PM's Self Reliance Tools: Americans have zero privacy

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Thursday, August 28, 2014

A Menace to Society

Poor Man Survival

Self Reliance tools for independent minded people…

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A Digest of Urban Survival Resources

ICREACH: The Government’s Searchable Database Of Private Communications

“Men fight for liberty and win it with hard knocks. Their children, brought up easy, let it slip away again, poor fools. And their grandchildren are once more slaves.”―D.H. Lawrence

The scale of illegal government and corporate spying on American citizens is literally beyond reason. America is now inches away from becoming a totalitarian state. Other nations laugh at how stupid citizens have become for tolerating this in view of the fact we used to be known as the land of the free!

And the proof is in the headlines...

· A.P. Scandal Raises Specter of Big Brother — The New Yorker
Freedom of the Press is protected in the U.S. Constitution—but since when has Obama and his left-wing fanatics had any respect for our Constitution? But disrespect is a far cry from out-and-out spying! Shame on the President and his goons!

· Benghazi emails show State Department had heavy hand — Fox News
What really happened in Benghazi—and who's to blame for the deaths of innocent Americans—may never be known! Because those loyal to Obama and Hillary began "massaging" the talking points from the very beginning! If the definition of censorship is suppressing unacceptable parts—Hillary and Obama are guilty as charged!

· In IRS scandal, echoes of Watergate — Washington Post
The last time I was aware that an American president misused the IRS to undermine his political enemies—he was impeached! OBAMAGATE has a familiar ring to it!

· Obama Administration defends massive phone record collection — Reuters
The White House recently confirmed the NSA has been collecting the phone records and web search data of all Americans!

Do you think the president was oblivious to his Administration's acts of spying... censorship... and gross misuse of power and intimidation tactics? NO!

Since I first began warning people about this growing threat to our liberty—and personal privay—the situation has gotten worse—far worse!

Unelected bureaucrats keep escalating the attacks on privacy and civil liberties—without public debate or knowledge and with very little, if any, legislative or judicial oversight.

In addition to their “Big Brother” quest for a free-pass into our private lives, they’ve created loopholes and gaps that thieves can penetrate to do us virtual, physical or financial harm.

In an effort to help dozens of government agencies access the troves of private telecommunications data it scoops up from foreigners and American citizens, the National Security Agency has its own “Google-like” search engine.

New information out from The Intercept — a site dedicated to reporting on NSA activities — reveals that the spy agency’s databases have likely been routinely used by domestic law enforcement agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Your Privacy Has Been Compromised by Your Own Government – and you pay for it!

ICREACH has been accessible to more than 1,000 analysts at 23 U.S. government agencies that perform intelligence work, according to a 2010 memo. A planning document from 2007 lists the DEA, FBI, Central Intelligence Agency, and the Defense Intelligence Agency as core members. Information shared through ICREACH can be used to track people’s movements, map out their networks of associates, help predict future actions, and potentially reveal religious affiliations or political beliefs.

The creation of ICREACH represented a landmark moment in the history of classified U.S. government surveillance, according to the NSA documents.

“The ICREACH team delivered the first-ever wholesale sharing of communications metadata within the U.S. Intelligence Community,” noted a top-secret memo dated December 2007. “This team began over two years ago with a basic concept compelled by the IC’s increasing need for communications metadata and NSA’s ability to collect, process and store vast amounts of communications metadata related to worldwide intelligence targets.”

Until the most recent disclosures, it was unclear how and to what extent the NSA shares the massive amount of data it collects with other agencies. The search tool, described by the NSA as a “one-stop shopping tool,” pulls information stored in several databases authorized by President Ronald Reagan’s Executive Order 12333, which expanded the government’s data-collection authority.

While surveillance is supposed to target only foreign communication networks, domestic communication information can easily be swept up by the government snooping programs.

