Facebook, Google, Youtube, Tumblr, Reddit, Instagram, Furaffinity, Knotty, Zoophilesforum, Beastforum… it’s all connected. Like a web. That’s why they call it the World Wide Web. No part of it stands on it’s own. If you touch a single strand of the web, you can be sure the motion will reverberate through all others.
Over the past three months or so, I developed a certain affinity with another zoo. It was the first time I had this happen in my life. I admit I couldn’t help myself. I wanted to know who he was. So I searched casually. Every time he gave me a piece of information that could be attached to him, I tried to use it to single him out. It took about three months, but I made it. I found his Youtube channel, his personal website, his name, his blogs, his Facebook page and his Facebook profile... I knew what he looked liked, I knew people in his family, I knew who he worked with and that led me to know where he worked, too. In the span of a few hours, I learned everything there was to learn about him. In the span of a few hours, I also gained the power to seriously undermine this guy’s hopes and dreams if I wanted to.
Truth be told, he was not the first zoo I “doxxed.” But before that incident, I had never given this much thought. My reasons for finding what other zoos looked like were a creepy curiosity of mine, but nothing else. But after that incident, I started to see how stupidly easy it would be for someone with malicious intent to expose these people. I have so far found the Facebook profiles(!) of three separate individuals who are (were as of right now lol) active here, and only one of which I conversed privately with. The other two, I found through deduction based on information they have given out on public sites. If it’s possible for me to find this information, you can bet your ass it is possible for other people too.
Point out that you live in Minnesota, it’s not like anyone will find you. There are many people in Minnesota. Point out that you own a Siberian husky, it’s not like anyone will find you. There are many people who own Siberian huskies. Point out that your dog is named Nymeria, it’s not like anyone will find you. There are many people who watch Game of Thrones! The problem here is failing to see the bigger picture. How many people live in Minnesota and own a husky named Nymeria? Five people? Two? Just you? You probably have a problem if that is the case. So creating a blog about Nymeria the Siberian husky living in northwestern Minnesota! will probably be a pretty good lead straight to your dog and, by extension, to you. Like I said up there, everything is connected. John Doe is still John Doe on Facebook, Youtube, Google+, LinkedIn… So if I find a blog or a Youtube channel run by John Doe, that means I can find John Doe on Facebook, too. And John Doe’s profile on Facebook can pretty much tell me everything I need to know about him.
Every time you post something, on a public forum of all places, every time you want to make a blog post, every time you want to update your journal, every time you want to update your description or list your interests... make a double check and a triple check. Ask yourself “can this information be used to single me out?” If the answer is yes, posting that piece of information is a liability. It can be used against you.
Be careful in whom you place your trust. Be careful about the information you make accessible to others. Be careful. And for fuck’s sake, that goes double for people who have actual animals under their care.
Edit: Yes, I have let these people know that they were easy to find... If you are reading this, you know who you are lel.
It may all depend on what you want in your life. Here are two scenarios:
Both would breach your privacy, but many say one (the second) is necessary. I equate zoophiles expressing themselves as the second. Sure, you could get jailed or beaten up, but you could get jailed or beaten up for saying you're gay.
It's all about common sense and don't be a moron. (If you see Hitler, don't tell him you're Jewish.)
I strongly dislike euthanasia. Surely the argument to this is to "put the animal out of its misery," but my counterargument is different. Society still thinks of animals as things, things that serve humans. This is a bad way to look at nature.
Pets will still be killed to "help them", not because zoophiles have caused them wrong, but because society still doesn't give a shit about animals.
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What about for beloved friends or lovers who are so ill that you'd be prolonging the inevitable? Or so severely injured that they won't make it either?
Yeah. But generally you have to be even more conservative than that, because people underestimate and aren't aware of all the risks, to begin with.
I've also "doxxed" many zoos by accident, especially on beastforum. Even if you inform one, another comes to take his place.
One lived in my own city. But I'm not going to try to make friends with someone so careless. Every one who's like this is another opportunity gone.
Also so many people use the same username for over a decade. This doubles the cost of every mistake you make.
It's not enough to tell people to be careful and use good judgment. They need an extra buffer for unknowns and the human element.
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Yeah there are instances where being merely vague is still too telling.
I would partly blame forums but not so much for that specific reason, though yes it probably contributes. There's so much to it. Up to technical reasons and data mining processes people without exposure and knowledge simply can't grasp well, to the grip of social media openness being the cultural norm people are growing up in, distorting expectations, to simple absent-mindedness and natural human instincts. The forums produce herd mentality in a generic way, where practices are just based on what everyone else is doing rather than what's quantitatively safe.
I would place a lot of blame on forums for encouraging people to use the same accounts, actually. The forums largely behaved as social media platforms for zoos since their inception (there was even a blog/myspace webapp attached to zetaforum). Beastforum is specially bad in that reputation and post count is venerated as godliness, and incentivized artificially, and most other places were based on it. Of course this is at odds with intelligent security (intelligent being the keyword, there are other forms).
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There is no destroy. Even if the account is deleted, there's almost always still a record of it somewhere, google cache, etc.
https://youtu.be/t02v9EUHs30?t=119
The level of paranoia one can invest into hiding can vary significantly, some are happy not hiding at all, others won't engage without several layer of obfuscation. Know who you're hiding from and the task becomes easier. On average, I don't think legal or harassment risks are especially high as nobody really seems to care about it unless you draw their attention.
