5 ms·

I always assumed that some actors had this capability and acted accordingly. The existence of a publicly available tool merely democratizes this power. Anyone s

by c22 4y ago

I always assumed that some actors had this capability and acted accordingly. The existence of a publicly available tool merely democratizes this power. Anyone seeking complete and perpetual anonymity should have been practicing better opsec from the beginning.

tjrowalway 4y ago
HN should more to support privacy. Allow anonymous posts instead of forcing users into the pattern of throwaways that are linkable. Karma right now also makes it hard to use a throwaway per comment. getting downvoted on a first post might lock your account for some hours, so you are forced to build up karma with lots of posts. + give users a way to delete their profile once posted. If not whole comment history, at least remove their username from the db.
- c22 4y ago
  If you're only using the account for one comment why do you care if it gets locked?
bheadmaster 4y ago
What opsec measures could one take against language analysis? Everyone has a particular style of writing, and the only way of hiding it I can think of is not writing anything at all.
- theCrowing 4y ago
  GPT3?
- c22 4y ago
  * Make a small number of posts per account * Run your posts through machine translation services * Pay someone on fiverr to write a synopsis of your content, then post that * Intentionally vary your style, build rich back stories and identities for your nyms, including telltale mannerisms.
- hinata08 4y ago
  use the same words and logics as everyone / some mainstream show like SNL ? Or force yourself to use completely different words every time ? Be open minded ? Comment under different posts to hide your interests ? Use short sentences ? Use newspeak ? Copy the features of other users ? I also talk to ppl from various backgrounds. I could prove you why you need to vote for any candidate, thanks to the logics of coworkers. I used to copy the style of MS documentations to refactor code, so that juniors could get started right away. Before that, I used to learn English. My patterns and word usage where just a medley of recently viewed content. I'm sure it can be achieved. You just need to read enough, or be exposed to so much content than you can choose your patterns.
  - Oxidation 4y ago
    > Use newspeak Would only work if enough people did it. Otherwise all your accounts will stand out as being "the newspeak person"
    - hinata08 4y ago
      > all your accounts will stand out as being "the newspeak person" Thanks, Obama (is talking in memes sustainable ?)
      - IHaveAFewQualms 4y ago
        yarly. tho (You) sneed to be perspicaciously circumspect in celebrating teh diversity of communities that u eBaum your MaiMais from. If Not, sekrit bsns liek whether ur gebaseerd 「kink memes」 are fr0m at least 100 years ago or $PRESENT_DAY_PRESENT_TIME will soon™ accidentally a pattern here, and you can rest assured that your FBI agent will have no doubts as to what kind of sussy you really are. )))
- paganel 4y ago
  > What opsec measures could one take against language analysis? Be aware that it's almost impossible to defeat it, and act accordingly. More exactly, if you think that a tech-capable state actor is coming after you then you should be outside the reach of where said state actor holds its monopoly of power. Real text-anonymity is gone for good.
adriand 4y ago
This argument, which the creator of the tool also uses, strikes me as essentially, “I’m going to harm you to show you that there is potential for you to be harmed”. To make a crude analogy, what if I punched you in the face to demonstrate that you should consider learning kung fu? Or perhaps to indicate that, if a corporation wanted to, they could hire people to assault you and there would be little you could do about it? At the end of the day you’ve got a busted nose either way. Are you really better off?
- icegreentea2 4y ago
  Your analogy makes a fundamentally different assumption - which is that you weren't already being physically assaulted or that your risk of being physically assaulted was truly negligible. OP and creator assume that attempts at creating privacy online are always under active attack. The threat environment already exists. Publication of this tool does not meaningfully change the threat environment. Some more analogous situations might be: * Publicizing that police do not quickly respond to 911 calls for assault or break and entry in certain neighborhoods * Selling lockpicks and publicizing how to pick standard tumbler locks * Publicizing which bike locks can be cut with hand tools The real fundamental disagreement is on the assumption of if your privacy is already under attack by competent actors.
- tptacek 4y ago
  People have been doing this kind of analysis for decades; all that happened today was that you got a demonstration of it, using a particularly simple approach.

