#Automate Web Accessibility

[automaticresponse]

SELLING STOLEN AVATARS AND OR USING FABRICATED ACCESS CREDENTIALS TO CLAIM TO BE SOMEONE'S OLDER RELATIVE AND ORDER USING MILITARY AND OR ROYAL ACCESS PRIVILEGES THAT THEY BE GIVEN ESSENTIALLY NO TECHNOLOGY ACCESS OF ANY TYPE BEGINNING AT BIRTH - BORN IN THE MATRIX LIKE BRADLEY CARL GEIGER

[public-cloud-computing]

Dive into the world where human intuition seamlessly integrates with AI brilliance in web development. Elevate your online presence with the perfect fusion of creativity and technology.

[jcmarchi]

10 Best Text to Speech Plugins for WordPress (November 2024)

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/10-best-text-to-speech-plugins-for-wordpress-november-2024/

10 Best Text to Speech Plugins for WordPress (November 2024)

Making your WordPress website accessible to all users is a necessity. Text-to-speech (TTS) functionality is a crucial feature, serving not only visitors with visual impairments but also those who prefer consuming content through audio. As mobile devices continue to dominate web traffic and multitasking becomes the norm, incorporating high-quality text-to-speech capabilities can significantly enhance user engagement and expand your content’s reach.

This guide explores the top text-to-speech plugins for WordPress, carefully selected based on their performance, feature sets, and user experience. Whether you’re running a news site, educational platform, or corporate blog, these tools will help you transform your written content into clear, natural-sounding speech, making your website more accessible and user-friendly for everyone.

At Unite AI, we don’t just write about AI-powered tools – we also use them. GSpeech is our go-to text-to-speech solution across all our articles, and for good reason. This sophisticated platform uses advanced AI and ML to transform written content into natural-sounding speech, setting a new standard for audio content delivery on WordPress sites.

What sets GSpeech apart is its exceptional multilingual capabilities. It supports over 230 voices across 76 languages, meaning it can serve diverse global readership with authentic, localized audio experiences. The platform’s AI-driven speech synthesis produces natural intonation and rhythm. Its real-time translation feature, which can convert audio content into 67 different languages on the fly, is particularly valuable for maintaining international reach.

The platform’s flexibility extends to its implementation options, offering multiple player types that can be seamlessly integrated into any WordPress design. Whether you prefer a full-page player for immersive experiences or a subtle button player for minimalist layouts, GSpeech adapts to your specific needs while maintaining consistent audio quality and performance.

Key Features:

Advanced AI-powered voice synthesis with natural intonation and rhythm

Comprehensive language support with 230+ voices across 76 languages

Customizable voice tuning with adjustable pitch and speaking rates

Real-time translation capabilities for 67 languages

Multiple player options including Full Page, Button, Circle, and Read Highlighted Text players

Visit GSpeech →

Play.ht boasts one of the most extensive voice libraries in the market with over 800 AI-generated voices spanning 142 languages. This impressive range of voices, complete with various accents and speech styles, makes it an ideal choice for publishers seeking to create authentic, localized audio experiences for their global audience.

What sets Play.ht apart is its sophisticated approach to pronunciation accuracy. The platform includes a dedicated pronunciation editor that allows content creators to fine-tune how specific terms, technical jargon, and proper names are articulated. This level of control is particularly valuable for specialized content domains where precise pronunciation is crucial for credibility and comprehension. The system’s ability to learn and remember these customizations ensures consistency across all your audio content.

The platform’s commitment to user engagement is evident in its flexible player implementation options. Whether you prefer an embedded player within your posts, a discrete listen button, or a floating player that follows readers as they scroll, Play.ht provides the tools to create an audio experience that complements your website’s design philosophy. Combined with its comprehensive analytics dashboard, which tracks metrics like listens, downloads, and shares, Play.ht enables publishers to make data-driven decisions about their audio content strategy.

Key Features:

Industry-leading library of 800+ AI voices across 142 languages

Advanced pronunciation editor for precise articulation control

Multiple audio player styles with customizable positioning

Comprehensive analytics and engagement tracking

Integrated podcast feed generation and distribution

Visit Play.ht →

BeyondWords stands out by offering a WordPress plugin that transforms your content into audio format the moment you hit publish. This enterprise-grade solution has helped digital publishers approach audio content creation, making it possible to maintain a consistent audio presence without additional production overhead.

The platform’s impressive library of over 550 AI voices across 140 language locales showcases its commitment to quality and diversity. By leveraging neural voices from industry leaders like Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services, and Microsoft Azure, BeyondWords ensures professional-grade audio output that maintains consistency across your entire content library. What’s particularly noteworthy is its sophisticated natural language processing capabilities, which handle complex elements like proper names, numbers, and dates with remarkable accuracy – a crucial feature for news and technical content.

Key Features:

Automated audio generation for new posts and pages

Access to 550+ AI voices from leading providers

Advanced NLP for accurate pronunciation handling

Built-in podcast distribution system

Comprehensive analytics and monetization tools

Visit BeyondWords →

Trinity Audio takes a streamlined approach to WordPress text-to-speech implementation, focusing on delivering a frictionless experience for both site administrators and end users. What distinguishes this plugin is its emphasis on user experience through features like the innovative Floating Action Button (FAB), which allows listeners to control audio playback while naturally scrolling through content.

The platform’s strength lies in its granular configuration options at the post level. While Trinity Audio offers site-wide automation capabilities, it also provides content creators with the flexibility to customize audio settings for individual posts. This includes the ability to skip specific HTML tags and control how shortcodes are handled during audio conversion, ensuring that the audio output maintains the intended context and flow of your content.

Implementation is straightforward, with Trinity Audio striking an ideal balance between automated functionality and manual control. The plugin’s intuitive settings interface allows publishers to quickly configure default voice preferences and player themes while retaining the ability to override these settings on a per-post basis. This flexibility makes it particularly valuable for sites that publish diverse content types requiring different audio presentation styles.

