NSA Leaker Edward Snowden Offers Online Privacy Tips

Edward Snowden has some advice for maintaining online privacy in an age of widespread NSA surveillance. Snowden called Google and Facebook dangerous while praising Apples encryption efforts.

"We're talking about encryption. We're talking about dropping programs that are hostile to privacy, Snowden said inan interview published Saturday by theNew Yorker.For example, Dropbox? Get rid of Dropbox; it doesn't support encryption, it doesn't protect your private files. And use competitors like SpiderOak that do the same exact service, but they protect the content of what you're sharing."

Snowden, the former NSA analyst who revealed the extent of U.S. government surveillance in 2013, did so from a hotel in Hong Kong before leaving for Russia. Having ditched his Hawaii apartment and $122,000 annual salary earlier that summer, he said in the interview he intended only a brief stay in Russia before leaving for Latin America, only to face visa issues that prevented him from leaving. Snowden is now actively sought by the U.S. to face espionage charges.

Dropbox defended itself in a June blog post after Snowden bashed the services security. All of the files its users send and receive are encrypted while traveling between you and our servers and when they are at rest on Dropboxs servers. SpiderOak encrypts data locally on a users computer as well, as opposed to only when it is in transit or in the cloud.

Snowden said Facebook and Google have improved their methods of protecting user privacy but were still dangerous services that should largely be avoided. Ironically, the interview was conducted remotely over Google Hangouts and streamed live on the tech giants YouTube.

Consumers should also be wary of standard text-messaging services from wireless providers, Snowden said. Silent Circle for iPhone and Android and RedPhone, which is currently Android-only, were better replacements because they encrypt texts -- but require that both users install the app to communicate.

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NSA Leaker Edward Snowden Offers Online Privacy Tips