Worried about your online privacy? Download Linux distro Tails 2.10
Donald Trump is US president now, and maybe you are happy about that. More power to you. Some folks, however, are terrified of the man. True, he only just started the job, but he has already declared war on the truth by lying about both inaugural crowd size and voter fraud. He has even publicly attacked the press for doing its job. Heck, Trump's FCC appointee, Ajit Pai, is a known opponent of net neutrality. With all of that said, it can be hard to feel that your privacy will be safe with such a curious administration.
If you are fearful that your online privacy could soon be under attack, you are not helpless. With the help of Linux, you can take steps to safeguard yourself. Edward Snowden famously used the Tails operating system to protect himself, and that could be a very good option for honest citizens looking to protect themselves from "Big Brother." Thankfully, a new version of the Linux distribution, 2.10, is now available for download.
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If you are not familiar with Tails, please know that it is a live operating system. This means it is designed to run from a DVD or flash drive rather than being installed to your computer's main storage drive. In theory -- especially with optical media -- this means there is no data to be left behind. No, this is not just helpful for people that do illegal activities, but also for people -- such as journalists -- feeling they are living under an oppressive government. Even if you have nothing to hide, you should value and secure your activity.
Version 2.10 of the operating system brings many updates, and the Tails team shares the following notable changes.
- Upgrade Tor to 0.2.9.9.
- Upgrade Tor Browser to 6.5.
- Upgrade Linux to 4.8. This should improve the support for newer hardware (graphics, Wi-Fi, etc.)
- Upgrade Icedove to 45.6.0.
- Replace AdBlock Plus with uBlock Origin.
- Configure the APT package manage to use Debian's Onion services.
- Install the AMDGPU display driver. This should improve the support for newer AMD graphics adapters.
- Renamed the Boot Loader Menu entries from "Live" to "Tails", and replaced the confusing "failsafe" wording with "Troubleshooting Mode".
- Add support for exFAT.
- Remove Nyx (previously called arm).
- Rewrite Tor control port filter entirely. Now Tails can safely support OnionShare, the circuit view of Tor Browser, and similar. This also enabled Whonix to replace their own similar piece of software with this one.
Want to download Tails 2.10? You can get it here. If you need assistance with installing it to media and using it, you can follow these instructions.
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