A strange welcome

This is a lifeboat. If you got here on purpose (and not just by some kind of freaky web accident) you are probably desperate. What can I tell you? Not a lot, but probably as much as anyone else can. My greatest hope is that you can tell me something. There's a comment section below. The first thing that's worth knowing, is that the image of a hacker as some kind of nerd in his (yes, it's usually his) bedroom is a complete fallacy. Nerds do exist and they even have conferences and exhibitions where they strut their stuff, at least as much as nerds ever do anything like that. But nerds get no browny points for accessing your home computer. They don't care about you. You are not a target. Nerds want to hack into the computers of defence organisations or corporations. Not you. Most hacking. Probably almost all hacking is practised by governments. Of course, there are criminals out there who may try to plant ransomware on your computer. But if you have enough money to be a target you probably don't need this blog. You can pay for your own IT department or consultancy. Here, of course, it's worth mentioning the criminals who want to get some money out of ordinary people by threatening to expose them wanking while watching internet porn. Most of such threats are nonsense. If you get such a threat and think it is credible go to the police. They will take it seriously. But the best advice is don't watch internet porn and don't whatever you do, do anything in front of your computer screen that you wouldn't want your mother to see. The all seeing computer camera is dangerous and hard to turn off. The good news is that even if the hacker has got video of you doing something horrible, it's extremely unlikely this will ever be spread about because to do so would leave the hacker vulnerable to discovery. First don't do it. Second if you do do it, don't pay. So what is this blog about? It's about governments and government agencies. There's nothing you can do to stop surveillance. Every time you pay a bill with a card or have your teeth x-rayed, the state has dibs on you. Ask Edward Snowden. Google him if you don't know who he is. This blog is about those who are being harassed or abused by the state. Computers today are utterly vital for a normal lifestyle. They are not just desktop boxes; they are TVs, phones and pretty much every kind of domestic equipment you have. All of them can be hacked. Any state allowed to pursue its objectives without any form of public scrutiny, is out of control. There is no effective monitoring of the intelligence services. Only those who have been vetted and are deemed to be insiders, are ever allowed even a glimpse at what is going on. If you think your computer is against you, you may be paranoid, or maybe you have been targetted by this out of control state or most likely both things are true: you are paranoid and they really are out to get you. This is your lifeboat. Hop aboard and together we might be able to find a way to escape the clutches of an over mighty state.