I started using MEGAsync instead of Dropbox. As a non-american I think this is one of the few ways I might be able to change things. Maybe the recent pressure from payment processors means that it works?
Ask HN: Since CitizenFour, have you changed the way you conduct yourself online?
41–50 of 68 posts
Re: Ask HN: Since CitizenFour, have you changed the way you conduct yourself online?
#42I've always browsed in a sandbox only, since the revelations however I also bought a couple of vps and now tunnel my traffic through one of the servers. This is a very cheap measure, 15$ a month, that probably increases your privacy but also attracts more attention to yourself. A more inconspicuous solution is probably a public vpn service, but those servers are not under your control and you won't be able to make sure that the service does what the advertisements promise.
I don't bother much with email encryption or pgp, I've written down email as a loss in the privacy department and don't bother with trying/hoping my emails are private. So my gmail/hotmail/yahoo inboxes are for fluffy stuff only that doesn't really matter.
Mostly if I need to securely communicate with someone it will be on a private irc server where everybody has his/her own certificates and I can check to see if the server is untouched etc.
Re: Ask HN: Since CitizenFour, have you changed the way you conduct yourself online?
#43Citizenfour is suspiciously well produced. And Edward Snowden is extremelly good. This all is probably the stage in which we realise of this and all is simply going according to the agenda. "THE conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society consti- tute an invisible governme…
Is there a particular covert agenda that you see Citizenfour as promoting?
Re: Ask HN: Since CitizenFour, have you changed the way you conduct yourself online?
#44I changed some stuff, but it was when the reports came, not because of the movie. My changes: - Don't use gmail for private email. Self hosted it instead. - Switched to Firefox (from Chrome), changed my addons (https everywhere, privacy badger and mublock). - Deleted my facebook account. - Tried to get my friends to use a self-hosted irc server + mumble instead of skype - but that didn't last for long sadly. - Change…
Dispersing your activity around several different services is surely better than just using a one-stop-shop or all in one solution?
Re: Ask HN: Since CitizenFour, have you changed the way you conduct yourself online?
#45No, there's nothing I can do about it, and I'm highly unlikely to be a person of interest under the mass surveillance programme, so why bother?
"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me."
—Martin Niemöller
Re: Ask HN: Since CitizenFour, have you changed the way you conduct yourself online?
#46I've always browsed in a sandbox only, since the revelations however I also bought a couple of vps and now tunnel my traffic through one of the servers. This is a very cheap measure, 15$ a month, that probably increases your privacy but also attracts more attention to yourself. A more inconspicuous solution is probably a public vpn service, but those servers are not under your control and you won't be able to make su…
"NSA has VPNs in Vulcan death grip"
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/12/nsa-has-vpns-in-v...
This again leads to the disempowerment issue, each measure seems to have been systematically either compromised or weakened. I look forward to new solutions such as the Dark Mail Alliance. The issue i have is that any solution needs to be very 'consumer friendly' as unless both parties are using a secure system taking extra measures is almost pointless. eg. i take steps to chose an email provider who doesn't share their data, or is outside of the NSA/GCHQ jurisdiction but then i have to send an email to an @gmail address i know that those steps i have taken are compromised by the other party.
Re: Ask HN: Since CitizenFour, have you changed the way you conduct yourself online?
#47My take on this problem is that most people here do in fact value their privacy and the fight for privacy. That's why Snowden articles rampaged this site for so long. However, the divide comes when the decision to actually change behavior arises. We know what we can do for better online privacy: - Use tor for all internet activity - Pay cash for everything; do not own any credit cards, or use a service like Blur - Ba…
I ditched my phone about a year ago. This works for me because I use hangouts for all calls and texts, but I'm not sure if this actually gives me more privacy - now I just have my communication routed through google instead of verizon. Regardless I love that I ditched the phone. Beyond privacy, spyPhones are a scam.
If you don't carry around another radio enabled device then you have given yourself back a material amount of privacy as your physical movements around the world are harder to track.
Re: Ask HN: Since CitizenFour, have you changed the way you conduct yourself online?
#48The biggest change I made is not talking online about how I protect myself from surveillance. This thread is probably innocuous. But if I were watching one of you already, I would be very interested in hearing what you had to say about how you protect yourself, particularly if you did me the favor of analyzing its weak points for me.
Re: Ask HN: Since CitizenFour, have you changed the way you conduct yourself online?
#49- I haven't changed anything about my habits. There's probably 10+ years of stuff already available to them anyway. A change of habits is probably a significant event when studying someone's timeline.
- I did start looking into some ways to communicate more securely/anonymously if I really needed to do that but I am not confident teaching others to do the same (so talk in person with your phones in the fridge!).
- I ordered a couple of Schneier books and the Glenn Greenwald book and I'm going to try the Matasano challenges and start studying secure practices to hopefully become a more security-minded developer.
- I will probably not live in the USA for any longer than I have to, but I need more skills and experience before I can really change countries but frankly I have no idea where I would go that would be safe.
Re: Ask HN: Since CitizenFour, have you changed the way you conduct yourself online?
#50I've always browsed in a sandbox only, since the revelations however I also bought a couple of vps and now tunnel my traffic through one of the servers. This is a very cheap measure, 15$ a month, that probably increases your privacy but also attracts more attention to yourself. A more inconspicuous solution is probably a public vpn service, but those servers are not under your control and you won't be able to make su…
"NSA has VPNs in Vulcan death grip" http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/12/nsa-has-vpns-in-v... This again leads to the disempowerment issue, each measure seems to have been systematically either compromised or weakened. I look forward to new solutions such as the Dark Mail Alliance. The issue i have is that any solution needs to be very 'consumer friendly' as unless both parties are using a secure system taking…
Yes, that's exactly why I don't expect email to be secure!
Even if you were to completely own your own infrastructure for the first two hops (your computer and router). And manage all those services yourself you'd still be exposed the moment your email needed to be forwarded to a user who hasn't gone through those steps.
As for the death grip. This is pure speculation on my part, but if they can decrypt/de-cloak your traffic it's probably because they hacked/infiltrated/bribed the services as opposed to breaking the crypto. So here's me hoping that my setup is relatively safe even if it's not anonymous.