Help Me Lower My Digital Profile: Beginners Edition, by vyt1az

Originally posted on Vyt1az’s new blog. -NCS

Phase 1: Begin the “leftist drift”

I get a lot of questions from friends and family about avoiding or subverting digital surveillance. Some folks have gone as far as having a VPN, but that’s about it. Some don’t even have that and only use a standard Windows box. This is an attempt at broadly explaining to that audience how to improve one’s “digital profile.”
Think of yourself as an actor in a play:
“Former hard core right wing gun guy has started becoming more concerned about the new Delta COVID variant. Reading more articles has caused him to question being a Republican because they don’t care about all the people dying. He’s slowing “losing his religion” and is becoming more and more ashamed of his past affiliations with a racist privileged political party. So is his wife.
What would this kind of person do online?

  1. Do nothing drastic to start so it doesn’t show up as a life event on any analytics platforms that consume your metadata
  2. Start lightly browsing moderate-left websites every once in a while but increasingly over time. Pretend you’re lefty-curious, push the browsing habits further left over time.
  3. Slowly start unsubscribing from any right-leaning newsletters that are attached to any “surveillance” emails systems gmail, yahoo, etc., while simultaneously subscribing to Biden’s official list, maybe eventually add BLMs or the Sunrise movement. The John Brown Gun Club is always a good one to join (eventually) if you’re into guns and want to keep purchasing them.
  4. The fake “leftist drift” works even better if some of your internet traffic isn’t over the VPN. I.e. your home ISP or cell phone. Yes really. You’re trying to give them easy data. Humans are lazy. Give them a fake picture of who you’re becoming. Don’t like all the lefty shit on Amazon Prime? No problem. Stream it while doing chores around the house and just cut the volume down. You don’t have to like the content, you’re painting a picture for their analytics system. This can be done with YouTube or any other streaming platform.
  5. Permitted it doesn’t scandalize family or trusted friends that you can’t talk to in person, you can do the same “leftist drift” on social media. Otherwise, just unsubscribe from the various right-leaning groups and slowly reduce your browsing until you “lose interest” and never log in again. Many lefties actually hate Facebook also believe it or not.
  6. If you and your spouse are on the same page, start texting each other articles with increasing levels of anger I.e.
    “What do you think about Gaetz? [[link_to_critical_cnn_article]]”
    “I can’t freaking beleive this! [[link_to_wapo]]”

Phase 2: Subverting data collection

Once you’ve started Phase 1 above, you can start Phase 2. They can be done in order or simultaneously.
I’m not personally a big fan on getting rid of your phone or getting rid of your “normal” digital profile. I’m also not a big fan of getting rid of other digital systems like Windows, even if they are compromised and you’re moving to Linux. Those systems can be be used to keep normal patterns of life while you add new ones with more privacy.

  1. Keep your normal phone and just keep up the “leftist drift” strategy in terms of browsing. Only use your phone for doing “normal” life events that anyone would expect to see on your phone. I.e. Price comparisons when grocery shopping, going to your normal retail stores for normal purchase.
  2. Start randomly cutting off your phone during certain times. You can always text your wife that you need a “digital detox.” Lefties do this also. You’re leaving a digital trail with cover for action by sending that text. This eventually becomes a normal pattern of life for your phone signal to go dead on occasion. If you want the security of knowing you can make a call with your phone in an emergency, just turn it off and keep it in a faraday container so it can’t dial out unless you really need it.
  3. Once you’ve established a normal life pattern of shutting off your phone, you can start cutting it off any time you need to go to a training class or want to go buy some controversial items at the local gun shop. Obviously at this point, you need to buy with cash and do all the extras regarding facial recognition or plate scanning.
  4. Start adding in a VPN. VPNs are extremely popular with everyone these days. In my opinion you can even keep your old cheap VPN even if it’s not trustworthy permitted it uses vetted software like OpenVPN or Wireguard. After all, it’s good practice to use a VPN on a phone when traveling and you can feed that some garbage data about your lefty browsing habits anyway.
  5. Start using Linux for basic web browsing. There’s absolutely nothing weird about Linux. Tons of people use it these days. You can even hook up a less trustworthy VPN as the outer VPN connection on your Linux box. Some people don’t like this but really, your ISP logs all your connections to this outer VPN, so it’s not like they don’t know you’re using it even if you did pay for it in cash. There’s no point trying to hide it as they know you’re using it.
  6. Start piping Tor over your outer VPN. The Tor browser has a lot of built-in protections against tracking and obviously uses the Tor network. This isn’t perfect but let’s say you don’t trust your VPN fully; they’d still to have to deal with sifting or analyzing Tor data over that VPN connection.

