Network Privacy Is Dead

Digital privacy is a myth. For example, if you buy any Android device, you must have a Google account to activate it. So long as that device is in use, Google is tracking your every move. If you are running Windows 8, your system login is some kind of MSN account (including Hotmail, Outlook, or some similar email service). So long as your are logged in and online, Microsoft is tracking your every move. As I understand it, Apple can or does do the same thing, but I haven’t messed with their OSes in a while.

On top of that, private corporations are creating and selling to anybody with enough money software that will allow you to insert a rootkit on just about any device and track whatever the user does. It allows you to steel their encryption keys. In other words, our biggest threat is not governments directly, but the corporations all too willing to sell you to the government.

Nice long article over on Alternet if you want to know some details. The point is: If it starts with making a profit, the user is the product being sold.

Addenda: One of the few tools that can find stuff like Hacking Team’s RCS is Detekt, a free and Open Source program.

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