Why should you silo your data and what is it?

A digital silo is like QubesOS (the most reasonably secure operating system) it compartmentalizes your life. just like grain silos. it keeps stuff separate.

From my perspective a digital silo is also in the same scope of my previous post about..

It's not just about digital sovereignty, but it's also about the lack of ownership of your media. We are merely just renting it at this point. It's only a matter of time before YouTube can just decide your channel is problematic. Google has an alarming overreach and so do the other media conglomerates. Not only do you pay for some of these services, they also sell your data. We are fundamentally digital gold mines at this point.do you want to take that risk?

Okay, enough of the doomer talk.

So TLDR, no, you don't have to throw out your phone or your tech. I would first and foremost do a digital and physical asset inventory checklist.
Find what you do and don't need. Below i will give what i would consider alternative options to use.

So, a few options will help you silo your data,, first and foremost, I would recommend getting a Laptop with cash and install QubesOS, this misleading information that you need to be an "expert" or that QubesOS is "isn't beginner friendly" is RETARDS that are projecting their skill issue. Even furthermore QubesOS is not a "linux distro" It's based off xenHyprvisor and it is more of a vm manager. Now you have a few options out of the box for actual Linux distros. I would say use Fedora temps more only because they do offer better "security" (source:https://privsec.dev/posts/linux/choosing-your-desktop-linux-distribution/). QubesOs offers strong silo VM's. Is it perfect? no, nothing is, but it offers strong protection and color codes tabs, so you don't get lost. it has WHONIX temp as well, while i would not rely on it for anonymity, it still can be forensically investigated. There is an option called busKill that i highly recommend you readers check out.

Ok, ok, ok, ok, ok, ok, ok. What else?

Reject giving out information.

One, if not the most important Opsec hole is giving out your personal information. This is the number one thing you should take away from this. Do not (if you can legally) hand out your personal information. Get a virtual number. They are cheap and separate your identity. There are a ton of cheap VOIP providers out there. If you want to go the extreme route, you can just not get a phone number and go numberless. It is extreme, but very doable. You can just take advantage of free Wi-Fi, use a VPN that accepts monero and, in emergencies, get a data-only sim or esim. Now this isn't the perfect anon solution and there isn't one, but that's not the point. The point is that you control what data you want to be public and what you want to keep private.

Monero = banking yourself

Monero is a digital currency that puts your money back in your hand in the digital sense. Now before all the boomers think it's some rug pull or "not real value". Tons of shops accept monero now and there are more to come. This isn't a new idea either.

Here are a few key points.

1. it keeps your money private in the digital world

2. It's more portable than gold or cash.

3. You can run your own node, aka be your own bank.

The banking system is increasingly grabbing control of people's finances. Especially, with cash app zell ect becoming more convenient. We know they are tracking your spending and selling ads on your purchase history.

ADDRESS...

First and forthmost, I am not a lawyer, and I am not your lawyer.
Tldr: consult a real lawyer.

This one is quite complex, as in the US and, depending on your country, you have different laws on what you can and CANNOT lie or fake information on. It is your DD to check with your local laws. Now, keeping your address private is very difficult. I will go as in depth as possible, and I will not sugar coat it. A lot of sites and people make this out to be "cheap or easy" and after reading a lot of information and listening to a lot of lawyers on this subject, and reading Micheal Bazzel's book on extreme privacy, I think I can have some input from my experiences.

the difficult parts

Keeping your real address private is really difficult due to the fact that you cannot make one mistake. It's not as easy as "just get a llc or virtual address". While these are better than giving out your real address. You are now trusting another company with your mail ect.

Now in the US in 2025, a PO box is the most protected in terms of "legal protection" as it's protected under the 4th amendment.

This can be better to leak out than your real address.

But, what if you have a house? A mortgage? How can I keep this private?

There are a few options. In all honesty, there are only two real options.

A TRUST

In short, a trust is a way to mask who owns the house from public records. Anyone can be a trustee, but the most "private way" to make a trust is to use a local company that does this and has a good reputation.

Micheal Bazzel's book Extreme privacy goes over this in detail.

The second option is cash. This, in most cases, is unrealistic. This is also one of the hardest to obtain on a "budget". It really all comes down to what your threat model is. That and the fact that most houses are 100k plus LOL.

FUCK CAPTCHAS FUCK CAPTCHAS

Now, this is slightly updated. captchas are the enemy of anything productive. While taking a slight break, i wanted to see how easy (it wasn't) it was to obtain an "anonymous" number. Anytime you come across the AI slop or corp shithole blogs that infected the internet, you get in fact, awful advice and affiliated links and honestly it makes me want to bleach my eyes. Now for the very long and detailed version of my experience below.

TLDR LIST for ADHD RETARDS(ME).

1. HARD
2. CAPTCHAS ARE ASS
3. GETTING BLOCKED ON EVERY SITE OR BANNED.

Cake wallet moment.

Goals

1. get a email provider as private as possible
2. get a number private as possible.
3. try not to leave my house.

Okay, for the people that will read this(thank you). My experience was ass, in the worst way possible. First, I used cake wallet to get a gift card with monero, so i could ya know? Get the number without leaving my house. And that went awfully. It got rejected and issues i will not bore you with. I, reached out to cake-wallet, and they just sent my monero back to me. They're looking for a different card partner.

(in short, I went to a store and bought a gift card with cash)
The site blocks tor FYI, so if you are trying to activate this, either call or use public Wi-Fi.) (more on how i got a private number, but in short i did not get to use it.)

So..back to the drawing board, i used a a few SMS services to get a temp number for the email and most, if not all, are blocked or just don't work, so in short, don't use them.

email......

Just use tuta or proton, if you want a long-term solution for the number. I WILL SAY this does work, but its temp, and if you don't need permanent access to the site, it does work.
And if you can afford it, just buy a whole year ect.

Getting the number was hard....

Now getting the number was quite literally a nightmare. I first start up tails and just get IP blocked or put in captcha hell. At best, if i did make it to the site after signing up. They would just not "activate my number" or not let me log back in (I'm looking at you tello). I wanted to do this also as cheaply as possible. So, i caved in and bought a 30-day card from tracphone for $20, I'd say this is the best option. With cash in person and might be the only option that is pretty much going to work.

Now activating was kinda annoying. I needed to get an account, so I pretty much used a dump proton email. You could just use a temp mail or aliased email with simpleLogin, but id make sure i never connect any payment or personal information to any of this.

..... My thoughts.

Look, you, yes you, Do Not have to go skitzo mode and throw out your tech ect, Remeber it's a scale. Minus the captcha hell and IP blcoking because i wanna be private dosn't mean you have too.

i wish there was more options to getting a number using monero. i have considered buying a bulk ammount of these prepaid numbers and resell them for monero for a very small fee as a proxy If there was a intrest for this. (i don't due to the fact that you can buy this via cash still), but tthis is moreb to support the monero economy. conact me if this does intrest you, if i get enough i might consider doing it.

if you suppot my work and monero. consider donating

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In Short, you should never trust these companies to keep your data "Safe". I think separating your data is the most secure way. Just like QubesOS takes the approach of everything is compromised. You should to.