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More security tips

Imagine this scenario. You're driving in the wee hours on an unfamiliar road. Let's say you are out of town on a business trip and your plan arrived late (gosh, imagine that). You have a rental car and are driving 50 miles to a hotel at your destination.

For other situations, you can dial the Sheriff/police number. Tell the dispatcher you are a resident of (wherever you live), but are currently traveling and have only this number with you. Explain the problem and ask the dispatcher if s/he can patch you through to the local police.

That agent, who isn't accountable (remember Ruby Ridge, anyone?), has the freedom to cherry pick information and identify you as a threat that has to be neutralized. That agency can then send people to arrest and detain you for over a year without charging you for any crime. You cannot contact an attorney, notify next of kin, or contact the outside world in any way. Nobody you normally contact will know where you are. Nobody will know that you are being waterboarded and subjected to other tortures, because you haven't yet divulged your nonexistent plans to do whatever it is you haven't yet been charged with. Think Catch-22.

But won't this embarrass the FBI or CIA, once you are ultimately proved innocent? Well, perhaps. But if you disappear off the side of a ship in the middle of the Pacific, who is to know? And if you are allowed to survive, how do you pick up the pieces of your shattered life, now that you have no job, no home, no credit, no money, and no possessions?

Not to mention the IRS troubles you would have, due to being secretly incarcerated and unable to file your income taxes. Tax evasion is a felony. And no, being detained illegally isn't a defense--the IRS does not list this in its manual and the braindead procedures must be followed. So, off to prison you go. Again.

But it's not just gummit types who steal your private information. Ordinary thieves do this as well. They are most interested in your credit card information (use your computer's secure browser, rather than giving c/c info over the phone) and vacation plans.

Your defense here is to keep sensitive conversations private. Here are some tips:

• Play a stereo with bass turned up so it vibrates your windows. This will help distort the reflections.
• Purchase an anti-surveillance device that vibrates window panes at varying frequencies.
• Carry on your conversations in a room that doesn't have windows, if possible.
• Speak in quiet tones. Whispering in the other person's ear is a pretty good practice.
• Recognize that a cordless phone can be easily intercepted. The range of your phone is the range over which its calls can be intercepted. The encryption on these phones is easily overcome.
• Invest in a secure e-mail program that encrypts outgoing messages, and communicate via e-mail. Understand that it is still possible to capture your monitor's screen images and recreate the text even if your monitor isn't near a window (the rays from the monitor pass through walls, even if the monitor is an LCD one).
• Be careful what you say. Don't use buzzwords that you think may cause you to get on the "suspicious" list. You can google search what these are. I'm not mentioning them here, because my doing so would be a security breach.

Understand that these measures do not afford absolute protection. They merely tilt the odds in your favor. Your most valuable strategy is to steer clear of subjects that can get you identified as a threat. So, don't even talk about things that, if overheard, could be misunderstood and result in having you misbranded as a troublemaker. Don't use buzzwords (e.g., the word b*mb) that these folks are looking for.

"What about the First Amendment?" If you believe this actually protects you, I'm really sorry about that. Please, for your personal safety, let this myth go. It's a nice thought, but it has zero to do with reality. The passing into law of the Patriot Act was the final blow to this and other Constitutional freedoms--which were all tenuous by then anyhow.

Attorney client privilege

Most people grossly misunderstand this.

• Attorney client privilege applies only to things you have already done. Your attorney actually is required to report you if your attorney believes you may be planning to commit a crime.
• If you have something you really need to discuss with your attorney, either go to the atty's office or talk about the subject indirectly.
• Your attorney cannot advise you how to avoid prosecution, skip bail, evade authorities, etc.
• Remember that language choices can trip you up. So, rather than discuss the specifics of your case when trying to understand something conceptually, discuss it in theoretical terms. Use numbers that are far smaller than your actual numbers. Your attorney will understand the "code" aspect of this and follow your lead. If, on the other hand, you put your attorney in a compromising position, your attorney may have to fire you and turn over notes to the authorities or risk disbarment.

In short, be careful what you say and where you say it. People are monitoring conversations and reacting to the barest of evidence.

In addition to protecting yourself from unjustified "enforcement actions," you will prevent the diversion of these resources away from catching the "bad guys" they are allegedly supposed to detect and neutralize.