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A meme was posted to c/memes@lemmy.world with a partial picture of a driver's licence. The Lemmy users in the comments proceeded to post all the identifying information they could get from the license, including gender, date of birth, and zip code of the person's home. The meme is probably reposted and so this isn't doxxing the Lemmy OP, but that's what the users in the comments seem to think they're doing.

Collecting and disseminating someone's personal information is doxxing even if that information could be found anyway with enough time and knowledge.

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[-] mp3@lemmy.ca 49 points 1 month ago

Moral of the story: when in doubt, pixelize any potential personally identifiable information (aka PII).

[-] talentedkiwi@sh.itjust.works 33 points 1 month ago

Don't just pixelate, just straight up remove or cover it with a solid color.

Still unlikely, but there might be a way to reverse it. https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/researcher-reverses-redaction-extracts-words-from-pixelated-image/

[-] Hoimo@ani.social 9 points 1 month ago

There was also Acropalypse, a bug in a default image editor on Google Pixels which let you undo crops of screenshots. That must be fixed by now, but it's still something to be aware of. You need to be certain that your edit truly removes the information from the file.

Acropalypse

That's a 10/10 name.

[-] JackbyDev@programming.dev 23 points 1 month ago

Black it out. Don't pixelate it.

[-] starman2112@sh.itjust.works 16 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I get by with simply not posting any PII. I don't even post pictures from the inside of my apartment, for fear that someone will say "I recognize that floor plan, and that dent in the wall! You live at 2112 North Zimmerly, apartment 626, zip code 67202!" In fact, I obfuscate my identity as much as reasonably possible by only ever telling approximate truths about personal experiences, and outright lies about specifics.

My name is Pete, I was born May 15th 1995, I've lived in Wichita Kansas my entire life, where I've worked 3 minimum wage jobs, the latest of which I've been at for over 10 years. I have a dog named Charlie and a cat named Scooter. Exactly one statement in this paragraph is true.

[-] remotelove@lemmy.ca 13 points 1 month ago

The last sentence seems almost recursive.

[-] JackbyDev@programming.dev 10 points 1 month ago

If the last statement isn't true, then the entire paragraph could be a lie.

[-] ulterno@programming.dev 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Or the whole paragraph could be true, except the last sentence, yes

[-] GBU_28@lemm.ee 3 points 1 month ago

You're assuming everyone involved had good intentions.

[-] Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world 23 points 1 month ago

Morally equivalent to slapping a stranger IMO. Maybe worse.

[-] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 23 points 1 month ago

This is probably against the rules, right? Can anyone confirm? If so it should be reported and taken down.

[-] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 12 points 1 month ago

Yeah, if the post is not OOP's own document and not given permission from the document's owner, then it breaks Lemmy.world's terms. However if it is, then OOP should know better than to post a photo of their personal ID on a public forum.

[-] Fungah@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago

Why can't I help but feel that this is target anti Lemmy ragebait?

Oh, won't somebody please the think of the children! My poor pearls are in ever so much ranger.

This is the kind if shit you started seeing more and more of on reddit as the end vitrification started.

"We did it, Lemmy!"

[-] HappySkullsplitter@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago

I've seen this happen on reddit so many times over the years

[-] JackbyDev@programming.dev 9 points 1 month ago

!memes@lemmy.world, not c/memes@lemmy.world.

[-] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

Not cool, Cunningham.

[-] sbv@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

eh. They kind of doxxed themselves. The Lemmites just made it obvious.

That's a fun thread though. Thanks for linking to it.

[-] dragonfucker@lemmy.nz 13 points 1 month ago

They doxxed themself and the Lemmy users doxxed them too

[-] sbv@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 month ago

A veritable double doxxing

[-] dragonfucker@lemmy.nz 6 points 1 month ago

It's like when someone is already blackout drunk through their own poor decisions, and then you hand them another beer instead of a glass of water. Everyone gets to be at fault for that situation.

[-] al_Kaholic@lemmynsfw.com 5 points 1 month ago

Can I get another beer?

[-] sbv@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago

Just so long as I don't have to clean up after.

[-] JackbyDev@programming.dev 10 points 1 month ago

This is sort of a bad take. I get your point, but just because someone posts a little bit of information about themselves doesn't give you free reign to get all associated information and dump it.

For example, the owner of properties is public information. If you knew someone's name, you could reasonably find their address, or at least narrow it down a ton. That doesn't make it okay to post someone's address because they shared their name.

[-] sbv@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago

just because someone posts a little bit of information about themselves doesn't give you free reign to get all associated information and dump it

I get where you're coming from. And you're right - the ideal scenario would be some polite private messages telling the poster to take their stuff down.

[-] GBU_28@lemm.ee 2 points 1 month ago

Assuming it's their ID? doesn't matter if they say so

[-] EliasPhelixby777@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 month ago

Most sane Lemmy user :

this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2025
64 points (83.3% liked)

FediLore + Fedidrama

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