Threat Model: Parents

[Zenaan Harkness]

On 5/31/15, Gadit Bielman <thetransintransgenic at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi.

For starters, you have to get off of proprietary software (such as
Windows or Mac) - so, for a student, this could be a good exploratory
learning opportunity. This implies some rational conversation with
said parents.

The best advice is to expect no silver bullet - expect to have to
learn a lot if you want some semblance of control over your computing
environment.

Depending on the situation, there could be a USB keyboard logger -
which may or may not be visually detectable by a cursory outside
glance.

Above all, I suggest endeavouring to begin conversations with said
parents, and ideally take an interest in a libre software operating
system - Whonix and Qubes may be a good place to start, but really,
any GNU/Linux or even *BSD OS is a huge step up from all proprietary
software in existence.

Go with a bootable live USB stick, generally faster than a live bootable DVD.

And get comfy with Truecrypt 7.1a for storing all data to create a
persistence layer. This way, as long as the hardware itself is not
compromised (eg USB keylogger), then you will have some semblance of
independence from the hardware, and as a bonus will be able to
trivially carry your computing environment with you wherever you go -
just beware the hardware of course.

A good part of relationships happen in conversations. If at all
possible, settle ones emotions (such as anger and frustration) and
start having real conversations with said parents. Long term, we want
healthy relationships, not life sucking adversarial relationships.

Good luck,
Zenaan