Safety and Security Online
Browsing and Communicating Securely Online
When you’re signing into any website, always make sure to check that you’re URL begins with https:// (and not just http://). This signals that your website connection is secure, encrypted, and less prone to unwanted snooping, tampering, or identity theft online.
However, while many websites are starting to provide https:// as a standard service, there are still large amounts of websites that do not automatically load through a secure connection. This means that to ensure you are entering each and every website securely, you would have to check your URL before and after it’s loaded and even then, some websites may not load in https:// mode. The Tor Project and the Electronic Frontier Foundation collaborated to provide a solution to this by creating HTTPS Everywhere, which “is a Firefox, Chrome, and Opera extension that encrypts your communications with many major websites, making your browsing more secure.”
- Be aware that HTTPS:// is not automatically applied when browsing through your mobile phone. To remain safe, retype https:// in your URL.
- If you are unsure of your connection, check to see if the HTTPS:// in your browser is green (rather than blue which would indicate a standard unsecure http connection).
As activists, campaigners, and human rights defenders, our online privacy and anonymity is vital to staying safe. Tor is a free software and open network that bounces your communications around distributed networks which prevents anyone monitoring your online activities to learn about sites you are using, your browsing history or location.
Tor has several projects worth looking into whether or not you are concerned with your online safety (although with reports of governments worldwide snooping on citizens, you should be!) including Tor Browser (available for windows, Mac OSX, and Linux) for your computer and Orbot for Android phones.
Riseup provides online communication tools for people and groups working on liberatory social change. They are a project working to create democratic alternatives and practice self-determination by controlling their own secure means of communications. Riseup provides secure and private email accounts, mailing lists, and has even started providing new services such as VPN and chat.
Chatting
Chatting and sharing information online is never 100% secure BUT there are applications, browser extensions, and other ways to keep yourself as safe as possible while organizing your campaigns, taking part in public actions, or connecting with other activists online. Here are a few that may just help alleviate your security concerns:
Cryptocat is a fun, accessible app for having encrypted chat with your friends, right in your browser and mobile phone. Everything is encrypted before it leaves your computer. Even the Cryptocat network itself can’t read your messages. Cryptocat is open source, free software, developed by encryption professionals to make privacy accessible to everyone.
“Off-the-Record” Software can be added to free open-source instant messaging platforms like Pidgin or Adium. On these platforms, you’re able to organize and manage different instant messaging accounts on one interface. When you then install OTR, your chats are encrypted and authenticated, so you can rest assured you’re talking to a friend.
ChatSecure: Encrypted Messages on iOS and Android. ChatSecure is a free and open source messaging app that features OTR encryption over XMPP. You can connect to your existing accounts on Facebook or Google, create new accounts on public XMPP servers(including via Tor), or even connect to your own server for extra security.
All of the above chat software and apps require an Internet connection provided by either Wifi or your mobile carrier. As we witnessed with the Arab Spring and other moments of national political tension, governments can switch off or limit connectivity in public spaces to make communications about public actions, safety protocols, and other information between activists and citizens even harder to share to the widespread audiences that social media platforms provide. This is where FireChat comes in.
FireChat is the messaging app that works when and where others cannot. FireChat uses peer-to-peer mesh networking technology to connect people and mobile devices even when no Internet connection or mobile data service is available. FireChat has been among the top 10 social networking applications in 124 countries. From Burning Man to Taiwan, HongKong, Delhi, Moscow, Manila, Paris, Srinagar, Kuala Lumpur and Austin, pro-democracy protesters, disaster relief organizations, leaders, and artists are choosing FireChat to stay connected to their friends and communities.
