Can we get an ATS Verification System?

Originally posted by Valhall
But why would ATS want to discourage anybody?

Spot on. ATS shouldn´t descourage anyone and should remain an open community. 100% agreed. A VS does not change that though IMO.

Originally posted by Valhall
And just because some one works for the government doesn't mean they are here for nefarious reasons.

In a perfect world you would probably be right. Just to be clear, the board doesn´t change, and infiltrants will still be there to read and post as they please. They will simply not be verified for whatever that´s worth. The importance you assign to a verification status is entirely subjective, and a personal choice by each member.

Originally posted by Valhall
See! Proof positive. You would take the mystique surrounding Seekerof away and replace it with some poor mod saying - NO! he really isn't!

That´s a very good point I must admit. Then it would be a matter of how far are you wiling to trust the Admin. Hmmmm. Nice. But I´m still not convinced, and like to hear more opinions.

Thanks Valhall

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Well you can always use PGP if you want to verify that someone is who they claim to be. At least as far as using a hacked/stolen ATS account.

My public key is in my profile.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.3 (GNU/Linux)

iD8DBQFEUsCu11vH47qxOHkRAow7AKDMD+8jBFIaES4Fm9cDdDpw4pdzEwCdHVTv
vcmyPh9HSwjNZpiDfxohiDU=
=Dc/n
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

I vote for retinal scan. Place your right eyeball extremely close (like, this | | far) to the "Home" key and repeatedly click the "Enter" key.

It will never happen. There would be suspicion that the people are lying on the info they submit and/or the people taking the info are actually spooks who will come calling one day. There would also be security concerns making ATS a bigger target than ever, etc, etc, etc...

Part of the nature and lure of a conspiracy site is that it IS anonymous.

I get your idea but it would be too hard to create a full system that is 1) secure and 2) not cumbersome to deal with. THEN you would have to sell that to the masses which has it's own problems.

I run the ATS Gear Store and EVERYONE said "hey we want ATS t-shirts." I can say for a fact that 99% of the people that "said" they wanted one...didn't buy one.

Same thing here. People might SAY they want it and after much time spent on building it...most people wouldn't use it.


[edit on 28-4-2006 by ZeddicusZulZorander]

Originally posted by Cug
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Hash: SHA1

Well you can always use PGP if you want to verify that someone is who they claim to be.

Yes, but only for email. How else would I be able to track your public key down if the email address you are using is not known to me?

PGP is a start though. Is hushmail still free by the way? Even more ideas.

Just because someone can prove to you that they are who they claim to be does not mean they are not lying to you. Denying ignorance means you take no one at their word but do the homework and find out the truth for yourself.

As for a VS..

Just my opinion,

wupy

Originally posted by ZeddicusZulZorander
I run the ATS Gear Store and EVERYONE said "hey we want ATS t-shirts." I can say for a fact that 99% of the people that "said" they wanted one...didn't buy one.

If I engage in a financial and shipping transaction with ATS, that would also mean losing anonymity. Could that be a reason for moderate sales?

I´ll check out the store though (wasn´t even aware of it)

Originally posted by ZeddicusZulZorander
People might SAY they want it and after much time spent on building it...most people wouldn't use it.

And that could well be another showstopper. Good point.

Hardtoget why would you want to confirm who anyone is?

Hey I know; you are a spook.

Serously you are underestimating the intelligence of the members of ATS. Everyone knows that sooner or later anyone and yes that includes you me or anyone in the world will slip up and get caught in a lie thus revealing they are not who they claim to be.

Originally posted by HardToGet
Yes, but only for email. How else would I be able to track your public key down if the email address you are using is not known to me?

I told you where you can find my public key

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Originally posted by mrwupy
Denying ignorance means you take no one at their word but do the homework and find out the truth for yourself.

Well spoken, but can I do the homework myself in an anonymous environment?

Think about that for a moment.

Where this is probably leading to is that this board is and should remain what it is:

A place to discuss (sensitive) issues anonymously, nothing more, nothing less.
Pacts or groups outside the forum cannot be formed without accepting a certain risk, member´s discretion. And that´s the way the cookie crumbles.

OK no VS, I am pretty much convinced now. (will sleep on it, 03:53am now)

Thanks again all!

