Is there an option to disable NSA/PRISM tracking?

Hello, I was wondering is there an option to disable the NSA PRISM tracking which is apparently built into all Apple products/software?

Mac Pro, iOS 6.1.4

Posted on Jul 27, 2013 7:21 PM

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23 replies

Jul 28, 2013 3:35 PM in response to CDHalo

CDHalo wrote:


Hello, I was wondering is there an option to disable the NSA PRISM tracking which is apparently built into all Apple products/software?


No there isn't.


And actually they mostly branch off the Internet and cell phone transmissions as it's a lot easier, then force companies like Microsoft, Apple and Google to provide the "keys" to decrypt the transmissions for analysis.


Also another tactic is they force software onto cell phones through the carriers they control, one of these software's is called CarrierIQ.


CarrierIQ records all actions on the cell phone and uploads that to the carriers for their purposes, but of course the NSA gets a copy along the way as they collect everything.


If something runs up a red flag, then sure, they will certainly hack your machine via exploits or backdoors that companies have to provide governments under the threat of reprisals and listen in, watch you or read all your files.


Your only option is to not to use the machine or take it anywhere your not comfortable telling everyone where you have been, because they are recording your location 8 times a hour and everything your putting into them (which most can't be easily deleted)


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/26/business/media/26privacy.html?_r=0


http://www.extremetech.com/computing/107427-carrier-iq-which-phones-are-infected -and-how-to-remove-it

Jul 28, 2013 5:00 PM in response to CDHalo

To give you a semi-serious answer ...


Web activity using SSH (when you access a site using https:// rather than http://) is encrypted from the web server to your browser, and cannot be intercepted / decrypted by "listening in". This includes accessing an email account via webmail.


Accessing your email server using SSL (check your preferences in Apple Mail or other mail client) also encrypts end-to-end.


iMessage (sending text/chat between Macs and iPhones/iPads) automatically encrypts all messages end-to-end, and this was one of the methods Edward Snowden used to communicate without giving the US Government a way to intercept him.


If you want to be able to send email to and from your contacts with high-level encryption, you need to use something called PGP. This requires exchanging "keys" with your contacts (you both have to set it up). I used to use Thawte as a certificate authority - I believe they stopped issuing them a few years back, you might have to search around for the best current solution.


Good luck!


Matt

Jul 28, 2013 5:26 PM in response to CDHalo

The forums are flaking out today. I can only read this thread via my RSS reader.


Web activity using SSH (when you access a site using https:// rather than http://) is encrypted from the web server to your browser, and cannot be intercepted / decrypted by "listening in". This includes accessing an email account via webmail.


Actually that is SSL, not SSH, but I think that was just a typo. SSL is vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks. Of course, the only people that really be vulnerable to that would be the paranoid types who are using Tor or some internet proxy.


iMessage (sending text/chat between Macs and iPhones/iPads) automatically encrypts all messages end-to-end, and this was one of the methods Edward Snowden used to communicate without giving the US Government a way to intercept him.


I doubt that Snowden or anybody in the NSA would be using Macs or iMessage. That is still enterprise IT. They would be lucky to have Lotus Notes. There is a story on "the tubes" about the NSA claiming that one of the hardest things to search is its own e-mail. Having worked in government venues, I totally believe this. The NSA's mission is to search everybody else's e-mail and it can do that very efficiently because that is its operational mission. Its own e-mail, howver, is managed by government IT, probably by some big government contractor. I'm sure that is a total disaster.


If you want to be able to send email to and from your contacts with high-level encryption, you need to use something called PGP. This requires exchanging "keys" with your contacts (you both have to set it up). I used to use Thawte as a certificate authority - I believe they stopped issuing them a few years back, you might have to search around for the best current solution.


Apple Mail supports encrypted S/MIME without the need for PGP. That is similar to people using Tor and proxies though. The only people willing to go through the hassle to get S/MIME to work probably do have something to hide. While the government can't use any of these nefarious means to convict someone in a court of law, they can use them to identify those people who need convicting.


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Jul 28, 2013 6:54 PM in response to CDHalo

CDHalo wrote:


Hello, I was wondering is there an option to disable the NSA PRISM tracking which is apparently built into all Apple products/software?

Where is the article that actually says that?


It seems like part of the hysteria that people are extrapolating irrationally from the few facts which actually describe something different.


I'm not saying it isn't happening, just that isn't the way they would need to do it. Like ds store says, all the govt has to do most of the time is tap the major trunk lines. They'll still know where everything is coming from and going to.

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Is there an option to disable NSA/PRISM tracking?

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