Privacy of Your Home

[The_Spirit_of_Truth]

Considering the technical level & structure of our human society, it is hardly possible (at least for me) to image how to protect the privacy of normal people.

Consider it yourselves: "bug" can be placed into anything, military and other secret electronical & optical equipments can see and listen to you on big distances and similarly.

Perhaps the main thing is to have a bit of privacy at your own home. Maybe the most basic means how to secure it are these:

1. No visitors admitted into your home and at least one family member always present in it.

2. Safe computer and safe mobile phone.

Part of my opinion on this is described in the article that I have attached.

How to Secure the Privacy of Your Home.pdf

[Skep B]

I guess all that's well and good, but honestly.

If the government wants to watch me dance around to Queen in my bathrobe, go for it. All this talk about security and what have you seems to come across as people wanting to feel like they're important enough to be watched.

[Dark_Grey]

I guess all that's well and good, but honestly.

If the government wants to watch me dance around to Queen in my bathrobe, go for it. All this talk about security and what have you seems to come across as people wanting to feel like they're important enough to be watched.

All day long. Exactly like SB said, as much as people like to get paranoid about their info being collected, some of them need to take a step back and just ask themselves, "is there anything I do in my life that would raise a national security issue with the NSA?"

Personally, I found the answer to be both comforting and very depressing... Talk about living the life that's been lived by a thousand others a thousand times...

[The_Spirit_of_Truth]

All this talk about security and what have you seems to come across as people wanting to feel like they're important enough to be watched.

Problem is that who is and is not important and to whom, is sometimes a difficult question.

For example, if you had a hen, for some zoophile in sexual need would be the most important thing to get to know, when it is there alone without your presence in the house.

Do you understand me? Everybody has different reasons to get to know your privacy. Sometimes you even cannot guess them.

[Skep B]

...I don't have a hen tho.

I f I did, i'd have eaten it already

THat is an oddly specific fear

Edited November 9, 2013 by SkepticalB

[The_Spirit_of_Truth]

Now I have remembered one thing. Maybe it is a so-called "coincidence", but windows XP contains option of a full HDD format, but the newer Windows 7 does not contain this option, they only have option of quick format that does not sweep the previous data so well.

Could it be a purpose to read people's deleted personal data more easily?

And how about Windows 8, do they contain the option of the full HDD format?

Edited November 10, 2013 by The_Spirit_of_Truth

[Czero 101]

Now I have remembered one thing. Maybe it is a so-called "coincidence", but windows XP contains option of a full HDD format, but the newer Windows 7 does not contain this option, they only have option of quick format that does not sweep the previous data so well.

Could it be a purpose to read people's deleted personal data more easily?

And how about Windows 8, do they contain the option of the full HDD format?

Yes. Both Windows 7 and 8 (presumably 8.1 as well) have the option for a full HDD format and there's a very technical, special, super-secret-squirrel way that you achieve it...

You un-check the box next to "Quick Format"....

Cz

[Kowalski]

I guess all that's well and good, but honestly.

If the government wants to watch me dance around to Queen in my bathrobe, go for it.

LOL...

All day long. Exactly like SB said, as much as people like to get paranoid about their info being collected, some of them need to take a step back and just ask themselves, "is there anything I do in my life that would raise a national security issue with the NSA?"

Personally, I found the answer to be both comforting and very depressing... Talk about living the life that's been lived by a thousand others a thousand times...

Tell me about it. I have no idea why the NSA would ever spy on me. My life is not that exciting.....

Edited November 10, 2013 by Kowalski

[seaturtlehorsesnake]

all I can say is that if the government were monitoring me, they must be seriously bored of watching me watch netflix.

[Skep B]

Maybe this is why nothing gets done.

The govt spends all its time watching our dull little lives and miss their meetings

[The_Spirit_of_Truth]

Yes. Both Windows 7 and 8 (presumably 8.1 as well) have the option for a full HDD format and there's a very technical, special, super-secret-squirrel way that you achieve it...

