Mobile browser: Onion Browser (iOS), Orweb (Android) Web browser: Tor Browser (and Mozilla’s Firefox is the best major browser on privacy) Mobile chatting: ChatSecure (iOS)Virtual private networks (VPNs): iVPN, Private Wifi Web-based chatting: Adium with OTR, Cryptocat Online tracker blocking: our very own DNTMe
IOS proxy: FoxyProxy (configure it as a proxy, not a VPN) Private email clients: Unspyable, Countermail, or Shazzle
Here are some of our favorite tools that you can try:Įncrypt an email account you already have: Thunderbird with Enigmail Mac Mail with GPGTools Outlook with GPG4Win Tools to help you go privateįor more in-depth guides, we recommend the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Surveillance Self Defense site and .Īlso note that 1), some of these tools are kind of complicated if you aren’t tech savvy and 2), many require 2-way encryption to work (so both you and the person you’re communicating with would have to have it installed).Ī good starting place if you’re a Firefox user is our collection of simple-to-use privacy add-ons. Privacy laws certainly need an overhaul, but regulation isn’t an immediate solution for the everyday Internet user. Whether you’re concerned with 1, 2, or 3, the results are the same and the solution for consumers is the same: use tools and best practices to avoid private companies from ever getting your data in the first place. The government may use it. Enter PRISM and the NSA. Facebook is a champion of this kind of misuse by constantly changing its privacy policies and eroding default protections.ģ. The company misuses it in a way you didn’t expect or intend, that violates your privacy, or that makes you uncomfortable. Look at the LivingSocial breach as an example: 50 million people’s names, emails, birthdates, and encrypted passwords gone in one hack.Ģ. You might not care about all three, but you’ll probably care about one:ġ. Once the private sector collects personal data, three main things can happen to it. Staying more private means keeping your data out of the hands of the private companies that feed the government. Apple, AT&T, Microsoft, Google, Verizon…companies like these mine your data for commercial reasons, but they end up having to give it up to law enforcement when asked. It’s important to remember that almost all surveillance starts with private companies. They won’t eliminate your footprint, but they’ll blur the picture of you that emerges through your data. There are tools you can use to make it harder for others to track you.
Even if you rebelled against technology, ditched your mobile phone, and avoided using heavily-tracked web services like Facebook and Google, you’d still be on surveillance cameras that capture your face, license plate scanners, and credit databases, among other things.īut let’s not get pessimistic. There’s no way to block NSA surveillance completely.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t have a simple answer. What can regular people do to stop NSA spying? That’s the big question in the wake of the NSA surveillance news that’s shaken the nation.