I’d say it’s a business update, but really this is my mission. From out of the ashes of Silicon Valley, to forging for you the best shield I can. youtu.be/roCwU8or5jI?si=96Np…

TPA is correct. Government mandates are NOT the answer to keeping kids safe online. Educated and empowered parents will always be the answer paired with innovative technology that gives families the tools to set real boundaries in the digital world.

In my book Practive Security 101 and also in the upcoming book Countering the AI Revolution, I offer to readers the premise that those developing tech today are primarily motivated by ideological activism. In the second book, I share some insider stories. Here’s an example that’s not in either book, but should reveal to you who these people are: In 2021 I was working at a tech startup that was preparing for IPO. The CEO announced that all employees were required to get the COVID vax, no exceptions. We were a 100% remote workforce. There was no physical office to be in. No way for employees to meet up in person. It was 100% work from home company. But the CEO said that the requirement came from the US Government and applied to all subcontractors, which he hoped to become someday. I politely refused. I didn’t make a big deal about it, I just didn’t comply. Didn’t do it and didn’t submit the evidence by the deadline. My boss told me my refusal landed me on the CEO’s blacklist of employees who were not a culture fit for the company. He said they would end my career. They would first put me into a meaningless job, deny me participation in most things, deny my opportunity for advancement, and that if I left, HR would tell whomever I went to work for next and that I would never be able to work in Silicon Valley again. HR contacted me and I had very reasonable and good conversations with them. I believe the HR rep agreed with me, but she had chosen to hold the company line. She offered me the religious exemption, but when I read the requirements, I felt that claiming it would be a lie. I contacted a law firm, one who was fighting such mandates, and they told me I had no options; that the company could require me to take the jab. I still have the email from the now official at DOJ who led that law firm. I refused the shot because I thought it was dangerous and unnecessary, and that the requirements were unfounded and represented a personal risk I didn’t want to take. I also objected because to me it seemed to be about a sacrament of the left; a statement of submission and alignment. Again, HR seemed to agree, but they wouldn’t budge. Jab or done. So I quit. They tried to retain me and offered me different roles in the company, but who wants to work for a company like that? So I walked away. I think of today’s AI mandates in a similar way. While some people will try to find an out, the truth is you might just have to take a stand. You have to choose, and the choice will cost you. But the truth will set you free.

I believe 0% of the Pentagon vs. Anthropic public feud. I find it almost impossible to believe the public AI companies have capability that exceeds what exists in the classified halls of DoD/DoW. I find it almost impossible to believe that they would publicly discuss the truth about capabilities, requirements, and limitations of DoD/DoW data analytics programs. In my experience, whatever is publicly disclosed in this context, is probably misinformation designed for counter espionage.

Practive Security 101 is now available in paperback and Kindle formats from Amazon.com. Introduction video linked in the comments below. This book is packed! 23 chapters covering the everyday essentials for personal cyber security, online safety, privacy, and digital health. We cover all the threat scenarios, actors, and their tradecraft. We review strategies for social media, AI, influence, radicalization, OPSEC, cyber crime, hacking, web browsing, email, VPN, messaging, finding the truth, personal security, device security, soul security. Faith, philosophy, technology. Knowledge, strategies, and tips. amazon.com/dp/B0H4LK1Y93?

Little taste, but we cover 90 topics in this assessment. It’s huge!

FYI

FYI - I cover much of this and more also in Practive Security 101.

This is so good. Yes. I say yes and amen. Thank you @PaulAnleitner @PageauJonathan @annielcrawford for inviting us into this and sharing your insights. This is good. youtu.be/b_OPRjZaNJU?is=Imqu…

My fellow homeschool families, the people of the world and even of the church should read this passage and see us as an inspiration of its application: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:1-2 NIV Homeschooling is not just another way to school and to still be like everyone else in the world around us. It is an expression of our commitment to living apart from the world to the glory of God. It is a means of discipleship that brings all of life together to make disciples of Christ who bear the image of God and bring His Spirit into this world. When we gather as a larger community, we should not look like the world around us. We should not behave like it. We should not bear its image. Our aim and attention should be higher. We should look like a community that has shed the things and ways and trends of the world in pursuit of higher purpose, and the fruit of that should be obvious. That fruit may look different, one family to the next, but it should be good…and not of this world. Parents, if you see otherwise in your home, then it is time to begin cutting those influences. If the patterns of the world are formational in your kids and producing the wrong kind of fruit, then it’s time to break away from the source of the pattern. And live examined lives. Look to your own fruit as well - alas you will see it in your kids. Parents, adults, leaders…do I need to say that we should exemplify this to our kids and to our community? For goodness sakes, be adults of high caliber and as role models to those we are raising. When we gather, we should be an orderly and disciplined and sober people…we are not the local mega-church’s youth group summer camp. For goodness sakes. Rise above. That is our identity. That is our calling.

Indeed, and as I try to describe to you in the first few chapters of Practive Security 101, Big Tech views you and I as raw material to be manipulated into something that they can use to turn a profit. The things they make for us to use today are predicated on that - the monetization of you and I.

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you, today’s champion of the Internet.

Under the category of “you can just do stuff,” check this out: While working at a financial services software company, I became aware of a certain form of acute cyber crime. The officials weren’t interested in doing anything about it, so I did…unofficially. I worked with a few former law enforcement officers from different agencies to identify the people committing the crime and their operating location. We profiled their operation, found their staff, and mapped their operating rhythms. Then, during the peak of their operating hours, we launched DDoS attacks against them to knock them offline. Meanwhile, we coordinated a visit to the home of the criminal organization’s leader to let him know we knew who he was and what he was doing. His operation was in Africa while he lived a luxurious life in Ukraine. He had a fake organization leader (the recruiter) also in Africa. Anyway, we stopped financial crimes live. Yes, you can just do things.

I was asked recently about the services that erase all your personal data from the public Internet. The person asking wanted to know if I provide that service and if that was a prudent thing to do for personal security. I don’t provide that service, but I have been one who hunts people based on the information they have exposed online. I have hunted and unmasked criminals, and I have tracked them down physically. I used that experience and topic as the premise for the OPSEC chapter in Practive Security 101, and I share with you some of the tradecraft I use, so you can hunt yourself and find out what you have exposed.

I just talked with someone who was on travel and while passing through a major airport, connected to the public Wi-Fi from their iPhone and logged into their airline account and checked email. And right then, someone captured their email address and password information and immediately logged into their accounts and started committing financial crimes and impersonation attacks. This person who contacted me had been working hard to clean up the mess for over a week, but is now wondering “who do I trust who can help me prevent this from happening again.” That’s what we are here for at Practive Security. I cover how to protect against these exact real-world scenarios in my book, Practive Security 101 and through the resources available to Essentials Members on our website. It happens fast. You need to be protected. Never use public Wi-Fi.