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This tutorial will help you stay safe when using the Internet, and avoid hackers, viruses, and accidentally giving out your private information to strangers. The first section assume that you're using Microsoft Windows (the most popular operating system for PCs). But even if Windows is the most popular operating system for PCs, does not mean that it is the most reliable. It is better to install an open source system like GNU/Linux, [https://linuxmint.com/ LinuxMint] is suitable for beginners, advanced users paranoid about security can use [https://www.qubes-os.org/ Qubes OS]. Because Microsoft is intercepting your data and sending it to the NSA (and the CIA and the FBI). <ref>http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/windows-8-prism-edition</ref>
::''Caution: this article was written in 2009 and, except for points here and there, has not been updated, and should not be taken as a reliable guide to Internet security. See [[Computer security]].''
 
 
This tutorial will help you stay safe when using the Internet, and avoid hackers, viruses, and accidentally giving out your private information to strangers. The first section assume that you're using Microsoft Windows (the most popular operating system for PCs). But even if Windows is the most popular operating system for PCs,does not mean that it is the most reliable. It is better to install an open source system. Like GNU/Linux: [http://opensuse.org OpenSUSE], [http://www.debian.org/ Debian], [http://trisquel.info Trisquel], etc. Because Microsoft is intercepting your stuff and sending it to the NSA (and the CIA and the FBI). <ref>http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/windows-8-prism-edition</ref>


==On Windows==
==On Windows==


===Browser security===
=== Browser security ===
''Main article: [[Computer security]]''


Windows ships with a web browser called Internet Explorer (often called "IE"). This is the program you use to 'surf the web' and view web pages. As Windows is a popular operating system, a large percentage of web surfers (often estimated to around 90 %) use IE. But it doesn't mean that IE is the only Internet browser out there.
Windows ships with a web browser called Microsoft Edge, this is the program you use to 'surf the web' and view web pages. As Windows is a popular operating system, a large percentage of web surfers and companies use it but it doesn't mean that it is the only Internet browser out there, you can download a different one and install it.


In fact, it is strongly advisable to use another web browser instead of IE. Here's why:
In fact, it is strongly advisable to use another web browser instead of Microsoft Edge. Here's why:


*IE is known for having many security holes that can be used by hackers and malicious code to gain entry to your computer. IE is also closely integrated with Windows, which means that security exploits in IE can easily be used to infect the entire operating system.
* Windows makes money with your data, and the same company owns an advertisement business and a search engine called Bing, the default in Microsoft Edge, it is not in their interest to look after your privacy.


*IE is the most popular Internet browser on the web, which means that it is a big target for hackers and viruses out there.  
* Microsoft Edge will try to push you towards other products Windows owns, like their non private search engine or their cloud service.  


Instead, it is recommended to use either [[Mozilla Firefox]] or Opera as the standard Internet browser, you can get them at zero cost, both are simple to download and install.
Chrome is the most popular browser but it has the same downfalls of Windows, it is owned by Google, another company that owns an advertisement business and they have no interest whatsoever in your privacy, they make money by mining your data and selling it, you will be better off with a privacy focused browser such as Brave or Firefox, you can get them at zero cost, both are simple to download and install and they are available for mobile phones as well as desktop computers.


===Firewall/Anti-virus===
===Firewall/Anti-virus===
A firewall is software that monitors your internet connection and allows you to only let through the programs you want and block out potential hackers. Windows comes with a built-in firewall turned on by default, unfortunately this will not warn you against insider threats, like a trojan already installed in your computer attempting to connect to an external server, Windows firewall only blocks incoming hacking attempts, to improve your security it would be best to install one of the many free firewalls, e.g. Comodo, ZoneAlarm.
Anti-virus software will prevent computer viruses from spreading to your computer monitoring the behaviour of downloaded files, your antivirus will only come into action when you execute or unrar a file, if the virus is just sitting down on the drive the antivirus will not detect it unless you select it and run a manual scan. Windows does not come with antivirus, there are various free ones that do a good job. e.g. Avast, AVG
To be secure you should be running both, an antivirus and a firewall, both programs are complementary and do different jobs, a firewall will not analyse files, it only looks into your Internet connection and blocks unauthorised requests to access the Internet.


