An important PSA for people who are active on #Bluesky and who, upon hearing that the ICE account was officially verified, are saying: "I will just block it."
Blocking on Bluesky is NOT PRIVATE: it's very easy to see who is blocking any account by visiting sites that list that information.
I took a screenshot from clearsky.app, listing all the accounts that are blocking ICE (I pixelated avatars and usernames for privacy purposes).
The safest bet is to mute (that info is private) π«
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u_urban
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •Leave for a better neighbourhood
dansup
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •Sheepie
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •Roni Rolle Laukkarinen reshared this.
Elena Rossini π FOSDEM
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •I'm well aware that posting this info on the Fediverse seems like a pointless exercise, but it's to raise awareness and spread the word to people active in BOTH places.
I was never really active on #Bluesky and entirely stopped using it months ago but there's no point in posting this info there because I have zero reach. Or rather: 1100+ followers and 1-2 likes (at best!) and zero comments for any post. It's like I'm shadow-banned.
If you use it and enjoy it no judgement but please be safe!
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informapirata β, nellie-m, Debbie Goldsmith π³οΈβ§οΈβΎοΈπΊπ¦, JenJen and Tim Chambers reshared this.
hyperreal
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •Elena Rossini π FOSDEM
in reply to hyperreal • • •hyperreal
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •Elena Rossini π FOSDEM
in reply to hyperreal • • •Eye
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •@hyperreal
I closed my account there quite a while back but only de-bridged today. I'm sad to no longer see posts from certain people I followed but overall I feel a whole lot better. π
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Vladimir Campos
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •Saupreiss #PrΓ€parat500 π½
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •The very same applies to the Fediverse, by the way: When blocking someone, that information is relayed to the instance where the blocked account is hosted. While this is not typically publicly visible, malicious instances know who blocked some of their members and can of course use that information.
(We internally used the amount of blocks as a hint to which local account to investigate, but itβs at present not worth the hassle.)
Marty Heyman at COBOLworx
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •Wouter π³π±π§π·π§πͺ
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •ctproduced
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •At least for me, I just don't want to see their lies and bias. Having them on a block list does that. It stops them from polluting my feed.
Anyone who thinks that stops the US Government from reading your feed, emails, etc. hasn't read Snowdon.
troi
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •Agreed. Bsky is a much less interactive experience than here on Mastodon/Fediverse. I follow a couple of authors, a few sports sites, and check general news there. But yeah, it's mostly a "read only" environment if you aren't "somebody." I will note that those two authors do read and respond to replies.
I mostly consider Bluesky an "eMuskulated" Twitter and it seems to be replacing Twitter as a place mass media and "somebodies" go to post expecting that everyone is reading along.
Elena Rossini π FOSDEM
in reply to troi • • •troi
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •Elena Rossini π FOSDEM
in reply to troi • • •randomized
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •US government can request data anytime.
zotheca
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •Mathew Storm
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •Elena Rossini π FOSDEM
in reply to Mathew Storm • • •MaximilianBlum
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •Elena Rossini π FOSDEM
Unknown parent • • •The Sleight Doctor ππ
Unknown parent • • •@aaronmccollum It's a real worry that right now, thousands of people with reason to fear ICE are voluntarily adding themselves to a handy list of potential targets, simply by blocking the account.
Again and again, the Bluesky people demonstrate they have no interest in the safety of users.
Elena Rossini π FOSDEM
in reply to The Sleight Doctor ππ • • •Elena Rossini π FOSDEM
Unknown parent • • •Toni Aittoniemi
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •γ’γ€γ’γ³γγ³γγ¬γ³γγ
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •krejgo
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •Angela Scholder
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •stuxβ‘οΈ
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •Everything on Bsky is public
They donβt care about privacy
Roni Rolle Laukkarinen reshared this.
Elena Rossini π FOSDEM
in reply to stuxβ‘οΈ • • •stuxβ‘οΈ
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •Itβs kinda scrary, with the right tools one can get a lot of info on people this way
Maybe not direct but many indirect can also lead to that I guess
Aprazeth
in reply to stuxβ‘οΈ • • •@stux
People would be genuinely surprised how easy that is to trace things back to them even with the "pseudonymized data". Sure it doesn't contain your name, but it still details (for example)
- Age range
- Rough location
- Interests
- Known associations
Guess how trivial it becomes to correlate that back to an individual? Age range and rough location are known data-points for governments (census) soooo, yeah. Easy-peasy unfortunately
Petra van Cronenburg
in reply to stuxβ‘οΈ • • •@stux BTW, blocking on Mastodon is also visible. And worse: blocked people can often still read all your public postings. We also have room for improvement when it comes to safety!
@_elena
stuxβ‘οΈ
in reply to Petra van Cronenburg • • •@NatureMC Well yeah but thatβs if you have a public profile ;)
There is no way around that, without an account anyone can view those from the public pages. Thatβs why we have followers-only for example
But the block lists are not public on Mastodon and on Bsky they are
Petra van Cronenburg
in reply to stuxβ‘οΈ • • •@stux People who work with social media, are obliged to have a public profile.
If you block s'o on Bsky, after some seconds, each part can't see anything more from the other account. Not a single post.
Block lists: yes.
@_elena
stuxβ‘οΈ
in reply to Petra van Cronenburg • • •@NatureMC But if you logout, you can still view the profile and posts right?
