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Can I b traced?...
- Thread starter Potted
- Start date
D.A.A.S.69
New member
My State doesn't either Potted , and with all of the horrible stuff going on it seems to me they already have enough to keep them busy, without having to mess with us. At least I hope.
Beach_Town_Brit
New member
Only Nebula and Sirius can speak to the security of the site's IP logs, or the efficacy of it's image handlers meta-data scrubbing.
Nothing against GWE but I wouldn't trust it 100%.
You could protect yourself with an anonymizing VPN service (I use StrongVPN). With such a service your IP address is obscured and even if someone can find it, it will be false and there won't be any logs on the VPN server to act as evidence to track you. Anyone looking into my internet connection from home sees me as being in Arizona. The problem with VPN is it's just not that easy or convenient. You can get an account, download the client software, but then you have to open that software before you do anything on the web, and do this on every device you use every time you do anything on the internet. Or you could set-up VPN on your home router as I do, but it's a bear to configure, you lose a lot of bandwidth, and then if you connect from another location you're unprotected again.
If you use a phone to access the site there's nothing you can do to ensure anonymity -- the phone companies know all.
All this said, I wouldn't worry about it. We have a bunch of herd security ... there's so many of us across the interwebs that it would be impossible for them to come get us all
Ultimately if I were still in an illegal state I'd be more worried about my neighbors than being targeted on the web.
P.S. Your IP address is unlikely to be recorded in an image's metadata but there may be a log on the servers that host this forum that "could" theoretically link a posted image to your IP. However, that would require some cyber forensics and probably a warrant and hopefully those logs are scrubbed regularly if not immediately.
Nothing against GWE but I wouldn't trust it 100%.
You could protect yourself with an anonymizing VPN service (I use StrongVPN). With such a service your IP address is obscured and even if someone can find it, it will be false and there won't be any logs on the VPN server to act as evidence to track you. Anyone looking into my internet connection from home sees me as being in Arizona. The problem with VPN is it's just not that easy or convenient. You can get an account, download the client software, but then you have to open that software before you do anything on the web, and do this on every device you use every time you do anything on the internet. Or you could set-up VPN on your home router as I do, but it's a bear to configure, you lose a lot of bandwidth, and then if you connect from another location you're unprotected again.
If you use a phone to access the site there's nothing you can do to ensure anonymity -- the phone companies know all.
All this said, I wouldn't worry about it. We have a bunch of herd security ... there's so many of us across the interwebs that it would be impossible for them to come get us all
Ultimately if I were still in an illegal state I'd be more worried about my neighbors than being targeted on the web.
P.S. Your IP address is unlikely to be recorded in an image's metadata but there may be a log on the servers that host this forum that "could" theoretically link a posted image to your IP. However, that would require some cyber forensics and probably a warrant and hopefully those logs are scrubbed regularly if not immediately.
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D.A.A.S.69
New member
Man that's great information BTB, thanks
Ergot
New member
Like BTB said, an images meta data will not record the IP of the person uploading the image but there will (likely) be a log on the server that the image has been uploaded to. If your ISP logs your internet activity like mine, then that would be the biggest worry. However you should be aware, the metadata from an image can be used to link a person with the picture taken, they've matched them up before and prosecuted people because of that link. But what we're doing is at polar opposites to the people who've gone to jail for the link between a camera and an images meta data.
The question I've asked myself is: are they really going to waste resources and man power trying to hunt me down for growing for personal use when there are much bigger and more important criminal issues that people use the internet for. I still take steps to ensure my privacy is protected as best as it can be on the internet but unless you've got some monstrous grow op going on they'll probably be too busy chasing the real criminals.
Sammy makes a good point, this is the clearweb and search sites do go through forums with bots indexing all the content within them, hence why you can find yourself occasionally at the top of google or whoever, so it's worth always remembering to try to not post information that could be used to identify you.
Potted
Guest
If I understand this correctly than if I post a pic. And it can b traced to my IP address,thay won't because of to much volume? If I were a DEA agent looking to score big with my boss I would trace and arrest all after all it's all about numbers,he who makes the most arrests wins. Quotas!!! Just like traffic tickets my .02$
D.A.A.S.69
New member
I might be wrong but i think their after the big boys not the little boys. I tell you what I got 3or 4 days max and if I can make that with no trouble I'm cleaning all my sh-t up and it's out of the house and I'm going back to growing in the woods where it's much safer, I live in the most redneck state in the country though .Damned if y'all ain't done got me scared , just kidding.
