Online anonymity...

Grayson

This woman killed her cat and made it into a handbag. She recieved about 100,000 hate mails. Some were extremly graphic and some were even death threats. So this is what she did.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/apr/20/online-anonymity-death-threats

In four years, I have received about 100,000 responses. The senders came from all walks of life. I know this because many emails automatically included a signature with a link to a personal or company website. A combination of a false sense of anonymity and the idea that everything digital is "not authentic" makes sending hate mail easy.

I had the impression that people who described graphically how they wanted to tear me apart, rape me and have me bleed to death would not say such things to my face. One morbidly obese woman who was very active on dieting forums cursed my hideous appearance. Amateur artists argued I was a failure of an artist. Animal rights activists cursed my work, believing it encouraged animal abuse. Frequently, you could guess – through the violent scenarios described – the most recent horror movie the sender had seen.

I decided those threats had to be turned into a book. For almost a year, the editor Coralie Vogelaar studied the contents of my mailbox and researched the writers' identities online. The hate mails were categorised, and in total we defined 12 variations of content and format, which became the book's chapters. We published not only the hate mails, but also all the information we found on the Facebook profiles, Amazon wish lists, and YouTube accounts that were linked to the email addresses. The combination of the data often gave a very comprehensive picture of the "private" lives of these people. In some instances, we even found pictures of their houses on Google maps. Most of those menacing emails were sent by people who appeared quite normal: sweet-looking teenage girls, policemen, housewives, office workers. With only a few exceptions, these were not people you would expect to brawl, let alone issue a death threat.

I'm kinda proud that if you google my real name, the first photo that comes up is me. But at the same time, it makes you aware of the info that is out there and in this story's case what someone could do with it if they wanted to.

shopaholic01

Very few people are aware of how traceable you are and I am always amazed at the info people put on facebook.

What's your real name?:D

dark crystal

She killed her cat to make a handbag

What a weirdo.

xsiborg

she let the cat out of the bag, and then turned the cat into a bag... :rolleyes:


anyway:

ejmaztec

shopaholic01 wrote: »

Very few people are aware of how traceable you are and I am always amazed at the info people put on facebook.

What's your real name?:D

Bing Google Esq.

Palytoxin

Googled myself there, not in the first 10 pages of the normal part or the first 15 of the images:D, can't be bothered looking any further- I have the same name as a famous artist though so his paintings take up the first few pages:)

Immaculate Pasta

shopaholic01 wrote: »

Very few people are aware of how traceable you are and I am always amazed at the info people put on facebook.

What's your real name?:D

This.

Once you get on the Google search page and it's bad, you're fucked to be honest. News stories, videos, facebook stuff. It lasts forever. All an employer has to do is search your name and you could immediately be a right off. Same for any country you want to travel to. It's scary how much it can affect your life. Like that Liam Stacey Fabrice Muamba twitter comment. Now it's all over the internet, news stories, he'll never be able to get a job or travel, you name it.

I'm very careful about this. I don't even have a wall on facebook, I only allow people to message me, I never post statuses. I'm careful what people can search me by. Once it's in the public domain that's it.

I think this old PIRA propaganda poster is surprisingly relevant today: http://heartsofoakandsteel.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/loosetalk.jpg

It's important to keep your anonymity and security online :cool:

secretambition

I've worked out the identities of about 7 people I know on boards. I'd never tell them or anyone else who they are, because that's not in the spirit of the thing, and I think it might be against the rules, but a few little bits of info. about where you're from, whether you're male or female, age, what you do, where you went to college, any particular hobbies you have are all it takes. People would never give out all that in one post, but they give out an individual bit, thinking that nobody could get them based on that, but not thinking about the other stuff that's logged in their post history.

chin_grin

ejmaztec wrote: »

Bing Google Esq.

What a coincidence mine is Bing Google Yahoo Jeeves Esq.!

MagicMarker

I really have to question the mind of someone who's perfectly happy to kill their pet with their own bare hands just to have a new fashion accessory.

Snowie

I've come up on the second page for twitter, and 2nd page for google+ how ever my twitter and gouge plus are used a s decoy face book is crap too i have an alious for my ranty twitter page

Grayson

shopaholic01 wrote: »

Very few people are aware of how traceable you are and I am always amazed at the info people put on facebook.

