How would you write a journal/diary with the adversaries being both the people you live with AND your government?
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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...)
Ontop of the various good suggestions already mentioned you could also keep your choice of medium in a safe
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Ontop of the various good suggestions already mentioned you could also keep your choice of medium in a safe
Make sure it's fireproof though.
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So here's the thing.
My country is being taken over by fascists.
Economy is already fucked up before the fascists took control, now the economy is even worse. Cost of living is too high. Moving out is not an option. It's either shitty toxic family, or some random strangers as roommates (I have no friends) in order to split the cost of rent, like it's literally impossible afford to rent alone. People are getting fired all the time, any small issue with income would mean being homeless, and that would guarantee ending up snatched by the gestapo.
There is no choice.
veracrypt then
a hidden volume with at least one backUp ☞ https://www.veracrypt.fr/en/Hidden Volume.html
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I don’t have these legitimate concerns, and I STILL keep stuff like that as thoughts in my head. The only reason I’d journal my thoughts is if I eventually wanted someone to read them.
I keep my journaling for things I actually do in real life that I want to keep track of.
What is the purpose for writing it down? When you know that answer, then you look for the safest way to accomplish that purpose, which probably isn’t a diary.
Some people just process these things better by forcing themselves to put them into words. Journals, for some people are not written to be read, but to be written.
I was like they in high school. Wrote out my thoughts. Lose-leaf paper in my binder with me other school stuff, so they didn't survive more than a few months. But the writing was the point. No-one was ever going to read them, not even me.
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A physical journal written in a secret code
This was my first thought as well. The code doesn't even have to be very secretive to beat most people from figuring it out. Torture would be the only way and it still would have plausible deniability.
So eventually no decipherable, nor understandable decryption easily succeeds. (The previous sentence has a secret message.)
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I don’t have these legitimate concerns, and I STILL keep stuff like that as thoughts in my head. The only reason I’d journal my thoughts is if I eventually wanted someone to read them.
I keep my journaling for things I actually do in real life that I want to keep track of.
What is the purpose for writing it down? When you know that answer, then you look for the safest way to accomplish that purpose, which probably isn’t a diary.
I tried it for a while. Going back and reading it later just made me cringe so I stopped.
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Some people just process these things better by forcing themselves to put them into words. Journals, for some people are not written to be read, but to be written.
I was like they in high school. Wrote out my thoughts. Lose-leaf paper in my binder with me other school stuff, so they didn't survive more than a few months. But the writing was the point. No-one was ever going to read them, not even me.
Then instead of encrypting it, just delete it after it has been written?
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Then instead of encrypting it, just delete it after it has been written?
Unless you have a keylogger installed.
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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...)
Veracrypt hidden volume attached to an air gapped system. Unless someone kicks down the door and grabs you faster than you can click once, no one is getting at, or will realize that data exists.
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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...)
There are no shortage of encryption software in the market, use one, any one, Veracrypt is fine, so is million other software for this.
Use a note taking app like Joplin, Obsidian, though not open source is just as fine. Sync its data folder to the encrypted vault created with encryption software of your choice, and you are good to go
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Unless you have a keylogger installed.
True, but then you have bigger problems than just the journal.
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True, but then you have bigger problems than just the journal.
Agreed, but that was kind of the premise of the discussion, I think.
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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...)
Well, there aren't that many people who can read Gregg shorthand. That's more encoding than encryption though
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There are no shortage of encryption software in the market, use one, any one, Veracrypt is fine, so is million other software for this.
Use a note taking app like Joplin, Obsidian, though not open source is just as fine. Sync its data folder to the encrypted vault created with encryption software of your choice, and you are good to go
Finally my moment to shine with incredibly niche knowledge!
Joplin, while it has the ability to encrypt the sync target (even if it's a local folder synced with syncthing) does decrypt the content in the app data folder. The notes are in an unencrypted database while all attachments just hang out in the attachment folder.
This leaves the content vulnerable if the computer is compromised. But then again, apps that keep stuff encrypted at rest still have to decrypt it to memory - leaving the content vulnerable if the computer is compromised.
️All in all, Joplin is definitively one of the great, more secure note taking apps.
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Veracrypt hidden volume attached to an air gapped system. Unless someone kicks down the door and grabs you faster than you can click once, no one is getting at, or will realize that data exists.
Could even put it on a USB drive, so killing it is as simple as yanking the USB. Hell, if the feds come sniffing, you could just toss that bitch in the microwave.
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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...)
Obsidian stored in Veracrypt. Bonus if you get security keys for veracrypt, either as piv cards or using long passwords only on the key.
Standard notes doesn’t require an email. Just make a private username and password.
Protonmail and mailbox.org support pgp. Protonmail pgp is quantum resistant. Grab a public key and write emails to a free account.
Honestly though, get a fire resistant bag or safe and a notebook. No bit rot. No hacking.
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