ARE YOU BEING MONITORED BY BETHEL? (not really!!)

by AllTimeJeff 54 Replies latest jw friends

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  AllTimeJeff

  Hello to all. This is for anyone who cares... Just my thoughts and opinions, which have slightly changed since I have left the cult. A poster named Melita said some really inappropriate things on Barbara Andersons thread on Jaracz's stroke, which got me to finally post this, just to put it out there.....

  When I first left, I was scared s*itless that I was being monitored and watched by bethel for reading and posting here. And I bet I am. (in that I have readers,,, lol)

  I have heard certain CO's in the past say that "Bethel" monitors these sites. I believed it... at first... Then I started to think about it.. Which is always a good idea when you weigh an observation from a JW heavy...

  I personally think and believe that you, dear reader, are not being monitored. Really. First off, they can't monitor you. That would be illegal. Also, their IT dept is monitored by 21 year old bethelites. They don't care about you, they are thinking about beer and sex.

  I DO believe that bethelites of various ranks read here and at other sites frequently. That doesn't mean that they are looking for apostates specifically... (sure, they speculate, but they suck at that, remember 1975?? lol)

  If you EVER hear a CO or an elder say that Bethel monitors these things looking for apostates, I believe it a myth and a lie. I am sure it is another tactic trying to keep people from posting who actually know things. They are bleeding members and money, they aren't looking at this site to see where people go, they are trying to keep their little tree house club from imploding.....

  Believe what you will, I understand the paranoia. It is a cult, but just like the idea that the WT is full of subliminal art if crap, so is the idea that they regulalry monitor these sites.
• 

  Elsewhere

  Are they saying that the WTS assigns people to read this site or are they saying that the WTS monitors which websites people visit while using a computer on the WTS network?

  • If the WTS has people assigned to read this website who try to figure out who the posters are... well... that's got to be a sorry ass job.
  • If the WTS is monitoring what websites people view using the WTS network... well... that's their right. It's also why gawd invented public computers at the Library. ;)
• 

  AllTimeJeff

  Obviously they can monitor computers on the JW network, which exists. Most bethelites have their own computer, many have their own outside internet access. I know I did while at Gilead.

  So I guess I should say, if you are reading this at Bethel, don't use your Bethel login. If you have your own PC and an outside internet account, you are fine.
• 

  Uzzah

  Paranoia is huge when you first start thinking for yourself

  I remember being in a bookstore looking for "apostate' literature being absolutely convinced an elder was going to jump me as I walked out of the Christian bookstore. Never happened.

  I was tracked for a while due to involvement with some of the legal cases but that was diffused quickly. But if you are simply fading there is a very slim liklihood of you being tracked here especially if you do not post personal information.

  If you are involved in legal cases or other activities against the JW's then you should limit posting anything personal that would identify you. Otherwise brooklyn just doesn't care/

  Uzzah
• 

  daniel-p

  So I guess I should say, if you are reading this at Bethel, don't use your Bethel login. If you have your own PC and an outside internet account, you are fine.

  Bethel monitors the internet activity of all accounts, not just from library computers. Here is an excerpt from a conversation I had with someone with many years experience high up in Bethel (I hope they don't mind me quoting here, but it will remain anonymous):

  "I do know definitely that the Computer Dept. has a system that monitors the Internet activity of Bethelites. (It has an alarm system in place when certain words or phrases are used.) In fact, I was given the name of the system but can't remember now. One of the men responsible for that system and also another sophisticated system, was giving me inside information, but was caught at a foreign branch, where he was sent to set up a new computer system that tied all branches together, trying to get into the WT child abuse data bank and asked to leave."

  This is corroborated by my own experience at Bethel, as well.
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  daniel-p

  To expand on my comment above, I have personally overheard fellow Bethelites who worked in IT discussing the system referred to above, so I know it wasn't just a rumor. This occurred while riding in a car to our congregation outside of Wallkill. Also, I was the subject of an "inquiry" regarding the activity on my personal internet connection (porn, of course).
• 

  John Doe

  Hey Melita, does it get cold sleeping under a bridge?
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  daniel-p

  To clarify, I am ONLY talking about the monitoring of Bethelite internet activity, NOT anything else. Melita, you're full of it. Have fun with your 15 minutes of internet fame.
• 

  WTWizard

  If you are on an independent network (and I have an outside ISP), there is only one way for those crooks to monitor your specific posts and activity. They have to install spyware on your computer. Unless you visit one of their sites and download anything, there is no way they are going to be able to do that. And if they manage to put spyware on your computer, all it takes is for someone to reverse-engineer it and post the code on an apostate forum (with some "errors" put in just so it will not run) and the source, and they are going to be in for some serious embarrassment.

  After all, they continually bash the Internet, and they use the fear of viruses and spyware as one of their favorite tools (porn and apostate web sites are their other major tools). If they are caught putting spyware on your computer, they are in fact creating the very problem they are bashing worldly people for creating. Plus, they can be brought in for criminal charges, and get sued for putting the spyware on your computer.

  Without putting spyware on your computer, they cannot monitor anything you do on an independent network. They can trick you into installing spyware in the form of a CD-ROM (a program to monitor and protect you from apostate sites), but you have the option to just not install anything that comes from the Washtowel Babble and Crap Slaveholdery. Plus, you can run a good anti-spyware program to find such spyware (and possibly reverse-engineer it, and then post the lines of code on an apostate web site, or even a mainstream site, for the world to see).

  However, they are watching these boards the regular way. Even the hounders could be reading these boards, and if there is anything that could make it too easy for them to identify you, you could be in for a trip to the back room or right back to the Kingdumb Hell and one of their families so you will be cut off from apostate Web sites. Yes, post what you observe--just make as much extra work for the hounders to identify you as you can.
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  lurk3r

  they use the fear of viruses and spyware as one of their favorite tools

  Is that quoted somewhere WT?

  lurk3r