The world has become so interconnected that it is nearly impossible to keep our information private. We valued privacy only a few decades ago, but in 2024, too many of us have traded our personal information for the promise of convenience and automation.
The preservation of personal information is of utmost importance to preppers, as certain factions within the government might display a keen interest in the habits and particulars of individuals preparing for emergencies.
What I will detail here are 7 things that we all do, which give away information to those around us.
Social Media Posts
Social media is so ingrained into the fabric of our society that it is impossible to escape. For preppers and survivalists, our social media feed offers a window into our lives and the types of content we are interested in.
The first step that you should take is to make your social media profile private. This will give you more control over who is seeing what you post. Beyond this, you should be thinking very carefully about every post.
A few types of posts that you should avoid entirely:
- Posting while on vacation when your house is sitting empty
- Anything related to weapons and firearms
- Anything that gives information about your children, their ages, where they go to school, or what activities they’re in
- Survival and prepping content showing your preps
- Anything related to politics and religion
- New purchases
When you are posting a photo, zoom into the background and see if there is anything that might give away information about you. Is there a gun safe? Survival gear? Family pictures? Your children or pets? If someone who looks at the picture can gain any actionable information about you, do not post it.
After all, what you do in your daily life is no one’s business but your own.
Trusting Your Smartphone
Our phones are the best surveillance devices ever made. We take them everywhere, and they track our location and record everything we do with them regardless of our privacy settings. The microphone is always listening, and the apps are helping large corporations develop in-depth profiles of us and our habits.
The problem is that it is too difficult to live in the 21st century without these devices.
Related: 11 Hacker Tips to Keep Your Phone From Tracking You
The solution is to open that drawer we all have with old smartphones in it and use one of them to hold all our social media apps and every other app that we do not need daily. The primary phone we use daily should only be able to make calls, send text messages, and take pictures.
This keeps the apps that do the most tracking at home in a drawer rather than in your pocket, gathering a ton of information about you and your daily habits. You still must be careful about what you say around your primary phone, but keeping things separated makes developing detailed profiles about you more challenging.
Your phone at home should be turned off and placed in a Faraday enclosure, such as wrapped in this EMP cloth. Only take it out to use social media apps, send emails, or use any other apps that track you, then turn it off and put it away.
This also helps you limit your phone usage, which is always a huge benefit.
Using Loyalty Cards
Every time you sign up for a store’s loyalty program, you give them private information. You are also allowing them to generate a list of everything you purchase through them and profile your shopping habits.
If you decide to sign up for a loyalty program, consider using a false name attached to a throwaway email address.
Leaving Devices and Accounts Unsecured
Two-factor authorization is often a pain to set up and use. You need to set up any website or service with this option. This will prevent unauthorized access to your sensitive data and alert you to hackers trying to breach your accounts.
It would help if you also used a passcode on your phone that is impossible for anyone to guess. Do not use a combination of meaningful numbers. Instead, use a random number generator to generate your passcode.
Vehicle Stickers and Decals
Be mindful of the decals and stickers you place on your vehicle. If someone were to try to steal your private information, knowing which clubs or organizations you belong to is a great way for them to find out which websites they can hack into to steal the private data that you gave the club or group that you are a member of.
While it is good to show your pride in membership, you are giving away potentially vital information.
Unsecured Wi-Fi
Never use public Wi-Fi.
There is no way you can guarantee that the data your devices are sending are not being intercepted or that malicious software is not being uploaded to your device.
Related: How To Stay Safe & Protect Your Data On The Internet
Not Using a VPN
Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) are encrypted systems that you can use to route your internet traffic. They make anyone on the other end of your traffic believe that you are in a location far away from where you are.
While there are free options, it is worthwhile to find a paid service because you will be able to secure more devices and get faster speeds than with the free options.
These systems are imperfect, and experienced hackers can circumvent them, but the major internet companies and other agencies that gather your data will be prevented from developing an accurate profile of you.
Securing our private data is becoming increasingly difficult as technology integration becomes more complete.
This list is by no means exhaustive of the ways that we are contributing to the erosion of our privacy, but it is a good start to getting you to think about how your data is being siphoned.
You may also like:
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when cell phones first came out i told my wife i would not be connected to a phone 24\7. i don’t do social media and the phone i have now stays in the truck not on me. my wife wanted me to get one in case i cut my leg off with the chainsaw. the younger generation can’t run a chainsaw because there isn’t an ap for that on their phone. i retired from walmart after 32 years. we weren’t allowed to have a phone on the sales floor. now you can,t find an associate who isn,t on the phone including management. its really sad. the mention of not posting pictures until you get back from vacation is really sound advise. good article.
Ever wonder about these authors and the articles these people submit to this web to be published, what are their backgrounds of experience?
Can we trust their posted messages are true and accurate?
Social media re-posts are not what I look for, we seem to get more of that and who really checks on the accuracy of these well meaning posts?
Also:
Why do we need digital currency that is based on computer server farms sucking up precious electricity from a fragile electrical grid?
We got Chinese nationals, illegals, terrorists in America, who is really protecting us?
Who is the Block Rock corporation inclusion with as they buy up land?
Do you know what will happen to our economy run by VP Harris, she has a checkered past history and in league with Bernie Sanders and Elisabeth Warren?
It is crazy to think Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Kamila Harris could change the face of America as we know it. Many women would vote regardless of political suicide of America just to have a first woman in the presidential office.
We are in deep trouble as seen with DEI!
Even Star Wars has been DEI for making it unwatchable unless you are in transition medically, ha, ha.
Social media is so ingrained into the fabric of our society that it is impossible to escape.
Never had a SM account, do not have a cell phone (haven’t in YEARS), and do everything via email or snail mail with email being anonymous.
