Personal Encryption 101
A beginner's guide to protecting your messages, masking online movements, and steering clear of digital snoops
July 2018
When You're Done Reading This Issue of Reason, You Might Want to Burn It
We offer how-tos, personal stories, and guides for all kinds of activities that can and do happen right at the borders of legally permissible behavior.
Features
3 Steps to Buy and Store Bitcoins Anonymously
A handful of best practices can go a long way toward shielding your transactions from government spies and other malevolents.
The Great Escape
If you can't avoid getting into trouble, knowing how to get out of handcuffs can't hurt.
Off-Grid Survival for You and Me
A guide to maintaining your own basic power, water, and supplies
Adventures in Home Biohacking with CRISPR
I made antibiotic-resistant E. coli in my kitchen, and the world didn't end.
What to Know Before You Pay for Sex
Tips, tricks, and common sense to make hiring an escort a breeze
How to (Legally) Make Your Own Off-the-Books Handgun
Build a Glock 17 using parts from the internet
Don't Let Uncle Sam Seize Your Salami
Civil import violations carry penalties tied to either the value of the article itself or to the taxes you would have been assessed if you'd declared it.
This Is Not a Pot Pipe
For manufacturers and distributors of drug paraphernalia, criminal liability under state law generally depends on knowledge.
Interview
Ross Ulbricht Is Serving a Double Life Sentence
His mother, Lyn Ulbricht, talks about her son's life in maximum security prison and their Supreme Court hopes for the Silk Road case.
Topics
The President Shouldn't Act as an Arms Dealer to the Saudis
"The business of buying weapons that takes place in the Pentagon is a corrupt business."
In the Future, We Will All Eat Bugs
As long as regulators don't erect pointless hurdles along the way, a future filled with more tasty, crittery culinary choices seems happily inevitable.
Syria Shows Not Much Has Changed Under Trump's Foreign Policy
The cautious prudence the U.S. desperately needed after a decade and a half of shoot-from-the-hip interventionism has been relegated to a talking point.
Before Drug Prohibition, There Was the War on Calico
In 18th century France, wearing the wrong fabric could get you in big trouble.
Is It Legal for Cops to Shoot Unlicensed Dogs?
Pets shouldn't be treated as contraband.
A Little-Noticed Legal Ruling That Is Bad News for Trump
Can the president of the United States be sued for damages in a civil proceeding?
Books
The Insanely Eventful Life of Grateful Dead Lyricist John Perry Barlow
A posthumous memoir from a mutant genius
When the Political Became the Personal, Gay Rights Triumphed
How prosperity, AIDS, and pop culture changed people's minds
1972: The Year That Made 2018 Seem Sane
Richard Nixon's battle with Timothy Leary puts today's culture wars to shame.
Reviews
