ATS Compromised - Mysterious Post Editing

[SomeJackleg]

That sounds like the old RT. If he has been like that more recently, perhaps I was wrong. He is spouting a lot of propaganda lately and seems pretty heavy handed in his approach too. Maybe it is still the old RT and he has had something happen, or not, it just seems like it isn't him to me.

the troll has always played russia is the greatest even before the war started. and he'll lie through his teeth quick and when called on it with undeniable sources to prove he's wrong use's veiled insults and then go cry to the mods when someone fires back. why they let him stay and not bashed his head with the ban hammer  beats the hell out of me.

oh and the reason he disappeared he was called up so he says. he also claims to be a free lance journalist who has to get permission before he can publish articles

[Infolurker]

Earlier today, an ATS member created a thread in the Board Business and Questions Forum about getting everyone's attention on a serious matter. He said that at the end of one of his posts, it was edited. It includes another two paragraphs of comments he never made.

I remember (because I commented on it) a thread here going on about the ATS crazy months ago (maybe almost a year ago) where there were reports of user comments being modified with stuff they did not say. 

No thanks. I am more back to lurking than posting except on those occasions I post a few here that I find pretty good.

[xuenchen]

Another ATS "Problem" is anyone who joined with a new account around June 1st and later can't receive an initial password to login!!!! That means no new members are being allowed. They claim it's a server glitch. The problem is verified by going to the Members list and going to the last page then backing to around June 1st. No posts from any new Members!!! ROFLOLz 

[Michigan Swamp Buck]

Another ATS "Problem" is anyone who joined with a new account around June 1st and later can't receive an initial password to login!!!! That means no new members are being allowed. They claim it's a server glitch. The problem is verified by going to the Members list and going to the last page then backing to around June 1st. No posts from any new Members!!! ROFLOLz 

I see, in the List of ATS members in good standing, page 6533. But even those members who joined back in May, who have posts and threads listed on the Members Page, don't have a profile. I searched the members and found my old and new profiles, but not the latest members' profiles apparently.

It was glitching out way before June though, before April even, with some of the new members having their last visit on December 31, 1969.

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

Another ATS "Problem" is anyone who joined with a new account around June 1st and later can't receive an initial password to login!!!! That means no new members are being allowed. They claim it's a server glitch. The problem is verified by going to the Members list and going to the last page then backing to around June 1st. No posts from any new Members!!! ROFLOLz 

I see, in the List of ATS members in good standing, page 6533. But even those members who joined back in May, who have posts and threads listed on the Members Page, don't have a profile. I searched the members and found my old and new profiles, but not the latest members' profiles apparently.

It was glitching out way before June though, before April even, with some of the new members having their last visit on December 31, 1969.

I didn't sign up again after the major glitch. I was reducing my internet presence, and it did not feel right at the time.

Now it looks like the entry door has been locked.

From what I understand DTOM was able to launch an ark with Deny Ignorance, so a remnant of the old crew remains.

And a remnant lurks in the shadows.

[xuenchen]

ATS has become a dangling carrot site  

[FlickerOfLight]

I've been watching that site and there is all kinds of weirdness going on there now. Everything from the highly political content to all those new users who have taken over and are now controlling that narrative. 

I did do a little experiment for this thread. I've been playing with a new tracker blocker, vpn, anti-hacker software. It basically shows me how many trackers and weird things it has going on with the site. My results were quite interesting. 

First off, I tried rogue-nation. 
Got nothing at all. Natta. Zip.

I jumped on ATS, and it was like watching fireworks go off with all kinds of blocks of trackers and other weird stuff that it just blocks for me.

Thennnnn I went to denyignorance.com....
My blocker went crazy and about crashed my phone. 

Wow. That was wild.

Stay off those sites.


Either this site is actually "clean," or the designer of the site is a master of digital disguise. 

I'd highly recommend staying off of denyignorance.com. 

Js

ETA: at first I didn't think anything of it, but something kept nagging at me. I did some more experimenting.

Any site I go to my "things blocked" goes up. Some go up as low as 6 particular trackers, or adds or something suspicious, or as high as denyignorance.com which jumped up to 223 things blocked. But every site I got some reaction from.

