Shield Yourself: Protecting Your Freedom in a Social Scoring Age

By Cade Shadowlight

 

What if your life’s score, as determined by Big Tech, Big Banks, and hidden government pressure, controls your future? Social scoring, from China’s blacklists to U.S. algorithms, tracks your every move. With 82% of transactions now cashless according to a 2023 Federal Reserve report, surveillance is tightening. Protect yourself with these steps to defy the dystopian score.

 

1) Use Cash Whenever Possible: Cash hides your transactions from scoring systems tracking digital payments. Pay cash at local stores to stay off their radar. Avoid using store loyalty cards, unless you sign up for them anonymously (no real name, address, phone number, or email).

 

2) Guard Your Voice: Speak boldly but smartly, online and in person. Avoid vulgar langage, personal attacks and especially threats. In today's world, even private conversations can become public. Use Signal to chat privately with your tribe, evading surveillance.

 

3) Curate and Conceal Online: For your public image, maintain a bland, positive social media presence (pictures of family outings, cute videos of your cat; no partisan poilitics or idealogical rants). For those partisan politics and idealogical rants, use anonymous accounts unlinked to your identity. Consider using the Tor browser or a good VPN for added privacy. 

 

4) Careful With Your Phone: Avoid using public WiFi. Use a privacy browser such as DuckDuckGo or Brave, setting it as the default browser. Adjust settings to clear history and cache when you close the browser. Consider disabling tracking for your phone and various apps if possible (but know this may affect "Find Lost Phone"or other desirable features). 

 

5) Secure Your Devices: Disable trackers and use privacy modes on all smart devices. At protests, use a cash-bought anonymous burner phone, leaving your real one at home.

 

6) Diversify Finances: Spread funds across credit unions and small banks. Having multiple accounts makes things more difficult to track and to completely cancel you. Consider privacy coins like Monero. Avoid single-point failures like Venmo that feed scores. Physical cash remains the best privacy option in most cases.

 

7) Stay Updated: Follow the news regarding privacy, AI, and technocracy to be aware of emerging threats. Some good resources:

• EFF's Surveillance Self-Defense (website link) 
• Technocracy News and Trends (website link) 
• The EU-focused Stop Technocracy (website link)
• Important background information in my article Technocracy Threats: Power Elite Control (article link)

Beyond Tech

Beyond tech, your personal behavior shields or endangers you in a scored world. Don't engage in illegal or unethical activities. Use common decency when dealing with other people, in real life and online. Build strong personal relationships with people who share your beliefs and values. Real life tribe you can trust is infinitely more important than online followers you don't really know.

Finally, self-reliance is an extremely important shield from surveillance and its potential consequences. The less you need the system, the less it can control you. Being self-employed, financially secure, and homeschooling your kids can provide important buffers between you and the emerging surveillance and control state.  

Subscribe to the free Dystopian Survival email list by clicking here for more ways to outwit the surveillance state. 

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Gear Spotlight: 4-Way Silcock Key, aka The Water Key (Amazon link)  In an emergency, water access can be a game-changer. The 4-Way Silcock Key opens recessed water spigots found on commercial buildings, parks, and golf courses—sources others might overlook. Compact and durable, it’s a must-have for your bug-out or get-home bag. 

 

Vinegar – The Survivalist’s All-Purpose Elixir

By Cade Shadowlight

The Survivalist’s Stockpile is an occasional feature here on Dystopian Survival, spotlighting items that belong in every prepper’s arsenal. Today, we’re exploring vinegar: a versatile, affordable staple with countless uses in cooking, cleaning, health, and beyond. Whether you’re stocking up for self-reliance or survival, vinegar is a non-negotiable addition to your supplies. 

Cooking, Canning, and Food Preservation

Vinegar (Amazon link) is a cornerstone of food preparation. It’s essential for pickling and canning, preserving fruits, vegetables, and even meats for long-term storage. Its acidity enhances flavors in cooking, from tangy dressings to marinades, making it a must-have for any survivalist kitchen. 

 

Cleaning and Sanitizing

 
Vinegar is a cleaning powerhouse. Use it to unclog and deodorize drains and toilets. Simply pour it in, let it sit, then flush with hot water for a fresh, clear system. It disinfects cutting boards and countertops, kills mold and mildew, and polishes silver, brass, and copper to a shine. For reusable containers like canteens, water bottles, thermoses, or jars, a vinegar rinse eliminates bacteria and odors, keeping them safe for use.

 

Practical Problem-Solving

 
Vinegar tackles sticky situations, quite literally. Apply it to remove glue residue from tape, price tags, bumper stickers, or decals. Pour vinegar on rusty screws or hinges to help loosen them for easier removal. These small but critical uses make vinegar a go-to for maintenance in a survival scenario. 

