An “Up Periscope” Moment: Reflections on Big Tech Censorship
Note from Bridge Connector: I am good friends with Atara. She is a fellow news reporter. She has some important information to share about Big Tech Censorship. I am featuring her article in this week’s newsletter.
By Atara, March 9, 2021
Can you imagine if you woke up one day, and you could not get onto the internet? Not at all? No matter what you tried, no matter what internet “on-ramp” you used, no internet. You can’t pay your bills online, you can’t do online banking, you can’t get to PayPal, you can’t search for information.
That is what happened to me.
A word of explanation is in order. When the Iron Curtain of Big Tech censorship fell on the weekend of Jan 8-10, it didn’t fall just on President Trump and his staff. It fell on MANY patriots, conservatives and Christians. And, it fell on me. I was blocked from the internet. And I had three different ways of getting onto the internet. Someone was VERY SERIOUS about silencing my voice and preventing me from getting online.
So, I prayed and sought the LORD. I asked Him, “What would you have me do?” The Holy Spirit impressed upon me that I was to stay hidden, under the radar, and not do any news for a season of time. So, all the news I used to report has been on “pause”. I have been waiting upon the Lord for further instructions and direction from Him.
I used to be one of those people that said, “I don’t care if Big Tech is surveilling me on my phone or my laptop. I have nothing to hide. I am not doing anything illegal.”
Now I care very much. If we don’t protect our identity, privacy, and security online, then Big Tech builds an entire profile on us, using the data points from Facebook, Google online searches, phone app usage, and our web browsing. And know for sure, they have a “black list” of those that they will “cancel” and “erase”. You don’t want to be on that list. By the way, Big Tech includes: Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon, (MAGA) Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
They know what we think, what we believe, what we buy, where we go, and who our friends are. Those convenient and free cell phone apps that we all love to use? Big Tech is using our use of these free cell phone apps to track and surveil us.
I found myself on a steep learning curve. I had to learn how to protect my online identity, and learn how to have an anonymous online presence both on my laptop and on my cell phone.
The Holy Spirit impressed upon me to start functioning like a submarine. Be submerged, be hidden, be “under water” most of the time, and every now and then, have an “Up Periscope” moment. This is one of those moments.
And so, at the invitation of Bridge Connector, I am going to share with you what I have learned and gleaned. This is an “Up Periscope” moment and I am going to share tips and tricks on Big Tech censorship and how to evade their censorship net.
As I continued to ask the LORD, “What would you have me learn from all of this? What is my take-away from this? What are you saying to me through it?” This is what He began to reveal to me.
The internet can be likened to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Twenty years ago, it was 85% “good information fruit” and perhaps 15% “evil information fruit.” However, where we are today, is this: I would postulate that the internet is now at 85-90% “evil information fruit” and only 10-15% of “good information fruit.”
What was His instruction to me? To step back from the Virtual Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil, using it only for a very limited, specific and short amount of time… and to spend much more time at the Tree of Life. The Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden is the Torah, and it is Yeshua.
What does that look like?
It looks like this: spending way less time on the screens and much more time in “face time” with YHVH and with His people. And I am not talking about Zoom meetings. I mean REAL face time with real people, loving and serving them.
It looks like this: turning OFF the screens to escape the virtual “net” that has been cast to trap us, snare us and addict us to them: the TV, the cell phone, the computer, the iPad, and the gaming devices. It means going down the “Old School” pathway, and doing other things like:
*spending quality time in the word with Yeshua
*spending quality time in prayer with Yeshua
*spending quality time worshipping Yeshua (get out the music and worship!)