Except this one.

Each time I come here and leave, natta. As if I hadn't even been on a site. But the 20 other places I just visited got something.

Weird...

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

I've been watching that site and there is all kinds of weirdness going on there now. Everything from the highly political content to all those new users who have taken over and are now controlling that narrative. 

I did do a little experiment for this thread. I've been playing with a new tracker blocker, vpn, anti-hacker software. It basically shows me how many trackers and weird things it has going on with the site. My results were quite interesting. 

First off, I tried rogue-nation. 
Got nothing at all. Natta. Zip.

I jumped on ATS, and it was like watching fireworks go off with all kinds of blocks of trackers and other weird stuff that it just blocks for me.

Thennnnn I went to denyignorance.com....
My blocker went crazy and about crashed my phone. 

Wow. That was wild.

Stay off those sites.


Either this site is actually "clean," or the designer of the site is a master of digital disguise. 

I'd highly recommend staying off of denyignorance.com. 

Js

ETA: at first I didn't think anything of it, but something kept nagging at me. I did some more experimenting.

Any site I go to my "things blocked" goes up. Some go up as low as 6 particular trackers, or adds or  something suspicious, or as high as denyignorance.com which jumped up to 223 things blocked. But every site I got some reaction from.

Except this one.

Each time I come here and leave, natta. As if I hadn't even been on a site. But the 20 other places I just visited got something.

Weird...

Why do you think that is?

I severely decreased my internet footprint, only because the whole place is just an echo chamber set up for the purpose of brainwashing us all to be willful but controlled pawns and syncophants.

The internet is not a safe place, and though I have no clue how to get there, it is beginning to look like the dark web is safer.

At least when you walk into a shithouse, you know what you are going to find.

[FlickerOfLight]

I've been watching that site and there is all kinds of weirdness going on there now. Everything from the highly political content to all those new users who have taken over and are now controlling that narrative. 

I did do a little experiment for this thread. I've been playing with a new tracker blocker, vpn, anti-hacker software. It basically shows me how many trackers and weird things it has going on with the site. My results were quite interesting. 

First off, I tried rogue-nation. 
Got nothing at all. Natta. Zip.

I jumped on ATS, and it was like watching fireworks go off with all kinds of blocks of trackers and other weird stuff that it just blocks for me.

Thennnnn I went to denyignorance.com....
My blocker went crazy and about crashed my phone. 

Wow. That was wild.

Stay off those sites.


Either this site is actually "clean," or the designer of the site is a master of digital disguise. 

I'd highly recommend staying off of denyignorance.com. 

Js

ETA: at first I didn't think anything of it, but something kept nagging at me. I did some more experimenting.

Any site I go to my "things blocked" goes up. Some go up as low as 6 particular trackers, or adds or  something suspicious, or as high as denyignorance.com which jumped up to 223 things blocked. But every site I got some reaction from.

Except this one.

Each time I come here and leave, natta. As if I hadn't even been on a site. But the 20 other places I just visited got something.

Weird...

Why do you think that is?

I severely decreased my internet footprint, only because the whole place is just an echo chamber set up for the purpose of brainwashing us all to be willful but controlled pawns and syncophants.

The internet is not a safe place, and though I have no clue how to get there, it is beginning to look like the dark web is safer.

At least when you walk into a shithouse, you know what you are going to find.

 I adore your mind. You and I would be buds. 

Time's they is a'changin'. Damn internet isnt even reliable to get information from anymore. Not safe to do anything. 


I'm almost wondering if the guberment isnt behind this one. 

It's like a ghost. Absolutely nothing comes up. I keep trying different sites. Everything but this one has some reaction.

Beyond weird.

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

Time's they is a'changin'. Damn internet isnt even reliable to get information from anymore. Not safe to do anything. 

Yep. Maybe it has always been that way.

Tomayto - Tomahto.
Matrix - World Wide Web.

A rose by any other name.

Are we loving our gilded cage yet. Don't worry. We can check out anytime we like.

