The
Anonymous Internet
With continuing revelations about the scope of the National
Security Agency’s surveillance of phone and Internet communications, many
people are thinking more carefully about how to ensure their privacy online.
That’s led to a spike in users for a variety of Internet tools that promise a
more anonymized experience compared to web giants like Google,
Facebook,
and Yahoo.
The search engine DuckDuckGo, for instance,
has had its number of human search queries almost double since June 6, when Google
was identified as one of nine companies that are part of Prism, a secret
data-gathering program the government uses to target foreign threats. Its 3
million daily direct searches is still a drop in the bucket compared to the
billions Google executes every day, but CEO Gabriel Weinberg says the site’s
privacy features are steadily attracting more users. DuckDuckGo does not store
personally identifiable information about peoples’ search queries on its
servers. Google, Bing and Yahoo hold onto that data for between nine and 18
months, whether you’re logged into accounts on those sites or not.
“That aspect of our site has been more attractive to a
growing portion of users,” Weinberg says “It was pretty creepy when you think
about how much the search engine actually knows about you because it’s arguably
the most personal set of data that you share on the Internet.”
Other web services have also seen a boost in recent weeks.
Cryptocat, a chat program that encrypts messages before they’re sent, saw
downloads double in the week after the Prism story broke. Its creator, Nadim
Kobeissi, says neither he nor law enforcement officials that might subpoena a
conversation can see the content of the messages. “It’s less vulnerable to
having your conversations monitored or intercepted,” he says. “The way
Cryptocat is built, we are unable to comply with law enforcement requests even
if we wanted to or even if we were forced to.”
Tor, a software program that allows users to surf the
Internet anonymously by making IP addresses difficult to trace, saw downloads
increase between 20% and 30% following the NSA news. Overall the program has
been downloaded 36 million times in the past year and has more than half a
million daily users, according to Tor executive director Andrew Lewman.
Anonymization does have its drawbacks. DuckDuckGo isn’t as adept
as Google at anticipating what you’re looking for before you type it. Using
Cryptocat means convincing friends to also download the program instead of just
logging onto Facebook or Gmail. Tor has been known to attract illicit activity
— and in some cases the users who help to hide others’ IP addresses end up
having illegal actions attributed to their computers.
Kobeissi points out that even if these tools help with
anonymisation, they can’t completely deter dedicated government surveillance.
“The real solution is not just telling people to depend on these tools. The
real solution is to get an honest political discussion going on to limit or get
rid of these surveillance tactics.”
Here’s a list of some privacy-focused alternatives to the
tools most people use to chat, search, and store data online. These are fairly
straightforward to install and use, but for the tech-savvy set there are more
extensive lists at Tactical Tech and Prism Break.
For Web Browsing:
Open-source software program Tor makes your IP address almost untraceable by
routing your web traffic through three different computers scattered across the
world before settling on the destination you’ve clicked online. The technology
was originally developed by the U.S. Navy and is still funded mostly by the
government.
For Web Searches:
DuckDuckGo doesn’t
save users’ search history, unlike the major search engines, which means the
company would have much less data to offer up if subpoenaed.
For Online Transactions:
Bitcoin,
the decentralized electronic currency, has burst into the mainstream
consciousness this year and is now being accepted everywhere from New York bars to dating website OKCupid.
Buyer beware though: Bitcoin values are extremely volatile.
For Cloud Storage:
SpiderOak
provides similar functionality to DropBox and Google Drive, but is a
“zero-knowledge” client, meaning the company can’t see the content of user
files, which are automatically encrypted. Taking your data into your own hands
has its drawbacks though: SpiderOak can’t retrieve your password for you if you
forget it.
For Instant Messaging:
Cryptocat can
be installed on your web browser and encrypts your messages locally before
they’re sent through Cryptocat’s servers. The tool is popular with everyone
from journalists to members of LGBT groups trying to ensure private
conversations. Mobile apps like TextSecure offer the same functionality on the
go.
Victor Luckerson is a reporter-producer for Time.com
covering business and money.
courtesy: THE TIMES
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