DROP DEAD

n the post-Sept. 11 era of the U.S. PATRIOT Act, the level of scrutiny given to electronic communication, by both government and criminals alike, is so intense as to be the butt of cocktail party jokes. The slew of memes, comedy sketches, and sarcastic eye-rolls has all but completely normalized the idea that our various electronic communications are under constant surveillance by one agency or another. (If our NSA handler reads this, we promise all those countersurveillance-related Google searches were for research purposes only.) But when sensitive information is at stake, the jokes get old in a hurry. So how can we counter the various armies of hackers, code-crackers, and digital pirates looking to get their electronic eyes on our data? One way is by looking toward the growing market for IT security. Dozens of new products and services are popping up around the web to help protect your privacy. Everything from antivirus software to professional penetration testers can help you lock down your digital footprint. But there’s another alternative: Take your sensitive messages completely offline and find another way to transmit them. This