[RichardHurt]

Russia, or whomever, I'm not certain. Maybe it is just a feeling that on ATS these days, something is lurking around the corner, ready to pounce on its next victims. It is run down and seedy like it has become some nasty alleyway you avoid at all times day or night. Or it is like some speakeasy after-hours type bar where the bouncers kick you out because one of the regulars doesn't like how you look.

I joined ATS in 2009. I still lurk for brief periods. Since I long opted out of joining any new sites, forums, and apps, I chose not to re-sign up with ATS.

I admit that it does not feel the same. Many posts from the old timers don't always sound like them, at times, and it does feel more like the old park or tavern where everyone hung out until they went off to university. That they visit when they come home for nostalgia's sake, but there is not real connection anymore.

I miss a lot of the members, the site, not so much.

Since ATS went off the rails it has been hunting grounds for the far right. I have spoken with members that are still active on those threads and both of them go out of ones way to report any member leaning left as posting offensive material. Even a temp ban is perm now. And there is no remedy to get out of a temp ban nor a way to create a new account. It is a echo chamber done by design by a few members exploiting the current lack of system support. And as far as I can tell from lurking the mods don't seem to mind or maybe even support it.

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

Russia, or whomever, I'm not certain. Maybe it is just a feeling that on ATS these days, something is lurking around the corner, ready to pounce on its next victims. It is run down and seedy like it has become some nasty alleyway you avoid at all times day or night. Or it is like some speakeasy after-hours type bar where the bouncers kick you out because one of the regulars doesn't like how you look.

I joined ATS in 2009. I still lurk for brief periods. Since I long opted out of joining any new sites, forums, and apps, I chose not to re-sign up with ATS.

I admit that it does not feel the same. Many posts from the old timers don't always sound like them, at times, and it does feel more like the old park or tavern where everyone hung out until they went off to university. That they visit when they come home for nostalgia's sake, but there is not real connection anymore.

I miss a lot of the members, the site, not so much.

Since ATS went off the rails it has been hunting grounds for the far right. I have spoken with members that are still active on those threads and both of them go out of ones way to report any member leaning left as posting offensive material. Even a temp ban is perm now. And there is no remedy to get out of a temp ban nor a way to create a new account. It is a echo chamber done by design by a few members exploiting the current lack of system support. And as far as I can tell from lurking the mods don't seem to mind or maybe even support it.

As an old broad, I have learned that nothing last forever.

It was a good ride, and it was fun while it lasted. Maybe it is just time to put the old girl to bed.

[gortex]

I've noticed no difference in RT , I believe he is Russian and may be closer to the Kremlin then we think , not inside but connections as he is a journalist.

The Troll posted a thread in Politicians and People a couple of days ago regarding Zelensky's wife and the Bugatti Turbillon she was alleged to have bought complete with a receipt from Bugatti , it's fake news and the evidence to show it's fake news was posted by a couple of members but even after being outed as Russian propaganda the thread still remains , ATS may have been saved for another year but nobody (Mods) seems to care anymore they're just happily pushing their new baby.
 

[Ninurta]

I've been watching that site and there is all kinds of weirdness going on there now. Everything from the highly political content to all those new users who have taken over and are now controlling that narrative. 

I did do a little experiment for this thread. I've been playing with a new tracker blocker, vpn, anti-hacker software. It basically shows me how many trackers and weird things it has going on with the site. My results were quite interesting. 

First off, I tried rogue-nation. 
Got nothing at all. Natta. Zip.

I jumped on ATS, and it was like watching fireworks go off with all kinds of blocks of trackers and other weird stuff that it just blocks for me.

Thennnnn I went to denyignorance.com....
My blocker went crazy and about crashed my phone. 

Wow. That was wild.

Stay off those sites.


Either this site is actually "clean," or the designer of the site is a master of digital disguise. 

I'd highly recommend staying off of denyignorance.com. 

Js

ETA: at first I didn't think anything of it, but something kept nagging at me. I did some more experimenting.

Any site I go to my "things blocked" goes up. Some go up as low as 6 particular trackers, or adds or  something suspicious, or as high as denyignorance.com which jumped up to 223 things blocked. But every site I got some reaction from.

