11-Year-Old Viral Star Placed Under Police ProtectionCOMMENTS
I'm ignorant of the internet, computers, and 4chan. How do trolls (like those on 4chan and Tumblr) find their victims' personal info? Are we assuming the victims (adults included) put it out there? What stops someone from being attacked by a virtual stranger (say, a serial rapist you meet in passing) and having their personal info traced based on their membership on a site like Gawker or any other anonymous internet source (email servers, whatever)?
Reply: As a person who once interned for a media company doing research on people, I can tell you first hand that you'd be surprised how much info I could find about anyone with just their name and birth date (both of which people readily make available on their social networking accounts).
Within seconds of typing that info into a database, I could find out every address that you've ever lived at, who you've worked with, your neighbors, your assets, your criminal record, professional licenses, the names of relatives and others who live in your household, your email addresses and any websites that you started, and the first 5 digits of your social security number.
If you're concerned about your own security, you need to learn from the tracking skills of 4channers. I'm no expert, but here are a few things that I've picked up:
1) Pictures you take have data attached to them that the tech-savvy can use to find out the name of the person who owns the camera, the type of camera used to take the picture, the date and time of the picture, and where the picture was taken.
2) Photos ripped from Facebook have unique file names that can enable the tech-savvy to track it back to where it was ripped from (4channers have used this to track pedos who post pictures of prospective victims on the board and warn the kids' families).
3) Your online accounts can be traced back to you if you use the same email, username, etc. for all of your accounts. Essentially, you leave a trail of crumbs all over the web if you use the name email or username everywhere you go, making it really easy for people to link those accounts in order to help them piece together information about your life that they need to figure out your real-life identity.
I'm sure there's more, but that's all that I can think of for now. It's definitely worth spending a week on 4chan (if you can handle the gore and gross shit) to learn about the methods these guys use to track people.
However, the best defense seems to be just to stay anonymous and not draw attention to yourself (cough, Jessi, cough). If you do that, you'll probably be just fine. :)
Online Predators Can Determine Where Posted Photos and Videos Were Shot
An Open Letter to the CEO of Abercrombie & FitchI visited an Abercrombie & Fitch last year for the first time in a decade, and the clothes, I must admit, were actually pretty nice. Not only were they well-designed and on-trend, they were worthy of coveting. But there’s a few reasons not that many people have realized this. Fortunately, I think I have some ideas on how you can lure your customer back: [...]
People in Japan Don't Like Abercrombie & Fitch, Either
COMMENT
"All of the things that are listed as "annoying" are the things that is keeping the line outside of the Abercrombie and Fitch in Milan around the corner. Italian teenagers and college students (before the Milan outpost opened) viewed the company as proof of wealth because Italians could afford to travel to the US and shop at American stores. Since it opened in December of last year, everyone is going crazy over the english speaking help, blasting music, and moosed out polos and flannels. If nothing else, the merchandising and store design are amazing."
TORONTO
"POP!"
Jersey DJ
King St. West
Artistic Roots
