On privacy

D

DroponRequest

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Jan 10, 2020
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Hello I am someone aspiring to be in SOF. I am looking for some answers about some questions about online security, especially for SOF:
There is probably a profile on me in an NSA or some hacker's database. It may describe my habits and political preferences. Google knows I am interested in military with its targeted ads. What I am wondering is if DoD knows everything about me, does this matter, and how careful I need to be. Does DoD have access to my camera feeds to interactions with friends and family? Like any kid I have done some dumb stuff but I have had the bad luck of it probably being captured online. I also want to know if I should start using a VPN, Tor, or am I being too paranoid?
 
And before anyone’s spicy senses go off I’m not a total freak, just interested in what precautions I should take online.
 
It's a good habit to protect your identity and online presence regardless of interest in the military or not. You never know whose watching and identity theft is a very real thing. However as @lindy said why do you think the DoD or really whatever alphabet agency of your choosing has a vested interest in you?

I'm just a guy on the internet so take what I'm about to say with whatever salt you want.

If you have things out there that you're not proud of, it's already too late. Nothing ever really disappears from the internet, and in terms of being monitored, if Vasily from Vladivostok can watch you on your webcam what do you think the government can do?

But then again why you?
 
When I made it through the SWCC pipeline, NSW intelligence made a point to scrub the internet on each of us and show EVERYTHING in hopes that we can make better choices going forward, and to educate those around us to keep their mouths shut about us.

Before I joined, I went through and manually edited or
Deleted every single thing I have ever posted on social media. Deactivating or deleting your account DOES NOT WORK. If you delete your account whatever it was will still show up on a google search or Facebook can pull it back up.

Go through and spend hours editing and deleting posts one by one. Remove all family members, locations, full frontal pictures.

You aren’t wrong to be paranoid. The more paranoid the better. Our older generation might not think it is as important, but we are now living in the age where cyber warfare is everything, and information in any form will be used against us.


Key words that are used on social media or even in your text messages can pull up red flags on you. We can’t bring our cell phones into secret clearance areas because our phones could potentially be used to listen to conversations or pull up pictures and videos.
 
Also, most of the time instructors will look each of your classmates up. If he finds dirt on you it will
be bad, especially if you are posting stuff like, “FUTURE NAVY SEAL!” Type stuff. In some cases they just will drop you, or not give you a contract at all.
 
SaintKP said:
It's a good habit to protect your identity and online presence regardless of interest in the military or not. You never know whose watching and identity theft is a very real thing. However as @lindy said why do you think the DoD or really whatever alphabet agency of your choosing has a vested interest in you?
Click to expand...
Knowing that Ranger Regiment is an organization with high standards of conduct I would hate to have my dreams smashed because of online immaturity.
 
Arf said:
Our older generation might not think it is as important, but we are now living in the age where cyber warfare is everything, and information in any form will be used against us.
Click to expand...

If you’re the head of a military org, yeah, sure but a high school kid with a desire to serve in the Regiment, no. Nobody’s gonna Cyber ya. Juice ain’t worth the squeeze.

So what if some rando dude‘s dick pics get posted. Get in line. The mere fact that a company convince THE WORLD to upload photos to a 3rd party site, ever issued a driver’s license, or crossed a border, etc and suddenly facial recognition is a real thing...coincidence?

I‘m not saying be stupid but movies are just that. You’d be surprised how many times “holy shit, it worked?” is actually uttered.
 
I don’t think that the DOD is monitoring you now. However using specific key words may make you someone that they skim over at some point.
I’m just saying, if you plan on being an operator, start being careful now. You don’t want to build up a database for when you become an actual high value target.
 
Yes, haha. Anything at all.

I wouldn’t be too concerned with what our own government is going to find on you unless it’s truly illegal. We all had lives before we joined up, we all made mistakes. We are more concerned with what other nations can find on us.
 
DroponRequest said:
Hello I am someone aspiring to be in SOF. I am looking for some answers about some questions about online security, especially for SOF:
There is probably a profile on me in an NSA or some hacker's database. It may describe my habits and political preferences. Google knows I am interested in military with its targeted ads. What I am wondering is if DoD knows everything about me, does this matter, and how careful I need to be. Does DoD have access to my camera feeds to interactions with friends and family? Like any kid I have done some dumb stuff but I have had the bad luck of it probably being captured online. I also want to know if I should start using a VPN, Tor, or am I being too paranoid?
Click to expand...
Well proper cyber hygiene is always a good idea but I wouldn’t worry too much about NSA and the DOD spying on you unless your google searches frequently include things like “homemade VBIEDs” or “allahu akbar for dummies”.
 
I wouldn't worry too much. If you are truly worried then you can go back and delete questionable posts off social media. The Facebook memories have revealed some awful posts I've made that I was easily able to delete.
 
LoL

You guys are truly hilarious.

You actually think deleting something off of the Internet means it's no longer there?

I give you the Way back Machine, just ONE of the places that archives the Internet.

Welcome to reality. If it's been posted, it can be found again. Sure, maybe nobody cares about your dick pics, those selfies from graduation or your embarrassing baby pics Mom posted, but please, don't delude yourself into thinking that once it's deleted, it's gone.

The Interwebz is forever!

ETA - If you're not sure it should be on the Internet, then don't post it. Simple solution.

LL
 
LibraryLady said:
LoL

You guys are truly hilarious.

You actually think deleting something off of the Internet means it's no longer there?

I give you the Way back Machine, just ONE of the places that archives the Internet.

Welcome to reality. If it's been posted, it can be found again. Sure, maybe nobody cares about your dick pics, those selfies from graduation or your embarrassing baby pics Mom posted, but please, don't delude yourself into thinking that once it's deleted, it's gone.

The Interwebz is forever!

ETA - If you're not sure it should be on the Internet, then don't post it. Simple solution.

LL
Click to expand...

Was going to say the same thing, ever heard of metadata? The amount of information that can be pulled off metadata from a simple picture or post is insane.

With that said, USG doesn't really care what you are doing...like at all. Unless you have some wild searches that @Teufel mentioned..so I guess he's being monitored and by being on the same thread you're being monitored now...shit 🤔
 

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