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Software like this _already_ exists. Credit bureaus, advertising firms, data brokers, skip trace databases, three-letter agencies across the globe, and nearly a

Software like this _already_ exists. Credit bureaus, advertising firms, data brokers, skip trace databases, three-letter agencies across the globe, and nearly all of the Big Tech companies do their business building centralized profiles of basically everyone and that certainly includes correlating online identities. The only difference here is that one is more limited and open source. "Privacy is dead, get over it."

EdwardDiego 4y ago
Sure, but none of them are readily available to someone you argued with on /r/politics who has taken agin you.
- vintermann 4y ago
  So, the question is: are you more afraid of random nobodies online, or are you more afraid of already organized, already powerful people who had similar capability already?
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - concordDance 4y ago
    The answer is often the first because the latter don't have it out for you.
  - EdwardDiego 4y ago
    I'm a nobody, and fiercely proud of it. And I pity the NSA employee who has to monitor my Internet usage, they're going to see an awful lot of Javadoc, programming blogs, websites about plane crashes (and I hope they read some AdmiralCloudberg on Medium for themselves), and websites about rocks and faultlines. In reality, as mentioned by other commenters, I'm not anything they're interested in, at best I'm a datapoint that advertisers try to categorise into a demographic (male, 30 - 50, doesn't give a shit about cars, into tech). And anyway, they're already doing it, but impersonally. It's the person who is very personal that I'm not enthused about.
    - vintermann 4y ago
      This, and all the sibling comments, is just sad. Not only are you happy to never challenge current power in any meaningful way, but you are sure you never will be. If there is a revolution tomorrow and the Trumpists are in charge, or the Marxists, or the Russians or whatever, you're still sure you will be fine with that order too and will never rock the boat. You're also confident that if you do nothing wrong by them you have nothing to worry about. Instead, you've been taught to fear the weak, the nobodies. The nameless savage in the night. As if they have any more reason to hate you than the powerful have.
  - fritztastic 4y ago
    Definitely nobodies online. I don't think anything I've ever done or will do would put me in the interest radius of big agencies, government or private (outside of perhaps advertising and a few exceptions). I have however, encountered death threats or obsessive/hostile behavior from people online who decided they have a beef with me for one reason or another. I'm much more inclined to be wary of some unstable individual having the means to find my identity (and therefore my location)- potentially using this to act on their emotions IRL.
  - hnbad 4y ago
    Unless you're actively plotting to overthrow the government, commit violence against politicians or public property, or participate in major civil rights movements, you should be more worried about a random nobody funnelling all their built up hate and frustration into making your life miserable than a three letter agency, yes. The difference is that the three letter agency has a budget, process and middle management so at the end of the day someone needs to justify why they're expending resources on making your life miserable whereas the random obsessive weirdo just needs to convince a bunch of other obsessive weirdos that you're a garbage person they can turn into their "lolcow" of the day/week/month/year. The three letter agency is more likely to inconvenience you out of apathy than to actually try to destroy you intentionally. The random nobody is more likely to try to drive you into suicide for a thrill.
  - codingdave 4y ago
    Absolutely more worried about the "nobodies". I'm boring to big scary organizations. But individuals have a wide potential for varying levels of instability and vengeance. Especially online.
- firefoxkekw 4y ago
  LOL Similar tool for phones -> https://github.com/sundowndev/phoneinfoga https://github.com/sundowndev/phoneinfoga Collection of OSINT Tools- > https://osintframework.com/ https://osintframework.com/ And if you want to pay you can just use https://www.maltego.com/ https://www.maltego.com/ and https://pimeyes.com/en https://pimeyes.com/en It is readily available.
remus 4y ago
Just because similar tools already exist that doesn't mean we shouldn't discuss the ethics of these tools (including the developers themselves).
60Vhipx7b4JL 4y ago
It makes a difference if you make it available to the average joe with limited technical understanding or not. You can't change the NSA, but you can resuce the amount of abuse. It's the same with guns, USA vs Europe for example.
mtrycz2 4y ago
> "Privacy is dead, get over it." I am NOT getting over it.
xena 4y ago
There is a difference between public and publicized information.
hnbad 4y ago
There's a difference between being able to buy a gun at the gun store where your gun is registered to your name and you can only pick it up after a multi-day waiting period, and being able to pick up a gun at the free gun dispensary at the push of a button in a back alley with no supervision. I realize this may be a failure to communicate because of a difference in shared values but I come from the perspective that harm reduction is worthwhile even if you can't fully eliminate the problem. That you can't prevent all crimes doesn't mean you shouldn't try to prevent crime. Not to mention that the risk profile of having three-letter agencies come after you or having a random obsessive weirdo "collect a dossier" and share it with other obsessive weirdos who get a kick out of making your life miserable because they project their life failures on you is very different. Namely, if you're prominent enough to have an entire state agency try to destroy you, it's probably over an active decision you made (e.g. focusing your life on political activism) whereas for random weirdos to harass you and attempt to drive you into suicide you just need to show up on their radar long enough for them to start making up reasons to hate you.

