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Limiting Your Digital Footprints in a Surveillance State:
To protect himself and his sources from prying eyes in China, Paul Mozur, a technology reporter in Shanghai, leaves just an "innocent trace" of digital exhaust.
[...] In China, evading the watchful eyes of the government sometimes feels like an exercise in futility. The place is wired with about 200 million surveillance cameras, Beijing controls the telecom companies, and every internet company has to hand over data when the police want it. They also know where journalists live because we register our address with police. In Shanghai, the police regularly come to my apartment; once they demanded to come inside.
That said, China is big, and the government less than competent. Sometimes the police who come to my door have no idea I'm a journalist. Usually the higher-ups who deal with my visa don't know about the house visits. The lack of coordination means one of the best things to do is to try to slip through the cracks. Basically, protect yourself but also leave an innocent trace.
I use an iPhone because Apple tends to be more secure than Android. That's especially true in China, where the blocks against Google mean there are a huge number of third-party Android stores peddling all kinds of sketchy apps.
It's also important to realize that because Beijing controls the telecoms, your domestic phone number can be a liability. For secure apps like Signal, I toggle the registration lock so that if they try to mirror my phone, my account still has a layer of protection.
The author goes on to describe how he avoids the Great Firewall, deals with the police demanding to check his cell phone, guardedly uses WeChat, and addresses facial recognition sunglasses. Further, he notes that there is so much government surveillance going on:
Amusingly, even the government doesn't trust the government. In reporting on data sharing between different ministries, I've found that it's not uncommon for one part of the government to distrust another to the point it won't share data. At other times, a government branch might not even trust itself to handle data.
[...] Then again, when it comes to poor privacy protection, the United States seems to be doing its best to take on China.
That last statement is, in my opinion, quite telling. I know my online hygiene is not perfect, but I do try to limit the amount of personal information I post online. Though nearly 5 years old, now, Using Metadata to Find Paul Revere is just as applicable -- if not more so -- today. I wonder what George Orwell would have to say about surveillance in today's society?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 02 2019, @01:47PM (1 child)
It doesn't matter if you trust the current government you live under with the info, what matters is if you trust all future governments you'll ever live under with the info.
The current government is little threat unless you disagree with it, but history shows that freedom is insufficient defense against tyranny.
If you ever want to visit Russia or Saudi Arabia on holiday, you'd best be keeping your faggotry secret.
If you're a member of a Jewish, Homosexual, or Transexual organization with your real info. then you're a damned fool with too much trust.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bobthecimmerian on Sunday March 03 2019, @01:42PM
Actually, no. The risk is the current government, and it's only because of their propaganda machine that we don't think of it that way. It might get worse in the future, but it's already bad now. Specifically:
1. We spent most of the last 20 years at war with Iraq and Afghanistan, two countries we were allied with earlier. Perpetual war is right out of 1984. Changing alliances for no reason and ignoring the fact that we're fighting former allies because it currently suits us to fight former allies is right out of 1984. e.g. "We were always at war with Eastasia"
2. The Taliban offered to turn over bin-Laden to the US if we provided evidence of his involvement in the September 11 attacks. We had that evidence, and Bush refused because it suited him and the military-industrial complex and all of the members of Congress it owned to fight anyway.
3. We went to war in Iraq under false pretenses and nobody has been prosecuted for it. Between Iraq and Afghanistan literally trillions of US dollars have been spent on military activity that could have been spent otherwise. On the order of 10,000 US military troop deaths, 50,000 serious US military injuries, 5,000 US veteran suicides, and more than half a million civilian casualties. "One person's death is a tragedy, a thousand deaths are a statistic."
4. We ally with Saudi Arabia for the sake of cheap oil, and right now there's a war in Yemen were US-backed Saudi actions have cut off food supplies. Over 85,000 children have died, and millions more are malnourished. "Ho hum, carry on citizen, it's no concern. US business as usual."
5. The US has 2.2 million people in prison. This feeds a prison-industrial complex because prisoners don't qualify for minimum wage. In many states ex-cons, even after serving their full prison sentence, never get their right to vote back.
6. We have much higher rates of child poverty and infant mortality than any nation with anywhere near the same GDP per capita - including the US itself several decades back.
No, we're not in full on 1984 where the government tortures and brainwashes people at random. But the status quo is very much horrific and unacceptable. We just don't think about it because we have our telescreens and shopping malls and such.