denied 4473 gun purchase social media check
courtesy wikipedia.org
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What’s lurking in your social media accounts? Judging by some of the occasionally…shall we say…intemperate remarks we’ve seen in the comments here at times, a few of you have no compunction about spouting off on line. It’s one thing to do that under an anonymous screen ID and another when it’s done under your own name. Nothing ever disappears. The internet is forever.

If you’re someone who occasionally pops off on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit or some other forum, this may give you pause . . .

Two New York lawmakers are working to draft a bill that would propose a social media check before a gun purchase.

But it’s OK. They only want to look at the last three years of your online activity.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and state Sen. Kevin Palmer’s proposal would allow authorities to review three years of social media history and one year of internet search history of any person seeking to purchase a firearm.

That’s right. It’s not just social media. They also want to see what you’ve been Googling in your spare time. Is there any phrase you’d prefer that a state bureaucrat not see that you searched in the last 12 months?

“A three-year review of a social media profile would give an easy profile of a person who is not suitable to hold and possess a fire arm,” Adams explains.

“suitable”

The two are hoping to identify any hate speech on social media profiles, which are often revealed only after someone is arrested in a mass shooting.

The great thing about “hate speech” is that it’s very much in the eye of the beholder. Any government functionary who wants to find a reason not to grant a particular person the right to buy a firearm can claim almost anything constitutes hate speech if looked at from a certain perspective.

Don’t think this will stop in New York, even if these two can’t manage to get their little brainstorm signed into law. How long will it take Daddy Bloombucks and his hoplophobic harridans to get signature collectors out on the streets and fund the initiative campaigns to get something like this on the 2020 ballot in California or Washington State?

What could possibly go wrong?

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141 COMMENTS

    • Says the holocaust denier that claims hitler will be vindicated by history.

      I wish you’d go somewhere else. You’re beginning to stink this place up.

      • Actually the ad hominem tripe you spout after every Anarchyst post is much worse. Give it a rest and comment on the comment or not at all.

        • When is the truth ad hominem? How do you trust any statement or judgement made by a man that claims the holocaust didn’t happen and hitler is going to be vindicated, his word, by historians?

        • Goes both ways, criticism of anything Jewish or Israeli, whether justified or not, is nearly always labeled anti-Semitic.

        • Because it is. The so-called Palestinians supported the Nazis and are often Holocaust deniers. The ones who don’t deny it, think Hitler should have finished the job.

        • Charitably, posts like yours show a high level of historical ignorance. Ever hear of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem? He was Arafat’s uncle.

        • Give it a rest td. The anti-Semitic label has been so overused for so long it’s losing its credibility. Zionist interests have used the label as shield from criticism for decades, and it’s becoming old and tired.

        • You know….if the only country in the world that you support for strangulation happens to be the only Jewish country and the size of New Jersey than it’s pretty damn good bet that you’re anti-Semitic.

          Kinda like saying, “I think Italy should be strangled, but I just LOVE Italians”.

          You’re not fooling anybody with a brain.

    • If this was to happen, it would end up being anything found on the internet, including blogs, forums and even messages. You could end up being denied for stuff you have posted here.

    • Then expect this proposed law to be amended to to only consider folks for license applications who hold active social media accounts. After all, if you’re not on social media then you must be hiding something comrade. And unplugging from the network will be the biggest red flag of all. Like saying no to a breathalyser test, guilty by default. No gun for you!

      • I’ve never had social media of any sort. I don’t have the time. There’s a thing called life, with work, chores, children, and hobbies to get in the way.

        • Posts on here …ARE part of your social media….
          it’s not just places like Twitter and FB…it is anything and everything you have EVER put online…

      • So how do they do this search? IP addresses? Is there some kind of algorithm that can suss out me by my writing style? The mechanics of the search itself must be pretty impressive if they think they can actually do this nonsense

        • It’s already possible. Not a new thing at all.

          Many employers now do a routine check of your social media accounts before hiring you.

          Two of my clients are acquainted with people who received visits from the Secret Service and FBI last week after spouting off online. Took less than 48 hours for them to show up.

          Services that run background checks will also often pull up that person’s social media, dating profiles, etc. in addition to the usual background check information.

          It ain’t no new thing at all.

    • Isn’t TTAG considered “social media”?

      Wonder how screen identities can be penetrated in a search of individual activity? IP relationships that change daily seem a real challenge. Gotta match screen name IP and non-masked IP activity.

