Big Brother Watching You, so why not post

[Silent Bob]

I am simply going to keep this short. So you just joined DPF or some other prepper website. You want to be that illusive prepper who doesn't want to share his or her ideas about prepping because you think by doing so, this limits you off the Fed's watch list. You think you are so invisible by being so cute, but think again, everyone has an IP address, the minute you hit the Bing, Google, and Yahoo or any other search engine, presto magico, you are idenfitied. Everything and I mean everyone is watched today.

Google Watching (see forum), is the latest to admit they are gathering data and do you really think you are safe from the big guys tasked with surveillance, well then I have this lovely piece of property you can buy for cheap. It has all the dead space you need to prep away. You are a nobody to them, they aren't going to knock on your door and grab you like some Stormtrooper at night. You say, well crap Silent Bob, if I remain off from posting ****, I reduce my chances...well then you'd better think twice, because you just logged your IP address to a ton of search engines, blog sites, and prepper websites. They have you, so live a bit and quit thinking like your some movie star, if they want you, they know.

So why am I stating this entire post, simply, why be so afraid to not comment on the sites. Unless you've got the money, tech and know how, pretty much those guys that work or are sub-contracted out, already know who you are, your bank accounts, what weapons you have (yeah and don't give me that crap, you have a bunch of weapons that you bought under false names or such and such are off the map). Heck, they even know how much ammo you have and even Walmart knows how many cans of beans you stocked in your pantry.

If your a multi-millionaire, which last gathering, I don't think most of are not, then its fatalistic to think that the simple steps you adopted are going to make you immune to a determined effort by agencies. Millionaires might have the ability to drop off the face of the earth, granted it also require some serious cash to be spent, but doable. Last time I checked did a simple screen on myself, I glowed light a candlestick and that include my driver license. Oh yeah, unless your breaking the law..they got you there too. So take a chance and place your god given brains to expressing yourself, better to ask and receive, rather than live in darkness of ignorance.

Good preps to you all.

 

[jimLE]

great post.and im in total agreement.and as the saying goes,can't hide from the big brother..

 

[Maverick]

Good post Bob! Though the I.P. address isn't precise unless one goes a step further for trace back that generally requires the help of the carrier or federal intercepts, as an example on this site and all sites I visit shows my I.P. as being in Portland Oregon I never viewed my online activities as private nor am I under the illusion that pictures and post are truly deleted, it has been hammered into me nothing really gets deleted from the internet, google also caches sites as illustrated below (notice the drop down arrow)

So even if you delete something, it's still there by going back in time, there is a website you can enter a dead URL and this website will bring back the dead website Remember that, everything is cached!

 

[Silent Earth]

I look at it this way in big countries like the US / UK providing your not advocating terrorism or insurgency against the state chances are with all thats bad going on in the world they are not going to be bothered about preppers, UNLESS YOU PROVOKE THEM. Primarily because we are no threat to them, and we save them money because preppers tend to help their communities in crisis's saving the feds from having doing to do the job. Unless you are South American gangs, Drug Dealing biker gangs, Islamic Terrorists, Extremist Fundamentalist other Religions, ordinary criminals etc we are not going to feature highly on their radar..............UNLESS we give them CAUSE.

In the UK having a gun licences earns you a flag on the police Data Systems that could possibly be a risk if the state decides it wants to seize guns during a national crisis. Same with Ham Radio Licences but obviously to a vastly much lesser degree. In WW2 and WW1 the state raiding and seized amateur radio gear in case it was used by enemies of the state.

However the US and UK are very different critters when it comes to rights and liberties BUT ( another caveat) lets just consider for some mad, bad or stupid reason ( over due library books, unpaid parking fines, breach of ham licence, misuse of fire arms, getting too mouthy to your senator) that the authorities come to your door, " Right Mr Smith we are her to seize your GUNS/ PORN/ CANNABIS PLANTS/ NONE NATIVE PET FISH/ RADIO GEAR/ DIY THERMONUCLEAR DEVICE etc )"

So whilst they are checking your guns to see if they are illegal, stolen, unregistered, used in other crimes etc they stumble upon all of your expensive and precious survival gear ????? No they may not take it THEN, but at some future days ( next H Katrina / Long Drought / 911, Natural disaster) they MAY decide all that food, water, clothes, med supplies, tools, ammo, RADIO GEAR / GUNS etc would would be better off being redistributed to the poor and needy in the next county (History shows us that Poor and Needy usually means the cops back pockets).