You un-check the box next to "Quick Format"....

Yes, I know. It is when I format some drive after I have installed Windows. I meant full format before I install Windows to an empty drive from installation CD (full format of system partition).

[Czero 101]

Yes, I know. It is when I format some drive after I have installed Windows. I meant full format before I install Windows to an empty drive from installation CD (full format of system partition).

Ok... you probably should have specified initially that this was during an install and you would have probably been spared some secret-squirrel sarcasm...

Anyway... the only difference between a quick format and a full format is that a full format will do a complete surface check to verify sector integrity after erasing and then recreating the MBR and MFT, which is what a quick format does.

Once the Boot Record and File Table have been removed then recreated, the only way to access any old information on the drive is with data recovery software.

That said... if you still want to do a "full format" during installation, do this.

Boot to the install DVD. After the setup loads go to System Recovery Options

From there open a command line. Type the following command:

format C: /fs:NTFS

This will do a full format and set the file system to NTFS. You can also specify FAT, FAT32, exFAT, and UDF.

Once it's done, restart the system and re-launch the install.

Alternately, if you have a LOT of time to spare, you can type the following command:

format C: /fs:NTFS /p:count

where "count" is any number.

/p:count - specifies that the format should overwrite all sectors with zeros. A number is entered in the "count" position to set how many times the Format should overwrite all sectors with random numbers after the initial zeroing. If the "count" is set to zero, the format will stop after zeroing all sectors.

A 500Gb drive will take close to 2 hours to format in this manner.

Good luck...

Cz

Edited November 13, 2013 by Czero 101

[The_Spirit_of_Truth]

Well, you seem to be an expert on it. But most of ordinary users cannot handle the command line that well. They would prefer clicking with mouse.

[Czero 101]

Well, you seem to be an expert on it.

Expert? No... I do know more than the average computer user, but I wouldn't call myself and "expert".

But there's the really neat new thing now called Google.....

But most of ordinary users cannot handle the command line that well.

And this reasoning is EXACTLY why more complicated and potentially destructive operations are harder to find by most "ordinary" users. Most "ordinary" users don't really care about the one single difference between a Quick Format and a Full Format... they usually just care that one takes minutes and the other takes hours.

"Zeroing out" a hard drive SHOULD be a harder operation to figure out, more suited for a computer user with more experience and understanding than that of an "ordinary user" as to what that operation actually does and what dangers there are in using it.

So if there is any conspiracy here, it should be a welcomed one since it helps stop "ordinary users" from making irreversible mistakes on their computer systems

They would prefer clicking with mouse.

Un-checking the box next to "Quick Format" IS done with a mouse... usually, anyways...

But weren't we talking about formatting during the install process...?

If memory serves - and admittedly it has been many years since I've done a complete install, and that was with XP - setting up a complete install involves very little "mouse clicking"... practically none, actually...

Cz

Edited November 23, 2013 by Czero 101

[Rlyeh]

And the most important rule is to eliminate any witnesses.

[The_Spirit_of_Truth]

And the most important rule is to eliminate any witnesses.

But only when their testimony helps the wrong side! :-)

Well, in the meantime there was a bit of update in the original article:

How to Secure the Privacy of Your Home.pdf

[preacherman76]

Wow, I am amazed at the indifference you folks have shown at the thought of police state like government spying. Especialy considering home land has all but labled every single one of you as a possible terrorist. There is a reason our founder's put a leash on this type of thing. If you guys cant see the potencial for massive abuse, then you are seriously fooling yourselfs. Sure maybe it wont harm you at all. Maybe the only thing that will happen to you, is some government pervert watches you and your partner one night having relations. You wont ever know about it, so what difference does it make. Right?

[Peter B]

...Well, in the meantime there was a bit of update in the original article:

How to Secure the Privacy of Your Home.pdf

It would be useful to know what the author means by the term "Hellish", particularly in the case of paragraphs like this:

Whereas advices in this article including those in "PS 1" can be enough to defend against the curiosity of many individuals and partly even against that of secret services, at all times they are not enough to secure you against Hellish people as such.

