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How To Prevent The Government From Spying On You?
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There are several ways to keep away the government from spying on you and violating your privacy. You can improve your online safety by using legal, technical, and behavioral steps.Â
First, know what the privacy rules are and fight for stronger protections. Use tools for end-to-end encryption and strong passwords to protect your gadgets.Â
Update your software often to fix bugs, and think about using a virtual private network (VPN) to hide what you're doing online. Be careful about what you post online, and don't share too much on social media.Â
Use privacy-focused search engines and platforms that protect your privacy when you browse. Stay alert, learn about new threats, and change how you handle your privacy.
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Table of Contents
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11 Ways To Prevent The Government From Spying On You
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Here let’s know in detail for how to prevent the government from spying on you by using the following:
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1. Tor Browser
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TOR, short for "The Onion Router," is an open-source browser that prioritizes user privacy and anonymity.
Google and Chrome record everything you do online, including the websites you visit, the time you spend on each site, the keywords you use, and more. The same applies to most popular browsers, including Yahoo! and Internet Explorer.
Also, unlike most popular browsers, it hides your IP address from websites, so they can't track your online activities or spy on you.
To make it so the website doesn't know who is requesting or from where the request is originating, Tor works by sending your request to different nodes before finally relaying it to the site.
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2. NordVPN
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NordVPN is top #1 recommendation for a virtual private network regarding privacy and how to prevent the government from spying on you.Â
A kill switch is included to ensure that no unencrypted data is delivered if the VPN connection dies, and users also receive protection against DNS and WebRTC leaks.Â
The encryption method is 256-bit AES. The kill switch can be adjusted to disable internet connection for particular applications, such as torrent clients. Set it and forget it with automatic wifi protection; that way, you won't have to remember to connect to the VPN whenever you join an unsecured network.
Through the years, NordVPN has demonstrated its commitment to a zero-logs policy. Before, authorities have tried and failed to confiscate NordVPN servers since they do not hold any personally identifiable information.
So far, NordVPN has proven that speed does not have to be sacrificed for security since it is the fastest VPN they have tested. It has over 5,500 servers in 60+ countries and can unblock most streaming services when you're overseas.
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3. CounterMail
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The 4,096-bit encryption keys used by CounterMail are OpenPGP. RSA and AES-CBC encryption alongside SSL safeguard their users from identity theft and Man-In-The-Middle attacks. They need official desktop or mobile applications, which is a major letdown.
They store your email on diskless servers and don't keep any logs to protect your privacy;Â how to prevent the government from spying on you using Countermail, which allows you to conceal the sender's IP address and make email headers anonymous.Â
Servers in Sweden encrypt all emails and attachments using OpenPGP while not in use. For a one-time charge, you can permanently enhance the base storage from 4GB, which is rather tiny.
Even though CounterMail's prices are higher than competing secure email companies, the company justifies this by using only the best servers and employing stringent security protocols.Â
Despite its lack of bells and whistles, CounterMail has been around for more than 15 years and is a reliable email provider that prioritizes security.
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4. Skiff Mail
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The San Francisco, California-based startup Skiff Mail is an up-and-coming email provider. Without the need for passphrases or public/private keys, it offers PKI end-to-end encryption. This streamlines the process of data protection for occasional users.
With Skiff Mail, you'll have more than enough capacity to save your messages and files (15GB+). Similarly, importing previous communications via an EML file frees data movement. The ability to create bespoke or Skiff domains and aliases will be available.
Skiff Mail is just one of many tools that Skiff provides; here's how to prevent the government from spying on you. Calendar, Pages, and Drive are some of its other features. Therefore, private and corporate users will find it to be equally suitable.
An inexpensive and secure email option, Skiff Mail, starts at $3/month. Feel free to try out the free version before committing to a subscription. Safeguard your data against harmful entities who aim to steal your personal information with Skiff Mail's security from trackers and phishing assaults.Â
It also has features that make managing your email easier and more functional, like automatic replies, scheduled sending, configurable signatures, and the option to unsend mail.
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5. Protonmail Privacy Bundle
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Unlike Gmail and other popular email clients, Protonmail protect data from government spying; it does not read your emails to provide better advertisements and experience. The service is anonymous and doesn't cost anything.
Free in the sense that it doesn't cost anything and anonymous in the mind that you won't have to give up any personally identifying information when you sign up.
While most popular email applications log users' IP addresses, this doesn't. For your peace of mind, they save the encryption keys for your emails on the client system so no one, not even their team, will ever be able to decipher them.
In addition, it encrypts the emails using SSL certificates—specifically, "Swiss" certificates—to ensure that other powerful countries, like the U.S. or E.U., can't decipher them.
Many sophisticated capabilities, like auto-replies and configurable filters, are available at its disposal.Â
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6. Tutanota
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An important alternative to Protonmail is Tutanota. Anonymous email is its unique selling point. However, Tutanota is gaining more attention as Protonmail made a small adjustment to its registration process (it now requires another anonymous email I.D. for signup).
Germany is home to Tutanota's headquarters. They encrypt all of your emails, calendars, and anything else. Thanks to its Zero-Knowledge security feature, Tutanota cannot access your stored emails or data. There is also no data logging.
