Verizon Wireless has been subtly altering the web traffic of its wireless customers for the past two years, inserting a string of about 50 letters, numbers, and characters into data flowing between these customers and the websites they visit.
The company—one the country’s largest wireless carriers, providing cell phone service for about 123 million subscribers—calls this a Unique Identifier Header, or UIDH. It’s a kind of short-term serial number that advertisers can use to identify you on the web, and it’s the lynchpin of the company’s internet advertising program. But critics say that it’s also a reckless misuse of Verizon’s power as an internet service provider—something that could be used as a trump card to obviate established privacy tools such as private browsing sessions or “do not track” features.
Jacob Hoffman-Andrews, a technologist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, wants Verizon to stop using the UIDH. “ISPs are trusted connectors of users and they shouldn’t be modifying our traffic on its way to the Internet,” he says. He calls the UIDH a “perma-cookie,” because it can be read by any web server that you visit and used to build a profile of your internet habits.
According to Verizon spokeswoman Debra Lewis, there’s no way to turn it off. She says that Verizon doesn’t use the UIDH to create customer profiles, and if you opt out of the company’s Relevant Mobile Advertising program (you can do this by logging into your Verizon account here), then Verizon and its advertising partners won’t be using it to create targeted ads. But that’s beside the point, says Hoffman-Andrews. Because Verizon is broadcasting this unique identifier to every website, ad networks could start using it to build a profile of your web activity, even without your consent.
The fact that the UIDH was around for two years before getting any serious attention is a testament to the murky and challenging nature of privacy on today’s internet. Verizon has made no secret of its ambitions to cash in on the mobile advertising market. But the technical details of how it is doing this have been hard to uncover.
‘It’s gone relatively unremarked by the security, privacy, and broader technical community, in part, because it’s so hard to observe.’
You can test to see if your mobile device is broadcasting a UIDH on this website, run by Kenneth White, a security researcher. (Go to the site, and if there is nothing displayed after the line “your UID is reporting,” then you are not displaying a UIDH.) White says that the majority of Verizon Wireless customers who test their devices on his site display the perma-cookie. But not everyone does.Verizon couldn’t explain why some of our Verizon phones here at WIRED didn’t display it when we tested. White thinks that may be because the router-side software used to insert the header may not be available on all of Verizon’s sprawling national network. If you connect via Wi-Fi, or a virtual private network, or are talking to a site via SSL, then the UIDH will not display either.
It’s difficult for even outside websites to realize what is happening here. The UIDH headers weren’t discovered until someone configured web traffic to log all headers and then noticed the extra data coming from Verizon customers. That person, an EFF member, then reported it to the digital rights organization. “It’s gone relatively unremarked by the security, privacy, and broader technical community, in part, because it’s so hard to observe,” says Hoffman-Andrews.
But now Verizon is getting some extra scrutiny, as are the other carriers. Late Friday, Hoffman-Andrews said he was looking into anecdotal reports that AT&T was using a similar type of identifier.
http://www.wired.com/2014/10/verizons-perma-cookie/
"DIY Antibiotics”: What To Grow to Protect Your Health In a Crisis
What will you do in a crisis without life saving medicine and antibiotics?
If society breaks down, hospitals, pharmacies and clinics will be unavailable, and the medicine you or a loved one need may be unavailable.
Clearly, this means you need to have to supplies on hand, particularly for anyone who is dependent upon insulin or other medications that can be deadly if disrupted.
But those supplies will only go so far. Something that is also important to do is become familiar with medicinal herbs and plants, and grow some of the ones that could be most useful to your family or network.
Wilderness and homesteading survival teacher Marjory Wildcraft shows how you can grow and process your own medicines – many of which are more potent and potentially beneficial than those developed in the medical industry. Best of all, it is relatively simple to do:
Yes, you can make your own anti-biotics at home. I’ll show you how to make a really super powerful one (it’s easy to do). Anyone can do it. Most people will want to do this in their backyards or on a patio. But I suppose you could do it indoors too. This one I’ll show you how to make is way more complex than anything the pharmaceutical companies can produce, yet it is simpler and easier to make. No, you won’t need a lab of chemistry set. No, you won’t need microscopes or chemicals. Nope, you won’t even need a spectrum analyzer….
This particular anti-biotic not only helps boost your immune system for any time you have an infection, but it is also good for when you have a cold, it’s known to help lower cholesterol and high blood pressure, it’s been known to help balance blood sugar, fight cancer, fight fungus, and more.
The answer is simple… Garlic is perhaps the single best natural antibiotic, and very well known for staving off colds, infections and for overall supporting a healthy immune system and restoring good health.
Quite simply, garlic is well worth growing, eating and having around, as this video demonstrates. Adopt some of the best practices for growing and storing it, and it will always be around.
There are, of course, many other important medicinal plants that can be grown and utilized than just garlic:
Sara an expert in Medicinal plants explains the properties of several different plants and what their uses are for different ailments. This is information that could save you lots of money in buying medicine and can help you live a healthy diet. Filmed at the eco village of Valdepiélagos, Madrid
According to Sara (in the video above), these plants and many more can address many health issues, including some of the most serious.
• Stevia isn’t just a “sweet leaf” to be used as a sugar substitute, but eating the leaf or its extract can help regulate blood sugar (not in the processed form used by soda companies).There are, of course, hundreds of more varieties of plants that you can cultivate, but you will need to do your own research. Many plants are found in certain regions only, and others may be difficult to grow outside of their typical climate.
• Kalanchoe Daigremontiana can strengthen the immune system and reportedly even fight cancer.
• Melissa and Evalouisa – Plants from these families both have similar medicinal properties for digestive and stomach relief, as well as as a sleep aid.
• Caledonia can help with cataracts (the orange liquid can be put in the eyes) or for cuts on the skin
•Artemisia Annua is another powerful anti-bacterial that can fight malaria and other serious diseases.
• Galio can be used to regulate the hormonal system
• Epiolobium can reduce inflammation in the prostate
(Note: some of these names may be more familiar to Spanish speakers, or go under a different name elsewhere)
Though they have been used for centuries, no one can guarantee they are safe for everyone, and most doctors and hospitals refuse to recognize the potential of these natural (and unpatentable) medicines.
Regardless of whether or not you endure a collapse or prolonged crisis situation, these are valuable skills that could improve your personal well being, or come in handy as a tradable and necessary skill within a self-reliant community or survivor group.
Along with goods and precious metals, exchanging skills & service is a useful part of any barter economy that could thrive under the right circumstances of determined and freedom loving people.
http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/diy-antibiotics-what-to-grow-to-protect-your-health-in-a-crisis_04292016
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