Going down the wrong rabbit hole

When to pull back from a dangerous investigation

This month, I was going to bring you guys a sordid tale of a criminal, a war, a scam, and a case of stolen identity.

Then, I stopped myself.

I was really looking forward to publishing this, because it was interesting, dark, and involved quite a bit of good OSINT. I also wanted to publish it because I thought it could genuinely help others.

But it wasn’t worth a potential bullet in the head. As multiple people have told me, the target of my investigation had absolutely nothing to lose by the time I sat down to write. In carefully analyzing his online behavior, and that of the behavior that has been reported by people who have met him, I realized I was dealing with a potential shooter. Yes, the type of person who is also known for not only possessing multiple weapons, but having a history of domestic violence. A classic case. I had to stop.

As I often write here, we must all evaluate risk individually. There is no one-size-fits-all solution for any situation. Some of you have been inspired to stop posting pictures on social media after reading my work. Others are just glad to be aware of the potential risk. As I always tell people, “You need to do what works for you.”

In publishing this newsletter, I rarely talk about the roads not taken and the investigations that don’t bear fruit. Who would be interested in that?

But in dealing with this case, I realized I still had something important to say, which is this: Social media and online writing can give us the illusion that everything we do is just words on a screen. It’s not real. Therefore, it can’t have real consequences, or so it seems.

This illusion is dangerous.

The media likes to refer to OSINT researchers as “digital detectives,” which is a cool term, but also, we don’t have the institutional backing of police departments. We’re nerds online. We need to pick our battles carefully.

I was very disappointed when I realized I would have to shelve this investigation for now. I felt like a coward. I agonized. I tried to update this newsletter and I couldn’t.

Then, I got a grip.

If you’re new to my work, you may not realize how easy it is to find someone’s address. It’s as easy as snapping your fingers, and you don’t need to spend time painstakingly geolocating random photos (though that can be fun). I’m a very exposed person. I like my life, and my work, and I like talking to people about it, but I’m also just a single mom with a laptop who likes fun and being helpful. I’d bitten off more than I could chew, and it was time to protect myself and my child — especially when I began to suspect that my investigation could also impede other, official investigations of my target.

Maybe I was wrong to pull the plug. Maybe nothing would have happened. But I advise my readers to trust my gut. I also advise my readers to trust their knowledgeable friends. And I try to take my own damn advice.

Of course, I’m saying all of this as I’m tracking a stolen valor case that could potentially cause a major scandal down the line. In that case, the person in question also has a history of violent behavior. I’m going to have to make a number of difficult choices with regard to this one lately.

If you’ve followed my work for a long time, you know how many times I’ve gotten violent threats. I usually brush them off. It’s honestly the quieter people who tend to unnerve me.

There are also people like the Colorado tattoo parlor shooter. I know people who interacted with him online before his rampage, and the warning signs were always there, on the surface and just beneath it too.

Online, people with the potential for violence can and do get radicalized. They also get goaded. We don’t talk enough about that. Maybe, we should start.

That’s a great topic for conversation, and I hope to return to it.

Thank you so much for reading and subscribing!