      But wasn’t this issue settle long ago when SCOTUS rejected the idea government collect data on who was checking out which library books?

      • What is the patriot act? For 200 Alex.

        Mandating/incentivizing private companies to save their customer’s data, then getting them to voluntarily relinquish it to the DHS. From here, it’s a small step towards creating a database for cross referencing. All in the name of national security and public safety of course. It should be illegal, or at least warrant a good spanking……

  1. “…If you’re someone who occasionally pops off on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit or some other forum,…”

    Like *cough*-TTAG-*cough*.

    ‘Thoughtcrime’. Who’d thunk it?

    That’s right, a Leftist…

    • I wonder how Elaine D. feels about this?

      My gut feeling is she’s only here so she can go the ‘I’m a gun owner and I support the 2a, but…..’ route.

      • But, but……there is such a thing as a pro 2A liberal, Esoteric Inanity has seen one……he was riding a unicorn while wearing the golden necklace Brísingamen and drinking firewater with a leprechaun. A nisse tomte saw it too, just ask Bigfoot and Elvis.

        • You can be a pro-2A liberal, but you can’t be a pro-2A modern Democrat. A 2A liberal is a person without a party. Since LBJ, gun control has been a central plank of the Democrat party, and it is an advertised main policy of many in the current election cycle, such as Beto, Jason Crow, and just about every other Dem that’s not in a solid red district or state. They’re taking money from Bloomberg or Gifford is running ads for them. The flavor of gun control this year is universal background checks (aka registration), closing loopholes (no private party sales, aka even more registration), ghost guns (more registration), Dickey repeal (let CDC use public money to campaign against guns) assault weapons ban (semiauto rifles), and high cap magazine ban (pretty much every semiauto that isn’t a mouse gun or 1911). They claim to support 2A, but there needs to be these common sense limits. Of course, none of these will have any effect, and there will be a new list for anywhere they manage to pass their agenda.

        • Personal opinion…
          There are no pro2A liberals. There are, though, “pro-2A, but…” liberals.

      • @JWM

        Regarding legislation: I have no opinion about any piece of legislation until it actually exists and can be read and reviewed. Just because someone has an idea for something doesn’t mean it’s going to ever turn into more than an idea.

        As for what I think of the rest:

        Stand by what you write online.
        Be a person of your word.
        Take responsibility.

        I’ve never put anything online that I wouldn’t say in a direct conversation with that person. That’s what being a mature adult is kind of about – being direct and honest, not passive aggressive or childish.

        Ya know?

        So that’s my .02, I guess.

        • I certainly have an opinion about people who propose to limit my constitutional rights.
          While I am not an “absolutist,” it is, in my opinion, unconstitutional to use social media, where many people choose to “stir the pot” in order to make people think, to form an opinion about one’s ability to exercise one’s constitutionally protected right to vote. Er, I mean own a gun.
          In this case, the two rights are interchangeable. If they can do one, they can do the other.
          Be afraid. Be very afraid.

    • The current generation of progs are really revealing their inner selves in 2018. Or perhaps it’s just finally gloves off time.

      TTAG has no membership so is it social media or just a news forum?

      • TTAG is a weblog that, like most websites, catalogues the IP Addresses of visitors (many commenters even willingly submit their email addresses). Using a VPN can help get around this, but depending on one’s ISP (and other nuances that Esoteric Inanity doesn’t fully understand) this method is less than dependable where mass data storage and encryption decoding are concerned. The upside is that such a massive amount of recorded data from the public at large, would take a virtual eternity to sort through, even by several thousand professionals. The bad news, AI and it’s algorithms are getting better and can perform such tasks swiftly.

        • Just testing your voluntary submission premise. I hope to be wrong… testing… testing… testing… No you are half wrong and I am half wrong. You need to enter an e-mail address. It need not be real, but they still can trace you. Be careful what you post!

  2. I temper my remarks EVERYWHERE. Went to fakebook jail for using the “g” word. I see some profoundly stupid chit here and on FB…

  3. Let’s play a game of how much of the Bill of Rights we can violate in one law!?

    When all the authoritarians see this, they’re going to have a hard time getting through “No Nut November”.

    • I am definitely feeling my age.
      Google is getting a workout; this is the second time I had to use it to see what’s being said just in this one comment section.

  4. Good luck with that, this law will instantly result in liberal friendly-fire, no matter how hypocritcal the enforcement. It’ll be struck down in days.