Except this one.

Each time I come here and leave, natta. As if I hadn't even been on a site. But the 20 other places I just visited got something.

Weird...

I would say that a lot of that, although perhaps not all of it, is adware spyware trackers. We don't run ads, and are not beholden to Google for revenue. We are entirely member-supported. No ads means no adware spyware trackers here.

ATS has always been ad-supported. Lots of adware spyware trackers there. I don't know about Deny Ignorance, but suspect they probably run ads, too, and so will have the adware spyware trackers if they do, especially if their ad server is Google.

Ad serving companies have a real thing for tracking you across the internet. If they know where you go, what you read, then they can target you with specific ads. Consequently, they track your every move across the internet, and over time build a "profile" of you to target you more closely.

It's like bracketing a small knot of civilians with mortar fire, the last round of which obliterates them by being right on target.

Another site you might check your blockers on is Facebook. They do a lot of targeting and profile-building, too. Yet another one is YouTube.

Let me tell a little tale about recent interactions with YouTube. A couple of weeks ago, I was minding my own business, and just listening to music from the 60's and 70's on YouTube, on my computer. Within about 16 hours, my TV started serving me ads while streaming for Vevo's "70's channel" streaming service. That was on the "Pluto" streaming service, but probably spilled across all the rest of them once Pluto got my number and linked my TV to my "ad profile".

I got to wondering "how did they do that? Link my TV ownership to my computer ownership?" The ads were only on MY TV, here in my living room, not Grace's TV in the bed  room. How could they tell the difference, seeing that both are at the same IP. How dod YouTube know which of us was watching what, and how did the streaming services discriminate between the two of us to only serve those ads to me?

Then it dawned upon me. My e-mail account. YouTube is owned by Google. If you sign in to Gmail, you are automatically signed in to YouTube as well. Both are linked to your Google account. Any Google service you sign into automatically signs you into all of the other Google services, across the board.

When I made my Pluto account, I used my real email address.

That's how they targeted me. They added my biological and cultural distinctiveness to their collective via my email address on different devices. Google is the Borg Collective. Now we are all Borg. We have been assimilated. Resistance is futile.

Have you wondered why, at damned near every site on the internet for the past couple of years, they all push the ability to "sign in with your Google or Facebook account"? That's why. Once you do that (which I have NEVER done!) you have been assimilated. Your biological, cultural, and technological distinctiveness has been added to the Collective.

You are then Borg.

When you "Sign in with Google or Facebook", it sets a "super cookie" on YOUR COMPUTER. Then they no longer have to rely on site-based trackers to track your every move. The super cookie itself logs every site you visit, every page on that site you read, and then "phones home" with the information to be added to your ad profile. Super cookies cannot be deleted via the normal cookie channels, and their size is not limited as is the size of normal cookies. You can "delete all cookies" from your browser cache, and NONE of the "super cookies" will be deleted or affected in the least. They have to be sought and destroyed individually and specifically.

Super cookies have no expiration date in addition to not being deleteable via normal channels. So they just sit there on YOUR COMPUTER, spying on you and phoning home, month after month, year after year, until they are hunted down and eradicated manually.

For technical reasons, I have only been able to run old, outdated browsers for the last little while. I've notice that has broken a lot of websites for me, but not others. Why is that? It's because the old outdated browsers I am running are unable to comply with the demands of the trackers inherently, not to mention the tracker and ad blockers I am running on them.

The site don't like that. They refuse to serve me the pages, instead putting up a block wall demanding that I update my browser. Why is that? It's because my browser is unable to comply with their recent trackers. That drives them nucking futs.

But RN has no ads. Therefore, we also have no adware spyware trackers. It's not that we've specially designed the site not to track, it's just that we haven't invited the adware spyware riffraff in...

... and THEY are the ones doing the tracking. What we have done is to specifically block third-party tracking adware from setting trackers either here or on your computer through RN, and we've done that through two separate mechanisms.

