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jsrailton

@jsrailton@mastodon.social

Chasing online badness. Senior Researcher at Citizen Lab. Views mine.

Also, I like tracking stuck boats.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. For a complete list of posts, browse on the original instance.

jsrailton , to random
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VIDEO: Satellites used to cancel community church's insurance policy.

Remember: data flows with surveillance potential ...will inevitably be mined for automated profit-maximizing.

Injustices, disparities & harms will follow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f025SKlIdNg

jsrailton , to random
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Where can I find current advanced university lectures / lecture series on arbitrary scientific and technical topics?

I'm finding these are really hard to surface on #YouTube.

#education #university #continuingeducation

jsrailton OP ,
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@joelvanderwerf Good tip. I almost thought to add: I've found MIT Open CourseWare helpful. But also struggled with the fact that a lot of the topical courses are from like 200X-201X

Which for some topics makes them dated:(

jsrailton , to random
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So... the #FBI ran a Truman Show on this 🇨🇳spy for 8 years?

Wild.

#espionage #surveillance #china #spy #investigation #counterintelligence #intelligence #CIA #China

jsrailton OP ,
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This ex-CIA PRC spy basically lived his 50s in a constructed universe, thinking he was unobserved.

Like the Robert Hanssen story on steroids.

I want to watch this movie.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-cia-officer-pleads-guilty-conspiracy-commit-espionage-0

jsrailton , (edited ) to random
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When politicians attack the means of knowledge transmission like libraries, science, teachers & universities, remember:

Your ignorance is their power.

#education #science #highered #universities #teachers #populism #libraries

jsrailton , to random
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NEW: second judge in reportedly confirmed as spyware victim.

Appeals court judge told reporter her responsibilities included classified cases where wiretapping was used.

Poland's spyware reckoning continues.

[PL, machine trans.]
Story: https://oko.press/wiemy-o-drugim-polskim-sedzi-inwigilowanym-pegasusem-to-sedzia-apelacyjna-z-krakowa-news-oko-press

subordinate to him. And it is possible that in connection with this case a second judge was under surveillance of Pegasus, Beata Barylak-Pietrzkowska from the Court of Appeal in Krakow. He is to appear in the National Prosecutor's Office on May 24, 2024. The judge is surprised by a letter from the prosecutor's office. Says OKO.press: ,, I don't know what's going on. Maybe it has to do with the fact that [ was the head of training in the court of appeal. Or maybe with some criminal case that [ was conducting. I also dealt with classified cases in which operational control ” was used.
ALT
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    • jsrailton , to random
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    Regular user: I want to feel safe and private.

    Google: cool, anyways here's an AI that listens to your calls.

    Microsoft: word, how about an AI that takes screenshots of everything you do?

    jsrailton , (edited ) to random
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    Reading this🧵? Your blood probably contains some amount of toxic #foreverchemicals made by #3m

    Enough to spike your risk of cancers & illnesses?

    Without a blood test, you have no idea.

    Why is their toxin running in your veins?

    Well, 3M & #dupont kept the harms secret even as their toxins were incorporated into...everything.

    From french fry bags to chairs.

    They gaslit their own scientists.

    & regularly dumped, creating toxic zones. 1/

    https://www.propublica.org/article/3m-forever-chemicals-pfas-pfos-inside-story

    #environment #pollution

    jsrailton OP ,
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    2/ Risks from #foreverchemicals include Diabetes, obesity, testicular #cancer, developmental delays...

    Some researchers think that anyone exposed to these chemicals will have an elevated cancer risk.

    At ANY concentration.

    Since scientists estimate that we ALL have at least one of these forever chemicals in our blood...

    That would be all of us.

    #environment #endocrine #immunesystem

    jsrailton OP ,
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    3/ If the "we are all at risk of cancer" from framing for some reason doesn't bug you, consider the taxpayer costs.

    Numbers are staggering.

    $64 billion in estimated increased disease burden in a single year.

    Meanwhile makes $1.5 billion a year from making the stuff.

    And 16,000 of 3M's products still contain the chemical.

    While company pledges to wind down manufacture. They haven't stopped.

    To date, 3m has not admitted wrongdoing and faced no criminal liability

    jsrailton OP ,
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    4/We're all living in a nonconsensual lab experiment on the effect of chemicals on health.

    Short of a rocket to mars, we're stuck in the cage. There is no control group.

    American? Look at the map. See light blue near you? That is not good news.

    Search for your home address in this map to if your drinking water might be above EPA limits.

    Keep in mind this is JUST tap water, there are other routes to exposure.

    MAP: https://www.ewg.org/interactive-maps/pfas_contamination/map/

    jsrailton OP ,
    @jsrailton@mastodon.social avatar

    @jbaggs That's funny and almost certainly true.

    jsrailton , (edited ) to random
    @jsrailton@mastodon.social avatar

    Even for cancer and transplant patients.

    We are speeding into idiocracy.

    #cancer #transplantation #immunocompromised #health #healthcare #masks #northcarolina

    jsrailton , to random
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    FINALLY: a 🇺🇸US official speaks the truth security researchers keep warning about...

    Americans' movements being tracked with well-known weaknesses that US telcos aren't fixing.

    It's remarkable how bad the problem with #SS7 & #Diameter is.

    Must-read story by @josephcox
    https://www.404media.co/cyber-official-speaks-out-reveals-mobile-network-attacks-in-u-s/

    #infosec #cybersecurity #hacking #intelligence #surveillance #espionage

    jsrailton , (edited ) to random
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    I can confidently diagnose #betterhelp as sociopaths.

