Tag Archives: Privacy

I’ve written before about Aaron Swartz’s last project, software to enable whistle blowers to communicate with news organizations anonymously. The New Yorker was the first to implement the system. Those with information about government misdeeds finally had a secure way … Continue reading →

Bruce Schneier has an interesting post on setting up an air gap computer. It seems simple: just never connect your computer to the Internet. The problem is a completely isolated computer isn’t much use unless all you want to do … Continue reading →

The New Yorker has a nice article on the Lavabit back story and current status. It recounts the details of the negotiations between Lavabit and the government. It’s pretty clear that the government was disingenuous about their demands. Armed with … Continue reading →

A common reaction to the NSA disclosures has been, “Meh, it’s just metadata.” Unfortunately, the issues are perceived as being overly technical and as a result it is difficult to explain to the man-in-the-street, let alone your Aunt Millie, how … Continue reading →

In my The New York Times on Encryption Backdoors post, I mentioned that Representative Russ Holt of New Jersey has introduced legislation that reins in the NSA and prohibits some of its more egregious activities. Although it doesn’t go far … Continue reading →

In a bit of good news, The New York Times has published an editorial Calling on the NSA to close their backdoors. There’s nothing in the editorial that will be news to Irreal readers but it’s useful because it educates … Continue reading →

Anyone who’s been following Irreal lately is painfully aware that the NSA scandals have kicked my paranoia into hyperdrive. Still, there are limits. Apple’s recent announcement of their fingerprint reader on the iPhone 5S has provoked those poor souls even … Continue reading →

If you’re a Microsoft user and at all concerned about the security of your computers, you need to read this BoingBoing story about Microsoft’s cooperation with numerous 3-letter government agencies. If ever there were an argument for open source, here … Continue reading →

I ended my Dinner With General Alexander post with the observation that when the Government collects data, regardless of the stated rationale, there will inevitably be mission creep that sees the data being used in new, unintended ways and that … Continue reading →