The “Reset the Net” campaign launched today, on the one year anniversary of the Snowden leaks. The idea behind the project, is that if the U.S. government won’t end its domestic spying program, then the people should take steps to make the NSA’s job difficult if not impossible, starting with our own computers.
The official website focuses on a set of free apps that encrypt communications or hide their source. They’re calling it the Privacy Pack.
Much of the technology listed in the pack is not new, what is new is the push to get the masses to use them. This is an interesting concept, not from an individual standpoint so much as from a herd immunity standpoint.
If only used by a small number of people, these apps probably wouldn’t present much of a barrier to the NSA. For example, we already know that the U.S. government is actively monitoring the Tor network and is creating thousands of fake accounts in order to establish the identities of those using it. But applied on a large scale, with users encrypting the majority of their communications from end to end, this would inherently slow the NSA down and make it much harder for them to maintain a 360 degree view of our online activities.
Is this a final solution? No, but it’s a start, and I support it because it places the responsibility for change where it belongs: on us.
