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. gorski

    gorski MDL Guru

    Oct 21, 2009
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    #381 gorski, Oct 25, 2019
    Last edited: Jan 10, 2020
    No, it's not "obvious"!

    OpenVPN uses encryption that is heavier than IKEv2, hence you can be left with considerably less speed. It is not enough to say NordVPN! One must say which kind of encryption. Some processors have that kind of encryption supported on the HW level by default, some don't...

    But NordVPN has other types of encyption, too, IKEv2 as well. That will take much less of your speed and you will still be protected, pass the geo-blocking and so on.

    And even if you are only left with a third of your full speed - it is still more than enough... In Joe's case it's almost 50% of a fast connection, so not an issues even with OpenVPN!

    So, no, nothing is "obvious" in here. One actually has to inform oneself and think a bit...
     
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  2. CHEF-KOCH

    CHEF-KOCH MDL Expert

    Jan 7, 2008
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    #382 CHEF-KOCH, Nov 24, 2019
    Last edited: Nov 27, 2019
    SurfShark is not expensive.

    Wire does not protect you against metadata leakage. However Matrix is more promising it's also mentioned on PTIO.

    You could use Brave.

    NoScript is practical dead since WebExtensions, the functions are limited and some features got natively introduced into the Browser (Chrome/Firefox). YOu can use uBlock with umatrix in combination which overall provides more than just app-blocking it also allows controlling JavaScript on per-site basis, font blocking etc.

    You do not need Privacy Badger if you use UBlock. HTTPS Everywhere is not needed if you use Brave Browser (it's basically iincluded) or better use FORCE HTTPS which is the better solution to ensure EVERY outgoing connection uses HTTPS.

    FireMonkey is more private, smaller and does not waste many resources.


    I could share my login data with you if it's only a money problem. My provider allows me to use 5 devices, I only use 4, again see above, VPN's aren't expensive.


    Maybe check "Terms of Service; Didn’t Read".

    Do not do that, it's pointless since it will slow down your browser. CHeck how many numbers are really used (see the little number on the right site once you enabled a filter) and then just decide it it makes sense. E.g. Disconnect and PrivacyList using the same source so you don't need the disconnect list (one example).


    Yep, Kiwi is good for Android, fast and clean + it allows ad-blocking (uBO).
     
  3. gorski

    gorski MDL Guru

    Oct 21, 2009
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    https://twitter.com/i/status/1209149926900404225?cn=ZmxleGlibGVfcmVjc18y&refsrc=email

    How does one protect from this?!?
    Edward Snowden
    @Snowden

    ·
    Dec 23, 2019
    Total Surveillance Is Not What America Signed Up For

    By The Editorial BoardDEC. 21, 2019


    ONE NATION, TRACKED

    IT IS A FEDERAL CRIME to open a piece of junk mail that’s addressed to someone else. Listening to someone else’s phone call without a court order can also be a federal crime.

    The Supreme Court has ruled that the location data served up by mobile phones is also covered by constitutional protections. The government can’t request it without a warrant.

    But the private sector doesn’t need a warrant to get hold of your data. There’s little to prevent companies from tracking the precise movements of hundreds of millions of Americans and selling copies of that dataset to anyone who can pay the price.

    The incongruity between the robust legal regime around legacy methods of privacy invasion and the paucity of regulation around more comprehensive and intrusive modern technologies has come into sharp relief in an investigation into the location data industry by Times Opinion. The investigation, which builds on work last year by The Times’s newsroom, was based on a dataset provided to Times Opinion by sources alarmed by the power of the tracking industry. The largest such file known to have been examined by journalists, it reveals more than 50 billion location pings from the phones of more than 12 million Americans across several major cities.

    By analyzing these pings, our journalists were able to track the movements of President Trump’s Secret Service guards and of senior Pentagon officials. They could follow protesters to their homes and stalk high-school students across Los Angeles. In most cases, it was child’s play for them to connect a supposedly anonymous data trail to a name and an address — to a real live human being.

    Your smartphone can broadcast your exact location thousands of times per day, through hundreds of apps, instantaneously to dozens of different companies. Each of those companies has the power to follow individual mobile phones wherever they go, in near-real time.

    That’s not a glitch in the system. It is the system.

    If the government ordered Americans to continuously provide such precise, real-time information about themselves, there would be a revolt. Members of Congress would trample one another to be first in front of the cable news cameras to quote the founders and insist on our rights to be free of such pervasive surveillance.

