TOTM - November 2015 OPSEC

Which then makes it useless weight to carry around.
Because the second you turn it on you can be tracked.

 

Turn off the tracking program. It is optional! Read the dang words! (I'm done here)

 

You may be done but so is your logic if you believe you can control the devices you carry.

 

This is a very interesting map of States laws for tracking without a warrant. I don't think turning it off helps with anything except a "Placebo Peace Of Mind!"
aclu-map | BGR

 

Why would anyone need a smart phone? There is nothing about smart phones in the Constitution. I think we should ban them...along with the toy phones that look like the real thing. THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!!

 

You take out a HELOC on the equity of your current home. Then if your home doesn't sell before you close on the new one, you can use it to pay the mortgage until the house sells, at which point the HELOC is paid off via the proceeds of the sale.

 

So you can receive calls; your cell phone needs to keep the towers appraised of its location. It is how cell technology works.

Back in 2006, the FBI remotely activated a mobile phone's microphone to eavesdrop on the Genovese crime family. Your cell provider can remotely install software without your knowledge when the phone is on.
FBI taps cell phone mic as eavesdropping tool - CNET

The best advice on OPSEC is do as the military does radio silence. Cell phones have two methods; remove the battery or leave it where you aren't.

 

Tobit,
Although I did change the battery in my daughter's and have the tools to change one; that is the reason I'll never own an iPhone. Are there others with the same problem?

Did you over clock it also?

 

An interesting map. The Southern states need no warrant and CA actually needs a warrant but not the other western states yet. Its the reverse of what I thought it would be

 

My OPSEC, I fully expect anything I communicate through a service(internet, phone, or mail) to be known. So anything I want to be private, I say in person. And I'm also careful what I say walking around in public, because there are others who can overhear. So basically if I don't want something known, SHUT UP! I also never post online when we're going somewhere aka the house will be empty.

I don't understand how some people think the government's intrusions into our lives is for our safety. Being spied on, it only makes the person spying on you safer, not you. And the recent mass murders(I call it that, because I refuse to call them anything else, I'm not 'legitimizing' the killers by ascribing any 'beliefs' to them besides violence), it's more proof that YOU DON'T RELY ON THE GOVERNMENT TO PROTECT YOU! They are only interested in protecting themselves.

 

Although it is more security than OPSEC, adding NV to a weapon is good idea.

 

Our state motto is "Live free or die" but it should be "Got ya". You have to have the building inspector check out your oil, gas, or propane tank, any building additions or improvements, added wood stoves or furnaces and the list goes on. You have to fill out an inventory sheet each year that lists the names, ages and sex of all residents of the house and how many dogs you have. The town fire department has a list, available to it members, of your house location, barn and out buildings, fuel storage, access roads and alternative ways of entering the property, if you keep animals, if there is "hazardous" material on the property, in my case, fertilizer, propane for green house heat, plastic covering for green house, possibly weed killers and insecticides. My grandson is on the fire department so he knows I reload and have powder and primers and I don't know if that is recorded or not. The tax collector has a map of all buildings with foundations or that are over 10 ' by 12'. We voted to do away with any requirments for a less than 12' by 20' and the state said we could not. The tax collector also has the latest available sat fotos of my property and will check if it shows 4 cars and you only have 2 stickered. Got to prevent unlicensed junk yards you know. If you drive a car you must have a license with your picture and home address, if you don't drive, you still have to have state issued id to vote, sell property, get a bank account, cash your checks etc. Then the property insurance requires pictures of your wood stove, its make and model, fuel storage, dogs,if you work at home, rent out space and if you have a mortage, who owns it, and may require a chiminy inspection before giving you a policy. Last year we were "randomly" selected for a census study and I was required to fill out a form on income, house size, number of bedrooms, baths, employment, education and told that while the data was private, I was required by law to provide it. My lawyer said that I had to go along with them as it was the law.