Why did YouTube recently serve me an ad (which I STRONGLY suspect was actually sponsored by ATF as a honeypot trap) for what amounts to an illegal firearms silencer? Why does Facebook constantly serve me ads for The Special Forces Association and The Ranger Association? It's because they are watching me through their trackers. They are building a profile on me. They are using that profile to target me specifically with what Google believes to be on-target ads.

We are the Borg. You will be assimilated. Your biological and cultural distinctiveness will be added to our collective. Resistance is futile. We are the Borg.

RN has actually be structured somewhat specifically to BLOCK nosy trackers. You know how, when you first come to RN, you have to actually click on a "MyBB" link before you can get in? That's by design, and designed to thwart trackers and hackers. We did that when we set up RN because of an unpleasant experience with Romanian hackers at our previous site "Rogue-Nation3". They infiltrated and wrecked the site, then demanded a 5,000 dollar ransom to "fix" it, which is why we now have Rogue-Nation. RN3 is still there to be read, but we blocked write access to it, so no new posts can be made there.

ETA: CAVEAT - While RN does not allow trackers to be set, if your computer has already been infiltrated by trackers from other sites, especially if it has been infected by "super cookies", then your visits here, and what you read here, WILL be logged and phoned in to the trackers. It's not us doing it, it's the trackers previously set by other sites doing it. While we are "clean", if your machine is not, then it will report visits here and threads read to the trackers all the same, because of trackers set by those other sites visited which we are powerless to eradicate from your computer. Only you can do that, yourself, manually.

.

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

Most are either in denial, or deliberately ignorant of just how deep we have sunk in the quicksand.

As @"Ninurta"#2 said. Resistance is futile. Even if you go cold turkey and cut the cord, they will still be watching you. They are still in control.

[Ninurta]

Most are either in denial, or deliberately ignorant of just how deep we have sunk in the quicksand.

As @"Ninurta"#2 said. Resistance is futile. Even if you go cold turkey and cut the cord, they will still be watching you. They are still in control.

Actually, "going dark" paradoxically puts a spotlight on you, and draws "their" attention TO you. They want to know suddenly WHY you are going dark - what you may be hiding, or who you may be hiding FROM. It actually cause them to suddenly concentrate on you, in order to find out more about you and what you may be up to.

They will then find alternative means to dig into you, your life, your history, and your activities, and they will concentrate more fully on you.

It's just the way a Surveillance State works. They get you to spy on yourself, and report back in.

"We have met the Stasi,and they are us".

It's better to leave a false breadcrumb trail than it is to go completely dark. That allows you to blend into the crowd, and keeps them from developing too much inordinate interest in you.

As an example, I became an object of curiosity because I did not have a "smart phone" when everyone else did. They wondered why it was that I didn't particularly care to be tracked via an omnipresent smart phone link to the Borg Collective. The solution was not to go even darker, it was to GET a "smart phone", and then meticulously control where it went and what it did to reassure them that I was not really very interesting. My smart phone does not go everywhere I do. It only goes to the grocery store, the doctor's office, and home. I have a very boring life... because my phone does not go anywhere else that I might go. I don't turn it off or pull out the battery, because that would excite more interest. Instead, I leave it laying at home, turned on but not moving, whenever I go where there may be dragons.

Turning the phone off or pulling the battery excites interest - It's just a form of temporarily "going dark", which piques their curiosity. So I leave it on, but laying at home, so that they "know" that I'm sitting there watching TV or something, just being my usual boring self. After all, who goes out and about these days without taking their phone with them? Therefore I MUST be sitting at home, doing nothing. Right?

It goes to the grocery store and the doctor's office with  me just like everyone else, so clearly it MUST be joined to my hip like a Siamese Twin just like everyone else, right?

If my phone is at home, and my TV is on serving targeted ads to me, then clearly I MUST be sitting at home watching TV, right?

Nor do I surf the web on it, or anything of the sort. I use it ONLY to talk to people, or to take the occasional photo. Then I make sure they know I am just a boring Luddite, and the reason it's not being used for other purposes is because "I don't know how". Us Old Farts can get away with that, because it fits the stereotype, it fits their "profile" and makes it make sense to them.

