09 Freedom and happiness - part 4 - video Dailymotion

Living Off the Grid in the City

Hector Vladimir https://youtu.be/Aty-ZiEhQ50 09 Freedom of movement, employment and privacy. Living Off the Grid in the City Podcast. Freedom of movement, employment, and privacy. Here I discuss the freedom of movement. The ability for people to migrate from one place to another should not be curtailed. If you limit any other animal’s movement, such as fencing them in, you will surely harm their ability to survive on their own. Likewise, people need the ability to move away from harm and scarcity, and into safer and resourceful areas. To go against this logic is to make people suffer unnecessarily. An example of this is the situation in Gaza. People also need to be able to work voluntarily, not forced. Forced labor is equal to slavery. Paid forced labor, for example, is recognized as waged slavery. Living off the grid better situates individuals to resist forced employment and make it an optional choice. Under our economic system, employment is practically an obligation, not an option. And, this is barbaric and despotic. Lastly, I discuss in depth the importance of privacy. Privacy is your right to remain anonymous under normal circumstances. It is your right to be left alone, and not surveilled by anyone or any system. It is harmful to most people to be constantly surveilled and controlled by an entity. As the entity doing the surveilling, has the power to control, manipulate you, or even harm you. Abuses to privacy are many, and here I discuss its implications and the advantages of remaining private. Hector Vladimir 2025©

Transcript

00:00Mobility Freedom

00:01When planning to live off the grid initially, you may find yourself in a place that is utterly

00:06inadequate, unwelcoming or even hostile for this lifestyle. You may find it wiser to just move to

00:12a better place. This new place may be down the road or another nation. Situations will vary

00:18greatly. Hopefully you will have the ability, resources and the freedom to make your move.

00:24Many areas of the world have restrictions on mobility and in many cases you may have to do

00:29your best where you currently live. For example, you may not be able to easily leave your nation

00:34or sometimes even your community due to a variety of reasons. Financial, political, religious or due

00:40to conflict, family needs or needs of your community. But moving I believe is a viable way to make a stand

00:46in what you believe. If your surroundings are against you while other places are willing to

00:51support you, then it is wise to go to other places when possible. And moving is a way to vote and send

00:58a clear message to the current leaders and inhabitants of that area. That message is that

01:02this area and its environment are not suitable for you and others like you. And once you and others like

01:08you vacate, the absence will impact that area's economy and social fabric, just enough to make your

01:13message heard. It may be subtle or it may be silent, but I believe the message will be received one way or

01:19another. And in the process you will likely be more free and happy. We must demand freedom of movement

01:26from our societies, because to curtail it may mean to limit the safety, health or happiness of many.

01:32As an immigrant, I absolutely support free migration and open borders. I believe there

01:37would be greater order, peace, equality and happiness in the world, if people were allowed

01:42to move about freely. Think of the United States and how its citizens can easily move from state to

01:48state without any documentation or questions. This is a great benefit that has stabilized the entire

01:53nation and has generated great metropolises in desired areas, and deserted wastelands in undesired

01:59ones. For example, when many of the good manufacturing jobs left Detroit, so did a great number of that

02:06city's population. If this population was somehow restricted from leaving, the area would have become

02:11unsustainable and overflowing with extreme poverty and countless other problems. In this fashion,

02:17if the world's population was allowed to move about freely, I believe the populations would

02:22redistribute in a more sustainable manner and alleviate the many problems caused by overpopulation.

02:27Of course, this is a prospect that is, right now, inconceivable and absurd to most people in

02:32governments, but I believe it is one that we will eventually reach as a humanity. I believe the main

02:38barrier to open borders is artificial nationalism and racism that are taught to most children.

02:43Once you are off the grid, you are more likely to relocate with greater ease.

02:47You may have more time, resources, and finances to go to more places, have more options as

02:52destinations. You may have less dependency on your employer, or you may not have an employer.

