Time to Beef up Defense Against Far-Right Doxxing

In the last several months, Neo-Nazis and those from within the so-called Alt-Right have been attempting to release personal information of people within the anarchist and anti-fascist movement. Today, Charles C Johnson of WeSearcher (who’s twitter account seems to be suspended) and GotNews released information of 231 people that were mass arrested on January 20th in Washington, DC. The information of those arrested includes names, their hometown, and ages. With this in mind, even if you weren’t arrested, it’s imperative that everyone follow the suggestions in this article to protect themselves and those around them.

This also isn’t the first time that the Alt-Right has attempted to doxx people. In recent months, Alt-Right trolls have been using a variety of tricks to get private information including slogging through social media, the use of websites such as Family Tree, and even setting up fake anti-fascist social media accounts and web pages as ‘honey pots.’ The bad news is that many of the people they are getting information on are new to our movements and are more likely to have lax security. Also, the ability of the Alt-Right to harvest information through online mediums like Facebook shows that we all need to tighten up the ship as we move forward in the current era under Trump, as well as incorporate these ethics into our daily routines.

@realAlexBeck has been leading the charge in the Alt-Right in doxxing antifa.

The good news is that by taking a series of simple steps on social media and sending off a couple of opt-out requests to several websites, you can make yourself much more anonymous.

By tightening up on basic security culture, we all get safer. From not only government spying and surveillance which is so pervasive throughout this society, but also against auxiliary far-Right forces which seek to strengthen the State through attacking our movements.

Fighting the Facebook Monster

Facebook is a major place where information is harvested. One of the easiest ways that the Alt-Right is collecting information is by looking at the guest lists of various anarchist, anti-fascist, and radical events. By simply looking at who is going on these lists and clicking on people’s profiles, those during surveillance can easily get a good idea of who in a given area is possibly involved in organizing. Through looking at various guest lists, Alt-Right trolls have attempted to doxx various groups of anti-fascists and anarchists through using this method, and while often this only exposes those who publicly support revolutionary projects, ideas, and organizations, it still isn’t something that we want happening – and more importantly, it’s something we can stop.

For those setting up Facebook events, the best way around this is to simply set the guest list to private. The way that you do this is once you have set up the event page, you click “EDIT,” and then go to the very bottom of the form and in the three boxes on the bottom, you click “MAKE GUEST LIST PRIVATE.” This can only be done on a desktop or laptop. Keep in mind that when people search the event, or it is posted in a person’s feed or is shared, you can still see how many people are going.

Setting Facebook events to private is horribly important and literally takes only several seconds. As a general rule as well, when the event is over, delete it. Remember that after every anti-fascist event that has had an open Facebook event, fascists have begun to doxx people using the information that is open for all to see. Let’s make it a habit to set these events to a private guest list and stop our enemies from getting an easy snapshot of who is who.

Also, if you must use Facebook, you may want to consider having a private one and one for “business.” Remember that everything you say on Facebook is just like a courtroom, what you say is recorded, can be obtained by the government at anytime, and everything you share, post, or like is searchable.

Family Tree and White Pages

There are several websites online that list people’s possible addresses. Sometimes these websites will show false information, sometimes old information, and sometimes it will be dead on.

The bad news is that if someone has your name and an idea of where you might be located, it might be possible for them to find out where you live. The good news is that all of these websites have a way to get your information off of them within a few day.

List from Alt-Right messageboard showing the various ways that someone can look you up.

Now days, many people’s first go to website to find a possible address is Family Tree. To opt out, simply go here and follow the process. You might want to see what information they have on you already before hand just to get an idea. In order to opt out of White Pages, check out this how to youtube video because it can take a few steps.

While these two sites are a good place to start, or course there’s more to do. Here’s a list of other ideas and be sure to do your own research about going above and beyond.

Honey Pots

In recent weeks, Alt-Right trolls have created a series of ‘honey pots’ which they have used to collect information from people who are looking to get involved in anti-fascism and the anarchist movement.

This gathering is done largely in two ways, the first is through the creation of Facebook and twitter accounts that are designed to build up a list of followers that the account can then get information from. The other is through the creation of fake websites that encourage people to sign up and give personal information, (see the tweet below).

Warning about fake website and Twitter acct, run by fash pic.twitter.com/3b5I38gj6v

— New York City Antifa (@NYCAntifa) February 3, 2017

This website shown in the tweet above was created by the Alt-Right troll who used his website to gather information on people and then released the information. While this process doesn’t necessarily divide passive supporters from active organizers, is does potentially scare some people away from wanting to get involved in anti-fascism and the anarchist movement.

In general, be potentially wary of new antifa and anarchist social media accounts that are brand new and in general simply repost information 24/7 as opposed to reporting what is happening in their area or generating original content. Also, look to see if they are followed back by other respected accounts (on twitter) as well as who actually follows them. If you start to see that they are followed by people with Pepe the Frog memes on their account along with red Trump hats, then something bad is probably going on.

Push-Back Against the Alt-Right

As long as people can collect public information on their enemies, they’ll use it against them. Don’t make it easy for people that are dedicated to being online trolls and attacking people, releasing their information, and harassing them.

Lock down all your social media accounts and make sure they are set to private, and if you set up events, make sure that shit has a private guest list. Check out all websites that have information and listings of potential private information. Request that they take down any info that pertains to you. Also, do your homework and be careful who and what you are following on social media. If something seems off, it might be.

https://twitter.com/realAlexBeck/status/824526390448058368

Lastly, remember that the best defense (on top of good, preemptive measures) is great offense. Map out fascist groups in your area. If you run social media accounts and notice that you are starting to get trolled by far-Right accounts, block them but also make a note of them. Who do they follow, who follows them? Are they connected to a group, podcast, or larger network?

This isn’t a call to be paranoid, it’s a call to get smart and get real. If we give our enemies an inch, they’ll take a mile. Let’s all make sure we stand strong and together, and keep each other safe in the process.