Get Busy Livin, or Get Busy Dyin': Information Security For Today

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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Information Security For Today

Secure Internet Browsing

As you probably already know most browsers like Google, Yahoo and others are all too eager to cooperate with any little government official that comes asking for private search data. This data can and has been saved for many years.

It is true that most data is associated with non-personal characteristics such as "How many people searched for this word - or that word", but some data can be traced back to specific IP addresses (this means you).

This issue is becoming more and more mainstream. For years the "lamestream " media insinuated, and most Sheeple went along with, the notion that "if you have nothing to hide - you shouldn't care who collects data on you". But this is a specious argument at best, at worst it is another sign of the laziness and stupidity of the average person. Be that as it may - we have finally seen a genuine interest in real privacy. Cnet did a well researched story on it and came up with some independent reviews and ratings at: http://news.cnet.com/2100-1029_3-6202068.html

In the CNET Story they did not happen to review IxQuick or Startpage - ostensibly because they are not large enough to rate the top 5 positions.

So now we have options - and in the interest of maintaining your anonymity, and possibly your freedom too. Do NOT use GOOGLE, or YAHOO, or any of the other "popular" search engines. Instead - use a SECURE search engine, like the following....

Startpage - Search Engine

(the following is taken from Startpage "About")

Startpage search engine protects your Privacy! Startpage does NOT record your IP address!

Nor do we share your personal information with any third party. Read more on our privacy position or go directly to Startpage's Privacy Policy.

Startpage offers you Web search results from Google - the world's most popular search engine

When you search with Startpage the Web results are generated by Google. This offers you the search results and search features you may have grown accustomed to.

A Unique Combination

On Startpage the privacy of Ixquick is combined with the Web search results from Google. The combination of these two features is what makes Startpage so special.
You can continue using the Web results from the world's most popular search engine but now under the privacy protection of Ixquick, the world's most private search engine.

A Trusted Party

Startpage is brought to you by Ixquick, the world's most private search engine. Ixquick has been third-party certified by EuroPriSe, a European Union privacy initiative. On July 14^th, 2008 Ixquick was awarded the first European Privacy Seal. Ixquick is the first and only EU-approved search engine (and really....doesn't that make you sleep better at night...)

More Privacy Enhancing Search Features

A Proxy Service
It allows users to surf the web with complete privacy. The proxy lets users browse websites safely and anonymously, without passing on any private, personally identifiable information to the websites they view.

The URL Generator
To promote a cookie-free internet, Startpage has recently launched a URL generator which eradicates the need for setting a cookie. It remembers your settings in a privacy friendly manner. It can be found at the bottom of the MY SETTINGS page.

Startpage supports SSL (HTTPS)
The servers have been configured to handle HTTP requests over secure and encrypted Secure Socket Layer (SSL) connections. SSL is an encryption protocol that is available in almost all browsers. It establishes a secure connection between your browser and Startpage's servers. Startpage uses SSL to hide your search terms from anyone who might be monitoring traffic between your browser and Startpage's servers. You can activate SSL by using/adding an "s" to "http" in Startpage's address.

https://startpage.com

https://us2.startpage.com/eng/

IXquick - Search Engine

Ixquick is self-advertised, and widely acknowledged as one of the most if not - the MOST private and secure search engine on the internet.

https://www.ixquick.com/eng/

ASK - Search Engine

The answers suggest that, based on the questions we asked, Ask.com was the most protective of user privacy. In fact, only Ask.com said it would not record what users type into its search engine. (Smaller search engines, including ixquick, said this as well, but we limited our survey to the five largest engines.) Ask.com also said it did not engage in behavioral targeting, which refers to the practice of offering advertisements based on previous searches.

http://www.ask.com/

Secure Email

For those of you who want to maintain some level of security in your emails - There is Hushmail.

What is Hushmail?

Hushmail is a secure web-based free email service. Since 1999, millions of people and thousands of businesses have trusted Hushmail to safeguard their secrets.

Hushmail looks and feels just like any other web-mail site, but adds strong encryption to your emails to protect your secrets from prying eyes.

Key features see more features…

Easy-to-use web-based email
Standards-compliant encryption
Works on iPhone and BlackBerry
Optional Outlook integration

And - the one thing not mentioned; but which we feel is their best feature - Hushmail is CANADIAN. This means that US Federal laws do not apply (nor do US court orders) to Hushmail. So use the "encryption" feature for all your secure and even not super secure email to ensure your security and privacy.

https://www.hushmail.com/

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Our Mission

I am not bound to please thee with my answers.
William Shakespeare

We have been following this path (active prepping) since the early 1990's. In our case this includes military training, weapons training, hunting, fishing, tracking, advanced martial arts training in open hand CQB and hand weapons, orienteering, outdoors skills, and other less obvious but important skills. Your training and skills should, as much as possible, always be seen as tools that need to be improved. You never know everything and you can always forget what you know.

This site is dedicated not just to survival, but to the people who choose to live, with dignity as sovereign beings. We see too many people who focus entirely too much energy in pleasing themselves with shallow pursuits. Sacrificing their own freedom, and independence.

I believe we can all be sovereign citizens - by living life for ourselves; and not for the sake of others, or a group, or a collective state. Too many people spend too much of their time, money and lives concerned with what others think of them, and trying to gain the esteem of strangers. This is dangerous and not only effects how they spend the bulk of their money and their life's productivity, but even how they vote and how they view governance.

This "lifepath" I just described, which I call "living life for others", (Ayn Rand called it, "second hand living"), impacts the choices many people make about the cars they drive, the houses they own, even the clothes they wear. In its most essential form, it is an unthinking compulsion, or need to impress other people. The cold fact is other people, especially strangers - do not think about, or care at all, what you drive, what you wear, or what sort of house you live in; and even if they did, is it not somewhat insane to live life this way.

This false life path of "living to impress others" or "maintaining appearances" is a central ingredient of collectivist governance, and religious power schemes. It is how organizations like governments and religions control people. This primary tool of control has been used by countless entities: organized religion; and later by governments....i.e., leninism, marxism, socialism, facism whatever you may call it. They and all other collectivist forms of control use a few simple but effective mechanisms to control people; the desire to "belong", and....altruism.

Like Spock in Star Trek - the proponents of collectivism believe "the needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few, or the one".

But this is a false and dangerous lie....for who determines what "need" is, and how exactly is the "many" determined?

By this vague but noble sounding principle two people....maybe your neighbors.....should be allowed to get together and "vote" to steal your belongings; your food, maybe your house, maybe your children......or even your life.

Why NOT - don't their needs outweigh yours?

The right answer, of course - is NO. America was, historically, the only form of government EVER founded on the principle that an INDIVIDUAL'S needs are paramount; and that together we all make up a society of individuals and that a proper governments central responsibility is to protect the INDIVIDUAL rights of its citizens.

Collectivism is a corrupt ideology by which people are legally allowed to steal the property, and productivity of an individual, any individual. They are justified by a vague undefined notion of the "needs" of some group or collective. Which can never be satisfied because "NEED" is always great according to someone.

Modern collectivism also has another benefit to its followers - it's phony altruism provides a twisted path to easy nobility. This un-earned nobility is often driven by the need to impress others with your apparent "compassion".

The answer to this is simple - Live life for yourself. Make choices for yourself - based on the way YOU want to live, and the person YOU want to be.

Do not concern yourselves with what others do, and how they choose to live. Learn to be at peace with your choices, and find yourself and true contentment.
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