02:58You may have less bills and less financial responsibilities. And you may have more money

03:03to spend on vacations, trips, or relocations. But as an off-gridder, you may find you need little

03:09or no money to go on vacations and trips. Some off-gridders may choose a transient lifestyle,

03:14where they live in a motorhome, recreational vehicle, or a camper van. Yet, others may get

03:20more extreme and live from a backpack and walk or bicycle to many areas of the country or the world.

03:25I have discussed these extreme lifestyle options at length in my series,

03:29Living Off The Grid Renegade Style. Check it out. In summary, freedom of mobility is both a requirement

03:35and a benefit of living off the grid. You should not feel that you are permanently nailed to a certain

03:41location, and you should be able to vote with your feet whenever necessary.

03:46Freedom from employment. Since most of us are employed in a field we don't really care about,

03:52and we spend about half of our active lives in our jobs, it would be immensely beneficial to live off

03:57the employment grid. The employment grid is simply your need to be employed, a status where being employed

04:03is optional, not necessary. Most corporations and the so-called employers participate within one of the

04:09most despotic and cruel systems we have devised, capitalism. Under this system, authoritarianism

04:16comes from your dire need to earn money. It would take another book to describe how I can make such a

04:21claim about the most widespread economic and social system in the world, but briefly, just think of the

04:27heart of capitalism, the corporation. In the US, the corporation is a sort of dictatorship within a

04:33democracy. It is a place where you are effectively owned, for part of your day. Where you are routinely

04:39told, by someone declared as your superior, what to do, how to do things, and how to behave.

04:46In a corporation, demands are generally made of you without your opinion or vote, and decisions are

04:51routinely made about the business that affect your life such as working conditions, working schedules

04:56and tasks, mostly without your input. And you may be easily fired and replaced. This fact is almost

05:02constantly being reminded to you, for your continued submission and servitude to your boss. It is no wonder

05:09there is an epidemic of discrimination and abuse worldwide and daily, within countless corporations

05:14under capitalism. If you, even partially, accept any of these traits of corporations as true, then you've begun

05:20to appreciate the value of freedom of employment. So let's describe this freedom a bit more.

05:25As established, living off the grid will likely have positive outcomes, greater time freedom,

05:31increased profitable skills and knowledge, smarter and more efficient finances, and greater freedom

05:37of mobility. These perks all contribute to your freedom from employment. Again, freedom from employment

05:44is the freedom to choose to be employed or not, to be overemployed, to be underemployed, or to be

05:49independently employed. Independently employed could mean being a business owner, or an independent

05:55skilled trade worker, self-employed. Freedom from employment may mean being able to switch employers

06:01more easily, or gain your due respect and responsibility at your current employment. I write

06:06gain because this is not always given when earned. In a highly unfair system such as our current

06:12capitalistic system, you often have to demand fair treatment, fair pay and promotions. Freedom from

06:18employment may mean earning your fair share and perhaps being able to retire earlier, or being able to

06:24work less and not feel the economic pinch. Simply, freedom from employment is just having more choices

06:29in your employment situation. Being highly self-sufficient and off the grid surely makes you a

06:35more valuable employee if you choose to be one. You have achieved what only a few people in any community

06:41have. I strongly believe that large modern towns and cities generally are concentrations of wasteful

06:46people and squandered resources. Their lavish lifestyles waste many resources, and pollution and inefficient

06:53methods are constantly used. For example, most transportation vehicles are gas-operated, and most

06:59buildings are energy hogs. So, having achieved a high level of efficiency in this environment takes

07:05much discipline, skill, knowledge, and willpower. All of these are valuable traits you have, or will have

07:11learned and earned during your off-grid efforts. Again, it takes a significant level of understanding of

07:16many technologies and concepts that are widely used in industrial and commercial environments,

07:20surely making you a very attractive prospective member of any company. These give you a few

07:26advantages. You will likely have more choice for positions and employers, more choice in benefits and

07:31pay that you may require, and more choices in your working conditions such as hours, place, etc.

07:37You may also have more freedom to decide to go into business. Your efficiency, expanded skills,

07:43and valuable personal traits may propel you into a successful business.