Remember that whatever you do on a “raw” ISP connection should be compartmentalized to that connection. Whatever is done on your VPN connection should only be compartmentalized to that connection. Whatever is done on your Tor Browser connection should only be compartmentalized to Tor.
Don’t mix them. Make sure Tor is only used inside of your outer VPN connection. It matters. Tor looks a whole lot worse when running over a home ISP connection without going through a VPN. Your ISP can and likely will report Tor usage used over a simple home internet connection.
There are a lot of other things we could cover but this should be a decent “beginners” version. Notice the term “outer VPN.”
An intermediate or advanced user may want to start using two VPNs. The outer one is the one your ISP already knows about so no need to be too secretive about it. Just pay for it with your normal credit card. “They” know you use it. A second VPN bought anonymously can be used to run through the first. Again, that’s an intermediate or advanced technique.
For now Starting the “leftist drift” and using a VPN with Tor on Linux can make a big difference.

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About the Author: NC Scout

NC Scout is the nom de guerre of a former Infantry Scout and Sergeant in one of the Army’s best Reconnaissance Units. He has combat tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He teaches a series of courses focusing on small unit skills rarely if ever taught anywhere else in the prepping and survival field, including his RTO Course which focuses on small unit communications. In his free time he is an avid hunter, bushcrafter, writer, long range shooter, prepper, amateur radio operator and Libertarian activist. He can be contacted at [email protected] or via his blog at brushbeater.wordpress.com .

40 Comments

  1. […] Help Me Lower My Digital Profile: Beginners Edition, by vyt1az — American Partisan […]

  2. Anonymous July 22, 2021 at 07:55

    3

  3. Retired July 22, 2021 at 09:19

    My question to Rob Braxman on You Tube (Freedom Phone vs his phone) was the government already has data about We The Traditional People so how does going to one of these options give us peace of mind and security? But he didn’t answer. This article may answer that but maybe not if their data collection has already been used to identify so called threats. My question obviously implies a certain lack of knowledge about how they have handled existing data and whether or not it triggers red flags that have already been used to classify real people and their names, or whether or not the data is just being stored and later when an individual individual becomes a higher priority due to some trigger that then requires the Stasi to probe into that individuals data file.

  4. kevinH July 22, 2021 at 10:19

    my question is when visiting the left leaning sites, does time spent matter, or is just clicking into the site or article sufficient?

    • NC Scout July 22, 2021 at 10:33

      No, that’s not how it works. Time spent there is irrelevant. The fact that one IP address landed on it makes the association.
      This is why I laugh when people tell me “all I do is just look at Gab, I don’t have an account.”

      • kevinH July 22, 2021 at 10:37

        Excellent. Thanks for the quick response. And FYI, I proudly have an acct on Gab and use it almost daily.

      • Tom July 22, 2021 at 11:30

        What’s wrong with Gab?

        • NC Scout July 22, 2021 at 11:36

          Its a social mapping tool on the back end.
          Literally follow the link I posted in the reply. If you don’t understand how social media data is weaponized, refrain from commenting.

          • Tom July 22, 2021 at 13:45

            Thank you for your reply. I just asked a simple question. The link you posted was not there when I made my comment. Obviously you know more than me, however I don’t appreciate your condescending attitude about refraining from commenting. Have a nice day.

          • NC Scout July 22, 2021 at 13:53

            Yes it was, it was in the above response.
            What you consider “condescending” comes from having to answer this question literally every time the topic comes up.
            Had you done your homework, or even attempted to, you’d know. I do know more than you and I work incredibly hard to share that knowledge. It gets kind numbingly stupid when the same people can’t even attempt meet you half way.

  5. boss21 July 22, 2021 at 10:25

    Good stuff , but I doubt the AI will believe the old hands have suddenly found ‘religion’. Numbers and stubbornness are our main advantages now.
    These procedures are useful anyway though.

    • vyt1az July 22, 2021 at 16:42

      Don’t fall for the the AI fearmongering out there. It often sounds like the digital version of Biden’s ‘F-16s and Nuclear weapons’ argument. You can absolutely improve your position even with AI / ML getting better.
      For example: Facebook has some AI that’s very good at correlating your browsing habits with political and religious predispositions and yet, they can’t get their AI to properly moderate comments or read English in context.
      See the below article where a human had to step in.
      https://nypost.com/2021/07/20/facebook-cracks-down-on-discussing-hoes-in-gardening-group
      AI is trained and developed by humans with flaws and biases and it’s fed the data of people with flaws and biases. AI cannot account for human creativity and general weirdness.
      The more difficult it is for their systems to get quality info the harder their job is.
      Baby steps. It can be done. I know some very old people who have picked up this stuff.

  6. Recon Prepper July 22, 2021 at 10:34

    I’d like to know how to run a second vpn thru the first? Hadn’t heard of this before.

