#Big Tech testify

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Ad-tech targeting is an existential threat

I'm on a 20+ city book tour for my new novel PICKS AND SHOVELS. Catch me TORONTO on SUNDAY (Feb 23) at Another Story Books, and in NYC on WEDNESDAY (26 Feb) with JOHN HODGMAN. More tour dates here.

The commercial surveillance industry is almost totally unregulated. Data brokers, ad-tech, and everyone in between – they harvest, store, analyze, sell and rent every intimate, sensitive, potentially compromising fact about your life.

Late last year, I testified at a Consumer Finance Protection Bureau hearing about a proposed new rule to kill off data brokers, who are the lynchpin of the industry:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/16/the-second-best-time-is-now/#the-point-of-a-system-is-what-it-does

The other witnesses were fascinating – and chilling, There was a lawyer from the AARP who explained how data-brokers would let you target ads to categories like "seniors with dementia." Then there was someone from the Pentagon, discussing how anyone could do an ad-buy targeting "people enlisted in the armed forces who have gambling problems." Sure, I thought, and you don't even need these explicit categories: if you served an ad to "people 25-40 with Ivy League/Big Ten law or political science degrees within 5 miles of Congress," you could serve an ad with a malicious payload to every Congressional staffer.

Now, that's just the data brokers. The real action is in ad-tech, a sector dominated by two giant companies, Meta and Google. These companies claim that they are better than the unregulated data-broker cowboys at the bottom of the food-chain. They say they're responsible wielders of unregulated monopoly surveillance power. Reader, they are not.

Meta has been repeatedly caught offering ad-targeting like "depressed teenagers" (great for your next incel recruiting drive):

https://www.technologyreview.com/2017/05/01/105987/is-facebook-targeting-ads-at-sad-teens/

And Google? They just keep on getting caught with both hands in the creepy commercial surveillance cookie-jar. Today, Wired's Dell Cameron and Dhruv Mehrotra report on a way to use Google to target people with chronic illnesses, people in financial distress, and national security "decision makers":

https://www.wired.com/story/google-dv360-banned-audience-segments-national-security/

Google doesn't offer these categories itself, they just allow data-brokers to assemble them and offer them for sale via Google. Just as it's possible to generate a target of "Congressional staffers" by using location and education data, it's possible to target people with chronic illnesses based on things like whether they regularly travel to clinics that treat HIV, asthma, chronic pain, etc.

Google claims that this violates their policies, and that they have best-of-breed technical measures to prevent this from happening, but when Wired asked how this data-broker was able to sell these audiences – including people in menopause, or with "chronic pain, fibromyalgia, psoriasis, arthritis, high cholesterol, and hypertension" – Google did not reply.

The data broker in the report also sold access to people based on which medications they took (including Ambien), people who abuse opioids or are recovering from opioid addiction, people with endocrine disorders, and "contractors with access to restricted US defense-related technologies."

It's easy to see how these categories could enable blackmail, spear-phishing, scams, malvertising, and many other crimes that threaten individuals, groups, and the nation as a whole. The US Office of Naval Intelligence has already published details of how "anonymous" people targeted by ads can be identified:

https://www.odni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/ODNI-Declassified-Report-on-CAI-January2022.pdf

The most amazing part is how the 33,000 targeting segments came to public light: an activist just pretended to be an ad buyer, and the data-broker sent him the whole package, no questions asked. Johnny Ryan is a brilliant Irish privacy activist with the Irish Council for Civil Liberties. He created a fake data analytics website for a company that wasn't registered anywhere, then sent out a sales query to a brokerage (the brokerage isn't identified in the piece, to prevent bad actors from using it to attack targeted categories of people).

Foreign states, including China – a favorite boogeyman of the US national security establishment – can buy Google's data and target users based on Google ad-tech stack. In the past, Chinese spies have used malvertising – serving targeted ads loaded with malware – to attack their adversaries. Chinese firms spend billions every year to target ads to Americans:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/06/business/google-meta-temu-shein.html

Google and Meta have no meaningful checks to prevent anyone from establishing a shell company that buys and targets ads with their services, and the data-brokers that feed into those services are even less well-protected against fraud and other malicious act.

All of this is only possible because Congress has failed to act on privacy since 1988. That's the year that Congress passed the Video Privacy Protection Act, which bans video store clerks from telling the newspapers which VHS cassettes you have at home. That's also the last time Congress passed a federal consumer privacy law:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Privacy_Protection_Act

The legislative history of the VPPA is telling: it was passed after a newspaper published the leaked video-rental history of a far-right judge named Robert Bork, whom Reagan hoped to elevate to the Supreme Court. Bork failed his Senate confirmation hearings, but not because of his video rentals (he actually had pretty good taste in movies). Rather, it was because he was a Nixonite criminal and virulent loudmouth racist whose record was strewn with the most disgusting nonsense imaginable).

But the leak of Bork's video-rental history gave Congress the cold grue. His video rental history wasn't embarrassing, but it sure seemed like Congress had some stuff in its video-rental records that they didn't want voters finding out about. They beat all land-speed records in making it a crime to tell anyone what kind of movies they (and we) were watching.

And that was it. For 37 years, Congress has completely failed to pass another consumer privacy law. Which is how we got here – to this moment where you can target ads to suicidal teens, gambling addicted soldiers in Minuteman silos, grannies with Alzheimer's, and every Congressional staffer on the Hill.

Some people think the problem with mass surveillance is a kind of machine-driven, automated mind-control ray. They believe the self-aggrandizing claims of tech bros to have finally perfected the elusive mind-control ray, using big data and machine learning.

But you don't need to accept these outlandish claims – which come from Big Tech's sales literature, wherein they boast to potential advertisers that surveillance ads are devastatingly effective – to understand how and why this is harmful. If you're struggling with opioid addiction and I target an ad to you for a fake cure or rehab center, I haven't brainwashed you – I've just tricked you. We don't have to believe in mind-control to believe that targeted lies can cause unlimited harms.

And those harms are indeed grave. Stein's Law predicts that "anything that can't go on forever eventually stops." Congress's failure on privacy has put us all at risk – including Congress. It's only a matter of time until the commercial surveillance industry is responsible for a massive leak, targeted phishing campaign, or a ghastly national security incident involving Congress. Perhaps then we will get action.

In the meantime, the coalition of people whose problems can be blamed on the failure to update privacy law continues to grow. That coalition includes protesters whose identities were served up to cops, teenagers who were tracked to out-of-state abortion clinics, people of color who were discriminated against in hiring and lending, and anyone who's been harassed with deepfake porn:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/06/privacy-first/#but-not-just-privacy

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/02/20/privacy-first-second-third/#malvertising

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

[swiftjay23]

The Alibi He Never Spoke To

Pairing: nonidol!Jungwon x fem!reader

Genre! Mystery, Angst, Slow Burn, Ex-friends to Lovers

CW: Mentions of scandal, lying, surveillance, betrayal

Summary: You haven’t spoken in 1,361 days. Then one scandal, one system, and one lie put your name back in his mouth, and in headlines. He said you were together that night. You weren’t. Now the world believes a lie. The real question is: Did he do it to protect you... or himself?

Word Count: 4767

P.S. I know Wonnie doesn't have a brother, but please just stick with me. It's important for the plotline.

🗂🕯️ Taglist: (To my wonderful followers, those who reblogged the teaser, and one who wanted to be added to the taglist<3)

⟡ @tashmonellloveskpopboybands,⟡ @yuriloveshee,

⟡ @kookiesnkim, ⟡ @picklemafia, ⟡ @add-this-to-that,

⟡ @xxjoyridingxx,⟡ @enjakey, ⟡ @noidnoentry, ⟡ @avadie

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The thesis wasn't going to complete itself. You told yourself repeatedly over and over while mindlessly scrolling through Instagram. But you couldn’t help it, not when your feed was flooded with videos of cats doing stupid, adorable things.

And then, out of nowhere, your phone buzzes at 3:47 a.m. A text. One word.

“Sorry.”

He was a name you kept buried beneath old playlists and group photos you could never bring yourself to delete. A memory preserved in static. The boy who once meant everything. The boy who ended it all.

And now he was texting you? In the middle of the night? After nearly four years of silence?

You stared at the word until the screen faded to black.

You would spend hours decoding it. Wondering if it was meant for you. If it was meant for now. But you didn’t even get that far.

Because six hours later, the internet got to you first.

BREAKING: LOCAL BOY IMPLICATED IN FEDERAL SECURITY BREACH SURVEILLANCE TECH INTERN UNDER INVESTIGATION ALIBI CLAIMED: HIGH SCHOOL FRIEND TO TESTIFY?

You blinked at your name on the news banner. They said he told investigators he was with you. You weren’t even there. You didn’t even know what there was.

But when the press replayed the leaked footage of the moment he was questioned, there he was, hands in his lap, hoodie too big for his frame, eyes looking directly into the camera.

But when asked where he was that night, Jungwon looked dead into the camera and said, “With her. I was with her.” The words aren’t whispered. They aren’t hesitant. They're clear. Final. Broadcast on every channel like truth.

The lie.

The boy who hadn't spoken to you in over three years, almost four, who tore you out of his life like a chapter best forgotten, after you lost contact just gave you the most dangerous gift of all:

An alibi.

And now you’re the center of a lie you didn’t agree to, for a boy you swore you’d never forgive.

So why does part of you want to believe he’s still protecting you? And from what? You were just an ordinary person who worked part time as an assistant. How were you suddenly tied up in a web of lies you had no idea was spinning?

You didn’t know why. You didn’t know what it meant.

But now your name was everywhere. And so was his.

And the past you thought had been buried with it? Crawling back like it never left.

Your phone is a warzone now. Notifications crawling across the screen in real time.

“You dated Yang Jungwon?!” “Girl, spill.” “This is so romantic I could scream—” “Wait. Wasn’t his brother the one who—?” “You're trending.”

Your name has become clickbait. And your silence? Even louder.

You scroll, shakily, through news threads. Every headline tightens like a noose:

“Jungwon denies involvement in federal data breach.” “Local tech employee’s activity tied to stolen surveillance files.” “Claims he was with former friend during timeframe.”

Former friend. As if that word, friend, hasn’t been dead for years. As if they understand what 1,361 days of silence actually feels like.

-0-

Your fingers hover over your phone, thumbs motionless. 3:47 a.m. Again.

You open the text.

Sorry.

It’s still there. The timestamp burns behind your eyes.

He sent it hours before the world learned. Before the headlines. Before you even knew you were part of a story you didn’t write.

He warned you. But not really.

He didn’t say, They’re coming for me. He didn’t say, I’m scared. He didn’t even say, Help.

Just: Sorry. You lock the screen and throw the phone facedown onto your bed. Outside, it starts to rain.

Because of course it does.

-0-

You’re halfway through rereading the articles when a name flashes across your phone.

Unknown number. No profile picture. Just a message.

Miss Y/N. We need to speak. In person. It concerns Mr. Yang.

You freeze.

Your heartbeat sounds like it’s knocking from inside your skull.

You don’t respond. Not yet. Because the last time someone asked you to meet about Jungwon, it ended with you screaming at him in the middle of an empty park. It was after you had confessed and he blocked you. Words you can’t take back still hang in the air between you, even after all this time.

"You don’t even know what you feel. You keep trying to be your brother, but he’s dead, Jungwon. You’re not him. You never were."

And the way his eyes went glassy. The way he said nothing, just turned and left.

You didn’t chase him. Now, here he is again. Dragging you back into his mess like he never left. And for the first time in years, you’re wondering if maybe he never really did.

