Suspected 4chan Hack Could Expose Longtime, Anonymous Admins (www.wired.com)
from crimeschneck@feddit.nl to technology@lemmy.world on 16 Apr 19:19
https://feddit.nl/post/32364177

archive.is/wrbvE

#technology

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Telorand@reddthat.com on 16 Apr 19:29 next collapse

Good. Privacy is a fundamental right, but since that platform is regularly used to doxx people who are simply trying to exist, in addition to platforming and incubating some of the most harmful ideologies, they’ve relinquished any claims to those rights to privacy, as far as I’m concerned.

cygnus@lemmy.ca on 16 Apr 19:40 next collapse

The way you’re describing it, it sounds more like you believe privacy is a privilege, not a right.

pelespirit@sh.itjust.works on 16 Apr 19:47 next collapse

I’d say it’s more like a right that’s been taken away and they’re okay with that.

ristoril_zip@lemmy.zip on 16 Apr 19:53 next collapse

lots of rights get modified, curtailed, or eliminated by the larger society based on misuse or misbehavior or other transgressions.

(or positions of power, etc…)

cyborganism@lemmy.ca on 16 Apr 19:55 next collapse

You mean, people who operate a platform where people’s privacy constantly gets violated should have a right to their own privacy?

I dunno. I understand your point, but @Telorand@reddthat.com is also kind of right.

DoPeopleLookHere@sh.itjust.works on 17 Apr 13:52 collapse

Rights are unchangeable based on circumstances. They can never be revoked.

Privlivges can be.

futatorius@lemm.ee on 18 Apr 18:20 collapse

Rights are unchangeable based on circumstances.

Absolutely false.

They can never be revoked.

They’re regularly revoked in all developed countries, mainly as the result of criminal proceedings. Unless you think that prisoners are afforded the same rights as the rest of us?

And the Enlightenment notion that there are inalienable rights endowed by the Creator is about as quaint as the idea that there’s a Creator. Rights are ideals that must be continually fought for and expanded, not the gift of a beneficent Alpha Male in the Sky

essteeyou@lemmy.world on 16 Apr 20:03 next collapse

If you’re breaking the law then you forfeit your rights in favor of some much more restrictive ones.

desktop_user@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 16 Apr 21:47 collapse

did the moderators violate the law though?

rtxn@lemmy.world on 16 Apr 20:06 next collapse

“Live and let live” obviously doesn’t work. 4chan has done so much damage to the world that I wouldn’t mind seeing their big players in gallows in the town square.

futatorius@lemm.ee on 18 Apr 18:21 collapse

I just want to know who provided them with funding and other support.

Telorand@reddthat.com on 16 Apr 20:41 next collapse

All rights are privileges, if we’re going to be pedantic. This is evidenced by the fact that they can be taken away. Society tends to operate on an unspoken, collective agreement that certain rights should never be violated, but if they were actually intrinsic, we wouldn’t have to fight tooth and nail for them.

I’m a moral relativist, so if someone is happy to abuse their right to privacy to harm others or otherwise take their rights away, especially the right to privacy, I don’t feel any compunction to draw a hard line and say that the harmful person deserves to keep those rights in spite of their actions.

sepi@piefed.social on 16 Apr 20:50 next collapse

aka the golden rule

Telorand@reddthat.com on 16 Apr 21:18 collapse

I prefer the platinum rule of humanism, but essentially, yes.

O4PetesSake@lemmy.world on 16 Apr 21:25 next collapse

Those collective agreements include stipulations for what happens to someone who violates other’s rights. They lose some rights themselves.

Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world on 16 Apr 22:10 collapse

All rights are privileges, if we’re going to be pedantic. This is evidenced by the fact that they can be taken away.

I know you don’t intend for me to hear this, but I heard George Carlin as you typed that. He has a whole bit on rights vs privileges.

Telorand@reddthat.com on 16 Apr 22:29 collapse

Oh? I’m not that familiar with his comedy, but I probably should get to know it. What little I know I like!

Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world on 16 Apr 23:13 collapse

People call him a comedian, and if you define comedy as “something you find funny”, then yeah. By that definition, he’s a comedian.

But really he’s just a philosopher who points out lifes absurdities, and it’s the contrast between the truth, and what people feel permitted by society to say outloud that’s the basis of his comedy.

He makes you get feelings such as “What? You can’t say that!” And then he does a routine, and you think “Actually, he has a point, it feels wrong to say that, but he has a point”

And here’s the biggest thing about him that people don’t understand. He died in 2008. So people always like to say “Oh, I wonder what he’d say about politics and society today! He’d probably have a whole thing on trump!”

To which I say he already did that. His material holds up because society doesn’t change. The same shit that was true in 1844 is the same shit we’re dealing with today. Race, power, money, status, war. It’s a tale older than recorded history. We don’t learn. We keep repeating the same paterns as our fathers generation, just as he did for his fathers generation, just as he did for his fathers generation. And so on and so on and so on. Small details change, but the landscape of human behavior is unaffected. History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.

