Why You Might Be Paying More for Groceries: Understanding and Blocking Surveillance Pricing
004 - Why You Might Be Paying More for Groceries: Understanding and Blocking Surveillance Pricing On December 9, 2025, "More Perfect Union" and "Consumer Reports" published a video: "We Had 400 People Shop for Groceries. What We Found Will Shock You." - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osxr7xSxsGo Here's part of their video description: "EXCLUSIVE: We uncovered a secret corporate scheme to raise grocery prices. We found that Instacart is using AI algorithms to charge customers different pri...
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When Chinese Domains Unexpectedly Appeared in DNS Logs
003 - When Chinese Domains Appeared in My DNS Logs by: David Einslow (a.k.a. - That Private Dude) TL;DR: I discovered hundreds of DNS queries to unfamiliar Chinese domains in my logs and initially feared my network was compromised. After days of investigation, I discovered someone in China was using my NextDNS configuration ID—likely through brute-forcing or an unknown leak. The fix was simple: regenerate your NextDNS config ID. If you use NextDNS, check your logs now to ensure you're the onl...
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Mastering Email Aliases – A Follow‑Up Primer
002 - Mastering Email Aliases – A Follow‑Up Primer by: David Einslow (a.k.a. - That Private Dude) Introduction This is a follow‑up to my previous post, “Refining the Email Strategy of the GOAT.” While that piece dove straight into practical workflows, it did not clarify the terminology that underpins the whole discussion. If you’re new to privacy‑focused email practices, or even privacy in general, consider this a brief glossary and conceptual overview that will help you understand why ali...
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Refining the Email Strategy of the GOAT
001 - Refining the Email Strategy of the GOAT Update May 3, 2026 I received valuable feedback from a reader (thank you 🙏) and want to clarify an important point in the original post's decision tree for email alias usage: In the hierarchy of options when an email alias is blocked, dummy Gmail/Yahoo/Outlook accounts should be your absolute last resort. Before reaching that point, I recommend creating a free Proton or Tuta email account (signing up with no personally identifiable information)....
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