Your Privacy

Because nearly all psychedelics in New Zealand in the 1975 Misuse of Drugs Act are grouped as Class A, there is the potential for any communications to be misinterpreted and abused by both the public and private sector. As part of our code of ethics we strive keep all communication private for the protection of all parties.

Communication Tools

  1. Gmail Confidential Mode –  Google gmail allows for emails to be both encrypted and expiring emails. Read more about Gmail confidential mode here. Please also see our review of Google below.

  2. Signal – Signal is an open source project in which one can send encrypted sms messages and encrypted calls. Signal is available for Android, IOS and desktop computers here: https://signal.org/

  3. Self Destructing Email – Similar to Google expiring emails, you can use 3rd party emails to create a self-destructing, expiring emails (for instance after 1 viewing). A popular service is called Privnote, you can visit it at: https://privnote.com/.

Social Networks

Below is by no means an exhaustive list, but they are popular amongst New Zealanders.

  • Facebook – Essentially there is nothing private about Facebook. We do not encourage communication by Facebook, or any of its owned properties, including Instagram, Whatsapp or any of its other acquisitions. Unfortunately, for some people they only way they can communicate is through Facebook. We encourage all take steps from revealing too much of personal information on this social platform.

  • LinkedIn – LinkedIn has been notorious for scraping user contacts.  For securing your LinkedIn and making more private, please review this article.

  • Amazon – With amazon is wise to make sure and keep your wish lists and profile private.  In addition, special considerations must be with Alexa. Read about making your Amazon profile more private here, and read more about Alexa and privacy here.

  • Google – Google stores a vast amount of data based on user’s search history and advertising, including: timeline of users locations throughout the day, data on non-Google phone apps, deleted emails and files uploaded to the Google drive. In addition they track purchases made with gmail. Read this article to learn how to tighten up your Google account. 

Security & Privacy Tools

    • VPN – To put it simply, a VPN takes your Internet connection and makes it more secure, helps you stay anonymous and helps you get around blocks and access censored sites. To read more about what a vpn does, read this article. Here is a list of the best reviewed vpn providers.

    • Browsers – While many browsers have privacy mode (such as Google’s incognito mode), unfortunately they are not as private as users might think.  The Brave Browser is a version

    • LastPass – We encourage the use of LastPass to remember passwords and generate highly secure passwords.

    • Search Engines – There are several search engines that do not save your private information while searching, one of the most popular is duckduckgo.com. Here is a list of popular private search engines: https://restoreprivacy.com/private-search-engine/

    • Tor Network – The Tor Project is both a browser and anonymous network to protect users from tracking, surveillance, and censorship. Read more about how it works here, and visit them online here.

 

This is only a short list of tools, we encourage you to use these tools, not only for yourself, but also to protect the ones you love. In the Entheos Foundation code of ethics, privacy is one of our pillars: Members will respect the privacy of all interactions for members and non-members; any information shared will be held with the utmost respect and confidentiality.

It is often attributed that Joseph Geobbels popularised the saying “If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear.” , to which Edward Snowdon responded:

“Arguing that you don’t care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say.” click here for source

The Entheos Foundation believes that conversations around psychedelics are important as they can have a positive impact on society. As long as these substances are deemed illegal, we believe our privacy must be protected.