As the title says I live in a surveillance state where among other things the government uses paid snitches, listening devices in your home, installs Trojans/malware in your phone and computer, even outside agents can stalk and observe you 7/24.
I may not be a target of any of this as I am didn’t commit any of the crimes required to do these (for example being involved with cannabis, or helping illegal aliens or some crimes that actually warrant this like organized crime and so forth)
However with the snitch system were convicted criminals are incentivized to incriminate others to save their own skin I am not put at ease with assurances that if you have nothing to hide that you would have nothing to fear.
I do not believe however that the surveillance state is intended to prevent terrorism or organized crime. I believe the true intention of the surveillance state is to consolidate power and nip any sort of true dissent in the bud.
So in imho if you were to call out the government on their bullshit you would stand to be victimized. Even if you are well within your rights with regards to freedom of speech/thought/assembly.
So if everything on your computer may be subject to government’s prying eyes, you’d need your own language and alphabet/writing system to at least retain the ability to keep notes and write a diary.
I would like to be able to note down my thoughts without having to fear the government can read it.
I was thinking of something like Tolkiens Elven tongue/language. I know it is a lot of work especially since it is only for internal use.
What’s your opinion on this?
In my opinion, cryptography is so advanced now that any language/alphabet you’d create wouldn’t stand up to any real attempts to crack it.
Better to focus on digital encryption and secure communication channels, and other good OSPEC practices.
That’s stupid, any cypher you can keep in your head is easily cracked.
If you want privacy, look towards encryption. Get a cheap laptop without internet access, install whatever Linux distribution, then keep everything encrypted.
So all you need to keep in your head is your master password.
This post glows.
I would like to be able to note down my thoughts without having to fear the government can read it.
What’s your opinion on this?
Take your fucking pills
Is it that far far fetched? Look at America you’ve got cops going through peoples personal shit to see if they’re periods track up with trips interstate for abortions.
Write on paper. An attacker would need physical access to read it.
Any unencrypted language is crackable; if you are simply using an alphabet to obscure English, it will be immediately broken simply due to frequency analysis of the the letters and word lengths. A whole unencrypted language is harder but there will be plenty of context clues to crack it. Encryption is by far the best way to ensure privacy.
So, people like to think that you can do something clever like invent a code to hide things, and technically, yes. And if they ever search your place and find it, they’ll assume it’s serious business and you’ll get the XKCD Security treatment.
realtime encryption systems are what you’re looking for - but in the grand scheme of things, the only privacy that exists is between your ears.
IMO to write down your thoughts just for your own usage, you can either encrypt your data if it is legal to do so, or you can write your thoughts on paper. Otherwise, check out this evergreen CrimethInc article about security culture.
I wouldn’t choose Elven Tongue or Klingon or similar fictional languages as a basis for a secret code because the people who code break are probably aware that those languages exist. Additionally, if I were a data scientist trying to sift through your communications trying to find coded text, the first thing I would classify is what languages are present. If Elven Tongue showed up, that is probably what I would look at first.
On that note, if I was trying to hide something, I would probably use a whole-word replacement scheme in a way that makes a whole sentence look normal. Even if the government collects all my data, do they really have the time to manually review all of it? Probably not; they’re probably going to use some kind of machine learning algorithm to search for “problematic” strings in their dataset and then flag whoever said them for further manual surveillance. If you think you are already an active surveillance target, then you might need to go with cyphers.
It’s probably a good idea to learn some code breaking. Lastly, Lemmy is a public social network. I wouldn’t put any plans that you ever intend to execute on this website or any of its instances in any form. It’s just not what it’s designed for. Best of luck.
If gpg isn’t good enough for your use case, you’re either protecting nuclear secrets or indeed a total cuckoo clock.
@AnarchistsForDemocracy when I was a kid I made up my own cypher. Any alphabet with 1:1 correlation can be easily cracked so I made up a bunch of additional rules and characters that replace common combos, and some contextual vowel changes, non-english words etc.
By the time I was an adult I could write in it fluently. It has also evolved over time.
While I’m sure experts could crack it if they really wanted to, for casual use it really does come in handy.
Two things
- If you’re able to encrypt; then done case closed. You can even add a “destruct” login where logging in to a secondary account deletes the primary account under the event that the gov forces you to login.
- If you’re not able to encrypt (e.g. shared system or cameras watching you type, or written documents) then then slang can actually be actually effective and easier than a whole language. It can be dynamic/fluid, and gives the author the defense of metaphors and misunderandings. It’s basically the only way to have hidden communication with others “in plain sight”.
Finally, governments are practical. If something looks interesting, like a thing labeled “journal” with mysterious words inside, they’re going to spend resources on it. Your best protection can be boringness. Write a novel, like LOTR, have the language be part of the novel, and when characters speak, replace their dialog with your journal entry. Put it on the shelf with other novels, and it becomes something that’s not worth looking into.
I mean, just use encryption? A language would be security through obscurity at best, anyway.
If they find your coded diary, they are just going to torture you until you reveal how to decipher it if they have even a remote reason to suspect you. Everyone thinks they’re a tough guy until they’re waterboarded or they have their fingernails or teeth pulled out with a pair of channel locks. Everyone breaks under torture. The idea that someone can last until they’re killed is a Hollywood fantasy for action films.
The idea that governments are going to expend valuable resources like learned individuals or AI to crack some individual’s code is just Hollywood thinking. If you’re a suspect, the government will monitor you. If you do anything to make them up their suspicion, they will bring you in. They aren’t going to spend untold amounts of money deciphering every suspect’s diaries or writings. They’ll just torture it out of you, either physically(fastest) or mentally.
And let’s just put this out there - if some desperate person fingered you for being whatever, having anything written in code is as good as being guilty to them. You will not return to your previous life. At best you’ll be released and monitored till the government tires of you or it falls. The latter is no guarantee it will end. Just because the government might be replaced doesn’t mean that those taking over will view any more favorably. After all, if you were deemed to be a security threat before, what makes you think they won’t take that to heart. Once deemed a security threat you will always be a security threat, even to those who you may identify with.
Cockney slang exists for this reason.
Toki Pona is a constructed language that can be learned in a day, as well.
Also Esperanto.
