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.
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.