And for the first time in years, you’re wondering if maybe he never really left.

You type a reply.

Where.

The typing dots appear immediately. Then a message:

Four p.m. Café Bene. Come alone.

You stare at it. You almost laugh. "Come alone" like you’re in a thriller and not a college student in pajama shorts whose only plan today was finishing a thesis on postmodern feminism and maybe crying about it.

Still, at 3:32 p.m., you’re sitting on the train. By 4:00, you’re at the café. By 4:01, your life will change again.

Because the person sitting at the corner booth isn’t a stranger. It’s him. Jungwon.

Alive, in the flesh, hoodie still oversized. He looks up. Meets your eyes. And says, "I didn’t know what else to do." Your pulse stutters.

Because the boy who shattered your heart just pulled you into something far more dangerous than heartbreak.

You don’t sit right away. You take him in, jaw tighter, shadows under his eyes, that nervous twitch of his fingers you haven’t seen since high school. Still as ethereal as ever, and a bit more muscular. He looked like the shattered twin of a fallen angel, if only the light hit his blonde hair like a halo.

And suddenly, there are a rush of feelings, feelings you'd long buried, feelings that you had wanted to forget, but were probably as forgotten as the shared playlist between you and Jungwon that you listen to everyday.

“What is this?” you ask, arms crossed. He nods to the chair across from him. “Just sit. Please.” You do. But not because he asked. Because you want answers. And you want to hear him say them.

Jungwon swallows, glancing over his shoulder like someone might be listening. “They’re watching everything,” he says quietly. “Every message, every device. Even this place probably has ears.”

“You said you were with me,” you reply flatly. “You lied. And who even is this 'they'?"

“I had to.”

“That’s not an answer.” He leans forward, voice lower. “It wasn’t supposed to happen this fast. The breach, the blame, it all happened in one night. They were looking for a scapegoat. I needed to vanish.”

“So you dragged me into it?” “No,” he says too quickly. “I dragged you out of it. You just don’t know what 'it' is yet.”

You shake your head, eyes burning. “You still talk in puzzles, Jungwon. Even now.” He’s silent. Then: “If I tell you the truth, you’ll never be able to unknow it.”

You scoff. “Try me.” But he doesn’t answer.

Because outside the window, a black car pulls up. Tinted windows. Engine running. Jungwon’s eyes flick to it. He goes pale. “We need to go,” he whispers. "I'm not leaving until you give me answers." you replied stubbornly, his eyes darken with something explicit and unexplainable. "Y/n, now. Please." he said in a warning whisper. That convinced you. You grab your bag, heart in your throat.

He took you by your hand and led you out of there.

You don’t know where he’s taking you. Turns out, it's the parking lot. The car he leads you to isn’t fancy. Navy blue. Dusty. There’s a dent in the rear bumper like it’s been hit and forgotten. He unlocks it with a single beep and throws his backpack in the backseat.

“Get in,” he says. You hesitate. For a second too long.

He looks at you like he used to, eyes rimmed with guilt, voice like a bruise when he adds, “Please.” Your heart wallows in sadness.

You get in.

The engine starts, but he doesn’t drive yet. For a moment, it’s just the low hum of the fan and the storm of unspoken things between you.

You speak first. “Who are they, Jungwon?”

His hands grip the wheel. “I can’t say names. Not yet.” “Then give me something else.” He looks at you. Real, tired.

“You remember that startup I joined senior year in high school?? Nexora?” You nod, of course, how could you forget. Days after he joined the startup, his brother passed away in a car accident. Jungwon had practically idealized his brother.

He used to say it was always them against everyone when you first met back in Freshman year. You had thought Jungwon's brother would be just like him. Sweet, kind, passionate, considerate, a literal angel, but no. Jungwon's brother was the polar opposite, sometimes you'd find it hard to believe they were really siblings.

Needless, to say, you didn't get along. And it upset Jungwon.

After his brother died, Jungwon threw himself into the startup, taking up shifts, blowing out more and more hangouts with you.

At first, you thought it was his way of grieving, but after an year or so after having stepped down to practically mutual friends with Jungwon from you're my ride or die, you finally decided you'd had enough, you brought him to a park, all the time in which he was annoyed by you thoroughly, and confessed at the end.

To which he said no because his brother didn't like you. You blew up and the rest was history.

He continues, “They said it was just tech. Security. Threat analysis. But it wasn’t. It was surveillance. Off-book. They’re watching people they shouldn’t be able to watch.”

“Like who?

He sighed, closing his eyes and taking a shaky breath. "I'll tell you." And he drives. You don’t even realize it yet, but the moment he presses the gas, you’re not just running anymore. You’re being hunted.

The car glides out of the lot and merges onto a back road—silent, save for the occasional streetlamp flicking past like a strobe. You glance at him. He hasn’t spoken since he said he’d explain.

He finally exhales.

“They’re called Sundial. Off-grid intelligence firm. Government once tried to shut them down. Failed. Now they’ve embedded themselves inside the system they were built to expose.”

You blink. “And Nexora’s a shell for that?”

He nods.

“They pay well. They recruit young. They tell you it’s for protection. For peacekeeping. They don’t tell you about the black sites. The digital prisons. The data manipulation.”

Your heart skips. “Digital prisons?”

“People whose online footprints got erased. Or rewritten. Or turned into evidence.”

Your stomach flips. "What kind of people?"

“Government officials. Journalists. Whistleblowers. People on protected lists. It goes deeper than I knew."

“And you worked there?”

“I worked on the file logs. Movement records. Geo-timestamps. I thought I was cleaning metadata. Turns out, I was helping scrub people.”

The words settle like ash between you. “And the breach?” He pauses. Then whispers, “It wasn’t a breach.” You stare. “What?” “It was a leak. Intentional. From inside.” His knuckles whiten on the steering wheel.

“And someone made it look like it was me.” You sit back in stunned silence. I think they chose me because I stopped cooperating. But I think they chose you because they knew I still cared.”

That shuts you up. Because it’s not a lie. Not entirely. You can feel it.

“I gave them your name because it bought me time. It forced the media to look away from the real files for a few hours. I didn’t think they’d pull you in like this.” “And now?”

He finally looks at you. Not like the boy from the past. But someone who’s seen far too much. “Now I think they’re going to erase both of us.”

"B-but-" you racked your brain wildly for ideas, "Isn't there some sort of way to prove you innocence?" You asked desperately. Jungwon remained calm, unnaturally calm, "No, because whoever framed it on me clearly doesn't want the spotlight."

You sit in silence for a while. You turn to admire Jungwon. He really hadn't changed, he was same, blond haired, kind, muscular, talented Jungwon you had left in the park a few years ago. His lips were pressed into a thin line, and you had a sudden urge to kiss it off of him.

No, stop it.

In an attempt to direct you thoughts, you looked outside the window.

You don’t notice the car at first. It’s just headlights in the rearview. Two dots in a sea of city glow. But they don’t blink away. They don’t pass. They just follow.

A left turn. Then a right. Then another. And still, those same headlights.

Your spine straightens. “Jungwon…” you whisper shortly. “I know,” he says, tone clipped. He takes off one hand from the wheel and puts it onto yours. His hand was surprisingly warm and comfortable, like a hot cup of cocoa after a stressful day.

High school you would have felt a zoo exploding in her stomach, but now, you felt nothing more than dread.

You glance back again. “Is that-?” “It’s them.” Your heart drops. “Drive.” He does. The next few minutes blur.

Streetlights whip by like meteors. The car behind you gains ground with every turn. Jungwon takes a hard left without blinking, and you swear your shoulder slams into the door. Tires screech. The other car follows.

You’re spiraling through empty intersections, neighborhood alleys, bridges you didn’t even know existed. He cuts across lanes, merges without signaling, takes exits like you’re being hunted.

Because you are.

“Are we losing them?” you gasp, gripping the edge of the seat so tightly your nails dig into the vinyl. “Almost there,” Jungwon growls, knuckles white, fingers interlacing yours.

You don’t know what there is, but you know it’s safer than here, you feel your heart beating faster with each passing minute, you grip his hand tighter.

And then, suddenly. it’s quiet. The road opens up. No lights behind you. Just trees, a low hill, and silence. Jungwon slows the car. Takes one last turn. A small, slanted-roof house appears like it’s been waiting.

No neighbors. No lights. Just a single red curtain drawn in one of the windows. He kills the engine and sits there, motionless, chest rising and falling like he’s just run a marathon. Your fingers still interlaced like they were woven together.

Your voice is still shaking. “Jungwon…” He turns to you. His hair is slightly damp from sweat. His mouth opens like he wants to say something, then closes again. And for once, he doesn’t speak in riddles.

“I’m sorry I dragged you into this.” You swallow. “Is it safe?” “Safer than anywhere else I could think of.” He gets out, circles around, and opens your door like it’s instinct. You step out. Your knees wobble. The wind is cold. You hadn’t noticed until now.

He leads you up the steps, unlocking the door with trembling fingers, all the while you can feel his cold breath on your neck, and you were pretty sure he could see the goosebumps covering your skin.

The lights flick on. It’s small, lived-in. A single couch, a stack of books, a laptop with wires snaking out of it like veins. A whiteboard covered in red string and printed articles.

"Welcome to ground zero,” he says dryly. You exhale for the first time in what feels like hours. And only now, only now do you realize your hands are shaking.

He sees it. Moves toward you. Then stops himself. Lets the distance breathe. “I’ll make tea,” he says, moving to the kitchen.

And as the kettle starts to hiss, and the silence starts to settle, you realize something strange: This time, you’re not scared because of him. You’re scared for him.

-0-

The kettle whistles. He pours without asking, two mismatched mugs, no sugar, no milk. Just bitter warmth between your palms.

The silence hangs thick as steam.

He sits across from you at the tiny, battered table, not looking directly at you. His fingers tap the edge of his mug like a clock with no second hand. You wrap your arms around yourself, too aware of the fact that you're in his house. That he's in your space again. That there's only one bedroom.

“So…” you say, just to break the quiet. “So,” he echoes, voice low. He doesn’t follow up. You sip the tea. It burns, but you welcome it. The next few days pass in strange fragments.

You sleep on the couch. He offers the bed, but you refuse. He doesn’t argue. In the morning, he’s already up, messy hair swept back, glasses perched on the tip of his nose, eyes red-rimmed from staring at code too long. You sit across from him with toast and too many questions. Sometimes he talks. Sometimes he doesn’t.

At noon, you both squint at articles, archived data, fragments of surveillance logs he pulled off an encrypted drive. You’re not a tech genius, but you're good at patterns. You start highlighting things that don’t match: timestamps that glitch, faces that repeat across locations they shouldn’t, names that appear in redacted reports.

“Do you ever sleep?” you ask once, not looking up from the files. He hums. “Do you?”

Touché. At night, it’s worse.

You curl up in your corner of the couch. He moves around the small kitchen quietly. Dishes clinking. Keys typing. Lights dim. Your phone buzzes once, then again. People asking if you're okay. If you're involved. If you're with him.

You don’t reply. You both know the moment you send something traceable, you’ve exposed yourselves again. Instead, you glance toward him.

He’s hunched over his laptop, hoodie draped over his shoulders, brows furrowed like the weight of the world is pressing against his spine. You hate how well you still know the shape of him.

On the third night, you both end up in the kitchen at 2:00 a.m., barefoot, half asleep.

He’s reaching for water. You’re grabbing leftover instant noodles. Your fingers brush. You both freeze. It’s nothing. Just a second. But it lingers. It triggers you.

He clears his throat first. “Sorry.”