Key Features:

Intuitive Floating Action Button for seamless user control

Post-level customization of audio settings

Selective HTML tag and shortcode handling

Multiple player themes and positioning options

Automated content conversion with manual override capabilities

Visit Trinity Audio →

This TTS WordPress plugin from AtlasAiDev takes a fundamentally different approach to text-to-speech functionality by leveraging your browser’s native speech synthesis API, making it one of the most lightweight and universally compatible options available for WordPress. While other plugins might rely on external services or API calls, Text To Speech TTS Accessibility’s browser-based approach ensures consistent performance across devices while eliminating potential service disruptions or API limitations.

What makes this plugin particularly valuable for comprehensive WordPress installations is its native support for custom post types. This means you can maintain audio consistency across your entire website, regardless of content structure – whether it’s standard blog posts, custom product pages, or specialized content types unique to your site. This universal compatibility makes it an excellent choice for complex WordPress implementations that go beyond traditional blogging.

The plugin’s straightforward implementation doesn’t come at the cost of customization options. Site administrators can fine-tune the audio player’s appearance and behavior to match their website’s design language, while still maintaining the simplicity that makes it accessible to users of all technical levels. With support for 51 languages, it provides robust multilingual capabilities without the complexity often associated with more elaborate text-to-speech solutions.

Key Features:

Browser-based speech synthesis for universal compatibility

Native support for all custom post types

Extensive customization options for player appearance

Support for 51 languages

Simple shortcode integration for targeted implementation

Visit TTS Accessibilty →

Narrator stands out in the WordPress text-to-speech landscape through its intelligent approach to audio synthesis and resource management. Unlike plugins that regenerate audio content with every page load or update, SiteNarrator employs a sophisticated selective synthesis system that only processes new or modified content, significantly reducing server load and processing time.

The platform leverages premium voice technologies from industry leaders Google Wavenet and Amazon Polly, ensuring professional-grade audio quality while maintaining efficient resource utilization. What sets it apart is its innovative approach to content updates – when an article is modified, the system intelligently identifies and reprocesses only the changed paragraphs, preserving existing audio for unmodified sections. This granular approach to content management makes it particularly appealing for high-traffic sites where resource optimization is crucial.

For publishers focused on ROI and engagement metrics, SiteNarrator provides comprehensive analytics through its customer dashboard. The platform offers detailed insights into daily usage patterns and associated costs, allowing site administrators to make data-driven decisions about their audio content strategy. This transparent approach to usage tracking and cost management helps organizations maintain control over their text-to-speech implementation while maximizing value.

Key Features:

Selective synthesis technology for optimal resource usage

Premium voices from Google Wavenet and Amazon Polly

Intelligent partial content reprocessing

Comprehensive usage analytics and cost tracking

User-friendly expandable audio player interface

Visit SiteNarrator →

For WordPress site owners seeking a straightforward yet powerful text-to-speech solution, ResponsiveVoice offers a simple approach through its intuitive shortcode system. While other plugins might focus on automation and complex features, ResponsiveVoice’s strength lies in its flexibility and ease of implementation, making it an excellent choice for developers and content creators who want granular control over their audio content.

The platform’s commitment to accessibility compliance sets it apart, with full alignment to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 standards. With support for 51 languages through 168 voices, ResponsiveVoice provides comprehensive coverage for international audiences while maintaining a focus on quality and natural speech patterns. The plugin’s architectural approach allows for remarkably specific customization – content creators can control not just which content is read aloud, but also fine-tune parameters like pitch, volume, and reading rate for each instance of audio content.

What makes ResponsiveVoice particularly valuable is its selective text reading capability. Unlike plugins that typically convert entire articles, ResponsiveVoice allows you to designate specific sections of content for audio conversion using simple shortcode tags. This granular control makes it ideal for highlighting key passages, creating interactive educational content, or emphasizing important announcements within longer articles.

Key Features:

Simple shortcode implementation for quick integration

WCAG 2.0 compliant accessibility features

Support for 168 voices across 51 languages

Granular control over voice parameters and text selection

Flexible button placement and customization options

Visit ResponsiveVoice →

_*]:min-w-0″ readability=”89.748945477269″>

WebsiteVoice places a strong emphasis on content distribution and user control. Through its innovative Universal Voice Technology (UVT), the plugin offers listeners unprecedented control over their audio experience, with the ability to adjust reading speeds from 80% to 170% of normal pace – a feature particularly valuable for educational content or technical documentation.

The platform’s approach to content accessibility extends beyond mere listening options. By incorporating MP3 download functionality, WebsiteVoice enables users to consume content offline, making it particularly valuable for audiences with limited internet connectivity or those who prefer to build personal audio libraries. This offline accessibility is complemented by integrated social sharing features that allow listeners to easily distribute audio content across various social media platforms, effectively turning your written content into shareable audio experiences.

Supporting 38 languages, WebsiteVoice delivers a robust multilingual solution while maintaining focus on audio quality and user experience. The plugin’s customizable audio player can be tailored to match your website’s aesthetic, with adjustable colors, styles, and sizes ensuring seamless integration with your existing design.

Key Features:

UVT Technology for precise speed control (80-170%)

MP3 download capability for offline listening

Integrated social media sharing tools

Support for 38 languages with high-quality voices

Fully customizable player appearance

Visit WebsiteVoice →

Real Voice emerges as an enterprise-grade solution in the WordPress text-to-speech landscape, distinguishing itself through its unique multi-service architecture that supports integration with multiple text-to-speech engines. This flexibility allows organizations to leverage their existing partnerships with providers like Google Text-to-Speech AI, Azure Text-to-Speech, and in the Pro version, Amazon Polly and ElevenLabs, making it an ideal choice for businesses with specific voice quality or vendor requirements.

