Are you "illegal" ? How are you protecting yourself to get on GWE?

[insomniaczzz]

I'm growing illegal, and I have said what state I'm in and maybe gave a hint when I mentioned the nickname of our area. That was a mistake. We have been ordering and receiving equipment and seeds to our house for 6 months now. One complete cured harvest under our belts. I do not think we would be thrown in jail if caught. Everything confiscated and probably pay a hefty fine, but I am probably more relaxed about it than I should be. Only people who know we grew is the 3 of us that live in house.

I realize some of you, especially in other countries have much more at stake. A proxy IP address assigner would probably be a good idea.

[Nartak]

I have the whole "paranoid" setup ,even including a needed usb that carries half the PIM password to boot to BIOS and then Windows,the other half i input when prompted

It's not that im not relaxed,it's that im putting alot of my future into this,or throwing it away with it..I love the idea of growing,this is my first attempt and i live in a place where albanias snitch and cover most posts in weed selling,locals rat eachother over a lousy gf that smoked their stash and friends are not as into it,informed and HARD (sorry but i "am") for seeing the whole process ...As we all say,these are our babies till smoke do us apart...

What im afraid of is general searches due to the site being based in the us and having no secure connection.we are sitting ducks for ANY kid that was awake in tech 101....

I also got all the things from my paypal account and ordered it all home,including seeds which twice got stuck at customs...

[Clear Haze]

Like Potted said; if they want you they will get you...for quotas, property confiscation (if your local regime is into that). I was feeling a little freeer the last few years but I'm afraid the wind is shifting back to re-criminalization. Let Freedom Ring...but better mute that bell.

[Nartak]

Well,funny thing is i started same thing last year,only ended up selling seeds and whole setup before i even unpacked it all to go on holidays,they wouldn't know that and i never got a ring...

[Joker]

Ok, now the paranoia kicked in after reading this post. Like insomniaczzz I have probably got too comfortable. Ordering a lot of grow equipment, seeds etc. But that stuff is very infrequent Gwe on the other hand...I'm on here daily. I know enough about computers / smart phones to use them but not enough to do much else. So is this forum safe for someone like me.or not??? I know the risk I take to grow and use my own weed but still u always think u won't get caught...never been in jail, don't wanna start now.

[Nartak]

The forum is perfectly safe and it does nor require you to take all the measures,this is all for someone who has it tight,like me,im on a 2 year parole and lost my job end of season so theres not much place for mistakes,also im a tehc freak,i want to hide as much as possible because marketing benefits from it way too much,nsa,sniffers etc,wont go chasing potheads and growers if they don't need a huge distraction...Sorry to get you worried...

On the "not so handy" matter,i can help you use either of the vpns (would recommend Cyberghost due to unlimited bandwidth) with a few clicks and photos

[prairie boy]

i read somewhere on the web today that i think 8 more states have gone or are going legal end of 2016, early 2017. in canada we're definitely on our way towards legalization. its got to the point where if you're not selling it on the streets or advertising to everyone you know that your doing it, chances are they're not gonna bug you over a couple plants in your closet. if they leave you alone you continue to work and pay taxes, or they can put you in jail where you're gonna cost them money instead

[Joker]

Also just how much can the law find out about me just by my use of this site ( not talking about dumb clues I give myself).

[Nartak]

From nothing to very much,if you are not using a vpn/proxy to mask your ip you are giving out tons of info right now just by running your browser and having an internet connection...Google cookies will send out what you searched for and thus a toaster add will popup,if you don't clean your cookies anything could be sent out and marketed or sniffed..Now on hi end issues such as nsa etc or hackers,they would have to go through the server of the forum and get your ip,cross it with any physical address it has interacted in the time you posted,locate your DSLAM and ring your door bell :P

[Joker]

Guess I need to figure out how to delete cookies. I've noticed that anything I search for results in those things popping up in ads.

[Nartak]

What browser are you using? if you are using windows there is also a program to do it for you called CCleaner,but i would just start with the built-in browser deletion...