Problem solved, curiosity laid to rest. Just another boring day in Retirementville. Don't watch that one too closely, because his life is so boring it could put you to sleep! We have all the evidence of how boring he is right here - one trip a week to the grocery store, one trip every couple of months to the doctor's office, and the rest of the time he's at home watching TV...

.

[nerb]

Most are either in denial, or deliberately ignorant of just how deep we have sunk in the quicksand.

As @"Ninurta"#2 said. Resistance is futile. Even if you go cold turkey and cut the cord, they will still be watching you. They are still in control.

Actually, "going dark" paradoxically puts a spotlight on you, and draws "their" attention TO you. They want to know suddenly WHY you are going dark - what you may be hiding, or who you may be hiding FROM. It actually cause them to suddenly concentrate on you, in order to find out more about you and what you may be up to.

They will then find alternative means to dig into you, your life, your history, and your activities, and they will concentrate more fully on you.

It's just the way a Surveillance State works. They get you to spy on yourself, and report back in.

"We have met the Stasi,and they are us".

It's better to leave a false breadcrumb trail than it is to go completely dark. That allows you to blend into the crowd, and keeps them from developing too much inordinate interest in you.

As an example, I became an object of curiosity because I did not have a "smart phone" when everyone else did. They wondered why it was that I didn't particularly care to be tracked via an omnipresent smart phone link to the Borg Collective. The solution was not to go even darker, it was to GET a "smart phone", and then meticulously control where it went and what it did to reassure them that I was not really very interesting. My smart phone does not go everywhere I do. It only goes to the grocery store, the doctor's office, and home. I have a very boring life... because my phone does not go anywhere else that I might go. I don't turn it off or pull out the battery, because that would excite more interest. Instead, I leave it laying at home, turned on but not moving, whenever I go where there may be dragons.

Turning the phone off or pulling the battery excites interest - It's just a form of temporarily "going dark", which piques their curiosity. So I leave it on, but laying at home, so that they "know" that I'm sitting there watching TV or something, just being my usual boring self. After all, who goes out and about these days without taking their phone with them? Therefore I MUST be sitting at home, doing nothing. Right?

It goes to the grocery store and the doctor's office with  me just like everyone else, so clearly it MUST be joined to my hip like a Siamese Twin just like everyone else, right?

If my phone is at home, and my TV is on serving targeted ads to me, then clearly I MUST be sitting at home watching TV, right?

Nor do I surf the web on it, or anything of the sort. I use it ONLY to talk to people, or to take the occasional photo. Then I make sure they know I am just a boring Luddite, and the reason it's not being used for other purposes is because "I don't know how". Us Old Farts can get away with that, because it fits the stereotype, it fits their "profile" and makes it make sense to them.

Problem solved, curiosity laid to rest. Just another boring day in Retirementville. Don't watch that one too closely, because his life is so boring it could put you to sleep! We have all the evidence of how boring he is right here - one trip a week to the grocery store, one trip every couple of months to the doctor's office, and the rest of the time he's at home watching TV...

.

Nice to see another person who doesn't live by a mobile and that they are the smart one not the phone.

Personally, I believe our footprint with those things is all about habit. If we break from our habit, that's what peaks the interest of an algorithm.

Right from the start when I got a smartphone it ONLY follows me out and about when I have taken a picture of g**gle maps on my pc screen and need to find an address when seeking. I don't use it for any kind of online anything. Otherwise it is always switched off and sitting on a table except when I am forced to receive a text with a code to prove I am who I am while logging in to various sites, for an alarm clock or as a camera.

I also have a rubbish signal where I am in the middle of nowhere here in rural France so that's a put off for starters.

Tiny weeny footprint that hardly moves. Flying under the radar so to speak.

Regarding ATS, I have over the years deleted all and any images I had uploaded and given it a rest for a while after the few times I got annoyed at how it was being run and needed to cut the cord. I go back and I start again with a clean slate and then begin uploading any relevant images for my new postings, mainly my art. So I have never really screwed up a thread by creating blank spaces in anything important.

I am a Phoenix. I crash and burn and rise again... lol

I rose here. Nice calm place.

Cheers.

