Elon Musk asked for a general poll on whether to admit Donald Trump to twitter again.
Great way to cut in half the number of accounts you need to check for Russian trolls and bots.
Posts by Clarecats
58 publicly visible posts • joined 4 Feb 2018
World's richest man posts memes as $44b Twitter acquisition veers off course
NOBODY PRINT! Selfless hero saves typing pool from carbon catastrophe
Google battles bots, puts Workspace admins on alert
It's time to kick China off social media, says tech governance expert
Friday 13th May 2022 17:51 GMT
Wherever the bots come from, they are well established
Many of these accounts are just bots. China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh make plenty, as no doubt do other nations.
Instagram bots sell for about 0.78cent I am informed. It's called SMM panel reselling. These bots are found on many platforms. The older the bot, the more validity it has, because panels regularly conduct searches and erase bots, don't they. So if it survived a few years its vote, comment, like etc. looks more real.
USA Today cleaned up its Twitter followers a few years ago and found that 1 million of the 8 million were bots.
Facebook cleaned 1.3 billion bots and fake accounts during Q1 of 2021, down from 1.7 billion in Q1 of 2020. 1.7 billion were removed /cleaned up during Q4 of 2021.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1013474/facebook-fake-account-removal-quarter/
Not only the panel activity, but the activity of search engines endlessly visiting the pages, wastes electricity and datacentre space.
There are also zombie accounts, real people's accounts pwned, some exacerbated by the fact that what would be visible on a desktop is not visible on a phone app. The real user keeps using it unknowing that something has been added.
Some panels have taken steps to require proof of identity on opening an account.
John Deere tractors 'bricked' after Russia steals machinery from Ukraine
Michigan Micro Mote works well escargot: Tiny computer makes it into the field strapped to backs of predatory snails
No amount of Glasgow handshaking will revive this borked kiosk
Where to implant my employee microchip? I have the ideal location
Fancy Bear hacker crew Putin dirty RATs in Word documents emailed to govt orgs – report
Creepy or super creepy? That is the question Mozilla's throwing at IoT Christmas pressies
'Men only' job ad posts land Facebook in boiling hot water with ACLU
Saturday 22nd September 2018 14:44 GMT
Re: I think some people might have missed something...
"Yet insurance companies do this very thing and no one says anything about it."
The EU has stopped motor insurers from offering cheaper quotes to women, on the basis that men, especially young men, are more likely to speed and have serious crashes, but firms must not discriminate against them.
A firm selling motor insurance is called its4women.ie and offers quotes to women or men without bias.
Thus all other drivers now have to pay more on the premium to account for the non-loading against young men.
Saturday 22nd September 2018 14:28 GMT
Re: In the current environment, women are too much of a business risk..
..."aren't meaning how I am reading it.
Since Jews are the only ones who can experience antisemitism, be the target of it, as that's what it means, being anti-Jewish, then comparing that to your leading sentence implies to me that you are saying only women can experience sexual harassment."
I disagree with your statement. A non-Jewish person who is friendly with a Jewish person, or who employs them or is employed by them, can also be the target, directly or indirectly, of antisemitism. Much as a shop could suffer vandalism because some idiot decided they did not like the look of one of the employees.
Men, women and non-binary persons can experience sexual harassment.
Don't mean to alarm you – but NASA is about to pummel the planet with huge frikkin' space laser
Grad sends warning to manager: Be nice to our kit and it'll be nice to you
Thursday 9th August 2018 13:09 GMT
Re: Sometimes violence is the only answer
"But I DID get a new one as there had been put manure on the flowerbed and when it got warm the fans wafted 'the smell of a stable' around the office."
I hope you donated the old one to a riding stables nearby, so it could waft the smell of an office around the stables.
Sysadmin trained his offshore replacements, sat back, watched ex-employer's world burn
Friday 3rd August 2018 18:54 GMT
Re: Timing is everything
Shrunk to three inches - so maybe you have actually been turned into a shrew, which is about that size and does have a fast enough heart rate to cope with heat loss.
In which case, wriggle your bristly nose and scuttle up out of the blender.
Or a gecko, about the same size, which has a reptilian heart and can Velcro itself to hard surfaces like blenders because its pads sink into the molecules of the surface.
Life beckons.
Fake prudes: Catholic uni AI bot taught to daub bikinis on naked chicks
Sunday 29th July 2018 11:38 GMT
Re: What a relief
"Male nudity is obviously not a problem for Catholics (surprise!). This will make Sunday's service much more comfortable."
I have seen a classical painting print on the wall in a girls' school in which the nuns (presumably) had charcoaled briefs over the men.
No such prints of partly clothed women were on display.
Sunday 29th July 2018 11:31 GMT
Re: Please drop the pedophile priest stereotype
"You make some fair points.
