Understanding Privacy Erosion and Restoration Strategies

[00:00:00]>> Today's episode is brought to you by NordVPN.

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[00:00:07][scoffs] Name one time anybody has ever regretted not keeping their privacy private.

[00:00:12]>> For several years, you had that hair?

[00:00:15][thumps on desk] [scratchy static crackling] >> Whenever I talk to people about privacy they're like, "I have nothing to hide."

[00:00:24]I'm like, "Oh really?

[00:00:24]"You're wearing clothes, ain'tcha?

[00:00:26]"You're locking your door, "you're drawing your shutters closed.

[00:00:29]"Clearly, you have something "that somebody somewhere should not see!"

[00:00:32]>> Yeah, you don't want to lay all your stuff out for TV's Pat Sajak just to go through it and invade you.

[00:00:37]>> You're saying live on this video that TV's Pat Sajak is stalking you?

[00:00:41][laughs] I don't know that I would challenge him, if that were the case?

[00:00:47]But the point is, is that there are many reasons to be concerned with your privacy that have nothing to do with TV's Pat Sajak, who I'm sure is not actually stalking Jason Murphy.

[00:00:56]>> You can't prove a negative!

[00:00:57][laughing] >> You're right, you're right, here's the important part.

[00:01:00]When it comes to protecting your privacy, it's not just a matter of like the government's going to getcha or that you're going to go to jail or that you've committed a crime and they're going to find ya.

[00:01:09]The part that breaks my heart is as all of our advertising becomes increasingly customized, we live in these little, isolating bubbles.

[00:01:15]Have you noticed that thing where you keep seeing the same ads, for the same things or you keep seeing the same stories pop up again?

[00:01:21]That's because everything you do is being tracked!

[00:01:24]>> Yeah and it's not even really about your secrets.

[00:01:26]It's about you are.

[00:01:28]>> And who you want to be, because think about this.

[00:01:30]Let's say your in political party "Fuschia" and there's political party "Yellow" and you HATE political party Yellow and you're in political party Fuschia.

[00:01:38]Do you want political party Yellow to be able to go to Google, Facebook, any of these guys and say, "I want to know every sexual fetish they have, "what movies they like, what beliefs they have, "what churches they're a member of.

[00:01:49]"All of their favorite foods."

[00:01:51]Do you want to hand that leverage over to people who you do not like?

[00:01:55]>> And a lot of people think, "Well, that's just benign "information, so I'll fill out this Facebook game "and I'll click on these little forms to determine "which house of Harry Potter I belong in."

[00:02:05]Every time you do that, you're giving them more information, so that they can build a profile of you, so that you can be manipulated and sold to and controlled.

[00:02:13]>> And not just manipulated and controlled, but also, oftentimes those "benign" details they're asking, like, "What was your high school sweetheart?

[00:02:20]What was your first car?

[00:02:21]Answer the question about your first pet, also your mother's maiden name.

[00:02:24]What's the last four of your social security number?"

[00:02:26]>> Yes, yes!

[00:02:27]>> At this point, they're building tools for hackers.

[00:02:29]You got bad actors and hackers.

[00:02:31]You got bad actors and salespeople and you have folks who might not have your best interests at heart, in the government.

[00:02:38]>> Yeah and there aren't even just like individual actors, there are massive companies who are manipulating you.

[00:02:43]Data brokers like Cambridge Analytica.

[00:02:45]During the 2016 American elections, they claimed to have 5,000 points of data on every American voter.

[00:02:51]>> The part that crushes me, is I think about that stereotype of the grandpa who can't understand why the world has changed around him.

[00:02:58]The answer is because all of the input, all of the data, all of his view of the world is being shaped by people who don't have his interests at heart!

[00:03:07]Their interests are in radicalizing it, isolating him and that's why your privacy matters.

[00:03:12]>> And that's why all of those social media platforms are free, because it's not the service, you're the product!

[00:03:19]Our information is the valuable thing, not the fact that you get to post pictures of your dog or something like that.

[00:03:26]It's all about getting everything they can from you, so that they can package it and control you.