You say nothing. Not because you’re mad, but because if you open your mouth, the truth might spill out. You’re scared of what your truth sounds like. Instead you choose to cry, you feel weak and pathetic, but Jungwon's eyes soften with sympathy and sparkle, "Oh..." He says softly, "Come here."

He embraces you and you hold on. He smells of wildflower and mint, his hands are laced through your hair, massaging your scalp as he whispers against you temple silently, "I know love, I know. But I'm here for you. I'm always here for you."

He picks you up and takes you to the bedroom. Tucking you in as he strokes your hair lovingly. That night, both of you sleep without nightmares.

The next morning, you find the string board updated. Red lines, new names. He’s written something in the corner. A note.

[Timestamp 3:47 a.m.] – test pattern? Loop reset??

You run a finger along the ink. “You think it’s a code?”

“I think it’s the glitch.” He doesn’t even look up. “I think the loop starts over every time someone gets too close.”

“And us?” He finally glances at you. His voice is quiet, the memories of last night come rushing back. “I think we’re the anomaly.”

That night, you wake up from the couch. You don’t remember falling asleep. But your phone buzzes in your hand.

3:47 a.m. You look down. A message.

You shouldn’t be here.

Not from Jungwon. From a number with no name. No trace. You sit up, breath caught in your chest. You look toward the hallway. The door to his room is slightly ajar. Light leaks from beneath it.

"Jungwon," you whisper, after pushing the door back slightly, within a minute, he is by your side, eyes laced with concerned. "Yes love?" You didn't know why he had been calling you that, but you didn't correct him. You liked it.

You showed him the texts, his eyes narrowed into slits.

It was followed by a file. Encrypted. No traceable metadata. But Jungwon stared at the download bar like it held the ghost of someone he never stopped loving.

“…It’s my brother’s ID,” he said, a thousand disbeliefs racing his mind.

You froze. “You mean-?”

“He’s dead. He’s gone. But this signature, it’s his system key. Someone’s using it. Or he never died in the way they said he did.”

Neither of you spoke.

That night, the rain didn’t stop. Neither did the questions.

-0-

It was the fifth night when Jungwon brought it up. It started with a noise.

A glitchy static that bled from Jungwon’s laptop speaker when no tab was open. “Do you hear that?” you asked, looking up from the notes.

He nodded slowly. “It’s not the first time.” The waveform pulsed like a heartbeat. High-pitched, irregular. Then it stopped, mid-cycle. You tapped the screen. It jumped. Jungwon narrowed his eyes. “That wasn’t playback.”

You looked at each other. Then at the logs. That’s when you noticed it: your name. Dozens of times. Not just mentions. Full files. Geotags. Daily activity maps. Emotional behavior readings? “What the hell is this?” Jungwon clicked faster, tension rising with each line of corrupted code.

“They monitored you,” he said, voice thin. “But this… This isn’t just tracking. These logs are layered. Look.” He dragged one timeline over the other. Same date. Different details. Different you.

You stared. One version said you were in class. The other said you never enrolled. “Which one’s real?” you whispered.

“I don’t think it matters anymore,” he muttered. “I think they’ve rewritten you.” Your skin went cold. He pulled up the logs on himself. Similar distortion. The timestamps overlapped with erased photos. Posts you almost remembered. It wasn’t just erasure. It was overwrite. Sundial was testing narrative control, changing memories in real time.

“There’s an archive,” he said quietly. “Off-grid. Somewhere Sundial stores raw memory, pre-scrubbed, unedited data backups. No firewall. No stream filter. Just... truth.”

You blinked. “Like a physical archive?” He nodded. “It’s the only way to prove they rewrote us. To find what was deleted. To find who’s doing it.” You stood. “Then let’s burn them.” He smiled, just faintly. “That’s the girl I remember.” Your heart fluttered, you smiled sadly.

-0-

You packed in silence. Only the essentials. Burner phones. Flash drives. Jungwon slipped a printed photo into his pocket, you barely caught it. It was of his brother.

The site was two hours north. An abandoned Nexora warehouse. Power cut. Security manual. No active cameras. No exits once you were inside.

The perfect grave for data. And maybe the people chasing it.

-0-

You arrive just before midnight. The building looms like a mausoleum.

Inside, the air is metallic and stale. You hold the flashlight. Jungwon cracks the control panel. The servers blink to life—like they’d been waiting for him.

And then… files. Hundreds. Thousands.

Timestamps. Surveillance logs. Raw memories. Some of them… yours.

One shows you kissing Jungwon on a bench under stars. It’s tender, beautiful. But it never happened. You know it. And yet… it feels real. You watch in silence as he finds one of his own. A recording. His brother. Alive. Whispering into a terminal:

“If something happens to me, it’s Sundial. Not an accident. Watch the N.”

The N.

Your breath catches.

“3:47,” you whisper. “Three plus four plus seven is fourteen. Fourteenth letter of the alphabet…” “N,” Jungwon finishes.

“Nexora,” you say in unison. “They never stopped,” he adds. “They just changed the name. Rebranded the surveillance under something ‘cleaner.’ Nexora was Sundial all along.”

He nods toward the system terminal.

“Help me package this.” You move quickly, fingers flying over the interface. You don’t even realize you’re crying until Jungwon’s hand covers yours.

“We send this,” you say. “Anonymous tip. Distribute the evidence. Force them into the light.” You look at him. “Ready?”

“For you?” He gives a soft breath of a laugh. “Always.” You press send. There’s no going back.

-0-

A week after the whole Nexora/Sundial came crumbling down. The whiteboard stares back at you, mocking you with its red threads and scribbled fragments. But for the first time in days, there’s clarity. 3:47 wasn’t a time. It was a code.

3 + 4 + 7 = 14. The fourteenth letter of the alphabet is N. N for Nexora. N for the Chairman. N for the man behind everything.

And yet, all you feel is... empty.

You collapse onto the couch, fingers trembling around the edge of your sleeve. Jungwon is pacing, hands in his hair, breathing uneven, mind a thousand miles away and yet rooted in the same hell as you.

“We got it,” you say numbly. “We figured it out.”

He doesn’t respond at first. Just keeps pacing like his body’s too wired to sit still. “It was him. All along. The Chairman. The loop. The messages. My brother’s name in those erased lists, he, he was protecting him, not me—” His voice cracks.

You look up. “Your brother?”

Jungwon freezes. The room stills.

“I never hated you for what you said,” he says suddenly. “At the park.”

You blink. “Jungwon—”

“No, I mean it. You were right.” His laugh is bitter. “I didn’t know how to be me without him. And I tried so hard to become everything he was, even the parts I hated. Because I thought if I didn’t, I’d lose him again.”

He turns to you, raw and glass-eyed. “You were the only one who ever called me on it. And I hated you for it. Not because you were wrong. But because you were the only person who saw me... unraveling.”

You bite your lip. “You blocked me. You walked away.”

“I know.” His voice is a whisper now. “And I’m sorry. I’ve been sorry every single day since.”

You stand. Not because you're angry. But because sitting still is suffocating.

“I loved you,” you say quietly. “Back then, I mean. I loved you, and I watched you become someone I didn’t recognize. And I blamed myself for that.”

Jungwon steps closer.

“I never stopped caring,” he says.

You shake your head, throat tight. “Don’t say that unless you mean it.”

“I do.”

“Don’t say it just because we’re scared. Just because we might die. Just because we’re running and everything is falling apart.”

“I’m saying it because I should’ve said it before you walked away that night. Before I let my grief swallow me. Before I let fear win.” He’s inches from you now. “I cared then. I care now. I never stopped.”

You look at him, really look. The boy who had once held your heart like it was made of glass. The boy who broke it. And now, the man standing before you, handing it back.

Your voice wavers. “So what do we do now?”

His eyes flick to your lips. Just once.

And then, without another word, without another pause—he kisses you.

It’s not soft. It’s not tentative. It’s everything you’ve both held back—grief, longing, rage, relief, all crashing at once.

You gasp into him. His hands cradle your face like he’s afraid you’ll disappear. Your fingers fist in his hoodie like he’s the only real thing left in a world built on lies.

He kisses you like a man who’s lived a hundred lives without you and just remembered which one he wants.

You kiss him like a girl who finally, finally stopped running.

You break away just long enough to whisper, breathless, “I hate that you still taste like everything I missed.”

He laughs, forehead pressed to yours. “I hate that I never deserved a second chance and still want one anyway.”

You kiss again, slower now. Like forgiveness. Like a promise.

And for the first time in a long, long time, everything feels real, you tell yourself, as you hear him giggling.

The End

This is a really messy story, I just threw a bunch of ideas together.

Masterlist

[ink-stainedkiss]

𝐘𝐮𝐣𝐢 𝐈𝐭𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐢 𝐱 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

Warnings: none :)

Word Count: 1.2k

Type: extremelyyyy fluffy (if you squint there is angst)

*This is my first post so keep that in mind*

𝘚𝘶𝘮: 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘴 𝘠𝘶𝘫𝘪’𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭

The ceiling fan above you spun quickly, the cold air blowing all around your quiet room. If it wasn’t for the constant chirping from the insects outside you would claim it was dead silent. Usually, your dorm wasn’t like this, especially not since you went to Jujitsu Tech. Whether it was gossiping with Shoko or studying peacefully with Megumi, there always seemed to be some sort of distraction to drag you away from loneliness. You would have climbed out of your bed and just walked to one of your friends’ dorm, but the shimmering moon outside reminded you that even if you did knock on their door, you would most likely be intruding on their sleep.

It was a collective agreement that, no matter the person in the school, everyone was to respect each other's sleep schedules because it seemed that sleep was the only moment of peace that sorcerers got. You could testify for this quite immensely. Each time you come back from a mission, you only want the sweet satisfaction of slumber. Speaking of missions, it seemed that the two sent on one today were running behind. Unfortunately, one of the selected was your loving boyfriend. You turned your head, facing the rectangle clock, and read the time. 11:26. When you gave him a kiss goodbye, you promised you would be awake by the time he got back. Which at the time didn’t seem like a big deal. They had left around eleven in the morning and were supposed to be back around dinner.

You understood that your boyfriend was strong and he always had a back up power stored inside of him. A smile melted onto your face as you recall the words that slipped out of the angered mouth that appeared on your boyfriend's cheek. As annoying as it was, it often caused you to giggle to yourself. You lifted your hand toward your nightstand, grabbing your phone, you unlocked the screen and went to the messages.

Yuji❤️(6:42 p.m): should be back in a bit!

So much for trusting him. You weren’t angry, far from it actually, but you couldn’t help but feel somewhat upset. It was mostly because you had stayed up for so long, watching movies, playing on your phone, and doing whatever activity to stay up. You just wanted to see Yuji. As much as you joke about how much of an annoyance he is, your chest started to tighten at the fact you hadn’t seen him all day. Yuji was a packaged deal when it came to dating him. Not only was he an amazing boyfriend, but when you needed it he was a great best friend. Yuji was the first person you told when you had drama to tell. He would always be up for any sort of skincare or makeup you would want to put on him. You weren’t sure how you managed to find someone like him.

Frowning at the fond memories of him, you tossed an arm over your eyes, sighing and deciding you wouldn’t be able to complete your promise to Yuji. Your eyes were heavy and you kept finding yourself slipping in and out of consciousness. The only light source in your room was the yellow lamp resting on the dresser beside you and even then, the luminance wasn’t enough to keep you from nodding off. You felt a little disappointed in yourself, but it was getting close to midnight and he would understand. At least you’ll see him in the morning. You weren’t sure why they were so caught up, but you didn’t have a churning feeling in your stomach so you surmised that he was fine.