Again from The Intercept:

To allow government agents to sift through the masses of records on ICREACH, engineers designed a simple “Google-like” search interface. This enabled analysts to run searches against particular “selectors” associated with a person of interest—such as an email address or phone number—and receive a page of results displaying, for instance, a list of phone calls made and received by a suspect over a month-long period. The documents suggest these results can be used reveal the “social network” of the person of interest—in other words, those that they communicate with, such as friends, family, and other associates.

The sharing of information between the NSA and domestic law enforcement agencies all takes place without court oversight.

Read more at The Intercept.

Ultimate Guide to Low Profile Living: 253 Cutting Edge Strategies

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Vehicle To Vehicle Communication Requirements Could Give Government Control Over Personal Travel »
In the not-so-distant-future, American motorists could find the location, direction and speed of their automobiles constantly monitored by government officials as they travel. Recent filings reveal that the Department of Transportation is making the first steps toward requiring "vehicle to vehicle communications." More »

Congress is a Menace to Society

A new Gallup study suggests that in recent elections, disapproval of Congress’ job performance meant higher turnout. Currently, Gallup’s congressional job approval is 13 percent, with 19 percent of registered voters saying members of Congress deserve re-election.

We are a nation in distress…

President Obama, the golfer-in-chief, has seen his approval rating plummet over his inability to resolve much of anything regarding international policy or our domestic economic challenges.

The big question: Why do Americans continually reelect the same politicians into office? Too many in Congress think they should be feeding at the public trough for life (EX: New York’s Chuck Schumer has never had a real job in his life and has never fostered any meaningful legislation yet gets reelected based on what?]

Too many of us are asleep at the wheel and pay zero attention to how Congress has bankrupted our nation while eroding our rights, how Obama would rather be on the golf course while we’re invaded by illegals and terrorists overrun Iraq…if they’ve been in office since the internet was created It is time to get rid of them!

Something to consider: flying the flag upside down is a sign of distress. We should all fly our flag in that manner until we see those lifelong parasites in Congress torn away from the public teat. I realize much of the population has been bamboozled by these con artists but this could be a small, symbolic way to demonstrate our extreme displeasure!

www.PoorManSurvival.com

Yours in freedom,

Bruce ‘the Poor Man’

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Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Prying Eyes Want to Know About You-Tips to Avoid Them

Poor Man Survival

Self Reliance tools for independent minded people…

http://PoorManSurvivor.net

ISSN 2161-5543

"The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly." Buddha

Minimizing Intrusion into Your Financial Life

Politicians and bureaucrats squeal like stuck pigs when you pry into their private lives but have no qualms about screwing you when it comes to privacy.

Here are some updated tips to protect what is left of any privacy you might have in the United States.

Disconnect from the electronic umbilical cord that links your virtual services together. By doing this you make it more difficult for one compromised section of your electronic life to infect the others.

Some options for accomplishing this:

1) Buy prepaid Visa, MasterCard, and American Express GIFT Cards: Just like cash but more convenient for today's digital world.

Using the "real" thing – a debit or credit card – creates a long paper (and electronic) trail that can be picked up and exploited by crooks and other busybodies. These little pieces of plastic act as small portals to your banking accounts. If compromised, it's like throwing a steel nut into the gears of your fine-tuned financial machine.

To lessen this vulnerability and function outside the banking system without sacrificing your access to electronic commerce, the Visa, MasterCard, or American Express prepaid GIFT cards are extremely handy.

Pre-paid cards work just like store gift cards you may have used from Starbucks, Target, or Apple. These are, however, much more practical because they're accepted anywhere Visa, MasterCard, or American Express are accepted – both in stores and online (but not ATMs).

Depending on the gift-card issuer, you could even use them overseas; if this is a concern for you, double-check before buying.

These gift cards are NOT rechargeable. When you initially buy one, you choose the amount to put on the card – anywhere from $20 to $500. If you have an account with KeyBank, you can purchase a MasterCard Gift Card and put up to $2,500 on it.

The cards have expiration dates, but the remaining balance doesn't expire. Before the expiration date, simply call the provider to issue a replacement gift card. Because it's a gift card to give away, you can register the card in any name and address you want. Registration is not required, especially if you only plan to use it in person where you "swipe and sign."