What's your real name?:D

Tell you what. If you think you can find me on google, PM me and I'll tell you if you're correct. I'll consider it a test of my anonymity

Ficheall

Palytoxin wrote: »

Googled myself there, not in the first 10 pages of the normal part or the first 15 of the images:D, can't be bothered looking any further- I have the same name as a famous artist though so his paintings take up the first few pages:)

I come up straight away on google but thanks to my phobia of having my photograph taken I don't show up the in the images at all. Woo!

Ellis Dee

dark crystal wrote: »

She killed her cat to make a handbag

What a weirdo.

I don't think "weirdo" is the right word. I'd prefer "despicable", since she deprived an inoffensive pet animal of its only possession - its life - to make a fashion accessory. Kind of reminds me of a very attractive blonde woman I once saw in a hotel lobby in London. She was wearing what I thought was a full-length leopardskin coat, but also a button that said: "It's not cruelty. It's nylon.":):)

Doc Ruby

Bloody hell, talk about a reverse Streisand effect.

We published not only the hate mails, but also all the information we found on the Facebook profiles, Amazon wish lists, and YouTube accounts that were linked to the email addresses. The combination of the data often gave a very comprehensive picture of the "private" lives of these people. In some instances, we even found pictures of their houses on Google maps.

dark crystal

Ellis Dee wrote: »

I don't think "weirdo" is the right word. I'd prefer "despicable", since she deprived an inoffensive pet animal of its only possession - its life - to make a fashion accessory. Kind of reminds me of a very attractive blonde woman I once saw in a hotel lobby in London. She was wearing what I thought was a full-length leopardskin coat, but also a button that said: "It's not cruelty. It's nylon.":):)

She would remind me more of this person, tbh:

http://images1.fanpop.com/images/image_uploads/Cruella-de-Vil-Wallpaper-disney-villains-976638_800_600.jpg

stimpson

What is it with the Internet and cats? The only reason she got the death threats was because it was a cute fluffy animal. If it was a rat nobody would care.

Most cat owners I know are slightly unhinged anyway. No surprise they go mental like that.

shopaholic01

Grayson wrote: »

Tell you what. If you think you can find me on google, PM me and I'll tell you if you're correct. I'll consider it a test of my anonymity

I need a couple of clues


Don't worry, all previous restraining orders were a misunderstanding.:D

cnocbui

dark crystal wrote: »

She killed her cat to make a handbag

What a weirdo.

She killed her cat because it was ill. Since she refers to the cat as 'my dearest Pinkeltje,', I will take a punt and guess that the cat was terminally ill and probably suffering and that she did so because she wanted to end it's suffering quickly and painlessly.

What she did was very likely just as humane - if not more so - than terrifying it by transporting it to a vet to achieve the same outcome.

Nodin

Grayson wrote: »

This woman killed her cat and made it into a handbag. She recieved about 100,000 hate mails. Some were extremly graphic and some were even death threats. So this is what she did.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/apr/20/online-anonymity-death-threats

Truly, this person is the Attention Whore incarnate.

shopaholic01

cnocbui wrote: »

She killed her cat because it was ill. Since she refers to the cat as 'my dearest Pinkeltje,', I will take a punt and guess that the cat was terminally ill and probably suffering and that she did so because she wanted to end it's suffering quickly and painlessly.

What she did was very likely just as humane - if not more so - than terrifying it by transporting it to a vet to achieve the same outcome.

But a vet doesn't ask you what fashion accessory you would like kitty to become. Vets will also call to your home to prevent unnecessary suffering.

dark crystal

cnocbui wrote: »

What she did was very likely just as humane - if not more so - than terrifying it by transporting it to a vet to achieve the same outcome.

She broke her pet's neck - which could have in itself gone horribly wrong and caused even more distress to the animal - rather than putting him to sleep peacefully via a fully qualified vet.

She then skinned it and made it into a handbag. Yeah sorry, I find that extremely weird indeed.

saa

Wait I think I found her Youtube channel (2:15).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eq7iUmQck0

Donnielighto

If you search my first name, just my first name im the 4th result on google.

With my first name and surname I'm the whole first page.

