1020
Homeland Security Spying on Reddit Users: Leak show feds tracking anti-ICE Reddit users like "Budget-Chicken-2425"
(www.kenklippenstein.com)
this post was submitted on 08 Feb 2026
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Technology
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Are we safe here on Lemmy?
Every other post here I've seen is low key promoting violent revolution. So I'd imagine there's at least one FBI agent hanging around and writing reports.
Everything on Lemmy is public
Some things are more public than others. DMs are technically ‘on the internet’ as well, but they aren’t indexable by a search engine.
True but who's watching Lemmy?
In the days of LLMs?
Assume all contacts are hostile and practice good OPSEC.
No. That is just the nature of public social media. It comes down what you choose to share when it comes to risk, so the same amount as reddit.
But, userbases who behave more like old school forums are more likely to not share personal stuff like other social media such as facebook, Instagram, tiktok, etc which have drawn people who want to publicly catalog their personal lives.
For actual privacy that's better left to encrypted private messaging like signal and so on. Social media isn't the place to expect privacy.
Lmfao no. Use a vpn, rotate your username, dont use personal emails.and definitely don’t get a .world account.
Use Lemmy.org. No emails needed. Don’t forget your password.
I'm new to Lemmy. Why does Lemmy.world require an email and Lemmy.org doesn't? I assumed all the Lemmies and Piefeds and whatnots required an email.
Each instance admin can check a box to require email. It reduces spam accounts and reduces work for admins because users can perform password resets themselves.
Each instance admin decides whether they require an email. Mine doesn't, but it's more important to choose an instance with admins you trust and not located in the US.
Don't use your real email regardless of instance.
Too late. Nobody told me. I thought they all required email. I might sign up for a different account if that isn't frowned upon.
Why does it matter if the instance is in the US? Just more susceptible to government pressure? Mine is in the US, as am I, I haven't seen any action from them, their whole thing is to be hands off which is why I chose them.
Nice tips
You don't need an email with lemmy.org? what is wrong with the .world accounts?
How does one go about finding and installing a vpn on a computer and phone connection? Because half the vpn's are themselves spying on users and selling the data to brokers I've heard, which rather defeats the purpose, especially as the government buys all data broker information.
.world should be considered the US government. The mods and admins are more or less government simps. They are AT BEST “center” politics.
On one of those I did notice that they didn't allow people to post, I think it was just for the articles their preferred accounts posted or something. That was one of those world news ones.
Yeah they get very fussy and egotistical. The sort of people who were hall monitors as kids and never let anyone get away… except for their friends. Like the actual police. ACAB.
I look up VPNs on the privacy reddit or lemmy. Some vpns are good, usually the paid ones. The free ones are certainly selling your shit.
It's just software you install and click the on toggle with.
$10 a month subscription last time I used one.
Do you have a source for that? Genuinely asking, I use a VPN and would like to read more into it
Oh nothing specific on that, that is what I've read in passing from everywhere though, you are supposed to do all this forensic work on every app because no one has done it for us apparently, and the app stores and Operating system owners decided to sell us all out for an extra buck so they won't tell us. My phone won't even tell me if an app costs money, they will tell me if they charge money through them, then I can download it and they will want a monthly payment outside of the app store.
They all have top ratings that are openly gamed, comments are fake, last I checked they even disallowed seeing worst comments first making the fake paid for ai comments, actually indians, the only reviews you can see. But I digress.
Nothing in particular but that is what everyone has said about vpn's and every other app, you are supposed to research their data sharing and all that because no one does it for us somehow.
If you want to know that the government buys data broker information, I have that one here, https://theintercept.com/2025/05/22/intel-agencies-buying-data-portal-privacy/
*chuckles*
You are on a public forum, just like reddit. Anyone and everyone can read what you wrote, why would you think otherwise?
Federation and privacy don't really go hand in hand
anyone using any public facing website to organize a protest almost deserves to fall in my eyes.
Why hasn't everyone downloaded signal yet?
Do you want to be my signal friend?