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This suggestion doesn't stand up to a moment's scrutiny. Do you really think the best way for a government agency to access government IDs is to secretly run a

This suggestion doesn't stand up to a moment's scrutiny. Do you really think the best way for a government agency to access government IDs is to secretly run a Twitter clone?

cipherboy 6y ago
I believe OP is more insinuating that the combination of (ip, user identity {username, cell number, real-world identity}) is an attractive data source for such an agency. Of course they already have all government IDs. But tying it to a username helps correlate data across other services, and additionally if the user checks from mobile phone or other device, tying it to recent IPs could also be useful. OPSec could prevent some of that, but how many users are doing that? Just a thought. Not an endorsement.
- cogman10 6y ago
  Seems like scaring away people by asking for cell numbers and photo ids goes too far. The IP address would give the FBI/NSA everything they need to track down an individual's household. After that, it'd be a simple case of monitoring them to figure out who the extremist is. To me, the more realistic (and scary!) explanation is this thing is just one huge identity theft machine.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
vergessenmir 6y ago
I certainly agree that it doesn't hold up to scrutiny. To suggest that setting up a honeypot to have fringe elements actively expose their views in what they deem as a safe environment is not outside of what security agency may do is a bit of stretch It's a interesting thought to entertain but Parler is most likely not this.
mlyle 6y ago
I don't think it's true, but.. > Do you really think the best way for a government agency to access government IDs is to secretly run a Twitter clone? The best way to get a bunch of white supremacists and insurrectionists to robustly, undeniably identify themselves might be to ask them to upload their ID. :P
- cbozeman 6y ago
  This is so elegant in its simplicity that I actually believe it could be true.
  - dstick 6y ago
    Exactly, they take over darkweb marketplaces silently all the time for this very reason.
- matwood 6y ago
  Yeah, early on I half joked Parler was setup by the FBI as a honey pot to keep an eye on domestic terrorist.
  - cabalamat 6y ago
    I think it's more likely the NSA would do it, it's more up their street.
eganist 6y ago
> Do you really think the best way for a government agency to access government IDs is to secretly run a Twitter clone? The best method for target acquisition, sure. If someone is so perturbed by their reality being rejected by the mainstream that they're willing to sign up for an alternative to maintain their worldview, then running that alternative would be a fantastic way to identify people at risk of radicalization, domestic terror risks, etc. And if we're being clear, the USIC has run companies with this explicit mission in the past. In fact, running a company to provide one service at face level while providing a different service to the IC underneath is the mode that yielded some of the biggest intelligence wins in Western history. See Crypto AG. That said, no reason to run it themselves; they're well aware that someone else will end up running it for them, and with security nowhere near front-of-mind for any startup, they can just pick up the key from underneath the doormat and take the farm.
MattGaiser 6y ago
They don't need IDs. They need to positively identify account owners with the IDs. @JohnSmith is not a lot to go on if you want to send the FBI after them. @JohnSmith of 123 2nd Amendment Street, Jackson County Kentucky is a lot more useful.
babar 6y ago
Would it make sense as a good way for a foreign government entity to get access to this information?
dragonwriter 6y ago
> Do you really think the best way for a government agency to access government IDs is to secretly run a Twitter clone? No, but it’d be a really good way to get behavioral data on people and use a government ID to tie that data to real identities rather than pseudonyms.
runjake 6y ago
No, but it may be a good way to identify extremists and/or easily-manipulated persons amongst your populace. I'm not saying it's likely, but certainly possible.

This suggestion doesn't stand up to a moment's scrutiny. Do you really think the best way for a government agency to access government IDs is to secretly run a Twitter clone?

cipherboy 6y ago

I believe OP is more insinuating that the combination of (ip, user identity {username, cell number, real-world identity}) is an attractive data source for such an agency. Of course they already have all government IDs. But tying it to a username helps correlate data across other services, and additionally if the user checks from mobile phone or other device, tying it to recent IPs could also be useful. OPSec could prevent some of that, but how many users are doing that? Just a thought. Not an endorsement.

cogman10 6y ago
Seems like scaring away people by asking for cell numbers and photo ids goes too far. The IP address would give the FBI/NSA everything they need to track down an individual's household. After that, it'd be a simple case of monitoring them to figure out who the extremist is. To me, the more realistic (and scary!) explanation is this thing is just one huge identity theft machine.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

vergessenmir 6y ago

I certainly agree that it doesn't hold up to scrutiny. To suggest that setting up a honeypot to have fringe elements actively expose their views in what they deem as a safe environment is not outside of what security agency may do is a bit of stretch It's a interesting thought to entertain but Parler is most likely not this.

mlyle 6y ago

I don't think it's true, but.. > Do you really think the best way for a government agency to access government IDs is to secretly run a Twitter clone? The best way to get a bunch of white supremacists and insurrectionists to robustly, undeniably identify themselves might be to ask them to upload their ID. :P

cbozeman 6y ago
This is so elegant in its simplicity that I actually believe it could be true.
- dstick 6y ago
  Exactly, they take over darkweb marketplaces silently all the time for this very reason.
matwood 6y ago
Yeah, early on I half joked Parler was setup by the FBI as a honey pot to keep an eye on domestic terrorist.
- cabalamat 6y ago
  I think it's more likely the NSA would do it, it's more up their street.

eganist 6y ago

> Do you really think the best way for a government agency to access government IDs is to secretly run a Twitter clone? The best method for target acquisition, sure. If someone is so perturbed by their reality being rejected by the mainstream that they're willing to sign up for an alternative to maintain their worldview, then running that alternative would be a fantastic way to identify people at risk of radicalization, domestic terror risks, etc. And if we're being clear, the USIC has run companies with this explicit mission in the past. In fact, running a company to provide one service at face level while providing a different service to the IC underneath is the mode that yielded some of the biggest intelligence wins in Western history. See Crypto AG. That said, no reason to run it themselves; they're well aware that someone else will end up running it for them, and with security nowhere near front-of-mind for any startup, they can just pick up the key from underneath the doormat and take the farm.

MattGaiser 6y ago

They don't need IDs. They need to positively identify account owners with the IDs. @JohnSmith is not a lot to go on if you want to send the FBI after them. @JohnSmith of 123 2nd Amendment Street, Jackson County Kentucky is a lot more useful.

babar 6y ago

Would it make sense as a good way for a foreign government entity to get access to this information?

dragonwriter 6y ago

> Do you really think the best way for a government agency to access government IDs is to secretly run a Twitter clone? No, but it’d be a really good way to get behavioral data on people and use a government ID to tie that data to real identities rather than pseudonyms.

runjake 6y ago

No, but it may be a good way to identify extremists and/or easily-manipulated persons amongst your populace. I'm not saying it's likely, but certainly possible.