Concerned About Government Snooping?

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has launched a new Web site designed to help you keep the government from seeing your personal communications and stored data. It’s called the Surveillance Self-Defense Project (SSD).

“The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has created this Surveillance Self-Defense site to educate the American public about the law and technology of government surveillance in the United States, providing the information and tools necessary to evaluate the threat of surveillance and take appropriate steps to defend against it.

Surveillance Self-Defense (SSD) exists to answer two main questions: What can the government legally do to spy on your computer data and communications? And what can you legally do to protect yourself against such spying?”

The site is well organized, easily navigable, and written so as not to scare off the non-techies. There’s a legal disclaimer noting that “this guide is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.” However, there a section called “What can the government do?” which details the Fourth Amendment; reasonable expectations of privacy; search warrants; “sneak and peek” search warrants; warrantless searches; search incident to lawful arrest; and subpoenas.

This site is not just for those prone to Big Brother fears. There is excellent advice for what you can do to protect yourself which are good “general knowledge” — topics include: develop a data retention and destruction policy; master the basics of data protection; protect data “on the wire” (Internet); learn how to use passwords properly; encrypt your data; and protect yourself against malware.

Click here to visit the site. The topic for protections is labeled “Defensive Technology”.

Copyright 2007-9 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

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