But why, according to the article, is ~80% of child molestation by priests committed against boys, while in the broader community girls are the most frequent victims? "
Because nuns were in charge of girls and women, so they worked them to death in the case of unmarried mothers. Nuns had no power in the church, so they exercised their power on those less fortunate who were in their control. Priests did not live alongside nuns as that would be potentially indecent. The priest would call to say mass and hear confessions.
Priests and brothers were in charge of boys. Generally there were no nuns on the premises, because that would be potentially indecent.
Boss helped sysadmin take down horrible client with swift kick to the nether regions
British Airways' latest Total Inability To Support Upwardness of Planes* caused by Amadeus system outage
Monday 23rd July 2018 09:15 GMT
Re: weight calculation
"The other important calculation for load sheets involves the fuel, whose centre of gravity can move around as it is consumed."
This is similar to driving a tanker of liquid. There are three stages - full, empty and half full, all of which affect speed and braking. To stop all the liquid rushing forward at the red traffic light, or the milk turning to butter, there are baffles in the tank, and / or a series of tanks. Of course, the tanker does not consume the contents on the journey.
Trump wants to work with Russia on infosec. Security experts: lol no
Wednesday 18th July 2018 21:19 GMT
Re: Well, with all of NATO being either personal foes or parts of the "greatest Foe"
Re Canada - America - EU trade:
The most recent trade agreement between Canada and EU stalled because Canada slaughters horses, including racehorses and American mustangs which the Americans ship over the border, and sends the meat to Belgium for human consumption; but Belgium was insisting that the horses had to be certified free of any medications for three months prior to slaughter.
Wednesday 18th July 2018 21:19 GMT
Re: Tee hee. Trump is to Putin as --
"Germany couldnt deliver pilots and planes to fight ISIS. Only the war minister managed to arrive at the destination. ... Germany spent their money on other things which is why they really dont want the US protection to leave."
From a friend I hear Germany has many fine young men who have done a year's military training voluntarily. However, they have all gone back to Turkey to do it. They're the second, third generation of ethnic Turkish people in Germany to whom, for some strange reason, Germany doesn't want to give German nationality. I am sure they are saving Germany money in this way.
'Plane Hacker' Roberts: I put a network sniffer on my truck to see what it was sharing. Holy crap!
Saturday 14th July 2018 10:14 GMT
Re: "Aren't they then driving without insurance?"
"I don't know about the R.O.W. but in the UK if you own a vehicle with fully comprehensive insurance you usually get what's called a third party extension, which allows you to drive pretty mutch any vehicle you are licenced for with 3rd party cover on your insurance."
No, it doesn't work that way where I live. Unless you are a motor dealer, you are insured for the car you own/ keep. Each vehicle and driver has to be specified for additional insurance on the policy.
If you drive a van, you can't transfer your insurance to a car temporarily, because more passengers can fit in a car than a van.
Being a named driver on someone else's policy does not count towards a no-claim bonus; and you can come out of a few years of 'named driver' and still be considered a first-time insured driver by a firm. This implies that the firm is more concerned about whether its premiums will get paid by the new paying customer.
The cybercriminal's cash cow and the marketer's machine: Inside the mad sad bad web ad world
Thursday 5th July 2018 14:51 GMT
Your phone is listening too
And showing you ads based on what you discuss with friends, even when you are not making phone calls.
Younger people have different expectations of privacy online.
One lady claimed this setup was helpful, as she had been discussing with a pal how she would like such a product to be invented, and next day an ad for this product showed up on her phone. She hadn't known it existed.
Me: Don't you find that creepy, intrusive and invasive of privacy?
She: No.
Google weeps as its home state of California passes its own GDPR
Thursday 5th July 2018 14:01 GMT
Data transfer
I don't use FB and many young people don't use it because they don't want to be on the same site as their parents. This is why FB tries to grab them with instagram and whats app - also to expand into different countries to compensate for a shrinking base.
How long before FB says, most of our members are now in the southern hemisphere so let's move our data storage down there?
Thursday 5th July 2018 13:48 GMT
"Oh? AT&T is still standing and arguably bigger than ever. The Baby Bells simply glommed themselves back together through attrition, mergers, and buyouts. It's hard to break up something that big without it naturally trying to come back together through those methods."
Like putting a sponge through a blender.
Thursday 5th July 2018 13:44 GMT
Re: Legitimate business interests
"Google.. let me make this absolutely clear. you have NO legitimnate interest in my personal data, it is MINE not yours and I am the only arbitor of "legitimate" use of that data. I have spent too many moment in my life trying to shield my life from your pervasive and unwanted voyeurism."
Okay, it's your data. I agree we need more privacy.
