Everyone Should Learn Basic Hacking (or at Least How to Dodge the Surveillance State)

Here’s the deal: every time you go online, someone’s watching.

It’s not a paranoid fantasy—it’s a cold, hard fact.

Your clicks, searches, location, and even conversations are being tracked, analyzed, and sold.

Corporations, governments, advertisers—they're all in on it. And while they build empires on your data, you’re left wide open, vulnerable, and honestly, a little oblivious to just how deep this goes.

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But it doesn't have to be this way. You don’t have to be some genius-level coder to fight back.

In fact, with just a few basic hacking techniques, you can disrupt the whole surveillance game. Yeah, you. Right now.

This isn’t about learning to hack for the thrill—it's about learning to outsmart the systems that want to exploit you. And no, it’s not nearly as hard as they make it seem.

The powerful want you to believe hacking is reserved for hoodie-wearing, black-screen-coding elites, but that’s BS.

Anyone can learn to hack. Anyone can learn how to throw off data collection and mess with the invasive surveillance that’s quietly building a profile on you.

You don’t need a tech degree to protect yourself—you need a hacker’s mindset. And trust me, once you see just how easy it is to reclaim your privacy and disrupt the data-collecting machine, you’ll wonder why you didn’t start sooner.

Let’s dive in.

The Myth of "Hacking" and Why You Need a Hacker’s Mindset Now

Hacking is one of the most misunderstood skills in the modern world.

When most people think of hacking, they imagine some genius coding mastermind, fingers flying over a keyboard in a dark room full of monitors.

That myth—the myth of the "elite hacker"—is exactly what’s keeping regular people from tapping into a critical skill they should be learning.

Here’s the truth: hacking isn’t some exclusive club for tech wizards. It’s a mindset anyone can develop, and in this surveillance-heavy world, you need to start thinking like a hacker if you want to protect your freedom.

The tech world loves to intimidate newcomers.

It’s not an accident that the average person feels locked out.

The language, the gatekeeping, the insistence that you need to be a genius to get started—it’s all designed to keep you thinking hacking is beyond your reach. But hacking is about curiosity, not genius-level IQ.

It’s about problem-solving and knowing how to think around obstacles. The powerful don’t want you to think you can do this because once you do, you shift the balance. And trust me, they’re banking on your ignorance.

Just take a look at how the surveillance state operates.

In his book A Hacker's Mind: How the Powerful Bend Society’s Rules, Bruce Schneier breaks down exactly how governments and corporations exploit loopholes to watch and control the public.

It’s happening all the time, and they don’t want you to know just how vulnerable your data is.

The more you learn to think like a hacker, the easier it is to see how their systems work—and, more importantly, how to disrupt them.

Learning to hack isn’t just about defending yourself. It’s about turning the tables and poisoning the data they collect on you.

If you’re not learning this stuff, you’re handing over your privacy on a silver platter.

The Risks of Staying Ignorant in a Monitored World

Think you’re safe because you’re not a techie? Think again.

Every time you pick up your phone, there’s a map somewhere tracking your every move, down to the most intimate details of your life.

Still think you’re not being watched? Let’s get specific.

In one chilling example, a tool called Locate X allows the U.S. government and law enforcement agencies to track anyone’s movements in real-time—all without a warrant.

Imagine this: more than 700 phones tracked outside an abortion clinic, pinpointing exactly where each person came from, what route they took, and where they went afterward.

One phone showed a person traveling from Alabama to Florida, crossing state lines to visit an abortion clinic.

In states like Alabama, where abortion is banned, this kind of data can lead to criminal charges. And authorities don’t even need a warrant to get this information—they just buy it.

But this kind of surveillance isn’t limited to abortion clinics.

It extends to jurors, schools, places of worship, even your own home. Anyone with access to these tools can track you, figure out your patterns, and expose your personal life without you ever knowing.

It’s happening without your consent, without your knowledge—and most people are completely in the dark about it.

That ignorance? It's exactly what governments and corporations are counting on. They’re banking on you not knowing how your data is being harvested, sold, and weaponized against you.

And here’s the thing—this isn’t just about reproductive rights or immigration enforcement. This is about the massive scale of surveillance that’s creeping into every corner of your life.

From your shopping habits and location data to your medical records and even your private conversations, you’re being watched.

Staying ignorant doesn’t keep you safe—it makes you a bigger target.

Here’s what’s even worse: this isn’t a one-time violation.

This happens every single day. Your phone is a homing beacon, broadcasting your location and habits to anyone willing to pay for it.

Governments, law enforcement, corporations—they’re all tapping into this data, often without a single warrant. No oversight. No checks. Just endless surveillance under the guise of “security.”

You’d think this kind of technology would be used to monitor real threats—pedophiles crossing state lines or abusers violating restraining orders. Instead, it’s being weaponized against everyday people.

They’re tracking someone who visits an abortion clinic. Or someone who simply crosses state lines for healthcare.

Think about that: your phone, your data, your life—used against you for doing something perfectly legal in one state but punishable in another.

And don’t think for a second that this stops at abortion clinics or reproductive rights.

