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Did anyone stop and consider these aren’t fake people but people who value anonymity? I have 20 friends who use such tools and tech to hide their identities. Y

Did anyone stop and consider these aren’t fake people but people who value anonymity? I have 20 friends who use such tools and tech to hide their identities. Yes they lean right, slightly but they do. They all do this to avoid being found by employers and other. One of my friends is a prominent person in a legal field, another one is a member of a three letter group. Other than my real name - My Facebook profile has all fake information for public facing as well. It always has - and it always will. Any AI viewing my profile or person viewing my profile has no means of identifying me as a real person unless they coorelate my name elsewhere. For many of my friends - Their real name is not used. In an era of fake news and “ZOMG RUSSIA” we’ve become our worst selves and thrown logic out the window instead falling victim to knee jerk reactions.

elliekelly 7y ago
Surely that scenario is the exception and not the rule. But also, if you have the Facebook app on your phone, or associated with your phone number or email, you’re not anonymous. It’s been an issue for sex workers in the past who try to conceal their identity on social media but Facebook still manages to suggest their “Johns” as friends.
- jonfw 7y ago
  People are seeking anonymity from their peers and their employers, not neccesarily from facebook itself. I haven't heard of facebook Doxxing people with any sort of regularity.
- digi59404 7y ago
  This isn’t true. I have Facebook on my phone and there’s no way to identify me by my phone number. It’s unlisted on my profile and not public. Searching for me by number or email does not work. I’ve check my Fb privacy settings quite often and try to find workarounds.
- ddmma 7y ago
  If you upload contacts in Wazzup you’ll see them suggested into your facebook
catalogia 7y ago
I've heard that using fake names is also popular with the youth, though I'm not sure if they're doing it on facebook or some other platform.
- digi59404 7y ago
  I promise you... they’re not doing it on pornhub.... :eyes:
clSTophEjUdRanu 7y ago
Why are they all, in unison, spreading political bs? Don't be naive. These are not accounts for privacy minded people, this is orchestrated bad-faith people attempting to sabotage elections.
- jonfw 7y ago
  > Why are they all, in unison, spreading political bs? People enjoy participating in discussions about their interests. Many people are interested in politics. It seems natural that people would enjoy discussing politics. This is common place. Anybody who has ever been on Reddit knows that people enjoy discussing politics via pseudonym. It seems natural that people would do so on facebook as well.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- digi59404 7y ago
  Whether you like it or not - Political bs to one person is another persons truth. Only through solid and level communication do we remove lies, slander, and fake news. In 2016 - The man who ran the largest fake news website on the internet. Abcnews.com.co ran it was a joke and a means to make money. He had no ill intent. He had no skin in the game politically. He was just a dude trying to make money. And afterwards he fell into a depression for the belief he got Trump elected. There’s no sides to this issue than people are willing to accept.
fzeroracer 7y ago
If it walks like a duck and quacks exactly like 10,000 other ducks, then it's probably a duck. This article isn't about accounts being used semi-anonymously. It's about accounts which are all spreading the exact same thing down to the letter and propagating the exact same articles.
pera 7y ago
> I have 20 friends who use such tools Wait, do you have 20 friends that ran StyleGAN2 for a couple of hours to generate human faces? Can't they just avoid uploading a profile picture? When I used Facebook my avatar was an anime and my name was an obvious joke. I didn't need to simulate a natural person identity.
- digi59404 7y ago
  One of these friends works somewhere Edward S worked. A building with guards and guns. You tell me.
  - Buge 7y ago
    How is that relevant? Why would working for a military contractor with guards and guns mean you should use an image from thispersondoesnotexist.com instead of an anime picture? Especially when your 100 friends also use an image from thispersondoesnotexist.com , drawing attention to a weird group of people who then all become admins of the same groups.
SiVal 7y ago
The fact that you were already downvoted after zero minutes supports your thesis. That could have been your employment being downvoted instead of HN points. In China, critics of the political enforcement systems are also more likely to try to remain anonymous or completely silent, while those who proclaim their support (and their lack of tolerance for dissidents) usually want their identities known. And the Chinese media use that to claim the former group are crackpots, criminals, and fakes, while the latter are respectable, mainstream Solid Citizens.
- klyrs 7y ago
  > The fact that you were already downvoted after zero minutes supports your thesis. Alternative theory: multiple dissenting comments explain how GP is possibly oversimplifying the situation, and some downvoters have similar takes.
  - digi59404 7y ago
    To be clear - I’m not saying that misinformation bots and such exist. I absolutely think they do. They probably use this tactic as well. But I’m trying to offer an alternative viewpoint. Just like bots who spread misinformation exist and try to blend in with actual people. Actual people who don’t want to be found try to blend in with the noise.
    - klyrs 7y ago
      Unless your friends are creating fake-name accounts in bulk, they're statistically insignificant. If they are, and they're also using those accounts to spread political misinformation, then you've proven nothing. Either way, I'm not moved by this apparent meta-misinformation.
- kibwen 7y ago
  The fact that you allege to interpret downvotes as censorship rather than rejection of an absurd hypothesis supports the thesis that HN is no more immune to politically-motivated spin doctors than Facebook or Reddit.
Buge 7y ago
So you're saying there are hundreds of people who all create accounts at the same time, all use the same type of profile picture, all join together to be admins of political groups, and then all spend all day spamming links to thebl.com ? That's beyond belief. It's very unrealistic to think so many people would behave so identically.

