RE: Privacy Workshop #4 - Know Your Address and Secure It
Hi Mindhawk... I wish I had seen this kind of stuff a week and a half ago. I'm poor. Like -- Living on a very limited budget poor and when my laptop started doing funky things 10 days ago, which indicated to me that the end of it's 2 year lifespan had drawn near, I upgraded to a new laptop that has the Windows 10 system on it... I didn't want to go to Windows 10 (for all the reasons you have explained i.e. no control and keystroke logging etc), but it was the cheapest machine I could buy. Believe me, I don't want to be "just a user". I want to have the knowledge to know when my machine is being surveilled. My 11 year old son wants a computer and my husband and I have decided to start saving to get him his own machine for his 12th birthday that runs Linux.... so he won't be a "user" either....
I have to confess, it's scary to take the plunge with this. I'm the kind of person that after I've smoked a fine sativa (I have a med marijuana prescription) - I can find myself stopped at an intersection at 12:30 at night (while out for a walk) - debating to myself about whether JayWalking would be a good thing to do.... Asking myself about the CCTV at intersections, thinking about the history of Ireland during "the troubles" where the Police targetted people based on who obeyed the traffic signals even when there was absolutely no traffic to be seen.... Do you get what I'm saying here? I know that once you start to encrypt your communications that THIS, in and of itself puts you "on a list" -- and therefor, I've decided that if I ever do start to become more than a "user" -- It's not something I would ever discuss online in any way that could ever be traced back to me....I'd never log onto any of my accounts on a machine that logged into my email, social media or even steemit accounts. I'm that paranoid... Does that make sense to you? Then again... maybe I am already security conscious -- and this discussion is a little like my standing on a street corner at 2:30 in the morning, at an intersection - debating whether or not it looks better to the CCTV that I'm obeying the traffic lights or not... In any event... I'm going to start saving up for a new computer so that I can someday actually do the homework for your classes here, and do it in a way that does not actually let anybody know I am doing it. I hope that does not sound too paranoid and suspicious. I used to have pgp on my machine back in 2000. I stopped using encryption with my communications after Sept 11th for obvious reasons. And it's been 17 years since I've had contact with people who have been seriously involved in security culture. It's going to take a little while to come in from the cold. Bear with me please. Cheers for now. And thanks for laying all this out. It's good stuff. I've resteemed it.
used laptop, 150-250 cash, good models are thinkpads and dell inspiron or latitude
these are all over the place, sitting in stacks, 5 years old hardly used. on your security machine you just need basic performance.
you can overwrite windows 10 tonight with the fedora download if you have an 8gb stick.
courage is the virtue that makes all the others possible. i wouldn't suggest trying to do this unless you had two computers side by side, one to follow instructions with.
ssd drives are under 100 dollars now too, how tos to replace them per model are easy to find.
there is an attitude among americans that they should just wait and see, or that in a few weeks ill get the gumption to do this.
it is a learning disability, it is like talking with people with brain rot. do or do not, there is no try. but forget being an effective activist if you can't even take this time in your own home, why would you think you can change the world if you can't change your computer? why are you using a tool that is used more against you than for you? you'd be better off without it.
facebork and windows 10 extends the police station into your home. (amazon and gorgle are also on my list, apple will soon be on it probably too.)
I want you to be your best self somena, you are making it harder than it is though, which is kindof good news. The workshop is not here to resolve the rest of these issues, it's beyond the scope. what i'd prefer to see is a question i could answer about your next step to implement your privacy.
I simply do not have any extra money laying around unless I cashed in some steem, which I am loathe to do. Maybe I can crowdfund. I dunno. It's rough. I'm divorced, on a fixed and very strict limited income and taking an employment program which is eating up all my time and energy atm. I don't offer this as an excuse... and I agree with you about my computer being weaponized against me. This is all a much longer conversation than I am comfortable having on a non secure line. I get the peril we are in. I get the urgency of the need to raise awareness and educate people before things go much further. Let me say this... I don't have a cell phone. I don't use VOIP. I don't use google when I do any investigative reporting /journalism because I personally don't want to give google what I might know or find out in the course of a pursuance/investigation to feed it and make it all the better to spy on more people with and sell their data to the highest bidder. There are certain topics that I don't discuss with anybody online and I rarely will allow myself to get pulled into a private chat with anybody. I had a hard adjustment to the idea that everything about my life online and in telecommuinications was up for grabs and could be used against me. I never want to be lulled into a false sense of security about privacy again. I've had a couple of nervous breakdowns over this (among other things) over the last 18 years.
I'm going to re-read the documents you have posted and just keep familiarizing myself with the material until such a time as I have the means to get a machine that I would be comfortable using for secure communication and data storage. It's a big step to go dark. For the time being, I'm just barely getting by putting food on the table and a roof over my head. It will take awhile before I have a couple hundred dollars. (ps... I'm in Canada, not the US)
well that's just where you are stuck today. maybe post and ask steemit if anyone can help, idk.
The method: break bigger problems down into smaller ones.
don't get ahead of yourself, one step at a time, utopia won't be built in a day :)
canada is actually by its nature a much safer place to live and be than the USA, don't be ruled by fear, don't give in to negative self-talk, and you are aok where you are at right now and no one is here is judging you.