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by Natalie Shoemaker
22 November
2015
from
BigThink Website
Photo Credit:
ADAM BERRY / Stringer/ Getty
In a recent interview
with
The Intercept, Edward Snowden offered some advice
for what average citizens can do to reclaim their privacy.
Because the sharing of
information should be a conversation, not an enigma buried in a
site's 'Terms of Service.'
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This includes
Signal, an
easy-to-use app that encrypts your mobile phone messages, as
long as the person you're calling or texting also has the
app installed. Developed by Open Whisper Systems, the app is
available for both iOS
and
Android.
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The next easy
step is to enable
two-factor authentication on your accounts. This
way an attacker needs not only your password, but also a
physical device, like your smartphone, to get the secondary
code that opens your account.
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A password manager, like
KeePassX,
will ensure your passwords are diversified across all
accounts. So, if one account becomes compromised, they won't
all become compromised.
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The next step is
Tor -
install it, use it.
It looks very much like your browsing in Firefox, only your
traffic will be bounced all across the globe, covering your
physical location and identity (to a point). A nice side
effect is Tor comes with a JavaScript blocker, which
disables ads.
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"Everybody should be running
adblock software,
if only from a safety perspective," Snowden said.
By using these
programs, people have already changed the conversation about
security and privacy.
Apple took note
adding DuckDuckGo, the search engine that doesn't track, as
one of the available options on its Safari browser. Earlier
this year at CES, a "personal privacy" section
made its debut.
Even
DARPA is
working to create services that,
"[enable]
safe and predictable sharing of data in which privacy is
preserved."
The ability to take
control of your privacy has become more attainable than ever.
The trick is
getting more people to adopt these programs (think of it like
herd immunity). That's how we'll create lasting change.
"I think reform comes
with many faces," Snowden
told the site. "There's legal reform; there's statutory
reform more generally; there are the products and outcomes of
judicial decisions."
The sharing of
information
should be a conversation - not an enigma buried somewhere in the
Terms of Service of a site...
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