Here’s a way to suppress dissent: bait commentary from people who can’t conceal their identities. Then attack those people when identified.
Suppose there’s a debate raging on some chat post at the BBC website. The peaceful country of Smedleyville is being invaded by the belligerent country of Hornswaggle. Hornswaggle operatives are commenting on the post in favor of invasion. Then, a defender of Smedleyville comments with competing facts or analysis.
Now, suppose – just suppose – that Hornswaggle operatives have prepared the way by infiltrating the BBC chat page system. When a Smedleyville supporter sees the chat and establishes an account in order to comment (and then does so), the Hornswaggle operative fishes out the real name, email address, secondary email address and whatever other info is associated with the user name (displayed name) the page comment shows. Then Hornswaggle’s attack team uses various free tools to search for general information to show more about the Smedleyville defender available from the general web, database leaks, whatever.
When the Smedleyville defender is identified as to actual name, other legit email addresses, physical address, etc. then offensive operations can begin. This can be anything from real-world thug attacks to just providing the defender’s real information to junk mail lists and African prince scammers. The Hornswaggle forces have all the options at this point.
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The moral of the story is that anything one does online leaves tracks. If the Smedleyville defender wishes to operate on the chat board, I’d recommend using a paid email service (no free webmail or disposable addresses) with an address specifically created for use on the chat board in question. This email address must have a password not used on any other account. The defender must use no slang or regional references that would suggest location. The defender must use no professional jargon that would aid in identification of the person commenting. The defender must not attempt insult, since that’s often cultural in nature, thus aiding in identification.
And the defender may choose not to comment. No doubt there would be many ways to help Smedleyvillle other than arguing with someone on a chat board possibly read by very few. These boards are useful to see how the other side argues, but not necessarily useful to use as venues for advancing one’s cause.
