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The short tale of an online scam

duarteocarmo.com

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Re: The short tale of an online scam

#91
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Historical gay people aren't buying websites today. it's hard for me to take that statement as having been made in good faith but at any rate when I say historically I do not mean if someone was building a website in 1950 they sure would want to be anonymous I mean that throughout history, up until the present day there are people who want to remain anonymous who are not scammers and used gay people as an example -…

I asked you for examples. It was entirely in good faith for me to point out that your first example was not actually an example. Fall was already anonymous, and her anonymity was protected by the editor, just as I described. So anonymous payment for a web presence, one that she didn't have, wouldn't have helped here. And as you point out, the anonymity didn't prevent her from getting criticism (not harassment as far…

>I asked you for examples. It was entirely in good faith for me to point out that your first example was not actually an example.

well, I used the phrase historically speaking which normally when I see it used in the manner in which I used it the meaning is "this has happened in the past therefore we should be wary of it happening in the future" but you seemed to take it to mean "this has happened in the past but the past is a foreign country and thus we don't need to worry about it happening again." So yes, if you assume that similar things to things that have happened in the past cannot happen today then my example wouldn't be one. But otherwise you didn't really point out my first example wasn't one.

>So anonymous payment for a web presence, one that she didn't have, wouldn't have helped here.

I guess we must think in very different ways because I was just making an example of how artists might want to be anonymous because otherwise they can have bad effects from releasing their art. I chose the most recent example I could think of, and also I chose this one because the attacks were generally from the left while I tend to think of retaliation for homosexuality as stemming from the right.

>As to your last "might be", anything might be.

ok so we're in agreement then that there might be people who are not scammers who want to be anonymous. And since you bring it up also not harassers.

>What I'm looking for is an example of where the social harm that can come through anonymity, specifically anonymous payment, is worth putting up with to provide some social good.

Ok well I don't know if I can provide that, as I don't know how to calculate the social harm and how to calculate the social good. I just know some people who would like to be anonymous for non-scamming purposes.

>I'll note that even your well-performed outrage

whatever.

on edit: obviously I believe in order to have an anonymous identity one has to be able to pay anonymously, so despite my not writing anonymous payment each time I wrote anonymous I assume the ability to pay anonymously is wrapped up in the ability to be anonymous on the internet.

Re: The short tale of an online scam

#93
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I asked you for examples. It was entirely in good faith for me to point out that your first example was not actually an example. Fall was already anonymous, and her anonymity was protected by the editor, just as I described. So anonymous payment for a web presence, one that she didn't have, wouldn't have helped here. And as you point out, the anonymity didn't prevent her from getting criticism (not harassment as far…

>I asked you for examples. It was entirely in good faith for me to point out that your first example was not actually an example. well, I used the phrase historically speaking which normally when I see it used in the manner in which I used it the meaning is "this has happened in the past therefore we should be wary of it happening in the future" but you seemed to take it to mean "this has happened in the past but the…

I appreciate you clarifying you have no examples of non-scammer people who need anonymous payment for websites. That was my question, and you have answered it. Maybe next time you could skip the drama and just say so?

Re: The short tale of an online scam

#94

> "Also, (2) if you want to protect other people from falling victims to scams like these: tell them to always look at the url bar. Always." This is good advice, as things stand right now, it is in fact the best advice we can give. In absolute terms it is borderline useless advice. Many companies still communicate from and operate from domains other than their well-known main domain. How is anybody supposed to know t…

Plus, many companies outsource many services to some SaaS third party, like payments, order tracking, even inventory and other stuff. They come with funny domain names and it's borderline impossible to tell what's legit and what's not.

And now I should tell my 70+ year old mom to "always look at the url bar"? That's entirely useless.

Re: The short tale of an online scam

#95
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Historical gay people aren't buying websites today. it's hard for me to take that statement as having been made in good faith but at any rate when I say historically I do not mean if someone was building a website in 1950 they sure would want to be anonymous I mean that throughout history, up until the present day there are people who want to remain anonymous who are not scammers and used gay people as an example -…

I asked you for examples. It was entirely in good faith for me to point out that your first example was not actually an example. Fall was already anonymous, and her anonymity was protected by the editor, just as I described. So anonymous payment for a web presence, one that she didn't have, wouldn't have helped here. And as you point out, the anonymity didn't prevent her from getting criticism (not harassment as far…

> your well-performed outrage over fears of harassment

Sorry, but this phrase illustrates your lack of good faith in this discussion.

Re: The short tale of an online scam

#96
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I asked you for examples. It was entirely in good faith for me to point out that your first example was not actually an example. Fall was already anonymous, and her anonymity was protected by the editor, just as I described. So anonymous payment for a web presence, one that she didn't have, wouldn't have helped here. And as you point out, the anonymity didn't prevent her from getting criticism (not harassment as far…

> your well-performed outrage over fears of harassment Sorry, but this phrase illustrates your lack of good faith in this discussion.

I have plenty of good faith here. What I don't have is time for people who when asked reasonable questions give drama instead of answers.

Is online harassment a big problem? Yes, and it's one I spend my days working to solve. Is the inability to anonymously pay for a domain name a significant part of that problem? No, it isn't.

Re: The short tale of an online scam

#97
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> your well-performed outrage over fears of harassment Sorry, but this phrase illustrates your lack of good faith in this discussion.

I have plenty of good faith here. What I don't have is time for people who when asked reasonable questions give drama instead of answers. Is online harassment a big problem? Yes, and it's one I spend my days working to solve. Is the inability to anonymously pay for a domain name a significant part of that problem? No, it isn't.

I see your argument, and after having browsed around on your homepage and such, I see that you are a reasonable guy.

Is it really so hard to believe that there are legitimate reasons for wanting to anonymously acquire a domain name? One of the selling points of crypto currencies is the ability to do anonymous payments. That's multi-billion dollars big (even if one considers most of that somewhere between "scam" and "bubble"). All sorts of people desire anonymity in what they do, not just criminals. The GP may not have made the case very well, but minorities are certainly weary of being tracked, so are one example of a group that may desire an extra layer of protection.

It's not hard to imagine other groups. Dissidents, folks who want to keep focus on message instead of messenger, whistleblowers, .. It may be hard to see this from a privileged point of view (mine certainly is), but that doesn't mean it's not real or that only criminals want anonymity.

Re: The short tale of an online scam

#98
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have plenty of good faith here. What I don't have is time for people who when asked reasonable questions give drama instead of answers. Is online harassment a big problem? Yes, and it's one I spend my days working to solve. Is the inability to anonymously pay for a domain name a significant part of that problem? No, it isn't.

I see your argument, and after having browsed around on your homepage and such, I see that you are a reasonable guy. Is it really so hard to believe that there are legitimate reasons for wanting to anonymously acquire a domain name? One of the selling points of crypto currencies is the ability to do anonymous payments. That's multi-billion dollars big (even if one considers most of that somewhere between "scam" and "…

I'm not very interested in imagining the reasons. And I'm not interested at all in things other people imagine and then use to justify real-world policy. If we're weighing against actual harm, what I want is other actualities.
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