    Yet, as a society, without ever focusing on this profound choice, we’ve reached a tacit consensus to hand this data over voluntarily, even though we don’t really know who’s getting it or what they’re doing with it. As the close of 2019 approaches, everybody is searching for the meaning of the decade. Here’s a thought: This is the decade — the period since the founding of the App Store, in 2008 — in which we were brainwashed into surveilling ourselves.
     
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  4. gorski

    gorski MDL Guru

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    https://euobserver.com/justice/147158?utm_source=euobs&utm_medium=email

    Government-led mass surveillance schemes in Belgium, France and the United Kingdom were delivered a potential blow by an opinion from the advocate-general of the EU's top court in Luxembourg on Wednesday (15 January).

    While not binding, the opinion is already being celebrated as a victory among some privacy defenders, amid their larger efforts to curtail abusive policies that force companies to blanket retain the personal data of people for police and national security access.

    The opinion noted, among other things, that state efforts to combat terrorism must comply with EU privacy laws.

    "This is good news," Diego Naranjo of the Brussels-based European Digital Rights group told EUobserver, noting governments may no longer use national security as an excuse to ignore an EU law known as the e-privacy directive to sweep up telecommunication data.

    Naranjo believes the judges at the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice (ECJ) are likely to follow the opinion because of pre-existing case law that also aligns to views held by civil society and academics alike.

    The court had in 2014 already declared the EU data retention directive invalid and then two years later, in a separate case, ruled that the general and indiscriminate retention of communications was unlawful.

    Similar comments were made by the London-based charity Privacy International, who had filed the initial complaint against the UK. In a statement, Privacy International's legal director Caroline Wilson Palow described the opinion as a boost for privacy.

    "We all benefit when robust rights schemes, like the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, are applied and followed. If the court agrees with the AG's opinion, then unlawful bulk-surveillance schemes, including one operated by the UK, will be reined in," she said.

    Spy and security agencies

    Should the ECJ follow the opinion then government access to things like traffic and location data will be more much restricted, requiring all three countries to possibly amend their own rulebooks.

    The issue revolves around a series of national laws that allow spy and security agencies total access to phone and internet users' data.

    In the UK, the current law means requiring companies to hand over in bulk all communication data to the security and intelligence agencies. In France, it means making the firms retain subscriber traffic and location data.

    Manuel Campos Sánchez-Bordona, the advocate-general behind the opinion, was more forgiving in the Belgian case noting its law could be maintained in "exceptional and temporary basis" and only for a limited time and when absolutely needed.

    But his broad assessment was clear. Sánchez-Bordona said the "means and methods of combating terrorism must be compatible with the requirements of the rule of law."

    That includes limiting access to data following a prior review carried out either by a court or by an independent administrative authority.

    And - if it doesn't jeapordise ongoing investigations - people should also be notified if their details are being accessed.

    However, the advocate-general also left the door open to wider surveillance "in exceptional situations characterised by an imminent threat or an extraordinary risk."

    Terror threat

    Whatever the outcome of the final judgement, authorities in Belgium and France, not withstanding the UK's end-of-the-month exit from the European Union, are likely to take issue with the opinion.

    All three had suffered major terrorist attacks in recent years.

    The French ministry of defence in 2016 had already tried to dismiss the case brought against it by the Paris-based NGO La Quadrature du Net. Similar efforts were tabled by France's prime minister in 2016 and then again in 2018.
     
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  5. Joe C

    Joe C MDL Guru

    Jan 12, 2012
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  6. gorski

    gorski MDL Guru

    Oct 21, 2009
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    OK, we have a policy in the making, which should protect our rights:

    https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/...9eFhbPLB9R0CsrilacvaWpnZg3vsdQ766wOHd3ivGPThk

    Democratic presidential frontrunner Bernie Sanders thinks the federal government must do more to ensure that people’s internet browsing histories aren’t tracked and sold to big companies.

    Sanders joins fellow senators Mark Warner and Ron Wyden in calling for action over the secretive industry that makes millions of dollars tracking and selling the internet behavior of ordinary internet users. A joint investigation by Motherboard and PCMag published Monday found that Avast antivirus, which has more than 435 million users around the world, is selling its users’ browsing habits to companies like Google, Microsoft, McKinsey, Pepsi, Yelp, Condé Nast, and Home Depot through a subsidiary called Jumpshot.

    “No reasonable person would expect antivirus software to be selling off their private browsing data to the highest bidder,” a spokesperson for Sanders told Motherboard. “Unfortunately, this story fits a pattern of the largest technology corporations trampling over the rights of consumers with near impunity.”

