Episode 134 · The GaS Digital / Ray Kump Era
I Am The One Who Dox
Feb 9, 2019 · 1:22:48 · 20 segments, 139 moments indexed
- 1 min
Opening stinger and network ID for the GaS Digital Network before the show proper begins.
1moment
- 0:05Show intro: "Tim Dillon is going to hell!"
- 3 min
Introducing the Anonymous Dark Web Guest
#Tim explains why this episode's guest, like the Smiley Face Killers interviewee, will remain anonymous, describes how he found the guest through a friend, and lays out his goal of exploring internet radicalization and forum culture rather than dark web mythology.
7moments
- 0:32Tim introduces an anonymous guest appearing on the show.
- 0:51The anonymity is necessary because some people want to discuss things without fear of legal or other retribution.
- 1:22The subject was spooky enough that Tim worried something could happen to the guest if he went public.
- 1:39Tim wanted to explore how groups might recruit through the dark web based on what detectives suggested in the smiley face theory.
- 1:59Tim has long wanted a hacker on the show but found it nearly impossible to get one willing to discuss their actual activities.
- 2:17The episode is less about dark web conspiracy theories and more about internet culture in places most people don't visit—forums, 4chan, radicalization spaces.
- 2:36Tim warns listeners expecting dark web conspiracy theories that they're dorks and should get married and start a family instead.
dark websmiley face episodeChris Gethard
- 3 min
What the Dark Web Actually Is (No Red Rooms)
#Tim riffs on how people fantasize about the dark web having hitmen and torture red rooms when the real horror is mundane and disturbing (child exploitation), then previews that this episode is really about the psychology of a guy radicalized online.
7moments
- 2:43Most dark web stories are bullshit—no red rooms, no hired hit men, just forums where people get radicalized.
- 3:08Tim's guest is a former radical who infiltrated sites and doxxed people, now regrets it and has shifted his worldview.
- 3:24The episode covers government hacking, how agencies recruit hackers, and collectives like Anonymous trying to influence elections and public opinion.
- 4:13People learn about actual kid torture and pornography, then ask where the real dark stuff is—demanding worse horrors for entertainment.
- 5:04Tim admits he's not a tech guy and didn't grow up online, so he's genuinely asking questions rather than performing expertise.
- 5:28The conversation is interesting because the guest's worldview was formed primarily online rather than offline, in forums and chat rooms.
- 5:50The guest remains anonymous because he discusses drugs, hacking, and doxxing—things he doesn't want publicly attributed to him.
- 1 min
Tim asks listeners to rate and review, plugs recent popular episodes including the Smiley Face Killers episode, Ari Shafir, the NYT comedy critic Jason Zinoman, and the Bay Ridge Boys' History of Hyenas podcast.
2moments
- 6:07Tim asks listeners to rate and subscribe to the podcast, noting a real surge in listeners.
- 6:19Recent episode with Ari Shafir has been very popular.
History of HyenasAri Shaffirsmiley face killersChrista StefanoYannis PappasJason Zinneman
- 4 min
The anonymous guest describes discovering the Silk Road offshoot Evolution to buy drugs in college, comparing it to Yelp/Amazon reviews, then explains how 'vanity websites' selling makeup were used as covers hiding child porn sites on the dark web.
10moments
- 7:38Guest describes developing a hefty drug habit in college and getting tired of meeting dealers in person.
- 7:53Evolution was an offshoot of the Silk Road where you could buy drugs and guns on the deep web.
- 8:04Tim asks if anyone sells food on the deep web, suggesting it's not like Uber Eats.
- 8:24Guest used Evolution to buy Coke and pills because it was easier than dealing with bunk dealers and ripoff artists.
- 8:44Deep web drug dealing works like Yelp and Amazon with seller reviews and searchable listings.
- 9:06Leftist community in guest's hometown knew him as a guy who wrote papers for rich kids and had published work on CIA and intelligence.
- 9:33Guest was asked to post on a leftist forum blog on the deep web frequented by people from countries experiencing governmental crises like Greece.
- 10:03Blog posts covered how to properly organize protests and what actually works against tear gas, posted on the deep web for anonymity.
- 10:36Guest became part of a group tasked with investigating right wing groups on the deep web.
- 10:51Guest discovered vanity websites, which are covers for child pornography websites on the deep web.
- 7 min
The guest details how he infiltrated far-right forums for a leftist group, finding that Neo-Nazi race-war forums were frequently crossed over with child pornography, and Tim jokes about the horrifying juxtaposition of race-war prep and kid content on the same threads.