=== Windows Update ===
A firewall monitors your internet connection and allows you to only let through the programs you want and block out potential hackers. Windows comes with a built-in firewall turned on by default and invisible to the user unless you dig into settings. Businesses deploy hardware firewalls that are far more complex, like a library that wants to stop users from accessing gambling and pornography websites, a hardware firewall will do that for them and log all policy violations and which user did what, including the visited websites, each business decides its own IT policy and what the firewall does. They can do whatever they want since it is their network and not yours.
Windows has a feature called Windows Update, which lets you easily update Windows with new security fixes, you should visit Windows Update regularly (there should be a shortcut in the Start Menu) or considering turning on automatic updates. Not all software will be updated by Windows, operating system addons, like Flash, Shockwave and Java, are updated by their respective developers, you will be better off using the software settings to automatically update and you will not have to keep checking for security patches.


People working in very high security environments and fearing privacy breaches from corrupt security agencies should extreme caution when updating software, read everything before clicking on "Next" and make sure that the update is valid. It is known that top law enforcement departments have access to tools that camouflage trojans as fake Windows and Flash player updates and they are not detected by any antivirus. According to "''Wikileaks SpyFiles''", The Gamma group offers to law enforcement personnel a trojan called Finfly to remotely install monitoring software on a target computer, they also have tools to monitor huge volumes of traffic going through an ISP and lock into certain keywords, using a VPN or [https://www.boywiki.org/en/Encryption encrypted] connection will get around ISP filters and monitoring.
Anti-virus software will prevent computer viruses from spreading to your computer monitoring the behaviour of downloaded files, sometimes they include a webshield and when visiting a page that is known to distribute malware it will block access and warn you. Windows comes with a free tool called Microsoft Defender that analyses malware, the tool has good ratings at detecting malware but Microsoft is not known respect user privacy, if you decide you don´t wish to trust Microsoft Defender you can install a free antivirus like Avira or Avast, installing an antivirus in Windows will automatically disable Microsoft Defender, an operating system can not run two antivirus at the same time because it would cause incompatibilities.


== On GNU/Linux ==
== On GNU/Linux ==


GNU/Linux is the combination of the Linux kernel, with the GNU operating system created by [[Richard Stallman]].<ref name=linuxandgnu>http://www.gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html</ref> The GNU/Linux operating system is often called, simply '''Linux'''.<ref name=linuxandgnu /> This operating system is free software.<ref>http://gnu.org</ref> Free software not means zero cost software.<ref name=freesw>http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html</ref> It means that respect your freedom to study, share, modify, etc the software. <ref name=freesw /> It is generally safer to use free software instead of proprietary software. Because you have the right to study it and find out what it is really doing. Becoming less vulnerable to malicious code and spyware. Some examples of spyware in proprietary software are Windows Media Player and RealPlayer that reports what each user watches or listens. <ref>http://gnu.org/philosophy/who-does-that-server-really-serve.html</ref>
GNU/Linux is the combination of the Linux kernel, with the GNU operating system created by [[Richard Stallman]].<ref name=linuxandgnu>http://www.gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html</ref> The GNU/Linux operating system is often called, simply '''Linux'''.<ref name=linuxandgnu /> This operating system is free software.<ref>http://gnu.org</ref> Free software does not mean zero cost software although most Linux distributions are free of charge.<ref name=freesw>http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html</ref> It means that respect your freedom to study, share, modify, etc the software. <ref name=freesw /> It is generally safer to use free software instead of proprietary software. Because you have the right to study it and find out what it is really doing. Becoming less vulnerable to malicious code and spyware. Some examples of spyware in proprietary software are Windows Media Player and RealPlayer that reports what each user watches or listens. <ref>http://gnu.org/philosophy/who-does-that-server-really-serve.html</ref>