07:46You may choose to get involved in more career fields after you find that efficiency is a critical

07:51ingredient for success. Or, you may get involved in one or more of the many technologies you learned

07:56about, used, or developed during your off-grid efforts. For example, I got involved in solar

08:01technologies as a curiosity in 2010, and have since learned about it, enough, to work in the solar

08:07industry as a PV technician in the field. You may also focus on one technology and develop it to a high

08:13degree as a product or service. Or you may corral a few technologies and embark in a multi-product or

08:19multi-service business. These, and more, choices may be at your disposal for employment or earning income

08:25because of living off the employment grid. The benefits of the greater choice and freedom of

08:30employment depend on what you choose to do with your time and skills. You may find yourself with much

08:35more time for personal and family activities. Or you may choose to work less or not work for any employer.

08:40Or you may find yourself with much more financial and material resources if you choose to earn more

08:46money. So, these benefits seem to revolve around time and material benefits. I strongly believe if

08:53you keep your efficient, reasonable, and wise mentality during and after you reach any or all of

08:57these benefits, you will surely be a happier, more productive, and wholesome person as a result.

09:05Privacy. Privacy can be described as the personal ability and choice to live anonymously and free from

09:10unwanted surveillance by others. It is living free from the discriminatory and or unreasonable watch from

09:16individuals or technology. It is living in your personal digital spaces, free from data collection by any

09:22automated system or individuals. Privacy is living without the fear of deceptive practices that trap you or coerce you

09:29into giving up your personal data in exchange for goods and services. It is keeping any identifying or unique

09:35personal trait unknown to any individual, institution or system, and maintaining control over who or what

09:41you share those with. Privacy is not absolute, I believe it should not be. Absolute privacy is absolute

09:48isolation. And, humanity is a social species dependent on the company and cooperations of others,

09:54and dependent on many benefits of a larger community. It has been proven that human development and healthy

09:59behavior is dependent on the exposure to learning with many other individuals. And, a reasonable diversity of

10:05exposure is healthy for all sorts of reasons. With these in mind, others will often want to watch your behavior

10:11and actions. Also, others may distrust you and may want to determine your intent by watching you. It is often good for

10:18others to see you, for example to see and opine on your work and your products, or just to interact with you. Also,

10:24abhorrent, harmful, or potentially criminal behavior can be detected and regulated by others, when you are watched, as we all

10:31experiment and make mistakes, and others may help you realize and correct those bad behaviors and mistakes.

10:37But, this watching may become excessive, unreasonable, and not based on good intentions. As adults, we are expected to

10:45apply our learned behaviors and skills, and contribute to society. These often need trial and error, and a healthy amount of

10:51privacy and autonomy. The question then becomes, what amount of privacy is a good amount? This is difficult

10:58to quantify, but we can agree that a reasonable amount is good. Privacy allows for peace of mind,

11:04happiness, and a healthy balance of power among individuals or groups. Privacy also allows for

11:10creativity to flourish. Privacy is also necessary for a healthy life with a sense of security. It is desired by

11:17most people to go to bed without your neighbors watching. We normally turn off lights and close

11:22window blinds when asleep. We like to sleep, mostly, off the ground and in a secure place.

11:27I believe this is an evolutionary trait with obvious practical reasons, remaining from our ancestors who

11:33dwelled among predators for many millennia. We surely may not be able to rest or sleep, with strangers

11:39among us that may be watching. Most of us would see this as a threat. We prefer the company of people

11:45that we trust, generally family or close friends. Those near us that have no sympathy or share little

11:50or no personal connections to us, may make us uneasy at the very least, insecure at worst. And I believe

11:57this is what privacy centers around, our security. Too often those that don't routinely share a space

12:03with us tend to not share our interests, and have little or no sympathy or compassion toward us.

12:08And those may exploit any information they gather about our private lives.