    • “…this law will instantly result in liberal friendly-fire, no matter how hypocritcal the enforcement.”

      Don’t count on it.

      This fits squarely under the Leftist “you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette”, because guns.

      They clearly are planning ahead to the day 50-state carry rights will be recognized as constitutional by SCOTUS.

      And it fits neatly with my prediction they will make more and more things ‘crimes’ that warrant prohibited person status.

      Get into a heated screaming match at work in front of witnesses? Someone who can’t control their temper has no business being in possession of guns.

      Drive 30 mph over the speed limit? Someone that reckless has no business with owning guns.

      They will *massively* expand what makes someone a prohibited person. If they can’t control the guns, they *will* control the person.

      SCOTUS will be “busy, busy, busy!” (hopefully) slapping them down from here on out.

      Hang on kids, it’s-a-gonna be a bumpy ride…

        • I think all you doom and gloomers need to remove the tin foil hats, your brains are losing cells by the millions.

        • @Azzhole
          You need to look at history of gun control. Then extrapolate it while listening to leftist’s threats.
          If you are optimistic, you have not been paying attention.

      • This article isn’t about a law; not even a bill.
        it instead talks about a few legislators thinking about making a bill.
        However, IMO, there are far too many legislators (and aides) who will recognize the dangers such legislation would apply to themselves, and the proposal will die a quiet death.
        Can you imaging the political ads exposing the social media mistakes the opponent has made? (I realize this is being done now, but such legislation would make social media comments far more weighty in the political election arena.)

        • ‘However, IMO, there are far too many legislators (and aides) who will recognize the dangers such legislation would apply to themselves,”

          These are the same people who don’t think tax increase apply to them, and are always surprised when higher taxes result in lower government income.

  5. Then we should go through all their social media and the rest of their business before they can even register to run for office.

    • Well, most presidential applicants, in the recent past, have released their tax records. . . well all but that one guy. . .

      • Have you ever filed taxes? they really aren’t very informative. They are on an issue to make a rich person look greedy.

        All the most successful politicans, except…that guy, have scrubbed and massaged their tax returns to show that they are wonderful people. The clintons tax returns are a perfect example. they launder all their real income through elaborate trust agreements that keep them smelling perfect.

        But if you haven’t played games with your tax returns, and he have truckload of money,…like that guy….you look like a greedy bastard.

        That is, in fact, the only purpose of their release. Hence, Trump would rather not release his for the simple reason that is, he is a greedy bastard.

      • “Well, most presidential applicants, in the recent past, have released their tax records. . . well all but that one guy. . .”

        Without a law requiring release of tax returns, why bother? And that law would likely be unconstitutional. The whole “release the tax returns” is just bizarre political theater; virtue signaling. Why should anyone have to release tax records at all? Do you think that releasing tax records will uncover criminal activity that the IRS missed?

        Oh yeah….there was that guy who refused to release his school records. Guess that was OK because..

      • What the dickens kinda dirt does anybody expect to find in your tax returns? That was the stupidest gripe I’ve heard in years.

        • It isn’t Trump’s tax returns they really want. Those are likely to be plain vanilla because he runs everything through businesses and trusts. The clamor for tax returns is really a demand to see contracts, negotiation records, attorney work product, notes, diaries and journals.

        • Dunno, there have been more than a few people retiring quite wealthy after a lifetime in ‘public service’. I am inclined to be more than a little suspicious of people who get rich while they draw a government paycheck.

        • “What the dickens kinda dirt does anybody expect to find in your tax returns? ”

          They don’t expect to find anything illegal, but the y expect to set a precedent so no one who isn’t a life long public servant, aka parasite, ever runs for office

          It is the same as the idiotic indignation that Trump had six bankruptcies. Six out of 628 companies over 29 years — in other words way LESS than the average bankruptcy rate in real estate development and hospitality business.

          Trump will have taken advantage of every legal tax shelter and right up to the line, something EVERY business and person does when able because you have to when your competition does, and the Democrats plan to make a big deal of it.

          Democrats who never created a single job want to criticize Trump. by the way, one of the few Democrats who actually operated a business is no different, Beto has STILL weight held his most important tx return records

  6. This is being pioneered by the Chinese Social Credit system. However, there is no reason to think that such a system cannot be applied in the US. There is a lot of work going forward creating Big Data based profiles of those inclined toward committing crimes.

