Elko Daily Free Press from Elko, Nevada • A4

A4 Saturday, OctOber 14, 2017 Elko Daily FrEE PrEss 1 OPINION Founded 1883 a Lee enterprises newspaper 3720 Idaho elko, NV Phone (775) 738-3118 Editorial board travis Quast, Jeff ry Mullins and Suzanne Featherston TIMOTHY SUMMERS Protecting individual privacy from government intrusion is older than American de- mocracy. In 1604, the attorney general of England, Sir Edward Coke, ruled that a house is his castle. This was the offi cial declaration that a homeowner could protect himself and his privacy from the agents. That lesson carried into to- America, thanks to our Founding abhorrence for imperialist Great unwarranted search and seizure of personal documents. They understood that ev- eryone has something to hide, because human dignity and intimacy exist if we keep our thoughts and actions private.

As citizens in the digital age, that is much more diffi cult. Malicious hackers and governments can monitor the most private communications, browsing habits and other data breadcrumbs of anyone who owns a smartphone, tablet, lap- top or personal computer. President criticism of encryption technology and interest in expanding govern- ment surveillance have tech- nologists and civil libertarians deeply concerned. As an ethical hacker, my job is to help protect those who are unable, or lack the knowledge, to help themselves. People who think like hackers have some really good ideas about how to protect digital privacy during turbulent times.

what they and I advise, and why. I have no affi liation or relation- ship with any of the companies listed below, except in some cases as a regular user. Phone calls, text messag- ing and email When communicat- ing with people, you probably want to be sure only you and they can read being said. That means you need what is called encryp- in which your message is transmitted as encoded text. As it passes through intermediate systems, like an email network or a cellphone com- puters, all they can see is the encrypted message.

When it arrives at its destination, that phone or computer de- crypts the message for reading only by its intended recipient. For phone calls and private text-message-like communica- tion, the best apps on the mar- ket are WhatsApp and Signal. Both use end-to-end encryp- tion, and are free apps available for iOS and Android. In order for the encryption to work, both parties need to use the same app. For private email, Tutanota and ProtonMail lead the pack in my opinion.

Both of these Gmail-style email services use end-to-end encryption, and store only encrypted messages on their servers. Keep in mind that if you send emails to people not using a secure service, the emails may not be encrypted. At present, neither service sup- ports encryption, which could allow security to extend to other email services, but they are reportedly working on it. Both services are also free and based in countries with strong privacy laws(Germany and Switzerland). Both can be used on PCs and mobile devices.

My biggest gripe is that neither yet off ers two-factor authen- tication for additional login security. Avoiding being tracked It is less straightforward to privately browse the internet or use internet-connected apps and programs. Internet sites and services are complicated busi- ness, often involving loading in- formation from many diff erent online sources. For example, a news site might serve the text of the article from one computer, photos from another, related video from a third. And it would connect with Facebook and Twitter to allow readers to share articles and comment on them.

Advertising and other services also get involved, allowing site owners to track how much time users spend on the site (among other data). The easiest way to protect your privacy without totally changing your ng experi- ence is to install a small piece of free software called a These add func- tionality to your existing web browsing program, such as Chrome, Firefox or Safari. The two privacy browser extensions that I recommend are uBlock Origin and Privacy Badger. Both are free, work with the most common web browsers and block sites from tracking your visits. Encrypting all your online activity If you want to be more se- cure, you need to ensure people directly watch the inter- net traffi from your phone or computer.

where a virtual private network (VPN) can help. Simply put, a VPN is a collec- tion of networked computers through which you send your internet traffi c. Instead of the normal on- line activity of your computer directly contacting a website with open communication, your computer creates an encrypted connection with another com- puter somewhere else (even in another country). That com- puter sends out the request on your behalf. When it receives a response the webpage asked to load it encrypts the information and sends it back to your computer, where displayed.

This all happens in milliseconds, so in most cases not noticeably slower than regular browsing and is far more secure. For the simplest approach to private web browsing, I recom- mend Freedome by F-Secure because only a few dollars a month, incredibly easy to use and works on computers and mobile devices. There are other VPN services out there, but they are much more complicated and would probably confuse your less technically inclined family members. Additional tips and tricks If you want anyone to know what information searching for online, use DuckDuckGo or F-Secure Safe Search. DuckDuckGo is a search engine that le its users or record their search queries.

F-Secure Safe Search is not as privacy-friendly because a collaborative eff ort with Google, but it provides a safety rating for each search result, making it a suitable search en- gine for children. To add security to your email, social media and other online accounts, enable what is called or This requires not only a user name and password, but also another piece of informa- tion like a numeric code sent to your phone before allowing you to log in successfully. Most common services, like Google and Facebook, now support 2FA. Use it. Encrypt the data on your phone and your computer to protect your les, pictures and other media.

Both Apple iOS and Android have settings op- tions to encrypt your mobile device. The United States was born when the Founding Fathers seceded from England. So why do so many people now see secession as a terrible thing? Recently, people in Catalonia voted to break away from Spain not to declare war on Spain or refuse to trade with Spain, just to control their own aff airs. The Spanish government said they must not even vote. They sent police to shut down polling places and beat protestors into staying off the streets.

