Survival in The Digital Age - Episode five
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ONO has spent the last few months
exploring planet earth
going here and there
enjoying marvelous landscapes
magnificent vistas
the blues of the seas
the greens of the forests
Umm just a second please
I need a glass of water
Tap water is ok isn't it?
ONO has also explored outer space
ONO says the other space
the outer space
Yeah
but he didn't find anything interesting there he says
not yet!
although he mentioned it was an illuminating experience
He's back here on earth
and he's sitting near you
and me
ON
Hello ONO! Welcome back home
We have new recommendations for you
News: This is what your friends have been up to
Survival in the Digital Age Episode 5: ONO's guide to online privacy
Every device we are using
has its own identification data
A mobile phone will have its own unique number
Nevermind changing the SIM card to stay anonymous
the phone will always be recognised as the same one
and if you got any of your own SIM cards using your own ID
the phone will also be easily associated with you
Mobile communication is also not encrypted
the history of your calls and SMSes is stored for a long time
and can be also tracked backwards
Every computer connected to the internet
is recognised by its unique internet number
ONO says this is called the IP address
or if the device is part of a bigger local computer network
it is recognised by a unique
what is this called?
Media access control or MAC address
that every equipment connected to a network has
and that's not just computers
so it is very easy to associate a person
with any mobile phone or computer they are using
and to track what they are using it for
It is very easy too
to see what they are writing and communicating about
It is easy to see who is in their networks
with whom they are talking
and exchanging information
We often make it even more obvious
by associating our equipment
with ourselves more directly
starting with getting an internet connection using
our real credentials
and setting up our devices or using
our personal information when registering for various services
Once this is done it is very hard to undo
And then we also put online our pictures
pictures of others
contact details, information about events
and also other things
The nature of our communication is that we are tracked all the time
some of the information is used for boring bureaucracy
some for statistics
some to create our user profile and then send us advertisements
and information that will address our personal preferences
Everything would actually not be as bad as we might think
if we were in control of what we want to keep private
and what we wanted available
for viewing, recording and using
by other people, institutions and governments
There are also places where individuals
like you and I as ordinary citizens
are not allowed to access certain services
to look at specific websites
or to talk about things others don't want us to
There are however others ways of protecting
or at least reducing risks
of losing your privacy
stopping others from building their knowledge
of who you are according to your online activities
Most of this can be done by changing our everyday behaviours
Try to avoid using your own computer
to access the internet in a risky situation
Use tools from sources you trust
and avoid installing them via the internet
without testing
or making sure you trust them
otherwise they might not work as you intended
Sometimes the meer fact that you are using
anonymising tools to hide your tracks
may raise a red flag
and therefore implicate and expose you
If you have unique information
and are worried that it might be lost or compromised
you need to do two things:
Encrypt it and back it up
It is best to do both at once
first encrypt then back up
and keep the back up copy away from your computer
and from the place where you live or work.
It is optional to use the storage places on the internet
such as Dropbox and others
to keep a copy of your encrypted information
make sure you read the small print of your user agreement first
what we've learned in recent years
is that any unencrypted information
that is stored online
even by special agencies and governments
always leaks its way into public view
Sometimes you need to guarantee anonymity for yourself
or for another person that you work with on confidential issues
It is fairly safe to use Skype to Skype calls but remember
calls from Skype to a phone or a mobile phone are not encrypted
also Skype will keep information about every call in its memory
also remember that there are special versions of Skype
such as Tom Skype
that do not protect your privacy
Nowadays lots of our communication happens over the internet
We use online groups
we use forms, blogs, wikis..etc
There are few tips to remember
always check your privacy settings
Read the often ignored user agreement licenses
and use only those online services that allow you to log in
and to work on your content using HTTPS or SSL
Using social networking might be useful over all
but remember
you may putting information online that is private
and by private we mean
that should be only known to you
and you might prefer to keep
the network of people with whom you work
private as well
Are you comfortable revealing who your colleagues are
and what sorts of points of view
habits, hobbies or ideas you have in common?
Before you start accessing block content
make sure your tools are properly configured
that they actually work
and that you try them first in a safe environment
If you're not sure about any of these
get help from someone who can comfortably
help you answer these questions
There are many ways to scramble your communication
or hide your content
behind encryption so it is only known to people
with whom you share special virtual keys
to unscramble and read it
These techniques are very advanced
making your encrypted information
hard to break by intruders
even if they have very sophisticated code-breaking tools
In some cases however just the fact
that you are using these techniques
will alert the intruders
who instead of using tools to
unscramble your messages
may target you to get the keys
or passwords to this information
By choosing to use these more sophisticated tools
you might put your peers at a very high risk
ONO is making a checklist
There are few elementary steps to remember
make sure you are aware of them
before you try anything more sophisticated
Never use easy-to-guess passwords
and don't use the same password for multiple services
and change your passwords often
Always keep your private identity and personal activities
separate from your work and other activities
If your work is confidential
determine which information is safe to publish
which is risky
and which must absolutely remain private
Have you checked the privacy settings of your tools
such as your mobile phone,
software such as internet browser
or email programmes?
When accessing sensitive information via the internet
are your services behind HTTPS?
Do you have regular software anti-virus updates?
Do you use a spyware detection programme?
Do you have a functioning firewall?
Are the passwords to your online services
stored online themselves?
these are the minimum precautions you must take
before launching yourself into encrypting your information
using circumvention tools or anonymisers
And the last question
are you accepting your emails in HTML format?
Sometimes instead of using technology
It's better to use an old fashion non digital means of communication
such as face to face conversation
or a letter written by hand
or an audio recording
or an old fashioned tape
or a CD
or a pigeon perhaps
No, no no
ONO says: Ohhh no
don't
Just use your mobile
use your internet
Just think about what you're using
and when and how
and also think who you're talking to
Something ok for you
might be unsafe for others
Be safe