Kanzeon
- Posts
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- Jun 12, 2019
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So because y'all are awesome, I want to make sure you're protected while you're browsing. Even if growing is legal where you are, there are still all kinds of dangers online. Get your operational security on.
Do you use a VPN? USE A VPN. Not a free one, either. Expressvpn, nordvpn, and protonvpn are all good. VPN's have many important functions including encrypting your phone/computer's traffic over a public wifi network, keeping your IP from tracking your browsing history, and letting one get around content blocking firewalls by simulating your location.
Google and to a lesser extent its "Ok Boomer" relative Yahoo are as great of a danger to the cannabis community as Sam the Snitchman. They aggregate your user data to "optimize" their products, but they're essentially leaving a permanent record of your user data. Google has saved every single thing ever searched on their engine. How many times have emails been shown in court?
If I were ever to do anything that may bring the potential of risk, I wouldn't search anything related to it on google. I wouldn't use chrome as a browser, or stay signed into your gmail account on firefox. I'd create a new gmail account with every new phone so there wasn't a continuous record of one person's browsing and email and location and search and chat history and the pictures that they're all to happy to upload to their cloud. Speaking of which, it's safest to disable that, too. And location history.
Protonmail is a great, free alternative to gmail. It's actually encrypted and private, and works just as well. And it's based outside of US jurisdiction which makes it more difficult to hypothetically subpoena for your info.
Do you use an apple or windows product to buy seeds and browse the farm? Treat that shit like it's got spider mites. Even if it's legal now, there's no saying when the rules are going to be changed again, and then all anyone would need to do is search the targeted ads of users to get an idea of who is doing what. Not that any government has a history of searching legal businesses for illegal weed activity, right? Or just being dicks to weed farmers in general?
Consider a linux derivative as a secondary, more private operating system. Long story short, it's essentially an open source version of apple's underlying OS with some tweaks. It's far safer than windows and slightly safer imo than apple because of the lack of a cloud to hack. I've used Ubuntu for years and would never go back.
So, to sum up:
-USE A VPN
-Keep your info away from google, yahoo, and apple as much as possible
-Don't register for cannabis sites with gmail addresses
-Your phone was made to collect your information and tie it to you as a person
Speaking of your phone, are you using google's messaging app? There's an app called Burner that works beautifully. It does exactly what you'd think, and keeps your texts away from prying eyes. It's like google voice in that it's another phone number that your phone runs on wifi, but with one press of a button the number and call/text history for that number are permanently deleted. Good shit.
Stay safe.
Do you use a VPN? USE A VPN. Not a free one, either. Expressvpn, nordvpn, and protonvpn are all good. VPN's have many important functions including encrypting your phone/computer's traffic over a public wifi network, keeping your IP from tracking your browsing history, and letting one get around content blocking firewalls by simulating your location.
Google and to a lesser extent its "Ok Boomer" relative Yahoo are as great of a danger to the cannabis community as Sam the Snitchman. They aggregate your user data to "optimize" their products, but they're essentially leaving a permanent record of your user data. Google has saved every single thing ever searched on their engine. How many times have emails been shown in court?
If I were ever to do anything that may bring the potential of risk, I wouldn't search anything related to it on google. I wouldn't use chrome as a browser, or stay signed into your gmail account on firefox. I'd create a new gmail account with every new phone so there wasn't a continuous record of one person's browsing and email and location and search and chat history and the pictures that they're all to happy to upload to their cloud. Speaking of which, it's safest to disable that, too. And location history.
Protonmail is a great, free alternative to gmail. It's actually encrypted and private, and works just as well. And it's based outside of US jurisdiction which makes it more difficult to hypothetically subpoena for your info.
Do you use an apple or windows product to buy seeds and browse the farm? Treat that shit like it's got spider mites. Even if it's legal now, there's no saying when the rules are going to be changed again, and then all anyone would need to do is search the targeted ads of users to get an idea of who is doing what. Not that any government has a history of searching legal businesses for illegal weed activity, right? Or just being dicks to weed farmers in general?
Consider a linux derivative as a secondary, more private operating system. Long story short, it's essentially an open source version of apple's underlying OS with some tweaks. It's far safer than windows and slightly safer imo than apple because of the lack of a cloud to hack. I've used Ubuntu for years and would never go back.
So, to sum up:
-USE A VPN
-Keep your info away from google, yahoo, and apple as much as possible
-Don't register for cannabis sites with gmail addresses
-Your phone was made to collect your information and tie it to you as a person
Speaking of your phone, are you using google's messaging app? There's an app called Burner that works beautifully. It does exactly what you'd think, and keeps your texts away from prying eyes. It's like google voice in that it's another phone number that your phone runs on wifi, but with one press of a button the number and call/text history for that number are permanently deleted. Good shit.
Stay safe.