Today, it’s healthcare. Tomorrow, it could be your political beliefs, your religion, your shopping habits.

This invasive tracking is spreading to every aspect of normal life, targeting the most vulnerable first—people of color, women, low-income families—people who are already over-surveilled and over-policed. If this doesn’t alarm you, it should.

Imagine if this technology had existed during the Holocaust. 

Think about what could’ve happened if the Nazis had access to tools like Locate X, tracking the movements, homes, and patterns of millions of people with just a few clicks.

Every hiding place, every underground resistance meeting, every person trying to escape persecution could have been found and “neutralized” in an instant. No need for informants or manhunts—just data.

The scale of genocide could’ve been even more horrifying, with dissidents, Jews, and other targeted groups pinpointed and rounded up in real-time, all based on location data.

This technology, in the hands of bad actors, isn’t just a privacy violation—it’s a terrifying weapon.

And we’re already seeing it being used against ordinary citizens.

The surveillance state we’re living in isn’t hypothetical.

It’s real, and it’s here now. If we don’t take control of our own data, we risk letting history repeat itself in ways we can’t even begin to imagine.

Hacking as Self-Defense (and How to Get Started)

So, what can you do when you're up against an entire system designed to track your every move? The answer is simple: hack back.

As a disclaimer, I gotta add that you must ONLY hack systems you have permission to.

You don’t have to sit quietly while your data gets scooped up, repackaged, and weaponized against you.

With just a few basic hacking techniques or data poisoning strategies, you can become an active participant in your own defense.

Why make it easy for them to categorize and profile you?

Learning to disrupt the data being collected about you is one of the most powerful moves you can make to reclaim your digital privacy.

Let me tell you a story. For over a decade, I worked in cybersecurity, always focusing on defending against threats.

I thought hacking was beyond my skill set—something only the elite tech geniuses could pull off.

I avoided it.

Then, one day, I decided to get curious.

I started learning small techniques to test my own Wi-Fi security and study how my data was being tracked online.

And guess what? It wasn’t nearly as complicated as I’d built it up to be. What I realized next shocked me: the very systems that were supposed to be protecting me were leaking my data everywhere.

Hacking wasn’t just for fun—it was about survival in this surveillance-heavy world.

And the best part? Anyone can learn to do this.

Hacking Isn’t Just About Breaking In—It’s About Thinking Critically

The hacker’s mind isn’t about causing chaos—it’s about understanding the system and seeing how it can be exploited.

The goal isn’t to break into someone else’s system—it’s to protect and confuse the systems monitoring you. 

This isn’t about being some tech savant.

Start small, like I did. Test your Wi-Fi security, learn how tracking cookies work, and see how easily you can throw them off.

Each step you take gives you more control over your data.

Data Poisoning 101: Throwing a Wrench in Their Surveillance Machine

Let’s talk about data poisoning—one of the most underrated but powerful techniques you can use to disrupt the endless surveillance machine tracking your every move.

You don’t need to be a tech wizard to pull it off, but the results? They can be life-changing.

The essence of data poisoning is simple: feed false or misleading information into the systems that track and profile you, effectively throwing them off your scent.

By scrambling the narrative these systems are building about you, you make it much harder for them to categorize, predict, or monetize your behavior.

In his book A Hacker’s Mind: How the Powerful Bend Society’s Rules, Bruce Schneier explains that much like hackers exploit loopholes in computer systems, the powerful exploit societal and legal loopholes to maintain control.

Data poisoning flips that dynamic on its head—it allows you to exploit the loopholes in surveillance systems.

By poisoning the data well, you can muddy the waters and become a statistical outlier, making it infinitely harder for companies, governments, or bad actors to build a reliable profile on you.

These tracking systems rely on your patterns to predict and control your behavior.

Everything you do online—every search, click, and location ping—feeds into algorithms designed to learn about you. They profile you, create a digital blueprint of who you are, what you want, and even predict what you’ll do next.

When you poison the data by injecting randomness, you’re essentially putting a wrench in the gears of these systems.

You become unpredictable, and in the world of surveillance, unpredictability is your best defense.

How Data Poisoning Disrupts Surveillance

These tracking algorithms thrive on consistency.

They want to know where you shop, who you talk to, where you go, and what you think about—all so they can target you more effectively.

The moment your digital footprint becomes erratic, their predictive power drops off a cliff.

For example:

• Randomizing Your Search Behavior: If you constantly throw in random, irrelevant searches—like “llama farming” or “how to knit a sweater” when you have no interest in those topics—you’re introducing noise into your profile. Algorithms will struggle to figure out what you’re actually interested in, leading to less accurate ad targeting and less valuable data for companies.

• Using Fake Location Data: Tools like VPNs or apps that spoof your GPS location can make it seem like you’re in another country, while you’re actually sitting on your couch. This confuses location-based tracking and advertising, which relies heavily on knowing exactly where you are at any given moment.

• Altering Metadata: Every digital file you share—whether it’s a photo, document, or video—comes with metadata attached, which includes information like time, date, and location. Changing or stripping this metadata can make it impossible for trackers to follow your trail or piece together a coherent story about your online behavior.