Governments never want to give up power. The European Union was of- fended and Amer- ican politicians shocked when the United Kingdom voted to exit the EU (Brexit). Pundits de- clared move a terrible mistake. But local governments can be more responsive to the needs of constituents. No government is perfect.

But keeping government close to home, keeping it local, makes it easier to keep an eye on it. The powerful prefer one big central government. Some want the whole world to answer to one government. President Ulysses S. Grant fantasized about countries be- coming nation, so that armies and navies are no longer President Harry Truman wanted a World Court.

Just as American disputes are settled by our Supreme Court, he said, is not a diffi culty in the whole world that cannot be set- tled in exactly the same way in a world But central authorities the best way to solve our prob- lems. Competition is. In the U.S., state governments behave not because their pol- iticians are noble, but because people can with their move to other states. If taxes get too high in New York, you can move Florida. As California tortures busi- nesses, Californians move to Arizona and Texas.

The more governments from which you can choose, the easier it is to from competition between them. All Americans, however, must obey rules set by Washington, D.C. But what if most people in a state reject those rules and de- mand the right to govern them- selves? There have been several seces- sion movements in California a plan to break California up into smaller states, a push to make Northern California a breakaway state called Jeff erson, and now the movement that wants to make California a separate country. proponents say Californians have to answer to that evil President Trump. If Calexit ever happened, I suppose conservative parts of the state would vote to separate from the leftists who dominate Sacramento.

Maybe end up with three countries where there used to be one. When I look at how badly Washington, D.C., governs, the idea of secession scare me. After the Cold War, Czecho- slovakia split into Slovakia and the Czech Republic. between Czechs and Slovaks have writes Mar- ian Tupy, a Cato Institute analyst born in Czechoslovakia. no longer subsidize their poorer cousins in the east, while Slovaks no longer blame their problems on their in the west.

Everyone has Secession frightens some Americans because they asso- ciate it with slavery. Preserving that despicable practice was one reason southern states wanted to break away. But obviously, one can favor secession without supporting slavery. Even some abolitionists, anti-slavery activists in the 19th century, supported the right to secede. More recently, some black neighborhoods on the outskirts of Boston argued for turning the Greater Roxbury area into a new city called Mandela.

They say it would be more responsive to lo- needs. In New York City, Republicans on Staten Island sometimes ar- gue for breaking away from the Democrats who mismanage the rest of New York. During the Obama administration, some Texans wanted a vote on None of those things is likely to happen, but wary of any government that hates the idea of people escaping its uence. President Trump weighed in on Catalonian independence. against it.

would like to see Spain continue to be said the president. easy to love a big central government when in charge of one. Also, national governments can inspire proud nationalist sentiments. But Catalans smarting from police batons probably feel dif- ferently. I say, let people go their own way.

Protect your privacy during turbulent times Secession? Let them leave Not amused by Pope costume Editor: It seems to me that attacks on the Roman Catholic religion is the only accepted prejudice allowed these days. A few days ago there were pho- tos in the EDFP of pets dressed in various Halloween costumes. The costumes were cute enough except for one this photo had the cap- tion As I believe in freedom of opin- ion, capitalism and its subordi- nate, marketing, I would admire the bravery of the advertisers more if they had added a photo of a pet in a costume depicting either Mo- hammad or an Imam. However, on ection I can un- derstand their reluctance after all a is not something any- body would want to have over their head. Kathy Mosses Montello Columnist wrong about horse study Editor: Larry Hyslop is at it again.

His recent column, Notes: 200,000 wild and feral (October 7, 2017) blatantly mis- states the facts about our wild horse herds as part of his long-run- ning pursuit of horse slaughter as a herd management strategy. Mr. Hyslop has long been in favor of exterminating our wild horse herds but his recent mis- characterization of the facts was particularly galling. In this piece, Mr. Hyslop claims the federal Gov- ernment Accountability Offi ce has concluded that birth control methods for controlling wild horse populations not currently af- fordable or practical to implement on a large This is false: even a cursory look at the report Mr.

Hyslop uses as the basis of his entire column makes clear that while the federal Bureau of Land Management, long opposed to humane wild horse management, may conclude this, the GAO most certainly does not. Mr. Hyslop has a history of choosing slaughter as his pre- ferred method of managing our wild horse population. In September 2016, Mr. Hyslop opined that wild horses should ei- ther be slaughtered by the federal government or sold to others to kill for food.

This is a fringe position to put it mildly; indeed, some 80 percent of the American public opposes slaughtering wild horses. No, Mr. Hyslop: lifting 50-year- old protections on our wild horse herds the mer of we need to ensure ecological balance on the range. lunacy, and wildly out of step with public opinion. Mr.

Hyslop is not entitled to his own facts. By pretending that the GAO agrees with him to support his position in opposition to 80 percent of Americans who oppose horse slaughter, Mr. Hyslop is spreading propaganda, not prac- ticing journalism. The Elko Daily Free Press should correct this er- ror immediately, and keep a closer editorial eye on Mr. Hyslop in the future.

Suzanne Roy Executive Director The American Wild Horse Cam- paign Note: The Free Press supports correspondent Larry report on the GAO study, which states that the agency sessed the of BLM data and these data were su ciently reliable for our JOHN STOSSEL Letters policy Send letters to daily.com Word limit: 350. Longer letters will be edited. Limited to one per month. Include your name, address and phone number for ca- tion or cation. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR THE CONVERSATION.