So what's a non creepy use for this?
It’s also a great education tool to showcase the need to be careful about internet hygiene. The creeps have done this sort of things for decades
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Sherlock: Hunt down social media accounts by username across 400 social networks
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Re: Sherlock: Hunt down social media accounts by username across 400 social networks
#12Re: Sherlock: Hunt down social media accounts by username across 400 social networks
#13Re: Sherlock: Hunt down social media accounts by username across 400 social networks
#14This will be very handy because when I see someone post something I disagree with on HN I can also go downvote them on reddit and swipe them in the ugly direction on tindr and/or grindr. I am justified in doing this because everything I don't like should be banned.
Re: Sherlock: Hunt down social media accounts by username across 400 social networks
#15Re: Sherlock: Hunt down social media accounts by username across 400 social networks
#16So what's a non creepy use for this?
Realistically it's doing this to people who deserve it, trouble is that no one is going to agree on that criteria
Re: Sherlock: Hunt down social media accounts by username across 400 social networks
#17This will be very handy because when I see someone post something I disagree with on HN I can also go downvote them on reddit and swipe them in the ugly direction on tindr and/or grindr. I am justified in doing this because everything I don't like should be banned.
Don't forget to report the reddit posts for suicide concerns.
Re: Sherlock: Hunt down social media accounts by username across 400 social networks
#18Remember when IPv6 decided on 128 bit addreses and defaulting to /64 blocks because someone thought using a 48-bit MAC address as the IPv6 equivalent of a port was a good idea? Fast forward a decade or two and we realize how this is a PII leak issue so nobody does it but we're still stuck with 128-bit addresses (for those who use IPv6).
There are several things that are a security issue or simply a privacy issue. These include:
- Your username (as I assume this tool is demonstrating)
- Your email address. While this is treated as your "public identity" to some extent, I think we're rapidly approaching a point where we need to not do this;
- Your phone number; and
- Your profile pic. I would advise to never use the same pic across accounts and certainly don't use services like gravatar (if that's still a thing).
Email is particularly problematic because you can end up on spam lists if a site is compromised and you can't really identify where it comes from.
What I think we need is a more integrated solution for logging in and creating throwaway addresses (eg like SimpleLogin) so it's basically seamless. Gmail seems well-positioned to do this. I honestly don't know why Google hasn't done this.
Interestingly, Facebook Groups seem to handle this kind of anonymity reasonable well. Each group your in is a separate profile. You can't find out what other groups someone is in from either their personal identity or any group's identity. Weirdly, your FB profile is associated with any pages or profiles you comment on.
It should be clear to these companies by now that people want to silo their public identities (aka pseudonomity).
Re: Sherlock: Hunt down social media accounts by username across 400 social networks
#19For people who want to have a professional social presence (FB/linkedin) as well as an anonymous one (Reddit etc), it’ll be super useful to see if the accounts are truly unlinkable. Moreover if you are opening a new anonymous account, maybe a good idea to search the new username using this tool to make sure it’s not “taken”
Re: Sherlock: Hunt down social media accounts by username across 400 social networks
#20I dont plan to run for president or anything, but find myself increasingly censoring my online speech. I think the biggest risk is some out of context post being pulled into a civil suit, or professional cancellation following that.
Things like advice in an alcohol recovery forum would be prime evidence for a liability suit.
There are also groups that vacuum the internet for offensive posts, and use them to try to get people fired for things they said 10 years ago.
At this point, I assume all internet activity can and will be de-anonymized, and restrict my speech accordingly. I'm sure there are some meaningful precautions and nuances, but it is too much to keep up with.