http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/11/18/usa-trade-internet-idUSN1828922520101118
http://publicintelligence.net/fbi-director-meets-with-google-facebook-to-discuss-easier-wiretaps/
In this thread we discuss what can be done about this or what can be used as countermeasures.
You mean that the naive innocence of unfettered internet freedom is finally being challenged? Nothing is free in this world: the move to control the internet does not strike me as particularly surprising or disconcerting. Whether the feds manage to dominate cyberspace after all is a whole different story, and in my opinion the more signifiant of the two
what can we do.
^^^^ This is a start. Basically we're in an era of rapidly expanding regulation (and civil lawsuits) online. This provides the means to minimize possessing evidence should you inadvertently break a law or "cause harm" to a corporation or copyright holder. tl;dr: shred/delete stuff on a schedule.
Also, join the EFF.
Check my link, there I keep a ongoing log of any links I find about internet censorship, spying, regulation, stuff like that. I update it pretty much every time I get on the Internet. This way it's A) All in one place, and B) The next time someone calls me a nut for saying the government and corporations are using the internet as a surveillance device on citizens, I can just link them to that and say "Bitch, here's a thread full of reality to punch you in the face."
What's really bugging me at the moment are mobile phones. The amount of private information they are leaking is constantly increasing, up to the point where their use is becoming a dilemma.
One of the problems is lack of control on the hardware and software layers. I would like to be able to completely assemble a mobile phone just like a PC, be able to hack IMEIs, etc.
I think this is probably one of the biggest challenges in terms of privacy, at the moment.
>>6
I agree. I dont even like my carrier knowing about me, which is why I dont use iOS or Android based phones AND I have never had a plan or contract, I always use prepaid or "burn" phones.
>>6 Also even when a phone is off the microphone can still be turned on and listened to remotely by athorities. without a warrant. THANK YOU FUCKING PATRIOT ACT!!!!!!!!!!!!
>>8
I keep hearing this bandied about, but it doesn't make sense that it would work once you turned the phone off. In order to activate, the phone would have to receive a message over the cellular network. But the phone doesn't ever power up its radio or associate with the towers when it's off!
>>7
If you're paying with credit/debit then your carrier already knows about you. If you pay with cash then you're suspicious (since this is how drug dealers operate) and likely to be subject to law enforcement scrutiny because of it.
Realistically, you should just accept that your carrier knows about you and keep it in mind when you turn your mobile on, keeping it off or not with you most of the time.
Or be like Stallman and don't have a mobile.
Either way isn't suspicious and won't attract the attention of the authorities.
>>9
I know how it sounds but it is real. You know how PCs have a 'wake on LAN' feature in the BIOS or whatever? It's the same basic principal.
>>10
It is basically Wake on Wireless LAN, not WoL. Which requires the (laptop, desktop, phone) to be powered on and actively talking to the station in order to receive the wake packet. Which phones simply do not do when powered down.
>>1
Anyway, the two main paths I see are political lobbying or contributing to the creation of darknets. Ideally both.
Fighting against warrantless wiretaps is unfortunately pretty much a lost cause for now. Maybe if the US stops being pulled ever further right by lunatics, but I don't see that happening anytime this decade.
Contributing to the EFF and supporting its mission helps curb the worst abuses, and is realistically the most an average person could do to help. Maybe eventually they'll get a case to a supreme court that rules they're unconstitutional (which is harder than you might think thanks to legal shenanigans.)
Darknets aren't a long-term solution, unfortunately. They're all fine and good until the government bans them, blocks them, and starts jailing people for using them. But there's a lot of interesting problems to work on until then.
The unspoken reality of all these laws they’re attempting to pass to limit our freedoms online can be undercut by one important factor: the cost of enforcement. What do you suppose the average salary of a federal agent is, by the way? Factor in the cost of technology, travel, and everything else and it’s a very large number. Given that, how much time does a group of like-minded people need to invest in order to eat up every available budget dollar?
What I suggest is that every law-abiding citizen out there works to eat up a few seconds of investigative resources each and every day. Use Tor to check football scores. Encrypt that e-mail about boring office drama. Truecrypt your family photos. Stream a security camera looking out your window. Turn off your phone at random intervals and remove the battery. If we all act just a little shady, then we’re all suspects. If we’re all suspects, they’ll blow their budget dollars trying to find out what we’re all up to and have nothing to show for it in the end.