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Ask HN: Since CitizenFour, have you changed the way you conduct yourself online?

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Re: Ask HN: Since CitizenFour, have you changed the way you conduct yourself online?

#61

Post by icantthinkofone »

mikegioia wrote: post #29
icantthinkofone wrote: post #23

No. I have no need to. There are better things to do with my time. It's like saying I won't drive my car on the street because the police are watching you. But the police are looking for bad guys, not me. I'm not a bad guy. I see so many people trying to block the police from doing their work finding bad guys. They don't want road checks for drunk drivers but then complain when a drunk driver kills someone. They don'…

They don't want road checks for drunk drivers but then complain when a drunk driver kills someone. They don't want license plate scans for criminals and drug trafficking yet complain when they aren't caught. I think the problem here is not that people don't want police to do those things, it's the belief that the power, once granted, will be abused. Drunk driving checks to catch drunk drivers are a good thing, but wh…

You can come up with all kinds of "what ifs" while forgetting our (in the US) system of checks and balances which protestors forget about and want to circumvent by creating vigilante groups to take care of matters on their own. Anything can be made open for abuse but you are assuming no one is watching and will do nothing about it.

Funny. Just a few minutes ago, I was watching NBC News story about the 3 teenage kids who went to Syria on their own. The family lawyer complained that, since the government is watching all the social media they posted on, why didn't they alert the family so this could be stopped?

To which all of HN would reply, "But ... but ..."

Re: Ask HN: Since CitizenFour, have you changed the way you conduct yourself online?

#62

Post by icantthinkofone »

mikegioia wrote: post #29
icantthinkofone wrote: post #23

No. I have no need to. There are better things to do with my time. It's like saying I won't drive my car on the street because the police are watching you. But the police are looking for bad guys, not me. I'm not a bad guy. I see so many people trying to block the police from doing their work finding bad guys. They don't want road checks for drunk drivers but then complain when a drunk driver kills someone. They don'…

They don't want road checks for drunk drivers but then complain when a drunk driver kills someone. They don't want license plate scans for criminals and drug trafficking yet complain when they aren't caught. I think the problem here is not that people don't want police to do those things, it's the belief that the power, once granted, will be abused. Drunk driving checks to catch drunk drivers are a good thing, but wh…

You can come up with all kinds of "what ifs" while forgetting our (in the US) system of checks and balances which protestors forget about and want to circumvent by creating vigilante groups to take care of matters on their own. Anything can be made open for abuse but you are assuming no one is watching and will do nothing about it.

Funny but, on NBC News tonight, there was a story about 3 kids who went to Syria on their own. The family lawyer complained that the government, which is watching Facebook and all the social media they posted on, according to him, why didn't they alert the family to prevent this.

Re: Ask HN: Since CitizenFour, have you changed the way you conduct yourself online?

#63

Post by robotkilla »

d0ne wrote: post #47
robotkilla wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

This is true and was one of my motivating factors.

Re: Ask HN: Since CitizenFour, have you changed the way you conduct yourself online?

#64

Post by mod »

robotkilla wrote: post #38
mikegioia wrote: post #33

My 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.

They cost too much, and the privacy issues are obvious--but I really love my phone. I don't even use the phone/sms options very much, what I really love is the data service & "computer" and what it gives me.

Spotify in my car, gps/maps when I'm out of town, google results, HN, etc...I'd miss it sorely if I ditched it.

I could spent a lot of time and/or money setting all of that up in "offline mode," essentially. Mp3s, some map software, wikipedia offline...but in the end, we really can't trust pretty much any of the hardware available, so it might check in on every open network or something.

I'd totally splurge for an anonymous plan, with a trusted data provider, and open hardware platform.

Note: I did go 3 months with no phone a couple of years ago while I lived in Costa Rica--but I was either on my PC or at the beach. Never wanted a phone.

Re: Ask HN: Since CitizenFour, have you changed the way you conduct yourself online?

#65

Post by mod »

FLUX-YOU wrote: post #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…

What's your goal in leaving the USA?

Your rights are more likely to be infringed by the NSA--you're not "protected as an American" to whatever extent that remains or might be reinstated.

If it's for privacy--you'll have less of it.

Re: Ask HN: Since CitizenFour, have you changed the way you conduct yourself online?

#66

Post by Sami_Lehtinen »

teekert wrote: post #12

After reading Glenn Greenwald's book, I supported https://protonmail.ch/ , an encrypted email service based in the EU (Switzerland -edit: no it is not, should have said "Europe"-). It's currently in beta, I'm waiting for custom domain support and apps. The complete focus on "but Americans are protected" as an excuse for the NSA spying makes me actively seek out local services that are privacy aware. I use Telegram wi…

If your Dutch is limited, I recommend https://www.transip.eu really excellent option to Digital Ocean.

Re: Ask HN: Since CitizenFour, have you changed the way you conduct yourself online?

#67

Post by [deleted] »

icantthinkofone wrote: post #61
mikegioia wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't want road checks for drunk drivers but then complain when a drunk driver kills someone. They don't want license plate scans for criminals and drug trafficking yet complain when they aren't caught. I think the problem here is not that people don't want police to do those things, it's the belief that the power, once granted, will be abused. Drunk driving checks to catch drunk drivers are a good thing, but wh…

You can come up with all kinds of "what ifs" while forgetting our (in the US) system of checks and balances which protestors forget about and want to circumvent by creating vigilante groups to take care of matters on their own. Anything can be made open for abuse but you are assuming no one is watching and will do nothing about it. Funny. Just a few minutes ago, I was watching NBC News story about the 3 teenage kids…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Since CitizenFour, have you changed the way you conduct yourself online?

#68

Post by robotkilla »

mod wrote: post #64
robotkilla wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

They cost too much, and the privacy issues are obvious--but I really love my phone. I don't even use the phone/sms options very much, what I really love is the data service & "computer" and what it gives me. Spotify in my car, gps/maps when I'm out of town, google results, HN, etc...I'd miss it sorely if I ditched it. I could spent a lot of time and/or money setting all of that up in "offline mode," essentially. Mp3s…

i was just as tethered to my phone until I got rid of it. The fact that I don't leave the house much puts me at an advantage.
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