored in the system, it's just a violation of your privacy but hardly anyone is looking at what you are doing.

Use a free email account, again from an off shore country.

Easier to just open a free e-mail account with any online provider using an assumed name. It really doesn't harm anyone, is unlikely to be discovered or proven, and frankly, going back to the above point, you shouldn't send uncoded/unencrypted personal info over the Internet anyhow.

Encrypt my email communications.

I've thought of this step, but it's mostly pointless unless the nature of the communication is very sensitive. Such an effort requires the receiver to know the decryption key, otherwise if it's legal to use, the odds are the NSA has a back door or hack already installed. I would suggest that if you need telecommunication with anyone on something sensitive, your can send an encrypted document written in a code the two of you understand via an innocent looking e-mail. At least then if you aren't being watched, the odds are nobody will bother examining the e-mail closely until the issue is long since moot.

I'd like to ensure my surfing and posting to message boards is untracable.

Use Firefox, Opera or some other browser that lets you clear out what is saved when you want to (use the plug-ins that increase your privacy). Otherwise, other than trying to obscure your IP address via some ISP that keeps your ID private, everything you send online is monitored by the NSA anyhow. I've thought of using such an ISP, but ultimately, nothing is secret from the NSA. I'm sure your link to your ISP would be hacked and monitored at some point. Frankly, unless you work for the CIA or NSA (or have been trained by them) I doubt ANYONE can really keep an IP private from everyone.

Privatize and Encrpyt Chat/IM.

My 2 cents....don't bother with either Chat or IM. Frankly, you don't even want your Internet PC hooked up online 24/7 if you can help it. The best security for your computer is to keep it off the Internet. If you must go online, physically connect and disconnect your wire. A system loaded with spyware still can't reach out and plug itself into the wall jack.

And prevent anyone from hacking into my emails and hard drive.

See above. If you use any online e-mail provider, your e-mail is not secure....period. I don't care what warranties the ISP or e-mail provider publishes. Again...the NSA copies everything sent, and even if the ISP did "purge" its servers or didn't hand information over to whoever asks, you'd be amazed at what can be recovered without a deliberate data wipe that conforms to DoD standards.

The best security is to have a separate PC/laptop for your internet activity than the one you use to keep your personal information on. You can do okay with XP if you use a real firewall (like Comodo) that lets you block everything and ask for permission for anything to access the Internet (Windows has a lot of white paged applications that the firewall lets go anytime), but if you're really paranoid you can do with Linux (or other 3rd party OS), and the cheapest option would be a setup where your hard drive can be disconnected and a clone hard drive inserted for when you want to do Internet stuff.

Anyone use any specific software or company?

Other than Comodo for my firewall, my encryption software and wipe software are from "outdated" packages (still "good" but before the NSA started clamping down on what you could legally buy). I don't know if new stuff on the market (especially post-9/11) destroy data as well or don't have NSA back doors already installed on them. Trust no online service provider. Even if they don't spy on you, the NSA copies everything sent over the wires.

Anyone know what countries could be trusted?

None. The USA is the most free nation in the world when it comes to civil liberties and it's turning into a fascist state. Anyone who claims otherwise has yet to show me proof that any nation extends universally better protection of an individual's rights....which is pretty sad.

In closing, I'll repeat what was said to me by a friend of mine who respected where I was coming from.

You simply are not that important.

Unless a day comes when software becomes so sophisticated that the state can track, monitor and analyze EVERYONE's activities 24/7, the simple truth is that the government can't bring the full power of their surveillance tech on everyone. It must be focused on specific people and all they have now is the ability to filter for key words that alert them to potential threats.

Granted, maybe I'm being watched right now, but I know for all my tough talk, I'm unable to inflict any harm on the state. Maybe someday they will come for me, but I'm certain there are others they will go after first.

Your best protection?

Disassociate yourself from numbered identities.
Do everything possible to work through intermediaries.
Don't use your slave name unless there is no other option.
Keep your personal computer data physically separated from the Internet, and anything sensitive sent online should be done in a mode and fashion that is known only to the person intended to receive it.

This makes you fairly bulletproof.

If the government really wants to monitor you, they can break into your home, bug all your stuff, and you'd never know they had been there.