The Wikileaks Punishment Battalion are going round taking down names. If you've got a blacklist….. https://t.co/AIRO9i12h1
— Billy Bragg (@billybragg) January 6, 2017
So you're threatening to dox every Twitter user who might dare to oppose you? Does the threat apply to anyone opposing Russia? Trump? Who? https://t.co/JFVSrWs0yO
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) January 6, 2017
Dox: search for and publish private or identifying information about (a particular individual) on the Internet, typically with malicious intent.
Putin/Trump’s new BFFs may have overreached themselves. As of Friday afternoon, per Brian Fung the Washington Post:
WikiLeaks wants to start building a list of verified Twitter users that would include highly sensitive and personal information about their families, their finances and their housing situations.
“We are thinking of making an online database with all ‘verified’ twitter accounts & their family/job/financial/housing relationships,” WikiLeaks tweeted Friday.
[Ed. Note: They have since taken that tweet down.]
The disclosure organization, run by Julian Assange, says the information would be used for an artificial-intelligence program. But Twitter users immediately fired back, saying WikiLeaks would use the list to take political vengeance against those who criticize it.
Twitter “verifies” certain users, such as world leaders, nonprofit organizations and news outlets, with a blue check mark beside their names so that other users of the service can be confident about the posters’ identities. WikiLeaks, which has a verified Twitter account, did not say whether it would subject itself to the scrutiny it was proposing. (It was also unclear whether, under its plan, WikiLeaks would seek to uncover information about the financial lives of Russian President Vladimir Putin or President-elect Donald Trump, both of whom are verified on Twitter.)
Asked by journalist Kevin Collier why it needed to build a database of dossiers, WikiLeaks replied that the database would be used as a “metric to understand influence networks based on proximity graphs.”
But the proposal faced a sharp and swift backlash as technologists, journalists and security researchers slammed the idea as a “sinister” and dangerous abuse of power and privacy…
Timothy Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, compared the WikiLeaks proposal to a piece of British legislation that has been criticized as a massive boon to the surveillance industry.
“Don’t.even.think.about.it,” he tweeted.
Even the “hacktivist” organization Anonymous lined up against WikiLeaks.
“This is a sickening display of intimidation tactics,” it said, tagging the official Twitter accounts for the social network, its support team and chief executive Jack Dorsey.
Some read WikiLeaks’ suggestion as implying the threat of harassment or violence.“Isn’t threatening to dox hundreds of thousands of Twitter users a TOS violation?” wondered Anil Dash, a tech entrepreneur. (To “dox” a person is to release documents related to his or her personal life in a way that potentially endangers that person’s safety. “TOS” stands for “terms of service.”)…
As for Twitter itself, the social network warned in a statement that WikiLeaks risked running afoul of its platform policies if it published personal information publicly. “Posting another person’s private and confidential information is a violation of the Twitter Rules,” the company told The Washington Post.
WikiLeaks did not respond to a request for comment on Twitter’s statement…
shdn't have to say, but leaking *& data collection* for harassment etc have nothing in common with legit disclosures in the public interest. https://t.co/OfUIrxEAzd
— David Kaye (@davidakaye) January 6, 2017
huh. pic.twitter.com/iaVIv9f1nr
— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) January 6, 2017
Wait, now you're against… leaks? https://t.co/F9sQu59LYX
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) January 6, 2017
Wikileaks threatening to dox every verified account on Twitter because the intel community hurt their feefees hoo boy.
— Boney Hurdle (@eclecticbrotha) January 7, 2017
ETA: In the system, a few bugs…
Wiki leaks falsely ID's someone while trying to demonstrate why a mass dox list isn't a terrible waste of their time. pic.twitter.com/bgU8bEof8V
— Beth Elderkin (@BethElderkin) January 6, 2017
Jeffro
The 1-2 punch of the two Daves’ tweets…
Hard to see how an enterprising young reporter couldn’t make his/her bones asking Trump and/or Assange why they continue to work together to shore up Mother Russia’s hacking.