Heck most of us if we are honest about it are just armed boy scouts who want to be self reliant and look after our own people, we aint fighting Zombies or North Koreans we are fighting unemployment and bad luck.

I think being PRUDENT online and posting WISELY if critically online is no problem, but if you sign up to a radical extremist forum Posse Commitatus, KKK, Isil etc you probably will crop up on their radar and so you should.

 

[Silent Earth]

Typos !

 

[Maverick]

Preppers by in large are not a problem, it only becomes a problem when someone displays the cache of firearms and display a total lack respect to the government and to a degree Law Enforcement in other words openly becoming militant in the approach. The Internet is no place to show off ones arsenal! The Rambo display and talk would get one on the watch list faster than anything. Generally I tell people prepping frees up first responders to attend to the most serious! Prepping is survivability NOT a fools death.

 

[Silent Earth]

Preppers by in large are not a problem, it only becomes a problem when someone displays the cache of firearms and display a total lack respect to the government and to a degree Law Enforcement in other words openly becoming militant in the approach. The Internet is no place to show off ones arsenal! The Rambo display and talk would get one on the watch list faster than anything. Generally I tell people prepping frees up first responders to attend to the most serious! Prepping is survivability NOT a fools death.

like some of those idiots that featured on the TV series DOOMSDAY PREPPERS.

 

[jontte]

hey,SE,that was entertainment and sometimes comedy too,we need that
and educational; do not do like that...and you're good.

 

[James_Johnson]

I'm interested in electronic/internet privacy. I disagree with anyone that thinks that simply being a "prepper" keeps you off the radar. The government is interested in anyone outside the norm. The first thing to understand is that you probably don't know what they know, and what they don't know. Most people when they step outside the conventional wisdom of the sheep reflexively fill the areas where they feel there should be answers with answers that "feel right". But that doesn't make them right.

So the IP Address thing isn't that big of a deal. I read the charging documents the FBI filed against a guy that emailed threats to bomb a school, and when confronted with the "high-tech" of the VPN (Virtual Private Network), the FBI agent went "low-tech" and connected the dots between the suspect and the emailed bomb threat. In short, the VPN is an effective block, even for the FBI, but it's not the whole solution.

I hesitate to talk about what I actually do know, because there are so many people that think they know, and have believed that they know things for so long, that when you tell them what the REAL answer is, the first thing they want to do is call you (me) stupid. I repair computers professionally, and I am regularly told online (by people who are wrong) that I don't know what I'm talking about. It's like arguing with a guy that has made rebuilding Ford Mustangs a hobby for decades, about Ford Mustangs, because you read something that someone (who didn't know anything) said once, on the internet, years ago, and you believed it (for years) and you've been wrong (for years) and then some new guy shows up and tells you that you've been wrong for years.

Well, that doesn't always go very well. So I try to tread lightly.

Anyways, if anyone is interested, that's a skill/expertise I have. Also electronics repair and some radio fundamentals. Although I'm not HAM, but am interested. I did radio repair in the USMC, back in the day. Now I fix computers, and electronic equipment. Seems to me that "preppers" should be pretty amenable to trading.

So, having said all that (in an attempt at establishing some credibility), here's something that many people never think about, that is actually much more important to internet privacy than the IP Address.

https://panopticlick.eff.org/

So, in order to "render" (create) a web page, your browser has to communicate with the sites that are sending the data to your computer. That site (actually, it's usually multiple sites for a single web page) needs to know all sorts of information such as what browser you are using, what plugins you have installed, what fonts you have installed, etc... It helps with the "rendering" of the page. (Note that word, it's important.)