    Promised therapy customers privacy...then gave their mental health info to advertisers.

    Victims get less than ten bucks each.

    Company made billion+ in revenue last year alone.

    In a just society with good privacy laws, they'd face existential civil & criminal consequences.

    https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/nation-world/betterhelp-therapy-class-action-settlement-refund/507-b4ef5e0f-c722-4562-95e9-c3cdd7738d1a

    #therapy #psychology #privacy #psychotherapy #mentalhealth #telehealth #medicine #HIPAA #surveillancecapitalism #advertising #facebook #meta

    jsrailton OP ,
    @jsrailton@mastodon.social avatar

    @eccentric_econ Interesting, thanks for sharing your perspective.

    jsrailton , to random
    @jsrailton@mastodon.social avatar

    All shipping traffic stopped on the #Bosphorus Strait.

    Channel connects Black Sea & Mediterranean is busiest in the world.

    Why? Bulk carrier #Alexis is grounded across northbound shipping lane.

    Headed to #Egypt from #Ukraine.

    Turkish maritime authorities say on Twitter that they suspect mechanical failure.

    #turkey #shipping #maritime #istanbul #blacksea

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    jsrailton OP ,
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    UPDATE: Movement!

    Watching ship tracking live it appears the hardworking tugs freed bulk carrier & the party is now heading South as some of the Tugs break off.

    image/png

    jsrailton , to random
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    My colleague Mitchell & partner just escorted a family of lost geese to the lake.

    Safely navigating 2km of downtown #Toronto took 2 hours.

    At one point, police stepped in to block traffic.

    Strangers jumped in to help too.

    He jokes: at @citizenlab we don't just help humans!

    #wildlife #birds #birding #goose #Canada

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    jsrailton , (edited ) to random
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    Big #VPN companies are churning out bullshit "security advice" on an industrial scale.

    It's a marketing funnel that targets those seeking help.

    And then misinforms them.

    I wish it stopped there

    The nonsense makes its way to victims of spyware, where misinformation can have life, death and liberty impacting consequences.

    #infosec #cybersecurity #malware #IT #pegasus #predator #spyware #malware

    jsrailton OP ,
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    @gunther Each article is bad in different ways :)

    But one area where it's easy to see issues is in the advice they give.

    The consensus correct advice to someone targeted with Pegasus et. al. would be : seek out expert support, and here are the resources XYZ that can provide it to you.

    If you don't make that your main piece of top advice, you are doing it wrong.

    Which none of these articles does...

    jsrailton OP ,
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    @sergedroz Indeed, it certainly does nothing to inspire confidence.

    jsrailton , (edited ) to random
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    BREAKING: #Israeli private investigator arrested for cyberespionage on behalf of American PR firm.

    Caught by UK under #RedNotice from 🇺🇸US while boarding a flight.

    BIG TWIST in a wild case that began w/our @citizenlab investigation into indian hack-for-hire group #belltrox

    Sound familiar?

    Because Amit Forlit is the second PI from #Israel arrested in similar way for this case.

    First = convicted.

    https://www.reuters.com/world/israeli-private-eye-arrested-uk-over-alleged-hacking-us-pr-firm-2024-05-02/

    #hacking #cybersecurity #infosec #malware #espionage #intelligence

    jsrailton OP , (edited )
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    There's a disgraceful ecosystem of public relations & lobbying firms using hackers for hire.

    Sometimes they are used to silence critics & advocacy groups.

    Like US nonprofits doing climate advocacy.

    Our investigation into a group we christened uncovered a sprawling -based hack-for-hire operation.

    They enabled US corporations to outsource lawbreaking.

    https://citizenlab.ca/2020/06/dark-basin-uncovering-a-massive-hack-for-hire-operation/

    jsrailton OP , (edited )
    @jsrailton@mastodon.social avatar

    I'd bet my bottom dollar that this "unnamed...PR and lobbying firm" knows exactly who they are...

    ...and are no doubt experiencing an afternoon of the purest panic.

    Using the offshore hack-for-hire ecosystem has been largely consequence-free for the middlemen & the ultimate beneficiaries of stolen information.

    The tide may be turning & this latest arrest suggests that more consequences may be inbound.

    jsrailton , to random
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    BREAKING: spyware abused in 🇵🇱 under previous government, confirms the new PM Donald Tusk

    "Very, very long" victim list.

    Vindication.

    When we @citizenlab first confirmed the hacking in 2021 both we & victims were targeted w/extensive harassment & disinformation.

    REPORT: https://apnews.com/article/poland-government-pegasus-spyware-tusk-duda-78420fc7099401926d28b5be98669192

    usk took power in December following an October election which he won as the head of a broad centrist alliance. It marked the end of eight years of rule by Law and Justice, a populist party that the European Union accused of eroding democratic norms. Duda, who holds presidential veto power and served during Law and Justice’s years in power, has at times opposed Tusk’s efforts to implement his agenda. The new parliament has set up a special commission to investigate who used Pegasus and against whom during Law and Justice’s years in government. “The list of victims of these practices is unfortunately very long,” Tusk said. The prime minister said he asked the justice minister and prosecutor general to provide Duda with a set of documents which “confirm 100% the purchase and use of Pegasus in a legal and illegal manner.” Several Polish opponents of the previous government were targeted with Pegasus, a spyware program made by Israel’s NSO Group, according to findings by the University of Toronto’s nonprofit Citizen Lab that were exclusively reported by The Associated Press. Pegasus gives its operators complete access to a mobile device, allowing them to extract passwords, photos, messages, contacts and browsing histories, and to activate the microphone and camera for real-time eavesdropping.

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