A designer named Peng Zhong feels so strongly opposed to PRISM, the NSA's domestic spying program, that he created a site to educate people on how to "opt out" of it.
According to the original report that brought PRISM to public attention, the nine companies that "participate knowingly" with the NSA are Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, and Apple.
Zhong's approach is to replace your workflow with open-source tools that aren't attached to these companies, since they easily stay well off the government's radar.
If you want to drop totally off the map, it'll take quite a commitment. (Are you ready to give up your operating system?)
We've gathered our favorites of the apps Zhong mentioned. If you want to see all these and more, check out his site.
Alternative operating systems
It's nearly certain that you use either Apple's OS X, Google's Chrome OS, or Microsoft's Windows. And guess what? If PRISM works as described, it can access and retrieve system files from your computer.
If you want to make your as invisible as possible, you're better off running an alternative operating system like Debian or GNU.
Alternative web browsers
Tor is a decentralized way to navigate the web without leaving a trail, but you have to be a slightly tech-proficient to configure it correctly. Grab help from a technologically fluent friend or follow a walkthrough online.
If you've chosen to install GNU, you might also use GNUzilla, a GNU-friendly version of the Mozilla software suite (it obviously includes Firefox).
Privacy plugins for your browser
You can use Torbutton to instantly enable Tor, a method of browsing the Web in such a way that you're untrackable.
We also like HTTPS Everywhere, which forces your browser to use HTTPS, a far more secure protocol than HTTP.
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