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Sherlock: Hunt down social media accounts by username across 400 social networks

sherlockproject.xyz

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Re: Sherlock: Hunt down social media accounts by username across 400 social networks

#61

Post by DaSHacka »

dylan604 wrote: post #49
iinnPP wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm at a loss for how your example doesn't lead to automatically negative. Don't post something harmless today that will be deemed a "dog whistle" in 2035 so that you don't have to prove a negative? I don't mean to be critical here, it's a genuine ask. And to add to the above, my post is the kind of post that would be gone. If I was taking a similar stance.

Having the right/freedom to post anything you want does not mean there shouldn't be consequences for those posts later. Age of post should just not be an automatic "but it was 10 years ago" get out of jail free card. If there's compelling evidence it was just a stupid thing someone did as a teen, then we can have that conversation. If it is a post from someone in some position of leadership that is 10 years old but w…

Ah, so you're who GGP's talking about.

Re: Sherlock: Hunt down social media accounts by username across 400 social networks

#62

Post by fragmede »

pluc wrote: post #3

So what's a non creepy use for this?

Clean up the online footprint for someone that hires you to do so before they run for office. I don't remember every single web site I've every signed up for going back to when I started using the Internet, and neither can you.

Re: Sherlock: Hunt down social media accounts by username across 400 social networks

#64

Post by pluc »

fragmede wrote: post #62
pluc wrote: post #3

So what's a non creepy use for this?

Clean up the online footprint for someone that hires you to do so before they run for office. I don't remember every single web site I've every signed up for going back to when I started using the Internet, and neither can you.

Internet Archive likely renders that point moot, no? There a plenty of sites that index tweets outside of Twitter for example... at least there used to be

Re: Sherlock: Hunt down social media accounts by username across 400 social networks

#65

Post by mikeodds »

dylan604 wrote: post #41
tonmoy wrote: post #19

For 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”

Until some ML process is learned to give a probability that accounts are the same based on writing styles Staying anonymous is very difficult

Using stats this is called stylometry and I agree this will probably be easier at scale now. You can also match posting windows, pull additional features from database dumps/hacks.

Fun post applying it to HN, not sure if the site is still live: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33755016

Re: Sherlock: Hunt down social media accounts by username across 400 social networks

#66

Post by dylan604 »

Tepix wrote: post #48
dylan604 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

just to be slightly pedantic as there are still sites that have screen names vs account names where the screen name the public sees has no correlation with the account name (typically an email account). so don't re-use email accounts across sites. SecOps matter

Yes, another thing you can do is use email subadressing for every account you create, ideally with a non-default separator (i.e., not "+").

Doesn't this subaddress all just resolve to the same account? The accounts are free, so just make up a completely different account. Yeah, it might get a bit of a mess for a user to manage, but that's what password managers are for.

let's face it, we're not talking about Joey Beercan doing this. Anyone even tossing around the term SecOps is already moved out of mass populace and into the somewhat informed. Someone practicing SecOps would definitely be the type to use some sort of credentials management. So I don't think unique totally unrelated emails is too much of a burden. Using different free email providers is even better.

Re: Sherlock: Hunt down social media accounts by username across 400 social networks

#67

Post by prophesi »

nurettin wrote: post #54
Tepix wrote: post #23

And this makes it obvious why you should use a unique username everywhere! It makes pervasive tracking a lot harder. Also when you do any research on health related topics, be extra privacy conscious.

This is why I try to use the same name across websites. I want to be identified as the same person. Just resist the urge to post information you don't want others to have.

We often don't know what is or isn't information we don't want others to have, and it will be a lot harder, if not impossible, to delete it after-the-fact. Especially when you consider how it only takes a few innocuous data points to derive what might be information you'd rather not disclose.

Re: Sherlock: Hunt down social media accounts by username across 400 social networks

#68

Post by naavis »

Tepix wrote: post #24
pluc wrote: post #3

So what's a non creepy use for this?

Is it creepy if you google a job candidate?

In many parts of the world it is illegal for a recruiting party to search for information on a candidate without their consent.

Re: Sherlock: Hunt down social media accounts by username across 400 social networks

#69

Post by karlzt »

Tepix wrote: post #23

And this makes it obvious why you should use a unique username everywhere! It makes pervasive tracking a lot harder. Also when you do any research on health related topics, be extra privacy conscious.

Or better yet, be extra privacy conscious with everything you do.

Re: Sherlock: Hunt down social media accounts by username across 400 social networks

#70

Post by [deleted] »

nurettin wrote: post #54
Tepix wrote: post #23

And this makes it obvious why you should use a unique username everywhere! It makes pervasive tracking a lot harder. Also when you do any research on health related topics, be extra privacy conscious.

This is why I try to use the same name across websites. I want to be identified as the same person. Just resist the urge to post information you don't want others to have.

[deleted]
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