Now I could refuse to "go along" with them, get fined for my dog or get rid of him, stop driving, voting, cashing checks, buying ammo or guns,buying or selling property etc, pay what ever the tax collector said he thought he might want me to pay, give up on insurance, get rid of my cars, fight the fire department in court about their records, and buy my propane in 20 lb bottles and carry it home on a bike, buy stove fuel in 5 gal cans and it is only 5 miles to the station. Of course I would also have to give up my social security checks, Medicare and cash out and pay taxes on my 401ks, Well I would have show ID and pay the taxes and fill out the forms for the cash payment if I did that.

My point is that Orwel's society is already here and we can only try to hide in the flock of other sheep and keep a darn sharp eye on the sheep dog. Not a good idea to scream fire in the theater, but having caught the smell of smoke, I am trying my best to get out of the theater. In public at least, wear a baseball cap over your tinfoil hat and nod your head in agreement a lot. To me the best OPSEC is to be known but harmless and to hide as much as I can and to be as self sufficient as possible and not have 20 years of storage food that could be loaded in the police car 10 minutes after TSHTF. Don't have a cell phone so I guess they will have to implant my gps chip instead of my willingly having in my ever present cell phone.

 

I hear ya, brother.

Regarding your homeowners insurance, I had a hell of a time with the home we just bought. First, our insurance company for both home and car for over 30 years, Grange, dropped us because their inspector spotted a "pit bull" in our yard. I went to State Farm, which is dog friendly, only to get turned down because they couldn't find a make, model and serial number on our wood stove. I ended up with Farmers, who didn't have a problem with either the dog or the stove. You might want to give them a try.

 

OPSEC......

Day to day.....don't talk about anything that you don't want others to know. Too many people can't keep a secret about a birthday present, so how can you trust them with anything else. I use the Dave Ramsey envelope system.....so almost everything is cash. I leave my phone in the car at stores and I thrift shop mostly. I make a habit of noting who is around me and look for two things....threats and sheep and put as many sheep as I can between me and threats. Yes my location is turned off my smart phone. I refuse to communicate with anyone using imessage.

SHTF-I don't rely on anything electric. Alternative means of written communication has been established. I have a bug home bag in car, bug out bag at home,and I have used the items in them so I know they work and how they work.

To sum up my OPSEC 1) don't trust people cause only few can be trusted. 2) don't trust electronics cause none of them can be trusted. 3) be situational aware of surroundings. 4) have an alternative or cryptic means of worrying and a location for such messages. 5) have things ready now versus hoping they are ready later.

 

You will never know who you can really trust, until you can't.

 

The Yogi is strong in this one!

 

I've been trying to come up with ideas for alternative/cryptic code messages and your list helps a little by your clue of "means of worrying"... Anyone have any links on the subject or ideas to add?

 

When I was in the military, we used one time pads. They are secure and if properly used, unbreakable.

Here is a link that kinda explains the one time pad: Manual One-time pad
There are plenty of other sites once one knows what they are looking for.

A search for one time pads yields computer generated one time pad messages. It is more complex to use than the articles imply. A key can be generated using a team's birthdays or SS numbers based on even or odd days of the month; the possible variations are almost endless. However, the group must remember how to form a key and never write it down.

The disadvantage, "coded" communications always gather attention.

The problem with any RF transmission is it can be located, period. For example, I've read it is impossible to detect or locate RF transmissions using a NVIS antenna on HF.
Near vertical incidence skywave, or NVIS, is a skywave radio-wave propagation path that provides usable signals in the range between groundwave and conventional skywave distances—usually 30–400 miles (50–650 km).
Near vertical incidence skywave - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Even Wikipedia knows better.

If a group becomes problematic or a pain in the taters; any RF emission will be RDF'ed and shelled or bombed.

The only truly perfect OPSEC is radio silence.

Written communications using Cold War "mailbox" systems are another means of communications.

The question is as always, who are you trying to avoid, how good at finding people are they and how much effort they are willing to expend.

 

You need a DROP for any messages, this can be different for any one person or group. The message can be in any form, from a quickly dissolved bit of tissue to a thumb drive or scan disc of any size you need.

Your messages, they be open emails or other can also have a personal touch of special words or phrases as a proof of source.

The field is wide open to what code/encryption you use.