Ironbird420
Member
I been poking around the site and noticed that looking at some posts some people are nervous about posting on the site about their grows. Noted that any pictures posted on the forums require an account. But that doesn't stop local or federal departments from making their own accounts to spy on us. Plus the fact since 9/11 it's a breeze for law enforcement to trace your IP back to your home. So if you are nervous about reveling your identity I have some tips for those interested.
Proxy Tools
A proxy allows you mask your IP while surfing the Internet. Very popular in countries with firewalls like China and Iran. (North Korea I believe isn't even connected to the World Wide Web they have their own intranet)
One way to get a proxy is to simply google one which they you can add in your internet settings within your browser of choice. But the down side of this is that you basically use someone else's connection and bandwidth is slowed down. Not so good of a choice if you want to come here then watch HD video on youtube or netflix. If you wanted to resume normal browsing you would have to delete your proxy setting and put them back in manually which can be tedious.
So a better option is you use a proxy addon/extension for your browser. For a browser I use Google's Chrome which I recommend to anyone. I tried a few extensions for Chrome and found out an extension called ProxyPy Web Proxy (try saying that five times fast). This extension was simple and the proxy it provides is fairly fast. All you have to do is click on the button next to your control panel button on Chrome and punch in your web address and your good to go. Downside is that logging in and posting might turn off the proxy. I am still trying to find a good extension that is more stable and applicable for this website. Feel free to look for one yourselves, I'm not getting paid for look crap up for you.
And try addons for firefox or safari (not sure if safari has addons just guessing not a mac user) I would try and stay away from IE completely for the main reason it has too many holes and one could easily gain access to your computer remotely, not a safe browser.
Third choice which I believe to be the best is a program called Tor http://www.torproject.org. Tor stands for The Onion Router Project, it was developed but the good ol US Navy around 2003-2004 and was then made open source and is now privately funded. Tor takes proxies to a whole new level and makes nearly impossible to trace you. It uses layers which basically you connect to one computer which then connects to another computer, which then connects to another computer, ect ect. And this is on a global scale, so it may start in the US then go to China, then to Sweden, then to Australia, to Peru, and back to the US in random order all while encrypting everything you send out and receive. The program is used by reporters and hackers alike, so why not add a few stoners too.
Installing is easy if you use firefox, but chrome requires a bit of configuration which I will jot down below. Right now using Tor I am connected to 12 different clients around the world. Note this is only as fast as the client connections allow you to go, so using it to download bittorrent files is a bad idea and most clients will block bittorrent altogether.
In order to get Tor to work with Chrome you need to change your proxy to 127.0.0.1 (loopback) and port it to 8118. Here is a link to use a Chrome addon to automatically configure your browser to enable tor http://lifehacker.com/5614732/create-a-tor-button-in-chrome-for-on+demand-anonymous-browsing. Now once you think you got it setup go to http://check.torproject.org/ to see if your running Tor right.
Browser History
This is almost straight forward for the paranoid just delete it. Chrome has its Incognito Mode aka Porn mode which allows the browser not to track your history.
Be warned though this WILL NOT protect you if Law Enforcement get a hold of your computer. Deleting data on a drive only deletes the record of the file off the MBR (Master Boot Record) The MBR is like a library index card which tells your computer where files are located on your drive. Formating a drive only deletes the MBR, this will not actually delete the data its self. The data can be overwritten which can then corrupt the file which you deleted but to tell where the next piece of data is gonna attach its self to your drive is nearly impossible. So the best way to actually destroy data is to Literary destroy the medium the data is stored on IE:Hard drive, USB, Floppy. Take note though, with HDD hard drives the drives are consisted of platers which are like metal cd's that spin on top of one another. If you destroy a HDD and one of the platers of the HDD is still unscaved, data can still be retrieved off the plater. Make sure you do a number to the drive. SSDs (solid state drives) I'm pretty sure can be killed with a couple good wacks with a hammer easily. Although this is a last resort if you are in a situation where you need to destroy data, I wouldn't recommend it for fun.... unless you hate your computer that bad.