You glanced at your closed door and a downcasted sigh escaped you. I should just go to bed. It didn’t feel good to shut your lights off and cuddle under your sheets without Yuji, but he had his own business to attend to. Soon enough the only sounds that were heard in your dorm was your soft breathing and the whirring of your fan.

☽｡⋆

A noisy creek echoed through your room, making the pinkette opening your door cringe. Regrettably for him, the racket had woken you up, and all he could do was freeze as you sat up. Wiping your blurry eyes, you faced the lit doorway tiredly,”Yuji?”

Your voice was croaky, but he managed to catch your words. He smiled softly at your restless state, slowly shutting the door behind him,” Yeah it’s me,” He murmured, still exhausted from the extended mission,”I’m sorry I'm late.”

You flicked the light on, causing a light groan from you, but you were deterred nonetheless,”It’s fine, sweetheart.” You rubbed your sleepy eyes with one arm, while he was pulling back the covers and welcoming the boy.

Yuji folded instantly, trudging to your bed and immediately collapsing into your embrace. His large arms wrapped around your waist and he sank into your body heat. As you placed the covers over the two of you, you couldn’t help but ask,”What took you guys so long?”

Yuji huffed dramatically, eyes shut,”The stupid curse wouldn’t die and when we thought it was dead, it just duplicated itself,” Clearly the curse had given Yuji a hard time.

Your hand found its way into his pink locks and as you scratched his scalp, Yuji was practically purring against you,”Did you eat before you got here?” You questioned, hoping he wasn’t going to sleep on an empty stomach. The boy gave a long inhale and exhale, showing just how relaxed he was in your arms,”Mhm. Panda suggested we stop at a convenience store.”

You raised a brow, giggling at his response,”So you had snacks for dinner?” Yuji nodded, a content smile across his features,”There cup noodles were excellent.” You continued to suppress your laughs and you hoped your shaky body wasn’t disturbing Yuji.

Luckily for you, the half-curse was a heavy sleeper and could probably sleep through a rock concert. Your finger combed through his hair, earning a satisfied hum from the boy below you. You lived for moments like these. They were peaceful, but most of all they were normal. Normalcy was something that could only be caught in small fragments as a sorcerer. Each of you were different and you couldn’t just come out to the world and expect to be looked at the same. So having these silent moments fulfilled your fantasy of living an ordinary life. Of course if it weren’t for being able to see cursed energy, you would have never met your closest friends, or your boyfriend for that matter.

You were pulled from your thoughts when a not-so-quiet snore reached your ears. Looking down, Yuji was out like a light. You reached over, flicking off the light and scooted down so you could rest your head on your pillows. Your nails dragged over Yuji’s sleep shirt, tracing random squiggles across his clothed back. You weren’t sure if you were going to see your thirties, hell you were sure about your mid-twenties, but even after all the gruesome things you’ve witnessed, at least you never had to doubt if someone cared for you.

For now, the moon hung high, tranquility spread over the school, and you couldn’t be happier with your life.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

A woman who blew the whistle about Facebook ignoring potential harms to users of the social media platform says proposed laws by Canada and B.C. have promise to hold tech companies to account for profiting off harmful content. 

Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager, says big tech companies such as Facebook's parent company Meta need to be held accountable for the harms their products cause while profiting at handsome margins of up to 30 per cent. 

Haugen, who testified before the U.S. Congress in 2021 about Facebook's refusal to mitigate harmful content in favour of profit, says American government lawsuits were "transformative" in revealing information about societal impacts of harmful online content. 

She says B.C. crafted the law using information brought to light in U.S. lawsuits, and she looks forward to seeing how the province will use it. [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[ixhika-jsx]

## What’s a Cyber Forensic Investigator?

Master post - part 1 • part 2

You must have heard bout forensics yk investigating bout dead people who might have been killed and all

You must have seen shows on those topics too.Cyber forensic investigator is just of same kind but investigating through all types of modern gadgets.

Catching hackers and all but cooler

### The Money Talk: How Much Do They Make?

- **Cash Money**: Expect to rake in about $60k to $120k a year. If you are very much experienced and skilled then you can expect about 150k+ a year.(obv different countries and companies may have different wages)

### Companies That Want You

- **Tech Titans**: Google, Amazon, Facebook—they all have requirement for such heroes

- **Gov Jobs**: FBI, CIA—basically every spy agency wants you.

- **Cybersecurity Firms**: CrowdStrike, McAfee—so every gateway you go you gonna have opportunities everywhere.

### What Other Forensic Investigators Are There?

- **Forensic Pathologists**: Real-life detectives who figure out how someone died. Less tech, more science.

- **DNA Analysts**: The ones matching DNA samples

- **Forensic Accountants**: Following the money to catch fraudsters and scammers

- **Toxicologists**: Poison experts, figuring out if someone’s been covertly poisoned. (Yeaa yk snow white story)

### What’s the Work Environment Like?

- **The Lab**: Imagine a room filled with more screens than your gaming setup. Gadgets galore, maybe even a Red Bull or two

- **On the Move**: Sometimes you’re out in the field, collecting evidence. Think of it like collecting rare items in a game.

- **Remote Vibes**: You could be solving cybercrimes from your bed in your PJs .

### How Long Does It Take to Become One?

- **Time Investment**: About 4 years for a bachelor’s, and then 1-2 more years for a master’s if you’re going all-in. So, 5-6 years total. But hey, good things take time, right?

### What Do You Study?

- **Cybersecurity/Computer Science**: Your main jams. Think of them as the ultimate cheat codes for this career.

- **Digital Forensics**: Specialized courses where you learn to be a digital ninja.

- **Law and Ethics**: Learning how to catch the bad guys without breaking the law yourself. (You yourself don't want to be troubled obviously)

### Subjects You Need to Get Into It

- **Math**: Yep, but not the boring kind—more like coding and algorithms.

- **Computer Science**: Your go-to for everything techy.

- **Optional Nerd Points**: Chemistry/Physics if you’re into hardware forensics or just want to flex those brain muscles.

### Work Hours: What to Expect?

- **9 to 5-ish**: Standard hours if you’re working for a company, but expect some late nights or weekend shifts when big cases pop up.

- **On-Call Madness**: Sometimes you’re on-call like a digital firefighter. Cyber-attack at 3 AM? Time to suit up (or log in) and handle it.

- **Flexible/Remote**: If you’re lucky, you can work from home. Just remember, no solving crimes in your underwear during Zoom meetings!

### Interview with a Cyber Forensic Investigator

**Interviewer**: What’s a day in the life of a cyber forensic investigator?

**Cyber Sleuth**: Imagine rolling out of bed, grabbing your coffee, and diving into cases. I’m talking analyzing hard drives, sifting through emails, or tracking down cyberattack origins. Some days it’s all data, other days I’m working with law enforcement or testifying in court. Never a dull moment!

**Interviewer**: What’s the coolest case you’ve worked on?

**Cyber Sleuth**: Helping bust a phishing ring that was scamming millions. Tracked their digital footprints, caught the culprits, and recovered their loot. Felt like a total legend.

**Interviewer**: Ever seen some dark stuff, like murders?

*Cyber Sleuth**: Yeah, I’ve stumbled across some pretty grim stuff. It’s not all memes and malware—sometimes it’s serious business. But catching those bad guys makes it all worth it.

**Interviewer**: Have you ever been on the dark web?

**Cyber Sleuth**: Oh, for sure. It’s like the sketchy underbelly of the internet. Lots of shady deals. I go there when I need to, but it’s not a fun hangout spot.

**Interviewer**: How dark can a case get?

**Cyber Sleuth**: It can get really intense. I’ve worked on cases involving human trafficking and other serious crimes. It’s tough, but making a difference makes it worth it.

**Interviewer**: Any advice for someone who wants to get into this field?

**Cyber Sleuth**: Stay curious and keep learning. Tech evolves fast, so you’ve gotta keep up. And don’t be afraid to dig deep—sometimes the answers are buried in tons of data, but finding them is like hitting gold.

So if you’re into tech and have subjects like mathematics , chemistry and physics then you are all set to start your journey.i have seen ppl running for a common a job and all and they are not even specified about what they want. So just research and find out what you want.

[mariacallous]

This year marks 30 years since the Rwandan genocide in 1994, when a Hutu-majority government and a privately owned radio station with close ties to the government colluded to murder 800,000 people.

The year 1994 may seem recent, but for a continent as young as Africa (where the median age is 19), it’s more like a distant past.

Suppose this had happened today, in the age of the algorithm. How much more chaos and murder would ensue if doctored images and deepfakes were proliferating on social media rather than radio, and radicalizing even more of the public? None of this is beyond reach, and countries including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, and Niger are at risk—owing to their confluence of ethno-religious tensions, political instability, and the presence of foreign adversaries.

Over the last few years, social media companies have culled their trust and safety units, reversing the gains made in the wake of the Myanmar genocide and the lead-up to the 2020 U.S. elections. Nowhere else are these reductions more consequential than in Africa. Low levels of digital literacy, fragile politics, and limited online safety systems render the continent ripe for hate speech and violence.

Last year, a Kenyan court held Facebook parent company Meta liable for the unlawful dismissal of 184 content moderators, after the company invested in only one content moderator for every 64,000 users in neighboring Ethiopia.

This was while Ethiopia spiraled into one of the world’s deadliest wars this century. During this time, Facebook was awash with content inciting ethnic violence and genocide. Its algorithms couldn’t detect hate speech in local languages while its engagement-based ranking systems continued to provide a platform for violent content. The scale of disinformation meant that the website’s remaining content moderators were no match for the moment.

The advent of adversarial artificial intelligence—which involves algorithms that seek to dodge content moderation tools—could light the match of the continent’s next war, and most social media companies are woefully underprepared.

And even if safety systems were to be put in place, hateful posts will spread at a far greater pace and scale, which would undermine the algorithms used to detect incendiary content. Sophisticated new AI systems could also analyze the most effective forms of disinformation messaging, produce them at scale, and effectively tailor them according to the targeted audience.

With limited oversight, this can easily tip some communities—ones that are already fraught with tensions—toward conflict and collapse.

Facebook has drawn criticism from human rights organizations for its perceived role in enabling and disseminating content intended to incite violence during the war centered in Ethiopia’s Tigray region from 2020-2022, a conflict which is estimated to have killed more than 600,000 people.

“Meta has yet again repeated its pattern of waiting until violence begins to support even rudimentary safety systems in Ethiopia,” Frances Haugen, the most prominent whistleblower to testify against Meta, told Foreign Policy.

In 2021, Haugen testified before the U.S Congress, exposing Facebook’s internal practices and sparking a global reckoning about social media’s influence over the communities that use it. Her disclosures suggested that Facebook knew that its systems fanned the flames of ethnic violence in Ethiopia and did little to stop it.

It did so because it knew it could. Far from the spotlight of a congressional hearing, most technology companies attract less scrutiny for operations abroad.

“It just doesn’t make the news cycle” according to Peter Cunliffe-Jones, the founder of Africa Check, the continent’s first independent fact-checking organization.

Most technology companies do not share basic data that would allow third-party organizations to effectively monitor and halt dangerous influence operations. As a result, most countries are left to outsource this critical task of maintaining social cohesion to the companies themselves. In other words, the very companies that profit the most from disinformation are now the arbiters of social order. This becomes dangerous when the companies slash safety resources in both wealthy nations and more peripheral markets beyond North America and Europe.

“One of the great misfortunes is that the war in Tigray [took place] in Africa. There was less oversight and unverified claims ran rampant” Cunliffe-Jones told Foreign Policy.

