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Critics might still argue that public shaming of the kind Squire promotes constitutes a watered-down form of doxing, and that this willingness to take matters into their own hands makes Squire and her cohort no better than vigilantes. As David Snyder, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, says of Squire’s work: “Is it ethical to digitally stalk people? It may not be. Is it legal? Probably, as long as she doesn’t hack into their accounts and she’s collecting information they post publicly on an open platform like Facebook.” But he warns that limiting speech of anyone, even white supremacists, starts down a slippery slope. “Political winds can shift across time. Liberals who might cheer at a university limiting neo-Nazi speech also have to worry about the flip side of that situation when someone like Trump might penalize them in the future.”

As far as Squire is concerned, there’s a clear difference between protected speech and speech that poses an imminent threat to public safety. “Richard Spencer yelling about wanting a white ethno-state after events like Charlottesville—it’s hard to argue that kind of speech doesn’t constitute danger.”

Ultimately, Squire sees her work as a type of “fusion center”—a government term for a data center that integrates intelligence from different agencies—for groups combating white nationalism. And she admits that she is outsourcing some of the ethical complexities of her work by handing her data off to a variety of actors. “But it’s the same as how Facebook is hypocritical in claiming to be ‘just a platform’ and not taking responsibility for hate. Every time we invent a technology to solve a problem, it introduces a bunch more problems. At least I’m attentive to the problems I’ve caused.” Squire sees herself as having to make difficult choices inside a system where old guidelines have been upended by the seismic powers of the internet. White nationalists can be tracked and followed, and therefore she believes she has a moral obligation to do so. As long as law enforcement keeps “missing” threats like James Alex Fields, she says, “I don’t have any moral quandaries about this. I know I’m following rules and ethics that I can stand up for.”

After Charlottesville, some white supremacist groups did find themselves pushed off certain social media and hosting sites by left-wing activists and tech companies wary of being associated with Nazis. These groups relocated to platforms like the far-right Twitter clone Gab and Russia’s Facebook-lite VK. Squire sees this as a victory, believing that if white nationalists flee to the confines of the alt-right echo chamber, their ability to recruit and organize weakens. “If the knowledge that we’re monitoring them on Facebook drives them to a darker corner of the internet, that’s good,” she asserts.

That doesn’t mean Squire won’t follow them there. She has no plans to stop digitally surveilling far-right extremists, wherever they may be. After Jason Kessler, the organizer of the Unite the Right rally, was unverified on Twitter, he joined VK. His first post read, “Hello VK! I’d rather the Russians have my information than Mark Zuckerberg.” The declaration was quickly scooped up by Squire. She had already built out Whack-a-Mole to track him there too.

Winterborn wrote:All it takes is for her to get one identity wrong and then there will be lawsuits. Also on the flip side, what happens when the other side does the same thing and takes it to the next step?........

Winterborn wrote:All it takes is for her to get one identity wrong and then there will be lawsuits. Also on the flip side, what happens when the other side does the same thing and takes it to the next step?........

kalm wrote:

Winterborn wrote:All it takes is for her to get one identity wrong and then there will be lawsuits. Also on the flip side, what happens when the other side does the same thing and takes it to the next step?........

They have. She’s been doxed, receives death threats, letters to Elon demanding she be fired, signs put up in her yard etc.

Winterborn wrote:

kalm wrote:
They have. She’s been doxed, receives death threats, letters to Elon demanding she be fired, signs put up in her yard etc.

It would be interesting to know what Elon's lawyers think of this and if the University knew of her side project. If she used University's equipment (laptop) or did it on work time they probably would get named in any legal actions. Even if they do not, it is going to seem like the University is condoning her actions and picking a side.

Ibanez wrote:The language is interesting: she's a left-wing ACTIVIST alongside Antifa and she opposes right-wing EXTREMISTS.

kalm wrote:

Winterborn wrote:
It would be interesting to know what Elon's lawyers think of this and if the University knew of her side project. If she used University's equipment (laptop) or did it on work time they probably would get named in any legal actions. Even if they do not, it is going to seem like the University is condoning her actions and picking a side.

Well at least they’d be picking the anti-nazi side...

GannonFan wrote:

kalm wrote:
Well at least they’d be picking the anti-nazi side...

