Note on Internet Surveillance

Is our information safe on the net? That’s one big question we have to ask ourselves, with rise of recent events.

In the light of recent events about National Security Agency (NSA) gathering lots of information from websites and amassing all personal information from Facebook, Twitter, Google, AT &T etc.

 Few quick facts

 ·           All status updates, messages and location updates in Facebook is being surveyed by NSA.Facebook says it doesn’t charge the government for access.

 ·             Vast contents of all our Skype data is being followed up as if they were sitting with us when we were chatting.

 ·          Microsoft worked hand-in-hand with the United States government in order to allow federal investigators to bypass encryption mechanisms meant to protect the privacy of millions of users .  Microsoft  actually helped the federal government find a way to decrypt messages sent over select platforms, including Outlook.com Web chat, Hotmail email service, and Skype '''<span lang="RU" style="color: black; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Segoe UI","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-ansi-language: RU;">. 

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;"> ·<span style="font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">           All required hardware and software has been allegedly installed by German Siemens AG and Finnish Nokia.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">''' How can you protect your data online? '''

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> ·<span style="font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">          Start using Diaspora instead of Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> ·<span style="font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">          Start using Mozilla open source alternatives to prevent surveillance.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> ·<span style="font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">          To surf the net use Firefox instead of propietrary software such as IE.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> ·<span style="font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">          In Networking related applications we can use Adium instead of MSN Messenger.

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> ·<span style="font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">          Reporters Without Borders is gradually developing such an Online survival kit  on its WeFightCensorship  website. It explains the need to purge files of their metadata, which give too much information away; it explains how to use the Tor network  or Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)  to anonymize communications; it offers advice on securing communications and data on mobile phones and laptops  and so on.