    A good book on this is Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz. It isn’t a primer on how to use Big Data, it is more of a book that is intended to introduce the reader to what Big Data is, and how it can be used to make meaningful predictions. The Economist listed it as “best book of the year.” I am not sure that I would go that far,but I can see how the premise can be applied to allowing firearms purchases. I expect we will see it being applied in a couple of decades. Note, I am not saying that it is good, or bad, simply that it is.

    As far as social media. I avoid most of the big names. However, I realize that offers me no protection at all. I tried to delete my Facebook account about eight years ago, it is still there.

    • Even if you never used Facebook they would still likely have a decent file on you thanks to friends, family and co-workers who use the service.

      I gave up Facebook back when you really could. But I know how they operate, their “customers” are the product the company markets to… other companies. That includes information on who users might know even when the “known people” themselves don’t use Facebook. Zuck has been quoted as saying that people give him all the information about themselves plus their friends, coworkers and compatriots who might not even have internet service and the guy has also been quoted as referring to users as “dumb fucks” for giving him that exact data.

      Combine that with Facebook’s predictive algorithms, their intentional creation of depression and what amounts to addiction with their service by intentionally engineering things to provide a dopamine hit when you’re most vulnerable to it and what you have is digital crack.

      Honestly if you do some serious research on Facebook you’ll come away with the distinct impression that by comparison RJR and Phillip Morris are warm, cuddly, honest companies who sell a safer, more productive and probably less addictive product.

  7. So, once again we are shutting down communication channels and forcing people to not have to coexist and learn how to not resolve things with their words before going to violence. Or possibly just letting them get a little steam off to get temperment back on track.

    This is another step towards causing violence..

    This reminds me of the safe spaces song from South Park.

  8. But yet racist hate groups like antifa get to make death threats, harass and assault people online and irl and nothing will be done because liberal “utopias” like new york protect them from any prosecution what so ever.

    • I’m pretty sure the real issue is that antifa maggots assault and battery people OFFLINE/in the real world. If they just stayed down in their mommies basement playing video games and yapping on reddit the US would be a better place

  9. Modern life is ever more resembling a Black Mirror episode. I think politicians and businessmen watch that show as if it were an instruction manual.

  10. Who is ‘suitable,’ based on criteria established by people / communists who do not want any of us to have guns, or free speech, or any independent thought or action.

    Unless someone has lived without any internet, texting, email, phone — anything that can be tracked, and is tracked, and has been for a long time — you will be determined to be unsuitable. The ‘reason’ will be manufactured if it doesn’t exist.

    If you have no history at all on the internet? If you’re that one in 10 million? You’ll be denied because they don’t know enough about you to know if you’re ‘suitable.’

    i.e., this is a not-even-thinly disguised move to obliterate gun ownership in this country. Then full-force communism can get underway.

    Scary shit. The communists basically control all media in this country now. It’s just a matter of persuading a few more million that ‘assault rifles’ need to be banned … a few more million (or tens of millions) of illegals forced into our country to alter the political landscape in America … a few more years of kids ‘graduating’ from high school and being unable to function in the real world ….

    The commies got smart a few decades ago. They realized that a flat out invasion wasn’t going to work. But they could destroy America from within (see the Frankfurt School). No war necessary. Take over education, destroy religion, families, infiltrate government, introduce degeneracy … and boom! America collapses from within.

    They don’t need a ‘civil outbreak’ … they just need a few more years to secure what is already a vast electronic prison. Get ‘the people’ the ASK for restrictions — that’s the thing. Have enough ‘mass shootings,’ and people BEG for more laws! The adage about ‘trading freedom for security,’ and you get neither. The commies are brilliant, and evil.

    Whether we use our ‘real names’ or not, there’s no hiding from the communists. They know every goddamned thing about us now. To live in fear of being found out? That’s hardly our biggest fear. And thinking we can hide from them? Who are we kidding? They have our every keystroke and most of our spoken words recorded somewhere.

    Perhaps the only chance we have is for people to stand up, out loud, visibly, identified. i.e., lead by example. We might be afraid, but stand up anyway. We may be the ones who get picked off first because we’re greater threats. I don’t know. Or they ignore us because the commies just need a little more time for everything to be in place.

    We’re witness to, and part of, the collapse of America from within, brought about by very brilliant and evil people who have been working toward this end for over a hundred years.

    When we’re afraid to speak up — and I don’t mean anonymously — THAT is when we’re fucked. Losing our guns, and every other freedom, will follow naturally. It’s why the First Amendment is the First: it is the most important of all of them.