12:12Our private lives are called private, because we accept they must remain little known, to those

12:18outside of our close personal networks. Our private lives include actions and routines that may be

12:23exploited by those that don't appreciate our personal worth. Things like our home locations,

12:28our exact daily routines and our personal preferences, are a few things most of us rather

12:33not share with the world outside of our personal group. This personal information may be exploited to

12:38undermine, disrupt, or even attack us, personally or in our communities. Historically, rivals took these

12:45actions so we have evolved to be naturally distrustful of outsiders. I believe this distrust is a passed

12:51down wisdom from former generations. Of course, too much distrust and unreasonable rejection leads to

12:57all sorts of problems such as unnecessary isolation, discrimination and racism. But I believe a reasonable amount of

13:04precaution is necessary, evident in the common occurrence of all sorts of abuses and attacks,

13:09perpetrated by opportunistic and deceiving individuals and groups. When we remain comfortably

13:14private we are happier. Some say that if you have nothing to hide then why hide? This argument both

13:21misdefines privacy and misses the point of it. Being private is not hiding, it is having the choice

13:27to only allow those you trust to know in your private life or not. It is having the option to live

13:32whatever part of your life outside of the peering watch of those you don't trust. Private matters

13:37may be the things you do in your bedroom, conversations you have with your close friend

13:41or partner, or the spoken details about your upcoming vacation trip. Companies know the importance

13:47of privacy when they develop innovative products or methods. These, and countless more, are desired to

13:53happen in the privacy of a safe place and away from known or unknown snoopers. Remaining private is an

13:58expectation that your trusted space remain as such, away from eyes and ears, that may use your personal

14:04information for all sorts of ills. ILS may be as innocuous as a personal small smear or harmless gossip

14:11among neighbors, or it could lead to something as severe as a deadly attack. Having said this, I believe

14:17hiding information, especially that could benefit others, is not good. For example, withholding information

14:22about a possible hazard is clearly harmful to others. And, this is different from withholding your

14:28geographic location from a social media platform that is looking to map out your travel routine to later

14:33sell it. So, withholding, lying, and covering up, are not the same as remaining private and having respect

14:39for others' privacy. Furthermore, privacy is something that must be mutually agreed to by all parties. It is

14:45something that should be a guaranteed human right and definitely so in free nations. The right to life,

14:51expression, and the pursuit of happiness are a few of the rights often cited supporting the right to

14:56privacy. I believe, privacy incentivizes some types of creativity, ingenuity, and discovery. At times,

15:04work in certain fields and subject matters are not welcomed by society at large. Certain cultures may

15:09not allow or accept work on things that may turn out to be great benefits for humanity. History is replete

15:15with such examples. In the mid-1500s, Galileo Galilei was admonished by his government by the heresy

15:22of his study of astronomy. In the late 1500s, Giordano Bruno was executed by his community for his,

15:29thus far correct, then dangerous, prepositions of an infinite universe and a multiplicity of worlds.

15:35In the 1960s, Dr. Martin Luther King was largely considered a communist and an extremist for his views on

15:41social justice, non-violence and opposition to the Vietnam War, all of which are now mostly accepted

15:46as positive world contributions. I believe that these, and countless other individuals,

15:52performed much of the work they contributed to society in the safety of their privacy,

15:56even when their outside communities largely opposed such work. I believe that the work of countless

16:02other scientists, artists, leaders, and influencers happened in privacy, with their work only being

16:07published, when it was ready and with diminished chances of it being stopped by the ignorant and

16:12powerful. So, I believe we owe much good, in our history and present, to those brave individuals that

16:18worked on great advances for humanity in the safety of privacy. Yes, there are times that privacy

16:24necessitates strategic positioning which may appear as hiding, but, when your personal safety and the fate of

16:29a great advance are on the line, this type of privacy is needed. The invasion of the privacy of those

16:35that are law-abiding and reasonable, is potentially harmful for them because of the clear opportunity

16:40for abuse from invaders. They may collect your personal information without your knowledge,

16:45with the advantage of disassociation and indifference to you. For this, these people can act to harm you

16:51with little remorse. This has occurred repeatedly throughout recent history. This is an unnatural unbalance

16:57of power that is well known throughout the world, and it is why governments protect and attack privacy

17:02amongst themselves, often called espionage or intelligence. Lastly, without you knowing the

17:08intentions of others, your sense of security is undermined by violations of privacy.

