Tinfoil hat time - Practical Internet Privacy

[cousinlucky]

I can never tell when I am reading fact or when I am reading fiction when it comes to computers or the Internet!! However LinuxForums is just overflowing with experts who know what they are talking about. Is this article by Paul Green fact or fiction?

Practical Internet Privacy by Paul Green

[monday90]

You live in the US, most of your rights are pretty solid thanks to your constitution. I live in the UK. Our isp's keep records for two years of all our online activity. There are ways around it thanks to TOR and a number of other systems. However we have something called the Regulation Of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA). this makes it a criminal offence not to hand over any encryption keys/Digital certificates to any duly appointed official when asked. In a nutshell if they have an encrypted email or communication or file sent by you, if you can't decrypt it (without good reason) then you can spend 5 years thinking about it surrounded by very high walls.

Its also worth considering this. Yep we have an unaccountable internet censor. Curiously its the same model the Austrailians used but their list was leaked. 75% was kiddie porn, but the remaining quarter consisted of:

Religious sites
Regular porn sites
Gambling sites
Gay porn sites
Political sites
A vet
A dentist

Considering this is MK2 it beggars belief what may be on the UK's list. Its already the case that if you do a search for Britain's fourth political party from an educational establishment you will get erroneous results (no I'm not a BNP supporter they are all racist thugs). Nonetheless they have been voted for by a proportion of society in a democratic process, if we ignore that then where does it end?

Ok tin foil hat off now.

[djap]

Its also worth considering this. Yep we have an unaccountable internet censor. Curiously its the same model the Austrailians used but their list was leaked. 75% was kiddie porn, but the remaining quarter consisted of:

Finland also have one and I think the problems are the same as Australian list. Plus that here one web site that criticizes the list got put on the list.

*Wrapping more thin foil on the hat*

[Freston]

Is this article by Paul Green fact or fiction?

It's hard to tell.

We live in a world where 13 year old girls are under criminal investigation for distributing child pornography (ie send a naked picture to her boyfriend), photographers can be arrested for being too tall, a man is sentenced for 20 years jailtime for owning manga and a single mother is fined $1.9 million for downloading 24 mp3's.

It's crazy-like.


I can get fined or even arrested for failing to bring my wallet when I go out for a walk. Well, not so much my wallet, but my ID-card which is in it. And this is not a theoretical threat, 1 in 100,000 of my countrymen gets such a treatment each and every day. All with compliments of the anti-terrorist brigade of course.

But I don't know how much of our online activity is getting analyzed, or what they are looking for, or who they include in their surveillance, and what triggers them to do so. And that is the good guys.

The bad guys are also there. How many people think they should post on their Facebook profile that they are on holiday?? That's just asking for trouble. Or sharing their bank statements over Limewire.


I think privacy on the Internet is a very valid concern. How much of the 'paranoia' is justified by fact I don't know. But it's better to be safe than sorry.

[bigvoo]

[FONT="Courier New"]I gave up on any thought of computer privacy long ago, I am a proud "tin hat wearer" a few years back I had found, that the neighbors 14 year old son had hacked right into my computer, and I had every imaginable tool installed. so i figured if this kid did that, I don't even want to think what a real expert can do, espcially the .gov. Ironically, just yesterday my modem melted down, and after google searching on modem attack, I found a whole page about it. makes me wonder.... so now, just like santa claus, I no longer believe in computer privacy.... which is sad.

[elija]

Anyone else think it's cute that Freston equates the government with the good guys... I'm sure they like to think they are.

As a signed up member of the tin foil brigade I'm going to stop before I get political and break forum rules

[Farmer Mike]

It wouldn't hurt to be careful. The US has its Constitution, true, but the government isn't all good guys. We have enough busy-bodies and control freaks that it wouldn't take much to go around the Constitution if it's "for public safety" or the greater good. Then there's all sorts of folks who don't mean well, and will use the internet for ill.

[MikeTbob]

Anyone else think it's cute that Freston equates the government with the good guys... I'm sure they like to think they are.

As a signed up member of the tin foil brigade I'm going to stop before I get political and break forum rules

I thought tin foil hats had to be shape like a B-1 Bomber, or a stealth fighter, to repel all those brain sucking radio waves.

[cousinlucky]

Thanks for the picture, Elija!!

[Freston]

Anyone else think it's cute that Freston equates the government with the good guys... I'm sure they like to think they are.

That was irony

Although being in semi-government for almost half my life, I am a firm believer in Hanlon's razor. But you're right Elija, let's keep the discussion to the technical side of things.


It's an interesting question to me, how much should you do to shield your privacy in these days? And how much is practical from an usage perspective?