Beware of Substack!

Protecting Your Privacy Should be a High Priority in 2023

Protecting Your Privacy Should be a High Priority in 2023 – Beware of Substack!

by Brian Shilhavy

Editor, Health Impact News

The MIT Technology Review recently published an article about how an iRobot’s Roomba J7 series robot vacuum took pictures of people inside their homes, in one case a woman sitting on a toilet, and those images ended up on the Internet on Facebook.

iRobot is the world’s largest vendor of robotic vacuums, and Amazon.com recently bought them for $1.7 billion.

The captured images making their way to Facebook was a mistake, as the article clearly explains, and this allegedly didn’t happen with their commercially available iRobots, but from “special development robots with hardware and software modifications” given to users who agreed to allow data streams to be collected for the purpose of training their AI (artificial intelligence).

Welcome to the Brave New World of AI. The public has been brainwashed by the Technocrats into thinking that AI is “smart,” and that one day its intelligence will exceed that of humans.

But in reality AI is STUPID, because in spite of using the word “intelligence” with this kind of software, it is only as good as the data supplied and programmed by those who develop it, and therefore will NEVER exceed the intelligence of human beings.

And human intelligence is also dramatically DECREASING as so many foolishly agreed to be injected with experimental bioweapon shots which has resulted in a huge increase in neurological disorders. See:

A Brain-Damaged Nation: Neurological Diseases Explode in 2021 After COVID-19 Vaccines – 100,000%+ Increase in Strokes

I am a former computer programmer and technologist myself, and I have watched this technology develop over the years, and AI is prone to all the errors, failures, crashes, ability-to-be-hacked, that every other software system contains, as this example with robotic vacuum cleaners clearly shows.

If you don’t want “smart” devices (which are not “smart” at all!) in your home collecting your voice and images that can go out over the Internet, TURN OFF YOUR WIFI AND BLUETOOTH in your home. And in your car!

And as I have been writing throughout 2022, the technology is crashing and failing, it is not evolving and improving. Just like the rest of the economy, there are supply chain and labor issues affecting Big Tech, and after years of insane levels of massive capital put into Big Tech, it all started crashing here in 2022 as the bubble is bursting.

Here are the losses of 6 of the largest technology companies in 2022:

1. Apple

Dec. 31, 2021: $2.96 trillion

Dec. 29, 2022: $2.14 trillion

2. Amazon

Dec. 31, 2021: $1.73 trillion

Dec. 29, 2022: $916.7 billion

3. Microsoft

Dec. 31, 2021: $2.46 trillion

Dec. 29, 2022: $1.71 trillion

4. Meta (Facebook)

Dec. 31, 2021: $876.5 billion

Dec. 29, 2022: $294.8 billion

5. Alphabet (Google)

Dec. 31, 2021: $1.8 trillion

Dec. 29, 2022: $1.05 trillion

6. Tesla

Dec. 31, 2021: $1.1 trillion

Dec. 29, 2022: $373.6 billion

As I have previously reported, the idea of fully autonomous self-driving vehicles is now DEAD, after years of trying and $BILLIONS invested and lost. See:

The Fantasy of Autonomous Self-Driving Cars is Coming to an End as Tesla Faces DOJ Criminal Probe

Turns out that in the end, AI could not figure out how to make a left turn when attempting to drive a car without human intervention. So after decades of promise that AI could do all these wonderful things and evolve into a form of intelligence that is higher than humans, most have now abandoned the AI religion (which was a real thing!). See:

The Religion of the Technocrats is Failing, as is Their Technology

So while replacing humans with AI and robots is not something we need to fear, data collection and loss of privacy is the real danger the Technocrats pose, and this is absolutely something everyone needs to make a conscious effort to fight back against, and take measures to eliminate or reduce the exposure of your private life and online activities.

If you have not yet watched the interview with Silicon Valley whistleblower Aman Jabbi by Maria Zeee that we published last month, this is must viewing to understand just how much data is being collected on us in today’s connected world:

You Are Being Watched! More Security Cameras Per Capita in the U.S. than in China: Silicon Valley Whistleblower

Your data, including your online activities and everything you share, like, click on, and view on social media, is for sale to the highest bidder. See:

Is Big Tech Monitoring and Controlling You?

Beware of Substack

One of the biggest dangers to potential online tracking that I have seen develop this past year is in the sheer amount of content providers in the Alternative Media who have moved their content over to the Substack.com platform.

Like Twitter, which is trying to lure Conservatives and Alternative Health publishers back onto its platform, probably with the goal of monitoring and tracking everyone who follows them, so too could the Technocrats who run Substack be doing in the same thing.

Substack.com is a convenient way for authors and publishers to manage and monetize their content.

But at what cost?

Elizabeth Dwoskin, writing for the Washington Post, complained at the beginning of the year that Substack was earning $millions from “anti-vaccine content” that was banned on the big Social Media sites, such as Twitter and Facebook, and moving over to Substack.