  7. Anonymous July 22, 2021 at 10:36

    4

  8. Bull July 22, 2021 at 10:38

    VPN’s are a necessary layer but are far from the panacea that many people think they are. Most surveillance is actually done by analysis of the tracker ID’s placed as cookies by almost every site. In addition to the VPN you need to defeat the trackers. A partial solution to this problem is the use of a virtual machine such as VMware or Virtual box. These can be configured to discard any changes made during a use session when the machine is shutdown. Couple this with configuring your browser to automatically wipe out any session data when the browser closes and to configure the browser via extensions and privacy settings to the most restrictive settings you can live with. Change the virtual MAC ID every time you start the VM. Store your VM on, and run it from, a USB drive so there is no trace left on your physical device.
    These steps will go a long way to reducing your online footprint.

    • vyt1az July 22, 2021 at 12:54

      You’re 100% correct.
      People get frozen with tech articles when they’re heavy on instructions vs principles. Tech gets complicated very fast with a ton of branching options to pick from.
      I may write an article or two with some “recipes” in the future but this was meant to be broad.
      One could use this in “meatspace” too. Feeding leftists what they want to hear while hardening your own security.
      Principles before specifics.

  9. Creepy Ass Cracka July 22, 2021 at 11:53

    Brave browser, use HideMe if you are looking at those wrongthink pages again.
    Never ever use Opera, IE, Google, Yahoo, Mozilla and get off windows if you can.
    Always keep an offline box for the spice rack stuff and no not rub and tug material.
    Disable all UDP proxy, disable javascript when able, no web torrents, no third party cookies.
    Get security in layers spyware, malware scanners, use portable flash drive apps, install some on hdd.
    Look up what services to turn off in Windows, services, component services.
    Turn off print spooler, no remote access ever.
    Never use your real name in emails or borg hive media if applicable. Tor browser was made by gov so avoid
    The Italian kid who made bomb threats to American schools found out about Tor and the gov spyware that no detector will find.

    • wwes July 22, 2021 at 12:15

      If you’re using Brave you haven’t done your homework. Mozilla is a better option, and Tor is a much better option, when used with other precautions. If you’re using them on your home network you’re throwing a massive amount of data out there regardless.
      Turning off services in Windows does nothing except make you feel better about your privacy. Turning that stuff off while using Windows and expecting privacy is about like a kid putting their hands over their eyes and telling their parents “You can’t see me!”
      Windows has it’s uses, but if you think you can use it without all of your activity being an open book to the right people you are mistaken.

      • vyt1az July 22, 2021 at 13:01

        You get an internet beer for this post. 🍺

  10. Irish Democracy July 22, 2021 at 13:17

    Mozilla is crap since they fired a tech for donating to a Republican.
    Installed Opera and some Banjo Lip Mooncricket pages came up on the home page without me setting it.
    Automatically deleted.
    There is no way to not have Gates and Redmond seeing everything on Windows and no one has ever said that it is possible.
    Tested out services with hacker buds and it made it harder not easier.
    These are people who started at age 7 on mainframes and hacked me to pieces until I got a clue and they enjoyed it saying the beatings will continue until you stop them.
    I have seen unwanted incoming connections in Tor and audit your PC pages that see right through the onions.
    O/T-Tip of the hat to AmPart, the Bracken, Herschel, Wilder, all the Patriots for putting information out that is actually worth money and could save your life. Thank You and it would be an honor and a privilege to serve in your trench.

    • vyt1az July 22, 2021 at 15:40

      Mozilla is not crap because there are leftists working on it any more than the AK-47 is crap because communists developed it.
      There are a lot of different types of leftists and many are quite idealistic about privacy and security. I know because I have to work with them and listen to their anarcho-socialist nonsense.
      There are quite a few that don’t want back doors in browsers any more than you do.
      Firefox should be watched as they may turn on the pro-privacy tech community. Right now, there’s a massive community staring at their code looking for security flaws.

  11. Anonymous July 22, 2021 at 13:46

    5

  12. SdKfz 250 Greif July 22, 2021 at 13:51
    • vyt1az July 22, 2021 at 15:19

      Tor is definitely not invincible. There are no invincible technologies.
      That article you shared is a decent primer for someone who knows nothing about it.
      I probably should have put a primer for Tor into my article but it would have made the article a bit too long and it was originally tailored to beginners with a little bit of knowledge.
      Thanks for the comment.

