A Real-World Example of why YOU need privacy protection!
NOTHING in this article is theoretical or "what about"isms. This is ALL taken from a SINGLE, real-world case!
Can you imagine the government having access to ALL of the following of YOUR
- Google Photos
- Google EMail
- Location history
- PRIVATE messages
- EMail DRAFTS
- Deleted messages
- EVERYTHING in your Google Drive
- Google voice texts
- Calls
- Contacts
- Web search history
- ALL of that from one OR MORE of your personal contacts' data too!
See if you can find YOUR potential privacy problems
While reading this article REGARDLESS of the guilt or innocence of Smollet. Imagine YOU in a similar (not the SAME) situation as Smollet. In your similar (BUT NOT THE SAME!!!) situation, you are the victim of a crime, and then YOUR private communications AND metadata are subpoena'd by the government... ALL of it! And for time frames LONG before and LONG after the crime against you.
Jussie Smollet Investigation Judge Orders Google To Turn Over a Full Year of the Actor's Data
I'll help. This is from the article (and so is my list above!!!)
A Cook County judge has ordered Google to turn over Jussie Smollett’s emails, photos, location data and private messages for an entire year as part of the special prosecutor’s investigation into the purported attack on the actor.
Two sweeping search warrants, obtained by the Chicago Tribune, provide the first public glimpse at the direction of the probe by special prosecutor Dan Webb more than four months into the investigation.
The warrants, filed last month in Circuit Court, sought a trove of documentation from Smollett and his manager’s Google accounts — not just emails but also drafted and deleted messages; any files in their Google Drive cloud storage services; any Google Voice texts, calls and contacts; search and web browsing history; and location data.
Investigators sought a full year’s data — from November 2018 to November 2019 — even though the key events in the controversy took place between late January and late March 2019. Authorities could be looking for any incriminating remarks from Smollett or his manage
You don't have to IMAGINE the government having access to all of it, because they DO! Here's how to protect yourself:
- Google Photos: Stop using it. Delete everything in it. Use NextCloud with end to end encryption (or any other service you can find that supports end to end encryption, and THIS is the critical part: YOU are in control of your private keys!!!!!!) With NextCloud, you have the option of running your own server. You become your own cloud provider. It supports files, photos, calendar, contacts, tasks, and has plugins for so much more... ALL END TO END ENCRYPTED!
- Google EMail: Stop using it. Delete everything in it. Use ProtonMail. And THIS is CRITICAL: There's an option to manage your OWN private key. DO IT!!!! And turn on 2 factor authentication. I recommend the 2FA app Authy. Use THAT (Google Auth compatible or OTP compatible, to be more precise) whenever given the option instead of texting, which is proven to be NOT SAFE BY ANY MEASURE!!!!
Two-factor security is so broken, now hackers can drain bank accounts
"Two-Factor" is NOT broken, but two-factor via TEXT MESSAGING is absolutely broken!
- Location history: Not exactly sure how to handle this one as Google tracks this even when you tell them NOT to. But, turn OFF location services on your phone. Go to your Google account and disable location tracking and delete your tracking data. Worst case scenario, you can sue the government for getting information that's not legally available, if push comes to serve.
- PRIVATE messages: Stop using popular services for this, INCLUDING your cell phone provider's text messaging service. Switch to Signal. INSIST that your contacts use it too. Flat out REFUSE to text with them unless they also use it (or a compatible app). In fact, probably a good idea to call your cell provider and ask them to disable texting. Signal doesn't need your cell provider's texting service to work. Get it here I also recommend PUSHING service providers that want to text you to do it with anything compatible with Open Whisper Systems, which is the open source encryption technology behind the Signal app. Signal is available on multiple platforms, INCLUDING:
Android
iOS
Windows
Linux
Mac
- EMail DRAFTS: Stop using ANY email provider that doesn't provide END to END encryption where YOU are not in FULL CONTROL of the keys! Delete everything in your old service INCLUDING DRAFTS!!!. Use ProtonMail.com. Any email sent or received to any other ProtonMail user is end to end encrypted. (If you communicate with someone OUTSIDE of ProtonMail, IT'S NOT ENCRYPTED! unless THEY are using PGP encryption). And THIS is CRITICAL: There's an option to manage your OWN private key. DO IT!!!! It's CRITICAL that whomever you're emailing ALSO uses ProtonMail OR is proficient in PGP encryption of email.