 

Pest Deterrence

 
Some homesteaders swear by vinegar-soaked rags, staked around gardens, to repel deer, dogs, rabbits, and raccoons, who reportedly dislike the lingering smell even after it dries. I haven’t tested this method myself, so I can’t confirm its effectiveness. Have you tried it? Share your experience in the comments below!

 

Health Benefits

 
Vinegar, particularly apple cider vinegar (Amazon link), has been studied for its health benefits. Research suggests it can improve insulin sensitivity and lower blood sugar levels, both fasting and post-meal, in people with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes. As a type 2 diabetic myself, I’ve found that consuming vinegar with meals reduces my post-meal blood sugar spikes by 25–40%. You can use vinagers in salad dressings, slaws, or pickled veggies. Add a bit to chilis, stews, or soups near the end of cooking to enhance the taste without overpowering them. 

 

Endless Versatility

 
Vinegar’s uses are nearly limitless. A quick search for “vinegar uses” will uncover dozens of additional ideas, from laundry aids to weed control. Stock up on this multi-purpose elixir—it’s cheap, shelf-stable, and indispensable for self-reliance.

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Fighting Back: Resisting Social Scoring in a Surveillance Age

By Cade Shadowlight

 

What if your every move locked you out of life? Social scoring, the use of AI systems rating your “trustworthiness” from purchases, posts, and other activities, is spreading (introductory article). China’s blacklists block travel for dissent; U.S. tech algorithms shadowban voices. The threat is real, and growing. Fight back with these steps:

 

1) Awareness. Resistance starts with understanding what you are resisting. Become informed. Check out my article on Technocracy Threats (article link), and check out the articles and books listed on the resources page for this series (page link). 

 

2) Exercise Free Speech. Alert friends, family, and elected officials to social scoring’s many risks, including privacy loss, eroded freedoms, discrimination, and behavioral control (the ultimte goal of social scoring). Amplify warnings on platforms like X and Facebook to spark change.

 

3) Transparency Laws. Push for laws forcing companies and governments to reveal how scoring systems work. The Twitter Files (Taibbi, 2022) exposed FBI pressure on platforms for political reasons; demand openness to stop it.

 

4) Privacy Laws. Push for laws like the EU AI Act of 2024 that seek to reduce, mitigate, or outright ban the use of social scoring. Push to limit employers and schools from monitoring non-work or non-school online activity and social media, protecting your digital life. 

  

5) Promote Cash. The move to an all-digital, cashless economy is already well-underway and is about surveillance and control. By insisting on using cash whenever possible, you are preventing the culmination of this move. 

 

6) Challenge Corporate Practices. Boycott data-heavy apps and pressure Big Tech, Big Banks, and other businesses to reject secretive scoring. Consumer power can disrupt their plans.

 

7) Leverage Technology for Resistance. Adopt decentralized platforms like Mastodon or Signal to escape data-hungry systems feeding scores. Support open-source tech to reclaim control.

 

Own Your Data, Defy the Score

 

You have the power to disrupt this dystopian machine. In our next article, learn to protect yourself in a scored world. Don't miss it by subscribing today to the free Dystopian Survival email list! 

 

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I stock my pantry with Augason Farms—powdered butter, eggs, cheese, milk, you name it. Shelf life up to 20+ years, solid taste, and real value. (Amazon link)

 

 

 

 

Social Scoring: The Creeping Threat to Freedom in a Digital Age

By Cade Shadowlight 

 

Imagine a world where every purchase, post, or step you take determines your access to jobs, travel, education, credit, or more. This is the reality of social scoring, a system that evaluates your behavior using AI and vast datasets to assign a “trustworthiness” score. 

 

In China, the social credit system blacklists citizens as “untrustworthy” for unpaid debts or political dissent, barring them from trains or schools. 

 

In the West, private systems are already here: social media algorithms shadowban controversial voices, gig economy ratings like Uber’s deactivate low-scoring drivers, and even credit cards like Doconomy’s DO Black limit spending based on your carbon footprint. These aren’t dystopian science fiction; they’re our present and future, quietly shaping behavior.

 

The risks are stark. A cashless economy, where every transaction is traceable, eliminates anonymity, enabling surveillance at an unprecedented scale—think China’s 600 million cameras powered by facial recognition. Low scores can restrict your freedoms, from losing platform access to facing higher loan rates, fostering a chilling culture of self-censorship. Opaque algorithms, often biased, offer little recourse for penalties. Worse, the Twitter Files (2022-2023) exposed U.S. government agencies like the FBI and DHS quietly pressuring tech platforms to moderate content, hinting at how private systems could align with state priorities behind closed doors and even be abused by politicians and parties.

