Outraged by US Government Spying on Americans?
by free • Saturday November 23, 2002 at 01:06 PM
If you are upset about the new Homeland Security and USA Patriot Act laws that allow police to spy on you, your internet usage and even to read your emails then it is your moral obligation to resist . One easy way is to encrypt your emails! At least make them work for their salaries!
Free, legal software is available for your use in protecting your 1st and 4th Amendment rights to free and private speech. http://www.pgpi.com provides free, open-source software for encrypting your email -- and your data. It isn't failproof and in theory can be broken by the government, but at least you can force them to do a little work before they read your data!
Other important techniques and software programs are either free or easy, though some may cost money if you are not technically proficient and want something really easy to use. Anti-virus and firewall software are important, and avoiding Microsoft programs may be helpful. Free software is available. You may want to add as much memory as possible to your computer so that you have greater power to run more programs.
What is the most secure computer data? On a computer not connected to the internet. For best security, use two computers -- one for internet, and one for private computing. To be safe, on the offline computer first reformat the hard-drive and reload the operating system; this will get rid of spyware (most of it anyway). Offline isn't perfectly secure unless you are working in a Faraday Cage, and the only perfect privacy is in your mind. So for real privacy don't write down secrets or enter them into any computer!
One trick to avoid an infected computer is to use webmail from your ISP. That means viewing your email at a website instead of downloading it to your computer. Most viruses come via email, but not all. There is more to learn and share about this important topic, if anyone is interested. The point is, if you don't exercise your constitutional and sovereign rights then don't complain when the government takes advantage of you. Stand up for yourself and take responsibility to defend your rights -- active defense!