      • 91B medic, circa 1975 July 22, 2021 at 17:57

        I have dabbled with this stuff off and on over the years, if nothing else, as an excuse to play with the software. For example, I keep a VPN handy to prevent man in the middle monitoring on the free wifi at Walmart. But there is a cost in time consumed or cost of equipment, as well as personal organization and discipline during a session. How many folks out there have a crypto wallet or Truecrypt container and you just can’t quite remember the password? (Hand raised sheepishly). Or you are reading American Partisan all stealthy and low key with your painfully slow Whonix system then you forget and log into Amazon to get that technicool swag and blow your cover. To be properly compartmentalized mentally you just about need formal protocols and checklists. Of course, when your life depends on it, it will come much easier, but I do not yet know personally any political dissidents who were shipped off to the gulag or vanished. Well, that’s not quite true. I have included the website of JJ Luna, who lived a dual life under Generalissimo Francisco Franco for twenty years and wrote several books
        including How to be Invisible
        Thank you for the article. It got my mind thinking in that direction again

        • NC Scout July 22, 2021 at 18:06

          Whonix!!!! :)

  13. 91B medic, circa 1975 July 22, 2021 at 14:08

    I tend to go with John MacAffee; security and privacy is a myth. VPN’s will and have sold your ass down the river. Users on TOR have been identified. Bad guys using bitcoin have been tracked and busted. It all depends on who your adversary is. If your opponent has the resources
    of a government, and can monitor access and exit points you had better be air gaped inside a SCIF. Otherwise the van parked out front will be reading your screen and data cables as you type. It isn’t that much of a stretch to crack the old joke; if you want to talk to big brother go outside and talk to the sky. I tend to like the low tech five eye key trigger word footer attached to my grandmother’s quilting circle forum. However, if you are serious, you need a dedicated air gaped machine using virtual box and linux or better yet the open source CUBES operating system. Even then, remember that General Paul Van Riper beat the Americans in the Millennium Challenge 2002. His signal to initiate the attack was a coded message sent from the minarets of mosques at the call to prayer. Sneakernet using secure drops for thumb drives comes to mind, another possibility is a non internet based network such as the BBS based FIDONET software. I have included the link to wilders security forum for your researching pleasure

    • NC Scout July 22, 2021 at 14:34

      Privacy, Security, and anonymity are mutually exclusive concepts. They’re not a myth, but they’re also not achievable without compromising one for the other.
      TOR is run by the NSA.
      Blockchain (how BTC transactions occur) is not anonymous nor ever has been. But you have to know somethings in order to find out.
      And becasue people made all these assumptions they mistook P,S, and A as all one thing. Everyone, and to a severe degree the “patriot” movement, wants an easy button because they have no real idea what they’re doing. Nor what they seek to achieve.

      • Not whfy July 23, 2021 at 07:41

        Thanks for pointing that out about privacy, security, and anonymity. I think this is lost on most. I talked to a group of,concerned citizens last year on these topics and secure comma in general. 99% of people won’t do what’s necessary to be truly anonymous, so I suggest not trying – you’ll just compromise someone else who IS putting the effort in to be anonymous. Just be another leaf in the stream is my take. Everyone buys the nonsense that vpns are all secure, problem is you can’t know what happens with the traffic once you connect. VPN providers must be a high priority target for the surveillance state, so I assume that they are. Same for secure email services and secure messaging service, I didn’t know TOR was a NSA enterprise, but was aware that nodes had been compromised to the point i assume that one is usually tracked. Keep up the good work.

  14. donovang July 22, 2021 at 19:08

    Qubes OS

    • donovang July 22, 2021 at 22:47

      Well, shoot, 91B Medic mentioned CUBES in his post and he may be referring to the same thing as Qubes OS.
      Another thing I do is avoid using the DNS servers my internet provider gives me on my home connection – there are a number of free open DNS providers. Why? Metadata. Not all providers allow this at the modem/router, but you usually can set your own DNS with your DHCP server.
      I have old school ADSL, and my modem is configured for pass-thru (or the equivalent) so that my router/firewall appliance gets the public IP from my provider, not their ‘modem’. I have done with cable modems as well.
      For pubic internet or cellular hot spots, if you’re using a VPN, you’ll be using the DNS your VPN provider uses at your endpoint. Your ISP cannot see that.
      I also use separate internal networks, one for work, one for everything else, one public IP, DHCP from the ISP that I force a reset on using chron on my router.
      There’s lots of different ways to do these things, as long as you understand the principle involved. Sound familiar?

    • vyt1az July 24, 2021 at 13:37

      Qubes is nice but not for the beginner. It’s definitely in the advanced category due to the lack of broad hardware support, tricky installation, and configuration. If you can do it, more power to you.

  15. Chris July 22, 2021 at 22:24

    Interesting stuff.
    Not sure it would dissuade a Real Investigator..but.
    Hey, i’m all about messin with there God, Algorithm.
    Hell, I’m about messing with them all, period.
    These Tech whorshippers are creepy Mf’s.
    Hell, send 10million volts threw there Servers, globally.
    Wreck it ALL.
    We’d be better off.
    As Humans…….being.

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