Well, now that we know that the US government is collecting a massive database of any phone calls in AT&T, Verizon, and BellSouth territory, it's time to revisit the world of personal counterintelligence countermeasures (especially since our intrepid site host has noted some "interesting" traffic 'round hereabouts).

Fig. 1: An AFDB profile known as "The Centurion."

Some people swear by the tinfoil hat, sometimes known as the Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie (AFDB).

But beware! (...oremay onyay eethay ipflay...)

According to MIT studies released last year, The AFDB can actually amplify frequencies in the radio spectrum which correspond to bandwidth reserved for such things as government satellite transmissions (between 1.2 Ghz and 1.4 Ghz).

This video (Windows Media required) lays out the methodology and may yield some answers for the curious (a.k.a. paranoid).

If you ask me, the government really started the rumor about passive mind control deflection using the Reynolds Wrap AFDB to unwittingly involve believers -- a group with particularly forceful brainwaves and unrelenting mental rigor -- in an experimental control group.

My sources (unwilling to go on the record, but speaking on condition of extra-double super-secret achy breaky no-mistakey no-tagbacks background) still maintain that the safest refuge from mind control waves is in the basement, preferably of your parents. Those extra-low frequency (ELF) waves have trouble penetrating subterranean locales, and living with your parents just provides an additional "social" cover.

That is, unless you're willing to experiment with active countermeasures, which may not be advisable to discuss in a public forum.

Oh, and here's a good tutorial on PGP. I swear, you really can't be too careful.