47 Comments

A webinar would be great. I heard part of a past webinar you did but was unable to complete it :(. There are so many choices which makes things quite confusing as well as time consuming, so some additional guidance would be helpful.

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Have changed my brouser to "Brave" and am changing over to Protonmail.com for privacy factor.

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Hi Glenn, I have scary news, sorry to say. Ever since I've been helping Mom become private online, she's been getting all kinds of spam texts and calls. I don't know what I did, but I really need some help. All the junk texts have been showing up in iMessage. It's as if her phone number has been passed around or something, Most people we know won't use Signal, because they don't know it and it's too complicated. So everyone's texts go to iMessages. Mom's afraid she will have to change her phone number, although she didn't want to. What would you recommend to resolve this? Is it too late and mom has lost her anonymity and has to start over again?

Privacy finally got their act together and helped mom resolve her connecting issue, as of today. Probably it was easy for most people, but for us the customer service was horrible. It was one thing or another, since the end of January. Mostly they took their set time, and WE were utterly polite, not rude or impatient. But now we got it working.

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Hi Glenn, I helped mom (Faith) install the PIA vpn, as well as the BitWarden password manager, and a couple questions we had was about the free Boxcryptor protection that this included:

1. Is the Boxcryptor download for Mac trustworthy?

2. Why isn't there a family membership offered here?

My dad won't bother looking into all of these security measures because he doesn't want to spend the money on this sort of thing. I'm afraid that one day he might compromise our safety, security and privacy. I myself cannot afford all these memberships or accounts, because the only income I get is a tiny bit of ex-spouse support per month. So meanwhile, my mom will be the only one with all the security. Do you have any suggestions for us?

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Feb 26, 2021Liked by Glenn Meder

Absolutely! I and my daughter have many questions. We had never ensured or researched how we could be more safe online. All we have so far is a secure email service provider, named Hushmail, which comes out of Canada-- that we subscribe to every year, and we have been using Duck Duck go for our search engine. Are Hushmail and Duck Duck go okay to use, in your opinion? If not, I implore for your honesty, sir.

Mr. Meder, 2 weeks ago, I sustained my 3rd concussion. Every day is a struggle to remember words, people's names, etc. I have some learning impairment anyway. We've iMacs, and they're brainy-brains for me. I sent letters in the past to Duck Duck Go-begging for someone to help me to fix all the things to ensure privacy/security. I never heard a word from a living soul. That was over a year ago. Yeah, right?

I mis-discerned a couple of pastor/preachers I'd recommended to a few people. I don't want to get a bad reputation here. I'm more than hesitant about you. You came when another daughter forwarded your newsletter to me. I just turned 75 recently 😊, but that's great with me, it's where and when the Lord is pleased to put me. So, it's important that I see if you are trustworthy, and have tons of integrity. Uhh, how can I do that, please?

If I have sounded at all sarcastic, or have offended you, please forgive me. Moni and I just don't know how, where to start. I can't tell anyone about you yet. This is too important, and time-sensitive. If you are too very busy, and thus unable to assist, I will understand, and still pray for you.

Thank you for listening, also

Sincerely,

Faith

p.s.

I would really love a phone call during which my daughter would do things and I would just listen. But I cannot give you my phone #, because everyone else would also have it. Suggestions?

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After the Yahoo.com hacking, I decided to find the most secure email service, not only did they hack Yahoo.com email but someone who sent me email's account was hacked. They sent emails to all of the addresses he had listed in his account and harassed them. He lost allll his clients. True story, he couldn't stop it from coming and I had to disconnect my account.

What most of the free email accounts don't tell you is they have left a back door open for the US government to enter, so these email accounts are vulnerable to hackers. I don't know if it's still like that but the other day gmail.com went down for the whole day.

A good VPN service is a must too many are stalking other people online. If you do a lot of work on line, or just spend a lot of time on line or on your mobile phone it's a must, to stop people from tracking you and where you live. Didn't realize how easily someone can track where you live online. It's a must for privacy and safety.

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Jan 25, 2021Liked by Glenn Meder

Hi, Glenn!

So, possible silly questions here but can I actually change the e-mail on my various subscriptions to switch them over to Proton or do I have to set up new accounts/subscriptions? I have to be honest, I do EVERYthing online so this is a huge undertaking. I'm understanding that I need to go in and create a new password then set up all those vendors (through a password mgr) as well as the debit/credit card I use for all of them (privacy.com)...? Is that correct? I set up duckduck and I started researching the VPN. I'm in the Grand Canyon and the Internet is already sloooow. Finding out that the VPN will slow it down even more wasn't exactly the highlight of my afternoon. I read that you don't need a VPN w/Brave browser but I guess that's not true...? Also, does using a VPN, Signal and an encrypted e-mail negate the need to use a dumb phone? You're still tracked, right? The moment it comes out of a Faraday bag...? And does it matter if the person you're communicating with hasn't taken all these precautions? Can you be tracked THAT way, through the other phone? I have no idea, just wondering.

