Ask Slashdot: How Do You Protect Your Privacy These Days? Or Do You?

An anonymous reader writes "The NSA snoops traffic and has backdoors in encryption algorithms. Law enforcement agencies are operating surveillance drones domestically (not to mention traffic cameras and satellites). Commercial entities like Google, Facebook and Amazon have vast data on your internet behavior. The average Joe has sophisticated video-shooting and sharing technology in his pocket, meaning your image can be spread anywhere anytime. Your private health, financial, etc. data is protected by under-funded IT organizations which are not under your control. Is privacy even a valid consideration anymore, or is it simply obsolete? If you think you can maintain your privacy, how do you go about it?"

I don't care (so much) as long as (fillinfodder)

[G3ckoG33k]

Most people I have talked with are angry, but don't know how to act against it.

Proxies and encryption

[MoonFog]

I think it's important to protect my privacy despite not having much they are interested in. I encrypt my harddrives, have my own domain with e-mail that I've set up with GnuPG on my workstation and laptop, I sometimes use the TOR bundle as well as a USB with Tails on it. The simplest thing is that I subscribe to https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/ [privateint...access.com] to get proxy/VPN access to the net. Also, setting Firefox up with HTTPS everywhere, DNTPlus, NoScript etc. is important.

It doesn't take much to make their jobs harder. I use these things also for everyday items, it's not like I fire up PIA to "go dark and do evil stuff". I've plenty of friends that don't see the point of doing what I do when what I use it for isn't illegal, but privacy means privacy from prying eyes, I decide what I share with others.

Re:Not too bothered

[somenickname]

The NSA *is* a criminal gang. And, it's a criminal gang that can put you in jail for breaking laws that you don't even realize you are breaking.

Re:ALWAYS BE PARANOID

[1s44c]

Don't use windows. Even if you don't believe the NSA backdoored windows the NSA do get every bug alert long before anyone else does. They also have no problem using script kiddie tactics.

Using windows is like storing your data in a transparent bag in full view of the world.

Move away from US services; use encryption

[bradley13]

Three things:

- I am making an effort - both privately, and for the companies I consult with, to move away from US-based services. This is a long-term strategy, as changing company infrastructure can take time.

- Encrypt everything. It take a bit of work, but you can set up encryption so that it is transparent to the casual user. Just as an example, with EncFS you can automatically and transparently encrypt data you store in the cloud. The user sees the unencrypted version, but the encrypted version is synchronized with the cloud.

- Teach people about password managers like KeePass. Get people to use long, cryptographically difficult passwords. Bonus points: copy-paste out of a password manager eliminates over-the-shoulder observation, keyloggers, passwords written on post-its, etc.

propaganda

[Tom]

We've seen a lot of this propaganda in the past years and I refuse to believe it. What I mean is the attempt to spread a meme that says "post-privacy" or "privacy is done for anyways".

Look who the proponents of this meme are. Always, always the people who want it to be the case - Zuckerberg, government spy units, advertisers.

No, the battle isn't over while one side still fights. And there is quite a lot you can do to maintain your privacy. And like everywhere, there's a law of diminishing returns, which means the first steps, that bring you a ton of privacy back, are really, really easy.

Step No. 1: Don't post all your life to Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Security researchers have demonstrated years ago how from that data alone they can create extensive profiles on you, including movement data that police would need a search warrent for your mobile provider for.

Step No. 2: Keep your secrets secret. If you want to share them with someone because you just have to talk with someone about the guy you murdered last week, or the hot chick you cheated on your wife with last month, or how you really hate your grandma even though you always play nice at the family events because she's rich - or whatever is on your conscious, do it in person, face-to-face only.

And that's about it. 80% of your privacy restored right there.

Whine about the NSA all you want, but if I can reconstruct where and with whom you have been with at what time on which day from your social media data, the biggest threat to your privacy is yourself.