8moments
- 11:21Tim describes finding child pornography hidden beneath vanity websites on the deep web, a known tactic among users.
- 12:34Dark web wikis around 2015-2016 aggregated links for drugs, weapons, and other illegal goods in centralized directories.
- 13:36While infiltrating far-right groups on the deep web, Tim and friends discovered a crossover between neo-Nazi forums and child sexual abuse material.
- 14:39Neo-Nazi forum members would mix discussions of arming for race war with explicit child abuse content, sometimes posted casually by other users.
- 15:19Tim asks whether any forum members objected to the child abuse material, drawing a line between their political extremism and that content.
- 15:40Right-wing forums with fascist imagery focused on mythical race war and survivalism, while the crossover forums had a completely different layout and tone.
- 16:46Tim contrasts this with leftist forums where violent misogyny got users banned or called out immediately.
- 17:45Tim argues the right's tolerance for extreme content, including abuse material, is why recruitment succeeds where the left purges members for insensitive language.
Neo-Nazisfar right groupsleft
- 4 min
The guest explains how his group doxxed far-right forum members via cross-referencing usernames, reflects on regretting it now that he sees these people as working-class rather than dangerous, and traces the roots of call-out/cancel culture to centrist liberal one-upmanship.
7moments
- 18:09Doxing isn't really a thing because people put their own information online anyway — work, phone number, address — and expose themselves through stupidity on the internet.
- 18:34The goal was to identify people in Nazi online groups and inform their family, friends, and employers about their involvement and proclivities.
- 19:33They tracked targets across public internet platforms like Twitter and Facebook after catching them being careless about anonymity on forums.
- 19:56Tim's guest now disagrees with doxing and thinks it's wrong, though at 19 years old he believed he was doing community work.
- 20:27As a working-class person, the guest has changed his view after working alongside people with extreme ideas who were just trying to feed their kids.
- 21:16A dishwasher he worked with had an SS tattoo from his skinhead punk days in 1980s Washington DC and couldn't afford to get it covered up because of his two kids.
- 21:37The guest no longer believes people deserve to have their lives ruined and be chastised in their community for past beliefs or controversial tattoos.
doxingcancel culture
- 5 min
They discuss why being called a Nazi is professionally more dangerous than being called a communist, then the guest describes his naive early belief that Tor made him fully anonymous while doxxing people and being part of anarchist/leftist online communities.
4moments
- 22:25Call-out culture started as recognition-seeking among centrist liberals, then evolved into doxxing and getting people fired.
- 23:57Being called a Nazi is far more dangerous to your identity and livelihood than being called a communist or liberal.
- 25:06Tim asks whether his guest feared exposure of their identity and whether online activity spilled into real-world violence.
- 26:01Guest admits the catastrophic mistake of believing the other side was stupid and underestimating their tech savvy and organizational ability.
call out cultureliberals
- 4 min
The guest says people on both political extremes genuinely believed in coming revolution or race war, describes teaching self-defense to anarchists, and pivots to QAnon as a grift convincing elderly Republicans of a secret Reddit insider with Q-clearance.
8moments
- 27:09Guest describes anarchists and communists who genuinely believed an October Revolution was coming to the US and prepared with weapons and hacking skills.
- 28:01Right-wing true believers were convinced a race war was imminent and needed to prepare for it.
- 28:26Tim: both sides were convinced a cataclysmic revolution or race war was coming and had to prepare for it.
- 28:39Most inflammatory posts on Reddit and 4chan are shock value and edgy attempts, not genuine beliefs held by those saying them.
- 29:11Larger group invested in community rather than violence; only small percentage actually becomes violent.
- 29:24Guest taught self-defense to anarchists, socialists, and communists, with goal of defending against people emboldened by the presidency.
- 29:58QAnon presented as a grift targeting elderly Republicans by convincing them a Reddit user with Q-level security clearance was leaking deep state secrets.
- 30:40Tim: co-host Ray Kompin asked why QAnon believers needed coded Reddit messages when Trump was already president—what could be so boring about real life that they invented these things?
QAnon4chanRedditDonald TrumpBarack ObamaHillary ClintonOctober Revolution
- 3 min
More riffing on QAnon believers awaiting a 'reckoning' that will never come, followed by a personal tangent from the guest about an embarrassing childhood Colgate commercial audition and Tim's parallel bit about trying to sleep with casting directors.
