The CLOUD Act was never voted on by the US Congress or even reviewed. Instead it was slipped into page 2,201 of a $1.3 trillion spending bill, which was voted on as a single entity. However, the repercussions of the CLOUD Act changes the way that government officials can obtain your data. It gives the US and foreign governments the opportunity to request data without a warrant. Fear not, all hope is not lost, at vpnMentor we have come up with a list of things you can do to help maintain your privacy and remain anonymous online.
What is the CLOUD Act?
So what exactly is this privacy harming legislation that Congress felt the need to slip into an unrelated bill in order to get it passed? It all started several years ago, with a lawsuit involving a criminal investigation into an Irish citizen. The US government had a warrant and subpoenaed Microsoft for data that was stored on their Irish servers. Microsoft refused to hand over the information, claiming the servers weren’t based in the United States and therefore they were under no obligation to respect the warrant. The case has been dragging on for four years. Fast forward to present day, under the new CLOUD Act, the US government no longer needs a warrant and Microsoft must comply with the request and hand over the data. Microsoft is already on record saying that there is no need to continue fighting in this case, and they will hand over the data to the authorities. There are two main provisions in the bill: This law is scary for citizens since it violates your privacy. Imagine a foreign government investigates one of their citizens and requests access to their data on a social network such as Facebook. Facebook will be obligated to hand over all the information, and this could include information on US citizens. Those foreign government will then be able to just hand over all the data to their US counterparts, without any warrant needed. You can read the entire CLOUD Act here - just scroll down to page 2,201
What Can You Do?
We aren’t ready to give up on our right to privacy, and we hope you aren’t either. We gathered a list of tips that can help protect your data from different governments. This list includes alternatives to popular sites and services that we recommend you start using to help keep your activity anonymous.
Protecting Privacy is Hard, But Possible
It’s becoming harder and harder to remain anonymous online, but with legislation such as the CLOUD Act, it becomes even more imperative to cover your tracks. Using a VPN is a crucial piece of the puzzle when it comes to protecting your online privacy because it masks your IP address, which makes you essentially invisible online. It will also use different security protocols to encrypt your data, making it next-to-impossible for the government to understand the information they might gather. You can read more about what a VPN can do for you here. Not all VPN’s are created equal, so make sure the VPN you use has leak protection, a strict zero logging policy, and is located in a country that is not part of the Five Eyes Alliance (or the expanded 14 eyes). We highly recommend using ExpressVPN, which is located in the British Virgin Islands, or CyberGhost VPN, which is based in Romania. Both VPN providers have great security protocols and have proven that they do not log data. Facebook data is a literal gold mine for law enforcement officials who want dirt on a potential suspect. Someone’s likes, friends, groups, chats, and posts can definitely be used as evidence, and it seems logical that investigators would turn to request data this type of data. With the passing of the CLOUD Act, acquiring that information will be quick and easy. The only solution is to leave the social media giant and delete your Facebook account as quickly as possible. If you value your privacy, then create an account at SpiderOak, which was endorsed by none other than Edward Snowden. Despite being based in the US, SpiderOak users have no reason to fear that the government will be reading their documents anytime soon. Even if they turn over their servers, the files are all encrypted and only the user controls the keys to unlock the files. If you have to use to the cloud, find a service like Tresorit that includes end-to-end encryption and is located outside the US and in a country that is not part of the Five Eyes alliance. If you are going to avoid the cloud, we recommend encrypting your documents with VeraCrypt, which creates encrypted backups on a local disk for you. The icing on the cake is the company is located in Switzerland and therefore protected by the strict Swiss privacy laws. The creators of ProtonMail have also developed Proton VPN which is a solid VPN that can integrate with TOR and provide a very high level of anonymity. Read our complete review of Proton VPN here. While Google definitely runs the most popular search engine, there are quality alternatives, such as StartPage which will give you Google’s results but with extra layers of security and privacy. DuckDuckGo, is another great alternatives, as they don’t store any user data, and would therefore have nothing of value to hand over should a request be made. We aren’t suggesting that you go off the grid completely and wear the proverbial aluminum foil cap. Just be cautious and take the necessary precautions. The first step is to get a VPN that will protect your anonymity and allow you the freedom to stay online without fear of being snooped on. Read the reviews and find the best VPN to protect your privacy. The information above can be used to track you, target you for ads, and monitor what you do online.
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