cyph3rPunk
The people in this community hope for a world where an individual's informational footprints—everything from an opinion on abortion to the medical record of an actual abortion—can be traced only if the individual involved chooses to reveal them; a world where coherent messages shoot around the globe by network and microwave, but intruders and feds trying to pluck them out of the vapor find only gibberish; a world where the tools of prying are transformed into the instruments of privacy. There is only one way this vision will materialize, and that is by widespread use of cryptography. Is this technologically possible? Definitely. The obstacles are political—some of the most powerful forces in government are devoted to the control of these tools. In short, there is a war going on between those who would liberate crypto and those who would suppress it. The seemingly innocuous bunch strewn around this community represents the vanguard of the pro-crypto forces. Though the battleground seems remote, the stakes are not: The outcome of this struggle may determine the amount of freedom our society will grant us in the 21st century. To the Cypherpunks, freedom is an issue worth some risk.
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"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of man as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing." Helen Keller
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Cop: “If you are innocent you have nothing to hide.” You: “If I have nothing to hide, why is my privacy being violated?”
I really like this whole thing, and the tips are helpful, but I feel like that suggested self-advocacy question would absolutely set you up for a bad time with the police in the US these days..
That's true. Case in point: the guy who made the mistake of running a Tor exit node and was convicted of distributing child porn. I am in no way condoning such actions. I'm just sharing tools that can help us to be more aware of our options if/when we are already being targeted.
Oh for sure, I just wanted to point it out, because even the best advice can be laced with questionable or truly bad advice. Especially when confounding factors aren’t taken into consideration when sharing the advice.
Also just sort of as a warning to anyone who might want to try it, I suppose. If you are a moderately well-off white woman (arguably among the safest demographics re:police) this might work better than, say, a black or Latino man.