

Ask HN: What has the NSA changed about your daily life? - lukeqsee

- I&#x27;ve purchased an offshore VPN plan.<p>- I started using PGP when at all possible (especially with business partners).<p>- I took measures to mask my surfing activity via a couple Firefox extensions and the ilk.<p>- I&#x27;m currently in the process of figuring out where to migrate from gmail for my catch-all email (personal is already migrated).<p>- I stop using gchat.<p>- I am very careful what I text (and use iMessages whenever possible).<p>- I am deliberately choosing to meet people in person whenever possible, instead of a quick phone call or text.<p>What have you done?
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Karunamon
Hmm..

* I quit using Facebook (didn't delete it.. that data's already out there), and if family really wants to get ahold of me, the messages point at a disposable email address which itself points at one of my real ones.

* I quite using Chrome, not out of any Google animus, but because Firefox has a better plugin ecosystem wrt. privacy.

* Noscript, donottrack.me, adblock, HTTPS everywhere, the whole nine yards.

* I'm in the process of quitting all cloud services I comfortably can. I purchased a HP microserver and a static IP from my ISP, I no longer need most Google services or Dropbox (Owncloud is amazing), soon I'll have my own email locally too and I can quit using them for anything but searches.

* I've started using PGP to communicate with everyone I can convince to set up the software, and always always use it if I have the option.

* I'm still looking for a way to encrypt VoIP in a reasonably palatable way. Skype is right out, but most of its alternatives are terrible for one reason or another.

~~~
sehr
How has noscript impacted your browsing experience so far?

~~~
Karunamon
Not that much, really. Once you've used it for a few weeks and your usual
sites are marked as allowed, it gets a lot quieter.

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rayj
Of course the government was spying on everyone since before 9/11\. This whole
terrorist boogeyman show has happened before, except they were called
communists then, and the time was the red scare. Only thing that has changed
is that it is much easier for the government to spy on and track the
population now since they all seem to be carrying smartphones.

 _Quit carrying smartphone except for business._ Quit carrying ID...this is
legal here, unless I am driving or going to a bar. _Started using cash /btc
for everything. _Emailed myself a list of the flagged gov terms. *Use TOR and
Tails to visit certain websites that the men in funny hats might not approve
of, and to talk about certain things that they might not approve of.

Wonder if I'll get raided by government thugs...

It is curious that there was not on-demand admin access to any windows/mac os
install among the docs that Snowden leaked, maybe Greenwald is saving that for
another couple weeks.

Oh and for kicks here's something for the NSA bots to chew through,
"Assassination, Attack, Domestic Security, Drill, Exercise, Cops, Law
Enforcement Authorities, Hazmat, Nuclear, Los Zetas, Snowden, gPGP, DDOS,
Hamas, Bulgaria, Jericho, Chemical spill, Cloud, Bacteria, H5N1, 32D3, F2H3,
Toxic, Government, Tyrant, Roman empire, Bread and circuses, Avian, CKIR,
Subway, Snowcrash, Moon landings, Area 51, Government, Idiots, Orwell, Gas
Mask, Hurcles, Windows backdoor, UNIX, Hackers."

~~~
axeny
Why exactly Bulgaria? :>

~~~
rayj
I was reading about Jehrico and Bulgaria on Wikipedia right before I posted
this. Probably should have put the 'Samson Option' in there too, just to cover
all the bases. And the other flu virii strains are keyboard-punching.

------
Lifebot
I've flagged more articles on HN about the NSA.

------
swanson
Absolutely nothing.

~~~
meerita
Same here. Ain't about being paranoic nor feeling relaxed because I have
nothing to hide, it is because I live in another country and, even wanting my
president to complain nothing will happen, anyways.

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Casseres
Nothing. The news describing the leaks indicate the NSA is doing less than I
imagined. I'm more concerned about private businesses collecting data about me
than I am the government.

~~~
adrianwaj
who's to say select businesses aren't getting it via government?

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mknits
1\. I've stopped using Facebook. although my account is still active. 2\.
Completely stopped using Chrome, it's a privacy-hazard. 3\. Installed some of
the software mentioned on [https://prism-break.org](https://prism-break.org)
and telling friends to do the same. 4\. I've stopped uploading files to
Dropbox. For backup, I've purchased an external hard disk of 1GB capacity. 5\.
I've switched and donated to Autistici mail for personal purposes.

Any more suggestions? You're welcome.

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stocktradr
Not too much but one thing it really did for me was force me to research more
about data collection and who knows what.

I downloaded a couple tools such as Tor for specific things that I don't
really want connected to me in the future. Additionally, I added the Collusion
extension for Chrome to see who is tracking what about me.

In terms of behavior, I've started reducing my activity on Facebook/Twitter.

TL;DR - Became more educated on how the stuff works and changed behavior a
bit, but nothing extreme.

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benrmatthews
1\. Educated myself about the issues and how it affects me 2\. Looked into
small practical steps to change my online habits 3\. Signed up to EFF and ORG
to get more news, updates and insights on the issue 4\. Realised more and more
how brave people like Edward Snowden are for whistleblowing

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braker
I have put much less of myself on the internet. If the information isn't
there, then there is nothing for them to spy on.

------
adrianwaj
Will finally try using Comodo Dragon and IceDragon as browsers (windows.)