17:15In the U.S. and around the world, privacy has been treated as a privilege. But, since the law must

17:20assume your innocence until proven guilty, you should not be surveilled unless there is reasonable cause

17:25for suspicion. Again, privacy has been often unreasonably violated by individuals, groups,

17:31corporations and governments. And those looking to do harm often utilize their right to privacy to

17:36operate covertly, such as police departments or government agencies. And apart from cases where

17:42reasonable causes exist, powerful individuals and governments often use legal loopholes and

17:47unreasonable and discriminatory practices to violate the privacy of other individuals and groups.

17:53To focus on privacy in the context of living off the grid, I will discuss the privacy of

17:58individuals, as opposed to larger groups. These few common players, in the routine violation of

18:04privacy of individuals, may violate your privacy for a variety of reasons. To gain personal advantages

18:10over you, social, political, etc. For economic gain. To undermine or discredit you for whatever reason.

18:17To steal proprietary information for a business advantage. Extract your private data for

18:23their financial benefit. Law enforcement, crime prevention, national defense, etc.

18:29Individuals and groups may target you for unreasonable surveillance of your private life,

18:33because they may envy you in one or more aspects of your life, and they may want to gain advantage

18:37over you in a way to control you or undermine you. Socially, an individual may feel they want more power,

18:43and may see you as a holder of power in an area of influence that you both may share.

18:47An individual may exploit information about your routines, location, and personal preferences,

18:54and attempt to publicize that personal information or use it to publicly harm you.

18:58As a side note, everyone has information about past choices or happenings that are irrelevant about

19:03the present, but they may be seen as relevant by others. Such information may be unearthed,

19:08by an individual looking to harm your reputation. This tactic is often used and has had differing

19:14levels of success, depending on many factors. Individuals and groups may get some personal

19:19information from you and exaggerate it to discredit you, and it may be believed by enough people to

19:24have a negative impact on you. For example, your personal political views may be discovered by snoopers,

19:30and be broadcast in your community, which may not be welcoming of them, however positive they may be.

19:35This can cause distress and even danger to you and your loved ones. For example, in my current living

19:41environment, to display support for the current president, in any way, is to call dangerous

19:46attention for yourself and your loved ones. This tells me that I am surrounded by many violent

19:51fanatical individuals, often backed by law enforcement with similar views. In such an environment,

19:57acts of vandalism and violence are likely to happen and go unpunished. So, it is best for your

20:02political views to remain private. While unfortunate, it is best to avoid possible conflict.

20:09Individuals may target you to undermine you economically. Coworkers, business rivals may

20:13have economic interests opposed to yours. They may snoop on your private life to try to manipulate

20:19some of your financial decisions. They may try to discredit you using your private information,

20:24or to gain a financial advantage. While this is unlikely to affect off-critters that choose to have less

20:29dependency on money, it may affect those with operations that actively use the monetary system,

20:35such as business owners. Rich and powerful individuals especially, may engage in attacks

20:40of privacy, unto those they determine to be out of line, or disrespectful in some way.

20:46Often, powerful individuals and groups are intolerant of coexistence with others they believe

20:51to be potential threats, to their financial future. Many of these individuals and groups have grown

20:56to be highly uncompassionate due to their runaway greed and lust for ever-growing power.

21:02Individuals and groups may attack your privacy because of hate and other discriminatory tendencies.

21:08Religious beliefs, race, culture, lifestyles, and more, are all targets for discrimination by

21:13unreasonable individuals and groups. Neighbors may unreasonably keep a distrustful watch on neighbors

21:19of other backgrounds such as other race, religions, political affiliation, nationality, ethnicity, etc.

