Encrypting Phone Storage and Transmission? (2011 Version)

An anonymous reader writes "Soon I'll be moving to one of the hot, culturally restrictive countries which has recently been in the news ... and which monitors and filters web traffic. ISPs and cellular providers are both owned by the government. Needless to say, I'm concerned about privacy and am even posting to my fellow Slashdotters as an anonymous coward. Which smart phones are the best for a) encrypted storage, and b) encrypted transmission? I'm not worried about encrypting SMSs or traditional voice traffic, but I would like all IP traffic as secure as possible. Setting up a server in my less restrictive home country is an option. What storage encryption and transmission encryption would you recommend for that situation? I'm willing to buy yet another device, if necessary. (No, I won't get a SatPhone.) I currently have a Nokia N900 running Maemo5 and another device running Symbian S60v3. I was hoping to have a secure OS like BackTrack running on the N900, but it looks like the software was never totally ported for the device."

consider steganography over cryptology

[smoothnorman]

I'd be most worried about the: "he's using techniques which we can't crack. so he's really up to no good, and we must therefore have him 'pay us a visit'" (cf the usual: http://xkcd.com/538/ [xkcd.com]). So perhaps you should consider communication that doesn't trivially look like communication that's subversive to the powers-that-are? Just something to mull over; because you see, the birds do fly west on a sunny day.

Your best bet ...

[tgd]

Is not to use those services. Generally speaking, if the country is that restrictive, they probably will not take kindly to a foreigner trying to bypass the restrictions.

A good rule of thumb to travel: obey local laws. If you don't like them, don't go there. As a foreigner, you are in a pretty risky spot to try to take matters into your own hand.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Traditional VPN?

[gandhi_2]

Could a constant stream of encrypted data going thru his carrier and ISP bring government attention to him or her?

Will this hot, culturally restrictive government just throw their hands up and say, "well... he's got a VPN... not much we can do"?

Re:Your best bet ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Is there a local law against encryption?

The problem isn't the laws, it's the lack of "the rule of law".

Re:Solution.

[BluBrick]

I am not in a restrictive country, however my phone lines are tapped on a regular basis since i deal with defendants.

Y'know, if the second part of that statement really is true, you might just want to re-think the first.

Could be dangerous ...

[gstoddart]

Before you start trying to figure out how to circumvent being spied upon by the host government, maybe you should look into the possible consequences of this. It may well be that if they find out that you're doing this, things could really turn out bad for you.

It's generally a good idea to try to actually obey the laws of the country you're going to, especially if it's as volatile as you say it is. If you're a foreign national and don't have any sort of diplomatic protections, you could be playing a risky game.

Re:Traditional VPN?

[cayenne8]

I think the best advice would be...to stay as far the fuck away from any middle eastern country to begin with!!

That's just asking for trouble....unless you happen to be someone that wears some form of the various headgear/hats the peoples over there seem to all sport.

Why any sane person from the free part of the world would go over there....especially NOW...is beyond me.

I mean, hell...I'd do just about anything for a dollar..but I'd not risk my life (and head) by going over there for any amount of money.

Re:Traditional VPN?

[jrumney]

Exactly. My advice to someone going to a country like this is to make damn sure you stay under the radar. Be prepared to give up your daily porn habit, your torrenting, and your urge to give your opinion on every political topic under the sun. If this is too much for you, then don't go to countries with oppressive regimes.