#operation pride fall

[justabitbelowaverage]

The “Operation Pride Fall" Screenshot

If you are seeing this first, I AM AGAINST THIS. I am posting for educational purposes. Please check out my last post about why you shouldn't be afraid of operation pride fall. 

[justabitbelowaverage]

The Truth Behind Operation Pride Fall and Why Nobody Should Worry About It

If you have yet to hear anything about it, good because there’s a lot for misinformation out there of those who would rather make a mountain out of a molehill. I'd like to start by saying that my own involvement or lack thereof in the LGBTQ+ community is something that will be held as private information. So let’s start with the basics:

What is it? Basically, someone on 4Chan decided to call open hunting season on the LGBTQ+ community on June 1st in an act of rebellion against pride month. They want people to comment on smaller accounts all over social media, breaking them down and making them question themselves.

Why shouldn’t you be afraid? Well, of course the existence of this movement hurts and homophobia should never be taken lightly but this was created on 4Chan, the armpit of all social media in most cases, and this happened before. That's right, the operation occurred last June as well. What's that? You didn't hear about it? Exactly my point.

Fact Checking: There have been a lot of claims of people threatening to dox those who are LGBTQ+ (which basically means finding their addresses and phone numbers and distributing them) which sounds really scary. These claims are false but even if I am mistaken and they are true, let me tell you a bit about doxxing as someone who used to be involved with some...unethical computer practices.

Tik Tok: nearly impossible to find a user's location. Phone numbers are available but only for those will a skill set way beyond those of the trolls on 4Chan, trust me.

Instagram: I would suggest privating your account if you really are concerned since brute forcing passwords and finding zipcodes and phone numbers are a lot easier through Instagram. If I make it sound easy, it's not, but of the other social medias it is the easiest.

Facebook: locations are easier to find as they are tagged in pictures and what not but if you're small on Facebook then it will be exceedingly difficult to find your posts in the first place. Phone numbers take a lot of backtracking and one misstep could send a message that looks like a bunch of jumbled nonsense to the user and thus giving the person a clear red flag.

Tumblr: presumably not under attack. Also, most users happen to be a part of the community so everyone has safety in numbers anyways. Personal info is harder to find on here as well since most people are using emails to sign up and you can't do much with emails.

I don't like the word “hacking” since it usually puts the picture of a guy in a black hoodie knocking down the FBI's firewalls but since I don't have a better word I have to use it here. Hacking is difficult business and doxing is illegal so it only takes one person to report it before the user gets banned. Never open a link that is given to you since that is basically a novice's favorite trick to get a person's location and personal information.

I would also like to point out that the number of people who are actually planning on participating in the operation are significantly smaller than those who are willing to stop them. Also, more people are “spreading awareness" than actually planning it out. I will put the screenshot of the original 4Chan post up in a different post if you are interested in seeing it for yourself but I did cut off the thread itself and blurred some unsavory language.

The Internet is your house and the “hackers” are blind thieves with rubber chickens for guns. If you are really scared that these guys are going to show up, put a lock on your door. In other words, private your accounts and close your comment sections.

It's also a one-day affair so even if you are pretty nervous about all this, just switch up your privacy settings for the day then put them back.

As a side note, I am more than willing to defend any of you if by some miracle you do encounter one of the people who are involved in this operation. If any of you need help, I have Tik Tok and Instagram and I am more than willing to defend your page. Just give me a shout. And hey, doxing a doxer is just self defense, right? (Jokes aside, don't dox people)