    Our investigation found that Jumpshot sells “every search. Every click. Every buy. On every site.” One of its products is a so-called All Clicks Feed.” Huge corporations have bought this data, which tracks users all over the internet, including on porn sites.

    The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said Monday that the agency is “very familiar with how these markets for data operate, and will not hesitate to take appropriate action as necessary where we find conduct that violates the laws we enforce.”

    Sanders' statement says that’s not enough: “If the FTC is to regain credibility and serve the public interest, it must take a stronger stand on issues like this one.”
     
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  7. gorski

    gorski MDL Guru

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  8. nodnar

    nodnar MDL Expert

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    did you read the title of this thread at all, i wonder?
    i am not on social media for this very reason; to protect my privacy..
    welcome to mdl, btw:)
     
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  9. somakuna

    somakuna MDL Novice

    Dec 14, 2018
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    I really like & respect open source apps and projects.
    They are not controlled by big companies and the main essence of open source app is to serve a purpose
     
  10. nodnar

    nodnar MDL Expert

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    hm. let me whisper something in your ear.. the crooks in this tragi-comedy have got a purpose too..
    to make as much money as possible and as fast as possible.;)
     
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  11. gorski

    gorski MDL Guru

    Oct 21, 2009
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    No sh*t, Sherlock...

    BREAKING: A federal appeals court just ruled that the NSA’s bulk collection of Americans’ phone records was illegal. This ruling, which confirms what we have always known, is a victory for our privacy rights.

    https://twitter.com/ACLU/status/1301227394511122432

    Finally, some instance that has no problem in stating that the Emperor is indeed - naked!!!!
     
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  12. gorski

    gorski MDL Guru

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    https://www.sbsun.com/2020/09/10/ed...&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_content=tw-sbsun

    "Seven years after it was exposed by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, a federal appeals court has ruled that the NSA’s bulk collection of phone metadata was illegal and unnecessary.

    Once again, Americans are reminded that government will too often trample over our rights in the name of security when it is neither just nor necessary to do so.

    A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled on Sept. 2 that “the metadata collection exceeded the scope of Congress’s authorization … which required the government to make a showing of relevance to a particular authorized investigation before collecting the records …”

    Further, the court concluded that “the government may have violated the Fourth Amendment and did violate the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (‘FISA’) when it collected the telephony metadata of millions of Americans.”

    The case at hand involved appeals from four Somali immigrants who were convicted for “sending, or conspiring to send, $10,900 to Somalia to support a foreign terrorist organization.”

    Notably, the panel, having condemned the metadata collection program, affirmed the convictions, since lawful wiretaps gave the government more than enough information to go after the individuals.

    Evidence collected by way of the metadata program wasn’t essential to the case.

    “Seven years ago, as the news declared I was being charged as a criminal for speaking the truth, I never imagined that I would live to see our courts condemn the NSA’s activities as unlawful and in the same ruling credit me for exposing them,” tweeted Edward Snowden in response to the ruling. “And yet that day has arrived.”

    The ruling comes not long after President Trump mentioned he was considering pardoning Snowden. Snowden broke the law, sure, but he did so in the interests of revealing to the American people the extent to which government was willing to go to spy on them. He deserves a pardon."
     
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  13. gorski

    gorski MDL Guru

    Oct 21, 2009
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    Edward Snowden
    @snowden

    Domestic surveillance is alive and well. Use @signalapp to protect voice and video calls (for free). twitter.com/rdevro/status/…
     
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  14. gorski

    gorski MDL Guru

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    Edward Snowden
    This is the most interesting mobile security project I've seen in a very long time, by one of technology's brightest minds. Keep an eye on it. (Here's an academic paper we wrote together on hacking the iPhone—for which he did by far the hardest work: https://tjoe.org/pub/direct-radio-introspection… )

    bunnie
    @bunniestudios
    I’m making a mobile open source electronics platform, called Precursor. It’s 100% open and hackable, and designed to be carried in your pocket at just 7.2mm thick. Learn more about it, and sign up to be notified when the crowdfunding campaign goes live: https://crowdsupply.com/sutajio-kosagi/precursor…
     
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  15. gorski

    gorski MDL Guru

    Oct 21, 2009
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    Here is a great tool - a really great tool to protect our privacy: laws!!!

    https://edri.org/our-work/a-victory...I5MdMrSG0ujufVsFnJsi1UpS-ki1CsTv1O5m7i-MulKT0

    "A victory for us all: European Court of Justice makes landmark ruling to invalidate the Privacy Shield

    By EDRi · July 16, 2020

    Today, 16 July 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) invalidated the EU-US Privacy Shield. The ruling proves a major victory for EU residents on how their personal data is processed and used by platforms like Facebook. The decision mandates the need to bring strong privacy legislation in the US and and generally a close scrutiny to data protection systems in place to avoid the misuse and unnecessary handling of private data of EU residents.

