“The sooner we start to take privacy seriously, the better for all of us,” said online privacy specialist Ralf Schumann.

Government and social media platforms are uniting around the world to censor the public. I caught up with a specialist in online privacy to discuss the rapidly changing nature of digital secrecy.

“Since 9/11 governments encroach more and more on your privacy. It’s getting now to a stage that surveillance happens (on ordinary people) whether you know it or not. There is no judge involvement anymore. They [the State] can access [your data] without a warrant,” said Schumann.

Schumann went on to say that VPNs are no longer providing sufficient protection for the ordinary person when it comes to governments accessing private data without their knowledge.

“We have put together a complete package. The essence is that everything that is important is hosted in Switzerland. The big difference with Switzerland is that any access to your data – to your meta data – to the files and emails you have, has to go through a judge and you have to be notified.”

If data is hosted in America, Australia or the UK – this is not the case.

“As far as privacy is concerned, forget it,” said Schumann, of most countries hosting data.

Schumann's Silver Angels Services (SAS) is a Melbourne based, not-for-profit co-operative service organisation, run mainly by and for mature-aged members with a goal of helping its members navigate the pitfalls of online security.

The security package ‘ZOPRO’ includes an operating system that completely cuts out Microsoft and Google. It is called ‘Zorin’ which runs on a Mac or Windows PC and a Swiss provider called Proton for VPN, emails and file storage.

“If you don’t store anything locally (on your computer), there is nothing for anyone to find.”

The software is marketed toward concerned citizens, political activists and journalists. Rebel News has no commercial interest and is passing on the offer to those interested in bolstering their online security.

If you’re interested, CLICK HERE for more information at the ZOPRO store. Use the promo code REBEL5 for a 5% discount.

“There’s always good intentions, but what follows from there can be quite nasty,” finished Schumann, about the new age of surveillance.