By using data poisoning techniques, you disrupt the accuracy and reliability of your digital footprint.

It’s like throwing sand in the gears of a well-oiled machine, forcing it to slow down, misfire, or even break.

And here’s the best part: you don’t need to be an expert to start doing this. Basic tools can make a massive difference in throwing off the systems designed to monitor you.

The Tools You Need to Get Started

1. Home Lab: Build a basic home lab (Virtual Machine) to safely practice your hacking techniques. You don’t need anything too advanced—just a safe, controlled environment (I recommend Kali Linux) where you can experiment with your digital security without putting your real data at risk.

2. Anonymity Tools: Use VPNs, Tor browsers, and privacy-focused search engines like DuckDuckGo to mask your identity and location. These tools help anonymize your online presence, making it much harder for tracking systems to tie your activities back to you.

3. Wi-Fi Security Tests: Learn how to scan your home network for vulnerabilities. If you can identify weaknesses, so can someone else—including corporations and hackers looking to monitor your devices. Locking down your Wi-Fi is a crucial first step in protecting your personal data.

4. Linux + Command Line: Familiarize yourself with Linux and command line basics. OverTheWire is a great resource to practice these skills in a fun, hands-on way. Learning the command line helps you understand the foundation of how computers work and what’s happening behind the scenes.

5. Data Poisoning Tactics: Randomize your digital behavior—throw in fake searches, shuffle your metadata, and confuse the algorithms trying to track you. The more unpredictable your digital trail, the less valuable your data becomes to those looking to profit from it.

Why Data Poisoning Matters

Data poisoning is more than just a clever trick—it’s a direct challenge to the surveillance state. By feeding these systems false information, you’re actively breaking the cycle of control.

You’re saying, “No, I won’t be reduced to a set of data points you can exploit.” And the more people who adopt these techniques, the harder it becomes for the powerful to rely on the data they collect.

It also screws up their analytics.

Imagine millions of people feeding the system false data at scale—it would disrupt not just individual tracking but the entire model built on surveillance capitalism.

In A Hacker’s Mind, Schneier makes it clear that surveillance isn’t just about knowing where you are—it’s about predicting and controlling where you’ll go next.

Data poisoning stops that prediction in its tracks. By becoming unpredictable, you throw a wrench in their ability to profit off you, manipulate you, or worse, weaponize that data against you.

Objections: Overcoming Your Own Doubts

Let’s address the elephant in the room—those nagging doubts you might have about hacking.

If you’re thinking, “I don’t know anything about tech,” that’s okay. Hacking isn’t about being a genius; it’s about curiosity and problem-solving.

If you can follow a recipe or troubleshoot a broken appliance, you can absolutely learn the basics of hacking.

It’s not some exclusive, unreachable skillset.

It’s about learning how systems work and how to exploit their weaknesses, but more importantly, it’s about protecting yourself and your privacy in a world that’s increasingly invasive.

Worried about legality?

Let’s get one thing straight: ethical hacking is completely legal as long as you’re hacking your own devices or those you have explicit permission to test.

And data poisoning? That’s your own data!

You have every right to confuse and mislead the systems that are tracking you.

In fact, it’s one of the smartest ways to reclaim control over your digital footprint.

The only thing illegal here is the unchecked surveillance state we’re living in—they are the ones stepping over boundaries, not you.

Maybe you’re thinking, “This all sounds too complex.”

Sure, there’s a learning curve—but you don’t need to become an expert overnight.

Start small. Learn how to scan your devices for trackers. Test your Wi-Fi security.

Throw in some random searches to mess with the algorithms.

Every small step makes you harder to track, harder to categorize, and less of a target for data collection. Each tool you pick up adds another layer of protection between you and those watching your every move.

Hack Your Mind, Reclaim Your Privacy

Here’s the beauty of this: you don’t need to become a full-time ethical hacker to start making a real difference in your life.

Start small, but think big.

Something as simple as testing your own network for weaknesses or using a VPN to obscure your location can radically improve your privacy. Step by step, you’re taking back control.

And the best part? These aren’t skills reserved for tech elites—they’re accessible to anyone willing to learn.

What you’re really building here is more than just a toolkit—it’s a hacker’s mindset.

It’s about learning to question the systems around you, to challenge the status quo, and to navigate the digital world on your terms.

When you adopt this mindset, you’re no longer at the mercy of corporations, advertisers, or government surveillance.

You become a much tougher target, and suddenly, the tools that once controlled you? They lose their power.

In a world that’s constantly trying to monitor, manipulate, and monetize you, hacking isn’t just a skill—it’s a form of freedom.

You don’t need to be a tech wizard to fight back. By embracing the hacker’s mindset, you reclaim your privacy, you regain control, and you empower yourself to live a more secure digital life.

Because here’s the truth: your data is your power.

The more you protect it, the less they control you.

So why not start now? Hack your mind, break the system, and take back what’s rightfully yours.

Stay Curious,

Addie LaMarr