Tools which protect our privacy. Post your tools / ways you are using and opinions.

Discussion in 'Serious Discussion' started by Yen, Jul 23, 2013.

  1. Mr Jinje

    Mr Jinje MDL Expert

    Aug 19, 2009
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    #21 Mr Jinje, Sep 12, 2013
    Last edited: Sep 12, 2013
    Testing is key to finding security holes.

    As you can see, my security is bulletproof.

     
  2. kata2k8

    kata2k8 MDL Novice

    Jul 6, 2011
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    #22 kata2k8, Sep 13, 2013
    Last edited: Sep 13, 2013
    I use customized hosts (mvps hosts+additional) ;customized mozilla settings (geolocation disabled, addons like https everywhere, secret agent, referer button, no script,cookie monster...) ; ipfilter and peerblock ...; windows smart screen off.
    I try to do something for my privacy , but know it is not enough.
     
  3. R29k

    R29k MDL GLaDOS

    Feb 13, 2011
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    You original ip has to be somewhere that's the problem if you don't want to be tracked then you need to surf without an ip which is impossible. VPN is probably the worse thing you can use especially if the person tracking you has the power to demand the ip be given to them.
     
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  4. Stannieman

    Stannieman MDL Guru

    Sep 4, 2009
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    3 things I'm doing:
    - My folder with cracks/keys/an excel file with all my passwords is in a truecrypt container.
    - Always use https/ssl when available. In µTorrent I do accept unencrypted connections though (for the speed). But this is not really helpful if the spies are watching the server on the other side.
    - When sending a file with private info to someone it's always encrypted. Not with public/private key but just symmetric encryption, so one "could intercept the key I sent over sms or chat".

    Apart from these thing I don't do much to have more privacy. You could of course start compiling ALL your software/linux distro/drivers yourself from open source to make sure there's no spyware, but I don't want to put any time in this paranoia.
     
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  5. nodnar

    nodnar MDL Expert

    Oct 15, 2011
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    wise man, probably.. but i do want to put some time into this paranoia.
    because i think that it can be done. not with open source stuff, linux
    has never worked for me, it never will. and open source, imo, offers
    no guarantees that some good boy did not write some few lines of code
    into it without anyone noticing. no, back to the drawing board, i think.
    just my 2 cents.
     
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  6. timesurfer

    timesurfer MDL Developer

    Nov 22, 2009
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    The feds pay for 60 percent of Tor’s development :fear2:...lol

    Funny that with tor brows when I went to duckduckgo tor actually blocked something from duckduckgo :suicide:...lol

    Thank you for this thread :shisha:
     
  7. timesurfer

    timesurfer MDL Developer

    Nov 22, 2009
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    Couple questions:

    1. Comment on this article please

    2. Why won't this music streaming work in tor

    Thank you
     
  8. EFA11

    EFA11 Avatar Guru

    Oct 7, 2010
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    how do you think they get info lol. Far easier to let tor users do the work, all the fed has to do is collect the bonus. :D
     
  9. timesurfer

    timesurfer MDL Developer

    Nov 22, 2009
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    #29 timesurfer, Sep 14, 2013
    Last edited: Sep 14, 2013
    So it's safer to just have vpn or use ingcognito tab. What the heck is going on :eek:...lol

    And what about tor for android. I tried to install and certs didn't match up and my phone wouldn't let me install unless it came from android or specific site :suicide:...lol

    Is like the cops telling a criminal they've won a flat screen TV and the criminal goes to pick it up but gets arrested and no TV :ranting:...lol
     
  10. gorski

    gorski MDL Guru

    Oct 21, 2009
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    Sadly, I am sooooo boooorrrriiiiing (these days) that I do not particularly mess with security too much... There's nothing much to see, not "out of the ordinary", hehhhhh... :D :D :D

    Not a hacker, not a coder with unbreakable encryption patent pending, not a thief, on or off line, not a terrorist, not a... you get a picture...

    Just a philosopher, me... :D :p :D Remember: "If you wanna live dangerously - study Philosophy!!!"???:rolleyes::biggrin::yeahyeah:
     
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  11. gorski

    gorski MDL Guru

    Oct 21, 2009
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    Btw, I mentioned here an encryption tool from the then apartheid South Africa, who were an international pariah at the time, and refused sharing the decryption key(s) with the primarily US "intelligence services", of course... This story was quite a bit of a scoop in the pirate/hacker world at the time, which makes me think that this story isn't new by any means...

    Maybe just the scope of snooping and public focus is a novelty - all else is already seen and keeps happening, of course, as one would expect...

    On the other hand we have discussed the dark net here and frankly, I do not want my PC just a nod in a DarkNet mayhem...

    For reasons already mentioned, from arms dealers, paedophiles, rapists and murders onwards being helped by me...
     
