Keeping hand-written notes private...
Hi,
I like to use a personal organiser. The old fashioned type - pen and paper. Filofax is a well known brand. I prefer it over a digital alternative like a tablet or phone for many reasons.
One downside to pen & paper can be security. Anyone who has physical access to my organiser can read it. There's very little of interest to anyone, but I'm a very private person and prefer to keep my thoughts my own. In particular, I am trying to write more these days and so record my thoughts, observations, and ideas. I'd prefer to keep my musings private.
Perhaps this is a bit of a lost art in the digital age, but I'm sure people use to (or still do) employ methods to encrypt their writing. One way to reduce readability to the casual observer is a foreign language (rare one ideally). Unfortunately, I speak common languages and wish to write in English.
An internet search led me to something called 'Elian script'. This looks like an interesting option.
Curious to hear what you all think.
R
I am a member!
I don't use anything that's technically secure, but this is what I do:
TL;DR: I use a complex mixture of several scripts: Shavian, Hebrew/Yiddish, Cyrillic, Arabic, Morse code, formal logic, occult symbols, Devanagari, Runes, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Greek, Esperanto, Ancient Roman, Ancient Egyptian, Ancient Hebrew.
Write most the text in the Shavian alphabet.
If there is an ancient or foreign symbol that abbreviates a concept or idea with fewer pen strokes, use it instead.
If there is a foreign word that is faster to abbreviate, use it instead.
When writing foreign words, prefer languages that use foreign writing systems, and mix them together as much as you can.
If there is a symbol from occult or religious symbolism that conveys the idea quicker, use it.
If there is any other symbol that conveys the idea quicker, use it.
If it's a number, write it in Hebrew numerals, in Hebrew cursive script.
If the number is very important, transliterate the Hebrew number back into the Latin alphabet as a single word.
Keep foreign words in the original language and script.
If you know the etymology of an English word, use the word from the original language, in the original script. For example, write the word 'adobe' using the Ancient Egyptian word for 'adobe', from which the English word is derived. For bonus points, learn the cursive hieratic form to make it quicker to write.
Write Latin words using the regular alphabet, but only in the style used in Ancient Roman handwriting, which is relatively hard for most modern people to read.
In some languages, single letters are whole words. Use these liberally to abbreviate. Examples: Russian "v" for "in", Japanese "to" for "and", Hebrew "le" for "for", Hebrew "mu" for "from", Hebrew "she" for "that, Hebrew "ha" for "the", Arabic "la" for "no" (not one letter, but still a one-stroke ligature of two letters, which is easy to write).
Write German words in old German Suetterlin handwriting, or Yiddish cursive.
If you really need alphabetic English words rather than phonetic Shavian spelling, use a combination of cursive Cyrillic and Yiddish instead. For emphasis and big titles, use Elder Futhark runes.
For more important stuff, draw a picture using Morse code.
If you know some shorthand, use it.
Maybe more, but I cant think right now off the top of my head.
Encrypting your hard drive, USB stick will keep your 'private notes' safe.(that is if you scan your documents)
Without any specific computer skills one can very easily encrypt an USB stick with Gnome-disk-utility (choose to format the drive in ext4/ & encrypt with Luks) this can be achieved in just a few minutes.One does not need to generate an GnuPG key in order to encrypt or decrypt that USB stick or external hard drive.Once formated & encrypted, you can transfer all your 'sensitive data' to it and work from it (drives can fail so having a double as backup is a good choice).
Folders, files (text, pdf, videos) can be encrypted with Nautilus file manager with a right click 'encrypt this file'.(as long as a GnuPG key has been previously generated, there too this can be done with Enigmail, Seahorse-Nautilus or GnuPrivacyAssistant in about just a few minutes).
A very long passphrase *memorable* is recommended (lots of threads here on the forum about that)..
One of the downsides of Nautilus is it will keep an unencrypted copy of the encrypted file (cleanily deleting with 'shred' shell command or Bleachbit is necessary)
Cryptkeeper is no longer considered as trustworthly for sensitive data.
Tools for more advanced users, options & configurations :
--ZuluCrypt mount, create, resize encrypted volumes (available in Trisquel repositaries )
https://mhogomchungu.github.io/zuluCrypt/
+
--Tomb
https://www.dyne.org/software/tomb/
+
https://gnupg.org/documentation/manuals.html
Hoever these above are not the classic method with paper notes, in short
People have used cryptography for thousands of years. For example, the Caesar Cipher, which was used during the time of Julius Caesar, wraps the alphabet from A to Z into a circle. The method employs a fixed shift, say of 3, to transform A to D, B to E, and so on until W to Z, X to A, Y to B, and Z to C.
http://www.cs.utsa.edu/~wagner/laws/pad.html
Before the age of Internet, spies, messengers had to combine all sorts of various methods to protect their messages
https://www.popularwoodworking.com/projects/table-with-hidden-compartments
just saying those words puts a smile on the face of most woodworkers. There is something magical about a secret space that reveals itself to only the person who knows about it. Since the origins of furniture, hidden compartments have been used for storing valuables, documents and other important belongings. With modern safes, security by obscurity is no longer commonplace. Finding it both fun and challenging, designing and building hidden compartments has become my specialty, and I incorporate hiding spots into nearly every piece I make.
I am a member!
This person was talking about hand-to-paper stuff, without the assistance of a computer.
I would have suggested OTP, but it's too time-consuming.
The Caesar cipher from Roman times .BC & hidden compartements in furnitures, as i sugested isn't exactly computer age is it ? :-)
The link above is OTP :
The Laws of Cryptography: Perfect Cryptography: The One-Time Pad
But if i mention encryption of scanned documents it's to encourage this person to protect his sensitive notes, the above ways are at reach of anyone without any particular computer skills.
eDit : ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵌⴰⵆ
I am a translator!
+1 for tomb \o/
keep ur skeletons safe!
I would just use a lock.