Member Submission: Doxxing vs. Registry
The “doxxing” of police officers mentioned in this article is of interest to me and perhaps it will be to others as well. There are parallels between doxxing and the registry. We know firsthand the struggle to live in relative safety. This story by no means satisfies. Nurtured resentments never fulfill their promise. As a registered citizen I fear for anyone subjected to mob rules! Living in fear is unhealthy beyond measure!
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AP Exclusive: Police officers’ personal info leaked online
By Michael Balsamo and Colleen Long | AP
June 10, 2020 at 2:19 p.m. EDT
WASHINGTON — Personal information of police officers in departments nationwide is being leaked online amid tense interactions at demonstrations across the U.S. over the police custody death of George Floyd and others, according to an unclassified intelligence document from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, obtained by The Associated Press.
The document warns that the effort, known as “doxxing,” could lead to attacks by “violent opportunists or domestic violent extremists” or could prevent law enforcement officials from carrying out their duties.
Multiple high-ranking police officials in a number of cities, including Washington, Atlanta, Boston and New York have had their personal information shared on social media, including their home addresses, email addresses and phone numbers, the report warns.
I’ve come to the conclusion that we are going to be a nation of “lists”… even the airlines are now starting lists of people who don’t cover their mouth during travel and are going to ban them from travel.
Let’s ban Ron Book from traveling on roads; going to lobbying interest; any place that has alcohol; and from the Homeless Trust Chairmanship. Start that ban instead not someone that doesn’t cover their mouth.
Brian
The difference is, that list will be private for the airlines use. Not saying I agree with any list but our would even be less scary if it was just for police use.
Everyone’s personal ‘data’ is being mined at an incredible rate, and right now, just about everyone is on some sort of list and as the cross-migration of data between companies grows, so does the exposure of everyone’s personal information on a public level, and each time a giant like Google or Fakebook gets caught, the more numb the world becomes to the offense, until finally people will start saying ‘who cares, they’re going to do it anyway and I don’t have anything to hide’.
As time goes by, personal data privacy will most likely become a thing of the past.
You can already type in someone’s name and find out how old they are, where they live, how much they make, who their relatives and siblings are, if they are married, and in some cases, their phone number. without using Fakebook, or any other social media platform.
There really isn’t too much of anything that is personal concerning anyone’s data anymore.
Slowly, everyone’s personal actions and transactions are being exposed and everyone’s right to privacy is eroding away.
Next time you install an app, look at all the things it wants access to or you can’t use it.
Read also the EULA agreement.
You can’t trust any social media platform anymore.
Google is expected to pay out 5 Billion dollars in fines for giving out personal data while users were in ‘incognito mode’.
They lied to everyone about incognito mode.
Maybe this is a good time to back up the cops. To make a public list is dangerous to them just as it has been for registrants for almost 25 yrs. it’s time to get rid of all public lists. It’s not like law enforcement doesn’t have that information anyway. Just make law enforcement accountable for using the lists in a just and legal way.
If this is what it takes to get our voice heard, then so be it. There are police officers that has committed worse crimes then some that are on the SOR. I hope someone is keeping track of recidivism rate on these officers whether they are working as police officers, security guards or any job they MAY be able to get after being on “the list” Or just maybe they will come to the defense of SO’s in trying to do away with these life altering “LISTS” and Registrations.
I don’t know of anyone on the registry that has killed anyone. If they had ,they’d still be in prison. Is there anything worse than that. If no list for that than why do we need it for anything. Many cops have killed unjustly.
We need a national list on everyone, including corrupt politicians and judges that violate the laws, rules and Constitutions. Everyone agreed to placing us on a registry. Wonder what they think of registries now. Lol
All of the government officials would be gone; on the other hand be a great thing. Sometimes when I send an email I remind them they took an oath to the constitution and it protects all of the citizens of that state.
Tell that to the judges in Clay County. We have NO rights!
Most judges in Florida drink from the bs well when it comes to registrants. I don’t know from experience and I’m greatful I don’t.