My name is rare though surname is common as muck.

skinny90

http://pleaserobme.com/
for all ye twitter users out there....try it out:D

3ndahalfof6

ill tell yis its no easy thing to kill a cat, seemingly she had to do it 10 times before she could make the bag.

MagicMarker

3ndahalfof6 wrote: »

ill tell yis its no easy thing to kill a cat, seemingly she had to do it 10 times before she could make the bag.

*tumbleweed*

3ndahalfof6

MagicMarker wrote: »

*tumbleweed*

ohhhh i never knew that

saa

I hate when people say something isn't art, but the thing in the article is twisted and self indulgent and you can call it an artwork if you can call me banging on pots and pans a musical score.

Did remind me of this, I can't remember the spelling of the name but this work was too far for me. Its not a golden rule but I think this is a pretty good guideline that an artwork would be in some way "Aesthetically beautiful, conceptually thorough, formally simple historically apt, emotionally neutral, politically aware, observe with patience and draw with restraint".

Fart

Are you Paul Grayson, OP? Gillians "Father".

philstar

how anonymous are we on boards.ie?

..........how much do the mods know about us?

AnonoBoy

Surely everyone knows to set up fake email accounts for all their hatemail at this stage?

I've got so many pseudonyms I don't even know my real name any more.

AnonoBoy

philstar wrote: »

how anonymous are we on boards.ie?

..........how much do the mods know about us?

I asked the mods there Philip and they said they don't know anything about you.

But also they wanted to let you know that you've left the lights on in your car so when you're finished that cup of tea you should pop out and shut them off so your battery doesn't go flat like it did last Sunday.

phasers

I've searched my whole name and gone through ten pages of Google and nothing's come up. It just returns a load of auld wans and obituaries.

shopaholic01

phasers wrote: »

I've searched my whole name and gone through ten pages of Google and nothing's come up. It just returns a load of auld wans and obituaries.

It's a blow to the ego alright :D

token101

With my email, I wouldn't be very difficult to trace on Boards anyway You're not totally anonymous anywhere, but for the purposes of forums like this I think that the anonymity to a point is good. If you had to give your full name here the opinions wouldn't be so forthright and it wouldn't be anywere near as interesting or as honest. I wouldn't be ashamed of any opinion I'd ever have on here, but I'm not sure I'd be so forthright in a pub, mainly out of not wanting to piss people off or ruin a night though

But people posting threats and stuff just baffle me. They clearly don't understand the ease of access to IP addresses, etc, and what they're saying is illegal.

phasers

shopaholic01 wrote: »

It's a blow to the ego alright :D

Ah I've such a granny name it doesn't surprise me, and I don't exactly share much info online. Most people here don't even know if I'm a guy or girl

Killed By Death

I'm quite careful about online anonymity. I put nothing online that is associated with my real name. No Facebook, no Linkedin etc! As far as Google is concerned I don't exist and that's how I like it!

I can't believe people were dumb enough to send death threats from their work e-mail addresses, what goes through their heads? Thick or what!

As for people on forums who upload their real picture or even worse pictures of their kids with their username...that baffles me

token101

Killed By Death wrote: »

I'm quite careful about online anonymity. I put nothing online that is associated with my real name. No Facebook, no Linkedin etc! As far as Google is concerned I don't exist and that's how I like it!

I can't believe people were dumb enough to send death threats from their work e-mail addresses, what goes through their heads? Thick or what!

As for people on forums who upload their real picture or even worse pictures of their kids with their username...that baffles me

But what about people tagging you in Facebook photos? It's a losing battle these days tbh! There's more advantages to Linkedin and Facebook than there are disadvantages (if you're not a complete tool). I'm with you on the email/forums thing though!

Killed By Death

token101 wrote: »

But what about people tagging you in Facebook photos? It's a losing battle these days tbh! There's more advantages to Linkedin and Facebook than there are disadvantages (if you're not a complete tool). I'm with you on the email/forums thing though!

I stay out of photos!! Nah, I value my privacy more than the supposed 'advantages'.

token101

Killed By Death wrote: »

I stay out of photos!! Nah, I value my privacy more than the supposed 'advantages'.

