Discussion
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 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 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 feel free to use. Everything I do is public domain:) if I get a smile or a laugh I’ve achieved my goal.
@_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 I've shared your post on Bluesky. I hope it'll help people there.
@_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.
@_elena Good catch! I'll share a link to this post on Bsky.
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.
@_elena @hyperreal How to block the bridge? Thanks!
@_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 @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.
strongly disagree;
"The safest bet" is to leave bluesky and create a fedi instance with the software of your choice.
wink smiley.
@_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 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.
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