Odd of course, as her tactics are very similar to what the actual Nazis did to enforce their purity of thought in pre-war Germany. Her intentions are certainly more noble, although I'm sure the actual Nazi's thought their actions were noble as well.

kalm wrote:

Winterborn wrote:
It would be interesting to know what Elon's lawyers think of this and if the University knew of her side project. If she used University's equipment (laptop) or did it on work time they probably would get named in any legal actions. Even if they do not, it is going to seem like the University is condoning her actions and picking a side.

Well at least they’d be picking the anti-nazi side...

kalm wrote:

Ibanez wrote:The language is interesting: she's a left-wing ACTIVIST alongside Antifa and she opposes right-wing EXTREMISTS.

Good catch, especially with disseminating info to Antifa but for the sake of argument, are you saying one can’t be anti-nazi while remaining moderate in their own beliefs?

The Bush and Obama administrations probably shared intel with Saudi Arabia...does that make them extremists?

kalm wrote:

GannonFan wrote:
Odd of course, as her tactics are very similar to what the actual Nazis did to enforce their purity of thought in pre-war Germany. Her intentions are certainly more noble, although I'm sure the actual Nazi's thought their actions were noble as well.

Agreed. That’s what makes it an interesting story. The desire to silence a viewpoint has its red flags.

Antifa believes it is pursuing the opposite of authoritarianism. Many of its activists oppose the very notion of a centralized state. But in the name of protecting the vulnerable, antifascists have granted themselves the authority to decide which Americans may publicly assemble and which may not. That authority rests on no democratic foundation.

Chizzang wrote:The way you make a Nazi go away in the world today isn't by creating an equal opposite force
ANTIFA and Rampant misguided social justice create more Nazis than anybody and anything else

crazy people don't actually understand this point...
The insane hate the insane and need an equal but opposite insanity to reinforce their viewpoints

The least reactive calmest most logical side will win out over time...
Emphasis on "least reactive"

Pwns wrote:

Winterborn wrote:All it takes is for her to get one identity wrong and then there will be lawsuits. Also on the flip side, what happens when the other side does the same thing and takes it to the next step?........

Doesn't have to be a mistaken identity. And a lawsuit is not the worst thing that can happen. You are fvcking with people's livelihoods, here. Wouldn't feel too sympathetic if she ended up at ambient temperature in a ditch somewhere.

Chizzang wrote:The way you make a Nazi go away in the world today isn't by creating an equal opposite force
ANTIFA and Rampant misguided social justice create more Nazis than anybody and anything else

crazy people don't actually understand this point...
The insane hate the insane and need an equal but opposite insanity to reinforce their viewpoints

The least reactive calmest most logical side will win out over time...
Emphasis on "least reactive"

Pwns wrote:

Chizzang wrote:The way you make a Nazi go away in the world today isn't by creating an equal opposite force
ANTIFA and Rampant misguided social justice create more Nazis than anybody and anything else

crazy people don't actually understand this point...
The insane hate the insane and need an equal but opposite insanity to reinforce their viewpoints

The least reactive calmest most logical side will win out over time...
Emphasis on "least reactive"

This is spot on. That poop storm at Mizzou probably created more white nationalists than Trump being elected.

Chizzang wrote:

Pwns wrote:
This is spot on. That poop storm at Mizzou probably created more white nationalists than Trump being elected.

I firmly believe Trump got elected as a "reaction" to the INSANE LEFT
trump didn't create anything - he's a direct result of action/reaction

In effect the worlds loudest "**** You"

Col Hogan wrote:

Chizzang wrote:
I firmly believe Trump got elected as a "reaction" to the INSANE LEFT
trump didn't create anything - he's a direct result of action/reaction

In effect the worlds loudest "**** You"

Chizzang wrote:

Pwns wrote:
This is spot on. That poop storm at Mizzou probably created more white nationalists than Trump being elected.

I firmly believe Trump got elected as a "reaction" to the INSANE LEFT
trump didn't create anything - he's a direct result of action/reaction

In effect the worlds loudest "Fuck You"

Chizzang wrote:

Pwns wrote:
This is spot on. That poop storm at Mizzou probably created more white nationalists than Trump being elected.

I firmly believe Trump got elected as a "reaction" to the INSANE LEFT
trump didn't create anything - he's a direct result of action/reaction

In effect the worlds loudest "**** You"