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

Most are either in denial, or deliberately ignorant of just how deep we have sunk in the quicksand.

As @"Ninurta"#2 said. Resistance is futile. Even if you go cold turkey and cut the cord, they will still be watching you. They are still in control.

Actually, "going dark" paradoxically puts a spotlight on you, and draws "their" attention TO you. They want to know suddenly WHY you are going dark - what you may be hiding, or who you may be hiding FROM. It actually cause them to suddenly concentrate on you, in order to find out more about you and what you may be up to.

They will then find alternative means to dig into you, your life, your history, and your activities, and they will concentrate more fully on you.

It's just the way a Surveillance State works. They get you to spy on yourself, and report back in.

"We have met the Stasi,and they are us".

It's better to leave a false breadcrumb trail than it is to go completely dark. That allows you to blend into the crowd, and keeps them from developing too much inordinate interest in you.

As an example, I became an object of curiosity because I did not have a "smart phone" when everyone else did. They wondered why it was that I didn't particularly care to be tracked via an omnipresent smart phone link to the Borg Collective. The solution was not to go even darker, it was to GET a "smart phone", and then meticulously control where it went and what it did to reassure them that I was not really very interesting. My smart phone does not go everywhere I do. It only goes to the grocery store, the doctor's office, and home. I have a very boring life... because my phone does not go anywhere else that I might go. I don't turn it off or pull out the battery, because that would excite more interest. Instead, I leave it laying at home, turned on but not moving, whenever I go where there may be dragons.

Turning the phone off or pulling the battery excites interest - It's just a form of temporarily "going dark", which piques their curiosity. So I leave it on, but laying at home, so that they "know" that I'm sitting there watching TV or something, just being my usual boring self. After all, who goes out and about these days without taking their phone with them? Therefore I MUST be sitting at home, doing nothing. Right?

It goes to the grocery store and the doctor's office with  me just like everyone else, so clearly it MUST be joined to my hip like a Siamese Twin just like everyone else, right?

If my phone is at home, and my TV is on serving targeted ads to me, then clearly I MUST be sitting at home watching TV, right?

Nor do I surf the web on it, or anything of the sort. I use it ONLY to talk to people, or to take the occasional photo. Then I make sure they know I am just a boring Luddite, and the reason it's not being used for other purposes is because "I don't know how". Us Old Farts can get away with that, because it fits the stereotype, it fits their "profile" and makes it make sense to them.

Problem solved, curiosity laid to rest. Just another boring day in Retirementville. Don't watch that one too closely, because his life is so boring it could put you to sleep! We have all the evidence of how boring he is right here - one trip a week to the grocery store, one trip every couple of months to the doctor's office, and the rest of the time he's at home watching TV...

.

Nice to see another person who doesn't live by a mobile and that they are the smart one not the phone.

Personally, I believe our footprint with those things is all about habit. If we break from our habit, that's what peaks the interest of an algorithm.

Right from the start when I got a smartphone it ONLY follows me out and about when I have taken a picture of g**gle maps on my pc screen and need to find an address when seeking. I don't use it for any kind of online anything. Otherwise it is always switched off and sitting on a table except when I am forced to receive a text with a code to prove I am who I am while logging in to various sites, for an alarm clock or as a camera.

I also have a rubbish signal where I am in the middle of nowhere here in rural France so that's a put off for starters.

Tiny weeny footprint that hardly moves. Flying under the radar so to speak.

Regarding ATS, I have over the years deleted all and any images I had uploaded and given it a rest for a while after the few times I got annoyed at how it was being run and needed to cut the cord. I go back and I start again with a clean slate and then begin uploading any relevant images for my new postings, mainly my art. So I have never really screwed up a thread by creating blank spaces in anything important.

I am a Phoenix. I crash and burn and rise again... lol

I rose here. Nice calm place.

Cheers.

We have had our moments.

But usually it is a nice calm place.

[FlickerOfLight]

Most are either in denial, or deliberately ignorant of just how deep we have sunk in the quicksand.

As @"Ninurta"#2 said. Resistance is futile. Even if you go cold turkey and cut the cord, they will still be watching you. They are still in control.

