
Steps You Can Take Right Now Against Internet Surveillance - erkose
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/10/ten-steps-against-surveillance
======
drill_sarge
I am surprised that the EFF is recommending two factor auth instead of
avoiding Google, Facebook etc. at all. Also no mention not to use certain
proprietary OS.

I think this list provides some better overview of alternatives:
[https://prism-break.org/](https://prism-break.org/)

~~~
r0h1n
Exactly! While 2-factor is a good defense against data/identity theft from
criminals or malicious hackers, I don't think it'll be of much help against
governments.

In fact I'd argue that 2-factor authentication actually _helps_ governments
_and_ private Internet companies because we willingly associate our mobile
phones to our Internet accounts.

~~~
aman_abhishk
That's right! Moreover, an average user is violated by the government more
than he is by a random hacker.

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theinterjection
Two-factor authentication requires me to give my phone number to the companies
whose products I use. That way, my Facebook profile can get associated with
the GPS location that my mobile phone may transmit. This does not seem like a
good measure for privacy.

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thomasfromcdnjs
Seems like overreaching surveillance will have to go if they keep up with
international pressure.

[http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/10/24/exclusive...](http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/10/24/exclusive_germany_brazil_turn_to_un_to_restrain_american_spies)

And also this was quite surprising news to me

"After suspected abuses of the USA PATRIOT Act were brought to light in June
2013 with articles about collection of American call records by the NSA and
the PRISM program (see 2013 mass surveillance disclosures), Representative Jim
Sensenbrenner, Republican of Wisconsin, who introduced the Patriot Act in
2001, said that the National Security Agency overstepped its bounds. He
released a statement saying “While I believe the Patriot Act appropriately
balanced national security concerns and civil rights, I have always worried
about potential abuses.” He added: “Seizing phone records of millions of
innocent people is excessive and un-American.”"[1]

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_Act#Controversy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_Act#Controversy)

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j_s
'grugq' shares current best practice, and recently stopped by HN when his blog
came up for discussion:

Anonymity Is Hard
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6521517](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6521517)

OPSEC for Hackers (video)
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XaYdCdwiWU](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XaYdCdwiWU)

~~~
grugq
ta.

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mikro2nd
> Turn on two-factor (or two-step) authentication. Google and Gmail has it

Only problem being, that involves me handing over my phone number to Google -
one personal detail too many, for me.

~~~
pornel
You can also use Google Authenticator app. AFAIR it doesn't associate phone
number with your account.

------
lukeqsee
I find it significant they still recommend using Tor even after a seeming
exposé a couple weeks back. [1] Is it the fact that some measure of security
is better than none or it makes surveillance incrementally harder?

[1] [http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/04/tor-attacks-
nsa...](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/04/tor-attacks-nsa-users-
online-anonymity)

~~~
thex86
Tor is still the best solution for online anonymity, even with the
shortcomings it has. (low-latency for one). The exploits were related to the
Tor Browser, not the Tor daemon/network.

~~~
footoverhand
Tor is the lazy man's attempt at anonymity. I wouldn't trust it since it
receives the majority of its funding from the US Government, and that
government is the reason many are looking for anonymity.

For better anonymity, ditch your cell (tracking device) and use open wifi
networks, with a fresh MAC address each time (you can't necessarily trust
routers at $Coffee_Shop to not identify who you are).

~~~
thex86
If you think the government is one coherent entity with all of them wanting to
become Big Brother, you are wrong. The fact that Tor gets its funding from the
US government is irrelevant. The source code is out there for you to see and
inspect and has been done so by many researchers from universities around the
world.

Example: The NIST openly went against NSA.

------
giardini
"Cowboy" attempts to somehow outflank the NSA are foolish.

Time and resources would be better spent asking voters to shutdown the NSA's
illegal collection of information on US citizens (for starters).

------
frank_boyd
> 1\. Use end-to-end encryption.

> 2\. Encrypt as much communications as you can.

[http://retroshare.sourceforge.net/](http://retroshare.sourceforge.net/) has
got your back.

~~~
drill_sarge
or [https://gnunet.org/](https://gnunet.org/)

------
jarek-foksa
> use EFF's HTTPS Everywhere browser addon for Chrome

Chrome meets all criteria to be classified as malware software, just because a
big name company is behind it doesn't make it any less malicious.

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darkbot
Quit Facebook. Use an alternative, like Diaspora*.

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Zecc
0\. Become a hermit and stop using the internet

