Privacy Tools: Encryption Against Global Mass Surveillance
Privacy is important. It’s one of the reasons why people change their privacy settings on their Facebook accounts and put blinds on their windows. However, browsing the Internet and having an online presence comes with its own set of risks, as does having mobile phones, tablets and computers. Luckily, a number of software tools exist in order to protect your privacy online, some of them even free and open source. As a general rule, free and open source software means that the code can be studied by anyone. Open source software has a major advantage in that its code is public. Because of that, the code can be easily verified by anyone and means less opportunity for monitoring in hidden backdoors, as compared to its closed code counterpart.
Tor is one of the most popular ways to browse the Web anonymously. Using multiple relays, the system makes it virtually impossible to track down your online activity, including to .onion domains, which are only accessible while using Tor (also known as the onion router). Tails OS, a Linux-based operating system similarly runs without leaving any trackable trace. Alternatively, Windows BitLocker and its Apple counterpart, FileVault, encrypt your hard disk, which cannot be decrypted even by Apple, once again protecting your privacy. Emails can also be encrypted using the Gnu Privacy Guard, initially released as the PGP (Pretty Good Privacy). The system works with your existing emails. Moreover, even voice calls can be encrypted using a privacy tool called Silent Phone, which is published by Silent Circle.
LastPass is a password manager which saves you from the necessity of remembering the multitude of passwords required by today’s constant online account registration environment. You no longer need to remember or store your passwords, because this password manager does the job for you by safeguarding your log in information in a safe, secure and encrypted space. So together, these privacy protection tools ensure that your online activity remains untracked. From encryption to anonymous browsing, there are many ways to protect your privacy from unwanted surveillance and monitoring. Also, many of the privacy tools outlined above are free.