Are you now going to pay Google or others every time you conduct a net search? How else will this work? Getting advertisers to pay more to Google won't necessarily improve your life either; and more of us would use ad blockers.
I suggest some kind of a happy medium would work. You could tell data collectors what you agreed would be stored, sold or traded. Any other use would be in breach.
Potato, potato. Toma6to, I'm going to kill you... How a typo can turn an AI translator against us
Trainee techie ran away and hid after screwing up a job, literally
Wednesday 27th June 2018 12:42 GMT
Re: Key word is "Trainee"
"giving them a crappy task that needs little or no training, (except, making the tea for the workers on a site can be a very skilled job to get right, getting everyone's tea made to exactly how they like it, i.e. more or less milk, 3 or 5 sugars)** is part of the training...."
Agree. I started out on sites, anyone working there had filthy hands. You do not want them lining up to make tea using general tea making equipment. Much better to have one person with clean hands make it all. The lads appreciated straightening up and being handed a nice warm mug of tea or coming to sit down and getting them all handed out. Don't suggest they each go wash their hands first, they would always leave the facilities filthy and coveed in Swarfega.
UK taxman has amassed voice profiles of 5.1 million taxpayers
Wednesday 27th June 2018 12:33 GMT
Re: Don't Talk To Me - I'm Hard Of Hearing (Wink, Wink) - Use Text!
"There are two practical ways to defeat these 'voice analysis' systems. One is to make calls with a radio or other disruptive variable tones in the background."
I'm reading this with a large truck reversing outside the window, making a nice loud beep - beep. Hardly my fault if I make the call now.
Puzzled as to why / how you were altering your appearance with Photoshop. Maybe better not to know.
UK.gov online dating tips: Do get consent, don't make false claims or fake profiles
No lie-in this morning? Thank the Moon's gravitational pull
Sunday 17th June 2018 11:52 GMT
Re: Burn the heretic!
"....and the amount of solar radiation received on Earth also changes affecting the climate."
I thought it was heresy, punishable by death by a thousand cuts from the pseudo-scientific Twitterati, to even suggest that solar radiation could affect climate in any way.
Solar radiation is where the energy derives from; what matters is how much of it is absorbed and how much is reflected.
For instance, white ice has high albedo, reflecting nicely. Sooty black ice due to coal fire smoke absorbs rather more energy, so it melts.
WannaCry reverse-engineer Marcus Hutchins hit with fresh charges
You know that silly fear about Alexa recording everything and leaking it online? It just happened
Saturday 26th May 2018 09:55 GMT
Re: 'I physically disabled the built in microphone'
A friend or two have had just this occur, for some particularly specific item. In one case the lady did not even know such a gadget existed but had been saying how she would like someone to invent it.
I also run ad blockers but this doesn't work so well on my phone as on my PC.
Zero arrests, 2 correct matches, no criminals: London cops' facial recog tech slammed
Hold the phone: Mystery fake cell towers spotted slurping comms around Washington DC
Furious gunwoman opens fire at YouTube HQ, three people shot
Wednesday 4th April 2018 19:34 GMT
Re: Of all places
I remember a newspaper cartoon of a vendor at the subway entrance selling Bernard Getz masks which were being eagerly bought by commuters.
The mild mannered Getz had been driven to shooting a few of the thugs who were regularly steaming the carriages. Steaming = mugging everyone in the carriage and moving on to the next.
Storks bin migration for junk food diet
Saturday 24th March 2018 20:20 GMT
The Blackcap, a shy warbler, is on its way to becoming two separate populations and perhaps two species. The German birds used to fly to Spain for winter, but now some habitually fly to Britain for the bird feeders.
Not mentioned in this article from RSPB is that the blackcap enjoys mistletoe berries and its range overlaps with the spread of mistletoe as it leaves the sticky seeds on suitable trees.
https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/blackcap/migration/
Horn star Sudan, last male northern white rhino, dies aged 45
Saturday 24th March 2018 20:06 GMT
Poisoning the horns... or 3-D printing them.
Over a year ago, rhino horns started turning bright pink. They had been injected with ectoparasiticides; cattle wormer medicine, enough to make a consumer of horn quite ill. Sadly the bright pink proved to be on digitally altered pics only, but the horn is pink inside, which may or may not be helpful.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/rhinos-elephants-getting-pink-horns-prevent-poaching/
As mentioned even this won't stop the poachers from killling the rhino.
Another idea has been 3-D printing rhino horn to flood the market with a counterfeit substitute, made from keratin. However, this would just cover up the illegal trade without deterring poachers.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/3d-printed-rhino-horn-developed/
A French zoo last year had the shameful task of reporting that one of their Southern White Rhinos had been killed overnight and his horn stolen.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/07/rhino-shot-dead-by-poachers-at-french-zoo
Biting the hand that feeds IT