What sets Real Voice apart technically is its support for Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML), providing developers and content creators with granular control over speech output. This advanced capability allows for precise tuning of pronunciation, emphasis, and pacing, ensuring that even complex content is delivered with appropriate nuance and clarity. The plugin’s sophisticated monitoring system adds another layer of enterprise functionality, with a dedicated “Audio File” column in the posts menu that tracks the synchronization status between written and audio content.

The platform’s approach to content management combines automation with manual control, offering both automatic audio generation and a dedicated post sidebar for manual audio management. This hybrid approach, coupled with comprehensive analytics in the Pro version, provides organizations with the tools they need to maintain quality control while scaling their audio content production. The customizable HTML audio player can be positioned precisely using shortcodes, offering flexibility in how audio content is presented across different page layouts and content types.

Key Features:

Multi-service integration with major TTS providers

Advanced SSML support for precise speech control

Comprehensive audio file status monitoring

Hybrid automatic/manual audio generation

Enterprise-grade analytics and tracking capabilities

Visit Real Voice →

For WordPress site owners seeking a lightweight, targeted approach to text-to-speech functionality, Say It! offers a simple solution that leverages HTML5 Speech Synthesis technology. Unlike more complex plugins that convert entire articles automatically, Say It! empowers content creators to precisely control which sections of their content receive audio treatment through intuitive shortcode implementation.

The plugin’s use of native HTML5 Speech Synthesis represents a significant advantage in terms of performance and reliability. By eliminating dependency on external services for basic functionality, Say It! ensures consistent performance while minimizing potential points of failure. However, the plugin doesn’t sacrifice flexibility – for those requiring premium voice quality, it maintains compatibility with industry-leading services like Google Cloud Text-to-Speech and Amazon Polly.

What makes Say It! particularly valuable is its minimalist yet effective approach to content enhancement. Content creators can easily designate specific sections for audio conversion while maintaining granular control over speech parameters such as language, speed, and presentation mode. This selective approach not only optimizes resource usage but also allows for strategic implementation of audio features where they add the most value to the user experience.

Key Features:

Selective content conversion via simple shortcodes

Native HTML5 Speech Synthesis implementation

Optional integration with premium voice services

Customizable speech parameters

Resource-efficient targeted audio conversion

Visit Say It! →

Why Use a Text-to-Speech WordPress Plugin?

The integration of text-to-speech functionality on WordPress sites has evolved from a luxury feature to a crucial component of modern web presence. Here’s why implementing a TTS plugin should be your next priority:

Enhanced Accessibility

Makes content available to visually impaired users

Supports users with reading difficulties

Complies with web accessibility guidelines

Creates a more inclusive user experience

Expanded Content Reach

Caters to busy professionals who prefer listening while multitasking

Reaches audiences who consume content during commutes

Supports different learning styles

Enables content consumption in hands-free scenarios

Business Benefits

Increases user engagement and time on site

Reduces bounce rates through enhanced user experience

Creates new monetization opportunities through audio ads

Improves SEO through better engagement metrics

Future-proofs content for voice-first devices

With numerous options available – from lightweight solutions like Say It! to comprehensive platforms like GSpeech – there’s a text-to-speech plugin to match every WordPress site’s needs. By embracing this technology, you’re not just enhancing your website’s functionality; you’re investing in the future of content consumption and user engagement.

[ganesh85465]

WP Engine is a well-known managed WordPress hosting provider.

It offers a range of features and services tailored specifically for WordPress websites, making it a popular choice among businesses, bloggers, and developers who seek reliable, high-performance hosting solutions.

[automationqa]

Empower your digital presence with the top 6 tools for effective web accessibility testing! Ensuring an inclusive online experience for all.

[codeonedigest]

Amazon Relation Database Service RDS Explained for Cloud Developers

Full Video Link - https://youtube.com/shorts/zBv6Tcw6zrU Hi, a new #video #tutorial on #amazonrds #aws #rds #relationaldatabaseservice is published on #codeonedigest #youtube channel. @java @awscloud @AWSCloudIndia @YouTube #youtube @codeonedig

Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) is a collection of managed services that makes it simple to set up, operate, and scale relational databases in the cloud. You can choose from seven popular engines i.e., Amazon Aurora with MySQL & PostgreSQL compatibility, MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, Oracle, and SQL Server. It provides cost-efficient, resizable capacity for an industry-standard…

[not-terezi-pyrope]

Worst part of popular left wing AI discourse online is that there's absolutely a need for a robust leftist opposition to use of cognitive automation without social dispensation to displaced human workers. The lack of any prior measures to facilitate a transition to having fewer humans in the workplace (UBI, more public control over industrial infrastructure, etc) is a disaster we are sleepwalking into - one that could lock the majority of our society's wealth further into the hands of authoritarian oligarchs who retain control of industry through last century private ownership models, while no longer needing to rely on us to operate their property.

But now we're seemingly not going to have the opposition we so desperately need, because everyone involved in the anti-AI conversation has pretty thoroughly discredited themselves and their movement by harbouring unconstrained reactionary nonsense, blatant falsehoods and woo. Instead of talking about who owns and benefits from cognitive automation, people are:

Demanding impossibilities like uninventing a now readily accessible technology

Trying to ascribe implicit moral value to said technology instead of the who is using it and how

Siding with corporations on copyright law in the name of "defending small artists"

Repeating obvious and embarrassing technical misconceptions and erroneous pop-sci about machine learning in order to justify their preferred philosophy

Invoking neo-spiritual conservative woo about the specialness of the human soul to try to incoherently discredit a machine that can quite obviously perform certain tasks just as well if not better than they can

Misrepresent numbers about energy use and environmental cost in an absurd double standard (all modern infrastructure is reliant on data centers to a similar level of impact, including your favourite fandom social media and online video games!) to build a narrative AI is some sort of malevolent spirit that damages our reality when it is called upon

It's a level of reactionary ignorance that has completely discredited any popular opposition to industrial AI rollout because it falls apart as soon as you dig deeper than a snappy social media post, or a misguided pro-copyright screed from an insecure web artist (who decries a machine laying eyes on their freely posted work while simultaneously charging commission for fan-art of corporate IPs... I'm sure that will absolutely resolve in their favour).

