This is just how easy it is to start with tracking someone down.
*snipped whois and other stuff *
Hey netpirate and all... (oh damn, put on my tinfoil hat. I'm talking to that copgirl...
)
EDIT: Sorry, this was supposed to be short. But I've been smoking some really nice buds and my brain is *ALIVE*, and this is a subject dear to my heart...
. So disregard the 'little bit of my background' phrase...
(sorry 'bout the hijack netpirate)
I'm not going to go on an 'I am 1337' rant, but I'll give you a little bit of my background in respect to Information Technology, because I don't want to sound like I'm just blowing hot air with no substance.
First though. I've only been playing the computer game seriously since late 1997. I'd had computer 'experiences' dating back to the late seventies, but nothing worth mentioning really.
I gave up driving trucks in late 1997 (I was 34), went to Uni and started an IT degree in early '98. I fell into what some people call 'the underground' (read the book) almost immediately and by accident. I somewhat serendipitously found myself in a web based 'IRC' chat board. This was early web based chat, not java sandboxes or anything. It was also the first experience I'd had of being able to communicate with multiple people all over the world in near real time. It was also when I realised that the Internet as a whole was going to be huge. I had gotten into computers just as they were exploding in useage all over the planet.
Little did I know it, but I was becoming a truck driving hippy pothead computer geek.
One particular Texan bloke that hung in this 'chat room' took me under his wing so to speak and introduced me to a few things, such as linux command line tricks, about half a dozen different remote control apps (trojans) that in those days were almost unknown. He introduced me to the best security tools available at the time. I learned about buffer overflows before I could format a word document, or knew what a spreadsheet was.
Anyway, I'm rambling. Suffice to say, my early computing days revolved entirely around computer security and privacy, when privacy on the Internet was actually achievable.
At the start of my second year at this particular university, I was offered part time work at the web development department. I was recommended by one of the university network security staff. You see, I heard about 'Melissa' within a few hours of its release 'in the wild' (I was in the right IRC channel at the right time, but not the porn channel it was released through), and notified the uni security staff of what it was and what it could do. Melissa was the first 'in the wild' 'virus' that could be spread AND executed via email apps such as Eudora, previously considered an impossible medium to transfer and execute viruses. It saved them a potential shitload of email downtime.
By the end of my second year, I was working full time for another division in IT admin/support. I had written a few articles for a US based security focussed (
hint to the knowing) website. I was even running a computer security and system design business. As I should have figured would happen, I burnt out about three years later.
Anyway, based on the little I still know about compsec...
I would suggest that it would be a very easy task to compile an identity profile of quite a few RIU users/members. If the search scripts were working properly, it would be even easier.
For example, there are innumerable threads that ask questions that in themselves are innocuous, but combined with answers to questions in other threads, could build a nice profile.
It's simple human nature to reveal little things of oneself, or to unwittingly reveal key identifying information. Kevin Mitnick used it extensively when he was hunting down phone numbers to get into computer networks. What's the term?
Ah yes, 'Social Engineering'.
Every time I see a thread about Internet Privacy, or whether people show their grow etc, I think about how in todays Internet, it is almost impossible to maintain privacy. If you have some tech knowledge, and can use certain software ( Proxomitron anyone?), you can almost hide. But in the grand scheme of things, if someone *really* wants to track you down. You can be found.
I've often thought about 'stalking' some random person (purely for research purposes of course
) who has made about 500 posts, and just check how much identifiable information might be in those 500+ posts. I gave up trying to hide my identity, beyond using a nickname, a long time ago.
If you got this far, thanks for reading
anyone?
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