Simple things like using a different email address for zoo activities and never using the address for anything else adds a basic layer.
If you share any images, make sure they do not have location tags or other extraneous information and images you share as a zoo should never be used for anything else or the two images can be cross referenced (reverse image search, etc).
When concerned about legal risks, some critical keys are to not produce evidence in the first place (pictures/video, etc) and to not confess to anything. If you find yourself dealing with the law, the first step is to get a lawyer!
Some of these tips sound simple on paper, but how many people have accidentally sent an email from the wrong address, or copy pasted into the wrong chat or browser window? Or accidentally dropped a DNP image into the wrong folder and sent it off? Or plain misused a tool out of inattention or typo or complexity?
Sounds stupid, but it happens regularly (when you've worked in tech support, you see some shit), and you have a whole lifetime to fuck up. So it's reasonable to childproof yourself with an extra layer (like a second computer/special OS), which serves a dual purpose.
It takes effort to keep things isolated, certainly. The process I use is likely more than most would be willing to do, but I have a separate VM which I use for zoo stuff. I am far less concerned about legal issues than social, but I find that doing so makes it much easier to keep the activities separate.
And, +1 to that last paragraph. Never thought that last ditched advice needed repeating, but I read comments applauding someone for cooperating with the cops (admitted).
Personally, I think the biggest piece of this puzzle is Facebook. The piece that makes it far too easy to connect everything to a real person. I don't use Facebook, so I'm relatively safe.
I hate giving information on myself to the Internet - any part of it. I don't understand why so many people are so willing to give out so much personal information online.
The antidote to this is to keep things apart.
The really hardcore people in this regard have two separate laptops: One for zoo, one for work/family. They run different IP addresses on them / one's spoofing the ID and virtual computer and whatnot. VPN. And only use this VPN for that.
Don't mingle things. Use different user names and passwords for different webpages. Do not give out IDable information. Lie about your birth date in web page registration forms. etc.
And never ever do this facebook bullshit. Facebook is the worst when it comes to personal info.
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Separate devices for separate purposes (but not a smartphone) is the best place to start for almost anyone. Not because of hardcore arguments for physical isolation, but because it's the most natural form.
Luckily I don´t have accounts on all those social media platforms, with the exception of reddit and beastforum (inactive).
I guess it´s not so much about separating your "zoo surfing" from the everyday internet usage, but handing out information that can be traced back to you. It may not be that dangerous to tell the real name of your dog (although that could be the final hint to identify you in RL) as it is to give out the real name of your horse. Any horse that is bred professionally will be put on a breeder´s list that is updated whenever some other person buys a horse. The former owner is required to post the new owner´s address and identity to the breeder´s association of that specific breed. As a professional rider and member of the FN (german national rider´s federation), it is incredibly easy to find out the whereabouts of specific horses, you just need the breed and name; at every higher level riding tournament, brochures are sold that include exact data of all participating horses, name and address of the owner included. That way, I was able to exactly locate some BF users giving out too much info about their quadruped sex toys they used for shooting porn. So, if your horse is a purebred of any breed, refrain from giving out the real name at all costs. I never told anyone my mare´s name for that exact reason; after she left me, I got her record deleted and thus was able to safely say her real name online for the first time.
Be aware of that fact or you might be surprised someday...and not in a good way.
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did you let them know?
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well thats good to know!
I feel completely and utterly ashamed in myself. I have been using only my own personal device for not only this reddit forum but others and other sites, society would want to deem illegal. I have not shared too much information of myself regarding this though. And wonder if I should even post this comment. Afraid of what could happen. Am I in the clear if my info is very recluse and I don't go on too many other social media platforms? I have many other accounts.. Though with wrong information about who I am. Should I be worried about this, or should I continue to enjoy this place as well as others without considering that I am using a personal device.
If you haven't divulged much information intentionally or accidentally, then technically-speaking, from damage control perspective, reddit is not a big concern. It's a giant aggregate at the domain level, so even if you're not using a proxy (which it doesn't sound like you are), then as long as you're connected by HTTPS (in the browser bar), no one except the reddit admins/host can tell you're browsing the zoophilia board. I haven't heard of renegade reddit admins on outing sprees or anyone hacking reddit lately. (Nonetheless, it's still a needless risk easily mitigated)
But if you visit websites dedicated to zoophilia without a proxy, then as a rule of thumb, your ISP and people on your local network can find out you're browsing a zoophilia website, regardless of HTTPS.
This just gives an idea. Your situation would be past my comfort level, but without more specifics I can't give any in return.
Generally the most urgent basic technical needs are 1) encrypting your data (if any saved; but also including the browser files and operating system where possible/applicable) and 2) using a proxy. Closely tied to using proxies is achieving isolation, as in making sure the browser/setup allows you to have different overall fingerprints for the identities you create and they don't get linked, and this - along with using the identities - is where using separate devices helps make things more straightforward and less error-prone, while also helping implement the first two. You at least want a device that can do the first two but it's always better with more (foolproof) isolation.