Certainly not all, by any means. We’ve had some very insightful judges with integrity.
I haven’t been paying much attention either when I lived in Florida. Just wish that people can live their live without being oppressed by the state. I have to ask myself if I would be interested in talking to the attorney handling the out of state challenge regarding my situation. I admit my bias on the Florida court system isn’t the best; but I don’t know either and it bothers me.
Like the appeals judge I had here in Florida who I believe is now on the Florida supreme court, Alan Lawson. When no other judge would believe me or give me a chance, he did and threw out the remaining 6 years of my sentence.
Hell maybe if our ex post facto makes it to the Florida supreme court, I could go in and remind him what he did for me and to show us all mercy now on this illegally applied registry. I think I would because he listens. I think he would be proud of me for not letting him down.
Our case is in Federal court.
OHHH
I must have missed something, I thought it was going before state Supreme court. Need to re-wash my glasses LOL
Apparently you do not live in N. E. Florida. Lol
You seek funds in which to hire professional attorneys to represent issues. Try filing pro se and see how much integrity you find. Just saying.
If anything positive happens out of Florida from what I’ve seen it won’t be local judges. When a judge grants a restraining order against Derek from OnceFallen to stay away from Lauren Book when he lives in Ohio doesn’t give me much confidence in Florida courts. Higher courts are the only hope. Floridans are fine with being in the top ten corrupt states; while I find it repulsive and I’d be ashamed of the place I call home.
That was reversed by the 4th DCA (FLORIDA) appellate court.
FAC
My mistake I didn’t know that. Maybe with all my hot air; thinking I know what I’m talking about it; and being stubborn I could run for office. Wait I’m very compassionate and I believe in justice for everyone. I hope the volunteers at FAC have a blessed weekend and if there are any fathers; Happy Father’s Day!!
Thanks Brandon.
I feel sorry for these officers of the Law just like our fellow brother and sister placed on the Registry list too… Karma at work Perhaps more people’s eye will be open after they experience what all of us had/has experience too. Really sad about this… But in a way Poetic Justice has occurred too
“The government doxxes you” is how Guy Hamilton-Smith once aptly described public registries.
These lists have historically been called “Blacklists”.
They are intended to list person for public retribution.
Blacklists must be outlawed !! (Especially government-sponsored blacklists!)
Heck I say someone start website with , Leo, PO’s, State Attorneys and Judges Address. Just like the registry. It is not illegal, as far as I know. Just for information purposes only.
As former law enforcement, I can tell you, all Hell and Firestone would come down upon the person who did that. The FDLE would spend thousands of man hours and Millions of dollars to catch, arrest and prosecute the person (s) responsible even if they have to make something up to make it stick.
I would rather jump in a pile of hornets than go after a group of law enforcement. I try and stay off their radar. I am pleasant to the officer who comes to my door and he knows I use to work in law enforcement. He says he speech, I wish him safe travels and he doesn’t bother me again for 6 to 11 months, depending on how bored he is.
I think the point is to make a database of the “bad apples” concerning police officers. If that happens and it probably will then whatever defense and/or excuse they give as to why this shouldn’t exist then RSO’s can follow behind with similar arguments. Especially if they win and have it removed. We are the only group that has been held accountable for our actions decades later by public shaming and such. Police officers are people too and they make mistakes. It will be interesting to see how they handle doing something similar to a different group of individuals and how society reacts to it. I bet a lot of people won’t even notice the similarities of what they want to do and the already existing Sex offender registries until someone points it out to them.
For me it isn’t the information that is out there that worries me. After all, in the age of the internet, it is damn hard to hide anything. What concerns me is “somebody” REQUIRING various groups–SO’s, law enforcement, judges, whomever–to register their information. It is easy to find info on my neighbors or even myself on the net. It is harder to justify the requirement that someone report to someone else to keep track of them.
What about in the name of public safety? HA! Isn’t that the purpose behind the our registry now? And we all know how effective that has been to reduce sex crimes. I bet that the same thing would occur. Require law enforcement to register? For the safety of the public? In my opinion, it would have the same results. None.