Someone discovered that there is SO MUCH information being sent about your browser and it's capabilities that each browsers "information profile" could be rare, and even unique. And so, if a website kept a record of your browser's "fingerprint", that website would know if you had been there before. And, if it shared that "fingerprint" with another website, the information about you in the 1st website could be shared with the 2nd website, i.e. what pages you browsed, things you might have been interested in, etc... Even though they don't know your name, they still could tell it was the same computer. Even if the IP Address was different. The browser fingerprint is exactly the same. Or, even if it wasn't "unique" it would be one in a million, or one in ten million. Close enough to being unique that common sense says that it's probably the same person, or at least the same computer.

So, then I had the idea that a browser could automatically change the fingerprint of the browser. Not in any substantive way (example telling a website it's Chrome, when it's really Firefox) but instead it could tell one site that it had "Chinese Language, Simplified" font installed and the next website it could claim that it was not.

Why.

Because computers are stupid. Look at these two strings of characters:

4JEw8EA5HK9Lsw3D
4JEw8EA6HK9Lsw3D

While you and I (and every other human) might look at those two strings of characters and say that they were either exactly alike, or ALMOST exactly alike, a computer cannot, and does not see things that way. That difference between the "5" of the first line and the "6" of the second line is as different to a computer as night is to day. Humans can sift through a bunch of data and find patterns that seem obvious, but unless the computer is specifically programmed to look for strings that are almost identical, it will not see them as similar.

To the computer, the first two strings are as different as these two:

4JEw8EA5HK9Lsw3D
AJ8G9Y0VLN5lHoRU

What this has to do with a browser fingerprint:

By simply telling website A that you DO have chinese language font installed, and telling website B that you do NOT, as far as the two websites are concerned, your browser fingerprints are as different as the 2nd two sets of characters. Changing one single factor in the string changes the entirety of the string. End result: No browser fingerprint continuity from website to website. Touch your car door with one set of fingerprints, touch your front door with a different set of fingerprints, and when you turn on the light switch, you have a different set of fingerprints.

I called it a "browser fingerprint rotator", and proposed it to the developers at Pale Moon browser's website. (Pale Moon is a slimmed-down version of Mozilla. If you like Mozilla and hate the bloat, huge memory hogging, slowness, bugginess, crashing and the overload of unnecessary "bells and whistles", then you might prefer Pale Moon to Mozilla/Firefox.) They kind of poo-poo'd the idea when I first proposed it, and then a month later came out with a plugin that changes your fingerprint from site to site.

So, long story short, there is no pre-made solution to browser anonymity, or internet privacy. I tried to join Electronic Frontier Foundation (electronic rights organization) and all they wanted to do was send me slick "please send us money" spam emails. They don't even have a forum, where people who have an interest in electronic rights and privacy rights can meet and share information, like browser fingerprinting.

And, as long as I'm a roll, I'm also interested in being able to use HAM radios to send encrypted data transmissions. When I was in the USMC, there was talk about "someday" being able to send things like FAX over military radio channels, but that was 30 years ago. I assume technology has evolved to the point that, for example, if I want to send a picture of a guy to another guy over HAM radio, but I don't want anyone else to see the picture, I wonder if it can be done. I read a few things last night that indicated that encrypted HAM traffic was illegal, which is fine when the government has a gun in one hand and it's other hand in your pocket, but in crisis situations I'd like to be able to send tactical information to friendlies without having hostiles being able to listen in. I read the 1st hand account from the guy that survived Bosnia. Liked the part about selling the service of refilling Bic lighters with LP gas.

 

[jontte]

so if you operate on firefox,you should be able to do so on pale moon too?? yup.I'm what the younger ones call tech-imapared

 

[jontte]

don't the USMC use some pretty high-tech stuff among their sniper units that able them to send photos,live feed and written stuff already?

