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Justice Dept. subpoenas Reason Magazine to find anonymous commenters. Internet implodes
Hotair ^ | 06/10/2015 | Jazz Shaw

Posted on 06/10/2015 5:18:06 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

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To: TurboZamboni

Clearing browser cache could indeed be obstruction of justice, but the standard should be very, very strict. The government should not only have to prove the cache contained evidence of a crime, but the user cleared the cache with the clear intent of hiding said evidence. Problem is, the government is going after people who weren’t even knowingly obstructing justice.

I also think the nonsense about lying to a government official needs to be ruled unconstitutional. Freedom of speech covers lies, too.


41 posted on 06/10/2015 6:24:27 AM PDT by CitizenUSA (Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.)
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To: cuban leaf
I have a fake Facebook account from which I comment on these types of sites.

Unless you always use it from a public wifi area, the recorded IP address in Facebook's log files will point back to your home or office (or wherever you post from).

42 posted on 06/10/2015 6:30:57 AM PDT by PapaBear3625 (You don't notice it's a police state until the police come for you.)
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To: FreedomPoster

Yeah. I don’t do it to hide from the government. I do it to hide from nutcases. If one wants to hide from the government it’s a simple process, but I suspect it would be hard to have the discipline to actually DO. It would go something like this:

1. Pay cash for a laptop with wifi, new or used.
2. Get a full set of clothes (and maybe a pillow to enhance your “gut” under your shirt). Also, “Buddy Holly” style glasses, with or without lenses.
3. Use a free wi-fi connection not near your home to set up any accounts you need, using bogus info for all of them. If you drive there, do not park within two blocks of it (minimum).
4. Store the clothing, the laptop and any other hardware at a storage facility.
5. Avoid using the same wi-fi spot twice and randomize the paths to the various wi-fi locations.
6. Never, EVER access any of the online info with any of your “real” computers, and never, EVER access any of your real information with this laptop. The mindset would be that the owner of the laptop is somebody that does not even know you or hang around the circles you do.
7. Change your vernacular - the way you communicate. Don’t use phrases you normally use. Mix it up.

And for extra credit, if you are REALLY paranoid, park a couple of miles from the free wi-fi and bicycle, hitchhike or use public transportation. And changing your clothes somewhere in transit is even better.

The above steps completely prevent you from being traced both electronically and physically. The “disguise” even prevents you from being tracked on various surveillance cameras. And if you are attracting “their” attention, you probably want to change costumes from time to time. Even a “fake” beard and wig may be in order.

But you would have to be up to something really bad to have to go through all that trouble. I bring up this list only to point out just how vulnerable we are to someone that is crazy enough to be really serious about all this stuff.

The hard part would be the discipline. And it would be. Most criminals are caught because they can’t keep their mouth shut.


43 posted on 06/10/2015 6:34:14 AM PDT by cuban leaf (The US will not survive the obama presidency. The world may not either.)
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To: WayneS

Except that nuances always exist, and laws must address them. Do you agree that free speech isn’t unlimited? If communicating a threat is considered limited speech, how does one determine what is and is not a threat? That’s where you get into nuances.

According to the article, this wasn’t just one comment posted in a moment of anger. It was a series of posts. At some point, I think a reasonable person would feel threatened—honestly scared for their life. Would you be OK if posts like that were about you and your family? I wouldn’t, and frankly, I don’t know why conservatives would waste any time defending scumbag posters like that.


44 posted on 06/10/2015 6:34:21 AM PDT by CitizenUSA (Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.)
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To: SeekAndFind
Keep in mind that the subject of their ire is a federal district judge. And the “criticism” of her included suggestions that she be fed into a wood chipper or taken out back and shot.

So? She is a judge. That does not make her immune to criticism or even over the top rhetoric. In fact this is the very reason freedom of speech is listed in the bill of rights. To criticize judges and other political animals.

If the comments were as presented then they do not, according to the police in any city I have lived in, constitute a threat.

Threatening to feed somebody into a wood chipper isn’t free speech.

"She should be fed into a wood chipper" is different then "I am going to feed her into a wood chipper".

One is a threat, one is free speech.

If you can not tell the difference then you need to go back to journalism school.

45 posted on 06/10/2015 6:36:22 AM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (Proud Infidel, Gun Nut, Religious Fanatic and Freedom Fiend)
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To: PapaBear3625; FreedomPoster; RushIsMyTeddyBear

Just to be clear, I’m talking only about keeping crazy liberals from finding me. If it really was the Gov I was worried about, I’d do what I describe in the post above this one.

I have nothing to hide from “them” however.


46 posted on 06/10/2015 6:36:49 AM PDT by cuban leaf (The US will not survive the obama presidency. The world may not either.)
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To: SeekAndFind
Justice Dept. subpoenas Reason Magazine to find anonymous commenters.