In leaked files, Meta found that its own algorithm to detect hate speech was unable to perform adequately in either of Ethiopia’s most widely used languages, Amharic and Oromo. Furthermore, the organization fell short on investing in enough content moderators.

While Meta has made significant strides elsewhere to counter disinformation, its strategy in Africa remains opaque and often involves the mobilization of response teams after a crisis becomes dire. The measures taken and their impact are not made public, leaving experts in the dark. This includes Meta’s own Oversight Board, whose requests for independent impact assessments in crisis zones were effectively ignored.

The war in Tigray is by no means an anomaly, nor should it be treated as such. In fact, across much of the continent, identity is still largely delineated by ethnicity, or along clan or religious lines—some of them a remnant of European imperialism.

With the advent of adversarial AI, Rwanda and Ethiopia could pale in comparison to an even more deadly future conflict. This is because these new algorithms don’t just spread disinformation—they also attack the very systems tasked with reviewing and removing incendiary content. For example, an adversarial AI program might slightly change the video frames of a deepfake, such that it’s still recognizable to the human eye but the slight alteration (technically known as noise) causes the algorithm to misclassify it, thereby dodging content moderation tools.

“We have been told by Big Tech that the path to safety is dependent on content moderation. Adversarial AI blows up this paradigm by allowing attackers to side-step safety systems based on content,” Haugen told Foreign Policy. “We may see the consequences first in conflicts in Africa, but no one is safe.”

Africa is at a crossroads. It is rich in critical minerals—such as cobalt, copper, and rare earth elements, which make up essential components of the technology driving the green energy transition—and has a young workforce that could turbocharge its economic growth. But it could fall prey to yet another resource curse driven by proxy wars between large powers seeking to dominate the supply chains of those critical minerals.

In this context, it’s not hard to imagine foreign mercenaries and insurgent groups leveraging adversarial AI to sow chaos and disorder. One of the greatest threats is in the eastern regions of Congo, home to an estimated 50 percent of the world’s cobalt reserves.

The region is also plagued by roughly 120 warring factions vying for control. These include, for example, the March 23 Movement (M23) and the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). The FDLR, an offshoot of the former Hutu extremist government in Rwanda, is in a heated contest against the Tutsi-majority M23, which argues that the FDLR poses a threat to local Tutsis as well as neighboring Rwanda.

According to U.N. experts, the current Rwandan government supports M23, though Kigali denies it. Through targeted information warfare, M23 argued that a genocide was looming against the Tutsi population. The Congolese army, along with the FDLR, argued that the M23 is yet another example of foreign interference and warfare intended to sow chaos and seize Congolese assets. But both sides have been accused of manufacturing news stories about violence through manipulated images and inflated death tolls, which are widely shared on social media.

The advent of adversarial AI could prove particularly dangerous here, given the ethnic tensions, foreign interference, lucrative critical mineral reserves, and a provocative online discourse that tends to fly without many strategic guardrails. Different factions could easily deploy deepfakes that mimic the casualties of past massacres or declare war from seemingly official sources.

Given the market value of critical minerals and the role of foreign adversaries, this could quickly spiral into mass violence that destabilizes Congo and neighboring countries.

Faced with such a risk, Africa cannot afford to wait for Western tech companies to act. African governments must take the lead.

As the tools of disinformation grow more sophisticated, old safety systems are becoming defunct. Faced with such a threat, the solution cannot be to invest exclusively in content moderation.

An alliance between Africa and South Asia could prove crucial. These two regions alone account for the largest anticipated growth in internet users over the coming decade as well as a growing share of market revenue. Many middle-income powers—such as Nigeria, South Africa, Bangladesh, and Pakistan—command a growing influence in global affairs.

A coordinated effort among these nations, focused on auditing tech platforms, muting destructive algorithms, and ensuring corporate accountability for social media-driven violence, could help set new standards against disinformation and adversarial AI.

Leaders in the global south should first turn to experts on disinformation. Nations threatened by the technology should demand the appointment of an independent board of experts who can request independent audits into the nature of algorithms used, co-sign on content moderation decisions in crisis zones, and measure the efficacy of new interventions. Such a board would need the accountability powers currently vested in U.S.- and EU-based agencies to ensure that there are consequences when standards aren’t adhered to.

When the independent board deems a country high risk, tech companies would be required to effectively mute algorithms that rank content based on engagement—that is, the numbers that track how many people have seen, liked, and shared it. As such, users would only see information chronologically (regardless of how much engagement it gets), thereby drastically reducing the likelihood of traffic gravitating toward incendiary content. In the age of adversarial AI, this would give an expanded team of human moderators a far better shot at removing dangerous content.

And if the board determines that an algorithm platformed incendiary content that consequently led to offline violence, the tech companies responsible for those algorithms should be pressured to contribute to a dedicated victims fund for families that bear the deadly consequences of those calls for violence.

African governments must also spearhead digital literacy efforts. In 2011, South African politician Lindiwe Mazibuko made history as the first Black woman elected as opposition leader in the South African Parliament. Today, she runs Futureelect, an organization aimed at training the next generation of ethical public leaders.

“There are 19 elections taking place this year across Africa. We’re lagging on digital literacy globally and so I worry that deep fakes and disinformation warfare could be more consequential here,” she said. “It’s why we are actively training the next cycle of ethical leaders to be cognizant of this threat.”

Ahmed Kaballo, who co-founded the pan-African media house African Stream, is focused on building more independent media. “There is virtually no way to effectively fact-check rival claims without a flourishing independent media landscape. Otherwise, the public is left to accept disinformation as the truth,” he argues.

Meanwhile, technology companies should, in the near term, invest in algorithms that can detect hate speech in local languages; build a more expansive network of content moderators and research experts; and prioritize far greater transparency and collaboration that would allow independent experts to conduct audits, design policy interventions, and ultimately measure progress.

For Haugen, it comes down to advertisers, investors, and the public demanding more oversight.

“Investors need to understand that allowing social media companies to continue to operate without oversight places systemic risk across their portfolios. Social stability and rule of law are the foundation of long-term returns, and Ethiopia demonstrates how when basic guardrails are lacking, social media can fan the flames of chaos,” she said.

In Africa, the confluence of political tensions, critical mineral reserves, and superpower competition make the continent ripe for targeting by new technologies designed to evade detection and spread chaos. Rather than just becoming a testing ground, Africa must take proactive steps to leverage its growing global weight (alongside South Asia) to demand greater government action against new forms of AI-driven disinformation that have the potential to upend societies across the world.

[the-era-of-shadow]

Mission: FOX FRENZY

Written by Aikshlin Rose

Cover Art by Aikshlin Rose

Chapter 3: May The Gods Bring Us A Beach Episode

THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS: Mentions of illness

[Start] [Previous Chapter] [Next Chapter]

In not much time at all, the Sky Patrol had made it to the Merop Shore. Certainly thanks in part to Tails’ expert piloting. 

“Alright, everyone! We’re here!” Sally announced, standing in front of the Sky Patrol’s opened door. “Amy, Tsunami, you two get Vanilla awake and ready to leave. Everyone else, file out!”

“Even me?” Tails inquired.

“Yes, you too. Don’t worry kiddo, you’ll get to come back here with all your tech soon enough!” Sally answered teasingly, giving Tails a playful ruffle on the head.

“Hey! ‘Kiddo”?? I’m almost eighteen!” Tails argued light heartedly, being unable to keep themself from giggling in between their words. This made Sally only be more insistent in her ruffling. “I’m only two years younger than you!!” They added.

“Alright, alright. I love messin with the little guy as much as everyone else here, but as you said yourself, we’ve gotta go.” Nicky interjected, rolling into the scene.

“Yeah yeah, I know. I just wanted to have a bit of fun for once.” Sally confessed.

“Can’t blame ya, I know you’ve had quite the time with the logistical side of things.” Nicky replied, rolling in sync with Sally and Tails’ walking towards the exit door.

“You know you can ask for help with all that, right? Especially from me.” Tails told Sally.

“I know that. I’ve already been getting help from Elias and Topaz without me even having to ask.” Sally responded. “But the thing is with you Tails, is that you’re doing that too.”

“Huh?” Tails uttered in surprise.

“You said earlier that you’re gonna file a report to the Mystic Fox Armada, yeah? That already helps me out a ton,” Sally revealed. “So thank you.”

“O-Oh! Of course!” Tails replied, feeling a bit awkward as they now had no idea why Sally’s point had not dawned on them sooner.

It took a few minutes for Amy and Tsunami to come out of the Sky Patrol with Vanilla, but once they did, Sally piped up and stepped out a bit in between the three of them and the other Freedom Fighters, telling everyone to keep their distance.

“We’re looking into getting more, but currently Elias and Agent Topaz have only secured us enough anti-assimilation serums for the Starlight City evacs and Coral and her crew! We can’t risk losing any more of us to those aliens!” She sternly relayed to the others.

“Will Ames be alright, then?” Bunnie asked from within the crowd of Freedom Fighters.

“Yep. As a hybrid, she should be immune to assimilation via exposure.” Tails interjected, answering her question. “Though she could still be made into a full Black Arms by other means - so we still have to look out for her.” They added.

“Of course. I’d make sure she’s safe either way,” Sally testified in earnest.

Watching Amy from afar, Tails saw her approach the sea and quickly be greeted by a man coming up from the water. A shark mobian - according to some conversation between Freedom Fighters that Tails had previously overheard, his name was Razor. The two began to converse - that which Tails could just barely overhear.

“Long time no see, Amy!” Razor cheerfully greeted as he approached the pink hedgehog in question.

“Nice to see ya again, Razor,” Amy responded just as pleasantly. “In order to not get either of us riled up, I’m gonna ignore how much you sounded like Sonic just then,” She added, causing Razor to look a bit annoyed, and causing Tails to laugh.

“Yeah, let’s ignore that, please,” Razor scoffed. Seems like he isn’t a big fan of Sonic. Tails couldn’t help but wonder if it had always been that way, or if Razor had somehow heard of xer more… recent behavior. “So, how many air charms do you guys need?” He then asked, looking up slightly from Amy to look at the rest of the Freedom Fighters.

“Just Vanilla and I for now, but we should come back with more,” Amy answered.

“Wait, ‘for now’? Are any of you guys also going to Meropis?” Tails questioned, looking in Sally’s direction.

“Yeah. Most of us are planning to go check out the city itself. I’m personally hoping to have a meeting with the royals in order to see what they know of that assimilation outbreak that apparently happened back in the 1900s,” Sally rather nonchalantly revealed.

“Really? Why didn’t you bring that up during the meeting earlier?” Tails asked.

“I was going to, but I didn’t really get the chance to since you were so quick to volunteer to stay here,” Sally replied in a bit of a teasing manner. “By the way, do you still wanna do that? I could have you swap out with Rotor if you want - he’s already been to Meropis before, after all,” She added, switching to a more genuine tone.

“Nah, it’s fine. I can stay,” Tails insisted.

“You sure?” 

“Yep. Someone’s gotta keep an eye on the Emerald in there, and with my tech at the ready to defend, I’m the best candidate!” Tails insisted. Besides, they really need to get their parents, as well as the rest of the Mystic Fox Armada, updated on the current situation. Tails had been procrastinating on that front for far too long now.

“Well, if you’re sure, then I won’t stop you,” Sally remarked. “I’ll send you some pics, promise.” 

“I’ll hold you to it, Sal,” Tails teased.