Hey, just my opinion.
This is completely laughable….They reside in the communities at large, so what is the problem with knowing where they live, who they sleep with, where they shop and eat, etc…that is Public Information at large…..
this is just another attempt at ‘hiding their Zebra Stripes’ in order to Justify what is known as Qualified Immunity Status….
HOMER-LAND security is full of a bunch of scared bureaucrats….they do not make this Nation Safer, at all!
Just Panic Buttons that are being pushed by Scared Spine-less Politicians!
It is best to JUST stay away from these law-breaking citizens!
Thank you SarahF for your comment on the Washington Post website. I couldn’t have stated it better myself.
I believe now is the time to stand up, even if we get knocked down.
I remember when a certain airheaded state senator freaked out that I published her address but it is publicly accessible info since she was running her own PAC out of her house, which was at the registered PAC address. So it was perfectly legal under Florida law, it being public record and all. I guess these pro-registry types just don’t like it when they get a dose of their own medicine.
Derek
The ‘Airhead’ that you are referring is so scared of everyone! I wonder why. She will do anything, like her Whiskey Dependent father to try and ruin anyone once you Tell the Truth. She is spineless and has no remorse for anything or anyone. She will call law enforcement and complain about people making truthful comments that are fact based, without any regard for anyone else. She lives a life of Lies and Deceit and once you try to cross her path to bring the truth, she tries to unset you, as you have probably personally witnessed as well. What I did was file a lawsuit against the LEO that harassed me. Still waiting for the next response from the AG here. Will keep you posted.
Thank you for what you do. Greatly appreciated!
Stay Safe and Healthy!
Keeping the “sex offender” label is also dangerous and not what I thought this country stood for.
Even though I do not agree with Mr. Heyden’s treatment of his employees in the Black Lives Matters’ movement, I do agree with his statement when he compares the challenges he faces to the Black Lives Matter movement with the hashtag “sex offender lives matter”. I hope we can all unite in this time of criminal justice reform.
https://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/local/article243901312.html
What a tragic, misguided slogan, “sex offenders’ lives matter.”
Heyden is a middle aged man required to register due to a poor choice he made as a juvenile. The standard police and media term for him is “sex offender.” One of his critics even got away with calling him a “predator.” We need to keep working to change that terminology where it doesn’t apply. But Heyden fell for it it, despite having lived a crime-free adulthood.
In reality, a “sex offender” is someone who is actively sex offending, has a propensity to sex offend, or is grooming victims. Do their lives matter? Yes, but they need to be stopped and held to account. I won’t rehash the statistics, because most of us on here already know that there is very little overlap between who is a registrant and who is a sex offender.
When we are making efforts to educate the public, words matter. Registrants’ lives matter!
Good point!
I thoroughly understand what you are saying, but also to be considered, Jacob: this is a hashtag that might reach more people than #registrants’ lives matter. Both should be used as we try to draw more people to our social media sites. As much as I detest using “sex offenders”, if we draw more people, then I feel we have to use it. Am I wrong in my thinking? If I am, it surely would not be the first time.
I can see where the “sex offenders lives matter” hashtag might reach more people. But my gut tells me that use of the term “sex offender” in such a slogan will tap into peoples’ underlying assumptions so strongly that it will elicit an instant opinion without them bothering to read any further.
By contrast:
Me: “Registrants’ lives matter!”
Them: “Who? What’s a registrant?”
Me: “Well, let me tell you…”
(Or other term, such as suggested below).
Unfortunately, I expect you are correct. Probably a good percentage of people search for terms like “sex offender”. So how about just using it once and only to point out that the term is wrong? Maybe some canned introduction that can be used every time so that people will get used to seeing it and recognize that there is a movement/war that is constantly active?
I feel a huge part of the problem with this Registry War is that so few people have come to recognize that there is constant, every day opposition to it by any significant number of people. I feel like most people in America think the Registries are around, are wonderful, and just a handful of people listed on them grumble about them occasionally (e.g. like when they get arrested for “plotting to molest more children”).