[00:03:32]>> In a thousand little ways every day, we're all being nudged, whether it's with overt advertisements, whether it's through filtering of the content that we perceive and if you want to remain an independent person, it's on you to maintain your privacy, so that nobody can manipulate you and turn you into something that you don't want to be.

[00:03:50]>> Yes and that's why there are a few, very small changes you can make that will have a huge impact on your privacy.

[00:03:55]>> All right, let's dive in.

[00:03:58]Let's start with search engines.

[00:03:59]>> Okay, everybody knows that search engines are one of the places they getcha.

[00:04:02]They've known that for a long time, right?

[00:04:03]>> Oh yeah, if there's anything medical, if there's anything sensitive, always open an incognito browser or whatever.

[00:04:09]>> And the efficacy of those is even in question.

[00:04:11]Sometimes a lot of companies just ignore them.

[00:04:14]>> Every single person watching this right now should go to myactivity.google.com and buckle up, because you will shocked at how much it remembers forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever.

[00:04:24]>> Yeah, this is where you're going to have the Ron Swanson taking his computer out to the dumpster and throwing it in there.

[00:04:29][laughs] Because it's ALL there.

[00:04:31]>> That won't help!

[00:04:32][laughs] >> Yeah!

[00:04:33]Most search engines build data profiles of you, that are used for "psychographic targeting", like that's where they take all of your information and say, "Oh, Brian would probably like this!

[00:04:40]So we're going to have these ads follow him around the internet."

[00:04:43]>> And it is shocking how precise this stuff is.

[00:04:46]As an example of this, look at Facebook.

[00:04:48]Given 150 of your likes, they're able to better predict than your core family; your mom, your dad, your siblings, things you will or will not like.

[00:04:57]And at 300 likes, they're able to predict better than your own spouse what you will like and get this, there is a number at which point, they can predict better than yourself!

[00:05:06]And at that point, it gets super scary because they're the ones shaping the future for you, by guiding you towards one thing or the other.

[00:05:14]>> Exactly and that's something I don't want anyone having the ability to do.

[00:05:18]>> I'm with you.

[00:05:19]>> Easiest thing to do right now, is to switch your search engine to DuckDuckGo.

[00:05:22]>> That's on your mobile device, that's on all of your desktop and laptops or whatever.

[00:05:25]It's very easy in your browser.

[00:05:27]Just say any time I type a thing, use DuckDuckGo.

[00:05:30]They don't save any of that thing, they value your privacy.

[00:05:33]You may be worried about the quality of the searches, they're fantastic.

[00:05:36]I switched over a year ago, I've never looked back.

[00:05:38]>> Yeah and they do not build a data profile on you and they also don't do that filter bubble, where you get stuck seeing the same things over and over.

[00:05:45]So you're not browsing in an echo chamber.

[00:05:47]>> Absolutely.

[00:05:50]Some people are worried about having all of their emails seen by the Gmail ecosystem, so they say, "You know what, I'm not going to do Gmail."

[00:05:57]That's cool, great on them, but what they don't realize is that every email they send from their private browser to somebody else who has a Gmail account is still being seen by Gmail!

[00:06:09]>> Oh yeah and Google will scan that email.

[00:06:11]They'll get keywords and they'll find out just how to sell to you.

[00:06:14]So if you're talking about a pair of shoes or something in your email, you'll start seeing advertisements for shoes that follow you around the internet.

[00:06:21]That's invasive!

[00:06:22]>> What are the best practices?

[00:06:23]What should we be using that wouldn't be too painful?

[00:06:25]>> I like ProtonMail.

[00:06:26]Forbes Magazine called it the only email system the NSA can't access.

[00:06:30]>> And those words again.

[00:06:31]>> The only email system the NSA can't access.

[00:06:34]>> I love everything I'm hearing.

[00:06:35]>> Yes.

[00:06:36]>> Keep going!

[00:06:36]>> It is double encrypted, they don't log your IP addresses.

[00:06:40]It's in Switzerland and they do not scan your email for advertisements.

[00:06:44]>> Oh that's a really good point!

[00:06:45]The Switzerland thing really matters, because extradition laws are a thing!

[00:06:48]If the servers are located in the United States and you've come under criminal investigation, they could requisition all that stuff.

[00:06:54]>> Yep.

