Staying more private means keeping your data out of the hands of the private companies that feed the government. Apple, AT&T, Microsoft, Google, Verizon…companies like these mine your data for commercial reasons, but they end up having to give it up to law enforcement when asked. It’s important to remember that almost all surveillance starts with private companies. They won’t eliminate your footprint, but they’ll blur the picture of you that emerges through your data. There are tools you can use to make it harder for others to track you. Even if you rebelled against technology, ditched your mobile phone, and avoided using heavily-tracked web services like Facebook and Google, you’d still be on surveillance cameras that capture your face, license plate scanners, and credit databases, among other things.īut let’s not get pessimistic. There’s no way to block NSA surveillance completely. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have a simple answer. What can regular people do to stop NSA spying? That’s the big question in the wake of the NSA surveillance news that’s shaken the nation.
