The beginning of the new year is a great time to reset all of your passcodes and log-ins for key Web sites.
In this Tech Minute, CNET's Kara Tsuboi reports on some tips for creating complicated passwords and ways to store that information to keep it safe
How To Avoid Surveillance
Fingerprint Gel(01 of09)
The Japanese government counter-terrorism practice of fingerprinting foreigners who enter the country may have inspired Doctor Tsutomu Matsumoto to invent "fingerprinting gels", a way of faking fingerprints for scanners.Learn how to make your own here. (credit:AP)
White Noise Generator(02 of09)
Worried someone around you is secretly recording everything you do? No fear! There's a relatively low-tech way to defeat such snoops, via white-noise-producing audio jammers. These tiny devices use white noise to blur the sound picked up by hidden microphones and other surreptitious recording devices. (credit:Flickr: Anonymous9000)
LED-Lined Hat(03 of09)
Hidden cameras got you down? Blind them all with a simple baseball cap lined with infrared LEDs. Amie, a hacker on WonderHowTo, shows the world how to make one, while this German art exhibition lays out how these ingenious devices work. (credit:AP)
Bug Detector(04 of09)
These receivers reveal the telltale electronic crackle of hidden mics and cameras. Strangely enough, they were around long before "surveillance culture" became a common phrase. Today they're sold in all sorts of shops for surveillance paranoids. (credit:Gadget Playground)
Camera Map(05 of09)
Sometimes hiding your face isn't enough; sometimes you don't want to be seen at all. For those days, there's camera maps. The NYC Surveillance Camera Project in the US is currently working to document the location of and working status of every security camera in New York City. A similar project is also in progress in the UK. (credit:AP)
Dazzle Camouflage(06 of09)
Credit to artist Adam Harvey for this one. Inspired by the "dazzle camouflage" used on submarines and warships during World War I, he designed a series of face paint principles meant to fool the facial recognition schemas of security cameras. Check out The Perilous Glamour of Life Under Surveillance for some tips on designing your own camera-fooling face paint. (credit:Adam Harvey)
Throwaway Phones(07 of09)
Disposable mobile phones are more expensive than you think, but they don't require personal information when you sign up. (credit:AP)
RFID-Blocking Wallet(08 of09)
Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) chips are now regularly implanted in passports, ID cards, credit cards and travel papers. These tiny chips make machine-reading your documents easier -- but could also let anyone with the right type of scanner scrape your information and track your whereabouts. Luckily, gadget geeks have come to the rescue again, this time with RFID-blocking wallets. These wallets create a Faraday cage around your items, keeping their data secure until you take them out to be scanned where they're supposed to be scanned. Destroying the chip is simpler: just nuke it in the microwave for five seconds. Of course, whatever you're microwaving might burst into flames first... (credit:AP)
Use Skype(09 of09)
The progress of the government's so-called 'Snooper's Charter' is currently stalled in Parliament, but using Skype may be a way to avoid officials tracking your phone calls. Tech Week Europe suggests that Skype users have less cause to be worried about their data being intercepted. The reasons are pretty technical, and any system is fallible, but it may be worth looking into. (credit:PA)