How likely is the US government going to identify and arrest every online user who have disagreed with the current administration?

It's completely unrealistic in the short term, more so in the long term. This would require arresting millions of people - there simply isn't enough jail space. They would have to execute people on sight, and that's also not realistic because low level soldiers would refuse (there's a reason the nazis needed to build a system instead of just executing jews on sight). Obviously if this were attempted it would result in extremely violent resistence which would destroy any economic, political, or other incentives for such an action.

Instead we can see what happened in Russia for a more realistic example - there was a slow elimination of dissent. Even today there are some Russians who vocally oppose Putin and don't get arrested so long as they stay small enough. And that's in a place where the society never had a culture of freedom to begin with, so here it will probably be much harder and obviously MAGA is much dumber than the Russians too. But regardless that's why it's very important to be vocal now and oppose any silencing of dissent, like the removal of pro-Palestine activists here on green cards or even the pardoning of pro-Trump people, as this combined with harsh punishments for others is effectively silencing of speech. It may not affect you now, but if they keep at it for a decade or two it'll get to you eventually.

Hi, this is really important and has a real and practical solution: ANONYMITY / OPSEC!

for Lemmy this means registering an account over tor, with email made over Tor (like onionmail.org) and only ever use it over tor. Note that some instances like Lemmy.world won't allow this. Dbzer0 or lem.ee are good bets

It requires learning how this stuff works but it is so worth it. Do not let them intimidate you into censoring yourself, learn to use technology to your benefit so you don't have to second guess yourself or be afraid to resist.

I recommend using Tor Browser if you want a quick and easy solution or Whonix if you're technically inclined/willing to learn/want a full anonymous OS instead of just a browser

I'm considering making a detailed guide for Lemmy resistors but these are great resources to get you started

https://anonymousplanet.org/guide/

http://blog.nowherejezfoltodf4jiyl6r56jnzintap5vyjlia7fkirfsnfizflqd.onion/opsec/index.html

^ can only be accessed over tor

If anyone needs help please don't hesitate to reach out to me

Right now I think its basically zero chance, BUT we are absolutely hurtling face-first into that exact reality.

It's our extremely unfortunate job right now to fight these fascist Cunts and do our best to prevent this reality from coming to be. I get that that is downright terrifying, but if we give in to that fear and bury our heads in the sand, doesn't kinda mean they win?

All? Unlikely. But some? A lot harder to say. You're asking for an opinion-based prediction at this point. I think they'll probably eventually try to get the most outspoken critics, but I also think that's a good time to not go silent. You get organized.

no. well, not accurately.

which doesn't mean you're safe. it means compliance will not protect you-you could do everything right, and get nabbed anyway. shit's gonna get messy..

the more imaginable scenario is that they always go for the edgiest fuckers, at a certain pace. that's within their bounds to easily identify without wasting resources they need to fight other state level actors on it, and as long as you're just a little less than the edgiest fuckers currently posting (oops) you're probably fine. it will just be a slow ratcheting hand around your neck, that strangles you by millimeters, but you can just think of it as a really really high stakes version of reddit, if you need a familiar frame of reference.

don't worry though; they'll also be messy about this, and get a TON of the wrong people.

Extremely unlikely. Not for another 20 years or so, worst case scenario, and by then they probably won't care about now.

First off, there's way too many people who criticize the government to arrest everyone, secondly it's completely unnecessary. Complaining about the government doesn't really do anything other than allowing people to vent their frustrations and feel more content. It's the same way Trump obviously isn't going to "end elections forever" like people say, virtually every country in the world has elections, regardless of how actually democratic they are, because they're a nice little ritual that lets you feel free and in control. It would be like saying that Trump is going to knock down the Statue of Liberty - he doesn't have to.

Now, there are reasons to establish more secure lines of communication, like if you're involved in actual organizing or if you're either helping people do illegal things or planning to help people do things that could potentially become illegal - for example, shipping Plan B or trans hormones to people in red states. Laws in some red states about "pushing transgenderism on minors" could theoretically be interpreted so broadly that if you post information or supportive messages on a public forum and a minor in a red state happens to see it, they could try to come after you for it - but that would probably be found unconstitutional.

Using secure lines of communication for routine, everyday stuff helps keep those lines secure by generating more chaff they'd have to sort through, as well as familiarizing yourself with it and getting more people on board. However, you shouldn't scatter to the wind preemptively and self-censor, beyond just not fed-posting.

