According to Edward Snowden, those who care about their privacy should stay away from popular Internet services such as Dropbox, Facebook, and Google.
Snowden conducted a remote interview today at the New Yorker Festival, where he was asked for advice on what we can do to protect our privacy.
As a first step, he said that reforms are needed from politicians.
He added that on an individual level, people should seek out encrypted tools and stop using services that are “hostile to privacy.”
For one thing, he said you should “get rid of Dropbox” because it doesn’t support encryption, and should consider alternatives, like SpiderOak. According to Techcrunch when Snowden made similar comments over the summer, Dropbox said protecting user information is a “top priority” for them.)
The snippet about Dropbox is at about 1:04:55 in the video below.
“We’re talking about encryption. We’re talking about not using programs that are hostile to privacy. For example, Dropbox. Get rid of Dropbox, they don’t support encryption, they don’t protect your private files. Use their competitors like SpiderOak, which do exactly the same thing, but protect your content.”
He also said that while Facebook and Google have improved their security, they remain “dangerous services” and that we should avoid them. Kind of funny, of course, since he himself was using Google Hangout for the interview and there was a Google logo above his head. Another tip: Don’t send unencrypted text messages, but use services like RedPhone and Silent Circle.
Earlier in the interview, Snowden dismissed claims that increasing iOS encryption would stop surveillance efforts by law enforcement. He said that even with this encryption, intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies in general can still ask companies to give them full access to a suspect's phone. That access, of course, would include the key to the encrypted data.
Below is the video of the interview. The discussion about privacy and Internet services begins at approximately 58:30.
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