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Protecting yourself from government spying


Well, apparently NSA leaker Edward Snowdon has more startling revelations.  Among them, is that there are back doors in common programs that we use everyday.  Skype is the prime suspect.  However, because of its ubiquity, I wouldn't trust Google either.  And since Microsoft owns Skype, well it has been proven that you can't trust them.

So what's the answer?  As far as I am concerned, it is open source.  Who knows if the name of the document is reported back to Microsoft when Word or Excel crashes.  Open Office springs to mind as an alternative to being spied on.

What about communications?  It looks like the best bet for email, is an account with your local ISP.  I know that it is a pain every time that you change providers, but they probably are not being listened to.

Encrypted email solutions often don't encrypt the meta-data, so sometimes it is easier to hide in plain sight. Open a web based email account.  Write a draft and save it.  Then make sure that the recipient gets the log-in credentials, and logs in to read the draft and deletes it.  This avoids the SMTP filters.

I'm willing to bet that a whole plethora of private solutions will spring up to protect people from governments spying on them.

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