[9fingerleafs]

I believe the real risk is being labeled. Starting on 2017 gun applications gonna have a marijuana related question, (just like when in a job they ask if you have a felony) and I'm sure pretty soon job applications will have it soon. And just like the criminal history the government keeps record of users. Growers. Buyers and sellers. Even if legal in your state. Most likely all of us are in databases that may not be a big deal now. But could have repercussions on long term stuff like public service or overnment branches. I'm sure nobody is planning on working for Uncle Sam. But what if? how you gonna feel when something is denied just cause you where labeled. Its a real problem

[Nartak]

I laughed half way through..Can't apply in my country,will never set up such connections,poor networking for the state and shitty tech support systems..Barely have taxes sites and such standing and crashing like mad....I've already played my wacky card for the army and playing again now for a court case i have,which then leaves me without the possibility to work for any municipal or state/government office,not that i was going to as you said but thats the least...Labeling in a 25k population society it tough and that is one of the problems..

[9fingerleafs]

Yep. I live in a country with more freedom too. But most people around here are from us. And from what I saw living a few months in Chicago. Which I know doesn't represent the whole country. People are very used to been "watched" or controlled. The system is hard and severe over there. Every one claims to have so many rights when actually at any moment and with any explanation they become the enemy. Hard to put into words. But nothing like being fucked by the system without knowing until its too late. Its a country where your checks don't even tell you what the taxes are for

[prairie boy]

all it took for the RCMP to take away my firearms license was an anonymous phone call accusing me of being an addict. no evidence of any kind, not even a dirty piss test, just an accusation. they dont that to drinkers, and alcohol is far more destructive than weed.

[South Sierra Dude]

If I was not in a "legal" state, you would never hear from me on any forum.

This!

[Nartak]

You gotta support the Union

[insomniaczzz]

Also just how much can the law find out about me just by my use of this site ( not talking about dumb clues I give myself).

Like Nartak said, all they need is your IP address. My hubby is the internet protection from being hacked freak. I am going to ask him if he thinks I should use a proxy program. I'm glad you brought it up Nartak. So you recommend Cyberghost? I do delete my cookies and browsing history everyday. Not that I think they are looking, but a computer forensic tech can retrieve anything you think you may have deleted.

[Nartak]

Indeed they can,if the hard drive is not encrypted,which is why i started with Veracrypt and pointed out that it's OpenSource(meaning it can't be bought by ISP's and/or agencies to leak information).They will never open my PHYSICAL Desktop even if im behind bars,or NASA gets involved,it simply wont work without a usb flash drive that holds an encrypted bitlocked key 600 megabytes of encryption worth...It will take them months and thousands lol...

Back to reality,i recocmend cyberghost because i have a cracked version of it (AAARRRRR!!!) and it works like a charm(Besides the torrenting which i don't need to hide where i am so i don't use it)

[MoreNurgzPlz]

WARNING!!!! THAR BE TECHI TALK HERE


LOCAL SECURITY (Your system at home)

Be aware that most countries these days will give you a harsher sentence for refusing to decrypt a HDD than for growing cannabis.

If they come through your front door the game is up.

If you really want to leave no local digital trace then use a read only USB boot image with temporary RAM drive, that way there is never anything to find. The system reverts back to a clean state every reboot. But if they noticed your computer I'm guessing they'll notice your aromatic 5-11 fingered friends.

Also completely agree with changing router admin passwords, do that even if you don't care about security! It's the most basic security measure you can take and is akin to locking your car/home doors. You might also want to update to the latest router firmware.


TRANSNATIONAL SECURITY

PayPal is traceable, use a local hydro shop, get to know them and treat them well and they will order items on your behalf, cash only transactions.

For seeds, if you want to be completely untraceable you'll need to get a P.O. Box or referral service, pay with BitCoin that's been run through several BitCoin mixers and is associated with a different wallet from the one you originally stored the coins in. This is a heavy and involving process so it's more likely you'll just have the seeds sent to your home, in this scenario get lager less frequent batches and pay via posted cash (risk of loss) or BitCoins, mixed are good but straight up purchased are still better than PayPal.

REMOTE SECURITY

You can use a VPN or proxy but you need to trust the provider who is offering the service. They need to keep zero logs and provide a stable enough service or you'll just end up turning it off. Read up on DNS leaks and make sure your VPN software is able to mitigate them or else the web address of every page, pic, link and external reference wil still be trackable.

Nartak You said you were interested in tech so I'll go one step further and suggest you look at getting a VPS (Virtual Private Server) with a supplier that's in a fairly protected country and doesn't keep logs. You can use the server as your own VPN, Proxy, Seedbox, FTPs server, e-mail, etc... You'll have total control over the security of the OS and it will likely be on shared hardware and running through a very busy set of routing interfaces.

