Hotel Room Spying on You?

In his 2016 interview with Vice in Moscow Edward Snowden pointed out that “in any world capitol where  you’re in a major business hotel, if the hotel rooms aren’t pre-wired for surveillance they can be wired almost immediately”.

This is a disturbing statement that I think we would all like to make him take back so that we don’t have to consider how many times we have been bugged and spied on in a hotel room.  Unfortunately we can’t put that cat back in the bag.  The only thing we can do constructively at this point is deal with it.

Here are 5 tips to avoid being compromised in your hotel room.

1. Do not talk about things you don’t want the world to know in your hotel. (Not just the room…the building)

 

2. The TV is watching you. Just assume that and throw a blanket over the TV.

 

 

3. Do not use the phone in your hotel. This is just common sense.

 

4. Don’t bother looking for bugs. Unless you have advanced equipment or you intend to disassemble everything in the room to find the wires you are wasting time that could be used to get a good night’s sleep.  Unfortunately that’s about all you can use the hotel room for now.

 

 

5. Wi-Fi use in a hotel room at this point would be worse than using the phone. Whatever you say on a telephone only leaves voice information for one-time surveillance.  If you leave your electronics vulnerable, they can be compromised for multiple uses and your trail is hot for as long as you have that item.

This is a terrible thing for us all to deal with, but this is the world we live in.  My final piece of advice is to stay with friends when you can.  It’s much safer.

Here is the Vice interview with Snowden for those interested:

5 Ways to Drone-Proof Your Home

When the framers of the US Constitution created the fourth amendment, they envisioned a world in which a person could be secure and free from unwarranted surveillance in their own home.  Unfortunately as technology has advanced, attorneys and judges have stepped up their game of excluding these rights and creating an open window into the lives of unassuming individuals.

Drones have no place flying into private spaces for the purpose of surveillance any more than a law enforcement officer or private citizen has a place invading a private residence without a warrant.  Yet, no one seems to be stopping these invasions.  The only solution is to protect yourself.

Here are 5 quick ways to Drone-Proof Your Home:

1. Cover any skylights

The days of enjoying the sun’s light coming into your home are unfortunately over.  You will need to either replace your home’s skylight with more roof or place a tarp over it.

2. Get some curtains

Every window in your home needs to be completely covered.  Any cracks leave an opportunity for drone  voyeurs.  If you are low on money, for now, start with your bathroom and bedroom windows and refrain from any intimate activity outside of protected areas in your home.

3. Keep solid doors closed at all times

It is best to make sure the solid part of your door is closed and not just a screen or storm door.  Also cover any glass around your doors that would allow a drone to see through.  This applies to garage doors too.  Close them.

4. Cover your car or any other vulnerable items outside

Drones can also fly through your yard and driveway picking up valuable data by looking inside your cars, trash and other items that should be protected, but are not.

5. Start a neighborhood Watch for Drones

This is probably the best thing you can do.  With lots of sketchy people using drones now it is best to get the whole neighborhood involved.  It’s also a great way to be on good terms with your neighbors.  All should agree to the dangers involved in allowing drones to spy around the neighborhood.  If you meet resistance you can easily show your neighbor some of the horror stories of bathroom/bedroom watchers, and people who stalk children using drones.  Just formulate a plan with your neighborhood residents to track down drones in the area and either call law enforcement (recommended) or destroy the drone causing the problem (not recommended but you will be my hero!!).

Which Countries Have the Least Internet Freedom

This week we received an email from our friends at comparitech.com. They’ve put together research and awesome infographics of privacy in other countries, including internet privacy. There’s some really surprising information here and you should check it out.

https://www.comparitech.com/blog/information-security/cyber-security-statistics/

They’ve pulled together data from 10 different sources to provide a comprehensive picture of not only which countries have the best and worst track record in terms of Internet freedom and cybersecurity but also those countries that are least prepared and most vulnerable.

What Information Can be Found With a Phone Number

When you consider connecting the dots to create a picture, imagine your phone number as the dot that connects everything else they know about you.  Even if they have it all, it is up to you whether or not they have the dot with your phone number to complete the picture.

All it takes to find everything is to just find that phone number connected to one of the many things we already know like your facebook account (which requires a phone number) or any shopping card from a corporate retailer you may have given your number to.  Do you still believe those corporations don’t sell or trade your private information?  Well even if you do, it doesn’t matter because they are all systematically hacked a bare minimum of every 3-5 years.

Any email you get for free is being picked off as we speak.  It doesn’t matter if you gave the provider any phone information or not.  All you have to do is reveal your phone number in the text of an email and boom!! Mission accomplished!!  Free emails mine everything that comes across your screen, including drafts.  Why do you think they always want you to “secure” your email account with a phone number?

If you have connected to an old friend or new business acquaintance by email or social media and given them your phone number in a message it is connecting you to that phone number and that media account.

It’s called the world wide WEB for a reason.  Everything you do is sucked into a giant computer and maintained for profit and micromanagement of the public.  A good researcher can take an unknown phone number and use cell towers to “pair” it with other devices already known to be in your name.  For example: a burner phone (see our article on burner phones https://privacyliving.com/2016/05/17/what-is-a-burner-phone-how-can-it-help-me/ ) can have its owner pegged pretty efficiently when it is continually detected near the same owner’s normal cell phone or other smart device.  This can include cars with smart devices embedded in them.  By detecting an unknown phone continually traveling to the same places and staying at the same address all night along with already known devices it is easy to deduce that you are the owner.