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  12. sid_16

    sid_16 MDL Giveaway Organiser

    Oct 15, 2011
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    One of the first lines of defense we have against the plague of security and privacy problems that stalk the internet resides within our browsers. This article is meant to help you to harden your browser against all types of problems. However, do note that I would strongly suggest that even if your main concern is only about privacy you should still read through the security sections as well. Preventing your computer from communicating with potentially dangerous sites, and helping to avoid malware, plays a very important role in increasing your online privacy. Thus, protecting your privacy really does require that you also increase your security.

    This is a good article about the safety and security of our daily internet activity. Please have a look at this article .
     
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  13. sid_16

    sid_16 MDL Giveaway Organiser

    Oct 15, 2011
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    These days it often feels like online privacy is an unattainable illusion. The truth is that there are many things you can do to greatly increase your privacy. This article is meant to present you with some general strategies to protect your online privacy. Please choose the methods that work best for you.
    Another good one to read is here .
     
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  14. Yen

    Yen Admin
    Staff Member

    May 6, 2007
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    That is IMHO far-fetched, even the wrong POV (could be from the NSA themselves)..'criminals are using tor'...

    You don't need to configure a tor relay when using it. One cannot consider the network to be responsible when criminal offences had been made through it. To say one helps criminals when using tor is totally amiss. :rolleyes:

    Where do you think are more criminal offences made? Through the internet or the 'dark' net?


    The Tor network has a bad reputation, and the press likes to have big headlines :"Paedophiles can do what the want at tor.."

    As I have mentioned, those who care about privacy are put together with criminals using the same measures. And I am sick of it. This is just a manner used by those who actually want to control and with networks as tor it is actually harder for them...

    The problem is elsewhere. There is no anonymity at the web. Everywhere one goes the own IP is transmitted. It's like when you call somebody and there is constantly at the background a voice saying your full address where you live, or more accurate leaving back the address when called. (doesn't even needed to be answered.)
    And the one who calls cannot decide about.

    These are the reasons why people move to other networks. The criminal mind was there before the 'dark net'. If I would have privacy I don't need other networks such as onion network.

    The entire thing is about freedom / crime, control / safety....and yes there are people who can deal with freedom without to become criminal.
     
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  15. gorski

    gorski MDL Guru

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    #35 gorski, Sep 16, 2013
    Last edited: Sep 16, 2013
    Nonsense. Just because NSA are saying it does not make it immediately wrong. Just look at the evidence of what you can find there...

    Nonsense! One IS helping those guys if you open your PC to them.

    If I could open my computer to dissidents in backwards countries I'd do it!

    But not so for arms and drugs paddlers, prostitution and paedophile rings and whatnot!

    Why DarkNet, have you ever thought of that with any seriousness?!?

    Well, even the makers of such SW making the DarkNet possible, do not deny what you are trying to make light of and dismiss out of hand without due consideration, just because you want the other side of it.

    I want the good side of DarkNet but on reflection I do not want the other side more. I think we can still do what needs to be done do undermine capitalism and all that cr@p through internet and other means of modern telecommunications, rather than DarkNet!

    Do paedophiles exist? Can they be caught relatively easily on Tor? Are they using these tools? Do we want them stopped? Can we do it just as well with or without Tor etc. - i.e. if Tor and similar tools are freely available to them and we must open our PCs to them so they can have their way?!?

    I rest my case...

    Nonsense! Whether you like it or not - you can NOT deny that they are both using the same tools. As mentioned, even the creators of such tools wouldn't do what you are trying to do right now.

    But then again, you still think of Science and Technology as "only tools", similar to "a knife can be used to slice bread or throats", so never mind... You have an agenda and it ain't pretty or too deep... I.e. not well thought through, I am sorry to say...

    Sure, in fooked up Human Beings, fooked up by the Capitalist system but also by their families etc. They do exist. Our children exist. We also need protecting. Whether you like it or not. From unscrupulous arms dealers, for instance. Or killers for hire. And so on. All that is there for a price... Sociopaths do exist. And they use such tools. (Oh, gu on, play an ostrich game now...)

    Hold on, the questions is "Is criminal mind helped by such networks a great deal"? Yes or no? And be honest, for crying out loud and stop deluding yourself. (At the very least you can not fool us...)

    Jeez, you have no idea what freedom entails... Please, tell me you do know of mutuality included in the notion etc.
     
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  16. Yen

    Yen Admin
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    May 6, 2007
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    I said could be from them.....it's not about right or wrong. It's about from where it could be, from an institution that has a doubtful anti-democratic behavior.


    As I have posted. One can use tor without to configure a relay, a little bit of knowledge and history of onion routing would make up your mind.


    The 'side' is represented by the users' intention. The technology which is used by tor (onion routing) has been developed by the US navy!


    It's about laws and about the own idea of right and wrong. Already used a torrent / network? Are you aware that you support crime according to your idea? Copyright infringement is a crime. What would be if every user would have installed a tor relay?


