Edward Snowden urges Americans to take care online
Exiled whistleblower Edward Snowden is offering up stern advice to people worried about online security, urging them to cover up computer cameras and have better passwords.
Snowden, the subject of Oliver Stone's new movie, fled the U.S. after leaking classified National Security Agency documents concerning how Americans were being 'watched' by officials.
His actions led to the scrutiny of NSA practices and prompted millions of Americans to question their Internet use for fear of giving too much information up to strangers.
Now in exile in Moscow, Russia, Snowden insists computer users should not be too worried about privacy, as long as they're cautious and take measures to protect themselves.
"If you use a Band-Aid on your laptop camera it's not gonna mess it up because it's got the cotton on the other side," he says. "Why this matters is the hardware of our computers is we don't know what they're actually doing; for instance that light can be for something entirely different than we think.
"The biggest problem for ordinary people is password reuse, where you use one password for all of these different websites. If one of those websites happen to get hacked, they can use that password they stole from that one site and try to use it to log into all of these websites and they get into your personal accounts.
"There are programs called Password Managers you can use that have a unique password for every site where you only have to remember one password."
Snowden also urges cellphone users to be extra careful, adding, "The mass surveillance is a global problem. Right now using your cellphone it travels electronically naked across our communications networks. Encryption is a way of putting some clothing on it as it goes across that hostile path. One of the best respected free applications is called Signal. The basic idea is install an ad blocker, use different passwords, have an anti-virus.
"It's not gonna help you against the NSA but for most people the NSA isn't their biggest problem. If you want to stop the NSA from spying on you, the best way is through the political process. It's something we're not hearing enough about in this campaign season. We need to talk about issues of substance. Don't be silent. Silence is the biggest weapon that's used against us. You don't have to be somebody special to change things.
"When we look at people who are the whistleblowers, they are entirely ordinary people and elected by circumstance. If you see something and you have feelings about it, share it. Realize that may be an opportunity to make the world a better place."
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