Waching daily Apr 2 2017

Set up a VPN in 10 minutes for free�and yes, Americans urgently need one, thanks to

Congress

�A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any other invention with the possible

exceptions of handguns and Tequila.�?�?Mitch Ratcliffe

Soon every mistake you�ve ever made online will not only be available to your internet

service provider (ISP)?�?it will be available to any corporation or foreign government who

wants to see those mistakes. Thanks to last week�s US Senate decision

and yesterday�s House decision, ISPs can sell your entire web browsing history to literally

anyone without your permission. The only rules that prevented this are all being repealed,

and won�t be reinstated any time soon (it would take an act of Congress).

You might be wondering: Who benefits from repealing these rules? Other than those four

monopoly ISPs that control America�s �last mile� of internet cables and cell towers?

No one. No one else benefits in any way. Our privacy (and our nation�s security) have

been diminished so a few mega-corporations can make a little extra cash.

In other words, these politicians?�?who have received millions of dollars in campaign

contributions from the ISPs for decades?�?have sold us out.

How did this happen?

The Congressional Review Act (CRA) was passed in 1996 to allow Congress to overrule regulations

created by government agencies.

Prior to 2017, congress had only successfully used the CRA once. But since the new administration

took over in January, it�s been successfully used 3 times?�?for things like overturning

pesky environmental regulations. Senator Jeff Flake?�?a Republican representing

Arizona?�?lead the effort to overturn the FCC�s privacy rules. He was already the

most unpopular senator in the US. Now he may become the most unpopular senator in US history.

Instead of just blaming Flake, though, let�s remember that every single senator who voted

in favor of overturning these privacy rules was a Republican. Every single Democrat and

Independent senator voted against this CRA resolution. The final vote was 50�48, with

two Republicans voting against the resolution, and another two choosing not to vote.

�Relying on the government to protect your privacy is like asking a peeping tom to install

your window blinds.�?�?John Perry Barlow

The CRA resolution passed yesterday in the House of Representatives, where 231 Republicans

voted in favor of removing privacy protections against 189 Democrats who voted against it.

(Again, not a single non-Republican voted to remove these privacy protections.)

All that�s left is for the Republican president to sign the resolution, which he most certainly

will do. So what kind of messed-up things can ISPs

now legally do with our data?

According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, there are at least five creepy things the

FCC regulations would have made illegal. But thanks to the Senate, ISPs can now continue

doing these things as much as they want, and it will probably be years before we can do

anything to stop them. Sell your browsing history to basically any

corporation or government that wants to buy it

Hijack your searches and share them with third parties

Monitor all your traffic by injecting their own malware-filled ads into the websites you

visit Stuff undetectable, un-deletable tracking

cookies into all of your non-encrypted traffic Pre-install software on phones that will monitor

all traffic?�?even HTTPS traffic?�?before it gets encrypted. AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile

have already done this with some Android phones. So how do we have any hope of protecting our

privacy now?

According to a study by the Pew Research Center, 91% of adults agree or strongly agree that

�consumers have lost control of how personal information is collected and used by companies.�

But we shouldn�t despair. But as the same British Prime Minister who cautioned us to

�hope for the best and prepare for the worst� also said:

�Despair is the conclusion of fools.�?�?Benjamin Disraeli in 1883

Well we are not fools. We�re going to take the actions necessary to secure our family�s

privacy against the acts of reckless monopolies and their political puppets.

And we�re going to do this using the most effective tools for securing online communication:

encryption and VPNs. Step 1: enable HTTPS Everywhere

As I mentioned, ISPs can work around HTTPS if they are able to factory-install spyware

on your phone�s operating system. As long as you can avoid buying those models of phones,

HTTPS will give you a huge amount of additional protection.

HTTPS works by encrypting traffic between destination websites and your device by using

the secure TLS protocol. The problem is that, as of 2017, only about

10% of websites have enabled HTTPS, and even many of those websites haven�t properly

configured their systems to disallow insecure non-HTTPS traffic (even though it�s free

and easy to do using LetsEncrypt). This is where the EFF�s HTTPS Everywhere

extension comes in handy. It will make these websites default to HTTPS, and will alert

you if you try and access a site that isn�t HTTPS. It�s free and you can install it

here. One thing we know for sure?�?thanks to the

recent WikiLeaks release of the CIA�s hacking arsenal?�?is that encryption still works.

As long as you�re using secure forms of encryption that haven�t yet been cracked?�?and

as far as we know, HTTPS�s TLS encryption hasn�t been?�?your data will remain private.

