Jascha @jascha@cryptocartel.social

5 #cybersecurity trends accelerating in 2023.
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/12/19/5-cybersecurity-trends-accelerating-in-2023/

Military device with biometric database of 2K people sold on eBay for $68 https://arstechnica.com/?p=1906775

I spent a good part of this year investigating Google's ad business. Today we published a story about trying to crack open its black box ad network.

Unlike its competitors, Google conceals nearly all publishers it works with and where billions of ad dollars flow. We found that Google's vast ad network contains manga piracy, porn, fraud and disinformation.

Give it a read: https://www.propublica.org/article/google-display-ads-piracy-porn-fraud

So I wrote this yesterday, and lots of people like it, but I'm kinda of frustrated at all the cynicism of people who IMMEDIATELY insist "no it'll get ruined" or "normal people won't do it" or "most people don't care" or whatever else.

Stop being so cynical. YOU have a chance to help make it a better future. Instead of whining about how it won't work why not try to help make it work? https://www.techdirt.com/2022/12/21/why-would-anyone-use-another-centralized-social-media-service-after-this/

EXCLUSIVE: TikTok Spied On Forbes Journalists https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilybaker-white/2022/12/22/tiktok-tracks-forbes-journalists-bytedance/?sh=33bdad8d7da5

I’m profoundly offended by Megachurches. Build God a Megahomeless shelter and stop being fake Christians.

The more time i spend on the #Fediverse the more it becomes clear that this is the viable future of online media we deserve right now. Let Twitter, Facebook & the other highly abusive corporate platforms crash & burn - enough with the stockholm syndrom.

BIG NEWS: Pawoo.net, the world's 2nd biggest Mastodon instance, has just been acquired.

The entity acquiring them is the Mask Group, a business that also runs mstdn.jp and mastodon.cloud. They are also active in the so-called "Web 3.0" space.

If you haven't heard of pawoo.net, it's because many instances have de-federated from it.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mask-network-acquires-pawoo-net-070000858.html

Bitcoin wallets which have been inactive since the disappearance of the CEO of Quadriga, once the largest crypto exchange in Canada prior to its collapse, have mysteriously "woken up"

https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2022/12/19/bitcoin-addresses-tied-to-defunct-canadian-crypto-exchange-quadrigacx-wake-up/

#Twitter suspends #Mastodon account, prevents sharing links: Our statement

https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2022/12/twitter-suspends-mastodon-account-prevents-sharing-links/

This is enormously fucked up.

Per NBC4 NY reporter Sarah Wallace on the bird site: A mom was kicked out of Christmas Rockettes show at MSG-owned Radio City after being tagged by *facial recognition* technology, which identified her as someone who works a law firm involved in a suit against a restaurant now owned by MSG.

"I don’t practice in New York. I’m not an attorney that works on any cases against MSG," she said.

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/investigations/face-recognition-tech-gets-girl-scout-mom-booted-from-rockettes-show-due-to-her-employer/4004677/

Our latest story (also my first Mastodon post!):

Twitter users were drowned with adult content spam when they searched for information about the historic anti-lockdown protests in China.

Through data analysis and interviews with people behind bots, we found that much of the spam is linked to commercial bot networks.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/12/19/technology/twitter-bots-china-protests-elon-musk.html