by c22 4y ago

tjrowalway 4y ago

HN should more to support privacy. Allow anonymous posts instead of forcing users into the pattern of throwaways that are linkable. Karma right now also makes it hard to use a throwaway per comment. getting downvoted on a first post might lock your account for some hours, so you are forced to build up karma with lots of posts. + give users a way to delete their profile once posted. If not whole comment history, at least remove their username from the db.

c22 4y ago
If you're only using the account for one comment why do you care if it gets locked?

bheadmaster 4y ago

What opsec measures could one take against language analysis? Everyone has a particular style of writing, and the only way of hiding it I can think of is not writing anything at all.

theCrowing 4y ago
GPT3?
c22 4y ago
* Make a small number of posts per account * Run your posts through machine translation services * Pay someone on fiverr to write a synopsis of your content, then post that * Intentionally vary your style, build rich back stories and identities for your nyms, including telltale mannerisms.
hinata08 4y ago
use the same words and logics as everyone / some mainstream show like SNL ? Or force yourself to use completely different words every time ? Be open minded ? Comment under different posts to hide your interests ? Use short sentences ? Use newspeak ? Copy the features of other users ? I also talk to ppl from various backgrounds. I could prove you why you need to vote for any candidate, thanks to the logics of coworkers. I used to copy the style of MS documentations to refactor code, so that juniors could get started right away. Before that, I used to learn English. My patterns and word usage where just a medley of recently viewed content. I'm sure it can be achieved. You just need to read enough, or be exposed to so much content than you can choose your patterns.
- Oxidation 4y ago
  > Use newspeak Would only work if enough people did it. Otherwise all your accounts will stand out as being "the newspeak person"
  - hinata08 4y ago
    > all your accounts will stand out as being "the newspeak person" Thanks, Obama (is talking in memes sustainable ?)
    - IHaveAFewQualms 4y ago
      yarly. tho (You) sneed to be perspicaciously circumspect in celebrating teh diversity of communities that u eBaum your MaiMais from. If Not, sekrit bsns liek whether ur gebaseerd 「kink memes」 are fr0m at least 100 years ago or $PRESENT_DAY_PRESENT_TIME will soon™ accidentally a pattern here, and you can rest assured that your FBI agent will have no doubts as to what kind of sussy you really are. )))
paganel 4y ago
> What opsec measures could one take against language analysis? Be aware that it's almost impossible to defeat it, and act accordingly. More exactly, if you think that a tech-capable state actor is coming after you then you should be outside the reach of where said state actor holds its monopoly of power. Real text-anonymity is gone for good.

adriand 4y ago

This argument, which the creator of the tool also uses, strikes me as essentially, “I’m going to harm you to show you that there is potential for you to be harmed”. To make a crude analogy, what if I punched you in the face to demonstrate that you should consider learning kung fu? Or perhaps to indicate that, if a corporation wanted to, they could hire people to assault you and there would be little you could do about it? At the end of the day you’ve got a busted nose either way. Are you really better off?

icegreentea2 4y ago
Your analogy makes a fundamentally different assumption - which is that you weren't already being physically assaulted or that your risk of being physically assaulted was truly negligible. OP and creator assume that attempts at creating privacy online are always under active attack. The threat environment already exists. Publication of this tool does not meaningfully change the threat environment. Some more analogous situations might be: * Publicizing that police do not quickly respond to 911 calls for assault or break and entry in certain neighborhoods * Selling lockpicks and publicizing how to pick standard tumbler locks * Publicizing which bike locks can be cut with hand tools The real fundamental disagreement is on the assumption of if your privacy is already under attack by competent actors.
tptacek 4y ago
People have been doing this kind of analysis for decades; all that happened today was that you got a demonstration of it, using a particularly simple approach.