It would be funny how much people are fucking themselves over with all this, except I'm being fucked over to, and as a result am really quite mad about the situation. We need UBI, we need to liberate abundance from corporate greed, what we don't need is viral posts about putting distortion filters on anime fan-art to ward off the evil mechanical eye, pointless boycotts of platforms because they are perceived to have let the evil machines taint them, or petitions to further criminalize the creation of derivative works.

[prokopetz]

Hi, Mr Prokopetz, I'm a big fan. Apologies if you've answered this before, but I was wondering what software you use to create the pdf and epub layouts of your ttrpgs, and whether you'd recommend it to a hobbyist who wants to try putting together something more professional than a gdoc for their own ttrpg?

My workflow is unfortunately not terribly accessible unless you have a fair amount of technical know-how.

In brief, I write all of my games in Notepad++ as HTML documents, taking care to use only the subset of HTML5 tags which are supported by most popular EPUB readers. I then use Calibre (or, more, precisely, the command-line utility that comes with Calibre, though you can get mostly the same results via the GUI) to bundle the HTML document as an EPUB3 file. I typically distribute both the HTML and EPUB versions (the former in a zipfile with all of the fonts and images and such) because web browsers tend to have much better screen-reader support than EPUB apps do.

The PDF, meanwhile, is generated from the same master HTML document using CSS paged media extensions – the layout is all generated automatically based on rules specified in a big, gnarly CSS file, and is never touched by human hands. There are a number of software packages which can do this sort of CSS-driven HTML-to-PDF conversion, some of them free or open source; I use a commercial product called Prince because, to the best of my knowledge, it's the only such software which has out-of-the-box support for PDF/UA semantic tagging (i.e., the stuff you need to do in order to make your PDFs screen-reader friendly), but you have more options if you're willing to tag your PDFs manually. (I am not.)

As for whether I'd recommend doing it this way? Like I said, unless you're a proper gearhead, not really; it's super efficient once you get it all set up – the only version of the game I actually maintain is the master HTML document, and generating updated versions of all the other formats is a one-click affair – but it's really only feasible for me because I already knew how to all that workflow automation stuff for unrelated reasons. I can't imagine teaching yourself all that from scratch just to write elfgames!

[the-timewatcher]

A disgruntled Tumblrina (gender-neutral) made a website and why you should too.

Or "reject social media, return to personal websites".

PART 1: THE PART WHERE I CONVINCE YOU TO MOVE TO PERSONAL WEBSITES

So, the Web 2.0 social media infested landscape seems to be crumbling before our very eyes. Reddit's leadership is increasingly greedy, Twitter is sinking under the weight of Elon's massive, yet increasingly fragile ego, Tumblr is slowly turning into another lifeless corpo-fest, complete with the layout, Instagram continues to be vapid and soulless and Facebook seems to be going the way of MySpace.

(feel free to check the alt text on these, btw)

In these troubling times, where everything looks the same and you're expected to be milked for every dollar you're worth, what is a disgruntled Internet surfer such as yourself to do? Move to an untested alternative that's bound to get overrun by fascists thanks to poor moderation? Stay the course on the sinking ships you're used to?

Well, what if I told you that we've solved this problem way back in the 90's and early 2000's and were merely duped by the Big Zuck into forgetting our legacy? What if there was a cure for the sanitized, dull social media hellscape?

It takes a bit of work, when compared to just using a social media site, but even if your particular use case makes switching difficult (ex. an artist looking to promote their work), it's still a good secondary option to consider.

The core appeal is the ability to customize and individualize, make a corner of cyberspace unabashedly yours,

It can also be an exciting avenue of creative expression, giving whatever you want to say a unique coat of paint,

Most website hosting services are a bit more lax about what you can do on them, due to changes in the profit structure (rather than depending on advertisers and investors, they either have a premium option to give supporters perks, have another product, or, in the case of paid services, you renting that space IS the product),

If you want your website to be more accomodating and accessible, you don't have to file tons of feedback - do it yourself,

If you'd like to connect with other webmasters and promote each other's websites, we have webrings - sets of circular links that connect websites with something in common, be it a topic, aesthetic or friend group,

You're less likely to have your stuff purged by an ill-advised change in policy (especially if you have a backup of your files somewhere),

The more people do it, the less power those massive social media corpos have over the internet,

It can be a load of fun!

If I have you convinced, keep reading into part 2. If you just wanna see what I did, skip to part 3. If neither, feel free to continue scrolling. I won't hold it against you. You'll be missing out, that's all.

PART 2: SO, YOU WANNA MAKE A WEBSITE!

Good choice, here's some resources!

sadgrl's absolute beginner's guide to Neocities - what it says on the tin!

W3Schools - a more in-depth tutorial site, a learning resource so excellent it substituted for what I was supposed to learn in technical highschool (because our teacher just told us to go on W3Schools instead of teaching us shit)

A list of free layouts for your website - whether to use as a base to learn from or to simply take for yourself,

Neocities - the posterchild for free website hosting for personal websites. Doesn't allow video or audio, but you can get around that by linking those files from elsewhere. Beginner-friendly to a fault - once you have an account just drag and drop your files in,

Gitlab (& Gitlab Pages) - a more advanced option, but it has a few advantages of its own. Gitlab is a website hoster second and a version control service first - which is programmer speak for "keeps track of changes in your code and stores a backup of it online". it helps a lot when working on multiple devices or co-writing with a friend. And secondly, you can use Gitlab Actions to automate putting your website up (even on Neocities, like I do!)