Any add'l insights would be appreciated.

Thanks so much!!!

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Jan 24, 2021Liked by Glenn Meder

Fantastic newsletter Glenn. I do most of those already, but need to check out privacy.com. I also shared it with some friends & others that blow me off on this type of thing.Somehow it's paranoia to keep your info & conservations private!

I've noticed that when Parler.xxm & the App were taken down by AWS, Google Play, & suspended by Apple that a bunch of people in my contacts started showing up in Signal & Telegram. Meaning they downloaded the App & created an account. Hopefully more & more will start using these services.

You can get a Protonmail account for free, you just get a small amount of space & not all the features. You can still send end to end encrypted email if the person(s) your emailing also have a proton account. You can also send an encrypted email to any domain as long you give the recipient a pword you create before sending. Give it to them over the phone or some other method. It works, as I've done it. I think you can also setup your public & private PGP keys in the free account.

I'd recommend this: When signing up for a protonmail account, make it Jay1234xxxxxxx@protonmail.ch not .com. You can choose which domain in the beginning, but can't change back. You may be able to switch to .com, but not .ch. Reason being is the US owns .com & the Swiss own .ch. If for some reason they wanted data from protonmail that wasn't encrypted, they could possibly get a warrant & get that data. If it's.ch, the Swiss gov would probably say take a hike. I'm not a lawyer, but I've heard this from other experts in secure mail, especially Protonmail..

Jay

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Jan 23, 2021Liked by Glenn Meder

I have already taken the steps of using a better email, browser, and messaging app. The only step I haven’t taken is using a vpn. It’s because it seems more complicated to me. I have recommended that my friends and family switch to protonmail, but they don’t do it because they think it’s too much of a hassle to use a different email. All their contacts know them by the email they’re using; they are already signed up for newsletters at their present email, etc. I think that they also don’t think it’s a big deal if someone spies on their emails. They don’t see the threat, or maybe they don’t believe it.

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Jan 23, 2021Liked by Glenn Meder

I haven changed anything because i feel like at this point the deep state has pretty much full control over everything. However i will do this as an alternitive and try and get those close to me to do so. About getting rid of google and amazon etc. What would your suggestions for alternative sources be.

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Jan 23, 2021Liked by Glenn Meder

Hi Glenn, What Browsers do you recommend? Using Chrome less and Firefox primarily. Any comments on Tor? Thanks!

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Jan 23, 2021Liked by Glenn Meder

Well thought out article Glenn... For what it's worth (and I'm not the originator of this perspective), privacy is the most precious personal property right that a person is born with - that of self-ownership. If you aren't free to control what defines you as a person. self-determination, or whatever else you might prefer to call it, and an external agency does, you are a slave - nothing more.

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Jan 23, 2021Liked by Glenn Meder

Hi Glenn, for me it is some version of the following thoughts that keep me from taking action: If things can get much worse what confidence can we have that ProtonMail (and other privacy venues--like Parlor) will not be forced to "sell out" or simply be shut down? Also, by migrating to and using ProtonMail (and the likes) are we not simply painting a big target on ourselves that says, I am a non-conformist (to put it politely). I will now go ahead and try to get up to speed on ProtonMail if for no other reason than as a backup (other than gmail) to my "silicon valley account." Thank you for your urging on this important matter.

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Jan 23, 2021Liked by Glenn Meder

My first issue is laziness. It is going to br a lot of work to migrate to these new services. Second is I use fb etc for business as well as personal. And my contacts personal and professional are not necessarily making the same leap. And since I figure I am already on a 'list' somewhere, what difference will it make?

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Jan 23, 2021Liked by Glenn Meder

Hey Glenn,

Good question. The main reason I've not gotten on board is that I didn't really see it as an important issue in my life.

All that has changed with all I'm seeing in the political, social media and medical arenas here lately.

All of a sudden, I see internet privacy as a truly vital step going into the future.

I'm grateful to you for all the work you've done to pave the way. It would be so much more work to figure all this out on my own!

:o)

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Jan 23, 2021Liked by Glenn Meder

I've not very little to become more private online, and reason is real simple, I don't have the time and money to do it. i'm kept so busy trying to keep my bills paid. i did try to set up a proton email, but got stuck, and couldn't proceed

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