I Killed Johnathan Meyer

April 24, 2003 8:47 PM

I Killed Johnathan Meyer (note: link won't work if you don't have Freenet)

I killed Jonathan Meyer (ed. note: the link won't work if you don't run Freenet) of #115 1142 Mesa Alta Ave, Dallas Texas. His driver's license says that he's 5'8", 164 lbs, brown hair, brown eyes with a restriction for corrective lenses. He has a AAA card, 3 credit cards, a Blockbuster membership, and I'd relay his SSN but I respect his privacy, even post mortum. The report in the Dallas Observer said that the victum was stabbed 15 times. He was actually stabbed 17 times: 4 times in the stomach, 2 times in the neck, 5 times in the back below the rib cage, 2 times in the back in the rib cage, 1 time in the left leg, and 3 times in the pelvic region.

So begins a brand new webpage just recently added to Freenet. Before you become too terribly alarmed, if you open up the HTML for the page and look at it you'll notice that the comments explain that it is not true but that it is there to make a point.

The point in this case is not that people will likely go absolutely nuts anytime something like this happens (esp. if it involves the murder of a child) but that the we really have no way of knowing whether or not any system in our lives is really anonymous anymore. Can I go somewhere and say things that are actually illegal in some places (speech in my country is generally free but there are definite limits even here) without feeling like I have to look over my shoulder. While this page, which is just there to make a point, won't find that out a page which threatens the president would. After all, the Secret Service is required to investigate any threats to the president and they have often done so even when the threats were clearly made in jest. Explicit threats of harm would have to be taken seriously and investigated. If no one was arrested I guess you'd know you finally had real anonymity somewhere and for some reason, the thought that I really could say anything I liked somewhere, even if I never intended to use the ability, is comforting.

So I guess the question is, does anybody feel brave enough to risk imprisonment to find out how much anonymity we can really have?

Normally I wouldn't link to my own website but not very many people run Freenet yet so you might want to read the full hidden comments by the author of the original page there.

posted by johnmunsch (17 comments total)

[this is not good]
posted by scottymac at 8:51 PM on April 24, 2003

Dude, you are in for a heap of trouble! MeFi'ers are going land on you like a ton of bricks!

One: DON'T post a link that most people can't use.
Two: DON'T self-link, at any time.
Three: DO use the "more inside" so that the front page isn't so cluttered.

Anybody care to add anything?
posted by ashbury at 8:59 PM on April 24, 2003

Poop.
posted by mazola at 9:01 PM on April 24, 2003

Bad form, man. Bad form.
posted by moses at 9:02 PM on April 24, 2003

Freenet?
posted by tomharpel at 9:03 PM on April 24, 2003

From the freenet FAQage:

Freenet is free software designed to ensure true freedom of communication over the Internet. It allows anybody to publish and read information with complete anonymity. Nobody controls Freenet, not even its creators, meaning that the system is not vulnerable to manipulation or shutdown. Freenet is also very efficient in how it deals with information, adaptively replicating content in response to demand.

I still don't know what it is, but there you go.
posted by ashbury at 9:06 PM on April 24, 2003

I blame quonsar.
posted by Slithy_Tove at 9:08 PM on April 24, 2003

Someone could write graphic descriptive stories about some illegal activity and upload it. If I run Freenet, I have no control of what is stored on my computer. I am not sure I want to run the risk of having pages about someone else's crimes on my PC, even if it is encrypted. I am sorry but my computer is my property, I am not about to let people use it as a server just to perpetuate this underground free speech network, and risk aiding a criminal.
posted by riffola at 9:09 PM on April 24, 2003

See what happens to the front page when you don't slap y2karl down? Now people think this shit is OK!

Note to y2karl: Love ya, babe.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 9:10 PM on April 24, 2003

I don't know, I'm pleased with his usage of the word "myriad"...
posted by WolfDaddy at 9:20 PM on April 24, 2003

DELETE THIS POST... man this pisses me off, second self-link I've seen today. All these damn new users need to read the mefi guidelines.
posted by banished at 9:23 PM on April 24, 2003

metafilter guidelines I should say, since these damn new users probably don't even know what MeFi stands for yet.
posted by banished at 9:24 PM on April 24, 2003

For me to poop on
posted by cohappy at 9:26 PM on April 24, 2003

new users? he's been here longer than you, chester...
posted by tss at 9:27 PM on April 24, 2003

quonsar. what a cunting little weasel.
posted by anathema at 9:32 PM on April 24, 2003

Easily the best post I've seen this month in easily the worst form I've seen this year (of course, Matt deletes most of the violent offenders before I spot them).

Of course, it helps if you know what Freenet is and can use it.
posted by Ryvar at 9:39 PM on April 24, 2003

this internet, is it something... oh, fergit it.
posted by five fresh fish at 9:54 PM on April 24, 2003