5moments
- 31:23QAnon operates as a cult recruiting people into belief that Mueller investigation is a distraction and Trump will arrest deep state child abusers.
- 32:19Tim compares QAnon's scale to a local martial arts group where some members genuinely believed they were preparing for revolution.
- 33:01Rich pedophiles aren't actually going to jail despite how appealing the idea sounds—the reckoning may win an Academy Award but won't result in convictions.
- 33:33Tim auditioned for a Colgate commercial in high school and was cut short when casting directors asked if his eight-year-old brother could do the read instead.
- 34:16During commercial auditions Tim would ask casting directors if he could perform sex acts, leading to rejection and humiliation.
QAnonDonald TrumpMueller investigationColgate
- 6 min
The guest explains that Tor was originally a government project and that using it isn't as anonymous as people think, discussing large-scale drug and CP busts, red flags like insisting on bank transfers over Bitcoin, and government monitoring of anti-government forums.
11moments
- 34:52Tim explains the honeypot concept: Tor was government-created for information transmission, then the public got ahold of it and altered it.
- 35:08Gas Digital subscribers audibly relieved upon learning they won't face arrest for buying small amounts of drugs on the dark web.
- 35:47Large-scale drug operations, child exploitation sites, and anti-government forums are actively monitored by law enforcement.
- 36:32The CIA, NSA, and FBI have almost certainly figured out how to track Tor users adequately over the past decade.
- 36:57People are naive thinking they're safe ordering drugs internationally through Tor when receiving them domestically is still illegal.
- 37:22Every significant anti-government movement in history has been co-opted by federal agents.
- 37:50Guest pulled out of the local leftist movement after discovering police and State Department operatives had infiltrated it.
- 38:34Guest recounts sketchy moments while buying drugs on the dark web where people were so paranoid deals would fall through.
- 39:13Guest attempted to buy a half-ounce of cocaine on a dark web site when a seller insisted on bank transfers instead of Bitcoin.
- 40:03Rule of thumb for dark web drug dealers: if they want Western Union or non-crypto transfers, they're either law enforcement or stupid.
- 40:22Any seller asking for non-Bitcoin transfers across borders was assumed to work for Interpol or wasn't worth buying from anyway.
- 3 min
Tying back to the prior Smiley Face Killers episode, the guest speculates that such a group would need serious surveillance and counter-surveillance sophistication and would likely recruit through heavily vetted, deeply encrypted channels rather than open forums.
6moments
- 40:56Tim jokes about smiley face killers recruiting via makeup tutorial links that subtly pitch murder.
- 41:21Tim claims he's spent time on the deep web during tours and believes smiley face killers exist and are recruiting there.
- 41:40The sophistication required to drown college kids five miles from bars without getting caught in 20+ years suggests organized recruitment and surveillance knowledge.
- 42:47Tim explains the vetting process for dark web recruitment would involve nepotism and careful screening to bring people into the operation.
- 43:28These killers aren't organizing on Reddit or Twitter—they're using heavily encrypted communication buried deep within Tor networks.
- 43:46Tim suggests that if you're smart enough, there are parts of the dark web where even the smartest investigators can't track you.
- 8 min
The guest explains that agencies like the NSA don't scour forums for talent but instead wait for young hackers to commit felonies and offer them jobs instead of jail, then discusses the Cicada 3301 puzzle, its occult/Nietzschean manifesto, and a solver who vanished after completing it.
8moments
- 44:21How do governments actually recruit hackers, and what is Cicada 3301?
- 45:32The NSA doesn't hunt the deep web for talent—they wait for smart kids to commit felonies, then offer them a choice: prison or six-figure government work.
- 47:22Example of a hacker who was doxxing police officers and ended up taking a government job after a plea deal instead of facing prosecution.
- 48:35Federal governments wouldn't need elaborate continent-spanning puzzles to recruit cybersecurity workers—only an insurgent group would require that level of vetting.
- 49:53Cicada 3301's manifesto reveals occult beliefs, Nietzschean philosophy, and sophistication in cyber understanding that is second to none.
- 50:31In 2014, a single person solved a Cicada puzzle involving steganography, embedded codes, languages, and even a payphone call in Texas across multiple countries.
- 51:20The puzzle solver reached a final page on the deep web, but attempts to contact him for an interview went unanswered—possibly recruited or disappeared.
- 51:50Cicada's final stage letters claimed they were a privacy-focused think tank dedicated to creating software to protect people, which disappointed those expecting government recruitment or nefarious purposes.