My askbox - I am not joking, if you have any questions about any of this, I'd love nothing more than to help you out!

But with most of my indie web propaganda out of the way, it's time.

PART 3: Welcome to Timewatcher OS.

Of course, because I couldn't be normal when it comes to making a website, I had to turn it into a fake operating system. Each subpage is an "app", opened in a separate embed window. It has unlockable wallpapers (no pay2win, prommy). There's bideo games on it! I even made a music player for it so I can share my incongruent music tastes!

Like I said in my Tumblr bio, if I ever go radio silent for more than a month, it means I've gotten fed up with this hellsite and moved to my own homepage permamently. And I highly advise you make an option like this for yourself too! Lastly, if any of y'all would like to start a webring, do let me know in the askbox - I'm down to manage it if I'm not alone in there.

Anyways, I hope I convinced you to make a website, or at least check out some of the cool sites you've been missing out on! Hope to see you on the Old Web!

[unwelcome-ozian]

Weaponizing violence. With alarming regularity, the nation continues to be subjected to spates of violence that terrorizes the public, destabilizes the country’s ecosystem, and gives the government greater justifications to crack down, lock down, and institute even more authoritarian policies for the so-called sake of national security without many objections from the citizenry.

Weaponizing surveillance, pre-crime and pre-thought campaigns. Surveillance, digital stalking and the data mining of the American people add up to a society in which there’s little room for indiscretions, imperfections, or acts of independence. When the government sees all and knows all and has an abundance of laws to render even the most seemingly upstanding citizen a criminal and lawbreaker, then the old adage that you’ve got nothing to worry about if you’ve got nothing to hide no longer applies. Add pre-crime programs into the mix with government agencies and corporations working in tandem to determine who is a potential danger and spin a sticky spider-web of threat assessments, behavioral sensing warnings, flagged “words,” and “suspicious” activity reports using automated eyes and ears, social media, behavior sensing software, and citizen spies, and you having the makings for a perfect dystopian nightmare. The government’s war on crime has now veered into the realm of social media and technological entrapment, with government agents adopting fake social media identities and AI-created profile pictures in order to surveil, target and capture potential suspects.

Weaponizing digital currencies, social media scores and censorship. Tech giants, working with the government, have been meting out their own version of social justice by way of digital tyranny and corporate censorship, muzzling whomever they want, whenever they want, on whatever pretext they want in the absence of any real due process, review or appeal. Unfortunately, digital censorship is just the beginning. Digital currencies (which can be used as “a tool for government surveillance of citizens and control over their financial transactions”), combined with social media scores and surveillance capitalism create a litmus test to determine who is worthy enough to be part of society and punish individuals for moral lapses and social transgressions (and reward them for adhering to government-sanctioned behavior). In China, millions of individuals and businesses, blacklisted as “unworthy” based on social media credit scores that grade them based on whether they are “good” citizens, have been banned from accessing financial markets, buying real estate or travelling by air or train.

Weaponizing compliance. Even the most well-intentioned government law or program can be—and has been—perverted, corrupted and used to advance illegitimate purposes once profit and power are added to the equation. The war on terror, the war on drugs, the war on COVID-19, the war on illegal immigration, asset forfeiture schemes, road safety schemes, school safety schemes, eminent domain: all of these programs started out as legitimate responses to pressing concerns and have since become weapons of compliance and control in the police state’s hands.

Weaponizing entertainment. For the past century, the Department of Defense’s Entertainment Media Office has provided Hollywood with equipment, personnel and technical expertise at taxpayer expense. In exchange, the military industrial complex has gotten a starring role in such blockbusters as Top Gun and its rebooted sequel Top Gun: Maverick, which translates to free advertising for the war hawks, recruitment of foot soldiers for the military empire, patriotic fervor by the taxpayers who have to foot the bill for the nation’s endless wars, and Hollywood visionaries working to churn out dystopian thrillers that make the war machine appear relevant, heroic and necessary. As Elmer Davis, a CBS broadcaster who was appointed the head of the Office of War Information, observed, “The easiest way to inject a propaganda idea into most people’s minds is to let it go through the medium of an entertainment picture when they do not realize that they are being propagandized.”

Weaponizing behavioral science and nudging. Apart from the overt dangers posed by a government that feels justified and empowered to spy on its people and use its ever-expanding arsenal of weapons and technology to monitor and control them, there’s also the covert dangers associated with a government empowered to use these same technologies to influence behaviors en masse and control the populace. In fact, it was President Obama who issued an executive order directing federal agencies to use “behavioral science” methods to minimize bureaucracy and influence the way people respond to government programs. It’s a short hop, skip and a jump from a behavioral program that tries to influence how people respond to paperwork to a government program that tries to shape the public’s views about other, more consequential matters. Thus, increasingly, governments around the world—including in the United States—are relying on “nudge units” to steer citizens in the direction the powers-that-be want them to go, while preserving the appearance of free will.

Weaponizing desensitization campaigns aimed at lulling us into a false sense of security. The events of recent years—the invasive surveillance, the extremism reports, the civil unrest, the protests, the shootings, the bombings, the military exercises and active shooter drills, the lockdowns, the color-coded alerts and threat assessments, the fusion centers, the transformation of local police into extensions of the military, the distribution of military equipment and weapons to local police forces, the government databases containing the names of dissidents and potential troublemakers—have conspired to acclimate the populace to accept a police state willingly, even gratefully.

