Gun Owners: Think Twice Before Posting Pics of Your Firearms

[Riflehunter1776]

Gun Owners: Here's Why You Should Think Twice Before Posting Pictures of Your Firearms on Social Media

Beth Baumann|
Posted: Oct 23, 2019
It's no secret that technology plays an important role in our lives. Almost every single aspect of our life is ruled by technology, from smart phones to computers and the internet. That's why it's not surprising to know that Google and Facebook are keeping tabs on gun owners' firearms.

According to The Firearms Blog (TFB), the two tech giants are scanning users' pictures to look for serial numbers. They're then creating an index of every person's firearms based on the image scans. If you've posted a picture of your firearm on a social networking site and didn't smear out the serial number, chances are it's indexed on Google images. Simply type in the serial number in quotes and search images. What comes up?

The guys at TFB went through their image library and found images of various firearms and silencers where the serial number is clearly visible. They then typed it into Google and viola! Every image from their website showed up in the image results.


Although it's unlikely for a random person to have the serial number on your firearms, it is absolutely dangerous for social media giants to have this information. Facebook and Instagram are both owned by the same company. Same with YouTube and Google. When these platforms data mine this information, this creates an extremely dangerous situation.

Gun owners have worried about firearm registries because they inevitably lead to confiscation. If the government has tabs on every single gun in America it makes it easier for them to come beating on our doors, demanding that we hand them over (just as Beto has proposed). These social media giants and their owners are lefties. For all we know, these private organizations can willingly hand over a person's name and the serial numbers on their firearms to the government. And before anyone says this is an invasion of privacy, just remember: when you signed up for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and every other social networking website out there, you agreed to their terms and conditions. Anything you put on their website becomes their property, meaning they can decide how to use that information against you.



https://townhall.com/tipsheet/bethb...Rqyi088DxcpyUwQlsUOrq0cmwygRjrRL7bSUh2CRoTBVQ

 

[jbs2014]

Good info, I had a hunch they were doing this.

Best thing a person can do is not post stuff like that on Facebook, or get off of it entirely. What about photoshopping fake serial #s on the firearm? If enough people did something like that and it were known it may cause Facebook's little scheme to deemed unreliable by whoever contracted them to build it. Or better yet photoshop foul and nasty things about Facebook and it's employees in place of where the serial #s are.

 

[Thescandinavian]

All my guns are registered.
All rifles except black powder cartridges produced before 1880 + all shotguns sold after 1980 has to be registered.
I have no problem with it and I think your just a little paranoid.

 

[lancetkenyon]

Unless you have purchased a gun secondhand from a private party or inherited one, I am pretty sure your gun is already registered. You know that pesky paperwork you have to fill out before you leave the store? ATF is watching you.

 

[MtPockets]

Obviously, it's not just social media sites. Don't post what you have and they won't have a reason to come looking.

Best thing to do is use our smart phones as skipping rocks and go back to a wall phone. With cell phones they track you, listen to your conversations, and track what websites you visit.

Do we REALLY need cell phones or is it the other way around?

 

[BallisticsGuy]

Oh noes.

Google is not the US government. If government wants any information on you or your property, they either already have it or have the wherewithal to get it. Optical character recognition technology has been around for a VERY long time, so has data mining. If you're worried about privacy and are posting things to the internet, you're doing it wrong.

The sky is not falling. The very reason we all have guns is so that the government can't one day decide that we don't get to anymore. They do not have the option to go all widespread confiscation. On that note, I have to say that putting forth notions of some impending totalitarian one-world government infringing on our long held rights is, in my opinion, the interminable yammering of fear mongers. Not news and certainly not helping.

 

[Deleted member 103481]

Google also has a data log of every single search you have ever made. They flat out said it on a 60 minutes or Sunday morning or something I watched like a decade ago.

 

[jbs2014]

Oh noes.

Google is not the US government. If government wants any information on you or your property, they either already have it or have the wherewithal to get it. Optical character recognition technology has been around for a VERY long time, so has data mining. If you're worried about privacy and are posting things to the internet, you're doing it wrong.

The sky is not falling. The very reason we all have guns is so that the government can't one day decide that we don't get to anymore. They do not have the option to go all widespread confiscation. On that note, I have to say that putting forth notions of some impending totalitarian one-world government infringing on our long held rights is, in my opinion, the interminable yammering of fear mongers. Not news and certainly not helping.

Who "put forth notions of some impending totalitarian one world government "? I did not see that in the original post?

 

[BallisticsGuy]

Who "put forth notions of some impending totalitarian one world government "? I did not see that in the original post?

Read it again then. I can't help if you didn't pick up what amounts to the central point.

 

[robert l]

All my guns are registered.
All rifles except black powder cartridges produced before 1880 + all shotguns sold after 1980 has to be registered.
I have no problem with it and I think your just a little paranoid.

And you will be on the list when it comes to take yours guns away.look at all of the liberals taking over our gov. That is all you should look at and then see what happens

 

[MtPockets]

"Google is not the US government."

You are correct, but that absolutely does NOT mean that the govt doesn't have access to the data.
For that matter- any other organization with a good hacker can conceivably access that information, as well.

"For all we know, these private organizations can willingly hand over a person's name and the serial numbers on their firearms to the government. And before anyone says this is an invasion of privacy, just remember: when you signed up for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and every other social networking website out there, you agreed to their terms and conditions. Anything you put on their website becomes their property, meaning they can decide how to use that information against you".


This sums it up perfectly, and is the reason that anyone wanting to save what very little privacy they have left will not only cut all ties with "social media" but also severely limit what they put on the internet, period.

 

[jbs2014]

Read it again then. I can't help if you didn't pick up what amounts to the central point.

No the only reference to a "world government" comes from your post. The central point of the article, and Riflehunter1776's post, seems more related to privacy.

I was only inquiring because I thought there was a portion of the article that I might have missed.

 

[Thescandinavian]

And you will be on the list when it comes to take yours guns away.look at all of the liberals taking over our gov. That is all you should look at and then see what happens

I come from a place that by your standards even the most right wingers would be considered socialists. We have had a register for 100years and we have to document private arms sales as well and there none except than those that are both vegan and pacifist that want to take any guns away.

 

[Left Hand Dave]

Thescandinavian,
I have never been to Norway so I have a question. With the gun laws on the books in your country do some of your political leaders, individuals running for office and special interest groups make statements pertaining to taking all of your guns, we are coming to your door to take your guns or any statements like that? Or is there a lack of volatility on the subject?