If you have female friends like me you must be like the Predator man! Yuo can never avoid it! Friend of my GF took 188 photos on a single night out :eek:

Killed By Death

token101 wrote: »

If you have female friends like me you must be like the Predator man! Yuo can never avoid it! Friend of my GF took 188 photos on a single night out :eek:

Bloody hell! She should get a job with the Paparazzi ! :eek:

humbert

Using the same pseudonym everywhere is nearly as bad. I've a friend who does it and it's also his email address. It's completely unique too. He might as well wear an ankle tag.

44leto

You are never totally invisible or anonymous on the internet, if they want to find you they will.

secretambition

This is probably a silly question, but with all the talk of email addresses here, can other posters see the email address you registered with?

humbert

secretambition wrote: »

This is probably a silly question, but with all the talk of email addresses here, can other posters see the email address you registered with?

You gave them your email address?? :eek:

fergalr

I find the actions of the 'artist' distasteful.
I don't agree with killing things, unless there's a good reason, in general; life is good, and precious.

Its really not surprising that people had a revulsion to what they saw as the gratuitous killing of a pet. Its maybe even a good thing.

Perhaps the cat was going to die anyway; but the artist did not make it clear that the killing was an act of mercy.

Using the killing to shock and provoke is distasteful.
Turning the pet into an item of consumer goods is also a very distasteful way of making a point. It seems to show a lack of respect for the pet. A pet cat mightn't deserve a lot of respect (?), but surely it deserves some modicum.


All that said...

I do agree with the artist, that there is a degree of hypocrisy in how we think about our relationships with various animals.

People have been prosecuted for killing pets before. Yet, industrialised slaughter of animals, which sometimes live in very bad conditions, is widely tolerated. Such animals are reared and killed for meat, and maybe also for handbag manufacture.

There does seem to be a contradiction in how we think about these things, if we are appalled by this womans actions, but ignore the other situations.

(I've posted (some might say provocatively) on this subject, on Boards before.)

I still think what the artist did was distasteful; but that doesn't mean her entire argument had no merit.



Regarding anonymity on the Internets:

In general, it is best to assume that you are not anonymous.

Anonymity, in the face of someone who is specifically trying to track you down, is extremely difficult to achieve.

In general, users of boards.ie would have essentially no anonymity, from the perspective of the administrators.

You are effectively completely unanonymous to your ISP, to law enforcement, and to anyone with resources to invest in tracking you down.

Unless you are very technically sophisticated, it is best to assume you are not anonymous.
Even if you are very technically sophisticated, you'll probably make a mistake, and reveal who you are, anyway, if someone clever is out to track you down.


There's a level of 'anonymity', that most people are interested in, which is whether their comments show up in a quick google, or whether they can be found in 10 minutes searching; thats a different story.

Whether people should be able to be anonymous is again completely different story.

lividduck

Palytoxin wrote: »

Googled myself there, not in the first 10 pages of the normal part or the first 15 of the images:D, can't be bothered looking any further- I have the same name as a famous artist though so his paintings take up the first few pages:)

Your real name is Caravaggio!:D

gurramok

If you have quite a common name like mine, googling my real name returns literally hundreds of thousands of results if not a few million(:D), handy not having a rare name And i never link my youtube account to facebook, too much info to be revealed

Only two people on boards know my real full name in real life so I guess there are only 2 ways in which I'd be identified, that is if that person 'rats' on me to others or the mods reveal my identity(ip) to the authorities for ahem illegal activity

The Snipe

dark crystal wrote: »

She killed her cat to make a handbag

What a weirdo.

And I even wrote a book on it too! :D:D

ilovesleep

I was involved last year with a man, only briefly so I knew fcek all about him. He turned out to be a head wreck with empty promises. God only knows why he did it. For control definately for one - keeping me hanging for him. Mean, cruel pr1ck. He lied to me carelessly with empty promises without a thought as to what that would do to me. He was unable and/or unwillingly to fix things when I got annoyed. There is no place for lies. It was a form of emotionial abuse if you ask me and had me questioning my own mind.

Anyways don't know what came over me but a quick google of his first name, county and profession and some information appears. A man with the same first name with a surname following it. I threw this name into google images and low and behold there he is. He lied to me about his surname too. I found out so much information about him.

Jesus fcuk I am tempted to fcuk with his head.