Well I believe thats about it for safe C.Y.A (Cover Your Ass) tactics for computer safety. I know that not everyone is in a situation where they are paranoid to use this (they should be growing medically) but for those that are, this article is for you. Feel free to comment or add your own tips, I may or may not add on to it in the future, depends how lazy I am.
Happy Growing
Proxy Tools
A proxy allows you mask your IP while surfing the Internet. Very popular in countries with firewalls like China and Iran. (North Korea I believe isn't even connected to the World Wide Web they have their own intranet)
One way to get a proxy is to simply google one which they you can add in your internet settings within your browser of choice. But the down side of this is that you basically use someone else's connection and bandwidth is slowed down. Not so good of a choice if you want to come here then watch HD video on youtube or netflix. If you wanted to resume normal browsing you would have to delete your proxy setting and put them back in manually which can be tedious.
So a better option is you use a proxy addon/extension for your browser. For a browser I use Google's Chrome which I recommend to anyone. I tried a few extensions for Chrome and found out an extension called ProxyPy Web Proxy (try saying that five times fast). This extension was simple and the proxy it provides is fairly fast. All you have to do is click on the button next to your control panel button on Chrome and punch in your web address and your good to go. Downside is that logging in and posting might turn off the proxy. I am still trying to find a good extension that is more stable and applicable for this website. Feel free to look for one yourselves, I'm not getting paid for look crap up for you.
And try addons for firefox or safari (not sure if safari has addons just guessing not a mac user) I would try and stay away from IE completely for the main reason it has too many holes and one could easily gain access to your computer remotely, not a safe browser. Third choice which I believe to be the best is a program called Tor http://www.torproject.org. Tor stands for The Onion Router Project, it was developed but the good ol US Navy around 2003-2004 and was then made open source and is now privately funded. Tor takes proxies to a whole new level and makes nearly impossible to trace you. It uses layers which basically you connect to one computer which then connects to another computer, which then connects to another computer, ect ect. And this is on a global scale, so it may start in the US then go to China, then to Sweden, then to Australia, to Peru, and back to the US in random order all while encrypting everything you send out and receive. The program is used by reporters and hackers alike, so why not add a few stoners too.
Installing is easy if you use firefox, but chrome requires a bit of configuration which I will jot down below. Right now using Tor I am connected to 12 different clients around the world. Note this is only as fast as the client connections allow you to go, so using it to download bittorrent files is a bad idea and most clients will block bittorrent altogether.
In order to get Tor to work with Chrome you need to change your proxy to 127.0.0.1 (loopback) and port it to 8118. Here is a link to use a Chrome addon to automatically configure your browser to enable tor http://lifehacker.com/5614732/create-a-tor-button-in-chrome-for-on+demand-anonymous-browsing. Now once you think you got it setup go to http://check.torproject.org/ to see if your running Tor right.
Browser History
This is almost straight forward for the paranoid just delete it. Chrome has its Incognito Mode aka Porn mode which allows the browser not to track your history.
Be warned though this WILL NOT protect you if Law Enforcement get a hold of your computer. Deleting data on a drive only deletes the record of the file off the MBR (Master Boot Record) The MBR is like a library index card which tells your computer where files are located on your drive. Formating a drive only deletes the MBR, this will not actually delete the data its self. The data can be overwritten which can then corrupt the file which you deleted but to tell where the next piece of data is gonna attach its self to your drive is nearly impossible. So the best way to actually destroy data is to Literary destroy the medium the data is stored on IE:Hard drive, USB, Floppy. Take note though, with HDD hard drives the drives are consisted of platers which are like metal cd's that spin on top of one another. If you destroy a HDD and one of the platers of the HDD is still unscaved, data can still be retrieved off the plater. Make sure you do a number to the drive. SSDs (solid state drives) I'm pretty sure can be killed with a couple good wacks with a hammer easily. Although this is a last resort if you are in a situation where you need to destroy data, I wouldn't recommend it for fun.... unless you hate your computer that bad.
Well I believe thats about it for safe C.Y.A (Cover Your Ass) tactics for computer safety. I know that not everyone is in a situation where they are paranoid to use this (they should be growing medically
) but for those that are, this article is for you. Feel free to comment or add your own tips, I may or may not add on to it in the future, depends how lazy I am. Happy Growing