#Thread #TekFog For the last few months, I wanted to do a thread on life after the @thewire_in Tek Fog investigation. Here are a few points. Thankfully, I haven’t received much abuse this time, but the servers I use for the archival process have been under continuous attack.
I moved the servers from AWS to Azure to Digital Ocean in the last six months, and all of them were targeted using large-scale DoS attacks. I tried creating custom servers at home, but patchy internet, frequently electricity cut, and sometimes even an internet ban didn’t help.
Finally, a couple of friends and colleagues helped me create a distributed network of servers across five different NITs and IITs through their alumni connections. Now, these servers do the archiving of over 2,30,000 Twitter accounts and a few thousand blogs.
Apart from this, I have to format my computer and phone several times (sometimes 2-3 times a day) as apps like Micro Snitch (obdev.at) show that my microphone is being used even when macOS doesn’t show any indicators.
Because of this reason, I have to keep formatting my computer and use WhatsApp on a separate phone. Formatting the computer is most tedious because every time I do my work, I have to restore my mac. This also scares a few of my friends who know about it.
So, last time when @therealnaomib gave me a bunch of hashtags to analyse Zubair’s arrest, I had to first format my computer and then set it up before I could get data from five decentralised servers (which sometimes take weeks because of slow internet speed & large data size).
After receiving that data, my computer network briefly started receiving packets from unidentified servers, and Micro Snitch was on. Amidst this, there was a delay in publishing Zubair’s story as I couldn’t connect with @svaradarajan & @KaulAyushman for updates.
In all of this madness, I miss/fear doing personal interactions with friends and families, like liking Instagram photos of my sister’s recent trip or talking to my therapist. But I am aware this is important work that needs regular updates.
If you like what we do, support @thewire_in at support.thewire.in or any other independent media house. More coming soon! Read the story here: thewire.in or watch it here: youtu.be
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