Doxxing defense: Remove your personal info from data brokers • Hacker News Board

Re: Doxxing defense: Remove your personal info from data brokers

#71

Post by skybrian » Thu, Nov 20, 2014, 5:42 PM UTC

TeMPOraL wrote: post #39

wpietri wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This response grates a little. It's so common that it's widely discussed and parodied. E.g.: http://finallyfeminism101.wordpress.com/2007/10/18/phmt-argu... http://www.robot-hugs.com/but-men/ And it's closely related to the "not all men" line, equally mocked: http://www.listen-tome.com/save-me/ http://imgur.com/gallery/z5AYz66 But assuming that you are sincere and just unaware of the context: The reason that I person…

This is sexist and ostracizing :P. Such service doesn't have a natural gender discrimination so it's actually additional work to create one. Sure, it might be worth to focus on marketing it to women, if indeed they get "disproportionately large share" of abuse (it sounds plausible to me, but I don't have data) - but there's no need for artificially limiting the service itself. Male privacy nerds would happily use it…

Nobody asked that the service to be limited to women. That's something you're adding to the conversation. So it seems to me that you're politicizing it even more.

Re: Doxxing defense: Remove your personal info from data brokers

#72

Post by rootlocus » Thu, Nov 20, 2014, 5:43 PM UTC

Someone1234 wrote: post #18

The US really needs something akin to the EU's Data Protection Directive[0]. I've seen tons of businesses hide some tiny clause in their T&Cs (page 30, subsection 15, paragraph 11, etc) which allows them to resell your data to whoever will pay. For example the National Geographic Store sold my personal data when I purchased something from them (even with no check-box opt out, etc during checkout), and I've been recei…

It's unfortunate that more and more services started blacklisting mailinator.

Re: Doxxing defense: Remove your personal info from data brokers

#73

Post by spindritf » Thu, Nov 20, 2014, 5:46 PM UTC

The threats of violence are usually empty posturing but there are other serious risks associated with speaking out online under your real name. In the US you can get "swatted"[1], which is an evil twist on usual pizza pranks. It's not far from that to getting shot (or having your dog shot).

Then there are basic SEO threats to your good name. And the old "taking information out of the Internet is like taking piss out of a pool." Whether the information is true or not.

I don't think this is an appropriate defence though. Sticking to usual good practices of not conflating anonymous personas with your real identity, using a PO box and proxy services (whether for domain registrations or actual network proxies) will be more productive. Not good enough when evading FBI but probably more than fine otherwise.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swatting

Re: Doxxing defense: Remove your personal info from data brokers

#74

Post by munin » Thu, Nov 20, 2014, 5:46 PM UTC

gear54rus wrote: post #19

The Internet never forgets. No app is going to change that because Internet is de-centralized and de-centralization makes it impossible to know if the data was really completely removed or not. Let's face it: the only way to not expose your personal info is to not share it in the first place (forget silly Facebook, G+, Instagrams and all that stuff). If you've already done that, make sure that whatever you are doing…

this information gets populated without you sharing it. if you pay utility bills, rent, buy a house, appear in court, or other similar acts, those acts get stuck into online databases forever.

so to not "expose" your personal information is to not buy things and live in a tent. but be sure not to get arrested for trespassing or vagrancy...

Re: Doxxing defense: Remove your personal info from data brokers

#75

Post by mason240 » Thu, Nov 20, 2014, 5:46 PM UTC

eli wrote: post #13

doctorfoo wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will optimistically assume I am being downvoted for off-topic rather than further whitewashed.

I don't know what "whitewashed" means in this context, but you are definitely off topic and your comment reads like you are trying to justify some pretty terrible actions. The fact that other bad things happen to other people in no way excuses the bad things that happened to female game developers.

Did you feel any cognitive dissonance when typing that?

Re: Doxxing defense: Remove your personal info from data brokers

#76

Post by byerley » Thu, Nov 20, 2014, 5:49 PM UTC

Someone1234 wrote: post #63

byerley wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If repeating publicly known personal information is a crime, the printers of telephone directories must have really good lawyers.