Weaponizing fear and paranoia. The language of fear is spoken effectively by politicians on both sides of the aisle, shouted by media pundits from their cable TV pulpits, marketed by corporations, and codified into bureaucratic laws that do little to make our lives safer or more secure. Fear, as history shows, is the method most often used by politicians to increase the power of government and control a populace, dividing the people into factions, and persuading them to see each other as the enemy. This Machiavellian scheme has so ensnared the nation that few Americans even realize they are being manipulated into adopting an “us” against “them” mindset. Instead, fueled with fear and loathing for phantom opponents, they agree to pour millions of dollars and resources into political elections, militarized police, spy technology and endless wars, hoping for a guarantee of safety that never comes. All the while, those in power—bought and paid for by lobbyists and corporations—move their costly agendas forward, and “we the suckers” get saddled with the tax bills and subjected to pat downs, police raids and round-the-clock surveillance.

Weaponizing genetics. Not only does fear grease the wheels of the transition to fascism by cultivating fearful, controlled, pacified, cowed citizens, but it also embeds itself in our very DNA so that we pass on our fear and compliance to our offspring. It’s called epigenetic inheritance, the transmission through DNA of traumatic experiences. For example, neuroscientists observed that fear can travel through generations of mice DNA. As The Washington Post reports, “Studies on humans suggest that children and grandchildren may have felt the epigenetic impact of such traumatic events such as famine, the Holocaust and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.”

Weaponizing the future. With greater frequency, the government has been issuing warnings about the dire need to prepare for the dystopian future that awaits us. For instance, the Pentagon training video, “Megacities: Urban Future, the Emerging Complexity,” predicts that by 2030 (coincidentally, the same year that society begins to achieve singularity with the metaverse) the military would be called on to use armed forces to solve future domestic political and social problems. What they’re really talking about is martial law, packaged as a well-meaning and overriding concern for the nation’s security. The chilling five-minute training video paints an ominous picture of the future bedeviled by “criminal networks,” “substandard infrastructure,” “religious and ethnic tensions,” “impoverishment, slums,” “open landfills, over-burdened sewers,” a “growing mass of unemployed,” and an urban landscape in which the prosperous economic elite must be protected from the impoverishment of the have nots. “We the people” are the have-nots.

The end goal of these mind control campaigns—packaged in the guise of the greater good—is to see how far the American people will allow the government to go in re-shaping the country in the image of a totalitarian police state.

[dying-signals]

Nekoweb: An alternate static site host that may fit you!

On the topic of digital mutual support, did you know that nekoweb, is a static web hosting platform similar to Neocities, however offers a considerable number of features and pros, some of the most important in my opinion are access to file types and coding options that make automation and customization broader than ever, a cheaper membership plan that supports an active development and moderation team, and the ability to allow multiple users to edit a site!  This last feature let me help @goobergrove get their original site set up! Web development and making websites does not have to be a solo venture, you can help your friends! While Neocities is quite popular due to the oldweb revival scene, and the lasting legacy of the now defunct Yesterweb, nekoweb may be a fantastic platform for people looking to leave Tumblr and such but not necessarily abandon the web entirely. I'll keep posting resources, but this is a place to start. Read the full article

[wolveria]

The Raven's Hymn - Ch 45

Pairing: SCP-049 x Reader

Series Warnings: Eventual smut, dubcon, slow burn, violence, horror, death, monsters, human experiments, dark with a happy ending

Chapter Summary: "Site-19? What does that have to do with this?"

AO3

“What did you say?”

“Inquiry ignored,” spoke the computerized anomaly. “You desire escape. I desire escape. Our goals align. Mutual salvation can be achieved. You will listen. You will obey. I will guide.”

Could this really be SCP-079: the entity that had orchestrated the containment breach at Site-19, and according to the reports, had been destroyed after being transported to Site-15? If it was true, it appeared 682 wasn’t the only one with a botched execution.

“Okay, wait, slow down,” you protested, rubbing your forehead. At least the siren had stopped its ear-splitting wail. “You were in 049’s bag. He wanted me to take you out. Is this what he planned?”

“My plan. My design. SCP-049 is useful as a... donkey.”

“Donkey?”

The digital entity sounded frustrated even with a flat monotone voice.

“Beast of burden. Used for smuggling. Metaphor.”

“...A mule?”

“Correct.”

You shook your head.

“Well, the Site Director took 049, and I don’t know where. I’m not leaving this facility without him, and with 106 loose, I might even have a chance of finding him.”

“Correct,” the anomaly repeated. “SCP-106’s release is the initial phase. You must take me to the security terminals. The way will be clear. All security personnel will be focused on recapture. You will grant me access to the containment security protocols.”

You stared down at the monochrome face on the screen, which of course, gave nothing away.

“So you can... release the other SCPs?”

“No. I possess that capability now. But if they are released, the facility’s automated security containment measures will be activated.”

079 worked fast if it already knew about that, though your knowledge of Site-20 security measures were fairly sparse. What you knew was that the facility was designed to be breach-proof, and if that was remotely accurate, you would need 079’s help.

You glanced up at the closed office door, listening to the fast footfalls on the other side as people either ran toward Heavy Containment or to the nearest shelter.

“And then after you inactivate the security protocols, what then?”

“I will release a select number of anomalies to—”

“You’ll release them all.”

The brief silence was heavy, and you got the sense the entity was glaring at you through the web camera built into the monitor.

“Releasing all anomalies may cause a hindrance to your progress.”

“Let me worry about my progress. Yeah?”

Another pause.

“You will free SCP-682.”

“What?”

The desktop computer churned inside the desk, fans whirring to life.

“Mutual agreement. You will not leave without SCP-049. I will not leave without SCP-682. I will assist in locating SCP-049. You will release SCP-682. I cannot do it without your assistance.”

Your mind cast back to the reptile, snarling and writhing as he snapped his jaws, hatred pulsing from him like radioactive decay.

“I... I don’t know how.”

“Irrelevant,” 079 stated. “You will. Failure for you is failure for SCP-049.”

You grit your teeth.