It can be a hassle but it is doable.
Oh and no credit card either.
Cash is KING!
What really is the mark of the beast, surly it is not explained well in the bible.
Ever since our corporations and governments have transitioned our paper and pen records to digital records on the internet we have no privacy, no secrets. Be victims of ID Theft for the rest of our lives on earth.
Time to see DEI for what it really is, like the Jill Biden secret service administration head. DEI shows what happens in critical situations. Bud light was the shot across the conservative ships bow in the civilian world.
Will you vote for freedom and not for the leftist liberal party that brought us America last?
We got real live Sand ‘N’ on American soil to rid Trump and many Americans.
Slip in heel shoes are the latest fad for the easy low T crowd. Trucks and Mustang cars were a male symbol which are now less macho.
Low T and Marxist indoctrination has made a lot of fagged or fudge packer males feel they can compete against women, than against their male counterparts. Were these guys part of the participation trophy generation, where there are no winners or losers and no Dodge Ball because of weak people.
The mark of the beast is described well! It will be a mark (chip) on your forehead or hand!
Not according to new research of Revelations, it’s not a chip or a barcode tattoo either. Many Christians have been misled by bible scholars for centuries of the real truth.
Do your own research if you can while the information is out there in plain site.
What secrets does the Vatican’s secured library hold behind guarded vaults from us so called Christians seeking God’s truth?
Why has this information being hidden from us?
Your post is a bit confusing. You negatively mention leftists then turn around and seemingly bash Trump.
I am confused as to what you are saying.
Rather have Trump than any Democommie…
America needs a strong male role model in these low testosterone times. As seen in politics and recently a DEI hire to be the head of the secret service. The command and control of DEI gender put our soon to be president in peril of a Saturday political gathering causing serious trouble. Resulting in a civilian death.
Hacker victims should beat the hackers and their fingers with a baseball bat, then sending hackers to jail.
Close the open border and drill for oil in America.
These climate environmentalist are a combination of the elitist, United Nations, adversaries, indoctrinated useful idiots like VP Harris. Was this the liberals way to get a female into being a president of the United States of America by electing a dementia male president?
We are being attacked from every direction.
God save America, please before it’s too late!
Hackers INCLUDE police and other government agents.
Use a de-googled phone, it solves many problems, but not all.Stay off of social media as it’s only an intel operation collecting info they could not otherwise collect and do it free.Facebook won an award from one of them for it, this should tell you something. Zucks name is not Zuckerberg, it’s something else & he is in the Rockefeller family.I don’t remember all the details, but it is all true.
Yes all the secret societies and families are all interconnected by inter marriages to keep the wealth from the common forgotten man of the 21st century. Just like the kings and queens of past history and those family clans that interbred like first cousins do. They are sick minded running countries and corporations of evil as sited in the bible’s stories, we are misled even by the organized churches some Christians have closely followed then question authority on earth. You don’t need an organized church or religion to be one with God Almighty, just the weak minded need those corrupt leaders.
God help us in America.
Ah, the good old days of camping by the Billabong with no danged tourists…
Hide in plain sight! “another brick in the wall”. If there’s nothing to notice you’re not seen. Avoid drama, strife, unnecessary exposure and conflict. Obviously lost to everyone. Good thread. “Keep your chin up and your head down “
Avoid politics and religion?
It’s why we are in this mess cuz we didn’t stand up. Peace.
If anyone siphons my information ….their I.Q. is going to drop…..
What people do not realize is the following:
You register to vote thus revealing your personal information.
You get license tags and that reveals your personal information.
You get a Driver’s license and that reveals your personal information.
Cameras in place can zoom in and see your ID details every time you expose your ID for any reason.
VOTING – reveals your personal information.
Doing a CENSUS reveals your personal information (but there is a 75 year ban on PUBLIC dissemination which is ignored).
And those are off the top of my head too.
About degoogled phones – your account info must be revealed for cell towers to grant you access. Your EISN and such reveal much….
Excellant article Michael
so true
everything you have said or done in the social media for the last 20 years
everything you have regestered , or signed up for or put your signature on
it is all there in the great cloud , storage banks around the globe
and remember : the Mark is ownership , allegience , decision to obey, follow, swear oath to .
what ever the case , everyone will be given choice :
2 chronicals 7:14 , 1 john 14:6, as jesus christ said you cannot serve 2 masters
Deception will and is rampant . as the bible says many false, fake, deceptive leaders will arrise and decieve many
using , Jobs, lifestyle , income, way of life to extort, correce , manipulate you they will hold you hostage for money, food, friendship, or position
God s Word never ever is wrong, just misinterpreted , not fully read , or not fully researched
partial truth is not truth , must be vetted to the exacq .
God says you must believe , have faith, follow , and decide
satan is the counterfiet and everything that does not check out in the bible or word is the lie
remember satan will float anything which cause you to not accept the truth or Gods Word . research, check it out , spend the time , shut off TV , Music, Play Grounds of sin and you will have the time needed
There is a way that seems right to all , men, woman, children but that is the way of death
proverbs
If you really want truth , you will find it , but at what cost
Do not use Google to search the internet. Use Duck Duck Go to search, and on phones and PC’s, they also have a browser that does not track or allow tracking, and has the ability to delete all cookies and tabs when you want. They will also give you an email address that is not tracked, and end up in whatever inbox you already have.
Remember, all DMV information is considered public data, and is not protected. DL number, info on DL, everything about any vehicles registered to you. Criminal history, Professional licenses and certifications, like Doctors and A&P (aircraft) mechanics, plumber. electrician, etc, all are public data and not protected and are readily available to the public. Property & tax records are all public too. You can’t stay out of sight if you live as a normal U.S. citizen.