hatemail 2022-02-27: hatemail returns

This week marks the return of hatemail in its weekly newsletter format, after a year away. The hatemail newsletter is a collection of articles shared and discussed by members of cabal, a hacker collective fighting tech-enabled abuse. We typically follow a rollup format of articles, with some additional sections for interesting job postings and events. Sometimes (like this time) we take a moment to discuss a meta topic, or do some research exclusive to this newsletter. We also include a section at the end of the publication called “Who Hosts Hate?” which discloses network infrastructure utilized by hate sites.

If it’s your first time reading hatemail, welcome. And for the returning subscribers, welcome back! We hope you find some articles and topics that got past your radar.

Subscribe to hatemail for the week in tech ethics, hacking, and trust & safety news.

SCOTUS “confused” after hearing arguments for weakening Section 230 immunity

During the first hearing on a major Section 230 case, SCOTUS sways Google’s way and says eroding Section 230 could crash the digital economy. [ArsTechnica]

Digital Power Report from the Transnational Institute

The think tank Transnational Institute’s 11th flagship State of Power report exposes the actors, the strategies and the implications of this digital power grab, and shares ideas on how movements might bring technology back under popular control. [TNI]

Justice Department Says Google Destroyed Evidence Related to Antitrust Lawsuit

The department alleges Google had a past practice of setting employee chats to auto-delete. [Wall Street Journal]

See No Evil: Loopholes in Google’s Data Safety Labels Keep Companies in the Clear and Consumers in the Dark

Mozilla’s latest research tested Google’s new data transparency system, its Play Store’s Data Safety Form, to see how well it helped people understand what personal information an app collects and shares. In 2021 alone, Google Play’s mobile apps generated $48 billion U.S. dollars in worldwide gross revenue. [Mozilla]

Signal CEO: We “1,000% won’t participate” in UK law to weaken encryption

The UK's Safety Online Bill would require Signal to police user messages. [ArsTechnica]

The Myth of Artificial Intelligence

This review of Henry Kissingers’s latest book ‘The Age of AI’ claims that the AI being promoted here advances a larger political and corporate agenda. [Prospect]

Suicides Spur Suits on Amazon Sales of Legal-But-Lethal Compound

Two court cases seek to hold Amazon accountable for chemicals sold on their site used for at-home suicide. [Bloomberg]

Revealed: the hacking and disinformation team meddling in elections

A company led by Tal Hanan boasts vast army of bots exposed by undercover reporters and leaked emails. [The Guardian]

Planting Undetectable Backdoors in Machine Learning Models

This research discusses how malicious users can plant undetectable backdoors into machine learning models, allowing them to manipulate the classification of any input with only a slight perturbation, without being detected. [IEEE]

Trove of L.A. Students’ Mental Health Records Posted to Dark Web After Cyber Hack

Los Angeles Unified School District was breached by the Vice Society ransomware group, who proceeded to leak students’ mental health records. After the article’s publication, LAUSD acknowledged the breach, stating “approximately 2,000” student psychological evaluations” were stolen and published. [The 74 Million]

Even hackers are reportedly getting laid off by organized crime groups

Cybercrime apparently doesn't pay what it used to, as cybersecurity tools and US investigators thwart some ransomware groups, according to the WSJ. [Business Insider]

View of Russia's Role in the Far-Right Truck Convoy

This paper attempts to answer some of those questions by providing a brief but targeted analysis of Russian involvement in the convoy through the lenses of overt state media coverage, state-affiliated proxy websites, and overlap between Russian propaganda and convoy content on social media. [The Journal of Intelligence, Conflict, and Warfare]

Conspiracy Theorists Are Coming for the 15-Minute City

A movement to promote neighborhoods with amenities within walking distance has enraged far-right activists, climate deniers, and extremists. [Wired]

China Cease-Fire Proposal for Ukraine Falls Flat With US, Allies

China called for a cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine in a position paper on ending the war that offered some reprieve to Moscow but was quickly dismissed by Kyiv’s allies as the conflict enters its second year. [Bloomberg]

Tourism in 'New Russia'

Traveling around modern Russia including Luhansk in Donbass. [Britannica Politica]

Anatomy of an online outrage mob

When right-wing influencer Libs Of TikTok tags educators, school districts and medical facilities on Twitter, her fans spam their accounts with harassment. [conspirator0 on Substack]

About 90% of drivers searched or arrested by the NYPD in 2022 were Black or Latino

New data shows almost as many NYPD car stops last year as there were pedestrian stops at the height of the stop-and-frisk era. [Gothamist]

Barricaded Siblings Turn to TikTok While Defying Court Order to Return to Father They Say Abused Them

A judge concluded the children were victims of “parental alienation,” which continues to influence family courts despite being rejected by mainstream scientific groups, and authorized police to use “reasonable force” to remove them from their mother. [ProPublica]

JPMorgan Clamps Down on Staff’s Use of AI-Powered ChatGPT

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has curbed its staff’s use of the ChatGPT chatbot, according to a person familiar with the matter. [Bloomberg]

Company hired same child twice to clean slaughterhouses, internal document shows

An internal company report shows Blackstone-owned Packers Sanitation Services Inc. disciplined an employee who hired the same “known minor” twice under two different identities.[NBC News]

He's Defended Cardi B and Migos. His Next Client Is Donald Trump

The #BillionDollarLawyerDrew Findling will defend the former president if he’s indicted. [Bloomerg]

4-day workweek trial: Shorter hours, happier employees

A trial of a four-day workweek in Britain, billed as the world's largest, has found that an overwhelming majority of the 61 companies that participated from June to December will keep going with the shorter hours and that most employees were less stressed and had better work-life balance. [AP News]

Amazon hiring Senior Antenna Engineer in Redmond, WA [LinkedIn]

Apple hiring SoC Design Verification Engineer in Seattle, WA [LinkedIn]

Draper hiring Junior Offensive Cyber Security Researcher in Cambridge, MA [LinkedIn]

MIT Lincoln Lab hiring Cyber Operations Researcher in Lexington, MA [MIT]

Starbucks hiring senior machine learning engineer in Seattle, WA [LinkedIn]

Today’s network provider is 1776 Solutions, LLC. The company operates AS397702, network infrastructure which includes the hate site KiwiFarms. Previously known as “Final Solutions,” the company is owned by Joshua Moon and is domiciled in Wyoming. The CIDR for this subnet is 103.114.191[.]0/24.

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