Proxy, VPN, Encryption – You May Not Have Your Privacy After All

Using a proxy? How about a VPN? If you value your privacy online, and would rather that corporations and governments just didn't realize that you have even been online, much less even own a computer, then you may well have a problem. Recent discord in the Middle East has brought to light just exactly how much information can be gleaned from today's technology. When the uprisings in Egypt and Libya won their hard earned victory they uncovered entire bunkers dedicated to gathering electronic surveillance intel. Intel that Gaddafi used on more than one occasion to locate, infiltrate, and assassinate, his opposition. The equipment and software systems often comes from companies based in supposedly “Free countries.”

Surveillance has become a very lucrative business in the last few years, especially for those not averse to selling the same equipment to questionable clients. Many of the company owners are claiming that they didn't know their tech was being sold to these dictators, and tyrants. When presented with the proof that his Goespatial Toolkit software had been hacked and sold to the CIA for surveillance purposes., the owner of one such company was shocked...because the software didn't work right, it could be wrong by as far as 40 feet! But that's okay, just use a larger explosive to get the job done.

This is a problem that seems to intensify when more money is applied...something many governments and dictators are often willing to do. In Libya, Trovicor equipment was used to track, record and locate a human rights activist, Abdul Ghani Al Khanjar. The activist was shown the smallest of personal details before he was tortured, beaten, and imprisoned. Trovicor used to be a child company of Nokia Siemens, a U.S. based company. But they aren't the only company that has virtually no scruples when dealing with a client.

In January the NSA started building a 1.5 billion dollar facility that has no other purpose than to track, collect, and maintain thousands of terabytes of data they collect on the global masses. Sure, they claim it is in the interest of defeating the terrorist threats, and it may well be used for this purpose also. But the fact is that if any telecommunications company is approached by an agent for the purpose of gathering data on an individual, no matter where they are, then they give it up. Whatever information is requested. If this seems hard to believe, then look at the way that RIM, (Blackberry,) offered up all the data it had when the dissent broke out in the U.K. Proxies and VPN's didn't help much then either.

Scruples, morals, common decency, whatever you may call it, goes completely out the window when there's a pile of cash on the table, and the benefactors are willing to sell out anybody, including their own, for the right price. And again, they will claim that they had zero knowledge of how their technology was being used, or where it was headed. Amazing, I have at least some knowledge of where and how my stuff will be used when I sell it. So this argument is starting to hold less and less water with human rights organizations, and governments.

In the U.S. there are several legislators looking into the implications of possibly restricting global distribution of these surveillance technologies. But until some sort of regulating measures are taken, these companies will follow the path of greed, and watch people be tortured, maimed, jailed or even worse, because of their desire to make more money. And their technology is getting better, and smarter all the time. Presently people that own cellphones can be tracked to within 10 meters of their location, and voice and facial recognition software is becoming surprisingly accurate. Yes, they can now find you through the simple act of talking on your phone, or even just having it in standby mode.

The regulating of these companies will have to happen on a global scale, there are companies everywhere that are selling these invasive surveillance technologies in virtually every “free country” in the world. If even one place is left out of the equation then these companies will go there and sell their wares to the highest bidder. The companies must also begin to take responsibility for their actions too. With other industries, like chemicals and explosives, the manufacturer has to know who they are selling to. And these technologies have just as much potential to do harm, especially to individuals. Remember the bigger explosive to allow for the 40 feet, doesn't that bring a lot of innocents into the equation if the person being monitored is in a crowd at a market?

Still, it's only prudent to use a proxy, VPN, and any other privacy measures you can think of to disguise your online presence. Big Brother doesn't have an interest in the average internet and smart phone user...yet. And, if the truth be told, as the surveillance technologies advance, so does the stealth tech, we can just hope that stealth can keep up. Or that a suitable regulation for this kind of invasive technology can be agreed upon, globally.

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