D.A.A.S.69
New member
I'm to old to be getting f-cked with by the man Jeg, I like the woods myself ,but that's just me, I know for a fact I sleep a hellava lot better when I do mine in the woods, I can't afford no lawyer. That's like sticking my money up a Wildmans ass never to see it again.
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D.A.A.S.69
New member
Lots of folks in the woods down here where I live, that's normal , you get busted for growing in your house or own your private land , they try to take your land or your house and they have done it before. That's why everyone grows on National Forest land ,they can't take that they already own that. Damned shame it ain't legal here.
berrypilot
New member
🌱 Always better safe than sorry! Don't post anything that could personally identify you! But otherwise, I don't think your standard police office is using VPNs and tracing people's IPs unless you're selling, and probably you'd have to be selling a lot to get that kind of scrutiny from the government. You're much more likely to get caught because you told someone and it gets to the wrong person. The only time I got caught was 30 years ago, and it was because I told my best friend. She didn't mean anything, but she told her husband who told a coworker and next thing we know there's a police officer at the door. We luckily had just harvested so there weren't any live plants, and we didn't have a lot of bud so we basically got off without a lot of consequences. But I think it's more important to try to avoid telling people than almost anything else! I've never told anyone except my husband ever since. 🌱
berrypilot
New member
🌱 Amen! 🌱
D.A.A.S.69
New member
Only time I ever got caught was in 1969 an we was riding around in a 1957 Edsel and it was after midnight ,if not for that damned Edsel we wouldn't have got caught then ,simple possession charge. My lawyer didn't want money ,he wanted Crappie Fillets and Deer backstraps and that's what I paid him with. And the state I live in you can't sell game fish or deer meat.That's why I gave it to him. Trust me ,I ain't worried bout getting caught for being on GWE or someone would have done been caught by now.
Aloner
New member
While I don’t doubt that law enforcement in one form or other monitors sites like this, I don’t think that -- unless someone was to start openly boasting about their massive grow operation and distribution network -- any actual investigation would be opened. Especially here, since it’s pretty obvious that everyone, at least those who post, are “personal use onlyâ€.
An exception would be if someone posted readily identifiable location information about growing in a non-legal area -- say some small county in Arkansas -- and a local cop who just wanted to boost his stats (or a Jeff Sesh-type who belives “good people don’t use marijuana") saw it. I don’t see the Federales wasting time or money to bust up a 1-10 plant grow, especially one where it is legal locally -- they don’t want that fight in the courts just yet. Particularly if it’s a senior citizen growing for medical reasons (good luck spinning that in the media).
Just the number of subpoenas they would need to try to connect someone to an image uploaded to a site like imgur and an account here would be daunting considering the limited returns a successful prosecution would bring.
I’m not saying don’t be cautious, just that someone really worried about things like that shouldn’t create an account here in the first place.
Disclaimer:
I am only on my first grow so I obviously don't know dick about shit.
An exception would be if someone posted readily identifiable location information about growing in a non-legal area -- say some small county in Arkansas -- and a local cop who just wanted to boost his stats (or a Jeff Sesh-type who belives “good people don’t use marijuana") saw it. I don’t see the Federales wasting time or money to bust up a 1-10 plant grow, especially one where it is legal locally -- they don’t want that fight in the courts just yet. Particularly if it’s a senior citizen growing for medical reasons (good luck spinning that in the media).
Just the number of subpoenas they would need to try to connect someone to an image uploaded to a site like imgur and an account here would be daunting considering the limited returns a successful prosecution would bring.
I’m not saying don’t be cautious, just that someone really worried about things like that shouldn’t create an account here in the first place.
Disclaimer:
I am only on my first grow so I obviously don't know dick about shit.
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D.A.A.S.69
New member
I agree with you there Aloner ,you better look out for them gung ho young law men. I don't think ,at least I hope that ass kissing AT ain't gonna be in there to long along with his boss when they get through with their investigations.