As you well know the topic at hand is people using that data to "stalk/harass/intimidate" as the OP said verbatim. Which is not protected by the 1st amendment.

I read it differently; "this stunt" is ambiguous in context.

In any case, I think you're misunderstanding the nature of the problem. The danger of "doxxing" is that people get overwhelmed by a flood of negative attention from many different people. In most cases, none of the "harassing" individuals actually do enough individual harassment to make the action illegal. You can't go after the doxxer because releasing the information was completely legal, and you can't go after the mob because none of the individuals have done enough to constitute a crime.

You could certainly go after a guy who sends a knife; pretty sure just mailing a knife is illegal in most places.

Re: Doxxing defense: Remove your personal info from data brokers

#77

Post by rl3 » Thu, Nov 20, 2014, 5:50 PM UTC

300bps wrote: post #60

rl3 wrote: post #4

The fact most of these sites even have opt-out mechanisms, and that they're apparently effective, is surprising and quite nice. Though, I suspect this became the case out of necessity as a result of horror stories and litigation.

The fact most of these sites even have opt-out mechanisms, and that they're apparently effective, My last name is one that fewer than 20 people in the world have. So doxxing protection and name management in general is very important to me. A few years ago I took about a day and had myself removed from everywhere I could find. Far more comprehensive than this article. In the three years since, I've slowly been added…

Seems like doing it on a persistent basis is required then, regardless. Admittedly it's a sad state of affairs, but it beats nothing.

Re: Doxxing defense: Remove your personal info from data brokers

#78

Post by michaelochurch » Thu, Nov 20, 2014, 5:50 PM UTC

What creeps me out is that there are now salary databases that people can use to see someone's prior salary history, job titles, and (in some cases) details of separation. It shouldn't be legal for those to exist, nor for companies to use them.

I actually checked myself in one ("The Work Number") in 2012 and it had an accurate title and salary history, which I hadn't made public. Scary, creepy stuff going on. How the fuck are they able to know that?

Re: Doxxing defense: Remove your personal info from data brokers

#79

Post by dghughes » Thu, Nov 20, 2014, 5:51 PM UTC

giarc wrote: post #42

Someone1234 wrote: post #18

The US really needs something akin to the EU's Data Protection Directive[0]. I've seen tons of businesses hide some tiny clause in their T&Cs (page 30, subsection 15, paragraph 11, etc) which allows them to resell your data to whoever will pay. For example the National Geographic Store sold my personal data when I purchased something from them (even with no check-box opt out, etc during checkout), and I've been recei…

I know you can enter email addresses as x+y@example.com where x=your regular email and y=some word/phrase to indicate who might have sold your email. For example, if you register bill+NG@example.com with national geographic, and you find yourself getting to: bill+NG@example.com from spam, you know who sold your info. My question is, do you think companies know this trick and just remove the portion following the "+"?

We had a meeting about privacy at work and the presenter told a story about his ISP who messed up his name when he signed up something like Roge rJones instead of Roger Jones. The ISP stated they do not sell customer information to 3rd parties.

Within a week after signing up he was getting spam and junk mail addressed to Mr. Roge rJones just copied and pasted right from the ISP customer database.

Indirectly in a way what you say to try, a unique identifier.

Re: Doxxing defense: Remove your personal info from data brokers

#80

Post by hyperbovine » Thu, Nov 20, 2014, 5:51 PM UTC

gear54rus wrote: post #19

The Internet never forgets. No app is going to change that because Internet is de-centralized and de-centralization makes it impossible to know if the data was really completely removed or not. Let's face it: the only way to not expose your personal info is to not share it in the first place (forget silly Facebook, G+, Instagrams and all that stuff). If you've already done that, make sure that whatever you are doing…

Not relevant. I've never used social media a day in my life. Nevertheless, clicking a few links in this article turned up my full name, age, birthday, every address I've had since I was 14, email address, and convenient links to pages containing that same information for every member of my family. This is all obtained from public records over which you have literally no control if you lead any semblance of a normal life. There should be more legal protections in place to prevent using public data in this way.