Stasi.

47 posted on 06/10/2015 6:44:03 AM PDT by DiogenesLamp
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To: rarestia
Isn’t Reason magazine a leftist tome?

Libertarian, but I completely understand your confusion. Libertarians aren't astute enough to realize Libertarian policies evolve into Liberal policies.

48 posted on 06/10/2015 6:47:13 AM PDT by DiogenesLamp
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To: cuban leaf

Bkmrk.


49 posted on 06/10/2015 6:49:14 AM PDT by RushIsMyTeddyBear (The White House is now known as "Casa Blanca".)
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To: CitizenUSA

I already told you my opinion on what represents a threat and what does not.

And none of the vitriolic statements listed in the article struck me as rising to the level of an actual threat.

I also did not see anything in the article that indicated a single person had made a “series” of threatening posts. If I simply missed it, perhaps you would be kind enough to post the part of the article in which such a claim is located?

I “defend scumbag posters like that” because I believe in REAL freedom of speech - but please do not make the mistake of assuming that my defending them means I agree with what they are saying.


50 posted on 06/10/2015 6:53:16 AM PDT by WayneS (Yeah, it's probably sarcasm...)
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To: CitizenUSA

I clear everything every time I shut down,daily.Just a habit


51 posted on 06/10/2015 6:53:38 AM PDT by CGASMIA68
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To: cuban leaf

Pay cash for the storage facility.


52 posted on 06/10/2015 6:54:42 AM PDT by WayneS (Yeah, it's probably sarcasm...)
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To: cuban leaf

why not drive around and look of un unsecured home net work?


53 posted on 06/10/2015 6:55:18 AM PDT by CGASMIA68
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To: SeekAndFind

Nasty stuff, indeed. To put it mildly, comments such as these are hardly valuable contributions to public discourse. But if federal prosecutors investigated every similar anonymous comment on the internet, we could probably devote the entire federal budget to hunting down these types of blogosphere trolls, and still not find them all.

...

Jazz left out the worst comment.


54 posted on 06/10/2015 6:56:52 AM PDT by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
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To: WayneS

Once they tie the computer to the storage facility, it doesn’t matter how you paid for it. It’s game over.


55 posted on 06/10/2015 6:57:33 AM PDT by cuban leaf (The US will not survive the obama presidency. The world may not either.)
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To: cuban leaf

But they will not be able to ties the storage facility to you.


56 posted on 06/10/2015 6:59:10 AM PDT by WayneS (Yeah, it's probably sarcasm...)
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To: Moonman62

What was the worst comment?


57 posted on 06/10/2015 6:59:34 AM PDT by WayneS (Yeah, it's probably sarcasm...)
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To: CGASMIA68

why not drive around and look of un unsecured home net work?


There are less and less of those available. Not that it’s out of the question, though. I used to do that just to get online sometimes. My wife actually got “caught” doing it by the person who’s house she was parked in front of. That is, they came out and asked her what she was doing. Since it was a dense neighborhood she gave a pat answer and that was that.

It was when we had recently moved and were waiting for the cable guy to install our internet connectivity.

The only concern I’d have with the neighborhood option is there are more and more security cameras at private residences.


58 posted on 06/10/2015 7:00:25 AM PDT by cuban leaf (The US will not survive the obama presidency. The world may not either.)
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To: cuban leaf

if you don’t secure your network its fair game security cameras or not signal is floating around in the atmosphere


59 posted on 06/10/2015 7:02:25 AM PDT by CGASMIA68
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To: WayneS

But they will not be able to ties the storage facility to you.


True, if you KNOW they’ve tied the computer to the facility. If you don’t, the next time you show up you are busted. And if the owner of the facility has security video recordings, you are busted anyway.

The KEY to this being “foolproof” is that the laptop is not connected to the storage facility. Well, that and you follow all the rules regarding electronic connectivity.

It’s why you turn the laptop OFF after use.

Oh, and there is one thing I forgot: DO NOT take your cell phone with you. It’s the easiest way for them to track you.

If they know that a certain post was done at Starbucks at 4th and Jones at a specific time, they can subpoena the cell tower records for that area and get the phone number of every phone that was pinging the tower. The second place you do it from will nail you because they will do it again and compare the cell phone number lists. Any numbers that are on both lists will be their “short list”. And one of those numbers will be yours.

And if the two locations are far apart or in lightly populated areas, yours may be the ONLY number that comes up.

If you have to use a cell phone, use what drug dealers use: a Trakfone. They actually throw them away after only a little use. At least the guys at the top do.

BTW, the reason I know this is that I worked with the law enforcement relations part of a major cell phone company. Nothing I’ve posted is “secret”. It’s just not commonly known.


60 posted on 06/10/2015 7:07:03 AM PDT by cuban leaf (The US will not survive the obama presidency. The world may not either.)
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