 

[Maverick]

Years ago HF RTTY was common from weather to news to Military, the Military would encrypt the RTTY

 

[FLPrepper]

We all need to accept that we are on the FBI's radar just by using words such as prepper, off grid, firearms, etc. particularly when used in conjunction with one another. Trying to avoid oversight by the feds is a lost cause.

 

[Maverick]

It's extremely counter intuitive and oxymoronic to want to be left alone but in the same breath expressing one's hatred for the federal government while showing one's cache of weapons, tactics while wearing tactical clothing, so what part of 'wanting to be left alone' isn't understood? All I will say real smart kudos! one just gave the perceived enemy a lot of information... brilliant

 

[James_Johnson]

so if you operate on firefox,you should be able to do so on pale moon too?? yup.I'm what the younger ones call tech-imapared

Yes, Pale Moon is Firefox "under the hood". As I understand the history, a Firefox developer got tired of the bloat and memory hogging of Firefox so he took what was good about it and cut-out all the fat. I've been using it for over a year and I've never had much trouble. Every once in a while there is an add-on that complains about Pale Moon being "outdated" but never anything serious. The developers at Pale Moon do a really good job of keeping the compatibility between Pale Moon and the Firefox addons current.

I wouldn't recommend anyone, particularly someone who is "tech challenged" from changing from Firefox without a good reason. If you hate Firefox, Pale Moon is a good alternative. I like Chrome too. I can work with Internet Explorer; I just hate Microsoft. One advantage of Pale Moon over Chrome is that Chrome has NO support at all, so if you have a problem with Chrome you can ask your question on the Google Product Forums but your chances of getting informed help is about 20%. Most of the people on GPF know less than the people asking the questions, but they are dangerous because they give answers with the self-assurance and confidence in their expertise that only the truly stupid can have.

On the other hand, Pale Moon has an active forum filled with people that really know things, and the developer of Pale Moon (you could call him the "programmer") will respond to your question personally if someone else doesn't answer it first. You talk directly to "The Guy" which is highly valuable and very rare.

https://forum.palemoon.org/

 

[alabaster]

I'm interested in electronic/internet privacy. I disagree with anyone that thinks that simply being a "prepper" keeps you off the radar. The government is interested in anyone outside the norm. The first thing to understand is that you probably don't know what they know, and what they don't know. Most people when they step outside the conventional wisdom of the sheep reflexively fill the areas where they feel there should be answers with answers that "feel right". But that doesn't make them right.

So the IP Address thing isn't that big of a deal. I read the charging documents the FBI filed against a guy that emailed threats to bomb a school, and when confronted with the "high-tech" of the VPN (Virtual Private Network), the FBI agent went "low-tech" and connected the dots between the suspect and the emailed bomb threat. In short, the VPN is an effective block, even for the FBI, but it's not the whole solution.

I hesitate to talk about what I actually do know, because there are so many people that think they know, and have believed that they know things for so long, that when you tell them what the REAL answer is, the first thing they want to do is call you (me) stupid. I repair computers professionally, and I am regularly told online (by people who are wrong) that I don't know what I'm talking about. It's like arguing with a guy that has made rebuilding Ford Mustangs a hobby for decades, about Ford Mustangs, because you read something that someone (who didn't know anything) said once, on the internet, years ago, and you believed it (for years) and you've been wrong (for years) and then some new guy shows up and tells you that you've been wrong for years.

Well, that doesn't always go very well. So I try to tread lightly.

Anyways, if anyone is interested, that's a skill/expertise I have. Also electronics repair and some radio fundamentals. Although I'm not HAM, but am interested. I did radio repair in the USMC, back in the day. Now I fix computers, and electronic equipment. Seems to me that "preppers" should be pretty amenable to trading.

So, having said all that (in an attempt at establishing some credibility), here's something that many people never think about, that is actually much more important to internet privacy than the IP Address.

https://panopticlick.eff.org/

So, in order to "render" (create) a web page, your browser has to communicate with the sites that are sending the data to your computer. That site (actually, it's usually multiple sites for a single web page) needs to know all sorts of information such as what browser you are using, what plugins you have installed, what fonts you have installed, etc... It helps with the "rendering" of the page. (Note that word, it's important.)