NSACicada 3301CIAFriedrich NietzscheJulian AssangeWikiLeaksChile
- 3 min
Discussion of a Chilean government report alleging Cicada 3301 was preparing for a cataclysmic cyber event, plus fringe theories that the group wanted to erase credit card and student debt records, with a joke tangent about a subprime Long Island mortgage.
5moments
- 52:39Chilean government claimed they had detailed intelligence on Cicada and asserted the group was preparing for a cataclysmic cyber event.
- 53:24Cicada released a statement denying those allegations, but it's impossible to verify whether the statement actually came from the real group.
- 54:06One theory holds that Cicada was trying to erase debt records on a massive scale, including credit card and college debt, a concept the show Mr. Robot drew from.
- 54:35Tim describes getting coked out on Long Island, buying a house he couldn't afford with a subprime mortgage, and imagines Cicada erasing those financial records.
- 54:55Tim admits he'd love if Cicada would erase the record of him walking into a Nissan dealership with a 510 credit score and buying a car with an unaffordable interest rate.
- 3 min
The guest distinguishes Anonymous as a loosely unified, purpose-less banner group from the more disciplined, mission-driven Cicada, and they discuss celebrity hacker figures like Kim Dotcom as lone actors.
7moments
- 55:22Anonymous is a collective of hackers that tried to shut down child porn sites on the deep web.
- 55:41The problem with Anonymous was that so many people claimed to work under the umbrella that they had no unified statement of purpose.
- 56:14Guys claiming to work for Anonymous ranged from far right to far left, advocating violence and doxxing people.
- 56:35Cicada operates on a much more sophisticated level than Anonymous and appears to be a recruitment puzzle rather than entertainment.
- 57:02Anonymous had too many people flying the banner, while Cicada is a smaller group with cohesion and a clear mission statement.
- 57:17Celebrity hackers like Kim.com and Gusefier operate as seemingly independent lone wolves releasing proprietary information from governments.
- 57:57Tim asks whether figures like Julian Assange are independent actors guided by ideology or backed by governments.
AnonymousJulian AssangeWikiLeaksCicadaOccupy Wall StreetKim.com
- 4 min
The guest argues that leakers who can walk around freely, unlike Snowden and Chelsea Manning who faced exile and imprisonment, may be intelligence psyops, and speculates Manning now has a handler; a joking dox of 'Louis CK' as the guest interrupts.
10moments
- 58:35Tim argues that leakers who face no persecution are likely government psyops, citing Manning and Snowden as examples of real whistleblowers.
- 58:56Edward Snowden claimed in interviews that if he returned to the States for more than a week, they would kill him.
- 59:06Chelsea Manning spent years being tortured after leaking information, unlike celebrity leakers who walk around safely.
- 59:41Tim's theory: if you leak information and remain safe, you're likely some sort of intelligence psyop.
- 1:00:09Barack Obama pardoning Chelsea Manning was likely done under pressure from social media and left-wing journalists, not genuine conviction.
- 1:00:49Tim felt worse for Manning before she became active on Twitter, since social media makes everyone's case harder.
- 1:01:17Tim is thoroughly convinced Chelsea Manning probably has a government handler now.
- 1:01:34WikiLeaks started with genuine desire to disseminate information governments wanted hidden.
- 1:01:58Julian Assange shifted from that original mission and made WikiLeaks about his own celebrity instead.
- 1:02:15The caller is revealed to be Louis C.K. after discussing Assange's legal case.
Chelsea ManningEdward SnowdenLouis C.K.Barack ObamaJulian AssangeWikiLeaksKim.com
- 7 min
They debate whether Assange's rape allegation conveniently discredited WikiLeaks, whether Russia used WikiLeaks to help elect Trump, and agree Hillary Clinton's campaign largely sank itself regardless of Russian involvement.
8moments
- 1:02:35Assange faced rape allegations that conveniently undermined his credibility just as he was releasing government leaks.
- 1:03:38Tim argues WikiLeaks as a movement remains valuable despite doubts about Assange's personal conduct.
- 1:04:03The timing and targeting of WikiLeaks releases against Hillary Clinton's campaign looks deliberate, though she joked about droning Assange.
- 1:05:37Hillary Clinton tanked her own campaign without needing Russian help—she ran on "I'm not Trump" and lost.
- 1:06:20Tim wouldn't be shocked if Putin saw Trump as more manipulable than Clinton, even if that wasn't the decisive factor.
