There's no teacher better than failure
T. Stark
That quote is, to the best of my knowledge, not from any recent Marvel Cinematic Universe film. It is from a smartphone game. But this week I got a bit of a real-life perspective on it. Last Tuesday, I gave myself a mission, to gather some basic information on a poster on a forum. The person's MO is a mix of insults, profanity and large amounts of "Fake News". As the operators of the forum kind of may see him as a way to get views and clicks, I knew a full doxxing would not be taken well. What I wanted to do was at least see where the contributor was from and some of the other places that were frequented.
My first attempts were by running the posters handle through a few sites, which led me nowhere. I tried pipl, a well-known site for looking up people; but none of the names really matched the target. My next idea was to look at sites like gab.ai that are havens for the alt-right and other right-wing authoritarians; this too led me nowhere. My last two ideas were to just search for the handle; alas, another failure.
So my next question is "what did I do wrong?" I think the main mistake I made was that this may have required more than an hour a day. Researching people, especially with just a username, may be time-consuming. A second mistake on my may have been that I was trying to search by username. I may try again, but this time look for an actual person. There's are a few "fake news" producers in Harrisburg that it may be interesting to get some info on. There's also someone who took a Facebook group and for awhile seemed to be using it as a personal litter box.
Technical Difficulties, And a Small First Step
My technical work hit a few roadblocks this week. I was hoping to download and image the Parrot operating system for my Secure Pi project, but it doesn't seem to be up. I do have the current OS backed up and safely on an external USB drive, in case I foul up.
I am pleased to report that I did get past "Level 0" of the "Bandit" wargame on Over The Wire. But I can't seem to decipher an symbol to get into level 1. I may have to use my larger-screened desktop or even my Pi.
Educating The Educator
A few months ago, I asked myself about the role I could see myself playing in #TheResistance. I realized that role would likely be two things; educator and communicator.
But an educator needs an education too. Which leaves me to decide which path to go. I have a $10 Amazon e-gift card at my disposal. My first plan was to buy a face mask for CPR, which I am certified in, and see if there's room in the case for narcan, which I have some training in. In addition to this I would order a book that is intended for martial artists, but from the sample seems to look at the legal issues of self-defense. The main goal of this book is to try and adapt some of the ideas for members of the "Black Bloc" and other elements of the group of activists known as "AntiFa". A dojo in my hometown I may want to re-join also uses the book as required reading.
But there may be another idea, a book that could be the manual for a real-life #maidez movement. With women's reproductive freedom likely to be under attack, having the resistance ready to go may not be a bad thing. I need to finish the sample of the book I have first though.