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I have been partially doxed here and HN refuses to remove the comment.
by the-dude 9y ago
I have been partially doxed here and HN refuses to remove the comment.
- ovao 9y agoFor those who are as confused as I was, "doxing" is the practice of researching and broadcasting private or identifiable information about an individual or organization.
- jacquesm 9y agoIf you are trying to be anonymous you really should try harder, it took me less than a minute to get your home address. For starters you should probably remove any identifying information from your profile.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- drewmol 9y ago>If you are trying to be anonymous you really should try harder, it took me less than a minute to get your home address. It may be insightful for others if you divulge your methods.
- icedchai 9y agoThe "methods" are pretty simple: view a profile, look at the web site mentioned there, google some of the info. Most people should simply use different usernames on different sites.
- et-al 9y agoIf a person has a personal domain registered, a whois search may offer up information (which may or may not be accurate). Most registrars will now hide your info for an additional fee.
- drewmol 9y ago>which may or may not be accurate Thx, it's the < 60 second validation method I was fishing for. Turns out it's just AI
- jacquesm 9y agoWhen you have more than 50K HN Karma an extra toolbox opens up next to the usernames, one of those is 'autodoxx' (clearly a weak pun on autodocs). You click the link and it will automatically query google, various Whois tools and other lookup services to get a fix on the user, the end result is a nice little one-page mash-up listing all the domains you own, a bunch of recent photographs, your political leanings, your sexual preferences, your last three known addresses, any children you have and where they go to school, your present location on a google maps page (it moves when you do, it's near real-time, maybe a minute or two delayed), your current employer and an estimate of your bank balance and some possible avenues for blackmail. All this powered by the friendly AI of some HN start-ups that want to show off their technology, and blessed by the Holy Trinity of online surveillance: Peter Thiel, Eric Schmidt and Mark Zuckerberg. This is Hacker News after all.
- the-dude 9y agoThere is no reasonable reason for any member of this community to specifically dig up stuff and post it here. What was doxed was inferred from a comment I made, not from the info in my profile. Still, the comment which provides no other valuable information is retained. I try to handle my privacy pragmatic, it doesn't have to be as black and white as you suggest here.
- DoreenMichele 9y agoEver heard of the Streisand Effect? If you are genuinely concerned about your privacy, publicly complaining that you have been doxxed is one of the worst things you can do. It encourages other people to go looking for that info, check how easy it is to find, etc. This inclines me to think your reason for complaining is probably something else. And that makes me wonder if the mods declined to do as you asked because the situation is more complicated than you are stating and their decision was more nuanced. And I am posting my speculation because the mods are unlikely to say something like that. It would be a dick move and just make them look bad. I think they are reasonably up on when to just keep your mouth shut.
- the-dude 9y ago> Ever heard of the Streisand Effect Of course. I am not religious about it, just pointing out even when someone partially doxes you, HN won't remove the comment.
- DoreenMichele 9y agoAn acquaintance of mine with some personal issues derped and posted a link to info about themselves when they are normally pretty careful about such things. They requested that the mods delete it and it was deleted. I have talked to the mods at times about privacy concerns for myself. I'm a woman and I get weirdly personal interest and invasive questions at times. They have been consistently responsive and supportive. Though I have not as yet ask them to delete anything. I am typically looking for a more nuanced approach to the problem space. So my experience differs from yours and I know of cases where they have been highly responsive in deleting info, even when it was the poster themselves who doxxed themselves. I don't intend to argue this further. I'm sorry you're unhappy with the call they made, but your experience does not warrent the sweeping statements you are making about HN policy. It is simply not an accurate picture of HN policy and moderating practices.
- the-dude 9y agoI just posted some anecdata. I wonder why you get so worked up about it.