  11. And they wonder why more and more…..and more people are taking a ‘just say no’ attitude towards ‘social profiles.’

    Facebook, twitter, etc…..the juice just aint worth the squeeze.

  12. In what way would this not be a grievous violation of the peoples 1st and 2nd amendment rights? Is there any other situation where someone’s use of their 1st amendment rights be grounds for terminating their 2A rights? And beyond that, what other enumerated rights are up for grabs if you use your rights in a way that some unaccountable bureaucrat declares inappropriate? I imagine the 4th and 5th amendment rights would be the first to go. How about the 3rd then? Why not just flat out seize peoples property if they share the wrong meme?

    • It’s the basic idea and intent behind all of this. Incremental, as always. We sleep during the encroachments elsewhere. The goal is nothing short of communism.

      • “The goal is nothing short of communism.”

        Communism is an ideology tied to an economic system. I think what you are trying to identify is simple totalitarianism. Which is not an ideology, nor an economic system; it is raw, unlimitable power over a populace. Totalitarianism is much worse then communism.

    • Remember, these are the “The Constitution is a living document.” people. In other words “It means what we say it mean comrade.”

  13. Why bother with just gun owners? Shouldn’t the gubmint keep a list naughty or nice list with everybody on it?

    • “Another Unconstitutional “good idea” that infringes on the 1st, 2nd, and probably 4th Amendments.”

      “Unconstitutional” is whatever the courts say it is, whenever they like. And they like the Patriot Act.

  14. Best argument for the 2nd Amendment yet. The 2nd guarantees the 1st. Unfortunately, it only works if we never have to use it. Re-read the history of the last war on American soil. This time, if the deranged radicals at either end of the spectrum get what they want, there will be no winners, only those what have survived, and they will all have equally lost. No soldier or civilian is more ruthless, savage or unbeatable the the average American Jane or Joe fighting to hold what’s theirs. Don’t expect any rules of engagement, realize that there will be no captives held, no compromise, no retreat and no surrender. It will burn until it burns itself out. Please think before acting, then think twice. There is no way of telling what act of unwitting political stupidity will set this oncoming disaster in motion, only that something certainly will. In the end, entropy always wins. The quo never remains static. -30-

  15. All of this verbal vitriol and angst in the media and elsewhere that’s been going on for the past few years between the various factions and ideological battalions reminds me of the “hurry up and wait” periods just before the shooting starts. And there is always shooting eventually.

  16. Every day we get closer to a real life “Minority Report” soon they will start locking people up for things they think you will do #voterepublican

  17. My “Fake book” profile does not have my mailing address. No phone number. No work location. No e mail address.
    I’ve never written that anywhere on social media. Being asked for that information is a warning to me.

    • Anything we have written anywhere online — any email, any communication — is recorded and kept, and has been for years. It may well be that anything we save on our computer — not sent to anyone — is kept somewhere. I would be surprised if it weren’t the case. Any online account, any online information, bank accounts, credit cards, anything at all via the internet — it’s recorded / stored. And ‘can be, and will be, used against you in a court of law.’ Any text, likely any phone call at this point.

      Google / AOL / yahoo etc. are information gathering tools for big brother.

      • The Gathering of information by these billion dollar companies is a serious problem. It is something that has bothered me for quite some time long before the scandals started to appear in the news.

        They are making it easier for humans to partake in their favorite Vice. But at the same time collecting that information and pass it on to who knows who. If you really start to think about it it’s very scary. I think the very young are the most vulnerable. An older person such as myself understands about security issues. Young people are very innocent they’re very uninformed. And these companies take advantage of that.

  18. I fear for the continued existence of my Country as it is now, regardless of which way the mid-terms go. God is just, but will He be merciful? -30-

    • I fear for our country, too, Michael. God’s plan is beyond our understanding. We can only pray for His mercy, and pray that His will be done, and that we are good and faithful servants. Those are things I pray for.

      We have effectively voted ourselves blindly into all of this. It’s very unlikely that we will vote our way out of it. Communists are far too entrenched and have too much control at this point to allow election results to get in the way. Elections are more of a distraction for the masses, and maintain the illusion that ‘we the people’ have real control over all of this — that the politicians are accountable to us … lol … I don’t know when the last time that was the case.

      Europe is effectively lost. Australia lost; when they gave up their guns 20 years ago, that was the beginning of their end. The invasion of muslims began, and continues. Europe is beyond saving from the forced invasion of muslims. Canada is under full attack now. America is the big fish, and the communists are turning more and more of their seemingly infinite resources against us, more and more blatantly. The communists are as evil as they are brilliant.

