An important PSA for people who are active on #Bluesky and who, upon hearing that the ICE account was officially verified, are saying: "I will just block it."
-
An important PSA for people who are active on #Bluesky and who, upon hearing that the ICE account was officially verified, are saying: "I will just block it."
Blocking on Bluesky is NOT PRIVATE: it's very easy to see who is blocking any account by visiting sites that list that information.
I took a screenshot from https://clearsky.app, listing all the accounts that are blocking ICE (I pixelated avatars and usernames for privacy purposes).
The safest bet is to mute (that info is private)
strongly disagree;
"The safest bet" is to leave bluesky and create a fedi instance with the software of your choice.
wink smiley.
-
I'm well aware that posting this info on the Fediverse seems like a pointless exercise, but it's to raise awareness and spread the word to people active in BOTH places.
I was never really active on #Bluesky and entirely stopped using it months ago but there's no point in posting this info there because I have zero reach. Or rather: 1100+ followers and 1-2 likes (at best!) and zero comments for any post. It's like I'm shadow-banned.
If you use it and enjoy it no judgement but please be safe!
The very same applies to the Fediverse, by the way: When blocking someone, that information is relayed to the instance where the blocked account is hosted. While this is not typically publicly visible, malicious instances know who blocked some of their members and can of course use that information.
(We internally used the amount of blocks as a hint to which local account to investigate, but it‘s at present not worth the hassle.)
-
@stux I just tested it. Yes, you are right: I have to search for a blocked account on Bsky and then I can read it. They don't have this login-wall like other platforms.
Thanks, I learnt something new! -
@_elena I will never understand this decision. I’ve seen people say it’s just due to how ATProtocol works. But surely there’s a way they could have implemented blocks and have them private.
@bastardsheep It’s always felt like a path to bullying people. Either by giving grief to people for who is in their block list or creating awfully named lists and putting people in it. In the past I’ve seen list names that feel like it’s named in such a way they hope the people in the list see it.
-
@bastardsheep It’s always felt like a path to bullying people. Either by giving grief to people for who is in their block list or creating awfully named lists and putting people in it. In the past I’ve seen list names that feel like it’s named in such a way they hope the people in the list see it.
@bastardsheep As far as I know I’m not on a list so who knows maybe when you’re added you’re notified. I would not know.
-
strongly disagree;
"The safest bet" is to leave bluesky and create a fedi instance with the software of your choice.
wink smiley.
@sl007 I fundamentally agree with you and that’s why I stopped using Bluesky. But I’m trying not to be too divisive and not to alienate people who enjoy it. Otherwise they will dismiss everything I ever say about Bluesky, warnings and whatnot
-
@bastardsheep As far as I know I’m not on a list so who knows maybe when you’re added you’re notified. I would not know.
@fds I’ve seen a lot of block shaming too. It’s such a bad decision.
-
-
An important PSA for people who are active on #Bluesky and who, upon hearing that the ICE account was officially verified, are saying: "I will just block it."
Blocking on Bluesky is NOT PRIVATE: it's very easy to see who is blocking any account by visiting sites that list that information.
I took a screenshot from https://clearsky.app, listing all the accounts that are blocking ICE (I pixelated avatars and usernames for privacy purposes).
The safest bet is to mute (that info is private)
@_elena Really sorry and disappointed that so many still stay on that shitty platform. I actively refuse to boost anything from bluesky. Jack Dorsey's a shitbag Nazi fellater just like Musk Zuck all of them.
-
@sloanlance not just ICE but also 4Chan-minded bad actors that may harass users blocking gov accounts
@_elena @sloanlance Block lists seem to damp that down, at least so far. I'm subscribed to several. Also, given the number of people blocking ICE, and other government sites, harassers will be busy.
-
An important PSA for people who are active on #Bluesky and who, upon hearing that the ICE account was officially verified, are saying: "I will just block it."
Blocking on Bluesky is NOT PRIVATE: it's very easy to see who is blocking any account by visiting sites that list that information.
I took a screenshot from https://clearsky.app, listing all the accounts that are blocking ICE (I pixelated avatars and usernames for privacy purposes).
The safest bet is to mute (that info is private)
@_elena @pluralistic I found I had already blocked it through one of the lists I’m subscribed to.
Anyway, blocking the gestapo is the minor or the sins they would find in my TL.
-
An important PSA for people who are active on #Bluesky and who, upon hearing that the ICE account was officially verified, are saying: "I will just block it."
Blocking on Bluesky is NOT PRIVATE: it's very easy to see who is blocking any account by visiting sites that list that information.
I took a screenshot from https://clearsky.app, listing all the accounts that are blocking ICE (I pixelated avatars and usernames for privacy purposes).
The safest bet is to mute (that info is private)
@_elena the best bet is to delete bluesky.
-
I closed my account there quite a while back but only de-bridged today. I'm sad to no longer see posts from certain people I followed but overall I feel a whole lot better.
@grb090423 @_elena @hyperreal I’m thinking I need to do this too.
-
@stux indeed. it's like a perfect honeypot if you think about it
@_elena It’s kinda scrary, with the right tools one can get a lot of info on people this way
Maybe not direct but many indirect can also lead to that I guess
-
@_elena the best bet is to delete bluesky.
@donhawkins I would recommend keeping the account inactive / deleting the app instead to avoid username squatting.
I learned the hard way with X - I used Twitter for 14 years and just mere days after deleting 3 accounts, my usernames were immediately seized
-
An important PSA for people who are active on #Bluesky and who, upon hearing that the ICE account was officially verified, are saying: "I will just block it."
Blocking on Bluesky is NOT PRIVATE: it's very easy to see who is blocking any account by visiting sites that list that information.
I took a screenshot from https://clearsky.app, listing all the accounts that are blocking ICE (I pixelated avatars and usernames for privacy purposes).
The safest bet is to mute (that info is private)
@_elena Deary me… a certain vice president is NOT popular on that platform.
The 24h list is handy if you want a list of accounts to add to your blocklist. I couldn't care less if they see me blocking them, I'm not one of their citizens and not on their soil.
-
@_elena It’s kinda scrary, with the right tools one can get a lot of info on people this way
Maybe not direct but many indirect can also lead to that I guess
People would be genuinely surprised how easy that is to trace things back to them even with the "pseudonymized data". Sure it doesn't contain your name, but it still details (for example)
- Age range
- Rough location
- Interests
- Known associationsGuess how trivial it becomes to correlate that back to an individual? Age range and rough location are known data-points for governments (census) soooo, yeah. Easy-peasy unfortunately