    Yes they are 'only' tools! The web is a tool also. I want people taking their responsibility using those tools. And not saying like you do: Science and technology are responsible for......The Dark net itself is not criminal and does not break any law. These are the people.
    Shallow is your opinion when saying you are doing something against crime not using tor or saying each tor user supports crime.
    The reputation of Tor becomes better with each additional user using it conform to laws.
    Tor is a communication network that allows more privacy, nothing more. The good old land line is quite the same.


    Who should protect? The government who sells themselves weapons to other countries?
    Or isn't it the parent's job?

    Communication infrastructure itself is not the issue. The same question would be: Is a criminal mind helped by the invention of the car to escape after a bank robbery.

    The criminal mind has a cause and that is not the dark net. The dark net is its effect.

    Nobody of both (government / people) actually knows what freedom is.
    Freedom means to recognize that there is actually nothing that ever belongs to you.

    In conclusion to that there is no need for any crime (action that brings suffer on others).
    The false idea of freedom makes some to want to control and others to want to have their privacy.
    Those who need to control assume that others are not be able to live in freedom. They are potential criminals to them.
    Those who want privacy also don't know what freedom actually is. They protect 'own' things. Things they are tied to, are identified with.
    As long as there is the need to control as long we need privacy.

    To want to have privacy and to use tools which have more of it doesn't mean to have a criminal mind, though.
    This is propaganda of media and the government themselves. The reason is that they would lose control. STASI methods (SI stands for security btw..), you want back such an institution, no thanks the ex-eastern part of Germany (GDR, D= democratic, lol)) has had it already, a bit of too much 'red' politics and 'protection'.

    The good old question: How much privacy the generality must give up to seemingly prevent potential crimes of a few?
    All this decided by a institution that itself is not free of those crimes.

    I can recommend tor for anybody who wants some anonymity. To presume to support criminals when using tor is far off.
    One who is using tor knows if he's criminal or not. It seems a society cannot be without criminals. I rather deal with some 'private' criminals (eventually using tor), than with an STASI again.

    Own idea / thought of freedom might appear as a prison to others. 'Real' freedom is nobody's idea, it is the nature of being.
     
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  17. zen45

    zen45 MDL Addicted

    Feb 25, 2010
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    guys you own nothing, you control nothing, you think you own a home, don't pay property taxes now see who owns it. control to do what you want on the net in private without anybody knowing what your doing is a myth anymore Big Brother is here and he's the government and big business !!! :mad:
     
  18. gorski

    gorski MDL Guru

    Oct 21, 2009
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    #38 gorski, Sep 17, 2013
    Last edited: Sep 17, 2013
    Taxes are necessary! Without them we would not have even a semi-decent society, in Capitalism. The question is how much which group (income-wise) pay and what do we get for that money!

    Somebody needs to organise society, we must pay for education, health service, roads, organising traffic, pensions, protection of vulnerable, weak and infirm, infrastructure in general....

    Progressive taxation is an achievement of Modernity, esp. after the big collapse between the 2 World Wars and after WWII - which is now being eroded, sadly...

    Btw, we control our own (non)actions, which makes us potential subjects, even though we may not be so at the moment...

    We "own" our own lives, we (do not) take responsibility and hence we fall or rise...

    (Be careful - with such unqualified statements one may cringe...)

    EDIT:

    Yen, sometimes I think of you as one of those nut-job scientists living in a cloud-cuckoo-land not having a clue... :D

    Seriously, I wouldn't know where to start with your responses, as you appear not to agree with my objections - only to confirm the basis for my objections (from the first one onwards)...:eek: I am at a loss, so I will leave it at that - there is enough there for one to make one's mind up...:drink:
     
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  19. gorski

    gorski MDL Guru

    Oct 21, 2009
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    Btw, you could factually teach us how to make Tor work for only the ones we select and not for anyone... Pretty please...:cool:
     
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  20. Yen

    Yen Admin
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    May 6, 2007
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    I am using the tor browser bundle issued by the tor project when I want to browse anonymously. The Vidalia control panel that comes with the bundle has the option to setup relaying. Just tick there use as client only. (default).

    You can setup it as an relay with no outgoing traffic or as a relay with outgoing traffic (outgoing relays). But that belongs to your idea what is right to you.

    I use it as client only and that is IMHO an acceptable use. I do not use tor when I administer MDL, though. I only want to prevent some sites collecting my IP. Also the bundle comes with a modified FF which also uses startpage as a anonymous search engine.

    I find it quite usable, of course one can have another opinion. The touch one must have a criminal mind using it will stick on those, that is an issue I have problems with. :)

    "We "own" our own lives, we (do not) take responsibility and hence we fall or rise..."
    Not to start a philosophical discussion, but who is left when the one who 'owns' his life will lose it?
    To me another aspect of freedom is to know that I do not own my life, I am life.
    I cannot lose what I am. I can only lose what I seem to have.

    "Yen, sometimes I think of you as one of those nut-job scientists living in a cloud-cuckoo-land not having a clue..."
    Not 'your' clue. :):hug2:
    Anyway nice to have other opinions.
     
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