Stealth & Proxys

[green_farmer]

Help is required please.

A relative noobie here, though not to the preoccupation with greenness.

I’ve been on these computers for 25 years, internet for 12, but now with a life, farm and family to run, where to I get the time to be an internet security expert? ATM, I am forced to be preoccupied with my family and income…

I have tried, I know a little tiny bit – I have recently boosted my internet security and have studied it for over 5 years now…however, I am quite ignorant about the stealth side of things, especially in relation to this site and authorities.

I read the recent proxy thread with interest and said DOH! I shoulda known that…so I’ve found a few proxies, but all the freebies I’ve tried have problems, like they jump off the proxy when logging in to this site or when traffic is heavy.

So guys & gals, in order to remain stealthy on this site (or similar), should I pay for a proxy (and if so, which is the most secure?) or is there a better way to do this??

Another question is: how hard do hotmail (or other free email sites) look at “illegal activity”. Can they? Do they? Say for instance I am in a country where the importation of seeds is illegal, and I am trying to order some via Seedboutique to be sent….Can hotmail classify that activity as illegal and take any action? I noticed hotmail is in bed with Microsoft...

How far do I take my concerns about stealth? I checked my IP address and it showed my country and state, but lists my location near the capital city, miles away from me.

Am I being careful or am I being paranoid?

Thanks for any help.

GF

 

[I N Hail]

This works, don't slow me down but some said it does them.Its FREE
https://www.torproject.org/

Being paranoid is a goodthing. As long as its not controlling.


PeaceINH

 

[JJScorpio]

It's best to start a sepearate account for buying and keeping track of a seed order. Also, use a proxy when starting the account so your address is not the same as the main email you have....

 

[Verite]

Careful is protecting yourself from the methods currently being used to bust people. Paranoid is protecting yourself from methods not being used to bust people.

To date I have yet to hear about any grow busts because that person was surfing pot related websites on the internet [ which still is not illegal.]

If a proxy helps you sleep at night thats fine and dandy but its not protecting you from getting busted. Any leo with authority to bust you has zero juristiction up here.

When less than 1% of all users to all weed websites use proxies and not one single set of court case documents to show that police are using websurfing history to justify warrants to bust growers your going to have a pretty difficult time convincing me that proxies dont fall into the paranoid category of grow security.

Too often I see people get overly concerned with proxies and infrared but yet they see no problem emptying their weed ashtrays full of roaches, stems and seeds into their common trash and trash searches are the #1 method of grow evidence for warrants.

The guy that secures himself from the methods currently being used to bust people is probably going to fair better than the guy thats devoting security time towards methods not being used to bust people.

 

[green_farmer]

This works, don't slow me down but some said it does them.Its FREE
https://www.torproject.org/

Being paranoid is a goodthing. As long as its not controlling.


PeaceINH

Thanks INHail.

I've been reading the intro to it and it sounds interesting, and I will read more.

Thanks, but not so much paranoid as wanting to know what goes on... and being prepared.

Thanks, GF

 

[green_farmer]

It's best to start a sepearate account for buying and keeping track of a seed order. Also, use a proxy when starting the account so your address is not the same as the main email you have....

Thanks JJScorpio - sage advice.

GF

 

[growshopfrank]

Probably obvious, or all ready known to most. C/P from another site.....
When you use a proxy site, you expose your information to that site. so, if you enter a credit card on a gambling site, porn site, whatever from within the proxy, you just gave up your info. alternately, if you were to check email, you just gave up your info. any information you enter that is personal, or any site you access with your info is being captured via that proxy, and more often than not, that information is being turned into leads and being sold.

proxy owners then will sell your email and name to co-registration companies like permission (data) or (media) whiz or some other shithole. alternately, legit affiliate sites like linkshare, shareasale, cj, or whomever will get "leads" sold for various offers that you never signed up for. or, the easy thing for proxy owners to do is sell off just your email for a few cents a name to spammers.

anyway around, if you are accessing anything with a login-facebook, myspace, bank, email, etc via proxy, you just became money for the proxy owner. and if you use your credit card on any site, same thing.

the beauty of the deal for a proxy owner is, they don't need to steal and sell your credit card #, because all your account info will make them more money. your name, phone #, addy associated with the account number is a much better earner than a bunk card. most leads go for 10-35 bucks a lead and can be sold all day. one of the daily proxy server guys is in the ukraine and the bastard was selling leads that i had to reverse over and over until i figured out who he was. i would estimate, conservatively, that he sold the same lead for nearly $1000 a year. the other thing about lead data is he can sell that lead each year over and over until his conversion rate gets too low. pretty crazy.
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[green_farmer]

Careful is protecting yourself from the methods currently being used to bust people. Paranoid is protecting yourself from methods not being used to bust people.

