🌎 Discussion: Online Piracy, AI, Net Neutrality, Killswitch, and Other Internet Issues II

[MagnarTheGreat]

Gizmodo - Meta [Facebook] Took Down Alleged Chinese and Russian ‘Influence Operations’ Focused on U.S. Politics and War in Ukraine
The Russian operation used fake news accounts to target European users while the Chinese operation posted content commenting on domestic U.S. politics.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Daily Kos - Facebook shares continue to tumble, prompting whispers of a stock 'death spiral'

As CNBC notes in a recent story on Facebook’s—erm, Meta’s—travails, the company’s market cap, which was $1 trillion at this time last year, has since shrunk by two-thirds, and the stock is at its lowest point since January 2019. In fact, the stock has been the fifth-worst performer on the S&P 500 index this year.

They'd probably be sold off to/merged with another company before they'd die.

Kim Kardashian charged by SEC [for pushing crypto without public disclosure], agrees to pay $1.3 million fine | CNN Business

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Zelle fraud is rising. And banks aren't coming to the rescue

Like the tech bros on crypto, ‘let fraud and theft reign!’

Web3 Is Going Just Great

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Gizmodo - 'Suspicious Edits' on Wikipedia Reek of Pro-Russian Propaganda: Study

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Wall Street Journal: "If Elon Musk reinstates former President Donald Trump’s Twitter account after completing a takeover of the company, several companies plan to suspend ad spending on the platform, a top ad buyer said"

The Washington Post - Top Twitter executives fired as Elon Musk takeover begins
Musk’s $44 billion deal to acquire the social media company closed on Thursday night.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

CBS News - Meta's [Facebook parent company] value has plunged by $700 billion. Wall Street calls it a "train wreck."

MarketWatch - Facebook in freefall: 5 charts that show Meta's financial collapse

Gizmodo - Musk Fires Twitter Execs as Platform Braces for Donald Trump's Return

Elon Musk fired at least four senior executives at Twitter and is expected to make himself CEO after finalizing the deal to buy the company for $44 billion on Thursday. Users of the social media site are bracing for sweeping changes to the platform, including the reintroduction of white supremacists like former president Donald Trump, who was banned shortly after his attempted coup at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Bloomberg News - Musk Is Said to Take Twitter CEO Role, Reverse Life Bans

• Musk plans on replacing ousted CEO Parag Agrawal for now
• The billionaire also intends to scrap lifelong bans on users

Life bans were earned for a reason.

The Verge - Welcome to hell, Elon
Owning Twitter means owning a host of impossible political problems. Is Elon ready?

 

[Teelie]

Almost giddy that Facebook is hurting so bad. Twitter I am indifferent to, except it might make things a little worse because MAGA but that cancer has metastasized already and it's going to take more to remove. I really don't expect it to shift that much though as Twitter and social media giants in general are absolute **** at actually censoring and stopping that stuff.

It's also one less "I'm being censored" wolf cry of right-wingers who already keep telling us they are censored... while only being censored when they say racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, generally unacceptable bull****. Which I get, they say a lot of it but they still are not censored.

 

[DJ Kornphlake]

 

[Teelie]

No surprise there. Zuckerberg will take money from anyone legally or not. Meta-Facebook needs to be hit harder.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

The Verge - Twitter is planning to start charging $20 per month for verification
And if the employees building it don’t meet their deadline, they’ll be fired by Elon Musk.

Alex Heath: "An important detail here: If you already have a blue checkmark, Twitter is currently planning to remove it from your profile after 90 days if you don’t subscribe to the more expensive Blue subscription after it launches."

Aseemru: "Those fake breaking news accounts will be verified but your local news reporter won’t be, the war on misinformation is over and we know who won."

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Slash Gear - Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales Is Working On A Twitter Rival

EU passes new Digital Markets Act will force Apple to allow third-party stores and sideloading apps on iOS - gHacks Tech News

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Gab Founder Andrew Torba Posts, Then Deletes Antisemitic Attacks Across Multiple Platforms | Right Wing Watch

Gizmodo - Mark Zuckerberg, Meta Was a Risky Investment Long Before the Metaverse

Gizmodo - The 5 Best Twitter Alternatives

How-To Geek - Mastodon Is Taking Off: Why It’s My Favorite Social Media Network

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Gimzodo - FTX Says It May Have Been 'Hacked,' as $600 Million in Crypto is Mysteriously Drained Overnight

Tough times out there for a cryptobro.

Web3 is Going Just Great

 

[Teelie]

And nothing mentioned of the $10 billion that mysteriously went to Alemeda Holdings, the CEO's other company...

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Wall Street Journal - FTX Files for Bankruptcy, CEO Sam Bankman-Fried Resigns
Filing represents largest crypto-related bankruptcy ever

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Gizmodo - Meta Employees Were Reportedly Fired for Selling Account Information to Hackers
More than a dozen security guards and other workers reportedly abused or sold account information to outside parties.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Users claim that iCloud for Windows is showing photos from strangers in their library - gHacks Tech News

Gizmodo - Apple Says Your iPhone's Usage Data is Anonymous, but New Tests Say That's Not True
Your iPhone's analytics data includes an ID number tied to your name, email, and phone number, say researchers who uncovered other holes in Apple' promises.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Meta Slapped with Nearly $300 Million Fine for Facebook Data Scraping Blunder
Irish regulators hit Meta with its third GDPR-related fine in less than two years, a further sign Europe's willing to follow through on regulatory threats.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Just '6 people' showed up to a party for the EU’s €387,000 metaverse

A world of Paperclip people

 

[DJ Kornphlake]

Sounds like a win-win.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Gizmodo - Lawsuit Claims Apple's AirTags Have 'Become the Weapon of Choice' for Stalkers

Gizmodo - This Privacy Ruling Against Facebook and Insta Could End Targeted Ads

 

[Teelie]

That lawsuit leaves out all the other similar tracker type devices that are even less obvious. Apple has deeper pockets than their competitors however.

And another point is anything like this that has a genuine helpful purpose can and will be used negatively. There is no way to have all upsides and no downsides.

I also really, really, really hope that targeted ads go away too but I am skeptical the U.S. will do anything remotely close to that seeing as privacy in virtually every other facet is a joke.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Gizmodo - 10 Apple Privacy Problems That Might Surprise You

NY Times - Apple Details Plans to Beef Up Encryption of Data in Its iCloud

 

[Lily Adler]

Dollars to Megabits, You May Be Paying 400 Times As Much As Your Neighbor for Internet Service – The Markup