Should People Delete Social Media Accounts Prior to January 6?

submitted by AirSeddit88 from (self.AskSaidIt)

Someone somewhere posted that the new administration (whoever that may prove to be) may well begin hunting dissidents online. That caught my attention. I'm seriously considering doing so.

There is a lot to be said in both directions IMO.

What say all you thinking people of Saidit?

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[–]Anykey 10 insightful - 2 fun10 insightful - 1 fun11 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Don't use personal social networking sites unless you're using them as a carefully managed personal PR-platform.

Everything is either anonymous or end to end encrypted.

[–][deleted] 7 insightful - 2 fun7 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 2 fun -  (5 children)

I have never used my real name online except with eBay paypal and a few government agencies, but none of my email addresses are in my real name, never have been. It was obvious from the start of the internet that it was going to be a shit-show so why expose yourself? having a social media account in your own name is... well just stupid in my opinion, unless you treat it as though you were addressing a crowd in Nicaragua from a podium on a dark night. Very circumspectly in other words.

cir•cum•spect adj.

Heedful of circumstances and potential consequences; prudent. Literally, looking about on all sides; hence, examining carefully all the circumstances that may affect, a determination; watchful on all sides; cautious; wary. To look on all sides of; examine carefully; scrutinize.

[–]AirSeddit88[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

That is a reasonable precaution that I have followed.

But I believe RL identity can be linked by correlating online activity and IP addresses. (I use a VPN too, but that simply assures that only my VPN provider can sell my tracking data.)

I assume that all activity can be traced to me by anyone with a sufficiently high hacking skills and/or government clearance, but I am no expert.

[–]tomatosplat 10 insightful - 1 fun10 insightful - 0 fun11 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Anything you do on a phone with a rear facing camera(selfie) will be traced to you. You can gain some anonymity using a PC, but chances are, if you've ever, AND I MEAN EVER SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD, used an email address for banking, taxes, shopping, employment, porn, etc: you are already on a list in a data bank with a number assigned to your identity.

And whether you "delete" or not will not make a hill of beans. Every keystroke is permanent and they will not forget who you are. There are massive underground data banks maintained by governments around the world. They keep getting bigger and better equipped all the time.

[–][deleted]  (1 child)

[deleted]

    [–]tomatosplat 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

    Lolz

    [–][deleted] 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    I assume that all activity can be traced to me by anyone with a sufficiently high hacking skills and/or government clearance,

    Oh definitely. This is a discussion I have with my brother from time to time. He's as paranoid as they come and anytime we talked he say, "lets put our phones outside" To which I would usually answer, "my phones in the car, and switched off anyway" Now we are not criminals, except perhaps to certain .gov entities, but he was so paranoid and I'd say, mate, they only have a handful of people actually available to listen to all these 'secretly recorded' conversations, computers do all the sorting and would just flag some that sounded really suss in keywords. But he couldn't get it!

    I said do you turn your phone off when driving up country? No he doesn't. "Why not" I said, "it's not like you can use it driving" "And all the while your driving you location is being logged on some computer somewhere from cell tower triangulation algorithms. What happens if some terrible crime is committed in a house just as you drive past? Why go through all the police investigation bullshit when you know your innocent? Just turn the fucker off when you're not using it" And I wasn't talking through my arse, lots of crims are caught here in Oz by the location of their cell phones.

    So yes, they can get you if they want, but with a billion people ranting on about this stuff planet wide [mostly china lol] I highly doubt they are going to dedicate an intelligence unit to find someone like me, just another conspiracy nut to them hey.

    [–]gardella 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    too late, wayback machine proves that

    [–]sproketboy 4 insightful - 5 fun4 insightful - 4 fun5 insightful - 5 fun -  (0 children)

    It's too late for us already. We're destined for the oven now.

    [–]wendolynne 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

    Clean up the clutter. Keep only the most insightful.

    [–]Godzillace 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    I might delete my social media, but for other reasons. Mainly because it's a waste of time and nothing more.

    [–][deleted] 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

    I'm not deleting anything and am looking forward to breakfasts in the gulags. Come and take it.

    [–]AirSeddit88[S] 2 insightful - 3 fun2 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 3 fun -  (0 children)

    "How we burned in the camps when we thought that if only we had resisted in time..." Alexander Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago