How you are monitored

Your computer's security, like any complex system, is a chain where each link is a component. As we know, no chain is stronger than its weakest link.

In a series of posts, we will go through all the links in the chain with its most common problems, the challenges - and the solutions to these problems.

Let's start with the most important thing.

The operating system - the most important thing of all

An extremely overlooked aspect of privacy and security is the operating system. Around the world 98-99 per cent of Swedes use Windows, Mac or Chrome OS. Only 1.5 per cent currently use Linux.

It has long been known that Windows in particular, but also Macs, have had ready-made backdoors that can be used to spy on the user themselves or for intelligence agencies such as the NSA/CIA and the like.

The feature film about Edward Snowden portrays this very authentically. Back in 2013, Snowden revealed that the NSA can see everything anyone in the world has ever written on regular computers and mobile phones. It became world news and was reported by all the world's news media. Much of the mass surveillance was later deemed illegal by the US Congress.

The operating system - the most important thing of all

An extremely overlooked aspect of privacy and security is the operating system. Around 95 per cent of Swedes use Windows, Mac or Chrome OS. Around 5 per cent currently use Linux - a figure that is fortunately increasing.

It has... pic.twitter.com/Y3G53yRIMS

- Teuton Systems (@teutonsystems) December 17, 2024

Everything about happens in real time can be monitored and all emails, text messages, Google searches, comments and direct messages on social media are stored forever in an NSA database. This is described in technology magazines, among others The Register and TweakTowns clear graphics of the infamous Prism monitoring system as revealed by Snowden.

Among other things, it shows that the data collection takes place before the encryption, which makes end-to-end encryption ineffective.

In other words, Big Brother is not only Big Tech, but also Big Government - something that is also very much the case in Sweden.

By the way, the NSA has kept up with the times and internal document reveals staff are encouraged to in writing not to use words like man and woman in favour of "male sex assigned at birth" and similar new language.

The technology has been around since before 2013 - but what does the law actually say?

It is an outdated notion that systematic surveillance of private activities is something only carried out by intelligence services such as the CIA or the SAPO in cases of high-profile crime.

In Sweden, this was, on paper, something reserved for the Swedish Security Service (Säpo) until 2018 - to prevent espionage and terrorist offences. Today, the Swedish police are allowed to eavesdrop on anyone - even without suspicion of a crime. On 1 October, a new law came into force in Sweden called the 'Secret Data Interception Act', which you can read about at Parliament's website.

"Powers include telephone tapping, secret surveillance of electronic communications, secret data reading, camera surveillance and room surveillance" is one of the provisions of the law.

The law shall also combined with more surveillance of public space with cameras and AI recognition.

EU laws such as Chat Control, pushed for by Sweden's European Commissioner Ylva Johansson and others, keep reappearing in new variants as an example of the broader international trend where government intrusion into private lives has become ever deeper and the thresholds ever lower for spying on our most personal affairs.

"But the law is only meant to prosecute gang criminals and terrorists, right?"

If history has taught us anything, it is that once the method and technique for exercising power exists, it will never be used sparingly. Quite the contrary!

Therefore, when both the legislation and the technology are in place to eavesdrop on everyone all the time, it should be assumed that this is the case.

Have you heard of Karl Hedin? Previously unpunished and CEO of a large forestry company, Hedin was dramatically arrested by an approaching police helicopter with a heavily armed SWAT team in 2018, after speaking in a normal telephone conversation at the age of 69. Hedin was then placed in solitary confinement for 17 days. The suspected offence was unlawful wolf hunting. This was followed by a series of gross violations of the law over several years. The decision to arrest was based on the fact that Hedin allegedly said "Gråben" when he spoke in the conversation.

The technology to commit privacy offences against the population is becoming more sophisticated, while legislation is becoming more extreme.

According to Sweden's Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer, the number of surveillance cameras will be greatly increased by, among other things, abolishing the existing authorisation requirement for municipalities that exists at the time of writing.

In the UK today, there are around 8 million surveillance cameras, millions of which are highly advanced and linked to AI facial recognition and analytics software.

There are also countless examples today on more and more political persecution. Huge resources are now being devoted by the police to chasing so-called "thought crimes" through the HMF Act and countless people have been convicted, including the elderly who just posted in a comment box or forum somewhere.

Imagine, for example, that you access and read pages that raise issues that are contrary to contemporary consensus - for example, on issues such as immigration, vaccine compulsion, NATO, the EU or GMOs. You may come onto the police's radar, for example, because you are a member of a group on Facebook or just because one of your friends happens to be.

In practice, this could mean that you are then subjected to surveillance using an existing backdoor from your operating system. The technology, the legal support and the will are all in place.

If you have a regular browser or have logged into any social media account, your image is also scanned and you can be easily identified by all the thousands, sorry hundreds of thousands, millions of cameras.

AI for recognition can be based on algorithms that search for specific distinguishing features or clothing - useful for identifying participants in political demonstrations, for example.

 

---

Facts: Secret coercive measures

Telephone tapping (secret interception of electronic communications)
Means the interception of messages transmitted over an electronic communications network. For example, telephone, e-mail, transmission of computer files.

Covert surveillance of electronic communications
Means collecting data on who has spoken on the phone and when the calls took place, but not what was said.

Secret data reading
Involves law enforcement authorities secretly installing software or hardware on a computer, mobile phone or tablet, for example to read messages and listen to calls in encrypted apps before or after they are encrypted. (There is no need to install anything. Ready-made solutions already exists.)

Camera surveillance
Involves monitoring people with cameras, such as remote-controlled TV cameras. It may involve surreptitiously filming a place where the suspect is likely to appear or a place where a crime has been committed.

Interception of communications
"Bugging" means eavesdropping using covert technical equipment. It can involve speeches in private, conversations between others or meetings/negotiations in closed rooms.

---

The situation we find ourselves in is certainly not pleasant, but at the same time, there are solutions for anyone who wants to secure their privacy. But even if you use these solutions, which we'll come back to in more detail in this guide, such as a VPN service, they are easy to break through if you use Windows or Mac. So the first, and most important, step is to switch operating systems - and you don't need to worry about which is best.

What is Linux - and why can't it be monitored?

Linux is, you could say, like the alternative media of technology - often called Alt Tech. It is software created by and for the people, uncontrollable and under constant development by the global pool of computer-savvy and computer-loving people. Because Linux is based on the concept of open source, which is exactly what it sounds like, it is impossible to "sneak in" any spyware as the whole world can freely scrutinise exactly what every one and zero in the source code does.

This is what it looks like when you use Linux.

Join us on a tour! pic.twitter.com/d24GafLrop

- Teuton Systems (@teutonsystems) November 24, 2023

Linux+KDE Plasma gives all the advantages - none of the disadvantages

The first and most versions of Linux, it should be added, look very "programmatic" - but thanks to the KDE Plasma desktop environment, used in Teuton Systems PC systems, has the same simplicity and ease of use as any classic Windows or Mac - combined with all the aforementioned privacy benefits. The start-up time, even for someone with very low computer skills, is almost zero. You simply click your way through folders.

Watch the video to see what it looks like when you use your Teuton computer.

We will return to several topics in the future, including VPN services, encrypted email, browser selection, and other handy applications pre-installed on your customised Teuton computer.

We also offer a position where you from only SEK 1795 can convert your Windows computer to a Linux computer.

Curious to know more? Don't hesitate to give us a call or send us an email.