*using a “real” bible instead of the one on your cell phone
*having a family board game night
*taking time to call a good friend on the phone to catch up with each other
*inviting a family or friend over to your home for dinner and fellowship
*volunteering to help others who are in need
So now I give you the “Up Periscope” section of this Newsletter. I pray that it will be helpful to you in learning how to dodge the Iron Curtain of Big Tech censorship:
From LifeSiteNews.com, Some Facts:
Escape from Google:
https://lifefacts.lifesitenews.com/goodbye-google/
Big Tech v/s Free Speech:
https://lifefacts.lifesitenews.com/big-tech-vs-free-speech/
Visit Internet Privacy and Security guru, Rob Braxman
The main principle is this: protect your identity online. Never use your real name for email accounts, or for signing on to websites. Keep your online identity anonymous and private so that Big Tech cannot build a “profile” on you. Learn more about this from Rob Braxman, a master teacher on internet privacy and security:
https://www.youtube.com/c/BraxMe/videos
Get OFF Facebook! Facebook helps Big Tech to connect the dots on their profile of you. They make an index on you: they get pictures of you, (facial recognition), they learn who your friends are, and they learn what you believe and think. It is one big surveillance matrix! Don’t just close your Facebook account, permanently DELETE your account!
https://www.facebook.com/help/224562897555674
Social Media Alternatives to Facebook:
Get off Google! If you have a Gmail account, your emails are being monitored, surveilled, and even censored. I personally had emails that I could not send out (whenever the email header was talking about dangers of Coronavirus vaccine or about election fraud). I also had emails that would not land in my inbox—they were being intercepted and blocked by Gmail/Google.
It takes some doing to close out your account. Many of the websites where we go for doing business might be linked to your Gmail account, so you have to take preliminary steps before you close or delete your account. When you are ready, here is how to close/delete your Google account:
https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/32046?hl=en
Consider getting a private, secure, encrypted email service. Here are two good ones that I recommend:
Protect your online identity! How? One of the most important ways is by protecting your IP address on all devices you use, including laptop and cellphone! Use a VPN service, which “hides” your IP address: Here are several that are good and that don’t “slow down” your upload or download or streaming times:
ProtonVPN
Virtual Shield VPN
https://virtualshield.com/deals/
Understand that Cell phones are tracking devices. Cell phones are one of the worst ways that we are being monitored, surveilled and tracked. All those free and convenient apps that we use? Google maps, the Weather apps, etc.? They track our location and send it back to those who are monitoring us. The Artificial Intelligence (AI) is getting very savvy and invasive.
For example, recently I had a conversation with a friend. My friend mentioned that she is looking for a job, and “SIRI” on my phone was listening. When she next got online, she started seeing all kinds of ads for jobs. Short of getting a “de-googled” phone (and they are out there), we can start turning our phones off when not in use or storing them in a Faraday bag so we can have privacy. The Faraday bag completely blocks your cell phone signal when you need to go “dark”. Here is a good one that I use:
Mission Darkness Faraday Bag
Don’t Give Amazon your business! Why? Big Tech is NOT neutral. Recently Amazon revealed their true ethics and which way they are leaning in how they dealt with Parler. Parler is a conservative social media alternative to Facebook. Amazon was providing the servers for the Parler platform. Amazon gave Parler only 24 hr. notice and then they de-platformed them, effectively shutting them down. This is so evil! Millions of conservative voices were silenced and snuffed out.
Don’t give Amazon your business! If you can, support your local businesses and buy items needed directly from a small business in your local town. Or order online from other vendors. If you must order from Amazon, I recommend that you close your Amazon Prime account and just go ahead and pay for the shipping. Parler is now in the process of suing Amazon
Don’t use Google Chrome! Instead, use a browser that doesn’t track you. I recommend:
Move away from YouTube as much as you can! YouTube is one of the worst offenders for censoring facts and truth coming from conservative and Christian sources.
Alternatives to YouTube:
Don’t use the Google search engine! They are tracking all of your online searches and the search results are not giving you the “full picture” for what is out there. Instead, use Search engines that don’t track and monitor you.
Alternatives to Google:
It takes some thought, planning and preparing to escape out of the “net” that has become a snare and a trap. But it can be done. You will find that as your time is freed up from so much screen time, that your life will be enriched with deeper relationships with family, with friends, with your fellowship and most importantly, with Yeshua Himself.
Instead of living in the VIRTUAL screen world, it is time to escape out of the “Matrix” (the Internet), and live in the REAL world again…