21:25They may try to listen in or look into their personal lives unreasonably. It may be to smear

21:30them in conversations among friends or worse. At times, hateful individuals have called the cops

21:35on others in hopes to bring them major disruptions or even harm. These cases are quite common and

21:41recently have been documented in videos on the internet. The so-called Karens and Kens are examples

21:47of these videoed instances showcasing unreasonable and often violent discrimination and racism.

21:53One popular video is how a dog-walking Karen immediately calls the police on an African-American

21:59man sitting at the park and told them,

22:01He threatened my life.

22:03Simply for the man filming her hostile interaction and telling her to keep her distance from him

22:07during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. In that case, Karen faced no legal repercussions

22:12for lying to the police about a situation, but did later lose her job and face social harm

22:18when the video got wildly popular. There are countless other instances of such blatant

22:23violations of privacy and attempts at harm, due to all sorts of discriminatory behavior.

22:28And in the US especially, there seems to be no shortage of such bigoted people, including

22:33many who are willing to cause harm only because of their hatred toward others they deem lesser.

22:37Corporations may violate your privacy in attempts to gain business from you.

22:42They may gain personal and identifying information to advertise to you or directly

22:47sell you products or services. Corporations may call you or even pay you a visit at your home or

22:52place of work to sell you their product or service. Also, businesses are known to gather

22:58information on each other's products and services. If you are a business owner with an innovative or

23:03groundbreaking product or service, you may be targeted for information gathering by corporate

23:08or government interests. These efforts may be subtle, but there are many reports of intimidation

23:14and even extortion. Corporations and their agents may be aggressively territorial and greedy and may

23:20attempt to limit competition. While I believe in privacy, I also believe in the openness of ideas.

23:26Corporate secrecy often involves the withholding of useful ideas, technologies, and methods.

23:31I think this is mostly counterproductive, following the logic that if someone else is in a better

23:37position to capitalize on an idea, then by all means, they should. I believe it is quite rare for

23:43instances where your idea, method, and technology will be duplicated, exactly, by someone else.

23:49I believe the diversity of ideas is always helpful, and it is generally no different with corporate

23:54interests. As a side note, there are corporations that are specialized in collecting personal information

23:59and selling it to other corporations that can then use it to sell their products.

24:04Social media companies are the latest and most powerful of such corporations.

24:08Their main source of revenue is your personal data, which they collect basically through snooping

24:12on your posts and online activity. They encourage your activity by different methods, then monitor it,

24:18record it, package it. They then sell it to individuals, institutions, or other corporations for a profit.

24:24The high profits incentivize the social media companies to ask very few questions of the data

24:30purchasers. So, just about anyone with enough money can potentially buy your intimate and private data

24:36collected by social media. Social media highly encourages their users to post as much about

24:42their life as possible. But even if you are careful about what you post, you generate all sorts of

24:47metadata in the process. For example, when you post a birthday wish for someone,

24:52you are potentially revealing or confirming your close connection to the person. That person's

24:58birthday, your location, their location, your online activity routine, your looks, dress, race,

25:04especially if you post a photo or video of yourself or others. Social media corporations may build a

25:10dossier about you, even over a short period of light online activity, then sell this information

25:15without your knowledge. They claim that you are warned about all of these details and that you are able

25:20to control what you share. But they also know that most people don't read the hard-to-find

25:25fine print and terms of use. Additionally, they know that most people don't adjust the privacy

25:30settings to safeguard what they share. They count on you not reading these terms of use and then

25:35capitalize on it. Furthermore, social media companies carefully craft attractive online experiences

25:41for each user that promote feelings of engagement, trust, and security. These are clearly

25:47deceptive practices that enable blatant violations of the privacy of millions of people without their

25:52knowledge. The recent social media disclosures, called the Facebook Papers, revealed among other

25:58things how the social media platform encouraged hateful, divisive, and extreme content to get more

26:04engagement from its users. This engagement, however negative, is more profitable.