Speaking of managing your keys,
I recommend a good password manager. I used to recommend LastPass, which is good, but THEY have access to your master password. Instead, use BitWarden. It's 100% open source and YOU can be in control of your master password (just don't create an account on their website). If you're technical, you can even run your own BitWarden server to host your OWN synchronization.
Here's more on email encryption:
Stick it to the NSA: Encrypt Your desktop E-Mail
Above is an article I wrote, detailing how to encrypt your email if you're using a desktop email client. (Or, you can always use ProtonMail, which does it all for you).
The "List" continues...
- Deleted messages: JESUS!!!! I don't know of a solution to this. Perhaps draft a "cease & desist" letter to Google or whomever is hosting your messages (email, text, files) to delete EVERYTHING they have on you INCLUDING your "deleted" content.
- EVERYTHING in your Google Drive: Download all your Google Drive files and DELETE them from the service and STOP using it. OR, and I personally do this: Install CryptoMator. It encrypts your files locally before uploading to Google Drive (or whatever cloud drive service you use). But it won't encrypt files already there, so download those and plop them in your LOCAL cryptomator folder and sync THAT folder with Google. Here's how: http://csharpner.com/blog/encrypting-the-non-encrypted-cloud-drive-services/
- Google voice texts: Switch to Signal. Stop using Google Voice. Delete all your Google voice data. Note that all communications you've had with OTHER PEOPLE will STILL BE ON THEIR ACCOUNTS!!!!
- Calls: Make ONLY encrypted voice calls with the Signal app whenever it's possible. Obviously, the person you're calling or receiving calls from must also be using Signal. OR switch to any other end to end encrypted voice chat service.
- Contacts: Delete them all from Google or any other online service you're using. DELETE THEM FROM YOUR PHONE'S SIM CARD!!! Put them in an app like DAVx. This is the ONLY thing I'm recommending that isn't 100% free, but it's only $4.69 ONCE! Here's where to get DAVx. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=at.bitfire.davdroid
- Web search history: Go to your Google account and delete your search history and DISABLE recording of it. NEVER do another Google search while LOGGED INTO Google. That means LOG OUT of Google via your Chrome browser too!. STOP USING GOOGLE SEARCH! Use Qwant.com or DuckDuckGo.com. And for ANY search that you think could EVER come back to hurt you (this includes ALL medical searches), use the TOR browser! https://www.torproject.org/ Also, stop using Google Chrome! It's NOT your friend! It's a data collection app FOR Google! I recommend Brave or Dissenter. They're both built from Chromium source code, but with all the Google spyware stripped out, and replaced with some nice privacy features added IN.
- ALL of that from one OR MORE of your personal contacts' data too! <-- THIS one is going to be the toughest one to fix. You'll have to convince your contacts to do the same, which won't be easy. But going FORWARD, you can have more control over YOUR communications with others by refusing to engage on these data hoarding platforms and services.
But WAIT! There's MORE!
Here's an EXTENSIVE guide I wrote on how to encrypt just about EVERYTHING in your digital life. Read it. Live by it! I DO! These are not mere "suggestions" from some tech guy that'll never do them. I do ALL of these, and am still actively finding more and implementing those. I'll be writing more articles related to this soon to supplement the encryption (and I'll be updating this encryption article too!):
Encrypt All The Things! A Guide
http://csharpner.com/blog/index.php/encrypt-all-the-things-a-guide/
And I STRONGLY recommend you joining the following groups on Minds:
And for the LOVE OF GOD! STOP USING FACEBOOK MESSENGER!!!!!!! OR ANYTHING OWNED BY FACEBOOK FOR PRIVATE MESSAGING!!!!!
#privacy #government #fourthamendment #encryption #google