A frequent anonymous presence on social media, known only
under the pseudonym of Malcolm McEasy – most recently a persistent critic of a
slate of controversial candidates running for mayor and council in Sterling Heights, Michigan’s fourth-largest city — has
revealed himself.
photo (above) on Facebook this afternoon, along with a long commentary, explaining his
reasons for not providing his true ID. A longtime worker in the computer field,
he cited numerous observations that make him fear identity thieves and the
impact of data mining.
The man in the photo is easily recognizable to those,
like the gadflies running against the council incumbents, who routinely attend
Sterling Heights City Council meetings or watch them on cable TV. (I will honor
his wish not to have his name appear online, even as he acknowledges that he is
not some mystery man in Sterling Heights political circles.)
McEasy has spent months imparting scathing criticism – accompanied by videos of
council meetings – on the council challengers, led by mayoral candidate Paul
Smith, who has been slammed repeatedly as a bigot. Among his targets has been
Joe Judnick.
But the latest knock on Judnick is a Facebook message he
posted late Tuesday night that expressed outrage over radical online messages
carrying the hashtag #KillTheCops, which the candidate attributes to minorities
seeking revenge against the perceived racial insensitivity displayed in recent
months by white cops against black folks. (That’s putting it nicely.)
Malcolm has mentioned several times online that he comes
from a long line of relatives who have served in law enforcement. And in a bit of a Facebook about-face, over the
past 36 hours he has made it plain that he doesn’t appreciate people blasting
Judnick for his post advising cops facing blacks: “If any doubt … shoot!”
In fact, Malcolm seems to be expressing some sympathy for
Judnick when the embattled candidate asserts that, in too many instances, white cops are
now under siege, viewed as the enemy for every action they take when confronting a
black man or woman or child.
the use of pseudo-names by several of our group members, myself included.
Many (including me) have been accused of having more than
one active identity, and have been accused of using pseudo-names as a means of
hiding our identity so we may secretly stick it to one or more candidates
without anyone knowing it is us.
I have made no secret of my IRL identity (I have told
anyone who asks), but I would like to take a few minutes to explain the REASON
why I do so.
And before I start, for the 1 or 2 people in the (Facebook) group
who don’t already know me, the picture (above) was taken a few minutes ago. If
you don’t know who I am by looking at this picture, then you aren’t really involved
in local politics so it won’t matter to you.
I have been actively involved in the computer industry
for almost 40 years. I have been active in privacy issues for a little over 30
years (ever since reading the 1982 book “The Puzzle Palace”).
Whether you know it or not, there is a process called
‘data mining’ which is being actively used by corporations, political parties,
identity thieves and others to create a highly detailed profile of both you and
your daily activities.
Every time you click on a web link, every time you post
on social media, every time you make a comment on a newspapers web site, that
data is added to your profile.
media, it is possible to develop a fairly accurate profile of your entire life;
what you believe, what you support, what you oppose, what ‘dangerous’ ideas you
have.
This data mining technique is especially dangerous when
companies and individuals cross reference your online identity with publicly
accessed information on your real life identity.
databases of individual voters for entire states which use the information
collected to better convince you to vote for their candidate. And corporations
(who are not subject to the same 4th amendment limitations as the government),
will often sell your information to those annoying advertisers who call your
home at dinner time every week.
It is also possible, with very little effort and very
little computer skill, to cross reference you with your online
“friends”, and their “friends” and so on until you have
compiled a real life database of real people to be used for both good and evil.
are putting their personal information out for the whole world to see. Thieves
know this, and are taking advantage of it.
You only need to watch the news for a week to see stories
where people post “heading on vacation for a week” to their online
accounts; only to come home to find their home robbed.
their family members, the thief now can know your mother’s maiden name. When a
user joins a group from their high school, that gives thieves another answer to
familiar ‘security questions’ used by credit card companies.
In short: people actively assist those who are robbing
them because they willing put every aspect of their life on the internet for
the world to see.
online identity and the real life identity. With this one simple step, you
break the essential link necessary for identity thieves and others who would
use your online information to harm (or manipulate) you in real life.
This technique is especially useful if you use the same
online identity all the time. The name I use on Facebook, for example, is the
same name I have used in ALL of my online activity for the last 13 years.
I have used this name here, on twitter, on YouTube, on Google
+, on Yahoo, on newspaper comments around the world, and countless other
occasions where web sites ask for a ‘name’.
presence, and (probably) a vast consumer database, but the real life person you
see in the picture below has almost none.
target.