AI is a big help here. Including at current tech level. But why bother the expense or judicially-complaining process of arresting them, if you can arrange their next Amazon electronics order to explode?

The fact that you are even worried about this says so much.

Love, A european

I'm not going to travel to the US just in case they triangulate my ID. Haven't said anything terribly bad about USA but still, why risk it.

You know what they called Germans during WWII who just went along with the nazis because why fight, you’ll just lose?

Nazis.

Well, if I know my lore, the fediverse, Lemmy included, was created by self avowed communists.

And if the Luigi shenanigans, that is to say the censorship brought to bear on any discussion of the man or his alleged crime, have shown us anything; it's that the powers that be very much fear a class war. Besides wich commies have long been a favorite windmill to tilt at.

I think it's safe to assume anything posted on here gets logged and analyzed.

That having been said, eat the rich, free Palestine, and healthcare for all!!

I hate to be all doom and gloom but if the government decided tomorrow that disagreeing with trump was a crime then it's probably already too late for you.

The amount of information about people online is pretty shocking and no amount of cleaning up after yourself could save you at this point.

On the other hand, it probably won't devolve that fast so you're probably ok?

@IDKWhatUsernametoPutHereLolol I don't think you need to delete the account.
Just create another account and only log in to it via VPN, i2p or TOR. It's Fediverse, you can have multiple accounts with different content. And don't write anything private on the second (3,4,5...) account that can help in your identification.

And in general, showing the middle finger to surveillance systems it's simply rule of good tone on the modern internet. 😀

Well, I think that it would be if not impossible, then extremely difficult to do that, as the amount of people they'd have to catch would be gigantic.

But I think it's best to be prepared for a lot of social media bans and restrictions. (Think China or Saudi Arabia)

And if you happen to partake in protests, do NOT confess to it online. This is especially important if you're doing anything illegal, but looking at what the situation is over there, I'd say that it applies to peaceful protesting as well. Take care.

Extremely unlikely and possibly physically impossible

I don't think this is something we have to worry about in the near future and I don't think it will happen under Trump. What concerns me is the way the "system" is being set up so that alternative points of view or other parties just won't have a chance to win an election or survive a lawsuit.

The groundwork is being laid so that people way more extreme than what we are seeing now can come into power and then stay in power without any way of removing them.

The current administration is setting things up where in order to "count" you have to be 1) loyal to Trump and 2) loyal to the republican party (don't want any RINOs!). Heck, you can subscribe to typically republican principals (lower taxes, lower spending, right to bear arms, strong military, etc...) but you aren't a "real" republican unless you un-waveringly support Trump.

But a true patriot is loyal to the Constitution. But now, you can't be a republican and be loyal to the constitution, you have to be loyal to Trump. And that is setting things up to go very badly.

My solution is to VPN everything out of country. Not a single packet exits without going through a double hop VPN, with both hops being outside the Fourteen Eyes.

On top of that I run an ad/tracking blocking DNS server that’s updated pretty frequently.

This is why I use a vpn. But he'd have to prosecute half the people or scare half the people. I hope we'll fight back if that ever happens

why don't you take a look at my comment history to find out how I feel about it.

this is my 231st comment. I run a script to scrub anything usually older than 24 hours.

Honestly Lemmy is way too small to be monitored and acted upon.

So even though the question is interesting I think deleting Lemmy because of the current administration is an over reaction.

On the contrary you probably have the opportunity to freely dissent here when others on mainstream socials networks can't.

But I'm European so it's easy for me to say that this is probably safe here. You have to evaluate the risk yourself but I think no administration gives a single sh** about Lemmy.

Maybe start using tor or i2p. You can use Lemmy over tor, for sure.

Very unlikely. They don't have the prison cells to lock up half the population nor the manpower to identify them with how many people DOGE is firing. You're more likely to just lose your job rather than get arrested.

Why arrest when it is enough to disable credit cards?

There is so much content going online, and so much traffic, plus heightened security measures, that make it very hard to identify dissidents on a large scale, at least with the tech we have, without using searches and seizure of one’s devices or other methods unrelated to the Internet itself.

In other words, very hard to impossible.

Zero percent chance of that happening. C'moon now..