“Now get back onto the Sky Patrol, would ya?” Sally casually instructed. “I heard from Rotor that those ‘Air Charms’ that the Meropis citizens have for us surface dwelling mobians need to be charged - so I wouldn’t want to have Razor and Amy miscount and take too many.”

“Got it!” Tails said as they hurriedly returned to the Sky Patrol.

Despite their hurry to reenter the Sky Patrol, Tails very quickly slowed down once they were back inside and leaned on the nearest window they could find, watching the other Freedom Fighters as they waited for Amy and Razor to return with the rest of the Air Charms. Soon enough, the two did come back, and the Freedom Fighters that were at the beach then were each given an Air Charm, and followed Amy and Razor into the depths of the water. Once all of them had left, Tails left the windowsill, preparing for their own responsibilities ahead of them.

[vomitdodger]

Now do organized crime, cartels, human trafficking, border invasion, censorship of toxic vax and stolen election…the list is endless

We’ve known this for years and years. Multiple congressional hearings. Lizard King just recently testified to the same.

Nothing happens in a corrupted country with big tech fully in on it.

[chaosresturantjandn4eva]

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse—Conquest, War, Famine, and Death—are powerful archetypes drawn from the biblical Book of Revelation. When you map these symbols onto current global and political realities—particularly the U.S., Gaza, and worldwide unrest—a dark, almost prophetic narrative emerges. Here’s how one might interpret the modern landscape through the lens of the Four Horsemen:

⸻

1. Conquest (White Horse): Propaganda and Global Power Plays

The rider on the white horse carries a bow and is given a crown—symbolizing conquest through ideology, influence, or deception more than brute force.

• In modern terms, this can be seen in U.S. foreign policy, which often masks imperial ambition behind terms like “freedom,” “democracy,” or “peacekeeping.”

• Israel’s narrative control over the Gaza conflict, and the West’s support despite mounting civilian casualties, reflects a conquest of perception, where media and diplomacy are weapons.

• Big tech and surveillance capitalism extend this control into daily lives—nations aren’t just conquered with weapons now, but with data.

⸻

2. War (Red Horse): Endless Conflict

The red horse symbolizes bloodshed and conflict—war that disrupts peace and shatters societies.

• Gaza itself is a frontline of unending war. Children born during one bombing grow up only to face another. Civilians are caught in a machine fueled by arms deals, geopolitics, and revenge.

• The U.S. military-industrial complex thrives on this chaos. It sells weapons to both allies and, indirectly, to enemies, keeping the wheel turning.

• Civil unrest in the U.S.—January 6, school shootings, racial tension—is war turned inward.

• Proxy wars in Yemen, Ukraine, and beyond suggest the red rider never sleeps.

⸻

3. Famine (Black Horse): Resource Scarcity and Economic Control

The black horse brings famine, but also injustice in distribution: “A quart of wheat for a denarius… but do not harm the oil and wine.”

• In Gaza, food, water, and medical supplies are blockaded or bombed, turning basic survival into a daily struggle.

• Globally, climate change, disrupted supply chains, and manipulated economies are increasing food insecurity.

• Meanwhile, the wealthy continue to hoard resources—“do not harm the oil and wine”—luxuries untouched while the masses suffer.

• The U.S. sees rising costs, housing crises, and a shrinking middle class—modern forms of famine driven not by drought, but by greed and policy.

⸻

4. Death (Pale Horse): Collapse, Disease, and Decay

The pale horse is the culmination: death, followed by Hades. It represents not just individual death, but civilizational collapse.

• Gaza’s rubble, filled with corpses, testifies to death made mundane.

• The U.S. faces death by opioid epidemic, by gun violence, by mental illness left untreated.

• Death also rides in the form of planetary collapse—rising seas, species extinction, pandemics, and poisoned soil.

• “And Hell followed with him”: when we tolerate or ignore this suffering, we open the door to nihilism and societal rot.

⸻

The End Is Nigh?

This isn’t about literal apocalypse, but about the death of systems:

• Truth is eroding under misinformation.

• Empathy is dying under nationalism.

• Stability is dying under economic and environmental strain.

We’re not just watching war and suffering on the news—we’re participating in a slow-burning, global unraveling. Whether it’s Gaza under bombs or the U.S. tearing at its seams, the horsemen don’t gallop in—they ride slowly, steadily, and they’ve been here for a while.

But with apocalypse also comes revelation. Perhaps the end isn’t total destruction—maybe it’s a demand for awakening. The Four Horsemen don’t just mark doom. They reveal what must change, what cannot continue, and what we must reckon with before rebirth can happen.

⸻

[darkmaga-returns]

In an era where information is power, two corporate giants -- Google and Meta -- act as gatekeepers to the digital world, wielding their unprecedented market dominance not only to shape consumer habits but also to manipulate the very foundation of democracy: our elections.

Let’s be honest: these tech behemoths are not neutral players. They are massive monopolies with clear political agendas, using their unmatched market power to control electoral outcomes.

From Google’s biased search results to Meta’s curated news feeds, evidence is mounting that Big Tech is tipping the scales -- and until we strip them of their unchecked influence, nothing will change.

The idea that Google and Meta possess monopolistic power is hardly controversial. Google controls more than 90% of the global search engine market, while Meta’s empire - spanning Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp -- commands a staggering share of social media traffic.

Together, they create a duopoly that influences what billions of people see, read, and think every day.

However, this dominance is not just a business achievement; it functions as a political weapon. These companies have the tools, the data, and the motive to sway voters, and they aren't hesitant to use them.

Consider Google as an example.

In 2019, psychologist Dr. Robert Epstein testified before Congress that manipulating Google’s search algorithm could have shifted at least 2.6 million votes toward Hillary Clinton in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

This day in history

#15yrsago How Britain’s Pirate Finder General is trying to save the Analog Economy at the Digital Economy’s expense https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2009/nov/26/digital-economy-file-sharing-mandelson

#15yrago Musician’s open letter, sung to Peter Mandelson, Britain’s Pirate-Finder General https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_P4lJD_OPI

#15yrsago Scientist explains why climate scientists talk trash https://rifters.com/crawl/?p=886

#10yrsago The clown-prince of DHS checkpoint refusal videos https://www.youtube.com/user/ttoutpost/featured

#10yrsago Song for Shaker: free the last UK Gitmo prisoner! https://standwithshakeraamer.tumblr.com

#10yrsago Vodafone made millions helping GCHQ spy on the world https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/11/new-snowden-docs-gchqs-ties-to-telco-gave-spies-global-surveillance-reach/

#10yrsago Uberdystopian: the surge-priced nightmare future https://www.vice.com/en/article/one-day-i-will-die-on-mars/

#10yrsago Essential reading: the irreconcilable tension between cybersecurity and national security https://opencanada.org/the-cyber-security-syndrome/

#10yrsago Strong Female Protagonist Book One https://memex.craphound.com/2014/11/26/strong-female-protagonist-book-one/

#5yrsago Four union organizers fired from Google https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/11/firing-of-four-google-employees-is-retaliatory-activists-say/

#5yrsago 1941 film shows striking animators brandishing a working guillotine at the Disney studio gates https://web.archive.org/web/20191126175152/https://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/that-time-animators-brought-a-guillotine-to-the-disney-1839802702

#5yrsago Christian TV pastor Rick Wiles: Impeachment is a “Jew coup” https://web.archive.org/web/20191127005302/https://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2019/11/christian-tv-host-warns-followers-trump-impeachment-is-jew-coup/

#5yrsago In defamation case, Elon Musk will testify that “pedo guy” is a common South African phrase and not an accusation of pedophilia https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-california-dmv-is-making-dollar50m-a-year-selling-drivers-personal-information/

#5yrsago Across America, DMVs make millions selling your license data to private eyes — and randos https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-california-dmv-is-making-dollar50m-a-year-selling-drivers-personal-information/

#5yrsago Bloomberg’s $34m presidential campaign ad-buy is 1.1% of the taxes Bernie, Warren and Steyer want him to pay https://newrepublic.com/article/155844/michael-bloomberg-big-hedge-wealth-tax-2020

#5yrsago How to argue with your racist Facebook uncle this Thanksgiving https://action.dccc.org/pdf/knowyourstuffing-2019_print.pdf

#5yrsago Podcast: The Engagement-Maximization Presidency https://ia803104.us.archive.org/30/items/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_316/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_316_-_The_Engagement-Maximization_Presidency.mp3

[4desertflower]

Dr. Robert Epstein is the foremost expert on how Google’s censorship & manipulation of search results manipulate the outcome of elections.

He just testified before the House Ad Hoc Committee on Oversight, Accountability & Big Tech this interference CHANGED the outcome of our race.

[stele3]

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/world-court-rule-whether-russia-violated-international-treaties-ukraine-2024-01-31/

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Steve Brodner :: What's a Military for, Anywayzz??

* * * *

[THE REPUBLICAN ROAD TO CRAZYTOWN]

Wednesday was one of the wildest days on Capitol Hill, as FBI Director Chris Wray faced a conspiracy-addled House Judiciary Committee in a hearing that really did go “off the rails.”

Can you make sense of this:

Chair Jordan appeared on Fox News’s Hannity after the FBI oversight hearing that went off of the rails, where he said:

“A federal judge disagreed with what Christopher Wray testified to today and he did that decision on July 4th just eight days ago for goodness sake that's exactly what happened with uh with the decision the the uh when it came to the uh the the decision with um uh I drew a blank there so I apologize I got a huge echo in my ear and I can't I can't even hear.

“But but yeah that's exactly what what happened they uh they pre-bunked this story and Facebook specifically asked the FBI is the Hunter Biden story Russia misinformation and the FBI said no comment this is after they had the laptop for an entire year after they've been telling all the big tech companies get ready for a hack and dump operation it's coming and it's going to involve Hunter Biden and then it happens and they get that fundamental question no comment and this is from the foreign influence task force director the lead on that that foreign influence task force that Christopher Wray created.”

Can anyone who isn’t an avid viewer of Faux Snooze or a consumer of other conservative media understand what Jungle Gym was talking about?

Jordan speaks almost entirely now in the language of conspiracy theories; only the “extremely online” members of MAGA can make sense of the word salad that was tossed around.

The hearing, and Jordan’s appearance on Hannity, demonstrate that there is a bigger issue here:

The Republican Party is now running on insanity.

Jordan is pushing the issue of “FBI censorship” to legitimize the Hunter Biden laptop - which was mentioned so many times that Eric Swallwell used his five minutes to wonder if the GOP had another subject. According to witnesses, the Biden laptop has had its data manipulated so that Russian misinformation could be inserted into it. But all the tracks the GOP Crazy Train rolls on lead here, because the lies and falsehoods created and told by MAGA about Hunter Biden is the centerpiece of Trump’s 2024 campaign.

While the MAGA Republicans have spent nearly four years attempting so far unsuccessfully to legitimize The Hunter Biden Laptop and get their fantasies into corporate media, all the non-conservative media that have investigated the laptop have found the tale dubious and not credible.

Jordan and the rest of MAGA know they are running out of time. The 2024 campaign season begins this fall, and Congress always has an even shorter schedule than normally during election years. If Jordan and his co-conspirators can’t make anything stick to Joe Biden before January, their mission to restore Trump to the White House will have failed.

This is why hillbilly moron James Comer (R-Klueless) is now depending on fugitive Chinese spies to provide evidence against President Biden. The fact he does so is proof of their desperation born of their continuing failure to slime the president since taking control of the House this year.

Trump’s lies about having the 2020 election stolen from him has accelerated the slow decline of conservatism within the Republican Party over the past 40 years since the arrival of what became the Gingrich Revolution. Trump’s insanity has now turned the collective crazy of the Republican “kook’ fringe into the GOP’s DNA.

