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A nameless hiker and the case the internet can’t crack

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Re: A nameless hiker and the case the internet can’t crack

#201

Post by fuzxi »

asphyxiac wrote: post #61
jhardy54 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Required reading, IMO: https://screeps.com/forum/topic/2937/a-strange-request-for-h... I've spent a few days looking into this and haven't been able to find anything. There's also a big thing about "algae pools" "stock markets", etc, which didn't seem to be about Screeps. I tried to find games that had these mechanics, and ended up spending a bunch of time looking through Spacestation 13 forums, but I'm leaning towar…

OP, based on the Screeps thread, we have a purported Steam profile for MH. Did that yield anything? Edit: I know that folks thought this was a red herring. Checked the steam profile, power player badge was unlocked on 10/23 but Recently Played shows nothing (might be privacy settings) and last review was 3 years ago. Do badges ever auto-unlock, or could this person have shared a steam account?

>Do badges ever auto-unlock

That specific badge is for game ownership. I believe it's possible for games to be added to your account automatically in some cases (like an HD version given out for free to existing owners) which could unlock the badge without user intervention.

>or could this person have shared a steam account?

Definitely possible as well.

Re: A nameless hiker and the case the internet can’t crack

#202

Post by chasd00 »

znpy wrote: post #185
kbos87 wrote: post #169

Not even a passing mention of the privacy questions at stake here. I don’t fault the police for seeking answers, but every self-nominated amateur sleuth isn’t due an answer about the identity of someone who in all likelihood wanted to live privately and never committed a crime.

Uh, we don't know for sure he didn't ever commit a crime, your logic is flawed.

that's a scary comment. I'll remind you that he's innocent until someone proves otherwise.

Re: A nameless hiker and the case the internet can’t crack

#203

Post by throwaway2245 »

PeterisP wrote: post #29
kick wrote: post #7

It's amazing how rude Facebook, reddit, and in this case, greedy companies, can be. If he cared enough about anyone knowing who he was, he'd have told someone. This is just blatant disregard for a man's privacy.

The laws and principles of privacy protection are generally built from the perspective that people have privacy interests that need protection, but dead bodies aren't people anymore and have no privacy rights. We do have certain restrictions about the deceased, but those are designed to protect the interests and privacy of their surviving family, relatives and friends, not the deceased themselves. For example, we can…

>we can read and even publish the private diaries and intimate correspondence of dead people

the rules around publishing (and reading) private diaries are the same for dead people as they are for living people, aren't they?

Re: A nameless hiker and the case the internet can’t crack

#204

Post by shortandsweet »

kbos87 wrote: post #169

Not even a passing mention of the privacy questions at stake here. I don’t fault the police for seeking answers, but every self-nominated amateur sleuth isn’t due an answer about the identity of someone who in all likelihood wanted to live privately and never committed a crime.

What if he has a will and trust that need to be executed?

Re: A nameless hiker and the case the internet can’t crack

#205

Post by tildeath »

grawprog wrote: post #109
alecbcs wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Checking for users who forked the repo in 2017 and haven't been active since 2017 I got. - amidman - eqzus - Mike Hancoski (follows users from NY, wrote PHP code, his personal website domain wasn't renewed and is now available.)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-hancoski-b342aa53 This guy looks like a clean shaven version of those pictures. Noses look the same. The eyes. No updates to the account since 2015.

Damn, they really DO look very similar. Mike appears to have unattached earlobes, and MH's appear attached, however.

Re: A nameless hiker and the case the internet can’t crack

#206

Post by 0xffff2 »

roywiggins wrote: post #39
dheera wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm slightly less concerned about being anonymous from the government and far more concerned about being anonymous from businesses . How is it that every time I move, they still figure out where I live and continue to send me junk mail? I'm extremely concerned about the ease of arbitrary businesses finding out where some person lives. I want this to be unethical to the point that whoever leaked my address without my…

USPS sells change-of-address data. https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamtanner/2013/07/08/how-the-p...

I found this out when I moved recently and I find it incredibly stupid. I'm now simultaneously annoyed that my new address seems to still receive mail for the last 3 tenants, but I also didn't do a change of address so whoever ends up renting my old apartment is going to be annoyed with me.

Re: A nameless hiker and the case the internet can’t crack

#207

Post by jpsalm »

warrenmiller wrote: post #198
jpsalm wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kind of a stretch but the crossover between jaded dev/tech people and EVE Online players is high: Mostly Harmless is an old, now defunct, EVE corp. Might be someone who ran in that that might recognize him. https://www.reddit.com/r/Eve/comments/cd7ku3/disbanded_allia...

It's the description of Earth in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. That's where that's from

Just reading through the notes and there are lots of EVE terms in there. They look like they're talking about something else, a new game maybe, but I wouldn't discount it just yet.

(Miners, haulers, nanite )

Re: A nameless hiker and the case the internet can’t crack

#208

Post by pvaldes »

kbos87 wrote: post #169

Not even a passing mention of the privacy questions at stake here. I don’t fault the police for seeking answers, but every self-nominated amateur sleuth isn’t due an answer about the identity of someone who in all likelihood wanted to live privately and never committed a crime.

That could give some peace to their beloved ones, and nothing can harm him anymore. It seems that he has tell to be a divorced; maybe he has children. I think that is a fair move.

Re: A nameless hiker and the case the internet can’t crack

#209

Post by withinboredom »

strstr wrote: post #103
momothereal wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wrote a quick script through Github's API, and found 10 users[1] matching the criteria: * starred any screeps repo before May 2017, and no other screeps repo since then * no public contributions or events since April 2017 If someone has some time to do further filtering, ensure the users have not starred any GitHub repo since May 2017 I didn't go through forks but that would also be an avenue. [1] https://gist.gith…

A few of the users have the same in game username, and have been online recently.

I don't really trust the steam online thing. I once got a notification that my brother was playing a game and he was driving a car and his computer was off. No, his account wasn't hacked. We spent awhile and noticed that it seems to randomly say your online and playing if you disconnect for awhile (my account too).

Re: A nameless hiker and the case the internet can’t crack

#210

Post by sudosteph »

Well, this was quite the rabbit hole for me. Great article, btw.

Here's my best candidate from some internet sleuthing: https://imgur.com/EMPKO2V . I do definitely see some resemblance, but interested if others do too.

I have a possible name, but no evidence that anyone with that name has been reported missing. The only contact point I found is a twitter profile that I think could be a brother, but I'm not about to message that person and open that door b/c I could be way off track.

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