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From CNN's writeup on how they managed to "dox" an individual who posted a GIF of President Trump wrestling a CNN logo:
CNN is not publishing "HanA**holeSolo's" name because he is a private citizen who has issued an extensive statement of apology, showed his remorse by saying he has taken down all his offending posts, and because he said he is not going to repeat this ugly behavior on social media again. In addition, he said his statement could serve as an example to others not to do the same.
CNN reserves the right to publish his identity should any of that change.
For those that have not seen the GIF or video, it rose to prominence after this tweet by Trump. This story is being predictably split down partisan lines, but this raises major questions about freedoms in the internet age. This is a company which is part of one of world's largest and most powerful media conglomerates threatening to engage in an action knowing it would likely result in harm to an individual because they found a silly video clip about them distasteful.
To put this into perspective, imagine if an organization such as Fox News or Breitbart chose to track down and "dox" any of the countless individuals posting numerous anti-Trump memes. And they then threatened to publish this information unless said individual apologized and promised to stop posting memes. This may already be illegal under coercion laws in the US, but is time for the rights (or lack thereof) of anonymity and privacy in the digital world to be clearly codified?
takyon: A reporter for BuzzFeed, CNN reporter Andrew Kaczynski's former employer, compared the HanAssholeSolo GIF to the video tweeted by the President and found some differences, suggesting that it was altered by someone else before reaching the President or his aides (including the addition of a sound track). In other words, someone out there actually responsible for catching the President's attention may have gone unidentified, and the Reddit user likely uploaded only the initial version of the infamous GIF. The editing is acknowledged in the second paragraph of CNN's story.
Kaczynski has denied threatening anyone and says that the Reddit user called him and agreed that he had not been threatened by Kaczynski or CNN. He says that the "reserves the right to publish his identity" line from the CNN story has been misinterpreted, and that "It was intended only to mean we made no agreement w/the man about his identity". Kaczynski has also denied the widespread notion that the Reddit user was 15 years old, saying that "HanAssholeSolo is an adult and not 15 which people have spread".
(Score: 2, Insightful) by julian on Thursday July 06 2017, @04:40AM (20 children)
The author himself admits he was not threatened, or blackmailed. None of his personal info was released by CNN. There's nothing here.
A lot of right-wingers didn't suddenly decide to stand up for privacy and free expression; they already hated CNN before this happened.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @04:50AM
You're hearing the supposed opinion of the supposed person from the very organization that is suspected of severe misbehavior.
Worse yet, it could be real, like so: CNN makes it clear that he must call CNN to say he isn't being blackmailed, or else CNN will release his personal info.
"No sir, I'm sure not being blackmailed!" is exactly the sort of thing you'd expect of somebody who is in fact being blackmailed.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by mattTheOne on Thursday July 06 2017, @04:51AM (6 children)
Do you honestly believe that was a genuine statement? Its akin to those fake confessions by N. Korean prisoners or Taiwanese popstars in China.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by julian on Thursday July 06 2017, @05:15AM (5 children)
Yes, I trust the word of professional journalists more than anonymous anti-Semite shitposters. I'm not a credulous rube.
But you do you, friend.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @05:30AM
The second somebody writes in an article that they "reserve the right" to dox an individual if they make anymore "ugly" memes they've long since lost any and all notions of professionalism. This is the sort of behavior we'd expect to see from the hateful little hyper-partisan blogs on either side of any issue. Not something published by one of the largest media conglomerates in the world.
I don't think you see that by defending this, you've lost any and all notions of objectivity. As mentioned, imagine this was Breitbart threatening to publish the identity of an individual who was posting anti-Trump memes. It is literally the exact same scenario and there is not a chance in a million you'd ever defend this sort of action. It's not only likely illegal, but really just shows any lack of an ethical compass whatsoever.
(Score: 4, Touché) by kaszz on Thursday July 06 2017, @08:41AM
But they are not professional journalists. A intellectual whorehouse is what it is. Now the question is who is paying for the services..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @01:53PM
You know, it's always possible to distrust both of them...
Semicredulous, then?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @03:24PM (1 child)
Where are you finding these anti-Semites?
I'll assume you mean anti-Jewish, as many people do, because otherwise you're lumping in Palestinians too.
Hmmm, "shitposter" could mean /r/The_Donald, but they actively ban anti-Jewish stuff and anyway have a fetish for Jews due to Trump's Jewish daughter.
Really, where? Is this your new generic insult, having worn out "racist" and "sexist" and "homophobic"? Are you expecting guilty-until-proven-innocent for every similar thing you can fling at Trump supporters, with the idea that you come up with new ones as fast as the old ones can be disproven?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @06:24PM
Besides, Caucasians are the lost tribe of Israel, and the "Jews" are fraudulently presenting themselves as the chosen people. Jews aren't Semitic at all. Caucasians are. It makes no sense to call people who want "Jews" to stop pretending to be tribes of Israel and want Caucasians, the real descendants of Israel, to live full lives through God anti-Semitic. We're pro-Semitic.
(Score: 3, Informative) by frojack on Thursday July 06 2017, @04:53AM
Really?
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/07/05/did-cnn-commit-crime-cruz-suggests-warning-to-reddit-user-poses-legal-problem.html [foxnews.com]
Maybe you want to rethink that.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @05:03AM
The right has a somewhat better track record. Have you forgotten Obama already?
The left is fond of saying "muh freeze peach" (purposely mangled "my free speech") these days, making fun of the right's typical preference for free speech. Antifa will even violently protest against free speech.
The most dedicated to privacy are on the far right. The religious nuts think government ID is the mark of the beast. (not kidding) The survivalists don't want the government keeping track of gun ownership.
