How to Shield Your Calls, Chats, and Internet Browsing From Government Surveillance

[arely staircase]

Not every communication can be tracked and eavesdropped on by the government, however, and there are ways to reduce the chances of being snooped on. First, instead of browsing the Internet in a way that reveals your IP address, you can mask your identity by using an anonymizing tool like Tor or by connecting to the Web using a Virtual Private Network. Additionally, you can avoid Google search by using an alternative like Ixquick, which has solid privacy credentials and says it does not log any IP addresses or search terms or share information with third parties.


When it comes to sending emails, if you are using a commercial provider that has been linked to the PRISM spy initiative, you can throw a spanner in the NSA’s works by learning how to send and receive encrypted emails. PGP or its free cousin GPG are considered the standard for email security, and these can be used to both encrypt and decrypt messages—meaning you can thwart surveillance unless you are unlucky enough to have Trojan spyware installed on your computer.

.....

For instant messaging and online phone or video chats, you can avoid Microsoft and Google services like Skype and Gchat by adopting more secure alternatives. Jitsi can be used for peer-to-peer encrypted video calls, and for encrypted instant message chats you can try using an “off the record” plugin with Pidgin for Windows users or Adium for Mac. Like using PGP encryption, both Pidgin and Adium can take a little bit of work to set up—but there are tutorials to help ease the pain, like this for setting up Adium and this tutorial for Pidgin.


http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/06/07/how_to_secure_and_encrypt_your_email_and_other_communications_from_prism.html

[niyad]

1. wonder how long before that is no longer the case

[arely staircase]

2. then there will be something else

i figure it i like radar detectors. the highway patrol came up with lasers and next thing you know - lser detectors.

[niyad]

3. I know, it's an endless chain of measures and counter-measures.

[loli phabay]

4. face to face works if you are both naked in a random place. cover your mouths

And have a noise generator going, other than that presume everything is being recorded and move on with life. Another good idea is use code or language that is not common.

[CK_John]

5. Fools gold info: As soon as Tor/ Ixquick hit the net the NSA was on it. If you catch everything at

the source it's gotcha time. China is proof of concept, if you control the source, tap the backbone.

[Benton D Struckcheon]

6. Safety in numbers

Millions and millions use the services listed. All PRISM is looking for is a connection between Computer A over here in Pleasantville, Anystate, and some other site they suspect is being used by the bad guys. They don't care if you're connecting to Democratic Underground - where you're posting for the world to see anyway - or to your fave porn site for a little recreation or something.
Also, it's really a lot easier even than what they're saying up there. Twitter wasn't on that infamous list you know, and you can exchange private msgs all day long there, and those of you who still remember Live Journal probably also remember you can set up a private journal there. Do that and you can pass msgs to all & sundry with no problem whatsoever. Not foolproof by any means, but first they have to know to look for you there, right? Really, if you're really concerned the ways to privacy are infinite, and not that hard to figure out.