    [​IMG]

    The huge power of US intelligence services, as disclosed by Edward Snowden in 2013, proved that the data protection and privacy rights of EU residents are not sufficiently protected. We cannot allow any foreign agency to track and surveil our communities with such a disregard for fundamental rights.

    “Today’s European Court of Justice ruling is a victory for privacy against mass surveillance”, says Diego Naranjo, Head of Policy at EDRi. “This is a win both for Europeans, whose personal data will be better
    protected, and a call for US authorities to reform the way intelligence service operate.”, he further adds.

    At its core, this case is about a conflict of law between US surveillance laws which demand surveillance and EU data protection laws that require privacy. The CJEU has decided today to bin Privacy Shield and instead reinforce that Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs). SCCs which is one of the ways in which companies can make data transfers need very close scrutiny or should be suspended, if protections in the third country cannot be ensured. As noyb notes in their first reaction, Facebook and similar companies may also not use “SCCs” to transfer data as DPC must stop transfers under this instrument. The ruling is great news for all of those defending human rights online.

    The background

    In 2013, Edward Snowden publicly disclosed that US Intelligence Agencies use surveillance programs such as PRISM to access the personal data of Europeans.

    The documents disclosed listed several US companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Google and Yahoo sharing data with the US government for surveillance programs.

    Based on this whistleblowing case, Mr Max Schrems (currently of EDRi member, noyb) filed a complaint against Facebook Ireland Ltd before the Irish Data Protection Commissioner (DPC). The complaint argued that under the EU-US Safe Harbor Decision 2000/520/EC, Mr Schrems’ (and therefore any European platform user) personal data should not be sent from Facebook Ireland Ltd (serving Facebook users outside of the US and Canada) to Facebook Inc. (the US parent company), given that Facebook has to grant the US National Security Agency access to such data.

    Next steps

    Today’s CJEU ruling is just the beginning. It is now up to the EU to start negotiating a new framework with the US and ensure deep reforms in order for the new framework to be valid and respectful of fundamental rights.

    Read more:

    CJEU invalidates “Privacy Shield” in US Surveillance case. SCCs cannot be used by Facebook and similar companies (16.07.20)
    https://noyb.eu/en/cjeu

    CJEU Page (Background, FAQ & other resources)
    https://noyb.eu/en/CJEU-Media-Page

    EU-US-Datenabkommen gekippt (16.07.20) https://digitalcourage.de/blog/2020/eu-us-datenabkommen-gekippt

    In a victory for privacy, the EU Court of Justice bins EU-US Privacy Shield (16.07.20)
    https://www.accessnow.org/in-a-vict...u-court-of-justice-bins-eu-us-privacy-shield/"
     
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  16. nodnar

    nodnar MDL Expert

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    #396 nodnar, Oct 29, 2020
    Last edited: Oct 29, 2020
    a hollow victory, imo. every EU institution belongs in the bin, for squandering billiions of our money.it will have ZERO effect on the way privacy is handled by the u.s. of a. just take a look at
    the coronavirus panpanic. and what the EU did about that, . they just do not give a damn about the privacy of you & me, my dear philosopher.;)
     
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  17. gorski

    gorski MDL Guru

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    My dear lay person, everyone is entitles to their prejudice, however silly...
     
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  18. samuraikid

    samuraikid MDL Junior Member

    Dec 30, 2018
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    this was posted today on twitter

    [​IMG]
     
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  19. Rite

    Rite MDL Member

    Sep 26, 2009
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    Inserting

    PrivateWin10 :)

    Purpose: Disable M$ Telemetry

    PrivateWin10
    PrivateWin10 is an advanced Privacy tool for windows it provides a simple and comprehensive UI for tweaking privacy settings, as well as options to block system access to files and registry keys in order to enforce privacy whenever Windows does not provide a satisfying setting for that.

    To solve privacy issues with other software the tool includes a powerful custom firewall frontend for the windows built in firewall.

    https://github.com/DavidXanatos/priv10
     
  20. gorski

    gorski MDL Guru

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    Noam Chomsky quoting Snowden:

    "Every time you pick up the phone, dial a number, write an e-mail, make a purchase, travel on the bus carrying a cell phone, swipe a card somewhere, you leave a trace, and the Government has decided that it's good idea to collect it all, everything..."
     
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