#reversing works

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Reverse engineers bust sleazy gig work platform

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/2024/11/23/hack-the-class-war/#robo-boss

A COMPUTER CAN NEVER BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE

THEREFORE A COMPUTER MUST NEVER MAKE A MANAGEMENT DECISION

Supposedly, these lines were included in a 1979 internal presentation at IBM; screenshots of them routinely go viral:

https://twitter.com/SwiftOnSecurity/status/1385565737167724545?lang=en

The reason for their newfound popularity is obvious: the rise and rise of algorithmic management tools, in which your boss is an app. That IBM slide is right: turning an app into your boss allows your actual boss to create an "accountability sink" in which there is no obvious way to blame a human or even a company for your maltreatment:

https://profilebooks.com/work/the-unaccountability-machine/

App-based management-by-bossware treats the bug identified by the unknown author of that IBM slide into a feature. When an app is your boss, it can force you to scab:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/30/computer-says-scab/#instawork

Or it can steal your wages:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/algorithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men

But tech giveth and tech taketh away. Digital technology is infinitely flexible: the program that spies on you can be defeated by another program that defeats spying. Every time your algorithmic boss hacks you, you can hack your boss back:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/02/not-what-it-does/#who-it-does-it-to

Technologists and labor organizers need one another. Even the most precarious and abused workers can team up with hackers to disenshittify their robo-bosses:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/07/08/tuyul-apps/#gojek

For every abuse technology brings to the workplace, there is a liberating use of technology that workers unleash by seizing the means of computation:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/13/solidarity-forever/#tech-unions

One tech-savvy group on the cutting edge of dismantling the Torment Nexus is Algorithms Exposed, a tiny, scrappy group of EU hacker/academics who recruit volunteers to reverse engineer and modify the algorithms that rule our lives as workers and as customers:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/10/e2e/#the-censors-pen

Algorithms Exposed have an admirable supply of seemingly boundless energy. Every time I check in with them, I learn that they've spun out yet another special-purpose subgroup. Today, I learned about Reversing Works, a hacking team that reverse engineers gig work apps, revealing corporate wrongdoing that leads to multimillion euro fines for especially sleazy companies.

One such company is Foodinho, an Italian subsidiary of the Spanish food delivery company Glovo. Foodinho/Glovo has been in the crosshairs of Italian labor enforcers since before the pandemic, racking up millions in fines – first for failing to file the proper privacy paperwork disclosing the nature of the data processing in the app that Foodinho riders use to book jobs. Then, after the Italian data commission investigated Foodinho, the company attracted new, much larger fines for its out-of-control surveillance conduct.

As all of this was underway, Reversing Works was conducting its own research into Glovo/Foodinho's app, running it on a simulated Android handset inside a PC so they could peer into app's data collection and processing. They discovered a nightmarish world of pervasive, illegal worker surveillance, and published their findings a year ago in November, 2023:

https://www.etui.org/sites/default/files/2023-10/Exercising%20workers%20rights%20in%20algorithmic%20management%20systems_Lessons%20learned%20from%20the%20Glovo-Foodinho%20digital%20labour%20platform%20case_2023.pdf

That report reveals all kinds of extremely illegal behavior. Glovo/Foodinho makes its riders' data accessible across national borders, so Glovo managers outside of Italy can access fine-grained surveillance information and sensitive personal information – a major data protection no-no.

Worse, Glovo's app embeds trackers from a huge number of other tech platforms (for chat, analytics, and more), making it impossible for the company to account for all the ways that its riders' data is collected – again, a requirement under Italian and EU data protection law.

All this data collection continues even when riders have clocked out for the day – its as though your boss followed you home after quitting time and spied on you.

The research also revealed evidence of a secretive worker scoring system that ranked workers based on undisclosed criteria and reserved the best jobs for workers with high scores. This kind of thing is pervasive in algorithmic management, from gig work to Youtube and Tiktok, where performers' videos are routinely suppressed because they crossed some undisclosed line. When an app is your boss, your every paycheck is docked because you violated a policy you're not allowed to know about, because if you knew why your boss was giving you shitty jobs, or refusing to show the video you spent thousands of dollars making to the subscribers who asked to see it, then maybe you could figure out how to keep your boss from detecting your rulebreaking next time.

All this data-collection and processing is bad enough, but what makes it all a thousand times worse is Glovo's data retention policy – they're storing this data on their workers for four years after the worker leaves their employ. That means that mountains of sensitive, potentially ruinous data on gig workers is just lying around, waiting to be stolen by the next hacker that breaks into the company's servers.

Reversing Works's report made quite a splash. A year after its publication, the Italian data protection agency fined Glovo another 5 million euros and ordered them to cut this shit out:

https://reversing.works/posts/2024/11/press-release-reversing.works-investigation-exposes-glovos-data-privacy-violations-marking-a-milestone-for-worker-rights-and-technology-accountability/

As the report points out, Italy is extremely well set up to defend workers' rights from this kind of bossware abuse. Not only do Italian enforcers have all the privacy tools created by the GDPR, the EU's flagship privacy regulation – they also have the benefit of Italy's 1970 Workers' Statute. The Workers Statute is a visionary piece of legislation that protects workers from automated management practices. Combined with later privacy regulation, it gave Italy's data regulators sweeping powers to defend Italian workers, like Glovo's riders.