Originally posted by HardToGet
If I engage in a financial and shipping transaction with ATS, that would also mean losing anonymity. Could that be a reason for moderate sales?

If so, then you just came full circle on why your idea would not work...loosing anonymity.

If someone worries THAT much over buying a shirt, how would they feel when their about to "out" the greatest secrets ever known.


And it is mostly anonymous. All I can see is a purchase was made and a name. So "Joe Smith" bought a shirt and a mug. I don't know where they are or who they are here at ATS so how would I ever know?

Originally posted by shots
Hey I know; you are a spook.

Could be. (Whoooooooooo )

Originally posted by shots
Serously you are underestimating the intelligence of the members of ATS.

That would be a serious mistake. To tell you the truth I haven´t found a more intelligent forum than this one, and I´ve seen a couple.

Originally posted by shots
Everyone knows that sooner or later anyone and yes that includes you me or anyone in the world will slip up and get caught in a lie thus revealing they are not who they claim to be.

Does that include intentional slip ups?

Ok, you´re right. But it is irrelevant because I´m already pretty much convinced a VS is not workable on ATS because of all of the above.

Originally posted by ZeddicusZulZorander
I don't know where they are or who they are here at ATS so how would I ever know?

Gee, who handles shipping at the store? And all these ATS-ers going "What´s keeping my mug?"

You´re right, it is full circle. What a nice moment to close the thread.

Originally posted by HardToGet

Where this is probably leading to is that this board is and should remain what it is:

A place to discuss (sensitive) issues anonymously, nothing more, nothing less.

You are not anonymous on the internet. You may was well be standing on the street corner and preaching on a soap box. Yes, it may take a bit of effort to track you down but you can be tracked down.

Please keep that in mind and if you ever do want to discuss something with a modicum of security, take it to RATS. That part of the site is not indexed by search engines.

wupy

Originally posted by Cug
I told you where you can find my public key

You did? Silly me.

In any case PGP only tells you that a coded message is sent by the person who owns the key to which the message was coded, it doesn´t tell you anything else about that person because PGP does not verify individuals or match verified individuals to email addresses. PGP let´s you decide which PGP keys to trust and which ones not. Basically just like ATS.

That´s why it works so well for corporations:: you know your co-workers.

(Even that´s arguable, yes. )

Originally posted by mrwupy
Please keep that in mind and if you ever do want to discuss something with a modicum of security, take it to RATS. That part of the site is not indexed by search engines.

I don´t understand RATS in this context. The only RATS I know of is a source code scanner for unsecure funtion calls.

Also, there are ways to be 100% anonymous, but it requires a lot of work. Anonymous proxies are not bulletproof, but tricks like IP-spoofing work, provided you are not using a subscriber line.

EDIT: I know! RATS is this special section of ATS! Pressed submit too quickly.


[edit on 28-4-2006 by HardToGet]

In theory it wouldn't be a bad suggestion but in practice it would most likely only cause more problems as the members clearly pointed out.

I would personally be glad to show my photo ID's and other personal information for verification purposes, but no one has ever even remotely suspected me of being involved with any agencies.

Other members might be too concerned about their idenity, however, many members have submitted their pictures in picture threads, so much for remaining anonymous

This sounds to me like a very bad idea! I personally am very happy with having what animonity there is left in this world of spies and eavesdropping people! If you dont trust someone then dont reveal anything personal or damaging.

How about we just avoid the noid and start carbon copying all of our posts to the DoHS with photo ID, and maybe to ID thieves too.

Practice individual discretion with your information. The more info we put out to ATS, the more vulnerable we all become to anyone who might manage to slip one by our valiant defender/tech guy, Skeptic.

We may as well take it as a given that if the feds, or really anyone with the right resources and education for that matter, wants to access what we put on ATS and tie it to our real identities, they can. The best way to defend ourselves is simply to censor our personal info to a level that we feel safe at.

Personally I'd love to have some of my content attributed to me by name. I hope ATS stays in operation, because in the next few years I'm gonna be pointing to various posts I've made in the past and saying "I told you so". If anyone's paying attention I just may get a job .

Yeah, leave it to Vagabond to take any subject at all and make it all about his own boasting.