elliekelly 7y ago

Surely that scenario is the exception and not the rule. But also, if you have the Facebook app on your phone, or associated with your phone number or email, you’re not anonymous. It’s been an issue for sex workers in the past who try to conceal their identity on social media but Facebook still manages to suggest their “Johns” as friends.

jonfw 7y ago
People are seeking anonymity from their peers and their employers, not neccesarily from facebook itself. I haven't heard of facebook Doxxing people with any sort of regularity.
digi59404 7y ago
This isn’t true. I have Facebook on my phone and there’s no way to identify me by my phone number. It’s unlisted on my profile and not public. Searching for me by number or email does not work. I’ve check my Fb privacy settings quite often and try to find workarounds.
ddmma 7y ago
If you upload contacts in Wazzup you’ll see them suggested into your facebook

catalogia 7y ago

I've heard that using fake names is also popular with the youth, though I'm not sure if they're doing it on facebook or some other platform.

digi59404 7y ago
I promise you... they’re not doing it on pornhub.... :eyes:

clSTophEjUdRanu 7y ago

Why are they all, in unison, spreading political bs? Don't be naive. These are not accounts for privacy minded people, this is orchestrated bad-faith people attempting to sabotage elections.

jonfw 7y ago
> Why are they all, in unison, spreading political bs? People enjoy participating in discussions about their interests. Many people are interested in politics. It seems natural that people would enjoy discussing politics. This is common place. Anybody who has ever been on Reddit knows that people enjoy discussing politics via pseudonym. It seems natural that people would do so on facebook as well.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
digi59404 7y ago
Whether you like it or not - Political bs to one person is another persons truth. Only through solid and level communication do we remove lies, slander, and fake news. In 2016 - The man who ran the largest fake news website on the internet. Abcnews.com.co ran it was a joke and a means to make money. He had no ill intent. He had no skin in the game politically. He was just a dude trying to make money. And afterwards he fell into a depression for the belief he got Trump elected. There’s no sides to this issue than people are willing to accept.

fzeroracer 7y ago

If it walks like a duck and quacks exactly like 10,000 other ducks, then it's probably a duck. This article isn't about accounts being used semi-anonymously. It's about accounts which are all spreading the exact same thing down to the letter and propagating the exact same articles.

pera 7y ago

> I have 20 friends who use such tools Wait, do you have 20 friends that ran StyleGAN2 for a couple of hours to generate human faces? Can't they just avoid uploading a profile picture? When I used Facebook my avatar was an anime and my name was an obvious joke. I didn't need to simulate a natural person identity.

digi59404 7y ago
One of these friends works somewhere Edward S worked. A building with guards and guns. You tell me.
- Buge 7y ago
  How is that relevant? Why would working for a military contractor with guards and guns mean you should use an image from thispersondoesnotexist.com instead of an anime picture? Especially when your 100 friends also use an image from thispersondoesnotexist.com , drawing attention to a weird group of people who then all become admins of the same groups.

SiVal 7y ago

The fact that you were already downvoted after zero minutes supports your thesis. That could have been your employment being downvoted instead of HN points. In China, critics of the political enforcement systems are also more likely to try to remain anonymous or completely silent, while those who proclaim their support (and their lack of tolerance for dissidents) usually want their identities known. And the Chinese media use that to claim the former group are crackpots, criminals, and fakes, while the latter are respectable, mainstream Solid Citizens.

klyrs 7y ago
> The fact that you were already downvoted after zero minutes supports your thesis. Alternative theory: multiple dissenting comments explain how GP is possibly oversimplifying the situation, and some downvoters have similar takes.
- digi59404 7y ago
  To be clear - I’m not saying that misinformation bots and such exist. I absolutely think they do. They probably use this tactic as well. But I’m trying to offer an alternative viewpoint. Just like bots who spread misinformation exist and try to blend in with actual people. Actual people who don’t want to be found try to blend in with the noise.
  - klyrs 7y ago
    Unless your friends are creating fake-name accounts in bulk, they're statistically insignificant. If they are, and they're also using those accounts to spread political misinformation, then you've proven nothing. Either way, I'm not moved by this apparent meta-misinformation.
kibwen 7y ago
The fact that you allege to interpret downvotes as censorship rather than rejection of an absurd hypothesis supports the thesis that HN is no more immune to politically-motivated spin doctors than Facebook or Reddit.

Buge 7y ago

So you're saying there are hundreds of people who all create accounts at the same time, all use the same type of profile picture, all join together to be admins of political groups, and then all spend all day spamming links to thebl.com ? That's beyond belief. It's very unrealistic to think so many people would behave so identically.