That we have one of our two political parties in such a collective psychosis is a dangerous spot for the nation to be in. The House Republicans know no bill on any topic that they pass will come out of the Democratic-majority Senate, so what they are passing are “messaging” bills to show the MAGA base that they are “fighting the good fight.” To much of the base, the fact that the antics the MAGA House Republicans are engaging in get a negative response from the Democrats is a plus - their representatives are “owning the libs.”

And so many of the far right “stars” have their own political and financial base, which means the GOP leadership in the House holds little to no sway over them. Thus, when Marjorie Traitor Goon’s amendment to strip all funds for support of Ukraine out of the “must-pass” NDAA was tossed by an overwhelming majority against her pro-Putin nuttiness, she blithely announced to Quiverin’ Qevin that this meant she would be unable to vote in favor of the amended NDAA. McCarthy can only afford to lose three more Republicans before he loses his majority to pass that bill (which will never come back from the Senate with any of the Kulturkampf amendments still in it), since Democrats have announced they will not vote in favor of the bill due to the amendment stripping the Pentagon of the ability to grant leave and travel assistance to service members who require abortion services in another state if they are unlucky enough to be stationed in one of the Republican-run states that have now abolished the right to an abortion in that state.

Regarding the NDAA, the Republicans managed to hang 70 far right amendments on the legislation in voting on Thursday, with every “moderate” “Biden district” “moderate” voting in lockstep with the nutballs the “moderates” claim to dislike.

Democrat Jim McGovern had this to say about today’s votes:

“This process has shown us the priorities of the Republican majority. Protecting the reputation of confederate leaders. Banning books because they want to rewrite history. Controlling women's bodies, overturning Roe vs. Wade wasn't enough. They want to ban abortion nationwide. They want to restrict a service members' ability to get travel expenses covered. Attacking LGBTQ+ service members. Cutting off aid to Ukraine in the middle of their fight against Putin. Stifling diversity and equity in the military. And shrugging off climate change which the Department of Defense says poses a direct threat to our national security. You can't make this stuff up, Mr. Speaker...

“The Speaker of the House needs to grow a spine. Not for his own reputation but the good of his country. This is a terrible, terrible process. These amendments are pathetic that have been made in order. They are offensive. It disrespects and diminishes this institution. It is sad to see this small group of extremists calling the shots here, but that is what is happening right now.

“Let me again remind everybody. In this rule, 70 Republican amendments, six bipartisan amendments, and four Democratic amendments. On what planet is that even considered reasonably fit? This is outrageous. A big chunk of the Democratic amendments, you may not agree with them, but we ought to have 10 minutes of debate and vote up or down. They say that this is about getting woke out of the military. They blocked my amendment to help homeless vets get rides to medical appointments. What the hell is woke about that? They blocked it because it was woke. I don't even know what they are thinking.”

Following the votes on amendments Thursday night, the three top House Democrats - Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Minority Whip Katherine Clark and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar - issued a blistering statement outlining their opposition to the revised NDAA bill:

“House Republicans have turned what should be a meaningful investment in our men and women in uniform into an extreme and reckless legislative joyride. The bill undermines a woman’s freedom to seek abortion care, targets the rights of LGBTQ+ servicemembers and bans books that should otherwise be available to military families.”

Adam Smith, top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, and other subcommittee ranking members also released their own lengthy statement criticizing the legislation. These Democrats would normally be vocal supporters of any defense-related bill, but they’re not doing that now.

“The bill we passed out of committee sent a clear message to our allies and partners, global competitors, and the American people that democracy still works, and Congress can still function….

“That bill no longer exists. What was once an example of compromise and functioning government has become an ode to bigotry and ignorance.”

What clearly demonstrates where the Krazies are really at is the report that one of them lobbied a Republican “moderate” to vote for the Jackson anti-abortion amendment on the grounds that it would be stripped from the bill when it came back from the Senate. Performance is everything with these mendacious morons! All they wanted these amendment votes for was to get on Faux with their bullshit, and to con the morons who vote for them in their fundraising. Their cynicism and malicious acts are truly stunning.

The NDAA passed the House by a 219-210 vote Friday morning, but, with all the amendments, it is DOA on arrival in a Democratic-majority Senate.

House Republicans have shown this week what happens when the post-2020 election MAGA GOP is elevated into power.

It doesn't matter whether the politicians are driving the Republican base or the base is driving the behavior of elected Republicans. The result must be defeated and kept away from power. As many times as necessary until the radicalism is beaten out of the party or it ceases to exist in its contemporary form.

[TCinLA ::: Thats Another Fine Mess]

[hellhound5925]

Cyare Verd *Beloved Warrior* Bad Batch Edition

Previous Chapter

Truth and Consequences

Since Kashyyyk things have been....different. A weight has been lifted off my shoulders and I am becoming more at peace with myself. Omega has asked to hear more about Mandalore and my family, to which I have willingly and excitedly provided her with. The rest of the group is still trying to talk me into telling Hunter how I feel. Which those feelings are growing stronger by the day. The little brushes against one another here and more often then not I catch him staring. Omega has even been pushing me to talk to him about it but I don't want to ruin the good thing we have going. Besides, if he felt the same, why can't he talk to me about it?

The rest of the batch is in the ship doing...whatever it is they do, while I am outside throwing vibroblades at a target. I was so lost in thought I didn't hear someone approach. I throw the blade and as I let go, someone clears their throat behind me. The blade hits the durasteel wall of the hangar. There a loud grunt from behind me. Hunter. I race to grab the blade to prevent it from making more noise, "Ni ceta! (sorry!) Don't you remember what happened the last time you snuck up on me?" He laughs nervously, "I didn't think I was being that quiet." "Oh...well I was deep in thought." "I know." I quirk a brow, "You know?" He chuckles, "You always make this face when you are deep in thought." "You pay that close attention, huh?" I tease. He rolls his eyes and smirks before it falters, "I came to tell you we have a mission...we have to meet an old friend on Coruscant." My stomach twists, "Coruscant?" "I understand if you don't want to come with us....I know it's a big ask." "No!...No, If you go, I go" I raise my voice at first not meaning to. "Good, we will need your skill set."

————

"We are approaching Coruscant" Tech says from the pilots seat. Hunter looks a little uneasy, "Everyone, stay ready." Tech takes us in and lands us where this 'old friend' instructed. When we exit the ship, there's another clone waiting with a female with blue skin. "Glad you made it. This is Senator Riyo Chuchi" the clone says to us before turning to the Senator "These are the special clones I told you about." "Hello...You're not a clone" she says to me. I bow my helmeted head, "No I am not, I am Raven Skirata from Mandalore." "I'm Captain Rex" the clone shakes my hand. The Senator has a sad look on her face, "I'm sorry about your home..." I sigh, "Me too." "Well thank you for coming" Captain Rex says and I nod. "Why are we here, Captain?" Hunter asks. Captain Rex looks around, "Inside. There's something I want you to see."

Inside, there is an assassin laying on a table. Which to me is nothing new, when the Captain shows us his face, a clone? "He's an assassin" the Captain explains, "His identifying number's been wiped." Tech looks stunned "I was not aware that was possible." "Who was his target?" Hunter asks. Captain Rex sighs, "A clone contact of mine named Slip. He said he was in danger. I came to Coruscant to get him out, but the assassin got to him first....Nearly got the Senator too." Now I'm more confused, "Why would a clone be targeting another clone or Senator?" Senator Chuchi explains what I'm missing, "To silence us. Admiral Rampart has the entire Senate believing Kamino was lost to a cataclysmic storm." I turn to the Batch "Woah woah woah, wait, I thought you guys said the Empire blew it up?" I ask. "Slip witnessed the truth. I wanted him to testify to Rampart's crimes" the Senator continues. "We were there too, Senator. I can be your witness" Echo speaks up. At this point I'm clenching my fists "No! It's too dangerous. You said it yourself they think you're all dead. If you do that, it will paint a target on your back. I get why you want to help but there's got to be another way." Hunter puts a reassuring hand on my shoulder, "The Senate won't listen to any of us...We're deserters." The Captain nods at me an Hunter, "They're right, there's another way to provide the Senate with the evidence of the Empire's crimes. The command log on Rampart's Venator. Slip made a copy of it on the ship's backup data banks." I relax a little praising Maker we aren't sending anyone to the Senate. I still don't like this idea. However, I trust Hunter and if he trusts the Captain then so do I...but this is still risky. What brings me from my thoughts is a hand sliding it's way into mine. Look down, the hand belongs to Hunter. He gives a reassuring squeeze. I whisper to him, "Can you sense how I'm feeling?" I need to know. He gives me a thoughtful look and nods.

Wrecker's voice draws my attention back to the matter at hand, "Where's the Venator now?" "Being retrofitted at the Imperial shipyard right here on Coruscant. Lots of security. But I know a way in" Captain Rex explains. "Rampart's Defense Recruitment Bill goes to vote tomorrow. We must prove his crimes before it passes. I'll return to the Senate and garner support where I can" the Senator expresses the urgency. The Captain turns to her, "You could still be in danger." "Then I must be on the right track." "I can go with her, They won't be expecting a Mandalorian." I offer. "We need you with us—" Hunter is cut off by Omega. "I'll go and keep an eye out." Senator Chuchi looks worried, "You can't enter the Senate district without an Imperial security clearance." "That will not be a problem" chimes in Tech. Captain Rex nods at him "Than lets get to work."

————

Shortly after Tech does....whatever Tech does, Omega and Senator Chuchi are on their way to the Senate district. I watch them go, "I don't like it" I say in a low voice. "She'll be fine, come on" Hunter gestures me to follow. I slide my buy'ce (Helmet) on and follow the group to the shipyard.

The Venator is right where the Captain said it would be. We head up the latter through the maintenance tunnels to get into the ship. "Wrecker, get to work on the hatch" Hunter commands and Wrecker does as he is told. The rest of us stand guard, "So wait, you can sense how people feel too?" I ask Hunter. He looks around, "uh no, not everyone...it just seems to be you...something about the air around you changes and I can't ignore it even if I try." Suddenly I'm feeling bad, "Oh...Ni ceta (I'm sorry)". He shakes his head "Don't be sorry", I nod.

Wrecker finishes up cutting the hatch, "Got it" he says opening it. He sighs and we all look up, "Great. Ray shields." I nod to Tech - knowing he's likely to have a solution, "Leave it to me" he says typing into his data pad. The ray shields go down and we all climb up the latter one by one. When we reach the top, we are practically under the Venator. "Woah" I say pausing for a second. Echo comes up next to me, "If you think this is impressive you should have seen them during the Clone Wars. Come on." I follow him and the rest of the group through the maze of cat walks, tubes, and all while dodging patrols.

Echo - now at the front of the group - stops and takes cover "There's not enough cover. We won't get across the shipyard undetected." I scan the area and pick up a droid operating a lift. Hunter looks that way as well motion towards the lift "Not on foot." He pauses until the patrol goes by and the lift is on the ground. "Move!" He motions and we all race underneath. Hunter jumps up underneath and reaches a hand out to me, pulling me up behind him. We all cling onto the bottom of the lift. The lift begins to move and Wrecker is making noises that indicate his displeasure. Rex looks around confused, "He's still not better with heights?" I scoff, "I don't think he is ever going to get over it." Meanwhile Wrecker is telling himself not to look down. "This is him better" Echo tells Rex.

