Glibertarians.com 2018 Archive

Category: Privacy

  • Poll: Online Security Practices

    Poll: Online Security Practices

    Some people call me paranoid; I say I’m realistic.

    I employ a variety of methods in an attempt to make my online security and privacy somewhat “better.” Will any of these practices stop the NSA from reading my emails and perusing my search history (or prevent them from downloading the 16 million dick pics from OMWC and the Founders that are on my phone)? Highly unlikely. Will it stop the average neighborhood scammer or corporate marketing team from harvesting my info? Maybe. Do I feel better at least trying to salvage some remnant of privacy? Definitely.

    Because I believe in learning from my fellow sufferers of PPD, tonight I’d like to hear about what the rest of the Glib community does and recommends.
     

    Under the principle of situational awareness and not being the easy target, there are some basics that should be followed, but I acknowledge there can be exceptions to some things on this list.

    • Securely password your home wifi connections.
    • Don’t visit websites with “porn” or “pr0n” in the name.
    • Don’t use Facebook or other social media, and for the love of all that is holy, NEVER use Facebook Messenger.
    • Don’t click on HM’s links.
    • Don’t visit websites that aren’t https.
    • Turn off Siri and Google Assistant.
    • Use long passwords.
    • Don’t use a password on more than one site.
    • Use two-factor authentication when possible.
    • Don’t write your passwords down.
    • Don’t let apps on your mobile devices or laptop track your location.
    • Don’t store credit cards in apps or online profiles for rewards programs.
    • Tape over your computer’s camera lens and disable the microphone.
    • Never click on a link in an email from “your bank.”
    • Use a separate, secure mailing address for financial purposes (ideally in a zip code different from your home).
    • Don’t answer phone calls from Unknown Numbers. (In fact, I don’t give my real phone number to anyone. Or, actually, ever answer the phone.)
    • Don’t hand out your credit card number to everyone.
    • Buy stock in aluminum foil and learn how to fashion a stylish hat using origami techniques.
    • Unplug, Faraday cage and cellphone block your IoT devices when not in use, if you must have them in your house. This includes your Amazon FireTV box.
    • Don’t give your social security number and bank account information to Prince Adesola when he emails you offering a great deal in return for your help.

     

    So, what else do I do?

    1. I use a VPN at all times, whether from my home networks, public wifi, or on my mobile devices (even on data). I am currently using ProtonVPN from the ProtonMail folks. To me, it’s worth the small degradation in speed. I have a “Plus” subscription.

    2. Tor browser.

    3. DuckDuckGo for search.

    4. ProtonMail for email. For my business, I route my domain email through ProtonMail, as well.

    5. For basic Internet security, I use Bitdefender, on my laptop and mobile devices.

    6. Blur from Abine. I use it for creating masked email addresses on the fly, generating secure passwords to go with them, masking my phone number, masking credit cards. Considering adding their Delete Me service because I don’t have time to track it all down and do it myself.

    7. Burner phone for special circumstances. If you are going to the trouble of using one, do so from a location removed from your usual haunts, and nowhere near any of your other devices. While wearing a plain navy blue hoodie and Groucho Marx glasses (or Juggalo face paint), and not near your car or other people.

     

    What do you do to enhance your online security and privacy?

  • GDPR & You Glibertarians.com

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    SP: “Hey, Webdom, do you know a good GDPR consultant?”

    Webdom: “Yes.”

    SP: “Can you give me her email address?”

    Webdom: “No.”

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    If you’ve ever signed up for an email newsletter, registered for a user account online, or purchased something from an online purveyor, you’ve undoubtedly been bombarded the last week (or longer) with emails like the one above. You’ve noticed the new cookie notice here on Glibertarians.com. You might have even read our Privacy Policy.

    I’m not going to get into the details of the mind-numbing array of things the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requires to be in compliance. I’m not a lawyer and much of it is open to interpretation.

    If you’re interested there is no shortage of online resources, including the EU’s own website. Companies across the globe have been working on this compliance since the law was passed in April 2016.

    No, what I want to rant about is the fact that as of May 25, 2018, the provisions of the 2-year-old regulation are now enforceable.

    I hear you saying, “So what? It’s an EU law, and we aren’t in the EU.”

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

    You crack me up.

    The new regulation is supposedly to protect EU citizens and their “personally identifiable information” (PII) that may be collected, processed, stored, and transferred online.

    What the EU considers PII is much broader than what the US has generally considered PII. The EU insists that anything that could directly or indirectly be used to identify someone is included.

    Personal data is any information that relates to an identified or identifiable living individual.

  • Different pieces of information, which collected together can lead to the identification of a particular person, also constitute personal data.
  • Personal data that has been de-identified, encrypted or pseudonymised but can be used to re-identify a person remains personal data and falls within the scope of the law.

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    So, how the heck is the EU going to enforce the myriad complex and heavily nuanced provisions of the law? Fairly and objectively.

    OK, I couldn’t even type that with a straight face.

    The EU provides this helpful information:

    Stronger rules on data protection mean

  • people have more control over their personal data
  • businesses benefit from a level playing field

    • Oh, good! Businesses are going to benefit!

    Well, Uncle Sam wants to help make sure that US businesses are also going to benefit. The EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework is the mechanism by which the EU can impose their laws and regulations on US businesses and non-profits.

    What’s that? Non-profits like the Glibertarian Foundation? Why, yes!

    The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has committed to work closely with the DPA (SP note: data protection authority in the EU) to provide enforcement assistance, which, in appropriate cases, could include information sharing and investigative assistance pursuant to the U.S. SAFE WEB ACT.