=== Why you should not use Windows? ===
=== Why you should not use Windows? ===


Windows have a long history of security holes.<ref>http://en.windows7sins.org/security/</ref> Windows is proprietary software and Windows 8 restricts your freedom, invades your privacy and expose your personal data. <ref>http://fsf.org/windows8</ref>
Windows is proprietary software, the operating system's source code is not available for review and Microsoft makes money with your data, they use dark patterns <ref>https://www.cyberghostvpn.com/en_US/privacyhub/what-are-dark-patterns/</ref> to force you to give up your privacy or get you to use unwanted services like OneDrive, Microsoft own cloud service that scans all of the files you upload with PhotoDNA <ref>https://www.makeuseof.com/what-is-photodna-how-does-it-work/</ref> a technology to detect child porn that could lead to false positives as well as illegal spying from three letter agencies, CIA, NSA, etc.


=== Migrating to GNU/Linux ===
=== Migrating to GNU/Linux ===


If you use Windows and want to try the GNU/Linux system download a beginner friendly distribution like [http://www.linuxmint.com/ Linux Mint], burn the ''.iso'' to a CD/DVD using the free CDXPBurner [https://cdburnerxp.se/en/home CDBurnerXP] making sure that you select "''Burn ISO Image''". You can use Linux Mint as a live CD to make sure that everything works before installing it. More sophisticated users will want to download [https://tails.boum.org/ Tails] a Linux distribution focused on user privacy, it comes with Tor already configured.  
If you use Windows and want to try the GNU/Linux operating system the easiest way to do this is with a tool  such as [https://unetbootin.github.io/ UNetbootin] that will automatically download the Linux distribution of your choice into a USB thumbdrive and make it bootable, you will only have to make sure that your computer UEFI will start booting from the USB thumbdrive when you start the computer.


Be aware that you will have to modify your computer BIOS to boot a live CD and Windows 8 secure boot is known to cause problems doing this, search the internet or ask in a computer forum to troubleshoot.
Beginners should start by trying LinuxMint or similar beginner friendly distributions, advanced users will want to download [https://tails.boum.org/ Tails] a Linux distribution focused on user privacy that comes comes with Tor already configured.


=== Anonymity via wireless ===
== Encryption ==
If you known some wireless network that allows you to get connected to. Using only information that is used by other people too(eg. the network name and the password). Then you can use it to have some anonymity. But it may only work if other people is using ''exactly the same network at exactly the same time''. Then the attacker will not know for sure, who exactly made such access.


These networks can be:
It doesn´t matter that you are a law abiding citizen are, due to prejudices in society being a boylover makes you a target, if anybody finds out you will be treated like an outcast, marginalised, fired from your job and perhaps even physically attacked, boylovers should take privacy seriously. The best way to stop having your personal computer files and Internet browsing history exposed if your laptop gets lost or stolen or accessed without authorization by somebody at your home, you should use full disk encryption, this will render every single byte in your hard drive unreadable without the correct password. [[Encryption]] software  has been known to be unbreakable by even law enforcement. There are many encryption programs out there, focus on those that can fully encrypt the whole operating system because if you encrypt individual files there is the risk that temporary unencrypted copies could still be recovered from other parts of the operating system.
* The Internet connection offered by your job that other employees are using too.
* Open Wireless: The Internet connection offered by public places. These places can be shops, restaurants, parks and so on.
* The Internet connection offered by your university to students and teachers.


Even if the attacker never find you. It can get fairly close, then it is highly recommended that you use the methods described here with [[encryption]] or a liveCD ([http://en.boywiki.org/wiki/Internet_security_tutorial#Encryption_.26_live_CD see below]).
Some countries like the United Kingdom and Australia make it a criminal offense not to reveal your [[encryption]] password when required by law enforcement, in the [[United States]] there is no such law and you have no legal obligation to reveal your passwords to the authorities. However, there was a case where a person in the USA was jailed for refusing to unencrypt his drives.<ref>http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/04/child-porn-suspect-jailed-for-7-months-for-refusing-to-decrypt-hard-drives/</ref>. If you live in a repressive country like China, and do no want to be found out using encryption, then use a live USB like [https://tails.boum.org/ Tails] where creating an encrypted partition for your files are settings is optional, a live USB like Tails runs in volatile RAM memory, when you switch off the computer, there will be nothing left to recover, but not all live USBs work the same way, Tails does because it has been designed for privacy.
It is recommended that you use a anonymizer(like Tor) too.