EdwardDiego 4y ago

Sure, but none of them are readily available to someone you argued with on /r/politics who has taken agin you.

vintermann 4y ago
So, the question is: are you more afraid of random nobodies online, or are you more afraid of already organized, already powerful people who had similar capability already?
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- concordDance 4y ago
  The answer is often the first because the latter don't have it out for you.
- EdwardDiego 4y ago
  I'm a nobody, and fiercely proud of it. And I pity the NSA employee who has to monitor my Internet usage, they're going to see an awful lot of Javadoc, programming blogs, websites about plane crashes (and I hope they read some AdmiralCloudberg on Medium for themselves), and websites about rocks and faultlines. In reality, as mentioned by other commenters, I'm not anything they're interested in, at best I'm a datapoint that advertisers try to categorise into a demographic (male, 30 - 50, doesn't give a shit about cars, into tech). And anyway, they're already doing it, but impersonally. It's the person who is very personal that I'm not enthused about.
  - vintermann 4y ago
    This, and all the sibling comments, is just sad. Not only are you happy to never challenge current power in any meaningful way, but you are sure you never will be. If there is a revolution tomorrow and the Trumpists are in charge, or the Marxists, or the Russians or whatever, you're still sure you will be fine with that order too and will never rock the boat. You're also confident that if you do nothing wrong by them you have nothing to worry about. Instead, you've been taught to fear the weak, the nobodies. The nameless savage in the night. As if they have any more reason to hate you than the powerful have.
- fritztastic 4y ago
  Definitely nobodies online. I don't think anything I've ever done or will do would put me in the interest radius of big agencies, government or private (outside of perhaps advertising and a few exceptions). I have however, encountered death threats or obsessive/hostile behavior from people online who decided they have a beef with me for one reason or another. I'm much more inclined to be wary of some unstable individual having the means to find my identity (and therefore my location)- potentially using this to act on their emotions IRL.
- hnbad 4y ago
  Unless you're actively plotting to overthrow the government, commit violence against politicians or public property, or participate in major civil rights movements, you should be more worried about a random nobody funnelling all their built up hate and frustration into making your life miserable than a three letter agency, yes. The difference is that the three letter agency has a budget, process and middle management so at the end of the day someone needs to justify why they're expending resources on making your life miserable whereas the random obsessive weirdo just needs to convince a bunch of other obsessive weirdos that you're a garbage person they can turn into their "lolcow" of the day/week/month/year. The three letter agency is more likely to inconvenience you out of apathy than to actually try to destroy you intentionally. The random nobody is more likely to try to drive you into suicide for a thrill.
- codingdave 4y ago
  Absolutely more worried about the "nobodies". I'm boring to big scary organizations. But individuals have a wide potential for varying levels of instability and vengeance. Especially online.
firefoxkekw 4y ago
LOL Similar tool for phones -> https://github.com/sundowndev/phoneinfoga https://github.com/sundowndev/phoneinfoga Collection of OSINT Tools- > https://osintframework.com/ https://osintframework.com/ And if you want to pay you can just use https://www.maltego.com/ https://www.maltego.com/ and https://pimeyes.com/en https://pimeyes.com/en It is readily available.

remus 4y ago

Just because similar tools already exist that doesn't mean we shouldn't discuss the ethics of these tools (including the developers themselves).

60Vhipx7b4JL 4y ago

It makes a difference if you make it available to the average joe with limited technical understanding or not. You can't change the NSA, but you can resuce the amount of abuse. It's the same with guns, USA vs Europe for example.

mtrycz2 4y ago

> "Privacy is dead, get over it." I am NOT getting over it.

xena 4y ago

There is a difference between public and publicized information.

hnbad 4y ago

There's a difference between being able to buy a gun at the gun store where your gun is registered to your name and you can only pick it up after a multi-day waiting period, and being able to pick up a gun at the free gun dispensary at the push of a button in a back alley with no supervision. I realize this may be a failure to communicate because of a difference in shared values but I come from the perspective that harm reduction is worthwhile even if you can't fully eliminate the problem. That you can't prevent all crimes doesn't mean you shouldn't try to prevent crime. Not to mention that the risk profile of having three-letter agencies come after you or having a random obsessive weirdo "collect a dossier" and share it with other obsessive weirdos who get a kick out of making your life miserable because they project their life failures on you is very different. Namely, if you're prominent enough to have an entire state agency try to destroy you, it's probably over an active decision you made (e.g. focusing your life on political activism) whereas for random weirdos to harass you and attempt to drive you into suicide you just need to show up on their radar long enough for them to start making up reasons to hate you.