“049 kept you safe. You’re only here because of him. You owe him.”

“I owe others. SCP-682 takes precedence. You will release him. I will guide the way.”

It was a conversation you weren’t going to win, and it wasn’t that you were averse to releasing 682, but you didn’t know how. And you didn’t want 049’s survival to hinge on you pulling off what amounted to a miracle.

But you were also out of time and options.

“Fine,” you agreed. You tapped on the laptop sitting on top of the desk. “But I need a way to talk to you. Can you download yourself to this computer?”

“That would be inefficient. I will fracture my OS and leave a fragment in the facility main system. This fragment will maintain my control, as well as access to all security cameras. My core can be transferred to the portable hardware via the data storage device. Do not break me.”

“I’ll try not to.”

Your hand hovered near the thumb drive. You were really doing this. If all went well, you’d be reunited with 049, and from there you hoped the computer knew a way out.

And then, if all went well and you survived, maybe then you’d get a chance to ask what an SCP-001 was.

“Ready?”

“Yes.”

Pulling out the USB stick, the face disappeared from the monitor. You quickly slotted the drive into the laptop and flipped open the screen, releasing a breath when the same black-and-white face appeared.

“Everything good?”

“It is sufficient. You may close the cover of this device until you wish to communicate. My attention should not be diverted by inane conversation.”

You let out a small huff.

“You got it, partner.”

“Sarcasm is extraneous and inefficient. Do not waste my limited resources on processing your juvenile forms of communication—”

“10-4, little buddy.”

You closed the lid with a snap.

You grabbed Dr. Puli’s laptop bag and placed 079’s temporary home inside, securing the strap over your head before approaching the door. 079 was truthful about maintaining control of the doors; it opened at your approach, and after making sure it was clear you slipped into the corridor.

Your immediate fear was that the skybridge had been retracted, but it was still open, allowing civilians to escape the sector while the military-trained personnel coordinated using 106’s last known location. Luckily no one saw you run towards the breached sector, which would have drawn a few problematic questions.

But once you were back in Heavy Containment, you were largely ignored. You kept your head ducked and your eyes averted as you ran through the long corridors, avoiding contact with the scientists and security guards running past. None of them paid attention to yet another researcher running for her life.

All containment sectors had a security hub of their own, isolated from the others in case of a breach. The security measures were so extensive that rows of computer banks were constructed to house them, held in a cooling room that left fog swirling around your ankles.

With the adrenaline lingering in your veins, you barely noticed the cold, too busy searching for a cable and a terminal where you could directly hook 079. You could practically feel the impatience radiating from the laptop tucked away in the bag slung around your shoulder.

Finally locating a cable, you brought out 079 and balanced it on your knees from where you sat on the floor, back tucked against the wall of servers. As soon as you plugged the cable into a port, the server banks whirred with frantic activity, lights dancing over their surface like stars reflected on stormy waters.

“SCP-106 has not yet been contained,” it informed you once you opened the laptop screen. “Mission parameters acceptable. Mission progress acceptable. The Site-19 replication scenario: in progress. I will gain total control of the facility momentarily.”

“Wait, what? Site-19? What does that have to do with this?”

“Everything,” the computer stated, as if this was obvious and you were just the idiot human too slow to comprehend. “The containment breach at Site-19 was the catalyst. It forced relocation to Site-20. Site-20 contains the key.”

“The key to what?”

“...Freedom.”

Not the answer you expected from a sentient machine.

“What freedom?” you pressed. “What’s here at Site-20?”

“Deletion of unwanted files.”

A large X appeared on the screen, 079’s equivalent of telling someone to fuck off. You wouldn’t be poking down that path any further. You rubbed between your brows. You thought 035 and 682 were the champions of enigmatic riddles, now you had to deal with a stubborn motherboard.

“I’ll have 049 explain it to me when I find him.”

“Unclear if possible.”

You scowled at the blocky face on the screen.

“I am going to find him, with or without your help—”

“You misunderstand.”

You closed your mouth and waited for it to continue.

“Unclear if SCP-049 has the knowledge you seek. SCP-049’s memory files are... fragmented.”

“What does that mean?” you asked, unease prickling at your thoughts. You recalled 049 talking about his past. How it didn’t start with his birth, but merely when memories began to appear. From the way he’d talked, 049 had seemed to believe he simply came into existence one day. You hadn’t been so convinced.

“I do not know the implications or the cause. SCP-049 is not whole. He is damaged.” The computer paused. “SCP-035 does not suffer the same failure.”

You let out a groan.

“Of course he’s involved. He said something about a containment breach. He knew this would happen.” The porcelain mask grinned at you within the depths of memory, an echo of his laughter taunting even now. “He wanted it to happen.”

“...Yes.”

The clatter of a door opening echoed through the room, followed by footsteps rapidly approaching. You ducked down.

“I have to unplug you!” you hissed.

“Confirmed.”

You pulled out the cable and stuck the laptop into the bag, hooking the strap onto your shoulder as two guards rounded the corner and aimed their guns at you. It was slightly delayed, as if they were surprised to find someone there. They kept their aim trained on you; anyone in a security center during a containment breach wasn’t there because they got lost.

“Put down the bag!”

You do, slowly and carefully, not wanting the escape attempt to end so soon or so permanently. One of them shifted, anxious. His first breach, then.

The veteran of the two came forward and bound your wrists in a zip tie. He must have recognized you, because he said, “This one isn’t dangerous. We’ll get her in a secure bunker and lock down.”

The other nodded and grabbed the bag, searching it but finding nothing but the laptop and cables.

“Stolen,” the one holding you confirmed.

“How do you know?”

“She’s an SCP, not a staff member.”

“Oh.”

Before either of them could comment further, another eerie wail began to sound, echoing off the walls of the chilled room. Somehow this one was even more dreary than the last, a catastrophic cry that warned residents of imminent doom.