==== Faking the MAC address ====
==== Using secure passwords ====
Each network card has a MAC address. This address is unique, so if the attacker gets it, will probably reach your computer and you. This address can not be obtained through the Internet. But it can be used to communicate with other computers or routers on the same network.


So if you want anonymity through a public network (eg. Open Wireless). You should fake that address. To fake it simply change it by something else. For example: 00:D0:A3:4B:C3:F5
The weakness of most encryption systems is the password, the most common way to guess somebody´s password is by having a computer to try common dictionary words and passwords that the user is known to have used somewhere else, you should not be using the same password everywhere and remember that if your password is a dictionary word, sooner or later it will be found. The best way to protect you form password guessing is by using a password manager like KeePassXC where you can store different passwords and only remember the main one for the password manager, which should be a long passphrase with numbers and special signs.


Open a terminal and type the following lines:<br>
== Cloud Services ==
<code>
sudo ifconfig wlan0 down<br>
sudo ifconfig wlan0 hw ether 00:D0:A3:4B:C3:F5<br>
sudo ifconfig wlan0 up
</code>


In this example I use the wlan0 device, but you may use some other to connect to the Internet, then pay attention to error messages like: wlan0: unknown interface: No such device. This means that an error occurred and the address has not changed.
Windows, Mac, Android and iOS, all try to get users to use their embedded cloud service to back up and store personal data, many users are uploading their personal data to the cloud, which is monitored by those companies, without even knowing about it, if you don´t configure your settings right, specially in smartphones, it is possible that the pictures you take or download from the Internet get automatically uploaded to the cloud, this is extremely dangerous because on top of Microsoft and Google (Google drive) staff being able to access your files, the account could also be hacked and your data stolen like one incident where dozens of celebrities had their naked selfies leaked onto the Internet <ref> https://thehackernews.com/2014/09/reported-apple-icloud-hack-leaked_1.html </ref> after their iCloud was hacked.  


You can do that for all interfaces the command <code>ifconfig</code> will show the interface name for all interfaces. Simply replace wlan0, by the name of the interface. For example: <br>
A cloud computer is another´s person or company computer, if you care about privacy you should avoid at all costs uploading your personal files to the cloud but if for whatever reason this is not possible you can pick a zero-knowledge encryption cloud provider, which are rarely free and you can´t know for sure how real their claims but one good bet would be Proton Drive because they have been around for many years and so far they haven´t had any significant data leaks, or ideally you should encrypt the data yourself before encrypting it to the cloud service of your choice. Cryptomator is one of the best tools to encrypt data destined for the cloud because it can sync it and doesn´t need you to open and close the container continuously as you update your files.
<code>
sudo ifconfig eth0 down<br>
sudo ifconfig eth0 hw ether 00:D0:A3:4B:C3:F5<br>
sudo ifconfig eth0 up
</code>


Then run <code>ifconfig</code> to make sure they succeed. This command will show the interface name followed by several information. If all went well the MAC that you typed should appear as the HWaddr of the interface that you use to access the Internet.
== Virtual Private Network ==


You may want to change the MAC for all interfaces. After it re-run <code>ifconfig</code> to make sure that everything went well.
All computers that are connected to the Internet have their own identifiable IP address, your Internet Service Provider will keep a record of the person who is using that Internet connection and it can be used to identify you as an individual, many countries also censor the websites you can visit and VPN can bypass that censorship as well as encrypting your connection and thwart your ISP spying on your activities. A VPN can help you stay anonymous on the Internet by masking your IP address, because of the hatred against boylovers using a VPN is recommended when visiting boylover sites.


