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Comment by sam_lowry_ | Hacker News Reader

Civil protest is often associated with privacy violations.

Belarusians that had to flee the country after August, 2020 set up a whole website where they meticulously map all those involved in stealing elections and beating protestors, see http://blackmap.org/

They even publish addresses of people who deliberately reported protestors to the authorities, together with the report summaries.

In a society run by bandits, violating privacy to expose their deeds is not even a lesser evil but a moral obligation.

Also, how is the work of Brian different from the work of Bellingcat or Navalny Team? Both are prased by media. So is Brian.

I have an answer: Privacy is a luxury, not a right. In peaceful times an democratic societies everyone can have some privacy.

When people starve to death, get beaten or killed while others amass riches, privacy means little in the face of defiance, hate and revenge.

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You seem to be implying that Bellingcat/Navalny aren't proven hucksters and info-mercenaries who will say anything to keep their moneyed interests happy.

At least Brian is a plausibly independent (from powerful governments) blogger who occasionally publishes some high-signal, low-noise content. Although this sort of doxxing is out of hand even if Russians are "fair game" to his Western audience.

Do you have evidence of these claims about Bellingcat?

Aaron Maté has done a lot of investigative journalism[1] into them.

Basically, Bellingcat is an "intelligence launderer" for the NATO-aligned IC. Agencies can feed them real or bogus intel and they will gladly publish it in return for $$$ and media clout. In some cases, they even fabricate propaganda as in the case of their collaborations with Navalny's team. I think they are closer to "useful idiots" rather than actual intelligence operatives, though.

What they are not is a largely independent OSINT group a la WikiLeaks. Bellingcat is firmly aligned with the most powerful government intelligence agencies on the planet and a darling to their media. They can be counted on to never undermine NATO's agenda (which Julian Assange is suffering immensely for doing), and are ostensibly compensated well for that.

[1] - https://thegrayzone.com/2021/03/24/author-bellingcat-opcw-wh...

Citing a site full of anti NATO crap hardly makes your point.

I did not cite a "site", I cited a specific article which makes strong claims backed by evidence. I welcome your counterarguments.

You are citing Max Blumenthal's website :-(

This in not much of a proof. Max has been a regular contributor to Russia Today, the infamous tarpit of journalism.

To be clear, by deflecting are you implying that Bellingcat is not closely aligned financially and operationally with the NATO intelligence/media apparatus?

I don't see where he said that. He said basically that it's questionable to try to prove one entity is "aligned financially and operationally" with a bad actor by citing another entity that is "aligned financially and operationally" with a different bad actor. If they are so obviously bad, your case would be better made by not citing a source that is an unabashed and uncritical mouthpiece for a particular government.

You don't need to trust the Grayzone, or the Russian government (or Syrian or Iranian or Venezuelan or Chinese, whichever one is the most convenient to pin Grayzone to today) to see the though the smokescreen of Bellingcat's claim to being an independent "intelligence agency for the people". It's a total farce.

Yes.

I followed Bellingcat and Navalny Team pretty closely for many years. I dislike some of the people behind both organisations but I am sure both organisations contribute to the society in a positive way.

Anyone who did above average things exposes themselves to privacy violations. This is recognized universally for politicians, for instance, otherwise why would we require our representantives to publish their tax declarations or simply campaign publicly?

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