Top 10 technologies to beat tyranny

Last week we had a bit of fun and looked at technologies for budding dictators, but this week we're looking at the other side of the coin: how to stay safe online if your future depends on it.

Every day each of us generates a rapidly expanding amount of data, and that data is mined by companies and governments. In many cases it's used for nothing more irritating than advertising, but for some countries that cloud is also a trail that can be monitored.

In too many of the world's countries we are seeing increasing moves to clamp down on the cheerful anarchy of the internet. China has its infamous Great Firewall, but some, like North Korea, exert total control, allowing a few modems out and carefully monitoring each line.

We have few such pressing problems in the Western world, but here the issue is privacy. Huge legislative battles have been fought in the past over racial and sexual equality and the role of the state, but the spotlight in the coming decade is on privacy - who has the right to know what about you.

So there's a little useful stuff in here for everyone. As ever, if you think we've missed anything, the comments section is below.

Honourable Mention: Hacking
Shaun Nichols: At first we weren't sure how to classify this one. Malware isn't really the right term, neither is spyware. We decided to go ahead and use the label 'hacking' .

Regardless of how you label it, there are times in the battle for freedom when you may need to access a system under, well, less than conventional means. At these times, you may need to use some tools to bypass security protections and authentication components.

That's not to say we're endorsing such activity. Whether your motives are just or not, this sort of thing is considered illegal pretty much everywhere, and people who get caught will undoubtedly face some unpleasant consequences.

There are, however, times when the risk of imprisonment and punishment are worth the potential reward.

Iain Thomson: Is it OK to break the law in a moral cause? Many people who are now great statesman once thought so; Nelson Mandela comes to mind. Sadly, the courts disagree.

As we are seeing in the case of Gary McKinnon, when the US nabs you on terrorism charges for hacking it doesn't mess about. McKinnon isn't a freedom fighter, merely someone with mental problems who thought he was on a quest to unveil the truth about UFOs. He's now facing decades in prison for his activities.

In the wider world, a measure of hacking is a prerequisite for getting open access to the internet at all in some countries. There's also less of a moral question about getting into the systems responsible for their repression, although the penalties are much more severe than McKinnon faces in many cases.

Honourable Mention: Complicit companies
Iain Thomson: This was an unusual last minute entrant, suggested by Shaun in the light of last week's Top 10. While initially I was sceptical, Shaun made his case. Certain companies are beginning to show some guts and say that business in China is about more than money.

This is not long before time. China has an understandable aversion to some aspects of Western culture, believing that, if the British, French and Russians had set up camp in Manhattan for 50 years by force of arms, as Shanghai was, America would be up in arms.

Since Google has come out against censorship, for whatever reasons, other Western companies have also been called on to make a stand. Whether they will or not remains to be seen.

Shaun Nichols: Seeing how Google inspired our top 10 tools for tyranny list, I think it is only fair that we include companies that don't kowtow to oppressive regimes on our list.

It takes a lot of guts to say no to a government when you're a business. If you don't do what you are told, and the people in charge take notice of it, you and your employees are likely to be out of jobs and possibly even behind bars.

If anything good has come out of the rise of multinational corporations, it is that some are becoming less beholden to governments and able to take a stand when something is not right.

China may be a huge economy, but Google has plenty of business elsewhere in the world. If the company does pull out, it will be able to get along just fine.