[00:06:55]>> If it's in a country, especially one like Switzerland, they're going to have a harder getting those records.

[00:06:59]>> Yeah, for the Edward Snowden controversy, he was using something called Lavabit, which is an encrypted email service.

[00:07:05]They shut down, rather than give the NSA access to their servers.

[00:07:09]They were going to have to cave, they were in the United States.

[00:07:12]Rather than do that, they just closed the service altogether.

[00:07:14]>> So definitely figure out where the servers are, definitely figure out where the HQ is located and what jurisdiction they're in.

[00:07:19]>> Yes, ProtonMail being in Switzerland, they have really, really strict privacy laws.

[00:07:26]>> I'm on tour all the time.

[00:07:27]First thing I do when I land, maybe I'll type in Taco Bell, right?

[00:07:31]At some point, the system figures it out and the moment I land, a little thing pops up saying like, "You know its only five minutes to the nearest Taco Bell."

[00:07:37]I'm like, "No!

[00:07:38]"I don't want you to know "what I think I'm about to do!"

[00:07:41]>> Oh yeah, see, that's all about them knowing you better than you know yourself.

[00:07:44]>> Disturbing.

[00:07:45]>> They're able to predict where you're supposed to go and also nudge you to where they want you to go.

[00:07:49]So imagine that Maps says, "Hey, we noticed that Brian goes to Taco Bell all the time."

[00:07:53]>> And they try to guide me to Taco Bueno?

[00:07:55]Screw you, Taco Bueno!

[00:07:56]Are we going to fight?

[00:07:57]We're going to fight.

[00:07:58]>> I think we might fight.

[00:07:58]>> Rah!

[00:07:59]>> You know how I feel about Bueno!

[00:08:01][laughs] >> How do you avoid this disaster?

[00:08:03]>> Go to OpenStreetMap.org, it is an open-source, entirely user-run, global map making community.

[00:08:10]>> And they're not going to track all your stuff, they're not going to sell your information, they're not going to let the whole world know that Brian loves Taco Bell and not Taco Bueno.

[00:08:16]>> Exactly and think about what the other big map providers do.

[00:08:20]They don't just manipulate you, but they can manipulate traffic patterns, which impacts businesses.

[00:08:25]They can manipulate voting districts.

[00:08:27]Once you determine where people should and shouldn't go, you can control the world.

[00:08:32]>> Nick Bostrom wrote this amazing book about AIs and he talks about the difference between an oracle and a sovereign.

[00:08:37]An oracle is the way we used to think of Waze, where it's like, "tell me the shortest path "from blank to blank" and it would give you the answer.

[00:08:43]But the problem is once everybody uses Waze, if it tells the truth that the shortest path is through this neighborhood, it ruins that truth and so now, it has to tell the truth to some people and not others.

[00:08:56]At that point, it's not an oracle that reveals the truth, it is a sovereign that is actively distributing and directing traffic.

[00:09:04]That's scary stuff!

[00:09:05]>> Oh and think about some dystopian prognostication.

[00:09:08]What if you've got that and suddenly they start charging a premium; $3 dollars a month to use this map search.

[00:09:12]>> To get the REAL shortest route.

[00:09:14]Oh my god! >> Exactly.

[00:09:15]>> That's disturbing!

[00:09:16]>> And so that's the Haves vs the Have-nots.

[00:09:18]>> But OpenStreetMaps, totally free, volunteer-run.

[00:09:21]They're not capturing your data, that one's safe?

[00:09:23]>> Yeah and they're actually doing good work.

[00:09:25]After the massive earthquake in Haiti, OSM volunteers only needed a few hours to re-map the entire island, using satellite imagery.

[00:09:32]>> See, I like that, I like feeling good.

[00:09:34]>> It gives you the warmth fuzzies, right?

[00:09:35]>> Yeah!

[00:09:36]>> Like people binding together to not manipulate others?

[00:09:39]>> Taco Bueno still sucks.

[00:09:41]>> Son of a.

[00:09:42]Mucho Nachos are where its at!

[00:09:43][laughs] >> What about storing all your files?

[00:09:47]Should you be worried using a service like Dropbox or Google Drive?

[00:09:51]>> Well, there are.

