14 DAY TRIAL // News about PRISM has circled the world countless times over the past few weeks since Edward Snowden put the spotlight on the illegal spying done by the NSA.
When this information was revealed, there were also a lot of Internet companies based in the United States that had been marked as working with the NSA for several years and providing the intelligence agency with the ability to collect data straight from their servers.
While all these companies have denied any connection to the story, the people’s reaction was swift and many have already started moving from one service to another, just to avoid, for the most part, the ever-seeing eye of the US government.
Google, Apple, Microsoft were all on the list of companies tied to the NSA, so Chrome, Safari and Internet Explorer are not considered to be among the browsers that should be used by those who want to stay under the radar.
Mozilla Firefox remains on the list of trusted alternatives to the aforementioned browsers and it’s the best known name in the list.
Another alternative listed by Prism Break is TOR Browser Bundle, a program that enables users to anonymously browse through the Tor encrypted network.
GNUzilla IceCat is the GNU version of Firefox, a browser that blocks cookies and thus limits your exposure to PRISM.
Another thing you can do to increase your privacy control is install various add-ons. For instance, Adblock Edge blocks advertisements on the web. Disconnect is also helpful since it stops third-party sites from tracking you.
NoScript helps users enable JavaScript, Java and Flash only for sites that are placed on a trust-list and thus prevents exploitation of security vulnerabilities.
Another add-on, called HTTPS Everywhere helps users encrypt all communications from thousands of websites and thus making your browsing more secure.
Keep in mind, however, that while these actions could protect you from PRISM, there are also other means for the NSA to get their hands on your data.