�The average busy professional in this country wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes

home, takes care of personal and family obligations, and then goes to sleep, unaware that he or

she likely committed several federal crimes that day.�?�?Harvey Silverglate

By the way, if you haven�t already, I strongly recommend you read my article on how to encrypt

your entire life in less than an hour. But even with HTTPS enabled, ISPs will still

know?�?thanks to their role in actually connecting you to websites themselves?�?what

websites you�re visiting, even if they don�t know what you�re doing there.

And just knowing where you�re going?�?the �metadata� of your web activity?�?gives

ISPs a lot of information they can sell. For example, someone visiting Cars.com may

be in the market for a new car, and someone visiting BabyCenter.com may be pregnant.

That�s where using a VPN comes in. How VPNs can protect you

VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. Virtual because you�re not creating a new

physical connecting with your destination?�?your data is just traveling through existing wires

between you and your destination. Private because it encrypts your activity

before sending it, then decrypts it at the destination.

People have traditionally used VPNs as a way to get around websites that are blocked in

their country (for example, Medium is blocked in Malaysia) or to watch movies that aren�t

available in certain countries. But VPNs are extremely useful for privacy, too.

There are several types of VPN options, with varying degrees of convenience and security.

Experts estimate that as many as 90% of VPNs are �hopelessly insecure� and this changes

from time to time. So even if you use the tools I recommend here, I recommend you take

the time to do your homework. Browser-based VPNs

Most VPNs are services that cost money. But the first VPN option I�m going to tell you

about is convenient and completely free. Opera is a popular web browser that comes

with some excellent privacy features, like a free built-in VPN and a free ad blocker

(and as you may know, ads can spy on you). If you just want a secure way to browse the

web without ISPs being able to easily snoop on you and sell your data, Opera is a great

start. Let�s install and configure it real quick. This takes less than 5 minutes.

Before you get started, note that this will only anonymize the things you do within the

Opera browser. Also, I�m obligated to point out that even though Opera�s parent company

is European, it was recently purchased by a consortium of Chinese tech companies, and

there is a non-zero risk that it could be compromised by the Chinese government.

Presto?�?you can now browse the web with reasonable confidence that your ISPs?�?or

really anyone else �don�t know who you are or what you�re doing.

You can even set your VPN to a different country. Here, I�ve set mine to Singapore so websites

will think I�m in Singapore.

Since the internet is complex, and data passes through hundreds of providers through a system

of peering and trading traffic, US-based ISPs shouldn�t be able to monitor my traffic

when it emerges from Singapore. If you want to take things next level, you

can try Tor, which is extremely private, and extremely hard to de-anonymize (though it

can be done, as depicted in the TV show Mr. Robot?�?though it would require incredible

resources). Tor�s a bit more work to set up and use,

and is slower than using a VPN. If you want to learn more, I have a getting-started guide

for Tor here. VPN Services

The most common way people get VPNs is through a monthly service. There are a ton of these.

Ultimately, you must trust the company running the VPN, because there�s no way to know

what they�re doing with your data. As I said, some VPNs are improperly configured,

and may leak personally identifying data. Before you buy a VPN, read up on how it compares

to other here. Once you buy a VPN, the best way to double check that it�s working properly

is to visit ipleak.net while using the VPN. Even though most users of VPNs are companies

with remote employees, the NSA will still put you on a list if you purchased a VPN.

So I recommend using something anonymous to do so, like a pre-loaded Visa card. (By the

way, Bitcoin is not anonymous.) There are dozens of VPN services, and there�s

no clear �winner.� I asked people on Twitter which VPNs they were using and got a variety

of answers:

Some routers are designed to work with VPNs at higher speeds than others. If you want

to use a VPN at the router level, and your internet connection is less than 100 mps,

this router will probably suffice. Otherwise, you�ll need to pay a bit more for a router

like this one. If you don�t trust the router companies,

you can modify a router using Tomato USB. It�s an alternative open source Linux-based

router firmware that�s compatible with some off-the-shelf routers.

Privacy is hard. But it�s worth it.

Privacy is a fundamental human right, and has been declared so by the United Nations.

Still, many people believe we live in a �post-privacy� era. For example, Mark Zuckerberg claims privacy

isn�t that important any more. But look at his actions. He paid $30 million to buy

the 4 houses adjacent to his Palo Alto home so he could have more privacy.

Other people are just too jaded and shell-shocked by all the data breaches around us to believe

that privacy is still worth the fight. But most people who say they don�t care

about their own privacy anymore just haven�t really given it much thought.

�Arguing that you don�t care about the right to privacy because you have nothing

to hide is no different than saying you don�t care about free speech because you have nothing

to say.�?�?Edward Snowden Last week�s US Senate vote is just the latest

in a series of events that show how we can�t trust governments to act in the interest of

consumers when it comes to their privacy. We need stronger privacy protections enshrined

in the law. In the meantime, we�ll just have

to look out for ourselves, and educate other people to do the same.