Yes, this blog uses a Google-owned platform (Blogger) and a Google-owned hosting system (blogspot.com). It's the best that I can do at the moment. I could switch to Wordpress.com, but that's really no more secure. There are almost no free options for hosting this kind of blog, and I am not able -- yet, at least -- to afford private hosting in a more privacy-friendly country (e.g., Iceland?). So the plug on this particular blog may be one of the last that I pull. Until then, I still want to start doing all I can to make it not so easy to be included in the NSA dragnet.
Email.
I have withdrawn from my the Gmail account for "sebaygo1" to the extent that the main reason I still check it periodically is to see if I have received a donation at the PayPal account that is associated with that email address. And since that happens so seldom now, I may well close that PayPal account and open another, or at least open another one. Currently there are two email accounts that I use.
Inbox.com is a free US-hosted service that has no advantage over Gmail security wise, but it has a simple user interface, unlike Gmail which has been tweaking theirs in recent months in ways that I really dislike.
Yandex.com is a free, anonymous email service based in Russia. It's the most popular such service in the country. And since I have no reason to worry about Russian email surveillance of me, and a Russian email service is not so likely as Google to be in bed with the US NSA, it will do for now.
Startpage.com, which with good reason bills itself as "the world's most private search engine," has promised to come out with a truly private email service soon. I registered months ago to be a beta tester and recent emails from them indicate that beta testing will commence sometime this fall. I think this is going to be a free service (cost is not the issue, payment breaks anonymity unless you can use Bit Coins, which I don't have). I will update here as more information becomes available about this service.
Other technologies.
Bit message is a promising alternative to email. It's still in beta, but active testing is in progress. Do not use it [yet] to send state secrets to Wikileaks, but please use it. There's been a big surge in usage since the Snowden breaks, but the more people trying it out, the better. It's a little slower than "instant messaging" and a little slower than email (currently), but more secure that either of those in their current forms.
It is not that difficult to set up, but feel free to email me with questions if you have problems.
Learn about bit message here, in this order.
http://blog.curry.com/2013/08/11/testingBitmessage.html
http://blog.curry.com/2013/08/12/itsABitWorld.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitmessage
https://bitmessage.org/wiki/FAQ
1 comment:
Thanks for your comments on email security. I have gotten rid of my yahoo emails and am trying out inbox. One thing I have noticed about your blog is the visitor globe leaves "LSO" cookies every time since it is flash. I guess I will have to start accessing your blog with Firefox so Flashblock and Betterprivacy (which controls LSO's) can do their thing.
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