Privacy Blog

"Friends don’t let friends get spied on.' – Richard Stallman, President of the Free Software Foundation and longtime advocate of privacy in technology.

Encryption

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What Is Tor? Your Guide to Using the Private Browser

If you have an interest in maintaining your online privacy, you will want to read an article by Rae Hodge in the C|Net web site at https://www.cnet.com/how-to/what-is-tor-your-guide-to-using-the-private-browser/. Tor is the U.S. government’s gift to people everywhere who do not wish to be spied upon. Yes, Tor was invented by a mathematician and two computer scientists working for the U.S. government at the Naval Research Lab looking for ways to securely […]

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Zoom Releases Updated Version of App With Latest Encryption, Security Features

The Zoom videoconferencing program at https://zoom.us/ has proven very popular during the CoronaVirus pandemic with all the various isolation policies in place. while popular, the Zoom app has also been criticized for not being fully encrypted, not totally private, and for lacking several other features. Now Zoom has released an enhanced and encrypted version of the application in order to ensure protection and privacy of personal information, and is asking […]

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Status Wants to Be the World’s Most Private Instant Messaging App

I haven’t had a chance to try Status just yet. However, if the product lives up to its specifications, this could become the only text messaging app you would ever want to use: Fully encrypted end-to-end No central server; all text messages travel directly from the originanting cell phone to the receiving cell phone with no temporary stops on any server in between No telephone numbers! Spies, hackers, credit card […]

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New Warning Issued For All WhatsApp And iMessage Users: ‘Major Threat’ To Encryption

Big Brother wants to spy on you everywhere, all of the time. The Electronic Frontier Foundation warns “imagine an internet where the law requires every message sent to be read by government-approved scanning software. The privacy and security of all users will suffer if U.S. law enforcement achieves its dream of breaking encryption.” The fight between the providers of encrypted messaging platforms and lawmakers has entered a serious new phase. […]

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Senate Bill Sparks Open War Over Encryption

Another stupid piece of legislation has been introduced into the U.S. Senate that proposes to cripple all encryption methods used by the American public. The misnamed EARN IT Act — which is sponsored by Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and ranking Democrat Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) plus eight other sponsors and co-sponsors — doesn’t actually target encryption directly. Instead, it claims to fight child pornography. The legislators sponsoring this bill […]

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Political Staffers Move To Signal—Here’s Why That Matters

If this wasn’t such a stupid story, it would be humorous. Government officials in several countries have recently demanded that all encryption software should contain “back doors” so that that law enforcement officials, government spies, and other government officials can read everything that you and I read or write. That means that local governments would have access and undoubtedly very soon worldwide hackers, thieves, and foreign governments, would figure out […]

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Perhaps You Need an Encrypted Flash Drive

If you have information you wish to keep private (bank records, credit card numbers, tax returns, your spouse’s clothing sizes on your Christmas shopping list, etc.), you need to make sure that the information doesn’t fall into the hands of hackers, credit card thieves, and other strangers. One way to do that is to use encryption to make sure the information can not be read by anyone who does not […]

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India’s Proposed Internet Regulations Could Threaten Privacy Everywhere

This could become a HUGE threat to online privacy everywhere: This week, with India poised to unveil new rules that threaten encrypted communications around the world, it seems safe to say that the encryption fight is now fully underway. Details may be found at: https://www.theverge.com/interface/2020/2/14/21136273/india-internet-rules-encryption-privacy-messaging.

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A Perfect Example of Why Government Officials Don’t “Get It” about Encryption

It is both very sad and a little bit amusing when government officials who obviously do not understand how encryption works make public “demands” claiming that companies need to decrypt messages that might describe both legal and illegal conduct by citizens and residents of the country. The latest example may be found in an article by Jason Koebler in the Vice web site. In short, there are several very obvious […]

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Apple Privacy Officer says that ‘Building Back Doors’ to Access iPhone Data Won’t Help Solve Crimes

Several governments, including the U.S., are pressuring Apple and other manufacturers to add “back doors” to all products that offer encryption. The latest example is a demand on Monday of this week when the FBI sent a letter to Apple requesting assistance to extract data from password-protected iPhones used by a suspected mass shooter. You can read more about that “demand” in an article by Kif Leswing published in the […]

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