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A comment on Discord Just Killed Anonymity. Parent comment

Re:Discord Just Killed Anonymity by Aurornis on Thursday February 12, 2026 @06:39PM (#46996877)
> 1. A way for politicians and the state to track porn habits to US citizens and use that information against them in the future.

This topic really brings out the crazy conspiracy theories.

No, politicians are not using Discord age verification to track constituents' porn habits and blackmail them with it later.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Discord Just Killed Anonymity by kdheiwns on Thursday February 12, 2026 @08:13PM (#46997679)
It's as crazy of a conspiracy as the NSA listening to your phone calls or ICE will arrest American citizens.

It's a few years too late to call it just a theory when it's already happening. There have loads of "hacks" where nudes and dating profiles with photos are somehow leaked. There's a zero percent chance they somehow decide Discord or specific porn sites are safe, don't worry, just upload those full face and ID scans bro.

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Re:Discord Just Killed Anonymity by Natfan on Friday February 13, 2026 @11:01AM (#47004217)
~~arrest~~ execute, in broad daylight
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Re:Discord Just Killed Anonymity by duskwuff on Thursday February 12, 2026 @07:08PM (#46997137)
> It's such a successful strategy, even Bitcoin scammers use it:

For years, email spammers have claimed to have tracked victims' porn habits to try to extort them. That's a far cry from actually doing so. (And no, they aren't actually doing it.)

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Re:Discord Just Killed Anonymity by jajuuka on Friday February 13, 2026 @02:30PM (#47006708)
Right? I have a spam folder full of automated "we saw what you did and recorded it and we're gonna send it to everyone unless you give us bitcoin".
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Re:Discord Just Killed Anonymity by Aurornis on Thursday February 12, 2026 @07:05PM (#46997119)
> You poor summer child.

Being condescending doesn't help your case.

Link-bombing me with stories about Bitcoin scammers and South Korean telegram scams has nothing to do with your claim that politicians are using Discord to blackmail people about their porn habits.

If state-level spy agencies wanted to spy on someone's porn habits, they do not need to kindly ask Discord to collect that person's ID.

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Re:Discord Just Killed Anonymity by CodeMage on Thursday February 12, 2026 @07:32PM (#46997329)
> If state-level spy agencies wanted to spy on someone's porn habits, they do not need to kindly ask Discord to collect that person's ID.

The first time I ever had a conversation about privacy concerns with anyone was around 1999. I've been hearing this kind of argument ever since then. Meanwhile, the erosion of privacy since back then has been nothing short of staggering.

We're at the point where we have government using Palantir to target the people, yet somehow privacy concerns keep falling on deaf ears and keep producing the same old "government doesn't need this latest privacy-eroding change" knee-jerk non-argument.

No, they might not need it, strictly speaking, but it sure as hell comes in handy, not to mention that it shifts the Overton window and serves as a stepping stone for the next invasion of privacy.

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Re:Discord Just Killed Anonymity by wolvoleo on Thursday February 12, 2026 @07:31PM (#46997319)
The best thing against this is to promote sex-positive values. You can't be blackmailed about some sex habits if you're not going to be ashamed of them :) it will also really tick conservatives off which isn't a bad side-effect.

The only sexual habits people should be ashamed of are non-consensual sex and anything underage of course.

But the conservative values are the very reason many people can be blackmailed in the first place.

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