    Indeed, one of the key provisions of the GDPR is increased territorial scope. Because of this, any website that “processes” any data from anyone in the EU must comply. Your business website may only ever have one visitor from the EU and if you set a web browser cookie for any reason whatsoever, you must meet the requirements of the GDPR. Seriously.

    What’s the penalty for non-compliance?

    Infringement: the possibilities include a reprimand, a temporary or definitive ban on processing and a fine of up to €20 million or 4% of the business’s total annual worldwide turnover.

    Oh, and that fine is whichever is greater. No potential there for abuse or selective enforcement! But remember, this is not about grabbing money or controlling the world. Because the Forces of Evil said it’s not.

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    So, what are US businesses doing? Most have been working on compliance for a long time now and are falling into line. Nobody really wants to lose their European customers and site visitors, after all.

    Except for a bunch of media outlets and businesses that apparently weren’t ready for the enforcement to start on Friday. But, the EU says, don’t worry! There will not be an effect on innovation or access. Oh, wait, other organizations have just decided not to bother complying, closing business segments or blocking access from European countries.

    Here at Glib HQ, we’ve determined that we have only one European registered user. We’ll miss you Pie in the Sky!*

    We all know who is making bank from the GDPR, as is usual from regulation: lawyers and politicians. On Friday, many lawsuits and complaints were filed against large American tech firms like Amazon, Facebook, and Alphabet. We can expect dozens more to be filed in the coming weeks, months, and, probably, years.

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    Does my disgust and cynicism mean I am anti-privacy? Hell, no.

    I have many stylish and useful tinfoil hats, as you all know. I use VPNs, encrypted email, mask my phone numbers, block cookies, browse from different browsers and devices, use cash for everything I can, have a prepaid cell phone for certain uses. The list goes on.

    What I am is anti-government intrusion and regulation.

    Remember, kids, with the exception of this Glibertopia, “If the product is free, the product is me.” Don’t like what Facebook does with your data? Don’t use Facebook; but don’t insist your congress critter pass another law or allow the FTC to enforce a cumbersome and impossible-to-get-right regulation from across the pond. Individuals and their rights always lose when bureaucracy wins.

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    * Just kidding, Pie.

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  • Our National Conversation is a ‘Shit Hole’: A Rant

     

    So which one of you is this?

    I am fed-up with the nonsense that dominates our political discourse.  Nothing substantive is discussed at all anymore.  We have the establishment media still throwing a hissy fit over a presidential election that they lost and it is becoming impossible to discern between the Democratic Party, CNN, the New York Times (sorry, but Stossel is right about the ‘old grey lady’), the Washington Post, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, and CBS anymore.  The stupidity of our current national conversation is no more evident than the fact that on January 16, 2018, the US Senate voted to end debate on the FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act of 2017, thereby preventing an attempted filibuster by Senators Rand Paul, Ron Wyden, and Mike Lee.  This act renewed (since its passage is nearly certain now, as of this writing), for six years, the federal government’s authority to gather communications between people from the United States and foreign nationals, without a warrant.  Though the legislation has always been presented as ‘anti-terrorism’ legislation, the law also allows the FBI to peruse these communications to identify a crime. Thereby thoroughly gutting the 4th Amendment’s protection against “unreasonable searches and seizures.”

    But, it doesn’t even matter what the particulars of the law are.  What is more important is that there was no national conversation about the renewal of such an expansive piece of legislation.  Instead, in the days leading-up to the Senate vote, our national media was fixated on ‘shit hole’-gate.  Did the president refer to some countries as ‘shit holes’ in a private conversation in the White House?  Truly gripping stuff.  And, as if in an attempt to go full retard, our national media then began dissecting the president’s physical and mental health (because it’s totes cool to ask those questions now).  And when the media’s speculation was rebutted by a navy physician that also served the previous president, they doubled down on stupid.  These stories were more important than debating whether or not the federal government should be allowed to eavesdrop on your personal conversations without a warrant?

    Democrats vs. Republicans

    Where are the grown-ups today?  In years past, we had commentators like Christopher Hitchens, William F. Buckley, Gore Vidal, Mike Royko, and HL Mencken, to name a few, who cut through the minutia and focused on bigger issues.  Today we have this ass hat,  a bag of dicks, and shit for brains.  And when our imbecile pundits aren’t ignoring important issues like unreasonable searches and seizures by our government, they are actively attacking commentators who do warn against such actions.  Meanwhile the bulk of our political class is just as buffoonish, asinine, and unclever as the ass hats, bags of dicks, and shit for brains that cover them.  There are some exceptions within our political class, and to their credit, more Republican Senators voted against renewing FISA under a Republican president than Democrats who voted against renewal under a Democratic president.  And for that, I would grant Republicans a participation ribbon.  This ribbon is as useless as the Republican Senate and redeemable at the midterm elections for one “I will never vote for you worthless assholes again” from me, with love.

    The worst part is that the cause is most assuredly over.  If a universally reviled and unstable president cannot convince Congress that the executive wields too much authority, than nothing will.  FISA is permanent now.  The next time renewal comes around, I doubt even a mention will be made.  The State will continue to erode away at the Fourth Amendment and will continue to chip away at other parts of the Bill of Rights.  All the while, our chattering class will be fixated on the latest faux outrage committed by whomever occupies the title of “literally Hitler” at the moment.  Nothing is sacred anymore. This is a lost cause now.