Internet users` personal information is being stolen, collected, intercepted, analyzed, and stored with the use of all known to date communication platforms on daily basis by governments and various companies, Snowden claimed, pointing out that in order to protect crucial data, one should "armor [himself] using systems we can rely on every day."
Two of the reccomendations he made was to use Tor, an encrypted online browser, for internet usage and also using a password manager that creates unique long passwords for each site you use.
Moreover, Tor blocks ads and disables scripts and other active content distributed by Internet providers and should be essential for security purposes, he outlined.
"As long as service providers are serving ads with active content that require the use of Javascript to display, that have some kind of active content like Flash embedded in it, anything that can be a vector for attack in your web browser — you should be actively trying to block these."
The purpose of these security measures is to shield certain parts of life which are intimate and personal.
"What we do need to protect are the facts of our activities, our beliefs, and our lives that could be used against us in manners that are contrary to our interests."
So in this regard the whistleblower suggested that what he calls "selective sharing" of personal information technique is something that average Internet user badly needs to use.
"[Sharing of personal data] should be thoughtful, it should be things that are mutually beneficial to people that you`re sharing with, and these aren`t things that are simply taken from you."
One of the crucial goals humanity needs to achieve is discovering a "way to protect the rights that we ourselves inherited for the next generation." And cutting-edge technologies in his opinion is "the quickest and most promising means" that humans can use addressing that issue.
"Today we`re standing at a fork in the road that divides between an open society and a controlled system. If we don`t do anything about this, people will look back at this moment and they`ll say, why did you let that happen?"
Snowden Uncovers Best Methods of Defending Personal Data
13 November 2015
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In a world where the Internet has become ubiquitous, everyone should consider threats associated with possible leaks of vital personal data and take simple steps to prevent it, former NSA contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden said in an interview with the Intercept.
