Quote chaining this because I agree and want to add why info prompt chains are so terrible and suspect! A little #opsec thread:
https://twitter.com/nintendo6664/status/1315077796847333377
Engagement on here is fun and so are these little viral participation games, but many of them are also loaded with prompts for personal info. Some are a little more innocuous and some are as obvious as this: 
Still others prompt you for your initials, your DOB, your age, match them to [X, X] and get your furry pornstar skater president name! 🙃
The thing is, even if one particular game doesn't yield enough info to identify you, the data you give over time can be used in *synthesis*.
The thing is, even if one particular game doesn't yield enough info to identify you, the data you give over time can be used in *synthesis*.
As a rough illustration, say you share your birthday, which you might share with ~20 million other people 🌎-wide. Pretty safe.
Now you volunteer your initials, which for most combos is less than 0.25% chance: this # drops to ~50,000. And you've given info about your name.
Now you volunteer your initials, which for most combos is less than 0.25% chance: this # drops to ~50,000. And you've given info about your name.
Do this same exercise with the city you live, say LA with 4 million people, and the rough bday calculation (/365) drops to ~11,000 (people are born more at different times of year of course), and initials bring that down to 28 people.
That's just FOUR data points (initials 2).
That's just FOUR data points (initials 2).
Adding this here, two takeaways from this article:
-"anonymous" data collection is a complete fucking lie
-cops and creeps with just a few data points along with your zip code have a 95% chance of positive ID
techcrunch.com/2019/07/24/res…
-"anonymous" data collection is a complete fucking lie
-cops and creeps with just a few data points along with your zip code have a 95% chance of positive ID
techcrunch.com/2019/07/24/res…
Some of these participation memes ask for up to 30 different things about you including physical identifiers, tattoos (people describe them 😬), marital status, etc.
If you've done several over time, you may have given enough info for somebody to ID you, dox you, stalk you.
If you've done several over time, you may have given enough info for somebody to ID you, dox you, stalk you.
I'm not trying to scare people, because most of the time the chances of this are very low, but we really need to keep ourselves and others safe.
A common response I see, and I hate seeing this one, is "well my info is already out there."
A common response I see, and I hate seeing this one, is "well my info is already out there."
That might be the case, but:
-you're putting yourself at unnecessary risk, particularly if you're a leftist, active in protests, and/or dealing with right-wing scum
-you're also potentially putting people *connected* to you at risk, and that you should care about
-you're putting yourself at unnecessary risk, particularly if you're a leftist, active in protests, and/or dealing with right-wing scum
-you're also potentially putting people *connected* to you at risk, and that you should care about
-and finally, there is no one Big Bad Guy that has all your info, put that out of your head. There are cops, there are murderous fascists not employed as cops, there are stalking creeps, there are all kinds of people who you really shouldn't be volunteering your info to.
Why do these participation memes get shared so much in our circles, and why do they always prompt for personal info? Why do we participate in them when they do?
What if we collectively put a stop to sharing these?
What if we collectively put a stop to sharing these?
I didn't even think of this, but participation memes can also include common security and password recovery prompts! Thank you @fakedannydevito 😺
https://twitter.com/fakedannydevito/status/1315349853946478592
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