[00:09:52]Yes, yes you should!

[00:09:54]>> Really, wait, what?

[00:09:55]>> Absolutely!

[00:09:56]All right, so something like Dropbox.

[00:09:57]Dropbox administrators can look at your files.

[00:10:00]They have free reign, not that they do, but they can.

[00:10:03]>> So where do you go?

[00:10:05]>> SpiderOak is one recommended by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

[00:10:08]Their main focus is privacy and security.

[00:10:10]Your files that you're going to upload to the Cloud, are actually encrypted before they sync to them.

[00:10:15]>> Oh and so they don't have the keys.

[00:10:16]>> Correct.

[00:10:17]>> So even if somebody said, "Open the box up."

[00:10:19]You're like, "Can't bro, sorry."

[00:10:20]>> They don't store your passwords.

[00:10:21]They do not store your encryption keys.

[00:10:24]It is zero-knowledge privacy.

[00:10:29]>> I know everybody fell in love with Chrome, including me!

[00:10:31]>> Sure, Chrome is very easy to use, but of course it is harvesting information.

[00:10:36]75% of the top million websites have Google trackers across them.

[00:10:41]>> On top of that, if you're using the Google browser, then they're recording your partial searches.

[00:10:46]Let's see you get halfway through "I have a lump on my" and then you stop.

[00:10:50]They already heard the words "I have a lump on my" and that goes into your profile!

[00:10:54]>> I thought you were going to say something else.

[00:10:56]Like profile, that goes into your prostate!

[00:10:58][laughs] There are other alternatives and some of them are starting to put privacy at the forefront.

[00:11:04]Like Mozilla Firefox for instance, has privacy options turned on by default.

[00:11:08]>> And Safari is following suite as well, right?

[00:11:10]>> Exactly, there are a number of other options that you can use that are better about that.

[00:11:14]Mozilla is actually a nonprofit company and their business is not predicated on selling all of your information.

[00:11:20]>> I love the convenience of Chrome!

[00:11:22]Are you saying that I have to give up my Chrome browser?

[00:11:24]>> Firefox has come a long way and in their last couple of iterations, it is THE browser of choice for privacy advocates.

[00:11:31]>> Okay.

[00:11:33]>> Okay, what about just talking to other people, whether it's by voice, video or chat?

[00:11:37]>> Okay, I only do the chatting, because if you've called me on the phone that probably means that someone's dead.

[00:11:43]>> Oh!

[00:11:44]>> I don't want that kind of bad news.

[00:11:44]>> I should stop calling you, then.

[00:11:45]>> Don't call me, just text me.

[00:11:46][laughs] I think something's wrong when someone calls me.

[00:11:48]>> Okay, that's fine, I'll text.

[00:11:49]>> You're the only one that calls me!

[00:11:50]>> I know, I do!

[00:11:51][laughing] >> You're the only one that calls me.

[00:11:53]>> Okay, I will stop.

[00:11:54]>> And I always think something horrible has happened.

[00:11:55][laughing] >> Sometimes it has!

[00:11:58]>> A lot of people use things like Facebook Messenger or Whatsapp, also owned by Facebook, right?

[00:12:04]>> Oh, I didn't know.

[00:12:05]Today I learned.

[00:12:06]>> Yes, yes and so if you use something like Signal, which is an encrypted messaging app, they don't keep anything but your phone number and the last time you logged onto their servers.

[00:12:16]>> And you could set everything to auto-delete after a certain amount of time.

[00:12:19]It could truly be ephemeral!

[00:12:21]Now, yes, the other party might be doing screen captures or whatever, but as far as an official record that's going to shape how people serve you ads, you don't have to worry about that.

[00:12:30]As we did the research on this, I did find a couple of other tidbits.

[00:12:33]Have you heard of browser fingerprinting before?

[00:12:35]>> A little bit, what's going on with it?

[00:12:36]>> So there are things that your browser's allowed to say about your computer and things that are not allowed to say about your computer.

[00:12:41]For example, it's not going to say, "Hello, this is a browser from Brian Brushwood.

[00:12:44]"He's located in Austin, Texas.

[00:12:46]"This is the amount in his bank account.

[00:12:48]"This is how much hard drive space he has."