Dog Dawg Damn
I think there’s a decent chance that when Trump tries to lift Russian’ sanctions or some other such nonsense, some of his followers heads will explode as they realize all that shit they slung at Obama is *exactly* what Trump is guilty of.
Major Major Major Major
@Jeffro: And what, publish their word salad pseudo-denials, over and over and over? I mean, it couldn’t hurt to ask, but…
OzarkHillbilly
I hope Assange is comfortable in that embassy/prison, because if he ever walks out the door he won’t get 3 steps before he meets someone who wants to bitch slap him into the next century. And I hope the Ecuadorians don’t tire of their guest/blackmailer ’cause he ain’t leaving any time soon. I’m beginning to suspect this is a marriage made in hell.
Mike in DC
Trump is looking at this all wrong. It’s not the Dems pointing out the obvious that are delegitimizing his presidency. It’s the Russian interference that is doing him harm. Putin has done more to delegitimize Trump than any Democrat ever could. And the more resistant to admitting the obvious, and the more determined to “improve” relations with Russia, the worse it gets for Trump’s perceived legitimacy. His only out is to fuck Putin over as early and as strongly as possible.
OzarkHillbilly
@Dog Dawg Damn:
Their heads may some day explode but it is more likely to be from bullshit overload as these people are impervious to the truth.
Time Travelin'
@Dog Dawg Damn: Shitgibbon’s followers really, REALLY like and worship Putin and to a lesser extent Russia. They want the sanctions gone.
Betty Cracker
@OzarkHillbilly: You don’t think he’ll stroll triumphantly out of the embassy on January 21? From what I’ve read, it’s fear of extradition to the U.S. that keeps him there. No worries on that score in a couple of weeks.
@Mike in DC: If Trump goes after Putin, the smart money is on Putin.
Jeffro
@Betty Cracker: 1) Wouldn’t surprise me if some other agency grabbed Assange the second he steps out…not necessarily a US one either.
2) (on Putin winning): oh heck yes. Given all that Putin likely has on Trump, Putin’ll twist Trump’s nuts so hard, even I might wince in sympathy. Might.
OzarkHillbilly
@Betty Cracker: To be honest I haven’t cared enough to read much beyond that he is wanted for a rape in Sweden (?) and that he fears the US. Anybody who has gleefully made as many enemies as he, can never be truly free. He has a great big bullseye on his back and neither Trump nor Putin can nor even care to protect him from that fact. Bodyguards don’t come cheap.
Betty Cracker
@Jeffro & @OzarkHillbilly: I suspect Assange will come to a sticky end one way or another. Oh well.
OzarkHillbilly
@Betty Cracker: If somebody walks into a north side bar and screams “I HATE NI**ERS!!!!!” I’m not coming to the defense of their free speech rights. I’m ordering another beer.
Iowa Old Lady
Why does Trump get to ask Congress to do something? At the moment, he has as much authority over them as I do.
gene108
@Dog Dawg Damn:
I do not share your optimism.
Republicans and their voters are have been openly supportive of disenfranchising tens of thousands of voters, because it helps them win elections, ever since the Florida voting clusterfuck was revealed back in 2000.
They do not care about the rule of law or established precedent. They only care about grabbing power. Even if it means going against the basic idea of a democracy: The right to vote.
I do not see why they will care about anything Trump does, as long as he is useful in strengthening their hold on power.
OzarkHillbilly
@gene108:
I said something very similar the other day but I have decided I need to amend it: They only care about grabbing power as a means to more money.
gene108
@Time Travelin’:
He has set-up their ideal government. All the trappings of democracy, with all the benefits of actually being a one-party run dictatorship.
They can talk about having elections, but all the while set-up their corporate controlled Christian theocratic government, where homosexuality is a crime, murdering people at family planning clinics will not be prosecuted, and having any sort of workers rights will be squashed.