So what would you think about starting every single communication about the Registries with some common verbiage? Something shocking that gets immediate attention? Maybe:
Then continue from there. The wording could be something else, of course. There are a lot of creative people who can likely think of better (and I didn’t try that hard (yet!)).
What effect do you think that would have if hundreds of thousands of people used that all the time, for years? I don’t know but this movement/war needs to unite, be cohesive, and get some branding. In addition to that verbiage, how about a “badge” or insignia for the moral side of this war? F.A.C. would use what they already do and want to, but they would include it. W.A.R. would include it. NARSOL would. ACSOL would. Illinois Voices. Nebraskans Unafraid. Instead of people seeing one or two groups, maybe, they’d see that insignia all over the place. They might come to recognize that it is millions of people.
You have some interesting points.
Use it once and only to point out that the term is wrong. That is surely part of the education process. My problem, though, is that I am limited in the number of words I can use. There is more information (research) out there that needs to be shared with the public now than any one person can write in a letter or posted comments. I feel our goal is to take down the registry or at least greatly scale it back, to be used only for the repeat offenders that cannot be stopped. If that were ever to occur, we would not be having this conversation over the words s__ o____.
When I write, post, or quote, just so there is no confusion, I have sometimes had to include the words s___ o___ one time at the beginning; then I switch over to something else quickly. If at all possible, I try to stay away from simply using s__ o___ and instead use “people on the sex offender registry”. Then I also try to move quickly away from that label.
I have had many people say they want a different word or word phrase used, and I have heard many examples given, but there is never a consensus as to what should be used.
I have copied your suggestion and will keep it in mind. Again, though, I am so limited in space and have so much I want to share. To get everything in would require writing a book.
I agree on the benefit with all groups uniting together. The cohesiveness and unity could be powerful. I hear others wanting the same thing. How to go about doing it is what I do not know how to do, but I am ready. I would like to see our cause unite with BLM movement.
The University of Florida law school is joining 12 other law schools in the state to create the Florida Law Schools’ Consortium for Racial Justice. They will be using second- or third-year law students to help community organizations conduct research, pull data, create reports or anything else than may be needed to help improve state racial justice policies. Today I am writing a letter to the UF Levin College of Law, asking that they consider helping in the reform of the registry and the draconian statutes/ordinances that go with it.
https://www.gainesville.com/news/20200630/uf-law-school-joins-racial-justice-group
Will Allen, something that was suggested to me by an FAC member was to refer to the registry as the Sex Offense Registry, which I am now doing.
Sex Offense Registry strikes me as a great improvement, even if subtle. Because that’s all it is.
It’s late and I have very little time right now. I just want to say quickly to SarahF and Jacob that you two always seem to have very sensible, well conceived comments and ideas. I would feel very comfortable with such people deriving strategies and actions. I wish I had more time to help. I’ve really felt lately that I should be scaling back on this because other things need a lot more of my attention. I’ll see. I also don’t want to slight anyone else that I didn’t mention here. There are lots of other skilled people. Anyway …
I think “Sex Offense Registry” is great. I’m actually surprised I don’t think I’ve seen that before. That is all that the Hit List is. It is a list of people who have (probably) committed a sex offense. I think I will start using that all the time. Although I really, really do believe that MOST of the people who actually zealously support the Registries are not very smart and I think it will fly about 1,000 miles over their heads. Maybe can explain it to them. I’ve been calling the Registries the “Hit Lists”. Perhaps I’ll use “Sex Offense Registry” to introduce “Hit List”.
SarahF, you mentioned that you need to be brief, and that is very often the case, but I think just a couple of short sentences at the very beginning of every single communication would be a very good thing. I do think writings must say “sex offender” in them, in order to help with searches. I like what I wrote above but perhaps people can improve it? I tried to respond to that comment while it was “awaiting moderation” and that apparently failed. I only wanted to state that I didn’t like “lay person” and offered about 15 alternatives.