An obvious thing to do is not sign up to forums using your Hotmail, Outlook, Yahoo, GMail, Facebook, etc.. accounts. They all use Single-Sign-On services and cookies to track your presence (mostly for marketing reasons). Use a seperate and dedicated email account that doesn't relate to your real world persona.

Don't use facebook. Facebook is a wealth of information about you and provide the opportunity to profile your online presence.

REALITY CHECK

Maintaining a high level of internet anonymity is harder than you think. It's even harder when the online presence and the real world presence collide (such as online ordering).

If you really want to stay safe then:

If I was not in a "legal" state, you would never hear from me on any forum.

GROW SECURITY

mantra: “No smell, no sell, no tell”

Lastly, regarding the fact that GWE isn't HTTPS, NebulaHaze / SiriusFourside could get a free SSL Certificate from https://letsencrypt.org/ but it's something that takes a little time and technical know how to implement and will provide little to no additional protections as the URL's will still be visible and the site itself is publicly accessible and index-able via search engines. Maybe the forum isn't index-able (I've not seen any google results yet that point directly to forum posts).

The only reason now for implementing HTTPS on this site is that at some point soon the the major browser vendors are threatening to lock their browsers down to only displaying sites that are HTTPS secured. That isn't so much an issue for those who are able to switch browsers or disable their default browser behavior but it would significantly limit the sites profile on the wibbly wide web.

[Nartak]

Sweet post

I know about vps,just can't afford one right now in Iceland that i want so im sticking to premium vpn services...Triple hoping(bouncing) and as you said,have a bootloader in a flash hehe..

[insomniaczzz]

I feel like the CIA or worse the SVR is looking over my shoulder. I am impressed by the vast security knowledge of Nartak and MoreNurgzPlz

[MoreNurgzPlz]

Sorry insomniaczzz, it is an uncomfortable subject to think about as you can't help feel like you are being watched.

However 90% of the time I'm relaxed and feel I've done a good job hiding my grow, 10% of the time I think YIKES this is crazy serious they are gonna catch me!

The 10% freak outs keep me sharp and remind me to follow Nebula's “No smell, no sell, no tell” policy, if you are doing the same then you are already doing a great job at avoiding local law enforcement.

Most of the scary sounding agencies who can do the scary data collection/mining/analysis stuff have no interest in our hobby.

Google are watching you, so are Amazon, they know what you do and they are coooool with it. They just like knowing you better than you know yourself so they can either sell you stuff or sell data about you to help other people sell you stuff. Right I'm off to watch that George Carlin sketch about stuff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvgN5gCuLac)

[Nartak]

Hahah dunno about CIA but as Morenurgz said,Google Amazon Ebay,Youtube(Google),Yahoo and all major sites suck everything they can from us,there are several tricks you can use and the most important one is DELETE CHROME - GET FIREFOX(Also provide needed Ram,it's the 21st century lol)

We are being watched,what we like,listen to,read,click,everything,they want to control the whole web,thats why we use the "dark" web (what a term for the most enlightening place ive been) as a weapon of choice,it was their little trick up their sleeve when it all started,now it's all hide n seek..

All that aside,i appreciate "peoples" that keep their nose out my anus and i certainly can live with less details about some of the beings on this world(i.e that Kim family thing America has on tv) so i choose to dig deep into my pc and internet security,slowly day by day changing and learning how to keep my shit,MY shit

[Nartak]

Oh that GC part haha it's so accurate!!

[Nartak]

WARNING!!!! THAR BE TECHI TALK HERE

Lastly, regarding the fact that GWE isn't HTTPS, NebulaHaze / SiriusFourside could get a free SSL Certificate from https://letsencrypt.org/ but it's something that takes a little time and technical know how to implement and will provide little to no additional protections as the URL's will still be visible and the site itself is publicly accessible and index-able via search engines. Maybe the forum isn't index-able (I've not seen any google results yet that point directly to forum posts).

The only reason now for implementing HTTPS on this site is that at some point soon the the major browser vendors are threatening to lock their browsers down to only displaying sites that are HTTPS secured. That isn't so much an issue for those who are able to switch browsers or disable their default browser behavior but it would significantly limit the sites profile on the wibbly wide web.

And here is the answer!




Green started the Word Of The Day thread and he tipped me on gnatt nix,so i google search it and right away,kaboom!!!