      • Our Bill of Rights I believe is what gives us the protection that place is like Canada or Europe simply do not have. That is why they are terrified of the Second Amendment. I’ve noticed that the antifa attacks are not happening in areas where there are very good laws supporting gun civil rights and open carry weapons.

        Even in Charlottesville the fact that conservatives showed up with weapons is a deterrence. Things could have been even worse. But the fact is groups of people carrying weapons is a deterrent against attack.

  19. I don’t give a shit. The day it becomes illegal to speak my mind then they can come and take it. But they better pack a lunch because it’s gonna be a long day. Don’t tread on me.

  20. “They” already make it hard to do many things if you don’t leave much of a wake.

    I, myself, don’t have many of the life-story / tracking relationships and records. I work for myself. Don’t drive. Don’t hold a government professional license or similar. Don’t have a mortgage, indeed never owned “real property.” Now, I not having enough social media. Sigh.

    In reality, I’m not trying to fly under any radar on purpose. I’ve just never been interested in, or lacked access to the things I named.

    That said, there are at least two sets of my fingerprints in Federal data sets. If they want to know if I am “that guy”, it’s easy. This latest spasm is about something else: they want another excuse for being up in everyone’s business; want to make another prerogative contingent on someone’s permission.

  21. And when regular reading of articles from and occasional posting on “dangerous red flag sites,” such as TTAG suddenly marks you as a counter cultural usurpative person not worthy of firearm ownership, …, Yes, we are almost there now!

  22. Hate speech.

    I could see dinging people for credible terroristic threats online. But even that should be enforced when it happens, not at the time of attempting a gun purchase. There are laws against it now but hard and boring to enforce, and a false-positive is basically a 1A violation and getting involved in a flame war, so huge embarassment.

    Oh well, too bad, the can’t stop robocall scams either, some crimes go unpunished. The RKBA isn’t a policy tool, using it that way is just an extra slimy infringement.

  23. I’ve been online since it was called the arpanet and there was no such thing yet as the world wide web. New BBS’s were traded underground and NNTP was the height of tech subversion. I even remember the very first virus (Robert Morris Jr.? self-replicating worm- if memory serves). Anyway, in all that time, I have put my real name on one single professional-related website (that I wrote the code to myself) one single time. Never before or since. I have never understood why anyone would do so. Plausible deniability is the least amount of opsec anyone should ever settle for, and I say this as someone whose real first and last name are both in the top 100 most common names, as is the actual combination itself. Use VPNs and NoScript, never save your own search history, don’t use any google or apple products, monitor your cookies, wipe your .tmp files, secure your WiFi and use actual wires to your router whenever possible, and TrueCrypt anything sensitive (TrueCrypt has no backdoor) – these things should just be old habits. If you’re really worried about internet usage, use different public WiFis with a virtual machine and reload it every time. This stuff isn’t really being paranoid, because paranoia implies worry, and I don’t.

    • To quote the Church lady… well, good for you!

      Back in the real world we have bank accounts, credit cards, home loans, car loans, internet purchases, emails, cell phones, background checks for new gun purchases, the need to advertise our business, school info…. etc etc etc

      I’m imagining there are less than a handful of people in this country that can live the way you describe… and none of them are younger than 50.

      • We are in a sad state indeed if using VPNs, fake names on facebook and setting up a browser with basic protections is beyond all but a handful of people. It takes a tiny bit of knowledge and almost no time at all. Pathetic.

    • Easier said than done. Google and Apple are everywhere. If you don’t use their services, the person taking your transaction might. Everything else, however, is plausible.

      • Windows phone is actually quite viable, as are non-google based android phones. Bing, duckduckgo, etc are all just as good as google for searches. Apple always has sucked – there is no reason for anyone to use anything apple ever.

    • Doubtless, all or any of this is “reasonable” indication of nefarious intention. Like paying for thing with cash — obviously means you’re a terrorist mole trying to stay under the radar.

      Q – Why do you need any of that if you’re not doing anything wrong?

      A – You’re not the only people out there.

      Complementing basic precautions, I have a few standard responses which have worked without generating too much overhead, so far, along with the “I do not consent.” stickers on e-stuff that contains data:

      “Outstanding; sure, get a warrant, I’ll wait.”

      “So, you’re asserting exigent circumstance?”

