Business
AgLife
LIZ
WESTON
S
o much of our sensitive personal data
is being tracked and sold that trying
to protect our privacy can seem like
a pointless exercise.
We can disable the location tracking on
phone apps only to fi nd new apps stalking
us the next time we check. We can turn
off personalized advertising and still get
bombarded by marketers that ignore our
wishes. We can be fooled by language
that’s designed to protect companies’
access to data rather than our privacy.
All this surveillance allows advertisers
to manipulate us into spending more.
People who are struggling fi nancially can
be targeted by predatory lenders and other
seedy companies. If there’s a database
breach, criminals can buy our information
for just a few dollars and use it to imper-
sonate or target us for various scams.
As individuals, we have limited ability
to stop the prying. Meaningful action
typically must come from regulators and
lawmakers. But we can take a few steps
to reclaim small but signifi cant chunks of
privacy and send a signal to companies
that we don’t like what they’re up to.
“It’s a way of making a statement to
a company that you’re not going along
with what they’re doing,” says inde-
pendent journalist Bob Sullivan, a con-
sumer privacy advocate and author of
“Gotcha Capitalism.”
Thursday, April 28, 2022
The Observer & Baker City Herald
On the
ASK LIZ
Tweak tech
sett ings
to protect
privacy
B
FARM
By SIERRA DAWN McCLAIN
Capital Press
UNCTION CITY — Oregon
Gov. Kate Brown recently visited
Antiquum Farm, a Willamette
Valley vineyard and livestock operation
owned by Stephen Hagen and his wife, Niki.
J
The governor was there at Hagen’s invitation to
learn more about Antiquum’s vertically integrated
business, sustainability goals and the benefi ts of
grazing.
The farm, nestled in Junction City’s rolling hills
by Turnbow Creek, has grazing-based viticulture —
rotational intensive grazing of Katahdin and Dorper
sheep, Kunekune pigs, poultry and waterfowl among
rows of Pinot noir and Pinot gris grapes to control
weeds and boost soil health.
In addition to wine, the Hagens sell pasture-raised
meats, eggs and honey, and their latest venture
involves expanding their targeted grazing operation,
using goats to graze private forestland to reduce wild-
fi re risk. As Brown toured the farm, she asked ques-
tions, trekked through pastures and forestland and
petted a menagerie of farm animals.
During her time in offi ce since 2015 as Oregon’s
38th governor, Brown’s policies — especially relating
to climate change and business regulation — have
been controversial, and her approaches have often gen-
erated criticism from many in the state’s farming and
rural communities.
Oregon Gov. Kate
Brown talks rural
and farming issues
After the tour, Brown sat down with Capital Press
reporter Sierra Dawn McClain for an exclusive inter-
view on issues of importance to farmers and ranchers.
The text of the conversation has been edited for
brevity and clarity.
Q: How would you characterize your relation-
ship with Oregon farmers?
Well, I see our farmers and ranchers, what they
produce and create and make, as very integrated
into Oregon’s economy. Our agricultural industry is
very much a part of who we are. It’s also culturally
incredibly important. This family (she gestured to the
farmers at Antiquum Farm) is taking farm-to-table to
the nth degree, right? They are vertically integrated
here and I think it is happening in Oregon because of
the creativity and innovation Oregonians have. This is
so a part of who we are.
Q: But how would you characterize your rela-
tionship with farmers? For example: positive?
Ah! Haha. I’m not sure I would characterize it that
way. I think I have a strong passion and concern for
our farming and ranching communities. I don’t know;
you would have to ask them how they feel about me.
Q: Where do you see common ground that you
share with the farming community?
One is our work around wildfi re, and our work to
create healthier primarily forest landscapes through
thinning, prescriptive burning and the work we’re
doing through the wildfi re council.
I think the second piece I would say is drought.
I’ve been really proud of the work my administra-
tion has done to invest — we put together a $100 mil-
lion drought package in December of 2021 — (and)
See, Brown/Page B6
Set limits on location tracking
You may think it’s your own busi-
ness how often you visit a liquor store,
go to the gym or attend a religious ser-
vice. But many companies are in the busi-
ness of gleaning and using such data for
marketing and other purposes. You can
throw a wrench into this relentless loca-
tion tracking by changing a few settings
on your devices.
On iPhones and iPads, go to “Set-
tings,” then “Privacy” to fi nd “Location
Services.” With Android devices, go to
“Settings,” then “Location” to fi nd “App
location permissions.” Don’t worry that
you’ll “break” an app by reducing or
eliminating its ability to track you, says
Thomas Germain, a technology and pri-
vacy writer at Consumer Reports. If you
want to do something with the app that
requires your location, the app will make
it easy to turn that back on, Germain says.