As you can see, being truly anonymous requires some serious work but it is possible.  You can always pick up a copy of “Disappear in 24 Hours” by Lonn E Wolfenstein if you want to do a total makeover.  The book is available at Brave New Books in Austin TX or can be ordered by clicking the products link at the top of this page.

Privacy is officially no longer safe around modern technologies such as smart phones, smart TVs and the like. This is something that we always kind of knew, but it’s now been confirmed in the latest Wikileak.

Via the WikiLeaks press release (courtesy of Naturalnews.com):

Recently, the CIA lost control of the majority of its hacking arsenal including malware, viruses, trojans, weaponized “zero day” exploits, malware remote control systems and associated documentation. This extraordinary collection, which amounts to more than several hundred million lines of code, gives its possessor the entire hacking capacity of the CIA. The archive appears to have been circulated among former U.S. government hackers and contractors in an unauthorized manner, one of whom has provided WikiLeaks with portions of the archive.

“Year Zero” introduces the scope and direction of the CIA’s global covert hacking program, its malware arsenal and dozens of “zero day” weaponized exploits against a wide range of U.S. and European company products, include Apple’s iPhone, Google’s Android and Microsoft’s Windows and even Samsung TVs, which are turned into covert microphones

Read more: http://www.naturalnews.com/2017-03-07-vault-7-bombshell-just-vindicated-every-conspiracy-theorist-the-cia-can-spy-on-anyone-through-tvs-iphones-smart-phones-and-windows-pcs.html

Body Cams Give Cops The Power To Google Everything They See

Scary new technology gives those using body cameras power to google things and so much more. When body camera meets artificial intelligence technology, scary things happen.

Last week, Taser, the stun gun company that has recently become an industry leader in body-mounted cameras, announced the creation of its own in-house artificial intelligence division. The new unit will utilize the company’s acquisition of two AI-focused firms: Dextro, a New York-based computer vision startup, and Misfit, another computer vision company previously owned by the watch manufacturer Fossil. Taser says the newly formed division will develop AI-powered tech specifically aimed at law enforcement, using automation and machine learning algorithms to let cops search for people and objects in video footage captured by on-body camera systems. – Vocativ.com

http://www.vocativ.com/402771/ai-body-cams-cops-google/

Hide Your Cash When Traveling

Today I ran across this excellent video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is7KetXtJIQ

If you are considering a trip to a rough area, which unfortunately includes areas of the USA, you need to watch this.  The guy includes some very simple places to hide your cash from predators.  In many areas around the globe, our contributors have informed us that official corruption is still alive and well.  This means you may actually be hiding your travel money from somebody wearing a uniform or a business suit.  There are all sorts of predators out there, so get prepared.

Military Plan to Take Control of U.S.

Is the US military training new recruits to take over the United States and implement martial law? What used to be conspiracy theory is now coming to fruition as reality.

“Our current and past strategies can no longer hold. We are facing environments that the masters of war never foresaw. We are facing a threat that requires us to redefine doctrine and the force in radically new and different ways. The future army will confront a highly sophisticated urban-centric threat that will require that urban operations become the core requirement for the future land-force. The threat is clear. Our direction remains to be defined. The future is urban.”

-“Megacities: Urban Future, the Emerging Complexity,” a Pentagon training video created by the Army for U.S. Special Operations Command (courtesy of: http://www.zerohedge.com

Apparently the US military is planning for a frightening, dystopic future, along the lines of Mad Max, where urban cities are hellish, crime ridden, gang-controlled areas.

Read more: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-02-14/coming-soon-city-near-you-us-militarys-plan-take-over-america

The Death of Cash is Coming

Governments are always looking out for themselves first, and it’s the same old thing that has been going on for hundreds of years. The Indians recently did the same thing. They withdrew 86 percent of the currency in circulation, and they have now made it illegal to spend more than, I think it’s about $4,000 in any cash transaction. In France you cannot use more than, I think it’s a €1,000,”said Rogers in an interview with MacroVoices Podcast.

We’ve blogged on this topic before, but this issue is ready to boil over at any moment. And the scary part is that one day you will have cash, and the next day you won’t. It may happen overnight, literally! This is a scary thing because our financial privacy is at stake here. No one wants every transaction they make to be tracked and taxed. But thats what the governments of the world are trying to achieve. Total control.

Read more: https://www.rt.com/business/377307-jim-rogers-currency-control-cash/

Our blog: https://privacyliving.com/2016/12/03/the-cash-genocide-has-started/

Your TV is Watching You!

Is your TV watching you?

Vizio, one of the world’s biggest makers of Smart TVs, is paying $2.2 million to settle charges that it collected viewing habits from 11 million devices without the knowledge or consent of the people watching them.

Man-in-the-middle attack on Vizio TVs coughs up owners’ viewing habits

According to a complaint filed Monday by the US Federal Trade Commission, Internet-connected TVs from Vizio contained ACR—short for automated content recognition—software. Without asking for permission, the ACR code captured second-by-second information about the video the TVs displayed. The software collected other personal information and transmitted it, along with the viewing data, to servers controlled by the manufacturer. Vizio then sold the data to unnamed third-parties for purposes of audience measurement, analysis, and tracking.

Read more at arstechnica.com

arstechnica.com