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 https://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) 😫
@_elena ...and another recent reason: #cashtags on #bluesky https://www.heise.de/en/news/Not-the-community-s-wishes-Bluesky-brings-live-stream-display-and-Cashtags-11143599.html
@_elena Bit too late for me, I'm already subscribed to the "all US official accounts" block list.
I'm curious, why does it matter if blocking bluesky is public or not?
@_elena flee that nazi bar is a better option.
@_elena 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."
@_elena idrc if someone can see me blocking ICE. why is this a big deal for people outside of the US?
@_elena so but, what about people living outside of the US? They can happily block ICE all day long without being affected in any way, right?
End world happen if the list of accounts blocking ICE would be flooded with masses of foreign accounts? Just curious ~
@_elena you know pixelating is pointless since you explain how to see the original list, don't you.
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.
@_elena gross. fuck bsky
@_elena there are some moderation lists for far right accounts that contain them by now, like https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:jagldyome3h27twtp46nxen7/lists/3kkqze5ftwk2h
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 😔
@_elena wouldn't you *want* ice to see how unpopular they are? How hated they are? Wouldn't you want people to know that you don't fuck with ice? I feel like I'm missing something
@_elena
What the hell - why would this be public information? Do they WANT to encourage abuse?
@dgoldsmith
@_elena @mayintoronto I deleted BlueSky last Sept it not worth
I would also like to note that ICE is not a normal government agency. In my opinion, a normal government agency should be active on social media, at least if its goal is to be a relevant network. However, there are plenty of cases where state police have arrested ICE "officers" for acting without legal basis in their states. It is therefore not a normal agency, but an organization that acts unlawfully and is only protected by state authority, bypassing the American legal system.
@_elena
Why tf does it show who blocks a user? Is that a standard feature of bsky?
@_elena Good advice. I do the same here. That way it is a private personal choice.
@_elena Being outside the US and having no intentions to ever go there, I *have* blocked them.
@_elena I’m outside their jurisdiction. I want them to see they are getting blocked.
@_elena the best bet is to delete bluesky.
@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 😭
@_elena I had one Birdsite account, deleted it, never revisited … why should I care if the account name is reused over there now?
@donhawkins the risk of impersonation
@_elena Ahh, yes. Gotcha. Personally, not a major concern. Anticipated from the start & easily managed.
@_elena @pluralistic I found I had already blocked it through one of the lists I’m subscribed to.
Anyway, blocking the gestapo is the minor or the sins they would find in my TL.
@_elena Really sorry and disappointed that so many still stay on that shitty platform. I actively refuse to boost anything from bluesky. Jack Dorsey's a shitbag Nazi fellater just like Musk Zuck all of them.
strongly disagree;
"The safest bet" is to leave bluesky and create a fedi instance with the software of your choice.
wink smiley.
@sl007 I fundamentally agree with you and that’s why I stopped using Bluesky. But I’m trying not to be too divisive and not to alienate people who enjoy it. Otherwise they will dismiss everything I ever say about Bluesky, warnings and whatnot 😢
@_elena "I will just block it" doesn't solve the problem of the social media platform you enrich by posting on approving of a local gestapo
@_elena I am staying here. No Stasi, no Nazis, no AfD, no ICE, no DHS, no CDU, no CCP….problem solved.
@_elena this is pretty stupid lol
@_elena and what about subscribing to block lists? There are block lists for fascism ... as dangerous for US people?
I blocked the entire bsky.brid.gy instance as well as blocking the bridge bot.
@_elena If you're outside the United States, make sure to write to your politicians to tell them you don't want your nation's security and immigration working with ICE! Wearing masks and shooting innocent civilians, threatening violence and terrorising the general population, these are not the behaviors of a legitimate law enforcement agency.
@_elena
It's weird that one's blocks are visible on Bluesky. However, what's so bad if ICE knows one has blocked them?
@sloanlance not just ICE but also 4Chan-minded bad actors that may harass users blocking gov accounts
@_elena
Ok. Makes sense, I guess. It's good to know the risks.
PS: I remember the days when 4Chan was just silly crap.
@_elena @sloanlance Block lists seem to damp that down, at least so far. I'm subscribed to several. Also, given the number of people blocking ICE, and other government sites, harassers will be busy.
@_elena we have ice and we have social media snobs, larping like they're there, IRL making a difference.
Might as well be one and the same for how effective it is.
@_elena friends don't let friends use the tools of our oppressors
@_elena can we call it brownshirtsky now?
@_elena I wouldn’t use any US service for talking about ICE right now. They’ve got full Palantir coverage on it. Absolutely no doubt on my mind.
Damn. Hopefully this gets a wave of people to quit bluesky and join fedi - if ICE was on fedi, the majority of decent instance hosts would just block them outright, so their users wouldn't have to worry.
@_elena @smattymatty hm, I think that's a vulnerable argument. If fedi would spread more, there would appear more instances that would not block ICE.
@_elena That was the reason for deleting my account 5 minutes before.
@_elena
There is no privacy on bluesky or any other application hosted in US.
US government can request data anytime.
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!
@_elena 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 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.
@_elena and maybe sometimes we also need to judge people using fascist platforms.
@_elena You have friends here.
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 it‘s at present not worth the hassle.)
@_elena There are many more companies, institutions, news outlets, YouTubers etc. there then here. For example, several EU institutions and politicians are pretty active there. So, I have a few lists and use it as sort of a reader to check the latest news and other information once or twice a day. Mastodon is where I follow and interact with real people, which is what I really enjoy here.
@_elena Thanks for posting here. I’m active on both and appreciate the heads up on this!
@aaronmccollum @_elena 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.
@ApostateEnglishman @aaronmccollum indeed... even if this is unintentional, it's starting to feel like a honeypot 😩
@aaronmccollum thank you Aaron 😊
BSky is:
- centralized
- US based
- owned by a mini-big-tech-bro
Just forget it and let’s focus on the good things in life.
@_elena Good catch! I'll share a link to this post on Bsky.
@hyperreal thanks. I actually blocked the bridge months ago, so feel free to share a screenshot if it works better
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. 👍
@_elena I'm not sure if blocking the bridge also blocks linked posts. As far as I can tell on my Bsky account the link to your OP that I shared on Bsky still resolves correctly. Maybe blocking the bridge is a different thing. Or I don't know lol.
@hyperreal good to hear! at any rate my account couldn't be bridged because it starts with an underscore (a quirk of the bridge)...
@_elena @hyperreal How to block the bridge? Thanks!
@_elena I will never understand this decision. I’ve seen people say it’s just due to how ATProtocol works. But surely there’s a way they could have implemented blocks and have them private.
@_elena Great advice ❤️
@_elena
Better:
Leave for a better neighbourhood 
@u_urban @_elena I feel like all the people who went to Bluesky because Twitter died and became the rabid zombie X learned precisely nothing. It is inevitable that Bluesky will hurt them too, but they will not go to Mastodon because any of a number of silly reasons they'll fight tooth and nail not to let go of.
I suppose a Redsky will open up and they'll go to it, then it will go bad and then a Puke Green Sky will open up and they'll go to that, and then a Gangrene Sky will open...
@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?
@NatureMC @nazokiyoubinbou @_elena
It would be blocked by most instances, mine for shure, I had the freedom to choose!
@u_urban Great to hear. And then it would be easy to move to such an instance to be free of them.
BTW, the moderators here do a hard and great job, especially when we have a wave of propaganda-fake-accounts. You can nearly watch real time how these fakes at last hide on tiny unmoderated instances before they are gone.
People outside often don't know that our moderation is still hand-made.