26:09Big tech companies like Google, Microsoft, and Apple have cleverly moved into the realm of smartphones

26:15and have used this technology to increasingly track your location, your map destinations,

26:20your searches, your interests, and many other habits. Again, with your personal data from these

26:25categories, big tech companies make money by selling your info to advertisers, other companies or

26:30individuals, and advertising products and services directly to you. In some cases, your personal data may

26:37be turned over to the authorities or the government with perhaps very few questions asked. There are

26:42countless examples of this cozy and pal-like relationship between big tech and so-called

26:47authorities. In fact, big tech may turn a blind eye about known infiltrated agents within their ranks.

26:54Agents who likely siphon data out to their respective agencies for all sorts of shadowy reasons.

27:00Governments, the world over, violate our basic right to privacy for a variety of reasons,

27:06to include persecution. And their pretexts often cite vague reasons of defense and law enforcement.

27:11Many areas of the world don't even have constitutional freedoms that protect privacy,

27:17expression, and other rights. And even there, the government is allowed to freely snoop into the

27:22lives of just about anyone using social media, putting at risk many users in some nations.

27:27Even in so-called free nations, violations of privacy are perpetrated by the government,

27:32using feeble pretexts of prevention of crime, national security, countering misinformation, etc.

27:38For example, the revelations of Edward Snowden showed how U.S. agencies wholesale spied on the

27:45American population without the required warrants. Some preventive surveillance may be valid in a

27:50society riddled with guns, hatred, anger, and violent behaviors. But when surveillance is done in a

27:56carpet-cover fashion, many may fall victims to misidentifications. Even unwarranted charges and

28:02convictions may occur in a paranoid, surveillance state. Many innocents may be suspected, charged,

28:09and sometimes convicted of crimes they did not commit, because someone or some system,

28:13pieced together plausible suspicion from routine actions of a surveilled individual.

28:18Suspicion is relative, and if paranoid or biased, you may suspect just about anyone who is doing just

28:24about anything. I believe there is a fine line to walk during any crime prevention surveillance.

28:29There are many ethical questions to answer and many biases to oppose. For example, what behaviors,

28:36words, or patterns are to be considered suspicious? What locations, items, and actions are worthy of

28:42surveillance? How does a suspect look, behave, or dress like? All these and more are subject to each

28:48individual's biases, which can be many. Biases can remain present even after rigorous training,

28:54and the influence of training may be less than that of other life experiences for law enforcers.

28:59This is a monstrous subject matter that spans psychology, sociology, criminal justice, and more.

29:05But, I believe that society should determine what factors warrant surveillance how much of it and

29:10for how long. In general, I believe, preventative surveillance should be strictly restricted and

29:15regulated. And, it must be open to scrutiny by those potentially surveilled and regulators.

29:20It should not be up to a handful of specialists within a government agency to decide these things in

29:26secret. The U.S. has checks and balances for government surveillance in the form of warrant

29:30requirements. But, these have become so routine and relaxed that they seem to be often just a nuisance,

29:36which agencies often ignore, bypass, get ex post facto, or just rubber stamp away.

29:42There are plenty of instances where the government has abused their power and violated the privacy of

29:46individuals with very little or no reasonable cause. National and local agencies,

29:51fiddled through the social media accounts of countless protesters and protest organizers

29:55during the Black Lives Matters protests of 2020, to crack down or disrupt their constitutionally

30:01protected actions. The right of assembly, petition, and free speech. In the 1960s, Martin Luther King

30:08Jr. and Malcolm X, were spied on repeatedly by state and national agencies, based on fabricated and

30:14exaggerated suspicions. And, police and other agencies often finger through social media pages as well as

30:20discarded pieces of mail from individuals that are targeted for surveillance, often based on their

30:26affiliations and religion, race, ethnicity, nationality, or sexual orientation. Recently,

30:33police in Atlanta, Georgia spied on protesters against Cop City, the planned police facility that

30:38threatens the community and a local forest, and conducted deadly raids against them using the

30:43intelligence gathered through clear violations of privacy and other constitutionally protected rights.

