quick thoughts on backup and encryption

Backup
Many folks around the casa carry more wifi-enabled gadgets than undergarments.
If you actually get creative and they're not for consuming only, a backup over internet (or by mailing DVDs to a nomad base, to be all 90ies) is highly recommended.
There're still precious analogue notebooks to loose (sorry to bring this up Robino ;), there's no need this happens to your digital stuff as well.
Speaking of creativity, if yours is wasted on the WWW anyway, make sure you have decent a backup concept for your blog / website / flickr pool instead of relying on a company.
rsync is a wonderful open sauce tool for backups, there are also ready made scripts around available.

Encryption
W/o encryption, your travel buddies or nomad bases might be under investigation too if your squat gets busted.
There is LUKS for full disk encryption with linux or truecrypt as a cross-platform tool.
The later also offers plausible deniability which you might need if you enter a fascist country like GB, where you can be taken into custody for refusing to give your passphrase.
This goes also for email (messaging over fake social networks sucks anyway). While the pigs will still have the names (or at least aliases) of your contacts, you can at least avoid giving them more information.