Snowden advises people concerned about privacy to stay away from Facebook, Google, Dropbox

Washington: NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden suggests that people concerned about their privacy should stay away from popular web services like Facebook, Google and Dropbox.

Snowden conducted a remote interview today as part of the New Yorker Festival, where he was asked a couple of variants on the question of what we can do to protect our privacy, TechCrunch reported.

He said that on an individual level, people should seek out encrypted tools and stop using services that are hostile to privacy. For one thing, he said you should get rid of Dropbox because it doesn't support encryption, and you should consider alternatives like SpiderOak.

However, Snowden made similar comments over the summer, but Dropbox responded that protecting users' information is their top priority.

He also said that people who say 'they have nothing to hide' are inverting the model of responsibility for how rights work.

Snowden also suggested that while Facebook and Google have improved their security, they remain dangerous services that people should avoid

He concluded the interview saying that people should not send unencrypted text messages, but instead use services like RedPhone and Silent Circle.