As Americans, I believe we take our freedoms for granted. Oh, we talk a lot about them. Turn on the television and all you hear are phrases like “bringing freedom to the Iraqi people” and “the terrorists hate our freedom”. I find it ironic that the very people talking about freedom most often are the ones who are trying the hardest to restrict it. A gulag in Guantanamo, secret torture prisons in Eastern Europe, electronic eavesdropping on American citizens, internal White House memos upgrading the definition of torture, and the list goes on. George Bush has used the word so often, I’m reminded of that scene from The Princess Bride. “That word you keep using. I’m not sure it means what you think it means.”

Civil liberties are threatened today in a way that is unprecedented in a modern-day liberal democracy, but the masses seem to be unaware. All of the Bush administration scandals that have been exposed haven’t drawn more than a tired yawn from the average American. We seem more interested in what Brittany and her kids are doing! We fail to muster the weakest of protests even when the government attacks what Americans hold (arguably) most sacred: our privacy. Conservatives and liberals alike have consistently expressed a universal belief in the right to privacy, yet we still do nothing when it is threatened. This threat comes not only from the government, but from corporations. Companies like Google, Yahoo, AT&T, and Amazon are finding more and more ways to delve into your personal life for the purpose of extracting additional revenue. Did you know, for example, that Google delivers ads to you while you’re reading your email based on the CONTENTS of your email? Because it’s electronic and we see no evidence, we have an illusion of privacy, but make no mistake, it IS an illusion. What if the Post Office opened all of your mail before they delivered it, in order to offer you additional goods or services based on the contents of your mail. Feels a little different, right? Here’s another one: Did you know that your ISP can see every bit on non-encrypted data that leaves your computer? Emails, search requests, porn purchases, file-sharing, you name it. A better analogy for our online lives would be this:

You go home for the evening. As you enter your house, you leave all of the doors open. People walk in behind you and watch what you eat for dinner, listen to what you discuss with your kids, and perhaps what you and your spouse do when the lights go out. They look at the drugs in your medicine cabinet and inspect your closet for the types of clothes you wear. And you’re oblivious to the entire affair.

And let me be the first to say that I’m not a fear-monger! I happily use Gmail and other such services. But I’m also aware of what I’m giving up, and if I choose to, I can shut the door on them. How? Thankfully, internet technology is staying two steps ahead of “The Man”. That’s why I love it!

An increasingly intrusive and prying corporate internet culture has given rise to darknets. Sounds ominous, hey? These include a wide range of networks, including private peer-to-peer nets, VPN’s, and non-indexed members-only websites. Although there are plenty of illegal activities going on within darknets, plenty of people use them simply to protect their privacy. Next week in Tales From the Darkside #2, I’ll begin dissecting the personal privacy services. What services do they specifically offer? How easy are they to use? How completely do they protect your privacy? And in #3, I’ll be looking at the networks that provide a refuge from the Hollywood attack dogs: the p2p and filesharing nets. Let me know what you think!