30:48Cop City is believed to be ultimately utilized for further militarization and surveillance of the

30:53region, and is believed to harm the forest environment and the nearby communities in which

30:58it may be built. How Living Off-Grid Helps You Claim Your Privacy

31:03A mentality of efficiency begins to work on awareness and value for privacy. Efficiency is generally unwelcomed

31:10in the often wasteful cities, and rejected by those living a so-called normal life there. You will likely

31:16want to remain private because of this likely rejection. There may be cases where your safety

31:21may be threatened by authorities and angry violent neighbors, simply because of your unusual lifestyle,

31:26however helpful it may be for you and the world. Working yourself free from the grid may not stop at

31:32disconnecting your utility services and getting out of debt. It will likely extend into freeing

31:37yourself from other types of abusive control and the constant surveillance present today.

31:41Again, you should be afforded reasonable privacy as long as you are a law-abiding and reasonable

31:46citizen. And, your human and constitutional rights should be respected. Your society should

31:52not keep tabs on you and surveil you, just in case you step out of line, or because they unreasonably

31:58suspect you of wrongdoing. You should be free of unreasonable suspicion, because otherwise you will

32:03remain in a child and parent relationship with a seriously flawed government and society.

32:08Those that may erroneously strike, due to a litany of possible biases and discriminatory

32:14assumptions. And, such a government and society may choose to suppress anything that they deem

32:19a threat, although it may be perfectly legal, safe and reasonable to most. While living off

32:25the grid or making efforts for it, you may notice the ways in which you are surveilled and controlled

32:29by companies and the government. But, you may begin to take steps to get rid of those things that

32:34enable such surveillance and control. For example, an identification card, ID, is a representation of

32:41an affiliation with an entity, and a certain degree of commitment and control given to that entity.

32:46A state ID is affiliated with that state, and that the state issues to you so it has many of your

32:51updated personal identifiable information. This information is kept by the state to maintain a

32:57certain amount of control over you. They generally know where to find you, know your looks and other

33:01identifying biological and social data. Through your ID, the state may keep tabs on encounters

33:07you've had with law enforcement, big purchases you've made, jobs you have had, and any transaction

33:13where your state ID was verified. These records can be used to create a dossier which, again, gives the

33:19state certain power and control over you. Most of us are highly encouraged, even forced to enter this

33:25relationship with our states of residence, by exchanging that control for things like the ability to drive,

33:30rent an apartment, or apply for benefits or employment. You may ask,

33:35What control can the state have over me? I feel free to do as I please as long as it is not illegal.

33:40This argument is naive and erroneous, in that the state highly encourages you to work and pay taxes,

33:46and engage in all of the economic activities that generate that state wealth, such as purchasing food

33:52and fuel, paying rent or mortgage, and countless other paid activities. If that's not control I'm not sure

33:57what is. These may only seem like free actions, to pay for just about everything, especially if you

34:03have lived in such an environment your entire life. But, paying for everything is far from natural,

34:08as you have little or no choice but pay. This, to me, is clear evidence of manipulation and control

34:14by a series of artificial factors. You may choose to minimize or sever your commitment to any entity which

34:20controls you in any way, such as clubs, societies, communities, associations, or even your government.

34:26Especially if the benefits you have exchanged for that control are wholly inadequate.

34:31For this, you may begin with simple accessible steps. For example, choose to turn off your GPS

34:36location service of your smartphone, to limit the surveillance by big tech and their countless

34:41apps on their platforms. You may also turn off your big tech affiliations and services altogether,

34:47and have them stop the tracking and surveillance of your online and real-world activities.

34:50You may also strongly petition your local government to take down surveillance cameras in

34:56your community, or alternatively, ask them to provide absolute transparency in their surveillance

35:01activities. You may also protest this type of surveillance. These and more are ways to begin

35:08to take control of your life while off the grid, and to claim and maintain your deserved and rightful privacy.

35:13mask

35:25so

35:26like

35:27so

09 Freedom and happiness - part 4

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