Investigators were alerted to his accounts after finding an unusually high number of log-ins and failed log-ins from an unfamiliar devices, locations, or networks. That information is tracked by Google, per the affidavit. Other unusual activity was traced through Payne’s VPN or network provider.
So, Google stopped him, and his VPN provider. I’d like to know who his VPN provider was.
Messages from his burner phone, too, matched the number Payne had listed in his personal contact info while applying for unemployment benefits in February.
If you put your real name on it or associate that phone number with your name, then doesn’t that stop meeting the definition of a burner phone?
EDIT: I re-read the wording of the article, and I don’t think he used the burner phones number associated with his name as I posted before. The article says this:
"Messages from his burner phone, too, matched the number Payne had listed in his personal contact info while applying for unemployment benefits in February. "
It sounds like he used is REAL phone/number to apply for unemployment, but then at a later time he used is REAL phone to text a message to his burner phone. So the article is saying the “messages found on his burner phone” contained his REAL phone number. This would mean authorities would have had to have the burner phone in hand. So this wasn’t the way he was found, simply a way that it was confirmed it was him.
Sure he’s dumb but his failure gives an interesting insight into how wide the US dragnet on its citizens is. A mail address used to apply for unemployment has been indexed somewhere « just in case ». Nice.
Storage and indexing is cheap. From a usability perspective indexing makes sense: call centre staff can tell someone why their unemployment application has been denied/delayed etc.
From a security perspective, Google, Proton, and friends want to track failed login IPs so they can assign (internal) reputation scores to incoming requests.
It’s the sharing & cross enrichment that would bother me. That your unemployment office keeps a CRM with the info makes sense. That LEA has it all and more together with the gods know what else is what I would object to. Same for how service providers store that info; there’s a fine line between storing enough and too much. Or too long. And not everything needs to be tied forever to the customer ; sometimes a hash or whatever does wonder for the legitimate purpose. Storing more is often « just in case I can market the data later » which I’m personally not agreeing with.
“No b-because he was a bad guy so we can accuse him of other bad guy stuff too!”
Inb4 police find “a mysterious white power” and never mention it again
I guess you mean white powder
White power is clearly very openly rampant in police institutions worldwide - although, I guess, the white powder isn’t far away either…
Not if it’s a Pixel 6 Pro!
Yeah they try to paint the guy as some tech genius but frankly he was sloppy af
“He is no longer welcome to be alive”
And
“We are Luigi. We Are One.”
This guy is innocent of all charges, but whoever wrote that has a way with words.
There’s not enough info in here to know how Google was involved if he sent the emails from Proton. Proton absolutely does not cotton to illegal shit, and actionable threats would be up there with LEO compliance.
My guess is he was on a VPN and had logins from a Proton account, validated with a burner phone he kept, and was also logging on to a personal Gmail or using some Google service that identifies him while in the same VPN location. Proton and the VPN give up an IP address that corroborates to what Big G tracks to him.
Edit: even a no-log VPN would likely be compelled to confirm a user at an IP address at a certain time. That’s not a a “log” per se…
Idiot should have known to change his VPN location between instances and/or use TOR like a big boy, but mental health issues seem to be there driving force, not rationality.
Any good guides out there for actual privacy to avoid the pitfalls of ahem being an idiot (re: am idiot)
Leave your digital devices at home and don’t do illegal stuff on them.
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Don’t do illegal stuff that makes people paid to find you come looking for you.
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Nothing done online is anonymous enough that you should do or type anything you wouldn’t want to read out loud in a court.
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Privacy subreddit and privacyguides.org both are good starting places.
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God forbid men have hobbies smh
His desire to execute Tesla owners, while understandable considering how they drive, is a bit extreme. His other goals though. 👌
God damn that’s unfortunate…
So that brings the total up to four good Americans?
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No. Stop being a dick
“First amendment” my ass. You can’t say anything without these snowflakes jumping in
They better be giving him a medal before releasing him to complete his mission…
Bruh a declaration? 😒 I s2g social media has made people idiots
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He should run for president
