I saw this post today over at Wirecutter’s about the government demanding the identifying information of people who post things critical of the government/FBI/cops. Wirecutter said:
Yeah, keep that in mind next time you leave a comment on a blog about killing feds.
I can guarantee you that this will extend to blogs and different blogging hosts will fall all over themselves to turn over information about people leaving threats, even if they are just venting.
That is the exact reason why I don’t want people who post comments here to have to register. I don’t collect information on anyone who posts here. I don’t want to know who you are. I can’t be forced to turn over information that I don’t possess.
With that being said, making threats is just a good way to be on the radar. My advice to anyone who is opposed to what is happening is this: be the gray man. Don’t be on the radar.
8 Comments
cryptical · August 23, 2022 at 9:17 pm
I’d recommend using a VPN, I like Mullvad but I’ve heard good things about ProtonVPN and NordVPN.
Divemedic · August 24, 2022 at 6:29 am
Even a VPN isn’t foolproof. I assume that anyone with the powers of a nation state will eventually be able to find out anything, if they really want to. My goal is to see that that I and my readers are not worth the effort.
KurtP · August 23, 2022 at 9:40 pm
You don’t know, but whoever is hosting your blog keeps logs of every click and server that your readers make.
Divemedic · August 24, 2022 at 6:26 am
That is why my server is in a country that doesn’t require companies to play nice with the US govt. Not foolproof, but neither are door locks. Just trying to see to it that we aren’t worth the effort.
Mike_C · August 24, 2022 at 9:27 am
“be the gray man”
Nice thought, but the very fact you HAVE this blog is a major strike against you. Worse, you comment at places such as BCE’s blog, and are even mentioned by name (handle). Me personally, I don’t have a blog, nor any “mainstream” social media. But the fact that I am here, and the kind of observations I make, have already put me in trouble too.
Why do it? Sure, letting off steam in the company of like-minded folks is a good thing (within reason), but the fact that you (this) exist is the thing that is really important. Because it’s important that there be voices that oppose The Current Thing. We live in (or regularly step into) this here world/worldview. But many people in the US have no idea there are people like us. They feel discomfort and increasing disgust [1] with what they see in the “mainstream, normie” world, and are told that the fault is with them. That they are racist, homophobic, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, and on and on. When in fact they are merely normal people who are NOT insane. “Dissident” voices are important because those normal people need to know they are NOT alone.
Here is an anecdote. A friend in the medical business (young (to me 30’s is young), Latina immigrant, STEM grad degree, Trump hater) nonetheless has fairly conservative values. We talk about how her home country has been destroyed by literal communists. She recently discovered the term “cis-het” and had no idea what it meant. When she looked it up she was disgusted that anyone even felt the need for such a term. “It’s just means normal people? What the hell!” Then she said to me, “It’s too bad there are so few people like us.” [Meaning politically] This made me laugh. “At least half the country is ‘like us’. You just don’t know they exist because the newsmedia are 90% NOT like us, and working in advanced medicine /academic research in Boston, more than 80% are not like us. But the real America IS like us.” She was stunned.
I’ve also heard this from my good friend who is Pashtun (Afghan) and a devout (but low key and nonobnoxious) Muslim. She’s lived in Arcata, CA, Manhattan NYFC, and Boston. She was stunned to discover my political/religious/cultural views and more stunned that many of my views are in alignment with hers (barring the Muslim thing). “I didn’t think there were ANY people like you in the US!” Then she moved to a part of central Pennsylvania which was full of working-class whites, and Amish. She reports, “This is the best place I have lived in the US. People here have good values. It’s not exciting, but this is the kind of place where you should raise your children. Places like Boston and New York, people talk smart and act smart, but they seem so hollow to me. Empty and sad.”
Of course, anyone who makes threats of literal violence (as opposed to critical language — speech is NOT “violence”) against organizations, or especially named individuals, on public record, is a moron.
[1] disgust with public life: Exhibit 1 — the dogfucker at DOE in charge of nuclear waste. Exhibit 2 — Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, White House National Monkeypox Response Deputy Coordinator, former CDC Director of the Division of HIV Prevention. Here is Dr Daskalakis. Seriously, go have a look.
https://twitter.com/nycpride/status/1396888731328548864
Divemedic · August 24, 2022 at 4:28 pm
You will note that I never threaten violent acts. I thought long and hard before deciding to be outspoken, and I am willing to accept the risk for now. There will come a day when that is no longer a viable option and I will vanish into obscurity.
https://areaocho.com/vzyali/
Mark J · August 24, 2022 at 2:37 pm
As Clair Wolfe would put it, be the mole.
Up Yours · August 25, 2022 at 8:58 am
Don’t make threats; make plans.
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