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Online Hate and Disinformation

• [DailyDot] Timnit Gebru, a leading researcher in the field of A.I. and ethics, became the target of an ongoing online harassment campaign after she was ousted from Google for co-authoring a paper critical of training machines on large language models. The campaign appears to be spearheaded by a number of men in the computer science industry, some of who’ve spammed her account with thousands of messages. The abusive online attack on Gebru reflects larger issues of sexism and racism within the computer science field.
• [arsTechnica] Booted off of more traditional online streaming platforms like Youtube and Twitch, a number of far-right white supremacists have found a new home on DLive which integrates with services like Streamlabs and StreamElements.  On this less moderated service, white supremacists have found a way to continue to profit off of consumer groups such as gamers.
• [CyberScoop] [Graphika] A Chinese information operation has been gaining steam online. The operation worked to amplify messages that U.S. democracy is failing as well as pro-China content. It appears that the objective of the operation, which seemed to be active from September to December of last year, is to create feelings of animosity towards the U.S.

The Great Firewall, System Breaches, and Ransomware

• [New York Times] Not only is Clubhouse is the new and fiercely growing social media darling of the moment, its growth recently outpaced Chinese censors’ ability to block the app. As the New York Times recently reported, for a brief few days, thousands of mainland Chinese were able to connect on Clubhouse and discuss typically banned topics such as the Tiananmen Square massacre.
• [Sonatype] A very cool supply chain attack from independent security researcher Alex Birsan impacted dozens of large tech companies. By using lookalike software libraries, Birsan was able to perpetuate a research malware attack against the corporate codebase of companies such as Apple, Microsoft, and Uber.
• [Bleeping Computer] CD Projekt Red, the developer of the controversial video game Cyberpunk 2077, has been hit with a ransomware attack. While the company was able to restore their data from backups, it is clear that the hackers still made away with valuable company property. The perpetrators have already started leaking some of the material while selling the complete data dump for $1 million.
• [Vice] [Reuters] The market for “OG” accounts took a hit this week as Facebook unveiled a deep impact operation against cybercriminals. OG accounts fetch a high value on the cybercrime market because the age of the account often allows it to be more trusted by platforms and users.

On Our Radar...

• [Daily Beast] Despite the far-right’s obsession with tying Democrats to child sexual exploitation, Ruben A. Verastigui – a former GOP digital strategist who assisted Trump’s re-election campaign and has previously worked with pro-life organizations – was recently charged with heinous crimes of that very sort. Verastigui was arrested last week by D.C. police for distributing, receiving, and possessing images of child pornography.
• [Reuters] [Complex] German authorities seized $60 million in Bitcoin from a man sentenced to over two years in jail for committing fraud. There’s just one catch: He cannot (and apparently will not) reveal the password to unlock his stake in the digital currency.
• [Bellingcat] The exotic animal market is a multi-million dollar industry characterized by cruelty, wealth, and prestige. Foeke Postma reports on how influencer celebrities have brought exotic animals into the social media limelight, while also unintentionally sharing clues about the sinister underground of the industry.
• [AP] A very apocalyptic development in Nevada: State lawmakers are considering proposed legislation that would allow corporations to offer services competitive with the government, such as schooling, city planning, and more. The services would be attached to so-called “Innovation Zones” which encompass large areas of land and effectively give corporations authority similar to county governments, even allowing them to impose taxes and form courts.
• [University of Cambridge] This cool chart put together by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance takes the estimated total of Bitcoin’s electricity consumption and considers its impact on the environment.
• [Culture.io] We found ourselves intrigued by this comprehensive manifesto for a better future, which was authored by a collective of science fiction writers who have long studied the functions of utopian and dystopian societies. It’s a fun, frightening, and thought-provoking proposition for how we ought to weigh some of contemporary society’s biggest problems – such as capitalism and technology – in our lives.

Hate speech website: dlive[.]tv

Who hosts: AWS, Peer5 (former)

Today’s site is dlive[.]com. DLive is a livestreaming service that has gained traction with the far-right. Its popularity blossomed due to its use in the January 6 insurrection, and has long hosted overtly fascist advocates.

Peer5 formerly provided content delivery services to DLive, but they have cut ties since the insurrection. Regardless, DLive uses Amazon Web Services for its backbone infrastructure, and we have observed servers with IP addresses 13.227.41[.]59, 13.227.41[.]67, 13.227.41[.]75, and 13.227.41[.]118.

Eyebeam conference: From the Rupture - Ideas & Actions for the Future (Wednesday, Feb. 17-20) - This virtual conference from tech/culture think tank Eyebeam will host a wide range of topics, from mental health online to surveillance capitalism and its effects on society. If you’ve wondered about Eyebeam, or have yet to experience its positive influence on how we perceive technology, then this is a great opportunity for you to dive in! [Eyebeam]