Have you ever talked to someone about government intrusion into our privacy and had them say:
"If you have nothing to hide, what are you afraid of???"
Well, 
I even made a YouTube video about it at the time:
The government loses 19.6% of the information they take from you
This is the sad truth.
We learned conclusively from the Vault7 WikiLeaks files that the CIA has access to practically any digital information we have at any given time. So long as that information is on a device that has access to the internet, the Government has given itself permission to break in and take it.
However, according to SSRN: Taking Stock: Estimating Vulnerability Rediscovery, 19.6% amount of the data that the CIA has accessed of ours is "rediscovered" by hackers, moles, and other bad actors who troll around government databases looking for valuable information to steal.
These are things that you probably use which are compromised:
- Online bank account
- Email passwords
- Online cryptcocurrency exchange accounts (Coinbase, Poloniex)
- Any file on your computer that accesses the internet which is not also cryptographically secured in some other way
How to protect yourself
Well, blockchain technologies to a long way in helping us to secure ourselves.
Steemit is inherently more secure than a bank account
With something like Steemit, there are hardwired measures that can actually protect us. For instance, if you move certain of your Steemit holdings into your Savings Wallet, it takes a certain amount of time to move funds, and your Steem Power takes a full 13 weeks to completely power-down.
This means that even if someone was to gain access to your Steemit account, they would not be able to just drain your funds and run away without giving you some kind of chance to recover your account.
Hardware Wallets
I've seen some people lately saying that hardware wallets are a scam. I don't agree.
Because access to the keys which unlock a hardware wallet are kept on a separate device which does not touch the internet, the funds on these wallets are safe from digital intruders.
When I first saw the Vault7 dump, I quickly realized that my KeepKey wallet was the only secure digital account that I possessed.
Stay on top of your passwords
I know this is a pain, but you have to do it.
Either create very complex passwords that are enough to make any intruder simply pass it over for an easier victim, or get a password managing service. I don't have any in particular to suggest, so if you're shopping for one just make sure to do your homework.
Us Tor browser and VPNs
Tor Browser is a distributed search engine which makes it very hard for any malicious actors to detect the source of your activity. You can download it here:
VPNs are Virtual Private Networks. They extend a private network across a public network, and enable users to send and receive data across shared or public networks as if their computing devices were directly connected to the private network.
"In the simplest terms, it creates a secure, encrypted connection, which can be thought of as a tunnel, between your computer and a server operated by the VPN service."
~ Eddy, Max (March 2017), PC Magazine: pp. 64-72
A good VPN is TunnelBear:
The Government isn't going to help you
If you data is accessed by a malicious actor because of Government incompetence, you're basically screwed.
They've basically made it much harder than it has to be to maintain secure privacy.
So it's up to us, once again, to not only protect ourselves from the bad guys, but also the self-appointed "good-guys" in the Government.
It has nothing to do with the contents of your computer. It is not about your browser history or your dirty little secrets. It's about your identity and how the Government allows access of the most sensitive parts of it to the very people who want to steal it.
It's up to YOU
What do you think of this?
Is there a security measure that I've gotten mixed up or missed? Feel free to share it in the comments below -- I'd really appreciate it.