      “I don’t consent to searches.”

      “Of course, I’m going to follow your orders. We’ll sort it out in court later; you re recording, right?’

      It helps if you wear a friendly smile. Those self-aggrandizing antagonisties on YouTube aren’t doing anyone any good. Often LEOs are looking for your reaction, to decide to follow up. Snottily emitting “No, you can’t touch my electronics.” maybe you’re being a jerk, maybe you are trying to brush them back from your something to hide. Cheerfully agreeing to the process that creates a record is a completely different vibe.

  24. While this won’t pass or hold up, even with the putrid NYC legislator and Governor running the show in New York State, it’s chilling that this is where Democratic politicians are trying to head. Don’t think the liberals in your “free” state haven’t caught wind of this, either.

  25. How far are the radical left libs going to go? – they have been known to bomb -gun down people they have their hatred for. Timothy McVeigh was a far left thinker- bombed the Oklahoma federal building killing over 100. They stir up simple minded people to carry out atrocious acts of violence. Riots Mayhem- BLM calling for randomly selecting a white man and murdering him and his family. A school shooting is used to stir up people to protest and more. It can be a lot more if a simple minded sort wants to be a hero of the cause.
    This is a serious problem for law abiding citizens=the AFT and FBI keep a list of EVERYONE WHO HAS LEGALLY BOUGHT A FIREARM. The government’s data systems are hacked so easily—don’t you think that a radical could get a list of every american who bought a firearm? Easy as pie for a hacker.
    A tip—what we did- the AFT law says a gun or replica of a gun of Pre-1898 is a NON FIREARM. Like jose wales civil war era revolvers. You can buy them without any FBI approval –straight to your door—they are black powder- muzzle loading type- but dig this—we got what is called a

    “conversion cylinder for cap and ball naa”

    You replace the original cylinder with this conversion and then it will accept modern ammo. No screwing around with a can of black powder—works great! Google it- learn about it- we did – and we are not on a FBI “HAS GUNS” list—but still carry protection everywhere- the country has goon crazy. Good luck.

    don’t be stupid- or you’ll be raped and dead. Trump can’t make america safe.
    get a revolver and carry it everywhere
    or if you don’t want to let the government know you have a gun –
    get a replica cap and ball revolver-black powder–legally it is a non-firearm–no fbi check
    then get a “conversion cylinder for cap and ball naa” gunbroker or ebay
    learn about those
    get trained+get armed= stay alive in Obama’s transformed america

  26. I am loving how they are going after free speech in their efforts to block gun ownership
    Violate 2 rights at the same time!
    If you throw in self incrimination, that’s 3 constitutional rights violations at one time!
    Can we try for four?
    Maybe they can quarter soldiers in our houses ?

    • Maybe they could force people to allow the National Guard/State Police to stay in their houses overnight after they take their guns, so they can have a good night’s rest to continue the following days confiscations?

  27. Sooo what happens when someone makes a fake social media account of someone else? Or you have your sunshine and rainbows account with your real name for your employer to see, generic, uplifting family events, and otherwise a staged profile. Your real profile is a screen name completely unrelated to your real name?
    What happens when multiple people use screen names from the same house?

  28. This all doesn’t even take into account DIY guns. 80% lowers, people with machining tools, if you know what you’re doing, you can make a fully functional semi or full auto firearm yourself. If you don’t know what you’re doing, a single-shot gun would still allow you to get the drop on any fool careless enough to try and enforce laws as stupid as this.

    Also, if ‘hate speech’ is going to prevent me from getting a firearm, I suggest we have a hate speech party! Nothing like a good joke to make any following statements null and void in a court of law! Also, it will get it out of our systems so we can be good little boys and girls for the next three years.

    I’ll start us off!
    Hitler never did anything bad.
    Black people are the bane of society.
    Mexicans are feckless garden workers.
    The Chinese are why exotic species go extinct.

    Okay, it’s your turn! Time to say something super offensive and algorithm triggering! Also, for the record, if anybody takes what I just said seriously, they should write “I don’t understand sarcasm” a hundred times on a blackboard, ala Bart Simpson. 😉

  29. I dare the legal authorities you to figure out the name I use on my facebook, which is associated with a burner email account, which is associated with a spoofed cell phone number.

  30. Imagine if they did this for cars? Pictures of you drinking a lot at parties and now you cannot buy a car. Or searching for street racing on Google. Now you can’t buy a car

  31. Anyone that uses Social Media today is going to do nothing but set themselves up for being denied things in the future or worse. Do yourself a favor, and delete your accounts.