However, registering the card allows you to use it online (and perhaps gas stations) since many online merchants need to verify name and address to process the purchase. Also, if you want to replace the card due to loss or theft, it needs to be registered beforehand. The problem here is, registering the card eliminates some of the privacy advantage of using these cards.

Do not confuse the prepaid Visa, MasterCard,
or American Express GIFT card
with the prepaid debit card.

Although they're both prepaid and can be used with any merchant that accepts these forms of payment, the prepaid debit card is connected to your bank account. Also... the debit card is PREPAID and therefore a credit check is NOT required to get one; but, The un-Patriot Act now requires issuing banks to collect and verify name, address, date of birth, and social security number to issue a prepaid debit card!

In comparison, none of this intrusion is required, needed, or asked for to buy a prepaid GIFT card at the point-of-sale. You simply buy it, use it, and throw it away.

You can pick up a prepaid gift card online, but for more anonymity walk into any chain pharmacy like CVS or Rite-Aid, convenience store such as 7-Eleven, grocer like Krogers, auto clubs like AAA, or department store such as Target or Walmart, and buy it in cash.

2. Prepaid Calling Cards – Keep your calls and contacts private.

It's rude to eavesdrop on someone else's conversation. Unfortunately, bureaucrats feel it's their obligation to protect everyone from everything and the best way to do it is listening to your telephone pillow talk with a loved one. Today, most calling-card traffic is run on separate digital networks outside the traditional telephone networks. The calls are also often encrypted, which gives you a level of privacy and helps ensure call quality.

But, you should be careful using PIN-less calling cards, or reusing or recharging the same calling card over and over again.

Each calling card company has its own data collection and storage policies which could undermine your privacy. Also each calling card has a unique ID number associated with it. "As you made phone calls against that card, they'd get recorded in a database someplace," says privacy expert Richard Ellis Smith. This information could be used to track both the phone number you're calling from and the number you're dialing.

To shrink your exposure and give you some distance from snoops and eavesdroppers, buy disposable prepaid calling cards with cash, or prepaid gift cards. This allows you to unlink your voice communications because new cards are bought to replace old ones when they run out of minutes and in the process different calls are placed through unique calling cards.

You can buy a prepaid calling card anywhere you can pick up a prepaid Visa, MasterCard, or American Express gift card.

3. Prepaid Cell Phones: You don't need to surrender your social security number just to call someone...

You can buy a prepaid cell phone from most electronic stores such as Radio Shack or Best Buy. Even office supply stores like Staples carry them, as do major department stores such as Wal-Mart and Target. From a privacy standpoint these are great products to keep your voice communications and your banking information separate.

No credit check, no social security number, no date of birth, no home address, no employer information, no references, no 2-year contract to tie your hands... nothing intrusive or ridiculous just to get a mobile phone so you can talk with friends, family, and business associates.

You buy the phone just as you'd buy a TV or laptop. To use it, you buy minutes from the same company as the phone. In other words, if you buy a Net10 prepaid cell phone, you must buy Net10 minutes for that phone. A Boost Mobile phone requires Boost Mobile minutes.

The convenience of online banking, shopping through a smartphone, connecting a social security number to phone service, or linking a credit card to online movie or music memberships, exposes you to cyber crooks and snoops. Interconnecting our virtual lives makes it possible for criminals living thousands of miles away to travel down the same data networks to pick our pockets, while unscrupulous bureaucrats sitting in an office across the country can eavesdrop on our daily conversations.

Privacy
New approach to balancing security and privacy

Online identification and authentication keeps transactions secure on the Internet, but this also has implications for your privacy. Disclosing more personal information than needed online when, say, you log in to your bank Web site may simplify the bank’s security at the cost of your privacy. Now, thanks to research by the EU-funded project Attribute-based Credentials for Trust, or ABC4Trust, there is a new approach that keeps systems secure and protects your identity.

Stay updated on privacy matters

http://www.poormansurvival.com/Pages/Privacy.aspx