Off the Grid

This week we noted with great interest the accounts of the rich and famous being hacked.  Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Kanye West, Bill Gates and Elon Musk all had their Twitter accounts hacked.

It could have been the work of a state actor, like North Korea.  In that case, speculated one “senior American intelligence official,” the intent would have been something like destabilizing the stock market.

But instead it was believed to have been the work of an induvial or a band of hackers in what the New York Times called “a show of force.”

Twitter said, ““We’re looking into what other malicious activity they may have conducted or information they may have accessed.”

The incident reveals once again how easily our private information can be compromised.  Yahoo!, Veeam, Exactis, and Equifax are just some of the big digital data firms that have been hacked with billions of records stolen.

But instead of supporting means for people to protect their privacy, the government accelerates measures to make us more vulnerable.

The war on cash is a good example.  Cash is anonymous.  So Washington doesn’t like it.  In fact, you may have noticed that Washington wants full access to everything you do, while it wants everything it does to be secret.

Which raises the question:  Who is in charge here?  Is the state our creation and does it serve us?  Or does it see things the other way around?

Last year we wrote about reasons to want to be off the grid  (Good Old Fashioned Profits, 6/8/19):

“Some people buy gold just to get off the grid.  They would like to keep their financial affairs private.  Since the banks have become snoops for the government, reporting what you do, and since big corporations try to follow you in everything you do and anything you buy, just the peace of mind of having a little privacy is a very good reason to own gold.  

“There are other reasons to want to get off the grid.  You may remember how a lot of things were shut down after 9/11.  Have you ever wondered what would happen if the increasingly stressed national electricity grid went down, or if solar flares screwed up satellite functions and digital communications?

“What would you do if ATM machines stopped spitting out cash?”

It is only sensible to want to protect your privacy in this digital age.  Gold and silver are the single best means of getting your wealth of the grid and away from hackers, identity thieves, and other prying eyes.

We think protecting your privacy has never been more important.  Big changes are in the works.