I look up and see a pannel, Hunter passes me his vibroblade and I open it. Tech plugs in his data pad and begins to type. "I have bypassed the controls. Hang on." The lift takes a quick violent turn and then shoots straight up. I lose my grip and my balance. Hunter - before I can even think - had grabbed my wrist trying to keep me from falling, "Tech?" I dangle in the air while we wait for the signal. "Now" Tech says and Hunter lets go of me before he and the rest of the group follow. We tumble - not so gracefully - onto the Venator. "That wasn't so bad" I joke and Wrecker huffs in annoyance.

We take off running until we get to the door, Tech breaks into the pannel to let us in. Creeping through the halls, so we don't get spotted, we make it to the bridge. When the doors open and troopers litter the room. Knocking one to the ground unconscious, I race through him to another one grabbing him into a choke hold until he too is unconscious. The rest of the uses their blasters to stun the others. Tech then finds the console and plugs in, the rest of us standing watch. "Well, that is unfortunate" he thinks out loud. "Wanna narrow that down?" Captain Rex asks turning to him. Tech sighs "Energy conduits are off-line. The only way to retrieve the data is to reroute power, which will most likely signal a security breach." "How much time will we have?" Hunter asks. Tech types on his datapad before answering, "Not much." I roll my neck in anticipation. "Then lets make it quick" Echo tells him. They get to work doing whatever it is they do. Suddenly all of the consoles in the room light up and shortly thereafter alarms start blaring, "Well this is going to get interesting" I sigh. Hunter lets out a small chuckle. Captain Rex comes over to Hunter and I, "We're gonna have some company." "Wrecker, seal the door!" Hunter commands. Wrecker does as he's asked. I scan the door with my HUD. "There's a squad of troopers on the other side" I tell no one in particular.

Theres a loud nose that sounds like they are trying to override the controls. Hunter looks around, "The door won't hold much longer." The doors are starting to open some and I draw my blasters. "I am expediting the file transfer as quickly as possible" Tech says from his datapad. Suddenly the doors fly open and blaster fire rains down on us. We dive for cover and return fire. I see one duck down and put his hand to his buy'ce (Helmet). "They're calling for reinforcements!" I yell. "New plan. 14, 5, 86" Hunter barks. Wrecker sighs, "All of them?" "Yes." I sigh in annoyance, "You know, if I'm going to be a functional member of this squad I need to know what those mean!" I yell at Hunter. "Follow my lead. You'll be fine. Echo, man the cannons. Deal with the air support." I notice Tech unplug his datapad, "Data transfer is complete." "Plan 5 set!" Echo tells the group. "Activate" Hunter gives the order and Echo releases the ship from the dock, activating the thrusters. "Wait are we stealing this thing!? You're kidding right!? You guys are insane!" I yell taking out the remaining troopers.

We race down the hall, taking out troopers on the way. Captain Rex speaks up, "Security teams will be swarming this tench. We need an exit strategy." I can almost hear the smirk on Echo's face, "Got one. We're going over them." The Captain looks confused, "Over them?" The Venator shifts suddenly and we all lose our footing for a second. Regaining it, I follow the rest of the group into an escape pod. Captain Rex closes the hatch behind us, "The escape pods are not operational." Tech starts typing on his datapad again "We only need them to eject. I can handle the rest." Rex sighs "This...should be interesting." I laugh "You have no idea." Tech jumps into the pilot seat and ejects all the pods. We crash land on the back end of the Venator, Hunter opens the pod. "Theres no troopers in sight" I say relieved, piling out of the pod. "Not bad" Hunter praises him. Of course Tech being....well Tech replies, "I was off by 6.4 meters. Not my best." Wreckers groans in annoyance and I laugh. Rex looks around concerned, "It's almost morning. We need to hurry." We hurry down the maintenance tunnels we came up through and head back to pass off the data.

————

We relax at the Marauder until Captain Rex, Omega, and Senator Chuchi return. I pace back and forth, buy'ce (Helmet) in one hand. "I hate when she does that" Wrecker says loudly. I stop and give him a nasty look, "I can hear you, you know!" I go back to pacing, "I just want to know we didn't do all that for nothing. Promise me we will never come back to this horrid place." Hunter stands suddenly and I hear foot steps approaching. Captain Rex, Omega, and Senator Chuchi come into view. I stop pacing and we gather around to hear how it went. "Palpatine was one step a head of us during the war, and he's still several steps a head of us. We played right into his hands" the Captain says sadly. "Osik...(Shit) Ni ceta (sorry) Captain" I sigh sadly. "I don't understand. We did the right thing. We told the truth" Omega chimes in. Hunter sighs, "And...he twisted it to his advantage." "The Emperor wanted us to implicate Rampart to get what he was after all along" Rex continues, "Senate approval for his stormtrooper program." Echo looks sad "The fate of all the clones is now sealed, because of us." I feel horrible for them, in the time I've gotten to know this group....I can't imagine what they went through, "What's gonna happen to them?" I ask. "I don't know. But I will keep fighting for the clones. You all deserve the same rights as every citizen. I won't give up." Senator Chuchi reassures the group. I can feel tears forming at the corner of my eyes at I look at Echo. I'm not ready to say goodbye...even for a short time....I am glad he is with his Captain, but I'll miss my friend. He was there for me when I couldn't sleep some nights. We would talk about everything... Skako minor...Mandalore...Hunter's voice pulls me from my thoughts "If you need anything Rex, just say the word." He nods at Senator Chuchi, "Senator." Echo gives me a sad look before addressing Hunter, "Wherever you end up, remember what I said" Hunter says to him. I throw my arms around Echo, "I'm going to miss our late night chats." He let out a light laugh and hugs me back "Do me a favor while I'm gone...." I let him go and a smirk creeps across his face. He leans in to whisper in my ear, "Tell him how you feel. Then I want to hear about it when I get back." I smile and nod. Wrecker pats him on the shoulder "Don't get into trouble without us." Omega is the only one who doesn't know and looks confused, "Without us?" She asks. Tech says his goodbye and we leave Echo to tell her. Curiosity gets the best of Wrecker "What did he make you promise?" I laugh "Wrecker do you really want to know?" He sigh annoyed "Ugh nevermind..... I'm trying to stay out of it." Tech laughs and we enter the Marauder.

Shortly after Omega races back on the ship. I can see the tears streaming down her face. I pat my lap and she jumps up, hugging me tightly. "He'll be back" I say choking back my own tears.

Next Chapter

[mariacallous]

Top officials from Google, Apple, and Meta testified Wednesday before the United States Senate Intelligence Committee about each of their company’s ongoing efforts to identify and disrupt foreign influence campaigns ahead of the country’s November elections.

The hearing, chaired by Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, served largely to impress upon the companies the need for more extensive safeguards against the disinformation campaigns being funded by foreign entities with an eye on influencing US politics.

“This is really our effort to try to urge you guys to do more. To alert the public that this has not gone away,” Warner said.

Warner, a proponent of expanding cooperation between the government and Silicon Valley to root out campaigns by Russia, Iran, and China, among other legally designated rivals, described the recent efforts by Russia as both “effective and cheap.”

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control placed sanctions this month on 10 Russian citizens, several of them employees of the state-funded news outlet RT, formerly Russia Today. US secretary of state Antony Blinken on Friday accused the Russian outlet of working hand-in-hand with the country’s intelligence services, conducting influence and cyber operations meant to covertly spread Kremlin propaganda on more than three continents. And earlier this month, US authorities accused RT employees of bankrolling right-wing influencer network Tenet Media.

Warner noted—almost as an aside—that Elon Musk’s X had refused to send a representative to testify Wednesday. A spokesperson for Warner told WIRED that X’s former chief of global affairs, Nick Pickles, had previously agreed to appear before the committee; however, he resigned from the company roughly two weeks later. X then declined to provide a replacement. (Pickles could not be immediately reached for comment.)

Warner received the companies that did appear amicably, praising the “positive role” they’ve played during the government’s recent actions: Meta’s recent decision, for example, to ban RT and its subsidiary Sputnik from its platforms. Warner also highlighted recent decisions at Google and Microsoft to publicly reveal information about foreign election threats, keeping the public and government better informed.

In addition to the Tenet Media indictment, the Department of Justice revealed this month in an FBI affidavit that it had seized 32 internet domains allegedly tied to the Kremlin and related entities. The websites, with names like fox-news.top, were created to imitate popular media and news brands, including CNN, spreading content favorable to Russia. One fake Fox News story, for instance, declared that Ukraine has “no particular value to the US” and that squaring off with Russia is “too great” a risk.

The operation, dubbed “Doppelganger,” allegedly relied on influencers and paid social media advertisements, as well as fake accounts that mimicked US citizens—in some cases with the help of artificial intelligence. In private documents obtained by the FBI, the operation’s principal director—a little-known Russian political strategist named Ilya Gambashidzer—is alleged to have stated plainly: “They are expecting fake news from us every day.”

Marco Rubio, the committee's Republican vice chair, argued on the behalf of Americans whom, he said, should not be punished for holding views that align with the Kremlin’s. “The question becomes, is that disinformation or is that misinformation, is that an influence operation, because that preexisting view is being amplified?” Decisions by companies to remove the amplified information is "problematic and complicated," he said, adding that he believes it risks "stigmatiz[ing]” Americans holding those views.

Andy Carvin, the managing editor and research director of the Digital Forensic Research Lab, tells WIRED that his organization, which conducts a vast amount of research into disinformation and other online harms, has been tracking Doppelganger for more than two years. The scope of the operation should surprise few, he says, given the fake news sites follow an obvious template and that populating them with AI-generated text is simple.

“Russian operations like Doppelganger are like throwing spaghetti at a wall,” he says. “They toss out as much as they can and see what sticks.”

Meta, in a written statement on Tuesday, said it had banned RT’s parent company, Rossiya Segodnya, and “other related entities” globally across Instagram, Facebook, and Threads for engaging in what it called “foreign interference activity.” (“Meta is discrediting itself,” the Kremlin replied Tuesday, claiming the ban has endangered the company’s “prospects” for “normalizing” relations with Russia.)

Testifying on Wednesday, Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs, stressed the industry-wide nature of the problem facing voters online. “People trying to interfere with elections rarely target a single platform,” he said, adding that Meta is, nevertheless, “confident” in its ability to protect the integrity of “not only this year’s elections in the United States but elections everywhere.”

Warner appeared less than fully convinced, noting the use of paid advertisements in recent malign influence campaigns. “I would have thought,” he said, “eight years later, we would be better at at least screening the advertisers.”

He added that, seven months ago, over two dozen tech companies had signed the AI Elections Accord in Munich—an agreement to invest in research and the development of countermeasures against harmful AI. While some of the firms have been responsive, he said, others have ignored repeated inquiries by US lawmakers, many eager to hear how those investments played out.

While talking up Google’s efforts to “identify problematic accounts, particularly around election ads,” Alphabet’s chief legal officer, Kent Walker, was halted mid-sentence. Citing conversations with the Treasury Department, Warner interrupted to say that he’d confirmed as recently as February that both Google and Meta have “repeatedly allowed Russian influence actors, including sanctioned entities, to use your ad tools.”

The senator from Virginia stressed that Congress needed to know specifically “how much content” relevant bad actors had paid to promote to US audiences this year. “And we’re going to need that [information] extraordinarily fast,” he added, referring as well to details of how many Americans specifically had seen the content. Walker replied to say that Google had taken down “something like 11,000 efforts by Russian-associated entities to post content on YouTube and the like.”

Warner additionally urged the officials against viewing Election Day as if it were an end zone. Of equal and great importance is the integrity of the news that reaches voters, he stressed, in the days and weeks that follow.