== Encryption & live CD ==
If you're serious about Internet security, you should consider using [[Tor]]. It is an advanced proxy, and is better at protecting your privacy than web-based proxies. Tor is also considered more secure, as it is based on open source code and dynamic traffic routing, because of the layered approach Tor has, even if one administrator turns to be rogue, it will not be enough to deanonimize you.
{{see also|Encryption}}


Strong password to log on accounts on your computer is a good step. But it isn't enough to protect your computer against seizure. [[Encryption]] allow your data to be unreadable for the attacker.
==== MAC addresses ====


The last and more important line of defense is [[encryption]], numerous BLs have had their lives destroyed after their computers have been unexpectedly lost or stolen, privacy breaches can be easily stopped using full disk [[encryption]]. Full disk [[encryption]] will encrypt every single byte in your hard drive and will only make it accessible after you enter the correct password. [[Encryption]] software  has been known to be unbreakable by even law enforcement. There are many [[encryption]] programs out there, you should focus on those that can fully encrypt the drive, if you encrypt single files there is the risk that temporary files will still exist in your drive.
Each network card, wired and wireless, has a MAC address. This address is unique and it is used to communicate with other computers or routers on the same network, the websites you visit will not have access to your MAC address but software you have installed could leak it, there are many ways to sneakily get hold of a MAC address, diagnostic software often record the MAC address because it is a way to uniquely identify that machine, you can use software to change your MAC address but this can lead to incompatibilities when your computer tries to communicate in the internal network. The main danger of your MAC address being leaked is that it identifies your computer specially by public wifi access points that do not require login, they might use this piece of information to limit how long for you can connect to the network and multiple of other restrictions or monitoring. When you connect to your library´s Wifi your smartphone MAC address will be logged and it could be used to identify you. Apple randomizes the MAC address when it scans for open access points to avoid user profiling.


Some countries like the United Kingdom and Australia make it a criminal offense not to reveal your [[encryption]] password when required by law enforcement, in the [[United States]] there is no such law and you have no legal obligation to reveal your passwords to the authorities. However, a recent case is testing whether boylovers can really count on this. In the USA, a person may now be indefinitely detained for refusing to unencrypt their drives.<ref>http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/04/child-porn-suspect-jailed-for-7-months-for-refusing-to-decrypt-hard-drives/</ref> If you were to live in a repressive country like China, and do no want to be found using [[encryption]], then use a live CD like [https://tails.boum.org/ Tails], live CDs run in volatile RAM memory, when you switch off the computer after running a live CD, there will be nothing left to recover, not even tracks that you have used it.
== Securely deleting files ==


Fans of open source can use a FreeBSD system based called [https://www.trueos.org/ TrueOS], during installation you will be asked if you wish to encrypt your home directory, this is another way to secure your data with very little effort.
When you delete a file from your operating system it isn´t really gone for ever, only marked as invisible by your operating system so that it is not visible to you but the file can be recovered easily with specialist software, to make sure that you permanently delete a file beyond recovery, in Windows you must install specialist wiping software like Eraser, the program will overwrite the indicated document, image, etc to make sure that it not be unmarked as undeleted, and in Linux you can use the terminal and use <code>shred -u <file_name></code> or <code>shred <file_name></code> instead of <code>rm</code>.


==== Using secure passwords ====
==See also==
The weakness of most [[encryption systems]] is the password. You must remember that computers can test password much more faster than a human. Then if your password is a dictionary word, sooner or later it will be found. Some brute force programs used by government agencies, try to combine dictionary words with numbers and do some other common changes too: like changing 'o' by '0', etc. Some weak password like john34, car23 or john34car23 may be easily found by government agencies trying to look at your files.
 
==Proxy==
All computers that are connected to the Internet have their own identifiable [[IP address]]. It is visible to external web sites you connect to, and in the worst case can be used to identify you as an individual. A proxy can help you stay anonymous on the Internet by masking your IP address. The easiest proxies operate via a website, like Anonymouse (link below). Using a proxy is recommended when visiting boylover sites that use external hosting of images, like [[boylover.net]].
 