Because there are many so-called "mixed families" (= those, the members of which are partly Hellish and partly normal), normal person must keep the most important part of his privacy hidden from all the members of his family (= from male and female cousins, from aunts and uncles, from brothers and sisters, and even from own mother and father). It all also means that that any information you will have in your home (in the second "private PC", in personal book and similarly) is not safe, if it is accessible by the members of your family who are Hellish.

In any case, the concepts proposed by the author are impractical. For example normal life would be just about impossible if you were planning to always have someone at home. And extrapolating what the author says, the idea of leaving children at school would be unthinkable.

[Peter B]

Wow, I am amazed at the indifference you folks have shown at the thought of police state like government spying. Especialy considering home land has all but labled every single one of you as a possible terrorist. There is a reason our founder's put a leash on this type of thing. If you guys cant see the potencial for massive abuse, then you are seriously fooling yourselfs. Sure maybe it wont harm you at all. Maybe the only thing that will happen to you, is some government pervert watches you and your partner one night having relations. You wont ever know about it, so what difference does it make. Right?

I am aware of it and I do think about it. I have also read what it was like to live in genuine police states like East Germany.

The difference between the USA today and East Germany of Communist days was that while in both countries you could express your reservations about the government, in East Germany you said it in the privacy of your own home, while in the USA you can yell it out on the Internet or a street corner.

That is not to say I harbour no reservations about the future.

[Awake2Chaos]

What would be the purpose of the government watching normal, middle class people?

And if they garnered any information illegally, how would they then present that information in a court of law so it would be admissable?

[preacherman76]

Well thats the thing Pete, historicaly speaking, this road we are traveling can only lead to one place. For obvious reasons, this has potencial to be far worse. Its already begun in some cases. If you have any political beliefs outside the main stream, you are on a government list right now. Supposedly we are a land of laws. The constitution being the highest law in the land. So everytime they listen in on any American without a warrent, they are commiting a crime. When people become indifferent to such things, it sends a message that the elected no longer serves the public, but has become a class of their own. Above the law. From there, inch by inch, this government will become a full blown dictatorship. Look at 0bama changing parts of the health care bill at his own will, and openly declaring he will write laws now with no checks and balances at all. This should never be looked at indifferently. This should be resisted by every lawful means possible. While that is still possible.

[preacherman76]

What would be the purpose of the government watching normal, middle class people?

Thats what control freaks do. Normal people dont think about such things, thats why its hard for folks like us to understand this. Which I believe leads to the indifference many people express.

And if they garnered any information illegally, how would they then present that information in a court of law so it would be admissable?

Right now they cant. But if say it was over drugs, they could give the info to local law enforcement, so they can begin to conduct their own investigations.

[Peter B]

Well thats the thing Pete, historicaly speaking, this road we are traveling can only lead to one place...

What do you mean "we", Kemosabe? ;-)

I live in Australia. :-)

[Rlyeh]

Wow, I am amazed at the indifference you folks have shown at the thought of police state like government spying. Especialy considering home land has all but labled every single one of you as a possible terrorist. There is a reason our founder's put a leash on this type of thing. If you guys cant see the potencial for massive abuse, then you are seriously fooling yourselfs. Sure maybe it wont harm you at all.

I doubt your government has said **** about me.

Maybe the only thing that will happen to you, is some government pervert watches you and your partner one night having relations. You wont ever know about it, so what difference does it make. Right?

Maybe Alex Jones will invite you over next time he's banging his lady?

[preacherman76]

I doubt your government has said **** about me.

Im sure alot of Germans felt the same way. Till they were ripped outta there homes and were never heard from again. If you dont live here, then, with respect, I honestly dont care what you think anyway.

Maybe Alex Jones will invite you over next time he's banging his lady?

Wow, that was brilliant. I know we dont agree on much Rlyeh, but I never figured you were a classless juvenile. Thanks for correcting my false perception of you.