America has a new president who is, how should we say, unpredictable. There’s no telling how the NSA and the surveillance state will evolve in the next four years. So, if you’re worried about keeping your private communications private, here’s what to do.
The first step you can take is to use WhatsApp, which uses end-to-end encryption. This means that only you and the recipient can read the messages you are sending. That is because the messages are scrambled and only the recipient has the key required to translate. However, it does have a vulnerability: someone can impersonate the recipient. So, WhatsApp has security codes which allow you to confirm that the recipient is the person you intended to receive the message.
Another option for encrypted messaging is Signal. It is the same principle as WhatsApp, but comes with a bonus. Your messages are not only encrypted, but they are also ephemeral (they only last for a short period of time). For more secure email, check out ProtonMail, which is based out of Switzerland. Therefore, your data falls under Swiss privacy laws instead of American ones. It boasts end-to-end encryption and doesn’t log your IP address, making it anonymous.
For complete anonymity all around, Tor software is for you. It never connects to the site; instead, the software redirects your request to servers based all over the world, the last of which connects to the site that you want to access. It never sees your IP address, allowing you to browse anonymously. While all of these options are not perfectly secure, they are better than nothing, especially if you are concerned about your privacy.
