How would you write a journal/diary with the adversaries being both the people you live with AND your government?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/41616785

A paper-only journal would defend against the state, but not against people you live with. A digital journal can be encrypted, but an intelligence agency could potentially gain access (like, them reading your anti-government rants that may involve violence... that sort of stuff).

So... how to defend against both threats?

(Also, I just realized, paper journals cannot really be easily backed up...)

8 comments

If you're in this situation, you should keep it in the only truly safe location, your mind.

digitally on an air gapped system. means no network plugged in, ever again, and wireless antennaes physically disconnected. be that a shitty laptop with 1 GB RAM, or something else, but in that case you at least wouldn't even dare to open a web browser.
of course you would need to obtain an OS installer and the packages of the tools first, but that's it. be sure to verify them though (hashes, signatures when available).
if you use veracrypt, you can have a hidden volume. read upon its risks and always keep them in mind. you can even use that feature along with system disk encryption, for a hidden and a cover OS, but afaik system disk encryption is not officially supported for anything other than windows

Use Gpg to encrypt a message and store it in a keepassXc vault entry

Personally, I'm dealing with "the best privacy practice is one you'll actually use" because I used to journal but I don't have the energy any more.
All my journals have been ephemeral so I haven't felt the need for a backup.
You could do the thing where you have an air gapped laptop with an encrypted drive that
automatically wipes if you disconnect from power (just don't use it during power outages?)
has some sort of dead-man's switch so that it deletes if you don't prevent it every day: this is the failsafe for if someone knows about 1) and raids your house and you don't unplug it in the moment, but it's probably not good enough.
IDK that's a tough threat model.
Maybe the best thing would be to delete your journal after you write it.
- Dead man's switch is a good idea. OP should look at the stuff people using Qubes came up with as a dead-man's switch.

If you can't change your living conditions to about living in fear every single day, try writing and then burning it.

LUKS headerless volume

Write it in your own code that only you know the cipher for. All those crypto people still haven't cracked the code for the Voynich manuscript. 🤷🏻‍♂️

8 comments