Beat the Data Thieves With These Privacy MeasuresBy Ted Baumann Its the early hours of the morning. Youre in bed, but a strange feeling has wakened you. You sense a presence in your house. Cautiously, trying your utmost to be silent, you creep downstairs and peer into the gloom of your living room. A curtain is flapping in the breeze, broken glass sparkling on the moonlit floor. Something of yours a TV, perhaps is gone. Almost everyone who has experienced property crime will tell you that the loss of physical things isnt the real blow. Its the sense that the sanctity of home and hearth has been violated that really hurts. That could be happening to you right now, in the middle of the day, even as you sit alone in your comfortable home because if thieves arent hacking into your house, they can too easily violate your privacy online. Passwords Wont Secure Your Internet Privacy The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) recently surveyed Internet users in 24 countries, and found that64% of respondents are more worried about their privacy since Edward Snowden blew the lid on National Security Agency (NSA) spying. Large numbers of people are updating their passwords more frequently and avoiding websites and software that might put their data at risk. If only that were enough. The CIGI report noted that more than 750 million people around the world have taken steps to improve their privacy since Snowdens revelations but that these steps would make little difference to the NSAs ability to gather data on them or to defy the surveillance techniques of large firms. Indeed, passwords are of little consequence to a determined hacker especially one that isnt hacking into your computer, but rather into the mainframe of a company or government agency with whom you do business, where your password is stored along with millions of others. Strong passwords are essential, of course, and regular changes to them are important. (Indeed, a password manager I use has recently added a feature that can change all of your passwords with one click.) But passwords can only protect you from garden-variety data theft. Theyre like burglar bars on your home important, but once theyre compromised, youre completely exposed. You need more than passwords to be truly secure. Here are three ways to get started on a sound personal privacy strategy: Its Entirely Up to You The U.S. Congress has one again demonstrated its lack of concern for the wishes of the American people by recently endorsing the very government surveillance that Edward Snowden revealed. A provision of the recent omnibus spending bill, inserted quietly at the last minute, stipulates that any nonpublic telephone or electronic communication sent by or among Americans thats intercepted by intelligence agencies can be stored for five years, if it was obtained illegally. With people like Congress looking after your interests, you might think that youre on your own when it comes to protecting your privacy. Essentially you are. In the New Year, however, Im going to become your partner in defeating the data burglars so stay tuned! Ted Baumann is an Offshore and Asset Protection Editor who joined The Sovereign Society in 2013. As an expat who lived in South Africa for 25 years, Ted specializes in asset protection and international migration. He is the editor of Offshore Confidential and Plan B Club. His writing is featured at The Sovereign Investor, where this article first appeared. For more information about how to protect your assets, please visit here. 