  32. With regards to being a ghost on the internet, it’ll be very much like when you have no credit and get denied for a car loan/mortgage.

    As far as everything else goes, it’s typical for the Leftist playbook. Freedoms are OK as long as they are the ones controlling who gets to exercise them. Guns are cool as long as they can select who gets them and who doesn’t.

    The local Party chieftain can stockpile 30 rifles and thousands of rounds of ammo, and have armed security, but the average Joe will have to beg to legally acquire a .22LR plinker that he can only possess in his home or take to and from a range.

    A favored college professor or media personality can exercise the ultimate in freedom of speech and threaten whomever they want, but the average Joe will be jailed for misgendering someone.

    A big-time donor to the Party can seal his personal documents and encrypt his communications, but the average Joe will need a license for that sort of thing.

    Again, they’re cool with freedom as long as they are the arbiters of who gets the privilege to exercise it.

  33. When such people are elected to law making or regulatory office, is anyone really surprised by the proposal of legislative or regulatory foolishness?

  34. 50 years ago if you thought you were being monotired and worried abou tit, you were ethier: a) a paranoid narcissist; or, b) actually a KGB spy/mafia don/etc

    It simply was worth no ones time to task an actual human being to monitoring, collecting, sorting your ocnversations, views, etc.

    But here are some costs in today’s money in storage costs:
    $0.05: the entire text history of your entire lifetime medical records
    $1-$3: all imaging data from a dozen high res MRIs
    $:0.005: Every single data point on your DNA
    $0.40: transcribed digitally stored text of every phone call the average person makes in a year
    $0.07: every social media text post and ‘likes”/”retweets” of other text posts in a year.
    $0.001 your entire law enforcement interaction including every traffic and parking infraction 9and these also show where you travel)
    $0.001 every amazon and other on line purchase
    $0.03 every credit/debit purchase, not just amount and when and where, but everything bought, right down to if you are the kind of person who buys chips on payday, and of course how impulsive you are, and how healthily you eat, and of course your lifetime travel history.
    $.001 your credit history

    The capture of this data and algorithms to mine it are even lower amounts. Judgments can be made from pedestrian commercial ones such: are you a ‘devil customer’ who buys only sales item and does a lot of returns (amazon scores you on this) to your psychological profile on impulsiveness, compulsiveness, aggression, your likely IQ range, your response to authority, etc. If someone related to you posted their DNA, not only can law enforcement use it against your grandkids, it can conceivably be used by health authorities — or potential future mates to determine significant parts of your health profile and risks.

    If you never in your life posted a picture of yourself online there are probably dozens others have posted your pic and name now in the deep web, in fact your high school yearbook picture which will work with a heck of a lot of facial recog software is almost certainly mined.

    We are not approaching an age of limited privacy, but an age of zero privacy– and age of ever expanding exploitation of private data, compounded by databases being successfully hacked left and right, from OPM to Dod personnel, to census answers (there was record low responses this year to long form health questions by census bureau because of this very legitimate reason not to participate); to GSS, and pew type survey databases, etc.

    There are peer reviewed studies showing that simply collecting and mining your text based writing, either lengthy or tweet length, can predict onset of Alzheimer’s from simply looking at variety of vocabulary used. The more your vocabulary range lowers over time the sooner you will have Alzheimer’s.

    Proposing using social media posts to limit rights is only the tp of the iceberg. How about judging peoples impulse control based on buying ice cream? Of based simply on whether you buy eye level sales items? What is your video game play list? What are you watching on Netflix or Amazon? War films? What does your cousin’s DNA say about your likely level of testosterone and thereby your ‘toxic masculinity”?
    Do you buy mashed up chicken fingers, and ground meat (meaning you are less aggressive) or do you buy steak on the bone or whole chicken — meaning you are more aggressive? Why not go through supermarket receipts that are all digital and stored now, or restaurant receipts of everyone to look for this: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2014/04/30/Cornell-study-finds-children-who-eat-chicken-on-the-bone-are-more-aggressive/7851398872882/

  35. I departed New York, NYC many years ago, late 1967 to be specific. Never found it necessary or worthwhile returning except for a few funerals, and one wedding.

  36. Gun owners need to shut down their social media accounts immediately.
    Never use your real name when you set up email accounts .
    Always watch what you say online
    It’s the world we live in now, get use to it.

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