Privacy
Privacy and Anonymity in Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron
In today’s world with targeted advertising and gps tracking, where cell phone providers help govenments spy on citizens, it’s hard to imagine that privacy is even possible. Well, there’s probably little that can defend against the full force of government surveillance or well armed super spy ninja hackers, but using Linux with open-source protection measures can probably stop less sophisticated attempts to see whats on a computer or eavesdrop on internet traffic.
TrueCrypt
TrueCrypt is an incredible program that can be used to password protect files and drives from prying eyes using on-the-fly encryption. TrueCrypt is free, open-source, and it now runs on Linux, Windows, and OS X, so I’ll probably never need another encryption program to protect my files.
For the hardcore paranoid, this program can be compiled from source code and the installation files can be verified with a PGP signature to ensure there are no hidden back doors in the code and that no one is setting you up with a fake installer file. But for someone like me, who just wants to protect personal data in case my computer is ever stolen or a guest user decides to go snooping through the system, the installation is quick and easy with a .deb installer package from the TrueCrypt website. I’ll also download the PGP signature for verification (might as well, it’s easy enough).
Just download the tar.gz file for Ubuntu and the PGP sig file to the home folder. Then use the terminal to verify your download by importing the TrueCrypt Foundation’s public key (also available here):
$ gpg --keyserver subkeys.pgp.net --recv F0D6B1E0
and perform the verification with:
$ gpg --verify /home/ez/truecrypt-6.0a-ubuntu-x86.tar.gz.sig /home/ez/truecrypt-6.0a-ubuntu-x86.tar.gz
Next extract the contents and run:
$ tar xvfz truecrypt-6.0a-ubuntu-x86.tar.gz
Then run the resulting installation file, and follow the on-screen directions:
$ ./truecrypt-6.0a-setup-ubuntu-x86
After it’s installed, I run the program from a terminal with the obvious command:
$ truecrypt
Online Privacy Via Tor, Privoxy & Torbutton
Tor reroutes a computer’s internet traffic to prevent any observers from determining what the destination is, and it prevents the end destination from determining the location of the source computer. When used in combination with the Privoxy proxy server and the Torbutton Firefox extension, Tor can effectively provide the ability to surf the internet anonymously using Firefox. Although the technology is advanced, it’s easy to install and use all three of these components. Start by running our usual install command at the terminal, then edit the Privoxy settings file:
$ sudo apt-get install tor privoxy
$ sudo gedit /etc/privoxy/config
Delete the # to uncomment the line (note there is a dot at the end, leave it there):
forward-socks4a / 127.0.0.1:9050 .
Then, if not already disabled, you can turn off the logging and debugging files by inserting # to comment out the lines:
#logfile logfile
#jarfile jarfile
#debug 1
Use the terminal to start both programs (Tip: create a panel launcher to run these commands on demand):
$ sudo /etc/init.d/tor start ; sudo /etc/init.d/privoxy start
The Torbutton Firefox extension can quickly change your browser’s proxy settings to enable and disable Tor browsing as needed. To install it, open Firefox, choose Add-ons from the Tools menu, search for Torbutton, click add to firefox, then click restart Firefox. When it comes back up, just click Tor Disabled in the status bar and it will switch to Tor Enabled. JavaScript, Flash, and other Add-ons may compromise your privacy and should be disabled.
To make sure Tor is working, visit:
https://check.torproject.org/
or
https://torcheck.xenobite.eu/
See the following official sites for help or more information:
