>>1124279Can't really circumvent surveillance. If it's connected, the NSA will get that sweet sweet data and knows how to decrypt it. Encryption is so easy to circumvent no matter how complicated you make it, and the government twisted arms to make everyone install backdoors anyway. Ultimately you can't compete with the government's ability to fuck with you - though this is all really a show, because Apple et al don't give a shit about your privacy and probably installed shit you haven't even heard of and feed your info to god knows who.
If you want to be safe, keep your shit offline and transfer files through hard media. If I were really worried about someone stealing my data, I'd keep the important shit on a disconnected computer and know the architecture. You can do a lot with older computers if you know how to refurbish them. It's amazing how many people are stumped by computers that are easy for me to use, though that's not going to deter any competent actor who wants your information.
I don't know why you need to believe in inherently good or bad technology. That whole idea is a technocratic myth that has no place in discussing the real situation. Unless the intent of the device is purely malevolent, a computer is just a tool. You could argue that the development of the computer was spurred by a managerial thought that was inherently imperial and obsessed with controlling people, which is why the first business machines were used for scientific management. Ultimately, though, if you have any sense of what a computer actually does, you can figure out what information is being leeched and what's going in, and how you or anyone else would interface with it. That's really important in understanding what the NSA is actually capable of - they can fetch your information but it will take a human agent to make sense of it and send the feds after you.
There's a lot of shit being collected right now that you don't want to think about. Just imagine what's going to happen to all those poor sods who thought their porn addiction was normal…