There are huge Silicon Valley Big Tech investors behind Substack, however, including some of the same investors behind Big Tech Social Media sites.

Venture Capitalist Andreessen Horowitz allegedly provided $15.3 million in Series A funding for Substack in 2019.

In 2011, Andreessen Horowitz allegedly invested $80 million in Twitter, becoming the first venture capital firm that held stock in all four of the highest-valued, privately held social media companies at the time: Facebook, Groupon, Twitter, and Zynga.

When Elon Musk stepped up to the plate to purchase Twitter earlier this year, Andreessen Horowitz provided another $400 million as one of the co-owners of Twitter.

I have tried subscribing to a few Substack authors, and when their newsletter is delivered to you via email, all the links in the email are appended with Google tracking codes. So I know, at the very least, that Substack is making data available to Google.

Here is a list of personal data that Substack admits to collecting:

What Information does Substack collect?

We collect and process Personal Information about you when you interact with us and our services, as well as when you subscribe to any of our paid or unpaid services. This may include:

· your first and last name;

· your email address;

· your phone number;

· your payment details (including billing address, credit card details, where you make a purchase from us);

· your location and/or mailing address;

· your photograph;

· your marketing preferences, including any consents you have given us;

· information related to the browser or device you use to access our website (including your IP address);

· any information we collect online from you and maintain in association with your account, such as your username and password;

· your subscription status with Substack newsletters;

· any other information you provide us when communicating with us.

We also collect information on the use of our website via Cookies.

Learn How to Use an RSS Feeder to Develop Your Private News Feed

The good news for those who want to protect their online privacy and not subscribe to Substack newsletters, is that you can use an RSS reader to collect new posts from Substack publishers.

I published an article back in 2020 about how to develop your own newsfeed by utilizing RSS and an RSS reader. See:

How to Beat Internet Censorship and Create Your Own Newsfeed

I still use the free, open source Mozilla Thunderbird program as my RSS reader. Another option is the Vivaldi web browser which also has an RSS reader.

I have unsubscribed from all the Substack newsletters I was subscribed to, and instead have added them to my RSS reader.

It is very simple to do, and Substack themselves even show you how to do it here.

You can find the RSS feed for your publication at https://your.substack.com/feed.

Replace “your” with the name of your Substack publication.

So for example, Dr. Tenpenny’s Eye on the Evidence Substack newsletter is at: https://drtenpenny.substack.com/ – and her RSS feed is: https://drtenpenny.substack.com/feed. This is the URL you would add into your RSS reader.

You can also do this with many video platforms, by creating RSS feeds for video channels instead of subscribing to them which allows for tracking. See:

Retrieving RSS feed addresses for YouTube, Odysee, PeerTube, and BitChute

Get a Private Email Address

I am amazed at how many publishers and content providers in the Alternative Media still use the “free” email services provided by Big Tech. Do you understand that when you use Gmail, owned by Google, or Yahoo, owned by Microsoft, that you are agreeing to let them store and basically own ALL of your email communications??

Why would you do that? It has been over a year now that I have completely stopped emailing people with these free Big Tech email addresses, and Gmail is the worst. I refuse to answer an email in most cases from anyone who emails me with a Gmail.com email address, or one of the Microsoft ones like Yahoo and Hotmail.

Why would I want to send my private email correspondence to my enemies??

It doesn’t cost that much to purchase your own domain name, and then you can have your own private email address.

Just avoid Godaddy.com as your registrar when you pick out a domain name. They have the largest market share of registered domain names. And avoid Amazon Web Services for your hosting.

I recommend Epik, as they are focused on privacy and have proven to be against Big Tech censorship over the past few years.

Truth is becoming a rare commodity these days, and you can bet that Big Tech is going to increase their data collection and tracking techniques in 2023, seeking to stamp out and eliminate truth wherever they can.

Don’t make their job easier for them by using their products and handing over your private data!

Be especially aware of their “buzz words” like “smart” and “intelligent” when they describe their products. A “smart” home is one that is connected to their system and allows them free access to your personal life through all of your “smart” devices, like the “smart” vacuum cleaners in the story above. It’s “smart” for them and their clever marketing techniques to get access to your valuable data, but STUPID for you if you fall for it.

The only thing in your home that should be connected to the Internet, if anything, should be a computer using an Ethernet cable plugged into your modem or router. Learn how to turn off the Wifi on your router.

And take out the battery from your cell phone, when you aren’t using it, if you choose to use one one at all, or put it into a Farady bag. When it comes to Big Tech monitoring and tracking you, your cell phone is your #1 worst enemy.

See:

You Are Being Watched! More Security Cameras Per Capita in the U.S. than in China: Silicon Valley Whistleblower

Vaccine Impact