Some on the right will even publicly risk their lives to draw Mohammed. Meanwhile, leftists in Canada and Germany and the UK have made antagonism of Islam to be illegal.
Over on the left of course you have Obama and Clinton. The really far left has a bloody track record of brutally suppressing free speech. Dear leader doesn't want to hear that you lack a fondness for communism, Stalin had his gulag, and Mao executed plenty.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @05:16AM (4 children)
In the quotes from the article, they are literally threatening to publish his private information:
That, I think, is the most stupefying part of this all. They could have gone through with this story and, what is at a minimum, their coercion without leaving any public traces. But no, they decide to publicly clarify they are threatening him in an article on their own site. What they're doing is not only incredibly scummy, but also very likely illegal.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by julian on Thursday July 06 2017, @05:24AM (3 children)
Their mistake was leaving that sentence in as is, because it's so easy to cynically misinterpret it and then pass that wrong interpretation off as fact on social media where it gets picked up by grandma.
And Soylentnews, too, apparently.
It's essentially legalese that just means no formal deal was made.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @07:20AM
How does one misinterpret a literal doxxing threat?
It's so clear I can't even come up with any alternative interpretations without them sounding like a lawyer with less connection to reality than Donald Trump himself.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @07:42AM
Cognitive dissonance: the state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, especially as relating to behavioral decisions and attitude change.
It really sucks that we, humans, are so good at this. You know threatening to dox people is wrong, but you want to believe that CNN did not do wrong here. Therefore, you're left to convince yourself that 1+1=3. Seriously, imagine this was published on Breitbart. And try to tell me you'd still be defending it. You would not. This is disgusting behavior whoever does it, and defending it out of bias is complete moral bankruptcy.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday July 07 2017, @12:59AM
What misinterpretation, Mr. Credulous Rube? It's always interesting to see doublethink in action.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @05:18AM
Othewise, it must look like an accident. Capisci?
(Score: 2) by Bot on Thursday July 06 2017, @07:21AM (1 child)
> he was not threatened
then TFS is poorly written because sure as fuck it contains an explicit threat.
If I were the asshole I would make CNN spill my details, and sue them for damages every time something bad happens. CNN puts you in panic mode, gives you an excuse to react in whatever way (people who act on doxxed info, especially unverified one, are mere unpaid soldiers for manipulators, they deserve to be shot on sight).
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06 2017, @07:45PM
I mean, it's nice that you would have done that. But this is just some guy. Should everyone who speaks have to basically be a full first amendment soldier to have a voice? Is that a reasonably baseline expectation?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday July 06 2017, @11:26AM
While it is tempting to accept the explanation that it is "legalese", it looks a lot more like a threat. Just read the lines that CNN's reporter wrote (quoted a second time for your convenience):
In other words, if he renounces his apology or is found to upload new racist/trolling content (which had little to do with the GIF that made him "newsworthy"), CNN's reporter may out him, even though it would result in no news value and lead to reprisals against the man. If that is a misinterpretation, then the story needs to be corrected with an apology because it's the only interpretation that neatly fits "should any of that change".
The author admits he wasn't threatened or coerced? He "admitted" this to a CNN reporter who wrote a story entitled "How CNN found the Reddit user behind the Trump wrestling GIF". The article even states:
He'll sing Andrew Kaczynski's tune to avoid being outed, that's for damn sure. But it's OK! Kaczynski's says that the man says he doesn't feel threatened at all! Just nervous!
It's not just "right-wingers" jumping on this. "Left-wingers" don't know what to make of those lines in CNN's article either [nytimes.com]:
There's a real story about journalistic ethics here, and I expect this will get some play on this Friday's episode of On The Media [wnyc.org].
The whole thing would have been a lot worse if it was a 15-year-old being discussed, but I'm willing to accept Kaczynski's assertion that it is a grown ass adult until we find out otherwise.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by jmorris on Thursday July 06 2017, @03:16PM
Ok, I see what you are doing here. You think CNN is such #FakeNews that you can't even believe a direct statement from their
own lips saying they blackmailed the guy. :)
Duh. Guy posted the most over the top groveling apology seen in years and deleted every scrap of his online history he could remember the login info for. Guy did everything but apologize for being born and earnestly wish his mother had aborted him. Of course CNN didn't have to carry out the threatened action.
But it don't work that way. They said it. And their offense goes far beyond an allegedly misstated sentence. And it doesn't matter what they 'intended' when they have a platform the size of CNN, it matters what they actually said. The message was unmistakable: "If you think you can make jokes at our expense you are wrong, we will destroy you. We are CNN. We are Warner. We are ZOG." Alinsky was right, ridicule is man's most potent weapon, and CNN understands the danger of having that weapon turned on the Left.
Somebody thought tracking down the original author of a meme from chanistan that Trump thought funny enough to repost was a good idea, they thought it was a good idea long enough to expend hours of effort tracking the guy down. The 'layers of editors' thought it was a good enough idea to post a story about it. So no, I'm sorry, the Left made the rule that some random dude forwarding the 'wrong' email joke loses their job, having a twitter rage mob yell loses you your job, etc, so everybody involved in this has to go because we on the right don't get to make the rules but WE WILL ENFORCE THEM. Alinsky was right, making the enemy live by his own book of rules is powerful.
If the offenders are not fired, if the rest of the media do not demand they be fired, we will assume this can only mean that a rule change has occurred, that it is now OK to dox people. You will not like that world. Nobody will like that world. CNN certainly is not going to like that world because they will be first. Apparently a few of the more 'motivated' weaponized autistics aren't waiting to see how CNN management reacts, they are already going after CNN employees.