This is great Nate! Proton has such good tools especially to help de-Google your life. I think it’s also worth emphasising how many of the VPN companies most people will have heard of (the ones you hear on podcast ads) and VPN comparison sites (!) that list those as the top VPNs are owned by people with strong ties to Israeli military intelligence.
Thanks for this, Nate. I've been worried about this for a while now, but the ad industry and its ties and links and resulting influence in shaping people's behaviors; it is absolute madness. I'm glad you write about this, because very few do. The worst part of it is, it almost feels tin-foil-hat type stuff to even say this out loud - but it is simply true, and we can see the consequences unfold in the broad daylight...
Yep, porn is always the hook for restricting your freedom.
This graybeard used lovingly the internet protocol USENET for timely discussion of software development issues. Comments would thread and furthermore you could kill file contributors that were a waste of your time. It was an efficient and effective tool.
However, my use of comp.lang.lisp, comp.lang.functional and other specific computer tool discussion groups were a tiny piece of the span of USENET groups. When Andrew Cuomo was the New York Secretary of State and Democrats were in the triangulating business of 'family values' his threat to sue USENET service providers over any pornographic content that might appear in say alt.beastiality and others of that ilk effectively killed USENET in the US. Yeah, the politician who shamelessly sexually abused women on his staff was the great moral arbitrator who killed one of the best tools I ever had the fortune to use.
One of my recent joys has been applying for Social Security benefits. I have a US passport and am literally older than dirt so this should be a piece of cake, right? Oh, no, no no. Identity verification is now contracted out. For people like me who have guarded their privacy assiduously this creates a gigantic barrier to verification. For this shit show to be imposed on the population by implementing 'papers please' to use the Internet is a dangerous miscarriage of justice.
I personally use a VPN and Proton Mail, and a password manager. I think that using a freely licensed operating system is very beneficial to your personal security. Learning to utilize the public key infrastructure would also enhance your email security should you not wish to use Proton.
Thanks to Nate Bear for this extensive column devoted to saving the few rights we have remaining.
On a related note, WSWS.org report on the further tightening of internet censorship in Russia, as part of this global trend. 'On July 22, the State Duma (the lower house of the Russian parliament) passed (306 votes to 67) in its third reading a law imposing fines for searching the internet for what the Kremlin classifies as “extremist material” and advertising VPN services. Virtual private networks (VPN) hide users’ IP and thus enable people to access sites and apps that are otherwise banned. Many sites and encrypted messaging services in Russia, such as Signal, are no longer accessible without VPNs.’ https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/08/01/rshd-a01.html
Mahalo from Maui, Nate. I've been aware of this risk for years - actually decades - since about 2004. I am grateful for your easy to understand and follow guidance on the next steps I need to take.
I am in the United Kingdom, and am online now, and have been online all day today. Maybe they know that I am 82 years old so they know that I'm old enough.
This is great Nate! Proton has such good tools especially to help de-Google your life. I think it’s also worth emphasising how many of the VPN companies most people will have heard of (the ones you hear on podcast ads) and VPN comparison sites (!) that list those as the top VPNs are owned by people with strong ties to Israeli military intelligence.
Thanks for this, Nate. I've been worried about this for a while now, but the ad industry and its ties and links and resulting influence in shaping people's behaviors; it is absolute madness. I'm glad you write about this, because very few do. The worst part of it is, it almost feels tin-foil-hat type stuff to even say this out loud - but it is simply true, and we can see the consequences unfold in the broad daylight...
Yep, porn is always the hook for restricting your freedom.
This graybeard used lovingly the internet protocol USENET for timely discussion of software development issues. Comments would thread and furthermore you could kill file contributors that were a waste of your time. It was an efficient and effective tool.
However, my use of comp.lang.lisp, comp.lang.functional and other specific computer tool discussion groups were a tiny piece of the span of USENET groups. When Andrew Cuomo was the New York Secretary of State and Democrats were in the triangulating business of 'family values' his threat to sue USENET service providers over any pornographic content that might appear in say alt.beastiality and others of that ilk effectively killed USENET in the US. Yeah, the politician who shamelessly sexually abused women on his staff was the great moral arbitrator who killed one of the best tools I ever had the fortune to use.
One of my recent joys has been applying for Social Security benefits. I have a US passport and am literally older than dirt so this should be a piece of cake, right? Oh, no, no no. Identity verification is now contracted out. For people like me who have guarded their privacy assiduously this creates a gigantic barrier to verification. For this shit show to be imposed on the population by implementing 'papers please' to use the Internet is a dangerous miscarriage of justice.
I personally use a VPN and Proton Mail, and a password manager. I think that using a freely licensed operating system is very beneficial to your personal security. Learning to utilize the public key infrastructure would also enhance your email security should you not wish to use Proton.
Thanks to Nate Bear for this extensive column devoted to saving the few rights we have remaining.
Nate, this was well said!
Thanks Poonam!
This is excellent information, thank you. Canada has also floated an age verification bill on the grounds of protochildren against porn...
Good info
On a related note, WSWS.org report on the further tightening of internet censorship in Russia, as part of this global trend. 'On July 22, the State Duma (the lower house of the Russian parliament) passed (306 votes to 67) in its third reading a law imposing fines for searching the internet for what the Kremlin classifies as “extremist material” and advertising VPN services. Virtual private networks (VPN) hide users’ IP and thus enable people to access sites and apps that are otherwise banned. Many sites and encrypted messaging services in Russia, such as Signal, are no longer accessible without VPNs.’ https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/08/01/rshd-a01.html
Timely post, Nate, eagerly await the next installment. Thanks
Thanks William
Thank you for this.. I'm not very tech savvy so the brilliant tips are invaluable.
That's great!
Amazing! Couldn’t have said it better
Mahalo from Maui, Nate. I've been aware of this risk for years - actually decades - since about 2004. I am grateful for your easy to understand and follow guidance on the next steps I need to take.
IMUA! (Means "ONWARD" in Hawaiian)
I am in the United Kingdom, and am online now, and have been online all day today. Maybe they know that I am 82 years old so they know that I'm old enough.
U.S. ARMS SALES & TRANSFER TRACKER
https://www.forumarmstrade.org
Good article, but ...
"As Taylor Lorentz, the only journalist on the left covering any of this says, the left ‘have completely dropped the ball.’ "
Taylor is not "left" by any stretch and if your relying on her support, you're doomed.