Anyways, here’s a bit from him. I didn’t watch it but based on the title, I’m fairly sure it’s the clip you reminded me of

el_muerte@lemm.ee on 17 Apr 15:44 collapse

Do you believe liberty is a right? It’s one of the first laid out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and yet I don’t think a single signatory nation doesn’t incarcerate people guilty of crime. By your logic, I don’t think there are any true “rights” in existence, because there are circumstance in which any of them can be taken away.

oendha@jlai.lu on 17 Apr 11:23 next collapse

So privacy is a “fundamental” right, except if /u/Telorand@reddthat.com thinks you’re a distasteful individual.

Telorand@reddthat.com on 17 Apr 11:47 collapse

Nope. If you intentionally cause harm to others with said rights. See my reply to someone else who made a similar assumption.

reddthat.com/comment/18075681

oendha@jlai.lu on 17 Apr 11:52 collapse

You’ve made a sweeping generalization in implying that since 4chan “as a platform” has caused harm, then all of its users are guilty/complicit and must relinquish their right to privacy. That and you’re still misunderstanding the meaning of “fundamental” in this case, since that adjective would suggest that the right in question is not counted among those that would be taken away from you in case of moral/legal transgressions.

Telorand@reddthat.com on 17 Apr 13:01 collapse

No, I understand just fine. You’re ignoring the part where I said rights aren’t actually fundamental or intrinsic. They’re privileges society treats that way, and like other privileges, they can be taken away.

In any case, if you go to a well-known Nazi bar on purpose, what does that make you? People who go to 4chan on purpose aren’t innocent victims, and their potential loss of privacy is justifiable considering how much harm has come just from there.

If you use your rights (i.e. social privileges) to purposely cause harm, or to support platforms or causes that are well-known to cause harm, there should be consequences.

[deleted] on 17 Apr 15:32 collapse

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[deleted] on 17 Apr 15:57 collapse

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[deleted] on 17 Apr 16:29 collapse

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[deleted] on 17 Apr 18:36 collapse

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TransplantedSconie@lemm.ee on 16 Apr 19:48 next collapse

nosferatu hissing sounds

rustyfish@lemmy.world on 16 Apr 20:12 next collapse

<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/b8b3faf9-0555-4901-8da0-1082a265398b.jpeg">

ComfortablyDumb@lemmy.ca on 16 Apr 20:33 next collapse

Now please expose the powertripping reddit admins as well.

badmin@lemm.ee on 17 Apr 15:30 collapse

Ghislaine Maxwell was on the news around the world. Is that not enough?

turkalino@lemmy.yachts on 16 Apr 23:00 next collapse

I feel like the result of this is gonna be a big ol nothingburger. There’s no way someone works as a mod/admin for the most controversial website on the internet and uses an email address that can be linked to their real identity, and doesn’t use a VPN/tor.

Pretty sensationalist article IMO. I mean, they act like the source code being leaked is newsworthy. Somebody with a month of coding experience could write that website in an afternoon.

normonator@lemmy.ml on 16 Apr 23:58 next collapse

Tell that to Ross Ulbricht, he used his personal gmail account for shit with silk road.

Plenty of people just know enough to get what they want done.

jivandabeast@lemmy.browntown.dev on 17 Apr 09:09 collapse

Exactly this, but to be clear he used his personal email account on one forum where he made a post promoting it in the early days. Everything else was solid and, if they hadn’t found the post, I don’t think they would have been able to link him.

A chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link and if the admin logs are descriptive enough, then it would only take one mistake to take down the metaphorical tower of cards.

CmdrShepard42@lemm.ee on 17 Apr 02:43 next collapse

There’s no way someone works as a mod/admin for the most controversial website on the internet and uses an email address that can be linked to their real identity, and doesn’t use a VPN/tor.

People are lazy as fuck and will do all kinds of things that surprise you especially when they become complacent.

lurch@sh.itjust.works on 17 Apr 13:50 next collapse

Worse, some ppl used their work email:

The leak reportedly included [.]edu and [.]gov email addresses.

Source: www.theregister.com/2025/04/15/4chan_breached/

NostraDavid@programming.dev on 17 Apr 18:30 collapse

I’ve seen the list on the party site. Only 3 .edu, 0 .gov emails.

Mauntra@sh.itjust.works on 18 Apr 19:20 collapse

I already looked up 136 of the 219 leaked emails. 61 of them are in at least one data breach.

illegible@discuss.tchncs.de on 17 Apr 01:00 collapse

Are we going to find out the history of q-anon?

Agent641@lemmy.world on 17 Apr 02:00 next collapse

Turns out it was Bernie Sanders all along. Finally, the deep state megajew lizard retreats to his orbiting space station with the breakaway civilization and starts charging up the 5G covid laser while petting his chemically gay frog. Blissful oblivion is only moments away for the hairless ape race, unless the tall plieadian archangel Mick intervenes.

illegible@discuss.tchncs.de on 17 Apr 03:44 collapse

That’s a lot to unpack.

Agent641@lemmy.world on 17 Apr 04:16 collapse

This is standard, vanilla lore in conspiracy circcles

Famko@lemmy.world on 17 Apr 05:51 collapse

Wait till he gets to the modded lore.

