Online Privacy - Methods and suggestions for not getting busted

Hey everyone....

I know that I have seen this topic appear before but I wanted to start a conversation on how to keep your identity and grow information, private and offer suggestions on how to do this. As we all know, we love to grow and are excited about sharing our information, but are we taking all the necessary precautions to keep our information hidden? I don't know and thats why I started this thread....

We all know that the US is opening its arms to Medical Cannabis day by day and more and more states are hoping on board with the compassion. However, in the federal government's eyes, we still are the enemy, the druggies, the dealers, the scum, and they continue to bust us even in states that the people declare legal??!!!

Day by day, more of our online messages, posts, emails and communications are being searched, profiled and stored away, so how do we make sure to keep our noses clean, and stay out of the radar... I would love to hear all of your answers!

I was just thinking about this the other day and wanted to know what everyone does to protect themselves....
I've heard/read horror stories of people being busted because of reflections in their photos and such... Here is what I do.. even though what I do is legal by state law, I still know that because of the federal view of what we do, I still take percautions.

- We all probably know by now that GPS is here to stay, but what many of us don't know is that when you take a photo with a GPS enabled device, the photo snaps a GPS location for the photo and imbeds it on the file. There are free programs out there that can view this information and tell exactly what location the image was taken. Make sure if using a cell phone or other camera device with built in GPS, that this option is turned off. You do not want to be sharing the location photos were taken.

- I personally have read stories about growers getting busted because they posted photos or video that shows their reflection. I always make sure that when taking video/photos that I never include anything that may Identify me.
This includes: face photos, photos of my fingertips/fingerprints, nothing that reflects my face or other identifying features that can be used with facial recognition softwares, no tatoos (these can be databased as well), and no landmark features or identifiable surroundings. Also be sure to never post photos with anything identifiable in the background such as (mail or anything with an address, any personal paperwork highlighting businesses or job info, or other personal information, no stickers saying "I Love "my city"", or anything else showing where I live or hinting towards it.

-I never share my location with anyone, and if someone asks where I am, I generalize by county or area, but never even the specific city or other information that could narrow down my location. Along with this, tell nobody about your grow, this means neighbors, friends, foes, or anyone else. Why jeopordize 5-6 months of hard work just because your are excited....

-Never admit to doing anything illegal, even if you are (you shouldn't be)!!! Do not post how you are going to sell all your buds, or how you are hooking up people, or anything of this nature. This only red flags you as "that dealer" and not a compassionate grower with medical reasoning.

-Always portray your grows, online information or other details as positive. I see so many "pro MMJ" adds that are not respectful in the least. They boast skantly clad women holding buds or advertise as getting high image but not the medical professional image we should be boasting. Now I'm not saying that advertising with sex is wrong cause it does work, and who doesn't like to see good looking people, but since we are in a "iffy" margin of legal law, we should try to promote it as professional and medical as possible. Who is going to get looked at first by law, a shady/seedy looking charactor pushing the "bad image" or one with professional appeal, validity and compassion... keep it clean and you wont be assumed to be bad :)

-If you take photos on your cellphone of your grow, make sure that you have a password protect on your phone. I've heard that if you get pulled over in some states, your phone is "free reign" for the police investigations, if it is unlocked and open to viewing. Make sure to put a password protect on your phone just in case. Even better is those programs that delete your files after the password is incorrectly entered a few times... obviously make sure to back up things on your computer in case, so you don't lose info, but its definitely a worthy note to those that like to keep their pics on their cell phones.






Well these are the steps that I routinely take when posting, sharing my grows online. I would love to hear what others are doing to protect their privacy and such. Am I afraid of being busted, not really because I have the legal paperwork that says my state allows me to do what I am doing, but there still is that "unknown" feeling of what if..... so I choose to make sure to do what I can to stay off the radar.
 
Re: Online Privacy, methods and suggestions for not getting busted..

anyone else?
 
Re: Online Privacy, methods and suggestions for not getting busted..

Excellent points you have made Icemud, I'm in a legal state too....but Feds...well that's a different story.
I read a while back that 420 magazine removes all embedded information on photos when they are uploaded. I would like to be sure that is accurate.
Your point about taking pics with your cell phone is spot on, I have the GPS on my phone turned on because if something happens in an emergency I WANT to be located. So I try not to use my phone for pics to upload anywhere. My phone has a password lock on it, and when someone tries to enter a password it takes a picture of the person and emails it to me. That's an awesome app!

One thing I would like to say is, not just online....but from a personal side...never tell anyone about what you're doing. It's not your friends you have to worry about so much, it's your friends friends...relatives etc. I've been growing for awhile now and even my best friend doesn't know. Best to just keep it to yourself. A lot of people like to "brag"....bragging gets you jail time.
Even if you are a caregiver, never let a patient see your grow or let them know where the grow is. Protect yourself, you don't know who they talk to.
I look forward to seeing what everyone has to say on this important subject!
 
