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These subpoenas...
(www.rawstory.com)
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this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2026
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Privacy
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From the article, the subpoenas went to Google, Meta, Reddit, and Discord, and are targeting accounts that "lack real names".
Even if someone has signed up with fake names, I hold tremendous suspicion they can ID people anyway. Of course their accuracy is going to depend on many things. For example, did someone use their own IP, or a VPN? Did they use the app, or a web interface? But some of those sites won't even allow signups through VPNs.
There is a big industry built around browser and device fingerprinting for "identity resolution". This tech was driven by the advertising industry, after their ability to use cookies for identification was curtailed. I have no way to prove this, nor evidence for this, but I would eat my hiking boots if the big social media sites did NOT use that sorta tech.
Ya i mean i've been off social media and youtube for years and still get targeted advertising until i started using proactive privacy measures. So i would not bet against you.
I think you're probably right too. A lot of this shit sounds scary but as we can see, these tech overlords are exceptionally well-funded but equally delusional about what they can accomplish.