“7 Ways to Reclaim Your Digital Privacy”

That’s the title of a very useful article in Popular Mechanics.  We’ve spoken about Big Brother, big business and the threat to privacy on many occasions in these pages.  Here are some concrete steps we can take to regain at least a measure of control.

Privacy, we say, is about to come roaring back. No, it’s not too late. Yes, we know that Google monetizes both our emails and our search histories. It’s true that data brokers market our personal dossiers, listing everything from our favorite blogs to our old parking tickets (identity thieves must love it). And NSA leaker Edward Snowden really did prove the paranoids right: The United States government spies on everyone. Now, we agree that security agencies have a vital responsibility to track terrorists, but that mission can’t require all citizens to live in a surveillance state. Feel you have nothing to hide? That assumes the data will always be used to defeat terrorists, not to monitor activists, let alone to stalk ex-girlfriends—yes, NSA employees have done that. Here’s the other side to the privacy-is-dead argument. You can fight the privacy erosion that technology has enabled using tools that technology provides. And when you protect your data—using encryption and other tools—you incidentally bolster the argument that security is the norm. At least it should be. Privacy is not dead but simply suffering from neglect. It’s your job to revive it.

There’s much more at the link.  Very useful and highly recommended.

Peter