 

These systems are poised to expand. With about 45% of U.S. transactions already cashless (as of 2023), tech giants like Meta or Amazon could integrate financial, social, and biometric data into unified “digital reputation” scores within a decade. Regulatory pressure or backchannel government requests could steer these toward political or environmental goals, like carbon limits, creating a hybrid control model without overt laws or oversight. Your data could soon dictate your opportunities, and not just financial.

 

What’s next? Stay tuned to DystopianSurvival.com for how to resist this creeping surveillance and protect yourself in a world where your behavior is your score. I have future articles on resisting this trend, and protecting yourself from it (subscribe by email for free). Question every app, every card, every click as if your freedom depends on it, because it does.

 

Resources page.  

 

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Ad:  Surveillance State: Inside China’s Quest to Launch a New Era of Social Control, by Chin, J., and Lin, L.- Two award-winning journalists dive into China’s use of facial recognition and data to enforce social scoring, with insights into how Western tech trends mirror this control. Connects global surveillance trends to the risk of private-sector scoring in the U.S. Availble on Amazon. 

 

 

The Survivalist's Stockpile: Baking Soda

By Cade Shadowlight

The Survivalist’s Stockpile is an occasional feature here on Dystopian Survival. Each article highlights an item you should consider adding to your stockpile of supplies. Today, we’re diving into the remarkable versatility of baking soda—a must-have for any prepared individual.

Baking soda is a survivalist’s dream, with uses spanning cooking, cleaning, personal hygiene, first aid, pest control, and even fire safety. Its affordability and long shelf life make it an essential addition to your stockpile.

Personal Hygiene and First Aid

Baking soda is a fantastic substitute for toothpaste, simply dip a damp toothbrush into it for a quick, effective clean. Mix it with water for a soothing antacid or use it as a gargle to ease coughs and sore throats. Applied as a paste, it can relieve insect stings, sunburn, and itching from poison ivy or oak. There’s even emerging research suggesting baking soda may support kidney health and potentially aid in cancer prevention, though consult a medical professional before using it for such purposes.

Pest Control

Baking soda is a non-toxic way to tackle pests. To kill cockroaches, mix equal parts baking soda and granulated sugar in a shallow dish and place it near suspected roach activity. For garden pests, create a plant-safe spray by combining 2 gallons of water, 3 tablespoons of baking soda, and 3 tablespoons of cooking oil. Apply weekly to protect your plants.

Cleaning and Odor Control

Baking soda is a cleaning powerhouse. It cuts through grease, eliminates mold and mildew, and removes coffee or tea stains. Sprinkle it on upholstery, carpets, or pet beds to neutralize odors. For oil stains on concrete, sprinkle baking soda, scrub with a wet brush, and watch the stain fade. It can even polish silver and jewelry to a shine.

Fire Safety and Plumbing

In emergencies, baking soda can extinguish small grease or electrical fires safely. For clogged drains or toilets, combine it with vinegar for a natural, fizzing solution to break up blockages.

The uses of baking soda are nearly endless. A quick search for “baking soda uses” will reveal dozens more ideas to enhance your self-reliance. 

Stock up on this inexpensive, multi-purpose staple today (Amazon link). It’s a small investment with massive returns in both regular life and a survival scenario.

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Subscribe to Dystopian Survival [click here] and follow me on X @CadeShadowlight for more tips. Thank you!

The Survivalist's Stockpile: Epsom Salt

By Cade Shadowlight

The Survivalist's Stockpile is an occasional feature here on Dystopian Survival. Each article highlights an item you might benefit from including in your stockpile of supplies.

Epsom salt (Amazon link) is a versatile addition to any survivalist’s stockpile. It can create a relaxing soaking bath to relieve pain, sprains, bruises, and muscle cramps—common ailments in a long-term, grid-down scenario. It soothes tired, aching feet and helps combat foot and toenail fungus. Epsom salt also serves as an excellent facial scrub and body wash. Mixed with water and sprayed on the skin, it reduces itching from mosquito bites and insect stings. It also provides relief from sunburn. 

In the Garden: Epsom salt is an effective tool for pest control. To deter slugs and snails, sprinkle a narrow band of Epsom salt around each plant. It also works as a safe, natural insecticide spray. Mix 1 cup of Epsom salt with 5 gallons of water (adjust as needed: ½ cup for 2.5 gallons, ¼ cup for 1.25 gallons, etc.) and spray on plants. 

Adding 1 tablespoon of Epsom salt to the soil around each tomato plant boosts production due to its magnesium content. Other vegetables, roses, and houseplants may also benefit from small doses of Epsom salt. 

Safety Note: Although Epsom salt is a magnesium-based “salt,” it should not be consumed like table salt, as it acts as a powerful laxative. If used as a laxative, follow package directions closely to avoid overuse, and drink plenty of water.

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Subscribe to Dystopian Survival [click here] and follow me on X @CadeShadowlight for more tips. Thank you!