Regularly check these settings on all
your devices, and delete any app you’re
not using. The fewer apps you have, the
fewer opportunities companies have to
suck up and sell your data, Sullivan notes.
Shut down other data collecting
If you use any Google app or service,
your location history could be stored and
used even after you’ve shut off tracking.
Your searches and other activity are being
stored as well, so consider shutting off
Google’s ability to keep that data, Ger-
main says.
To do that, open Google.com in a
browser, log into your account and click
on your icon in the upper right corner.
Select “Manage your Google account,”
then “Privacy & personalization.” Under
“Your data & privacy options,” choose
“Things you’ve done and places you’ve
been.” You’ll see options to review the
information Google is storing about you,
as well as ways to turn off data storage
and delete stored histories.
Some of Google’s apps may not work
as well without this data, but you can
always turn these functions back on, Ger-
main says.
“I think it’s something that people
should experiment with turning off and
seeing if the trade-off s are worth it,”
he says.
Another setting on this page you can
toggle off : ad personalization. Google
tries to make tailor-made advertising
sound like something you should want or
need; it’s probably not.
Your devices have similar options.
With iPhones and iPads, switch off
“allow apps to request to track” in the
“Tracking” portion of privacy settings.
With Android devices, click “delete
advertising ID” under “Ads”in the
“Advanced” portion of privacy settings.
See, Tech/Page B2
Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press
Antiquum Farm owner Stephen Hagen, right, talks to Gov. Kate
Brown about his targeted grazing operation on his property near
Junction City on Thursday, April 14, 2022. His practices involve
using goats to graze his private forestland to decrease wildfi re
risk and control weeds. Hagen plans to expand the operation so
his goats can graze forestlands owned by others too.
From hobby to full-time business
Wallowa County’s
Chrystal Allen making
career out of soap
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
WALLOWA — Inspired by
a quest for a healthier lifestyle,
Chrystal Allen is turning a
hobby into a full-time busi-
ness, mostly out of her home
in Wallowa.
Chrystal Springs Soapery:
Inspired by Nature, as her web-
site states, creates cleaning
products — mostly bar soap —
made at home in small batches
by tried-and-true recipes Allen
has developed.
“I researched the benefi ts
of many diff erent oils, but-
ters and essential oils and
tried many diff erent soap rec-
ipes and methods, and fi nally
created a few recipes that we
loved,” Allen said in a pre-
pared statement.
Change of careers
After working for nearly
21 years for Wallowa County,
Allen retired recently as grants
administrator, a position she’d
held since 2018. She’s also
worked numerous diff erent posi-
tions at the courthouse, much of
it in the Planning Department.
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Chrystal Allen, owner of Chrystal Springs Soapery in Wallowa, shows some of
the many types of soap she makes and sells Wednesday, April 13, 2022.
“I learned a lot, doing
a lot of diff erent jobs,” she
said during an interview
Wednesday, April 13.
She’s still lending her
expertise there, helping to train
her replacement.
But now she’s transitioning
to what she really wants to do.
“Now I’m getting to do
what I love to do full time,”
she said, that being her soap-
making work.
Making the soap
Start to fi nish, it takes about
an hour to make one small
batch of soap. Each batch
yields a block that will be cut
into 16 bars.
Given the caustic nature
of the lye, Allen is careful
both with a face mask to
ward against fumes and
safety glasses to protect from
splatters.
The batch she made April
13 was her chamomile tea
facial bar, from a base of dis-
tilled water made into cham-
omile tea and mixed with lye,
oils, butters, activated charcoal
and essential oils.
The tea-and-lye are mixed
together and the oils and but-
ters are heated up to where it’s
thoroughly melted.
Then both are allowed to
cool to around 110 degrees
Fahrenheit before combining.
She pours them together and
mixes them slowly to avoid any
bubbles that would end up in
the solidifi ed bar of soap.
Then she adds essential oils
and other ingredients, such as
cosmetic-grade activated char-
coal, which adds color and
cleansing qualities, Allen said.
Although customer comments
and research attest to the ben-
efi ts of such ingredients as the
charcoal and certain essential
oils that are believed to have
benefi ts for skin, she refrains
from making any medical
claims, “which the law pro-
hibits,” she said.
“This facial bar I designed
with ingredients that have been
shown to combat acne and for
people who have trouble with
rosacea and things like that,”
she said. “But I make no med-
ical claims.”
See, Soap/Page B2