Top all-time · #5881
Tony Webster
Personal blog · tonywebster.comsecuritypolitics
Tony Webster's personal blog at tonywebster.com covers security and politics. Since 2013, 14 different Hacker News readers have linked it 17 times, most often “Search warrant for personal information on anyone who Googled someone’s name”. No feed was found, so read it on the site itself.
Too few sampled comments (6) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Tony Webster's posts on public records and police surveillance, including a Minnesota Google search warrant story and license plate reader data. One commenter notes the post is the original source.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 6 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Tony Webster is a researcher, security engineer, journalist, and photographer
Most-linked posts?
- Search warrant for personal information on anyone who Googled someone’s name5 people · 7 mentions · first linked 2017-03-16
- Minneapolis Police release 2.1 million license plate records2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2013-07-17
- WeTransfer Plus phishing bug lets anyone send files using your company's account2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2018-02-16
What Hacker News says?
How does this kind of clickbait which is false get promoted to HN front page ? Specially when the source is given in the posted article and is the actual original source[1] and has no clickbait nor lies. Also this story is covered by ars technica[2] and a copy of the warrant is available online[3]. [1]: https://tonywebster.com/2017/03/minnesota-search-warrant-any... [2]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/03/j…
Comment linking /2017/03/minnesota-search-warrant-anyone-who-googled/
on “Police ask for whole city's Google searches, and a judge says yes”Submitted Search warrant for personal information on anyone who Googled someone’s name as a story · 3 points
HN discussion> Other services (Facebook, Bing, Yahoo!, etc...)? Actually when you read the actual news[1] and not the clickbait rehashed version that has been posted to HN you'll learn why it only targets google: The Edina Police Department figured out that while searching Google Images for the victim’s name, they found the photo used on the fake passport, and investigators couldn’t find it on Yahoo or Bing. So, they theorized t…
Comment linking /2017/03/minnesota-search-warrant-anyone-who-googled/
on “Police ask for whole city's Google searches, and a judge says yes”Submitted Minneapolis Police release 2.1 million license plate records as a story · 3 points
HN discussion> Police are not asking for the entire search history of everyone in the town. As usual this is a rehashed story with a clickbait title and the article content shows that the title is at best untrue. Look at the source cited in the article: https://tonywebster.com/2017/03/minnesota-search-warrant-any...
Comment linking /2017/03/minnesota-search-warrant-anyone-who-googled/
on “Police ask for whole city's Google searches, and a judge says yes”Submitted WeTransfer Plus phishing bug lets anyone send files using your company's account as a story · 2 points
HN discussionThe police aren't asking for a city's searches. They're asking for anyone, anywhere, who searched Google for 'Douglas ? ?' in a 5 week period. The article this one links to explains this much better. https://tonywebster.com/2017/03/minnesota-search-warrant-any... Google isn't the only search engine on the internet, but the police claim they were unable to find the information in Yahoo or Bing results. They suspect i…
Comment linking /2017/03/minnesota-search-warrant-anyone-who-googled/
on “Police ask for whole city's Google searches, and a judge says yes”Submitted This is what happens when housing data isn't open and accessible as a story · 2 points
HN discussionHere is the original source with more info on the actual crime they are investigating and the reason they are targeting Google. https://tonywebster.com/2017/03/minnesota-search-warrant-any... Edit: I find it rather amusing that the cops found the image used in the fake passport on google images, but decided to request google searches for the name instead of access logs for the image on the actual server.
Comment linking /2017/03/minnesota-search-warrant-anyone-who-googled/
on “Police ask for whole city's Google searches, and a judge says yes”Submitted Minnesota judge signs search warrant on anyone who Googled someone’s name (2017) as a story · 1 points
HN discussionI worked with Tony a number of years ago and have been following him on social media. He does a lot of public records research, and for the last two+ years or so, he's been fighting the Hennepin Count Sheriffs office over public records requests about law enforcement's use of biometrics. As of April of this year, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled against Hennepin county. I'm not sure if the county is planning on…
Comment linking /2017/04/minnesota-court-of-appeals-data-practices-burden/
on “Equifax security freeze PINs are the timestamp of when you request the freeze”Submitted WeTransfer lets anyone send files using your company’s account and branding as a story · 1 points
HN discussionThe other problem is that state laws aren't keeping up with law enforcement technology. FOIA-similar laws in Minnesota meant that every ALPR-captured license plate was public information, which I requested to prove a point. I got back 2.1 million license plates (+ timestamp and coordinates) on a USB stick. Without strong policies and laws, this data is ripe for abuse -- domestic abuse victims and stalking where some…
Comment linking /2012/12/minneapolis-police-license-plate-data/
on “Police Documents on License Plate Scanners Reveal Mass Tracking”Submitted WeTransfer security failure lets anyone send files using your company’s account as a story · 1 points
HN discussionI agree with a lot of your thoughts, but as a counterpoint, I'm impressed by the UX of the "put my mail on hold" process at the USPS site every time I use it. I'm guessing there's real variance in the quality controls from office to office. But I have no idea why the USPS doesn't offer a "we'll scan your mail before we deliver it, and you can select what you want" service, like the idea laid out here: https://tonywe…
Comment linking /2012/07/reinventing-the-united-states-postal-service/
on “USPS to Cut Saturday Mail”Submitted Hennepin County Sheriff circumvents state to expand facial recognition database as a story · 1 points
HN discussion