To date I have yet to hear about any grow busts because that person was surfing pot related websites on the internet [ which still is not illegal.]

If a proxy helps you sleep at night thats fine and dandy but its not protecting you from getting busted. Any leo with authority to bust you has zero juristiction up here.

When less than 1% of all users to all weed websites use proxies and not one single set of court case documents to show that police are using websurfing history to justify warrants to bust growers your going to have a pretty difficult time convincing me that proxies dont fall into the paranoid category of grow security.

Too often I see people get overly concerned with proxies and infrared but yet they see no problem emptying their weed ashtrays full of roaches, stems and seeds into their common trash and trash searches are the #1 method of grow evidence for warrants.

The guy that secures himself from the methods currently being used to bust people is probably going to fair better than the guy thats devoting security time towards methods not being used to bust people.

Hey Verite

Thanks for your comments. It's good to know that you have not heard of this technology being used to bust people.

Whilst the technology is there, it is good to put things into perspective. Some imaginations can get out of hand after watching movies and cop shows. But thank God most leo's are under resourced and over worked (at least they are in my neck of the woods).

However, another concern was covering tracks too, just in case some DOES happen my end, leo's visit - they decide to take a dislike to me because I demand my lawyer - and choose to do the fine tooth comb on me and take the computer too...

And yes, you're right about what people unthinkingly throw out in the rubbish...

Thanks again, GF

 

[Verite]

Demanding a lawyer is part of the game and not optional unless you feel like answering a bunch of questions to further incriminate yourself. Asking for the lawyer generally stops the questioning and bare minimum protects your right to shut the F up.

Next if youre worried about having a computer confiscated you should study up on computer forensics and the laws regarding the chain of custody of electronic data.

Most of the busts I hear they leave the computer unless your a big fish then they probably want to see if theres sales info on there. Most fish that size dont or shouldnt be doing anything on the internet anyways.

 

[green_farmer]

Probably obvious, or all ready known to most. C/P from another site.....
When you use a proxy site, you expose your information to that site. so, if you enter a credit card on a gambling site, porn site, whatever from within the proxy, you just gave up your info. alternately, if you were to check email, you just gave up your info. any information you enter that is personal, or any site you access with your info is being captured via that proxy, and more often than not, that information is being turned into leads and being sold.

proxy owners then will sell your email and name to co-registration companies like permission (data) or (media) whiz or some other shithole. alternately, legit affiliate sites like linkshare, shareasale, cj, or whomever will get "leads" sold for various offers that you never signed up for. or, the easy thing for proxy owners to do is sell off just your email for a few cents a name to spammers.

anyway around, if you are accessing anything with a login-facebook, myspace, bank, email, etc via proxy, you just became money for the proxy owner. and if you use your credit card on any site, same thing.

the beauty of the deal for a proxy owner is, they don't need to steal and sell your credit card #, because all your account info will make them more money. your name, phone #, addy associated with the account number is a much better earner than a bunk card. most leads go for 10-35 bucks a lead and can be sold all day. one of the daily proxy server guys is in the ukraine and the bastard was selling leads that i had to reverse over and over until i figured out who he was. i would estimate, conservatively, that he sold the same lead for nearly $1000 a year. the other thing about lead data is he can sell that lead each year over and over until his conversion rate gets too low. pretty crazy.
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Hey GrowShopFrank,

Thank you so much!!! and yes, it is so very bloody obvious! Why didn't I think of that? DOH! Thanks again - sometimes I wonder at myself, whether it is the kids, the work, daily stresses, the chronic pain and then some - or is it old age - or do I smoke too much? Nah....

Nah, it's just that there are some really obvious things I'm really good at picking up, and others, well, I miss. However, I don't think I'm the only one. But I'm a quick learner - only gotta be told once (normally!).

That is why I am so taken with this forum (so far) - I get to communicate and share with others in the same situation, others who have much more experience and wisdom in these areas.

I just wish that I could get on with concentrating on growing and doing that to the best of my ability - without having to keep up with all the security bullshit concerning growing - keeping up with security on the internet is hard enough! and I do dream of the day that Medical Marijuana will be on the political agenda in my neck of the woods soon - and I can become a legal grow op...

Thanks again, GF