Strange Bedfellows – Treason and Freedom

Politics, Privacy, TechTips July 7, 2013 Leave a comment

Update 05/28/2014 – TrueCrypt is now defunct

Wow, I was shocked to read this stirring piece by Devin Coldewey over at TechCrunch, entitled Tools for Treason. Here’s the part that jumped out at me:

It seems that if we are to start over again, the founding principle of our tools for communication cannot be the establishment of trust, but the impossibility of trust. 

It’s a cynical place to start, but clearly a necessary one. If it is possible at any point for trust to enter the equation, that trust can and likely will be taken advantage of. If there exists, anywhere from your end to the other in the long chain of servers, switches, cables, interpreters, loggers, drivers, protocols, interfaces, and displays, any single place where you are not one hundred percent in control of your data, your data is compromised and the system fails. 

Absolutely phenomenal, provocative piece worth reading by everyone who values the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and technology as a tool for communication. Contact your legislators (or vote them out) to let them know what you think about U.S. Government spying on American citizens, especially those who use encryption.

And, although it may be unlikely that encryption tools will be 100% foolproof in the face of NSA’s computers, give these a shot:

ENCRYPTION TOOLS
If you haven’t tried them already, here are my favorite cross-platform (e.g. Mac, Windows, Linux) tools:

  •  Protect Your Passwords: 
  • Encrypt Your Files: 
  • Encrypt Your Emails
  • Shreds of Privacy

    • Check out Miguel’s Workshop Materials online at http://mglearns.wikispaces.com

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