If you're serious about Internet security, you should consider using [[Tor]]. It is an advanced proxy, and is better at protecting your privacy than web-based proxies. Tor is also considered more secure, as it is based on open source code and dynamic traffic routing, and doesn't have the possibilites for logging that a fixed web site has. It should be noted that Tor is still experimental software. Tor is a program that is installed on your computer. There are downloads and complete installation instructions available at Tor's home site (linked below).
 
==Internet Security and Child Pornography==
Remember that no matter how secure you can make your computer, it will never be 100 percent secure. There will always be ways law enforcement can use to bust you if you attempt downloading illegal materials on your computer. For example, the FBI put links to fake child porn sites, and then raids the homes of anyone willing to click on them. <ref>http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-9899151-38.html</ref> This tutorial should only be used to help you visit legal web sites safely without having to fear revealing your personal information or getting your computer hacked or infected by nasty code, not to help visiting illegal sites. There is only one waterproof advice to avoid being caught with child pornography: '''stay away from it!'''


==See also==
* [[SAFE Network]]
* [[How not to accidentally out yourself]]
* [[How not to accidentally out yourself]]
* [[Email security]]
* [[Email security]]
* [[Police]]
* [[Police]]


==securely deleting files==
==References==
Many times when using GNU/Linux or Windows, when you try to delete some file. It isn't really deleted. Instead the information about its existence is deleted. Then an attacker can retrieve the file from disk. When using GNU/Linux you should open a terminal and use <code>shred -u <file_name></code> or <code>shred <file_name></code> instead of <code>rm</code>. If you use Windows, you can use the Eraser.
 
<References />


==External links==
== External links ==
*[https://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/ Firefox browser]
*[http://personalfirewall.comodo.com/ Comodo free firewall]
*[http://www.avast.com/free-antivirus-download Avast free antivirus]
*[https://ssd.eff.org Surveillance Self-Defense]
*[https://sourceforge.net/projects/eraser/ Eraser]


==References==
* [https://www.brave.com Brave browser]
<References />
* [https://avast.com/free-antivirus-download Avast free antivirus]
* [https://ssd.eff.org Surveillance Self-Defense]
* [https://sourceforge.net/projects/eraser/ Eraser]
* [https://cryptomator.org Cryptomator]


[[Category:Technology]]
[[Category:Technology]]
[[Category:Security for boylovers]]
[[Category:Security for boylovers]]
[[Category:Essential reading for BoyLovers]]
[[Category:Essential reading for BoyLovers]]

Latest revision as of 08:35, 25 February 2023

This tutorial will help you stay safe when using the Internet, and avoid hackers, viruses, and accidentally giving out your private information to strangers. The first section assume that you're using Microsoft Windows (the most popular operating system for PCs). But even if Windows is the most popular operating system for PCs, does not mean that it is the most reliable. It is better to install an open source system like GNU/Linux, LinuxMint is suitable for beginners, advanced users paranoid about security can use Qubes OS. Because Microsoft is intercepting your data and sending it to the NSA (and the CIA and the FBI). [1]

On Windows

Browser security

Windows ships with a web browser called Microsoft Edge, this is the program you use to 'surf the web' and view web pages. As Windows is a popular operating system, a large percentage of web surfers and companies use it but it doesn't mean that it is the only Internet browser out there, you can download a different one and install it.

In fact, it is strongly advisable to use another web browser instead of Microsoft Edge. Here's why:

  • Windows makes money with your data, and the same company owns an advertisement business and a search engine called Bing, the default in Microsoft Edge, it is not in their interest to look after your privacy.
  • Microsoft Edge will try to push you towards other products Windows owns, like their non private search engine or their cloud service.

Chrome is the most popular browser but it has the same downfalls of Windows, it is owned by Google, another company that owns an advertisement business and they have no interest whatsoever in your privacy, they make money by mining your data and selling it, you will be better off with a privacy focused browser such as Brave or Firefox, you can get them at zero cost, both are simple to download and install and they are available for mobile phones as well as desktop computers.