Actually, "going dark" paradoxically puts a spotlight on you, and draws "their" attention TO you. They want to know suddenly WHY you are going dark - what you may be hiding, or who you may be hiding FROM. It actually cause them to suddenly concentrate on you, in order to find out more about you and what you may be up to.

They will then find alternative means to dig into you, your life, your history, and your activities, and they will concentrate more fully on you.

It's just the way a Surveillance State works. They get you to spy on yourself, and report back in.

"We have met the Stasi,and they are us".

It's better to leave a false breadcrumb trail than it is to go completely dark. That allows you to blend into the crowd, and keeps them from developing too much inordinate interest in you.

As an example, I became an object of curiosity because I did not have a "smart phone" when everyone else did. They wondered why it was that I didn't particularly care to be tracked via an omnipresent smart phone link to the Borg Collective. The solution was not to go even darker, it was to GET a "smart phone", and then meticulously control where it went and what it did to reassure them that I was not really very interesting. My smart phone does not go everywhere I do. It only goes to the grocery store, the doctor's office, and home. I have a very boring life... because my phone does not go anywhere else that I might go. I don't turn it off or pull out the battery, because that would excite more interest. Instead, I leave it laying at home, turned on but not moving, whenever I go where there may be dragons.

Turning the phone off or pulling the battery excites interest - It's just a form of temporarily "going dark", which piques their curiosity. So I leave it on, but laying at home, so that they "know" that I'm sitting there watching TV or something, just being my usual boring self. After all, who goes out and about these days without taking their phone with them? Therefore I MUST be sitting at home, doing nothing. Right?

It goes to the grocery store and the doctor's office with  me just like everyone else, so clearly it MUST be joined to my hip like a Siamese Twin just like everyone else, right?

If my phone is at home, and my TV is on serving targeted ads to me, then clearly I MUST be sitting at home watching TV, right?

Nor do I surf the web on it, or anything of the sort. I use it ONLY to talk to people, or to take the occasional photo. Then I make sure they know I am just a boring Luddite, and the reason it's not being used for other purposes is because "I don't know how". Us Old Farts can get away with that, because it fits the stereotype, it fits their "profile" and makes it make sense to them.

Problem solved, curiosity laid to rest. Just another boring day in Retirementville. Don't watch that one too closely, because his life is so boring it could put you to sleep! We have all the evidence of how boring he is right here - one trip a week to the grocery store, one trip every couple of months to the doctor's office, and the rest of the time he's at home watching TV...

.

Ahh hell, then I'm really on the radar. I am constantly turning my phone off, pulling out the battery and going dark. There's even days I'll unplug everything. That way there's no "noise" I don't know about. But I don't like being watched all the time like that so I just turn my phone off. Sometimes for a day at a time. There's not much in my house that I could be monitored with other than this phone and a laptop, and maybe my shark vacuum and the tvs.

I'll unplug all that spy crap. I'm not doing shit wrong. Let them waste all their time money resources and energy just to find out I'm in here reading my Bible, minding my own damn business and being a "good boy." 

I have always had unusual habits about these phones. We never trusted them. I've just learned to put it away. Not take it with me everywhere. I'll turn it off and put it in a drawer so I don't instinctively go reaching for it.

I don't do any social media other than here.

I'm extremely boring. Non affiliated, non political non religious. But no, I will not be their slave. Ever.

I have noticed something new with my anti-hacker software and this site. If I just visit I don't pick anything up. If I participate I start to get adds and trackers. If I participate and leave and leave the site on my browser history it will continue to draw data, send adds and trackers. Once I remove the site from my history it all stops.

Things I type in here always pop up on my youtube feed. Things I talk about here are picked up on and I'll start seeing them in youtube and even my news feed will try and match up to some of our conversations on this site.

Probably the Gmail thing. I need to dump that account.

[FlickerOfLight]

I was just on here to respond to one post. When I got off the site my add tracker blocker jumped up almost 100 points. The biggest spike I've seen by far.

Last night I did the same exact thing and got nothing. 

Today it jumped up by 87 blocked items.