SplashJackson@lemmy.ca on 17 Apr 09:02 collapse

Lore with bigger tits

driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br on 17 Apr 04:11 next collapse

I think q-anon was in another chan

littlewonder@lemmy.world on 17 Apr 04:43 next collapse

8chan

HerrBeter@lemmy.world on 17 Apr 04:48 next collapse

The chan is closed

ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 17 Apr 14:09 collapse

Pools closed.

Peer@discuss.tchncs.de on 17 Apr 06:17 collapse

It started on 4chan, only moved to 8chan (likely a different poster) much later.

See for example: nbcnews.com/…/how-three-conspiracy-theorists-took…

Q posts moved from 4chan to its more toxic offshoot 8chan in November after a post claiming the original board had been “infiltrated.”

antonim@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 17 Apr 05:59 next collapse

No. Qanon stuff mostly happened on 8chan, and even then there’s no secret “historical” data to access. It was one or multiple obsessed and/or manipulative people spreading insane ideas anonymously, and idiots falling for it. There’s no secret inside some system out there, it’s essentially just organic stupidity. Some believe the guy who owned 8chan was “Q”, it’s not an unreasonable idea, but it changes nothing.

Raiderkev@lemmy.world on 17 Apr 07:36 next collapse

A person in my discord (with no source, so keep that in mind) sent the attached. He was theorizing that Q-anon was a Mossad operation based on this chart saying Israel has the highest quantity of posts after 2014. He’s fairly left leaning, and not one of the crazies on 4 chan yelling “the joos!” Having said that I have no idea if this chart is even legit.

<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/88199961-8e71-45da-9844-4154fecdbc34.png">

And009@lemmynsfw.com on 17 Apr 08:34 next collapse

Why’s it only white dominated countries?

ayyy@sh.itjust.works on 17 Apr 15:30 collapse

It’s an English language forum.

And009@lemmynsfw.com on 18 Apr 02:30 collapse

Ayy you dense noggin, Belgium Greece Sweden are English countries? Not to mention Russia and Israel

Valmond@lemmy.world on 17 Apr 09:04 next collapse

Lots of swedes are radicalised, just imagine a country of under ten millions being seventh place.

Pregnenolone@lemmy.world on 17 Apr 12:08 next collapse

Australia only has 28m people and in 5th place

AllHailTheSheep@sh.itjust.works on 17 Apr 16:06 next collapse

Sweden is also a really popular place for vpn hosts tho so they might not all actually be from sweden

Valmond@lemmy.world on 17 Apr 17:52 collapse

Fair point!

Hoimo@ani.social on 17 Apr 18:15 collapse

It could be a relatively small number of users all making a disproportionally large number of posts. Like a single Minecraft streamer with too much time on his hands.

Valmond@lemmy.world on 17 Apr 18:57 collapse

One swede, but really angry 😁

starsailover@lemm.ee on 17 Apr 14:42 collapse

I have also seen this image but the question is what did they try to accomplish? If anything cesspools like 4chan have radicalized guys to the far right and increase antisemitism.

el_muerte@lemm.ee on 17 Apr 15:20 collapse

There’s this weird phenomenon where Zionism and antisemitism have a ton of overlap on the far right. White Christian nationalism has end times beliefs that rely on Israel existing as a nation in full control of the entire original “Holy Land,” but such beliefs don’t necessarily require the Jewish people to be thriving or treated as equals.

I guess it’s possible that Israeli intelligence and leadership behind such an operation, if there is any legitimacy to the idea this was a Mossad operation, could’ve decided that the odd hate crime carried out against Jews by mentally ill lone wolves stochastic terrorists would not only be a comparatively small price to pay in the furtherance of their goals, but even serve to galvanise the broader populace in support of Israel. And that outcome is actually what we’re seeing in reality - we see that a large number of moderates and even some progressives have hopped on board the “any criticism of Israel is antisemitism” train.

I’m not saying I believe this theory, but it definitely seems plausible.

markovs_gun@lemmy.world on 17 Apr 10:27 next collapse

I hope so. Textual analysis suggests a “2 Q” theory where the earliest posts were mostly one author on 4chan (interestingly not all, several early drops are believed to be from different users) and then another person (who I believe wholeheartedly is 8chan administration Ron Watkins) started posting as Q and moved to 8chan. I’m interested in knowing who the earliest Q was and what the content of the very first Q drops was, given that there are believed to be several that didn’t get archived. Several people have claimed to be 4chan Q but none of their stories are particularly convincing. My guess is that it was a bunch of random trolls at first and then one of them just went with it when they started getting a following.

pjwestin@lemmy.world on 18 Apr 00:23 collapse

Not really. QAnon was only on 4Chan for the first year, then it migrated to 8Chan. But the tl;dr is it was probably started as a joke, taken over by bad-faith trolls, and has been under the control of Ron Watkins and his creepy son for a significant amount of time. QAnon Anonymous (now named QAA) is a great Podcast that’s been tracking the Q movement and other right-wing extremists for years.