[00:12:50]Those are things it can't say.

[00:12:51]But what websites can ask for is like, "What resolution are you running at?

[00:12:54]"Are you mobile or desktop?

[00:12:56]"What plugins do you have installed?"

[00:12:58]And each of these is an information vector that creates a unique fingerprint of your computer.

[00:13:04]So you can say, "Oh, that particular pornographic search "or that particular conversation, that wasn't me."

[00:13:11]Oh really, because in the entire planet, there's only one computer that has this resolution, these plugins, this browser.

[00:13:17]All of this information spells out that it's definitely your same computer!

[00:13:20]>> How do you get around that?

[00:13:22]>> EFF has an amazing tool called Panopticlick.

[00:13:25]If you go to panopticlick.com, it will forward you to the EFF tool, where it will measure you and say just how individual your internet experience is and it'll give you the tools to mask your fingerprint so that you can't be identified, because again; it's not a matter of you're doing something illegal, it's a matter of you don't want to be targeted and siloed into a bubble where you become trapped and become your racist grandpa!

[00:13:48]>> Dude, the more they know you, the more they can control you.

[00:13:52]>> Yes!

[00:13:53]>> So they're not going to know when I'm buy a vowel.

[00:13:55]They're not going to know when I'm going to take another spin!

[00:13:57]>> Sounds like a very particular problem.

[00:14:00]Here's the important part.

[00:14:01]When I used the Panopticlick thing, I noticed that there was a significant difference when I had my VPN turned on and when I had it turned off.

[00:14:09]This is the part everything becomes an ad, because anyone who's watched us knows that we love VPNs, everybody should have one.

[00:14:15]We like NordVPN.

[00:14:16]>> And if you don't know what a VPN is, it's a virtual private network.

[00:14:19]It just takes all of your traffic, all of your surfing activity, and it routes it through a server somewhere on the other side of the world, so that no one knows where you are or what you're looking at.

[00:14:27]>> Yeah and everything's encrypted.

[00:14:29]I told you last year, how horrified I was to call the internet company over some tech issue and this random-ass tech starts rattling off the last five websites that I went to and I'm like, "No, you don't get to know that!

[00:14:40]"No, no no!"

[00:14:41]>> That's not okay!

[00:14:42]NordVPN is incredibly fast and it broke through the great firewall of China.

[00:14:46]>> I get so excited when the ads are clearly clearly targeted at not my demographic!

[00:14:50]>> Pat Sajak does not know where you are.

[00:14:51]>> Okay, the important thing is that if people want to get 70% off the best VPN on the planet, they should go to NordVPN.com/rogue.

[00:15:00]Sign up, you'll get an extra month free, get three years for 70% off, I swear to god.

[00:15:04]Pat, I'm sure you're great, I'm sure you're great.

[00:15:06]Everything's wonderful, it's all fine here.

[00:15:09]NordVPN.com/rogue.

[00:15:12]All right, to sum up, for search engines we like DuckDuckGo.

[00:15:15]>> For email, we like ProtonMail.

[00:15:16]>> For maps, we like OpenStreetMap.

[00:15:18]>> For messaging, we like Signal.

[00:15:19]>> For file storage, we like SpiderOak.

[00:15:22]>> Yes and for our web browser, we like.

[00:15:25]>> Firefox.

[00:15:26]>> Exactly.

[00:15:27]>> Fine. I'll switch everything over.

[00:15:28]>> One more thing!

[00:15:29]>> Oh, always use a VPN!

[00:15:30]>> Always use a VPN.

[00:15:31]>> VPN is a must-have!

[00:15:32]For those who don't know, what's a VPN?

[00:15:34]>> It's a virtual, private network.

[00:15:36]It allows all of your traffic to be routed through another server on the other side of the world, so they don't know what you're looking at or where you are.

[00:15:41][scratchy static crackling] >> What about that time at the Safeway, with the banana pudding?

[00:15:51]>> Yes, I took five samples, come at me bro!

[00:15:54]>> It's what you did with the samples I think was the actual problem.

[00:15:57]>> Okay, I put them in my butt!

[00:15:58][laughing] >> There it is!

[00:16:04]Go to NordVPN.com/rogue