Operation: PRISM Break Follow-Up

Updates and Newly Discovered Apps & Resources

4 min readNov 29, 2013

Back in August, completely fed up with all the PRISM news, I made a dedicated effort to cut out all [known] connections with PRISM-related services. This included all things Google, Dropbox, PayPal, etc. My original post ended with a couple items I wasn't sure how I would address, such as Facebook and my non-rooted Android mobile phone filled to the brim with Google apps.

Three months later, I've made some progress on those remaining items, and then some. I look back at my efforts and am nothing but happy with my decision to take this on. I've learned about new apps, services, resources, and more about the technology that powers them.

I deleted my Facebook account at the end of September. I was hesitant at first because we just moved across the country and Facebook makes it so dang easy to "keep up" with friends and family. When I went to delete my account, a confirmation screen came up that said something to the extent of: "if you leave, _____ and _____ won't be able to contact you anymore.” They actually have the nerve to think they're the only channel of communication we have these days. I laughed, clicked "delete", and guess what: I’m still in contact with my close friends and family. I haven't missed Facebook a single bit. In fact, it wasn't long afterward that my love for Twitter was renewed (sidenote: Falcon Pro rocks) and I began answering emails again.

I also wasn't sure what to do about my Android phone. Then I discovered this forum thread which lead me to Framaroot, and voila-- along with Titanium Backup my phone is now rooted and all things Google have been removed. To fill in for Google Contacts there's either the CardDAV app which you can connect to Owncloud contacts or Fruux. To fill in for Google Calendar, there's the CalDAV Sync app which also works with Owncloud and Fruux.

Newly Discovered Apps & Resources

Now, on to some of the cool new things I've discovered in the past few months.

Mobile Phone Maps

In my previous post I recommended Skobbler as a Google Maps app replacement. Now I use OsmAnd, which is also OpenStreetMap powered, but has a better user experience.

Chat / SMS

I've already mentioned TextSecure for encrypted texts, but there's also a great app called ChatSecure (formerly known as Gibberbot), an off-the-record (OTR) encrypted Jabber-based app that works with Android and iOS. For a private and encrypted chat room, there's a service called Cryptocat.

Skype is super easy to replace, enter: Jitsi, an open-source video chat program that works on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Voice Calls

If you're one of those people who still make voice phone calls, you may be interested in RedPhone or Ostel.co (another Guardian Project app). Both provide free, end-to-end encrypted calls but FWIW, RedPhone is simpler to set up because Ostel.co requires extra apps depending on which operating system you use.

Email

Gmail was one of the things I thought would be the hardest to give up, but I'm getting by just fine with Thunderbird and K-9 Mail. Thunderbird's spam protection makes Riseup email usable, and I discovered the SOGo add-on for ownCloud or Fruux cardDAV contacts sync.

VPN

Seriously, use it! I've been using Riseup's VPN service via Tunnelblick. It's free, but I highly recommend donating if you use it regularly. There are also tons of paid VPN services out there, like this one. Something somewhat related that I recommend keeping an eye on is a project called uProxy.

Firefox Add-ons & Extra Steps

I've put together a collection of security-related add-ons, and I also recommend EFF's "HTTPS Everywhere” and Disconnect.me.

You can also block all cookies from Facebook and Google and any other site you don't want to be tracked by, or block all third-party cookies entirely.

Hosting & Domains

Perhaps my proudest achievement: I moved my U.S. hosted website and U.S. registered domain to an offshore VPS and registrar. I'm using EDIS for hosting and Gandi.net for domain registration. This means the U.S. government can't pull the plug on my domain or dictate what content I can and cannot have on my web server. There was a LOT of learning that went along with this. But for the same price of my old and very limited Hostgator plan, I now have an Ubuntu Server in Iceland running PHP, Nginx, MariaDB, Owncloud, and some other goodies. And I set it all up via command line, go me!