Firewall/Anti-virus

A firewall monitors your internet connection and allows you to only let through the programs you want and block out potential hackers. Windows comes with a built-in firewall turned on by default and invisible to the user unless you dig into settings. Businesses deploy hardware firewalls that are far more complex, like a library that wants to stop users from accessing gambling and pornography websites, a hardware firewall will do that for them and log all policy violations and which user did what, including the visited websites, each business decides its own IT policy and what the firewall does. They can do whatever they want since it is their network and not yours.

Anti-virus software will prevent computer viruses from spreading to your computer monitoring the behaviour of downloaded files, sometimes they include a webshield and when visiting a page that is known to distribute malware it will block access and warn you. Windows comes with a free tool called Microsoft Defender that analyses malware, the tool has good ratings at detecting malware but Microsoft is not known respect user privacy, if you decide you don´t wish to trust Microsoft Defender you can install a free antivirus like Avira or Avast, installing an antivirus in Windows will automatically disable Microsoft Defender, an operating system can not run two antivirus at the same time because it would cause incompatibilities.

On GNU/Linux

GNU/Linux is the combination of the Linux kernel, with the GNU operating system created by Richard Stallman.[2] The GNU/Linux operating system is often called, simply Linux.[2] This operating system is free software.[3] Free software does not mean zero cost software although most Linux distributions are free of charge.[4] It means that respect your freedom to study, share, modify, etc the software. [4] It is generally safer to use free software instead of proprietary software. Because you have the right to study it and find out what it is really doing. Becoming less vulnerable to malicious code and spyware. Some examples of spyware in proprietary software are Windows Media Player and RealPlayer that reports what each user watches or listens. [5]

Why you should not use Windows?

Windows is proprietary software, the operating system's source code is not available for review and Microsoft makes money with your data, they use dark patterns [6] to force you to give up your privacy or get you to use unwanted services like OneDrive, Microsoft own cloud service that scans all of the files you upload with PhotoDNA [7] a technology to detect child porn that could lead to false positives as well as illegal spying from three letter agencies, CIA, NSA, etc.

Migrating to GNU/Linux

If you use Windows and want to try the GNU/Linux operating system the easiest way to do this is with a tool such as UNetbootin that will automatically download the Linux distribution of your choice into a USB thumbdrive and make it bootable, you will only have to make sure that your computer UEFI will start booting from the USB thumbdrive when you start the computer.

Beginners should start by trying LinuxMint or similar beginner friendly distributions, advanced users will want to download Tails a Linux distribution focused on user privacy that comes comes with Tor already configured.

Encryption

It doesn´t matter that you are a law abiding citizen are, due to prejudices in society being a boylover makes you a target, if anybody finds out you will be treated like an outcast, marginalised, fired from your job and perhaps even physically attacked, boylovers should take privacy seriously. The best way to stop having your personal computer files and Internet browsing history exposed if your laptop gets lost or stolen or accessed without authorization by somebody at your home, you should use full disk encryption, this will render every single byte in your hard drive unreadable without the correct password. Encryption software has been known to be unbreakable by even law enforcement. There are many encryption programs out there, focus on those that can fully encrypt the whole operating system because if you encrypt individual files there is the risk that temporary unencrypted copies could still be recovered from other parts of the operating system.

Some countries like the United Kingdom and Australia make it a criminal offense not to reveal your encryption password when required by law enforcement, in the United States there is no such law and you have no legal obligation to reveal your passwords to the authorities. However, there was a case where a person in the USA was jailed for refusing to unencrypt his drives.[8]. If you live in a repressive country like China, and do no want to be found out using encryption, then use a live USB like Tails where creating an encrypted partition for your files are settings is optional, a live USB like Tails runs in volatile RAM memory, when you switch off the computer, there will be nothing left to recover, but not all live USBs work the same way, Tails does because it has been designed for privacy.