They really, really, really want to copy Putin’s Russia in America.
gene108
@OzarkHillbilly:
And power to discriminate against everyone and everything they hate. The Fundies aren’t just in this for the money, they’d love to make homosexuality a crime and birth control and family planning illegal.
OzarkHillbilly
@gene108:
The Fundies are nothing more than a useful tool. The Republican Party has been using them for decades. (the proof is the election of Trump, got them to vote for a man who stands for everything they say they are against) The GOP will never end birth control and family planning, it benefits them too much. They’re just going to end paying for it for…. those people, because…. taxes…. and besides, they deserve what ever happens to them.
SRW1
Surprise, surprise, Assange has exactly the same authoritarian leanings as his two BFF in the Kremlin and Trump Tower. He probably comes only second to Trump in his narcissism, though.
mattH
@OzarkHillbilly:
Nope, despite what they say, all they are is panty sniffers and authoritarians. All the other stuff is a smoke screen to get power to control people; mostly women. Don’t forget that the SBC policy was neutral or even pro-abortion for a decade after Roe v. Wade.
Peale
@Jeffro: I won’t protest his disappearance or death. If everyone else gets to pal up with the fascists without consequences, I don’t see why I have to go along and have principaled “rule of law” pretensions myself.
Vhh
@mattH: SBC?
Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire
@Vhh: Southern Baptist Convention.
Roger Moore
@Mike in DC:
At which point whatever kompromat Putin has on him will become public knowledge. There is no good way out for Trump.
Roger Moore
@Betty Cracker:
That’s his own line of bullshit. His real fear is extradition to Sweden to face the rape charges there. He wasn’t at all afraid of hanging out in the UK- a country that would have happily extradited him to the US if we had asked- until the rape charges.
FarmerG
The WLTaskForceTwitter user no longer exists.
Roger Moore
@Iowa Old Lady:
Anyone can ask Congress to do something. The big difference is that by the time Congress can actually get around to doing it, he will have power to do stuff for them.
Shantanu Saha
@Mike in DC: The main problem with that is that “fuck Putin over” may involve launching ICBMs to get rid of the evidence.
ETA @roger moore: the ICBMs would, in Trump’s tiny brain, destroy the evidence. The destruction of civilization would also get people’s minds off the issue for a while.
Frank Wilhoit
@OzarkHillbilly: No. It’s not about money or any other kind of gain. Trump’s people want nothing for themselves. They only want to harm others.
Woodrowfan
@OzarkHillbilly: and his bodyguards are, yes, Russians.
Denali
We might finally find out about Putin’s puppet’s finances if Wikileaks DOXes him. More irony.
kindness
@OzarkHillbilly: Fundies didn’t vote for Trump. Fundies voted for Pence if anyone but for the power to legislate hate again more likely. Trump openly told Pence he would let Pence do what ever he wanted. Pence told the Fundies and they believed him. After seeing the Cabinet nominees I believe him too.
Trumplenacht is coming.
hovercraft
@Dog Dawg Damn:
These morons have many, many faults, self awareness, awareness of reality or most of all irony is not one of them. When you do get them to acknowledge hypocrisy, they just turn around and say, well of course he lied about X, all politicians lie. Try coming back by pointing out that they said they voted for him because he’s not a politician, then you get, well of course he is, he ran for office, which makes him a politician. Duh !!
Circular logic will remain circular.
Roger Moore
@Denali:
Which is about as likely as us finding out about Assange’s finances when he doxes himself.
Doug R
@Betty Cracker: He’ll probably end up in a dacha a few doors down from Snowden.
SFAW
A few years ago, before the rape charges came up, I was agnostic, or mildly supportive of Assange’s (alleged) goals, because I thought there was a decent chance that some of the stuff he (or WikeLeaks) put out would expose various areas of corruption. Then when the rape charges came into play, I thought there was a reasonable chance they were made-up, because that tactic (or similar) has not been unheard-of when dealing with whistleblowers in the past.