I think a common, worldwide emblem or insignia that people could eventually come to recognize, would be very useful as well. If just a few people could make one and get some people using it, its use could grow and grow over the years. It needs to be an emblem where people think, “I recognize that. What is that?” Personally, I’d like to put “Registration Liberation Army” on it. But perhaps that is too much. It would be useful to have a website on it? But whose? I feel it wouldn’t get adopted as much if it had a specific website on it. Maybe it should just say something like “search for _____ on the internet” and that would pull up all the various advocacy organizations? Or better … have a consortium just for this … and have the website for that do little more than includes links to all the organizations.
Too tired, I’m done.
My personal opinion is, we should continue to call it what it is. “Sex Offender registry” if we start calling it by different names it is bound to confuse people into thinking we are fighting to eliminate several different laws. This one law is hard enough to explain without having to explain a bunch of different names that we call it. Believe me I HATE to say Sex Offender Registry, but that is what it is and that is what the battle is called that we are fighting.
Wow, you are so crazy correct about a misguided slogan. Nothing about it sounds correct or good. I know it is not intended, but it almost sounds to me as if it supports offending.
I didn’t study this situation in detail but obviously the guy is quite accomplished and likely has some sense. He is right that this is a civil rights war but he should have presented it better or, better yet, don’t try to associate or compare it with BLM. The BLM movement, older civil rights movement in general, and the Persons Forced to Registered (PFR) War are all valid, important, moral fights. They can all be compared. But I’d never suggest that the PFR War is nearly on the same level as the others.
Obviously PFRs should not be called “sex offenders”. But I don’t like “Registrants” either. It is technically correct but it makes it appear too legitimate. It doesn’t convey very well either that it is not a legitimate government action, but is a war. I much prefer PFR. Maybe there is something better?
Lastly, whomever called this guy “predator” is not just wrong. That person is a liar. We need to call those people out.
I understand everything you are saying, but the fact remains that the words “sex offender” are being used in hashtags to draw viewers to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. Many people out there are not educated on using “registrant”, “citizen with a past sex offense”, etc. As we develop social media sites for FAC, we need hashtags that will help people find us. Are all of you recommending that the words “sex offenders” be dropped from our hashtags, knowing that we will miss out on many views? For the record, I do not see ANY of you as being sex offenders. I do not see my husband as being a sex predator.
I lack savvy in fb, Insta hashtags, so that may be the way to go. As long as we can just get ppl to READ what’s underlying!
In fact, I recall someone from NARSOL making a similar comment— that they had to use “sex offender” in their articles in order for those articles to get more frequent google results.
I encourage you to read the comments I left this morning on this article published in the Tri-City Herald.
As I have said before, Will Allen, I appreciate all you do in helping our cause.
Apparently you have to be on fb to read the whole thing, or even to hit the Like button. Which is fine; that’s the audience that needs to see it.
I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again . Public registry’s of any kind are the first step towards anarchy. Is that what the people want .
That is why framers of our constitution outlawed public shaming.
What would be wrong with siding with police against a public list of police offenses. It’s wrong for them just as it is wrong for anyone else. They are dangerous and useless and only encourage vigilantism, which is just another term for anarchy. They just might appreciate someone siding with them now and we sure could use there support. Especially since many of them are not in support of a public registry anyway because it just makes there job harder.
The term offender definitely need changed because it’s technically incorrect and false. Unless they want to remove all people that are not currently offending. If they are they would be in jail. Which means there not on a list.
I agree.
The battle for civil rights affects all people.
Appreciate your comments Sarah and Will. Allen
You both are right on but the term sex offender is derogatory and offensive and incorrect. In this time of political correctness it must be done away with as a general term. Just like derogatory names for blacks or other groups like people with mental disorders. There is no room or reason in today’s society for terms that falsely slander anyone by categorically discriminating against them by grouping them all together with a demeaning term.
Will Allen, strangely their was no “Reply” link to your early morning post. I just wanted to say that I am listening.