Author here. One interesting aspect that I've learned is the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) of public opinion brigades, aka Force 47.
They tried hard to discrete me. My initial report had an error, that is I didn't know that Bluetooth on Android needs ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION permission. A person pointed this out in a comment -- he posted and rewrote it three times. I said thank you and thought that's that, but then he and a bunch of new people commented that since I made that basic mistake I'm immature and inexperienced, therefore the rest of my findings have no merit.
Someone then posted a super long comment, raising a lot of questions about my credibility and intention. The interesting thing is they claimed that they're a student, haven't installed the app, have no intention to do so, but care a lot about privacy. Essentially they want to show that they're merely an underdog bystander standing up against my wrongdoings. I thought this is a very subtle psychological trick, aiming to amplify their attacks.
Other attacks are more direct. For example, a person pointed out that since I don't have many followers on Twitter, I'm not a good engineer. They said I didn't really contribute anything to my public research, but I just took credit from my coauthors. That I am only cleaning toilet at Google, there's nothing proud about that.
After I posted a rebuttal to the developers' rebuttal, a guy [2] dropped this one-line comment:
>cái vụ này bắt đầu thấy nhảm rồi. Lập luận của anh Thái cũng không còn chặt chẽ như trước nữa.
Which translates to "This is getting nonsense. Thai's argument is not as strict as before".
The title of the guy's blog [3] is, I kid you not, "There's always only one truth: Communist Party of Vietnam.
If I remember rightly, requiring ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION for certain uses of Bluetooth on Android is a relatively new thing and the two used to be completely independent of each other, so it's not even that surprising a mistake to make.
Hi anh, be calm. Don't get triggered by their comments, it's a trap. Ignore the trolls. Keep your report succinct and professional. Stay safe and strong!
They tried hard to discrete me. My initial report had an error, that is I didn't know that Bluetooth on Android needs ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION permission. A person pointed this out in a comment -- he posted and rewrote it three times. I said thank you and thought that's that, but then he and a bunch of new people commented that since I made that basic mistake I'm immature and inexperienced, therefore the rest of my findings have no merit.
Someone then posted a super long comment, raising a lot of questions about my credibility and intention. The interesting thing is they claimed that they're a student, haven't installed the app, have no intention to do so, but care a lot about privacy. Essentially they want to show that they're merely an underdog bystander standing up against my wrongdoings. I thought this is a very subtle psychological trick, aiming to amplify their attacks.
Other attacks are more direct. For example, a person pointed out that since I don't have many followers on Twitter, I'm not a good engineer. They said I didn't really contribute anything to my public research, but I just took credit from my coauthors. That I am only cleaning toilet at Google, there's nothing proud about that.
After I posted a rebuttal to the developers' rebuttal, a guy [2] dropped this one-line comment:
>cái vụ này bắt đầu thấy nhảm rồi. Lập luận của anh Thái cũng không còn chặt chẽ như trước nữa.
Which translates to "This is getting nonsense. Thai's argument is not as strict as before".
The title of the guy's blog [3] is, I kid you not, "There's always only one truth: Communist Party of Vietnam.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_opinion_brigades
[2] https://www.blogger.com/profile/17567201928186857755
[3] http://phichnuocnong.blogspot.com/