Using secure passwords

The weakness of most encryption systems is the password, the most common way to guess somebody´s password is by having a computer to try common dictionary words and passwords that the user is known to have used somewhere else, you should not be using the same password everywhere and remember that if your password is a dictionary word, sooner or later it will be found. The best way to protect you form password guessing is by using a password manager like KeePassXC where you can store different passwords and only remember the main one for the password manager, which should be a long passphrase with numbers and special signs.

Cloud Services

Windows, Mac, Android and iOS, all try to get users to use their embedded cloud service to back up and store personal data, many users are uploading their personal data to the cloud, which is monitored by those companies, without even knowing about it, if you don´t configure your settings right, specially in smartphones, it is possible that the pictures you take or download from the Internet get automatically uploaded to the cloud, this is extremely dangerous because on top of Microsoft and Google (Google drive) staff being able to access your files, the account could also be hacked and your data stolen like one incident where dozens of celebrities had their naked selfies leaked onto the Internet [9] after their iCloud was hacked.

A cloud computer is another´s person or company computer, if you care about privacy you should avoid at all costs uploading your personal files to the cloud but if for whatever reason this is not possible you can pick a zero-knowledge encryption cloud provider, which are rarely free and you can´t know for sure how real their claims but one good bet would be Proton Drive because they have been around for many years and so far they haven´t had any significant data leaks, or ideally you should encrypt the data yourself before encrypting it to the cloud service of your choice. Cryptomator is one of the best tools to encrypt data destined for the cloud because it can sync it and doesn´t need you to open and close the container continuously as you update your files.

Virtual Private Network

All computers that are connected to the Internet have their own identifiable IP address, your Internet Service Provider will keep a record of the person who is using that Internet connection and it can be used to identify you as an individual, many countries also censor the websites you can visit and VPN can bypass that censorship as well as encrypting your connection and thwart your ISP spying on your activities. A VPN can help you stay anonymous on the Internet by masking your IP address, because of the hatred against boylovers using a VPN is recommended when visiting boylover sites.

If you're serious about Internet security, you should consider using Tor. It is an advanced proxy, and is better at protecting your privacy than web-based proxies. Tor is also considered more secure, as it is based on open source code and dynamic traffic routing, because of the layered approach Tor has, even if one administrator turns to be rogue, it will not be enough to deanonimize you.

MAC addresses

Each network card, wired and wireless, has a MAC address. This address is unique and it is used to communicate with other computers or routers on the same network, the websites you visit will not have access to your MAC address but software you have installed could leak it, there are many ways to sneakily get hold of a MAC address, diagnostic software often record the MAC address because it is a way to uniquely identify that machine, you can use software to change your MAC address but this can lead to incompatibilities when your computer tries to communicate in the internal network. The main danger of your MAC address being leaked is that it identifies your computer specially by public wifi access points that do not require login, they might use this piece of information to limit how long for you can connect to the network and multiple of other restrictions or monitoring. When you connect to your library´s Wifi your smartphone MAC address will be logged and it could be used to identify you. Apple randomizes the MAC address when it scans for open access points to avoid user profiling.

Securely deleting files

When you delete a file from your operating system it isn´t really gone for ever, only marked as invisible by your operating system so that it is not visible to you but the file can be recovered easily with specialist software, to make sure that you permanently delete a file beyond recovery, in Windows you must install specialist wiping software like Eraser, the program will overwrite the indicated document, image, etc to make sure that it not be unmarked as undeleted, and in Linux you can use the terminal and use shred -u <file_name> or shred <file_name> instead of rm.

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/windows-8-prism-edition
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 http://www.gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html
  3. ↑ http://gnu.org
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
  5. ↑ http://gnu.org/philosophy/who-does-that-server-really-serve.html
  6. ↑ https://www.cyberghostvpn.com/en_US/privacyhub/what-are-dark-patterns/
  7. ↑ https://www.makeuseof.com/what-is-photodna-how-does-it-work/
  8. ↑ http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/04/child-porn-suspect-jailed-for-7-months-for-refusing-to-decrypt-hard-drives/
  9. ↑ https://thehackernews.com/2014/09/reported-apple-icloud-hack-leaked_1.html

External links

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