Of course, the last six-or-so months has shown me how naive I was about that motherfucker. I eagerly await his impending obit. (Assuming he actually ventures out of the Ecuadorian embassy on 1/21.)
Davis X. Machina
@Time Travelin’: Corrupt, bellicose, homophobic, authoritarian, intolerant, one-man rule.. what’s not to love?
There’s more of a foundation for a ‘special relationship’ between a Trump-led US and Russia than between the US and the UK at this point.
SFAW
@Davis X. Machina:
I was going to snark “You forgot Poland (or whatever)!” , but realized there ain’t much (if anything) I could add.
I mean, we can’t even say “rich,” because only Putin is. Although I guess the original (from Time Travelin’) was relative to Putin anyway.
StringOnAStick
They’ll sell a special relationship with Russia/Putin as the only way to defeat radical Islam; the groundwork has already been done since every FAUXbot has conditioned their audience to load their drawers on command when they hear anything about RI terrorism. That these are the same folks who used to do the same thing about the USSR for the same reasons will totally fly over their heads, because fear makes people stupid.
I figure the next attack against a US associated target will be the trigger; extra irony points if it is a drumph international hotel.
cmorenc
@OzarkHillbilly:
Why again was Ecuador willing to give Assange sanctuary in their London embassy? There’s no obvious geopolitical interest in it for Ecuador, but surely there’s something in it beyond the state equivalent of strangers taking in a homeless cat….especially one that’s proved to be a polecat. Who’s paying for Assagne’s upkeep at the embassy?
mai naem mobile
I am surprised somebody hasn’t made it into the Ecuadorian Embassy surreptitiously and poisoned Assange or done something to look like a natural death situation. It can’t be that difficult. I have to believe even Ecuador wants to get rid of the moocher/douchebag.
AsSange has given me the creeps from way way back. He comes across as the evil character in a Bond movie. I bet he would like all the communication with his rape lawyer be made public.
cmorenc
I found at least a good start to answering why Ecuador is giving Assange asylum: this “TheWeek” article.
Smedley the uncertain
@OzarkHillbilly: My guess is he’s negotiating with Trump for a ‘get out of jail free’ card .
Bennett
Remember that trump is angry at Twitter because it wouldn’t give him the emoji he wanted. He didn’t invite Twitter to his tech industries meeting. As he says, he hits back 15 times harder. So part of Assange’s motives might be trump’s request or at least trump’s desire to punish Twitter.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@gene108:
Never heard of Prosperity Christianity? Money is the measure of all things for a Fundy. Slut and gay shaming are hobbies next to that.
Ruckus
@Frank Wilhoit:
That’s a very naive point of view. Yes they are sadists, but they are also whores and want to be paid for their sadism.
Bill Arnold
@Roger Moore:
This is true, but there are other leak-focused organizations, and there is also the old tradition of leaking to multiple press outlets, preferably in multiple jurisdictions.
So leaks embarrassing to D. Trump are quite possible. (Presuming that he is not so pure that such embarrassing information does not exist. (Hah!))
If WikiLeaks takes a pro-doxing stance and acts on it, then they will be destroyed. Just saying.
Bill Arnold
BTW, re Twitter, this site is a fun toy/tool:
Visualize the spread of claims and fact checking
I had trouble with firefox+noscript and ended up using chrome.
Draws nice clickable directed graphs for memes; mainly Twitter focused.
Also, paper at
Hoaxy: A Platform for Tracking Online Misinformation. (Access needed for anything more than the abstract.)
Sherparick
@Jeffro: He is still wanted sexual offenses Sweden. Although çalled rape under Swedish law, it is more endangerment & sex under false pretenses. But he would likely be found guilty & it would damage the halo that Greenwald likes to put on him.
Sherparick
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Fundamentalism is the oldest grift in the USA. Mark Twain’s characters The Dauphine & Duke of Bildgewàter considered it their most reliable çon.