You don't need to provide any personal information or phone numbers to register.
Since it is open-source, there are no hidden features or vulnerabilities. It also has built-in Windows, iOS, Android, and macOS applications.
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7. RicoChat
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For a "secure" end-to-end communication programme, RicoChat, to avoid spyware, is the first name that pops into your head. You can't trust applications like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and similar ones.
Due to its reliance on the Tor network for message transmission and reception rather than "Servers," RicoChat operates on an entirely anonymous infrastructure, impenetrable to hackers and monitors.
Also, when a specific amount of time has passed, the messages are permanently deleted, rendering them unintelligible to any future spies or third parties who may try to "recover" them.
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8. VeraCrypt
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This will be useful if you want to protect your discs or the government seizes your system. Many consider this spy software, an open-source disc encryption program, among the finest.Â
Encrypting a whole disc or drive is within its capabilities, as is the encryption of temporary media devices like USB drives.
The pre-boot authentication is one of your favourite features. No matter what, it will always encrypt "all" system data, logs, temporary files, and anything else. That rules out the possibility of unauthorized users "rebooting" the system. Without a password, you cannot access the system in any way.
Users also have the option to construct an encrypted "virtual disc." You could use it as a true disc partition; it works and functions fine, but that's not true.
It is possible to encrypt and decrypt files during regular computer operations, but you can resume a procedure even after powering off the computer.
Additionally, it enables the creation of "Hidden Volumes" inside a Veracrypt encrypted volume. Building an entire Hidden Operating system and a Hidden Volume is possible.Â
The real data on your discs will stay concealed and secure even if the government or authorities try to decipher them.
It supports many cores, allowing lightning-fast encryption and decryption times that scale linearly with system resources. Utilizing "Pipelining" further expedites the procedure.Â
If you want to use Windows or Mac without sacrificing device security, it's a good, secure and trustworthy add-on because it is open-source.
9. NordLocker
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The good people at NordVPN have developed an End-to-End encryption system that runs in the cloud. Among virtual private networks (VPNs), NordVPN has been at the top for over a decade—even NordLocker benefits from that trust.
Operating out of the Swiss Alps, NordLocker use it for minimize government spying; it is also not subject to U.S. or E.U. law or comparable jurisdiction. No government or law enforcement agency can coerce NordLocker into sharing your files with them. The E2E encryption makes it technically impossible as well.
Any file type is compatible with it. You can save them all, whether they are million-dollar trade secrets or personal images.
Thank goodness for the cloud! Now you can get your data from any computer, anywhere in the world. On the other hand, the "local encryption" function allows us to encrypt folders locally rather than storing them in the cloud.
A child could use it with ease. Encrypting files is as simple as dragging and dropping them into the NordLocker folder.
Also, no "device limitation" exists. Any number of devices can run the program, and all your files will be accessible from any of those machines.
Get it on your Windows or macOS device.
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10. Brave Browser
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Although created mainly for the Onion network, Tor is an excellent browser in its own right. There is a noticeable impact on surfing speed due to routing and encryption, which are independent of your internet speed.
What if you only want to avoid prying eyes on the clearnet? That's the function of the Brave browser. It's a web browser that mimics Chrome's design style but does away with Google's policies and trackers that invade users' privacy.
It can prevent trackers, malware, and other similar risks from running. There's no product to offer because the design prevents Brave servers from accessing user data. In addition to blocking malicious websites, it will deactivate any plugins it finds hazardous.
Nonetheless, the finest aspect is that it manages to accomplish all that without slowing down. On the contrary, it boasts of speeding up websites by a factor of eight compared to Chrome and Safari.
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11. TAILS
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Comparable to how Tor provides an alternative to Internet Explorer and Chrome, TAILS does the same for Mac OS X and Windows.
How come you'd want one? Did you realize that Windows 10 logs all your computer activities? Even the taps of a keyboard! The operating system you purchased practically has a keylogger built in!
In contrast, TAILS OS prioritizes user privacy and anonymity and is free. Because it is a live OS, you can launch it straight from a DVD or USB drive rather than going through the typical installation process.
It makes TOR the only way to access the internet. Additionally, it has privacy-focused versions of popular tools, including a web browser, messaging app, picture editor, email client, and more already installed.
The data you saved while using TAILSÂ government spying on phones, or even the information that you used TAILS, will be permanently erased when the system is turned off because TAILS does not use the hard drive but rather the RAM.
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Conclusion
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In the above, we discussed how to prevent the government from spying on you. Some may find it too extreme, and imagine many will find it challenging. But if you want to blend in, it's one of the greatest options. As we've already established, Google can read your emails now that they own Gmail.Â
Additionally, Google has access to your stuff because they control Google Drive! They know what you watch on YouTube because the same firm acquired it, too. Google and Facebook have already denied most of these allegations regarding privacy breaches.Â
Their exact intentions with this data remain a mystery to us. But wouldn't it be better to keep them from getting any data in the first place? Try one of the other options we have listed earlier.Â
Published at : 18/12/2023