Sunday, December 18, 2016

why TAILS

Installing TAILS on Mac:  https://tails.boum.org/install/mac/usb/index.en.html

For more information on other platforms -  https://tails.boum.org/index.en.html

December 14th, version 2.9.1 is available.   Best to update.

Why would you care?   Surveillance of all kinds, by groups from everywhere, increasingly threatens your privacy and any ability to communicate privately with anyone.   This article addresses why journalists should not use Signal for conversations, but on the side the descriptions of surveillance should let you know the sophistication of the techniques brought to bear:
http://www.mintpressnews.com/MyMPN/why-journalists-shouldnt-use-signal-to-encrypt-conversations/

The New York Times suggests that TAILS is a viable method to send in a news tip (as in
"Here is evidence that this government representative is breaking the law.
Here is proof that this company is conducting itself unethically."

https://www.nytimes.com/newsgraphics/2016/news-tips/

NYT also has a "Secure File Drop" accessible through "tor" (the onion router) that anonymizes your network location.

Note:  Nothing can guarantee complete privacy, and any software might have defects that make it vulnerable to a determined, well funded attacker.  But learning about the available tools, and their strengths and weaknesses, is ultimately the responsibility of every citizen.