Someone discovered that there is SO MUCH information being sent about your browser and it's capabilities that each browsers "information profile" could be rare, and even unique. And so, if a website kept a record of your browser's "fingerprint", that website would know if you had been there before. And, if it shared that "fingerprint" with another website, the information about you in the 1st website could be shared with the 2nd website, i.e. what pages you browsed, things you might have been interested in, etc... Even though they don't know your name, they still could tell it was the same computer. Even if the IP Address was different. The browser fingerprint is exactly the same. Or, even if it wasn't "unique" it would be one in a million, or one in ten million. Close enough to being unique that common sense says that it's probably the same person, or at least the same computer.

So, then I had the idea that a browser could automatically change the fingerprint of the browser. Not in any substantive way (example telling a website it's Chrome, when it's really Firefox) but instead it could tell one site that it had "Chinese Language, Simplified" font installed and the next website it could claim that it was not.

Why.

Because computers are stupid. Look at these two strings of characters:

4JEw8EA5HK9Lsw3D
4JEw8EA6HK9Lsw3D

While you and I (and every other human) might look at those two strings of characters and say that they were either exactly alike, or ALMOST exactly alike, a computer cannot, and does not see things that way. That difference between the "5" of the first line and the "6" of the second line is as different to a computer as night is to day. Humans can sift through a bunch of data and find patterns that seem obvious, but unless the computer is specifically programmed to look for strings that are almost identical, it will not see them as similar.

To the computer, the first two strings are as different as these two:

4JEw8EA5HK9Lsw3D
AJ8G9Y0VLN5lHoRU

What this has to do with a browser fingerprint:

By simply telling website A that you DO have chinese language font installed, and telling website B that you do NOT, as far as the two websites are concerned, your browser fingerprints are as different as the 2nd two sets of characters. Changing one single factor in the string changes the entirety of the string. End result: No browser fingerprint continuity from website to website. Touch your car door with one set of fingerprints, touch your front door with a different set of fingerprints, and when you turn on the light switch, you have a different set of fingerprints.

I called it a "browser fingerprint rotator", and proposed it to the developers at Pale Moon browser's website. (Pale Moon is a slimmed-down version of Mozilla. If you like Mozilla and hate the bloat, huge memory hogging, slowness, bugginess, crashing and the overload of unnecessary "bells and whistles", then you might prefer Pale Moon to Mozilla/Firefox.) They kind of poo-poo'd the idea when I first proposed it, and then a month later came out with a plugin that changes your fingerprint from site to site.

So, long story short, there is no pre-made solution to browser anonymity, or internet privacy. I tried to join Electronic Frontier Foundation (electronic rights organization) and all they wanted to do was send me slick "please send us money" spam emails. They don't even have a forum, where people who have an interest in electronic rights and privacy rights can meet and share information, like browser fingerprinting.

And, as long as I'm a roll, I'm also interested in being able to use HAM radios to send encrypted data transmissions. When I was in the USMC, there was talk about "someday" being able to send things like FAX over military radio channels, but that was 30 years ago. I assume technology has evolved to the point that, for example, if I want to send a picture of a guy to another guy over HAM radio, but I don't want anyone else to see the picture, I wonder if it can be done. I read a few things last night that indicated that encrypted HAM traffic was illegal, which is fine when the government has a gun in one hand and it's other hand in your pocket, but in crisis situations I'd like to be able to send tactical information to friendlies without having hostiles being able to listen in. I read the 1st hand account from the guy that survived Bosnia. Liked the part about selling the service of refilling Bic lighters with LP gas.

Hugely interesting post. Thanks for the data. Keep us posted on how the Browser fingerprint rotator goes. While they might not have wanted to support it, I guarantee there are Anonymous members and the like that are/would think along those ideas. I wouldn't have the foggiest idea about how to go about creating something like that, though. I'm pretty tech-ignorant.