Re: Online Privacy, methods and suggestions for not getting busted..

Great ideas and points everyone!!! I have to look into getting a proxy server set up, definitely a must with all the online privacy issues going on. :)
 
Re: Online Privacy, methods and suggestions for not getting busted..

Well,
big Brother sees all & may know all!
but it is a"HUGE" amount of data & our US laws have to be obeyed , even by them.
I feel you would have to work to draw attention.
that being said.
Infran View 4.25 a free photo program has a simple method where you can check if the gps geoTags are in photo.
open a pic/click on IMAGE/ click INFO/ look to bottom left. (if you loaded all the plug-ins) will see a box labeled EXIF info. click it. towards teh bottom should see a GPS cord set. if so its GeoTagged.

Best safe bet : put in a Flatbed Scanner , scan it & no tags should be seen.
Slag
 
Re: Online Privacy, methods and suggestions for not getting busted..

This is a great thread ice! Thanks.
I like to think a small personal grow in CO is pretty safe from federal persecution and certainly can't be messed with on a state or local level. I still like to hide my location and identity, hell it's the Internet, anyone could be stalking you. Would hate to lead some methed out gangbangers right to my home where my family lives.

I Wonder if 420MAG does erase all imbedded info in pics upon upload. Maybe I can get a MOD to comment?
 
:ciao:

If you follow our guidelines, you should be completely safe posting your photos here.

Our software strips the location information from the photos that are uploaded to our photo gallery.

The manufacturer of our software has stated, “The image processor strips the data, any image created using an image processor will destroy the info."

As one who is concerned about their personal safety, keep in mind the following tips when posting photos: Make sure that there is no identifying information anywhere in the photo, i.e. license plates, papers or labels with names, addresses, or phone numbers on them. Be mindful of objects in the background as well, i.e. mirrors or other things that reveal your identity like prescription bottles or magazine labels.

:thumb:
 
Re: Online Privacy, methods put DISCLAIMER in your Signature

thanks DankD,
for TOR browser tip!
I looked at it, seems good. proably try it out on laptop.
there is a Site in Sweden, for $7 a month can VPN tunnel outta there.
Keeping your IP address as from Sweden. Netural country & all that!

BTW: Putting a disclaimer in your SIGNATURE box seems a simple 1st step.

The TOR browser is a good alternative BTW
 
Use "TOR" for internet browsing about marijuana of going to forums annonimously,its very secure,private and free.EVeryone can download it,should be stickied.
 
I just noticed the other day that when you select a Jpg on a windows 7 machine, right click, and go to the details tab. At the bottom is a link to remove properties and personal information from the file. Hopefully that's helpful to somebody :)
 
You should only take pictures with a standard camera. I.E not one that can upload pictures. before joining any forums or searching any subject manner referring to Marijuana you will need to pre-plan.

1: Buy yourself ( with cash only ) a pre paid or top up phones. from a supermarket is a good place. only top up phone using cash! never via their top up card. Hence the supermarket. hundreds of people in and out per day. plus go along with the wife and top up when in doing the shop. via another check out Obviously.

2: Sign up for a email account. from a free open source. Outlook. Yahoo, Hotmail. ( though I think Outlook have taken over from Hotmail ?) Use only a false name and background. As a security they will want to check so will send you a text to your nice new free phone!

3: Now there is only one thing you need to use. it is the one thing that can not be hacked, or even come close to being hacked by the best brains in the world.
Think of all your triple Alphabet agencies that you have in the US, and all the not so secret Idiots we have here in the UK and all of them together can not break TOR believe me they would love to. Good enough for Snowden good enough for me.

4: Now and only now can you start to search out about your favorite subject. and join some cool forums, however beware most forums including this one make it hard to use their site whilst using TOR but it easy to get around, in fact this is the more tolerant of the forums out there.

5: I have several top up phones, and all are used for different reasons. I.E I only use one to contact my seed seller. just remember every 3 months or so destroy the phone chip and go and buy another. keep the exchange time frame different every time.

6: Remember when using TOR use the " Forbid bla bla " , bla bla obviously stand for what ever site you are on at that time.

I can't believe that some people are on sites like this using their iphone talk about being in the wrong queue when the brains were handed out!

Good luck and have fun.
 
Don't tell and don't smell. If you follow those rules you will be fine. NSA and equivalent operations in other countries will store whatever you post on the internet, but they will not go looking for that pic you just uploaded (that they caught you uploading to 420magazine and then got stored in their data center without your permission) until someone TOLD them to. If you are not a commercial grower then keep your mouths shut, even to the closest of friends. But don't think you can get away with anything if you have made yourself a target. The internet is not anonymous.
 
I know a good video on youtube about doing just this. Some of the info is dated. However, as far as the cell phone concern, as of monday, the police must have a warrant to search your phone, by a Supreme Court unanimous decision.

He was an undercover narcotics officer, who decided that the war on drugs was insane, and switched sides.
 
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