Foiling Surveillance, for Beginners.

Juice Rap News delivers detailed, imaginative commentary on the issue of warrantless internet surveillance in rap. It is quite hilarious, trenchant, and intelligible (and it features George Orwell). It comes from Australia.

The single solution The Juice offers (use Tor), may be augmented by the recently assembled free online text CryptoParty Handbook. According to BoingBoing, a Crypto Party is like a tupperware party, but “for people who want to teach their neighbors how to use cryptography to protect themselves from snoopers, especially broad government surveillance.”

However, the project is open source, and considering its subject, is likely to be a mixed bag:

This 392 page, Creative Commons licensed handbook is designed to help those with no prior experience to protect their basic human right to Privacy in networked, digital domains. […] Please note all edits will be reviewed before release. All authors will be credited. Please use language and methods an absolute newbie can understand.

and:

WARNING! – Due to the rapid development of the Handbook, as well as lack of rigorous peer review, there may be advice within that does not guarantee your safety – be vigilant! This is version 1. Each version of the book will improve upon the last, if you find any errors, please contribute your suggested changes.

IMPORTANT! – PPTP was referenced in this book as one method for use when setting up Virtual Private Networks. It is easily breakable. Do not use it!