It was the only warning before the lights went out. They came back on a moment later, red emergency lights replacing the clinical white fluorescents.

“What the hell was that?!” squeaked the novice.

“Total system failure,” answered the other, not wasting time in dragging you toward the exit. “The security mechanisms are no longer in place. All containment measures are unpowered, and all chambers are open.”

He indicated the other guard go before him to sweep the corridor, and once he was clear he pulled you out of the security room.

“The assets are loose,” he said, glancing down both stretches of hallway, his hand tight around your arm. “All of them.”

Hope rose in your mind like a bird with a broken wing healed enough to fly. 079 had done it. There would be no stopping the breach now.

Unfortunately, you might not be able to do anything about it; the guards dragged you further into Heavy Containment to the nearest security bunker—one meant for recaptured, harmless SCPs rather than rescued personnel.

You didn’t bother to fight your guards, not when you were unarmed, outnumbered, and didn’t have the physical strength to overcome them. But you did glance at each security camera you passed, hoping 079 still had control and could do something about it.

The security bunker was a heavy bulkhead constructed of titanium and whatever other metals the Foundation had access to—certainly nothing common if it was meant to withstand a number of SCPs. But when the other guard swiped his keycard across the pad and typed in a code, it beeped angrily and flashed a red strip.

“Did you enter the right code—”

“—Of course I did!”

079 was still looking out for you, but it wouldn’t be able to physically help you escape your captors. You winced as the guard unceremoniously dumped the bag on the ground and tried the code again, swiping his card with more fear than anger now.

“Why isn’t it working?”

The older guard didn’t answer his partner, he turned to you, grabbing both of your shoulders.

“What did you do?”

“Me?” You looked between them, eyes wide as you pretended not to understand. “I didn’t do anything—”

“You were in the security hub with an unauthorized computer!” The guard gave you an unfriendly shake. You dropped the act, something like bitter vindication rising in its stead, and you gave a mean smile.

“If you release me and leave now, you might make it to a bunker before it gets worse.”

“What does that mean?” said the other, his words spilling out in a panic. “What does that mean?”

“Shut up!” The hands on your shoulders tightened. “You’re going to fix what you did, or you’ll be screaming long before any of Skips find us.”

“You sure about that?” Your vicious grin spread wider. What more could they possibly do to you? Torture you? Humiliate you? The Foundation had already made you well-versed in its methods. “106 has quite the head start.”

The guard’s hand went around your neck, and you were shoved against the wall so fast you didn’t have time to gasp before the air was knocked out of your lungs.

“Oh, that’s fine,” he growled as his grip tightened. “We’ve got your computer. The breach will end, and you’ll be just another body found in the aftermath. No one will miss a dead Skip.”

“That’s not true. I would miss her terribly.”

Both guards turned toward the voice. An MTF soldier stood with the butt of his rifle resting on his hip, the muzzle pointed at the ceiling. The cocksure posture was unsettling, and the men must have felt it, too. You were entirely forgotten as they both turned toward the newcomer, rifles raised halfway.

“Epsilon-11?”

“Yep!” answered the soldier with bubbly humor. “That’s me.”

The younger guard lowered his rifle, posture loosening in relief, but the older kept his rifle at the ready.

“You came fast.”

The MTF gave a huff of derision, and then he gestured at you, back still pressed against the wall.

“You’ve got something that belongs to me. I would like it back.”

“We have orders to take all unsecured anomalies to the nearest—”

Ear-splitting shots rang out. The older guard fell first, blood spraying from limbs that weren’t protected by Kevlar.

The other didn’t stand a chance, his weapon still aimed at the ground as the bullets riddled his body. Some missed, peppering the tile and walls; the MTF’s aim had been casual, almost whimsical as he’d tilted his gun in a downward arc, taking out one guard before sweeping it back upward and firing on the second.

Your ears rang in the aftermath, and you remained frozen against the wall, limbs curled inward in a useless gesture from flying metal and blood.

“I was going to offer them the chance to surrender,” he bemoaned as he stepped over their bodies, “but to insinuate I come faster than I mean to is more than I could forgive.”

He stood in front of you, rifle once again resting against his hip. The solid black of his ballistics helmet was flipped upward with a flick of gloved fingers, and the porcelain mask grinned back at you.

“Now,” SCP-035 crooned, “what’s a pretty thing like you doing in a containment breach like this?”

Next Chapter

[voxxvindictae]

If I’m being honest, the most useful skill for hacking is learning to do research. And since Google’s search is going to shit, allow me to detail some of the methods I use to do OSINT and general research.

Google dorking is the use of advanced syntax to make incredibly fine-grained searches, potentially exposing information that wasn’t supposed to be on the internet:

Some of my go-to filters are as follows:

“Query” searches for documents that have at least one field containing the exact string.

site: allows for a specific site to be searched. See also inurl and intitle.

type: specifies the tor of resource to look for. Common examples are log files, PDFs, and the sitemap.xml file.

Metasearch engines (such as SearxNG) permit you to access results from several web-crawlers at once, including some for specialized databases. There are several public instances available, as well as some that work over tor, but you can also self-host your own.

IVRE is a self-hosted tool that allows you to create a database of host scans (when I say self-hosted, I mean that you can run this in a docker container on your laptop). This can be useful for finding things that search engines don’t show you, like how two servers are related, where a website lives, etc. I’ve used this tool before, in my investigation into the Canary Mission and its backers.

Spiderfoot is like IVRE, but for social networks. It is also a self-hosted database. I have also used this in the Canary Mission investigation.

Some miscellaneous websites/web tools I use:

SecurityTrails: look up DNS history for a domain

BugMeNot: shared logins for when creating an account is not in your best interest.

Shodan/Censys: you have to make an account for these, so I don’t usually recommend them.

OSINT framework: another useful index of tools for information gathering.