NebulaHaze i believe it is time to initiate https certificates....

[Bikerstonrr]

For years I have lived by 'it's not paranoia if they are really after you' lol.

I am only speaking of myself. If you have reasons why you don't want get caught and the consequences therreof (career, family, etc. etc.) Then perhaps Nartak's precautions are for you. This is in no way meant derogatorily. If it was even as little as 10 years ago I would follow Nartak's lead.

That being said what are they going to do to me. I get high with a total of 4 people in my current hometown. I don't/won't sell, I am only bringing one plant to flower at a time. I don't stand on a street corner shouting about how it should be legalised but do support legalisation by vote and contributions. In short I try to fly under the radar.

Finally, what are they going to do to me. I am a 63 year old disabled veteran. I have been shot once, been shot at more times than I can count, benn arrested numerous times (mainly for fighting, D&D etc.). I've lived in places I wouldn't wish on my worst (try a jungle during monsoon) enemy.

All that said I don't really give a rats are, pardon my language. Again this is only for me.

Sorry about the rant but, sometimes we just need to bite the bullet and move on. Grew up smoking weed in upstate New York, during the sixties and seventies these days are a piece of cake.

[Nartak]

Im 27,got two kids,a wife in her 29s a cat and a dog!Plus i get 5 years if it's for personal use and i can prove it,which i can't until i've smoked it lol...I have things to loose!!

Great to have a soul like u among us!

[Bikerstonrr]

I understand entirely. In your place I would be doing the exact same thing. Take care of your family (I consider pets family) and may your God look after and protect you.

[Nartak]

Thank you Biker,i also consider my pets Family!!My son(dog) and my daughter(cat) besides my wife's twin lil girl which i adore !!May we all be blessed and safe to practice our heart's desires

Just for reference,my gob would be sticky yiki hippy lovin humans!Thats the essence i call God!!Peace

[bobsakamoto]

Joker, and everyone else too--if you, unlike Nartak, live in a more relaxed (compared to, say, China) country, i.e., US, Can, etc., i would recommend using only the Tor browser (from Mozilla, same people as Firefox) for internet activity that you don't want tracked as much as "normal" internet activity. Tor is by no means as private as a VPN or the measures Nartak recommended, but it is a BIG improvement over not using it or using private browsing or incognito mode in google/chrome.

i also recommend getting an anonymous or "burner" email for accounts such as this forum. guerrillamail.com is a good one. it sets up a "temporary" email for you that links to no other email affiliated with you, unlike every popular/common email provider. hope that helps....

also, as far as what one may or may not admit to on this forum, again this is for non-China type places, unless you state unequivocally what you are doing in detail--i.e., post pictures with EWM information and caption them "I grew this myself in my home!"--i don't see how vague, carefully worded statements could be incriminating enough to be established to the point of conviction in a court of law. but i'm not a lawyer nor do i play one on TV...

[StickyFingers]

http://bigbudsmag.com/marijuana-detective-nark-journalist-br-guide-to-not-getting-busted/?utm_medium=email_broadcast&utm_source=s.sib.im&utm_campaign=newsletter_promo&utm_content=15dec_article_6_read_now

I'm with Flockshot and South Sierra Dude. If I wasn't in CA or similar I'd never be on any forum no matter how many precautions I'd taken. I'd be laying so low they couldn't dig deep enough to find me. Nartak, losing your wife, dog, and cat (and your freedom) and going to a very nasty prison for five years for a joint? When I was 27 I might have thought about it, at 64 the answer seems obvious. The best laid plans, etc. You might be able to flush a bag of weed as the cops crashed the door. I emphasize the "might". You're sure not gonna flush your grow room if the cops come to say hello. My wife and I are completely legal here. I grow 12 autos and 12 fems inside a 16'x32' chain link dog kennel. The local sheriffs fly around my house in a helicopter in the spring taking pictures of my garden. They fly around in circles until I go outside, then they take my picture as I wave at them and then they fly off. In September they repeat the process. But they've never kicked my door in so I don't worry much about it any more. Guess they just want me to know they're watching.
And what the hell happened to the Chinese guy? Sure hope he's not hanging by his thumbs in a "reorientation center" No kiddin', hope he's okay.
I have found it's a lot more fun to grow cannabis now that I don't have to worry too much about going to jail for doing so, but, as others have said, "If they want you, they'll find a way to get you".