It wouldnβt make sense otherwise
Petra van Cronenburg
in reply to stuxβ‘οΈ • • •@stux I just tested it. Yes, you are right: I have to search for a blocked account on Bsky and then I can read it. They don't have this login-wall like other platforms.
Thanks, I learnt something new!
@_elena
stuxβ‘οΈ
in reply to Petra van Cronenburg • • •@NatureMC Yup! And with Mastodon and other Fedi software (most) you could βhideβ it behind a auth check
Not sure why they do it that way though
Mr. Lance E Sloan (IRL) π€
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •Elena Rossini π FOSDEM
in reply to Mr. Lance E Sloan (IRL) π€ • • •dr2chase
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •Mr. Lance E Sloan (IRL) π€
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •Ok. Makes sense, I guess. It's good to know the risks.
PS: I remember the days when 4Chan was just silly crap.
Paul Brzeski
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •Darth Hideout π³οΈβπ
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •Petra van Cronenburg
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •kali
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •canleaf08β ε ζΏε€§θε π³οΈβπβ§οΈπͺπΊπ
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •aria
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •Sebastian Lasse
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •strongly disagree;
"The safest bet" is to leave bluesky and create a fedi instance with the software of your choice.
wink smiley.
Elena Rossini π FOSDEM
in reply to Sebastian Lasse • • •Kristen
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •Petra van Cronenburg
Unknown parent • • •@nazokiyoubinbou Just a note for the Fediverse = paradise adepts: I'm regularly blocking and if possible reporting Maga propaganda even on Mastodon. You can get evil people *everywhere*.
The question is how much you can protect yourself or if such attempts are defederated or suspended.
Here, the Fediverse is better because human moderators. But most people don't know that difference. And would Mastodon be prepared if the ICE opens an account?
@u_urban @_elena
Jordi
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •@pluralistic I found I had already blocked it through one of the lists Iβm subscribed to.
Anyway, blocking the gestapo is the minor or the sins they would find in my TL.
Don Hawkins - W7DAH
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •Elena Rossini π FOSDEM
in reply to Don Hawkins - W7DAH • • •@donhawkins I would recommend keeping the account inactive / deleting the app instead to avoid username squatting.
I learned the hard way with X - I used Twitter for 14 years and just mere days after deleting 3 accounts, my usernames were immediately seized π
Don Hawkins - W7DAH
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •Elena Rossini π FOSDEM
in reply to Don Hawkins - W7DAH • • •Don Hawkins - W7DAH
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •Mike π¨π¦ π³π±
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •Fluffgar π΄σ §σ ’σ ³σ £σ ΄σ Ώ
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •Marty Heyman at COBOLworx
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •salguod, man ππ lazysupper
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •zotheca
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •Emilio ΚΜ‘Μ’Μ‘ΚΜ ΝΝΝ‘ΚΜ²Μ ΚΜ’Μ‘Μ’π©π°
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •xinit β / πβπ₯
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •@dgoldsmith
rpgwaiter
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •Haere
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •subscribing to a list like that can block all its users, giving some cover as to why a user has that ICE account blocked
but yeah, bluesky leadership is not doing great at basic social decency π
Fi π³οΈββ§οΈ
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •@corbden
I am fully aware of the block vs. mute functionality, and I have blocked them not just for my own convenience reading, but to raise a significant barrier to harassment and protect the people with whom I speak also.
In fact, I subscribe to eva.computer's blocklist for all federal accounts (other than NOAA, NWS, CPSC, and the Federal Reserve) along with thousands of other people, which handled it automatically.
Blocking protects your friends, not just your eyes.
Martin Ruskov
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •Flam
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •What would happen if the list of accounts blocking ICE would be flooded with masses of foreign accounts? Just curious ~
Ulrike Hahn
Unknown parent • • •@strght
see here…
sfba.social/@drahardja/1159085…
Dave Rahardja
2026-01-17 04:26:38
@strght
see hereβ¦
sfba.social/@drahardja/1159085β¦
Dave Rahardja
2026-01-17 04:26:38
Drew Smirnoff
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •miki
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •This is also true about Mastodon*, but Mastodon actively tries to hide that fact from users and muddy the waters.
* It's technically hidden to users but not the admins of the instances involved, but if you're a gov agency, you're presumably on your own instance, as seems to be the custom here for the "big players."
sb arms & legs
Unknown parent • • •@nazokiyoubinbou @NatureMC @u_urban
"... most of Mastodon would end up blocking the entire instance with ICE on it..."
I knew I'd end up blocking .social eventually.
Nazo
in reply to Petra van Cronenburg • • •@NatureMC @u_urban I suspect most of Mastodon would end up blocking the entire instance with ICE on it, but I can't say for sure. And I think that would be something the servers themselves would do, not individual accounts. Perhaps some would be afraid to go that far, but I think the majority would do it.
You are right that the Fediverse is anything but perfect of course. There's only so much human moderators can do in particular. The chief difference is it's ours not some company's
Petra van Cronenburg
in reply to sb arms & legs • • •tom jennings
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •Christopher Snowhill
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •MaximilianBlum
in reply to Elena Rossini π FOSDEM • • •Not the community's wishes: Bluesky brings live stream display and βCashtagsβ
Martin Holland (heise online)