- 1:07:24A trusted information source like WikiLeaks could have swayed libertarian-leaning voters by making Hillary look disqualifying.
- 1:08:14The government is now cracking down on "fake news" and Russian interference, but this censorship will inevitably shift left and silence independent critics.
- 1:08:48Writers critical of US foreign policy get lumped in with Russian bots and agitators, putting them under the same suppression umbrella.
Julian AssangeWikiLeaksHillary ClintonRussiaChris HedgesTruthdigTim Kaine
- 5 min
Government Surveillance, De-platforming, and Conspiracy Censorship
#They discuss government monitoring of private group chats, a story about a classmate getting an FBI visit for a tweet threatening Obama, comedian Jake Flores getting a Homeland Security visit over an ICE joke, and Tim's concern that labeling things 'conspiracy theory' is being used to suppress legitimate government critique like Abu Ghraib torture revelations.
8moments
- 1:09:49Tim argues that real change won't come through armed revolution but through the internet and social media.
- 1:10:14The Arab Spring demonstrated how social movements can organize online.
- 1:10:46Most people operate under willful ignorance that they're being monitored by intelligence agencies.
- 1:11:17Tim recalls a high school Republican who texted a death threat against Obama and got visited by federal agents.
- 1:12:08Comedian Jake Flores got a knock on his door from Homeland Security for tweeting a joke about ice.
- 1:12:43The government's definition of anti-government speech expands to criminalize legitimate policy critiques.
- 1:13:03Before torture was publicly acknowledged, anyone claiming the U.S. ran an organized black-site program would have been labeled a conspiracy theorist.
- 1:13:44YouTube censoring conspiracy material is problematic because it prevents people from questioning official narratives.
Jake FloresYouTubeAbu Ghraibgovernment surveillanceBarack ObamaArab Spring
- 4 min
The guest voices suspicion about the FBI's inability to find a motive in the Las Vegas shooting, jokes about Kenny Chesney concerts justifying violence, and they discuss how devices like Amazon Echo normalize surveillance in exchange for convenience.
10moments
- 1:14:12FBI investigated the Las Vegas shooting and found no motive, yet the hotel room was set up like a Bourne movie.
- 1:14:53Tim tends to be a worst-case scenario guy when thinking about social media and intelligence monitoring.
- 1:15:04A Kenny Chesney concert outside his hotel room would have driven him to violence if he'd had weapons.
- 1:15:27Technology like Amazon Echo is being used against us, and we're volunteering for surveillance because the gadgets do cool shit.
- 1:16:14Companies know what you're buying on the internet and they listen to you through these devices.
- 1:16:29Most discussions of surveillance are either politically drenched or filled with provably false conspiracy theories like dark web torture rooms.
- 1:17:08You cannot live a normal life without submitting to technology—no social media presence means being pretty much done.
- 1:17:33This technology is used to monitor, listen to, and impact what you think and believe.
- 1:17:56Modern infrastructure like restaurants no longer accepts phone calls and demands email—disconnecting is practically impossible.
- 1:18:17Convenience comes at the cost of freedoms people didn't even realize they had, and now they're gone forever.
Stephen PaddockAmazon EchoLas Vegas shootingtechnology and surveillancesocial media surveillance
- 4 min
The guest concludes that dark web behaviors (doxxing, extremism, call-out culture) have gone fully mainstream onto Reddit and 4chan, describes his own resulting paranoia about job interviews and social media privacy, and Tim closes with a joke about comedians as an extremist group.
7moments
- 1:18:28Dark web culture has gone mainstream—doxxing, political extremism, and anonymity's worst impulses are now just found on Reddit and 4chan.
- 1:19:19Guest explains he's become incredibly paranoid about technology and social media after years involved with online extremist groups.
- 1:20:09At a job interview, when asked why his social media was private, he joked it was because he posts child porn.
- 1:20:48His boss asked for social media handles for emergencies, but he refused to share them—uncomfortable with that level of digital exposure.
- 1:21:24Guest says he's not disgusted by the chaos online so much as interested, but paranoia clouds that interest because he's seen people jailed for protest attendance via their own social media.
- 1:22:01He now mostly posts dick jokes and photos of Taco Bell menu items—watching a car crash while terrified of it happening to him.
- 1:22:13Tim claims comedians are an extremist group and proposes a QAnon-style mass arrest of comedians into Guantanamo Bay, with him and Jimmy Fallon cellmates.