Italy is also a leader in recognizing gig workers as de facto employees, despite the tissue-thin pretense that adding an app to your employment means that you aren't entitled to any labor protections. In the case of Glovo, the fine-grained surveillance and reputation scoring were deemed proof that Glovo was employer to its riders.

Reversing Works' report is a fascinating read, especially the sections detailing how the researchers recruited a Glovo rider who allowed them to log in to Glovo's platform on their account.

As Reversing Works points out, this bottom-up approach – where apps are subjected to technical analysis – has real potential for labor organizations seeking to protect workers. Their report established multiple grounds on which a union could seek to hold an abusive employer to account.

But this bottom-up approach also holds out the potential for developing direct-action tools that let workers flex their power, by modifying apps, or coordinating their actions to wring concessions out of their bosses.

After all, the whole reason for the gig economy is to slash wage-bills, by transforming workers into contractors, and by eliminating managers in favor of algorithms. This leaves companies extremely vulnerable, because when workers come together to exercise power, their employer can't rely on middle managers to pressure workers, deal with irate customers, or step in to fill the gap themselves:

https://projects.itforchange.net/state-of-big-tech/changing-dynamics-of-labor-and-capital/

Only by seizing the means of computation, workers and organized labor can turn the tables on bossware – both by directly altering the conditions of their employment, and by producing the evidence and tools that regulators can use to force employers to make those alterations permanent.

Image: EFF (modified) https://www.eff.org/files/issues/eu-flag-11_1.png

CC BY 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/

[noka-exe]

duality of man….

[ky-landfill]

Helouda! Only if you want to… how about a Reverse!Robins with big bro Tim and baby Jay, or Dick… or both!! ;;_;; ♡

Thank you so much for sharing your art with the fandom!!! :"D♡♡♡

[egophiliac]

still ruminating over Lost In the Book With Spooky Skeletons Part 1, so here's a selection of some of my favorite little bits! (...some more loosely paraphrased than others) (I just feel like Idia has no room to criticize in general, okay)

anyway, I'm sure we're just going to have a fun time celebrating Halloween and nothing bad is going to happen whatsoever! :)

[protagaster]

Calypso: [flirts with Odysseus]

Penelope, in disguise: [staring at them silently]

Ares: You’re surprisingly quiet today, Penelope.

Penelope: [still staring] Nobody plans a murder out loud.

[hngryazn]

I'd like to imagine this is how Bruce follows Clark around and Clark just pretends not to notice him 🤭

[hellenhighwater]

In a completely baffling turn of events, today I opened up my wallet and discovered, tucked into an internal pocket, a current, valid, Michigan Concealed Pistol License ID card belonging to a man I'd never met. (CPL cards are heavy plastic, like a driver's license.) It's a validly issued CPL. He's a real person who lives in Michigan--I found his voting records, home address, social media accounts, and other information with a bit of searching, and can confirm I have never met this dude. He does not live anywhere nearby. The wallet is one I just use for my ID's--bar card, courthouse keypass, drivers license, employee ID, etc. Not something I pull out on a daily basis; very definitely not something I hand off to other people. Even more confusingly, this man is twenty years older than me to the day. We have the same birthday. But I don't know him; I don't even know anyone who knows him.

Which leaves me with the utter mystery of how the hell some random guy's concealed pistol license wound up in my purse

[purpleangiie]

It's always funny how the kids talk back to Bruce when literally no one else – maybe Clark, but more in a gentle and slightly concerned way – would ever deared, it's all "Yes, sir" and "No, sir" and hustling to execute his orders because you can't argue with The Batman, can you? But the kids will be "Bruce I swear to god, you're insufferable today" cause he complained about them being 3 minutes late to the evening meeting and that his coffee is 1.5 degree too cold than he likes it and he'll frown and look all dejected and say "I know, I'm sorry. I need to do better. You deserve better."

And that's Batkids' true superpower.

[ninjasmudge]

been working on a reverse au for a while !

in this, instead of being chained in place lamb walks the same circular path around a pole forever to teach them that life and death are circular, and theyre losing it in there

narinder, the last cat, agreed to help them on the condition that they let him take aym and baals spirits back, and those two act in rataus role of giving narinder advice (still as summoned spirits, not properly alive)

lamb does come around to him after he defeats them, they still hate being in public though

clauneck, kudaai and clemach take the place of the bishops, the story being that the war between gods got out of hand. when the old gods tried to extinguish kudaais forge, tear claunecks cards and take clemachs relics, all three were pushed to the brink trying to keep their place in the world. all of them felt forced to react to keep their roles and they fought back, immediately staeting to lose themselves as they did. clauneck thinks he controls the fates now (he has the misery mask on the back of his head), kudaai wields his own weapons every day, too paranoid to ever put them down, and clemach is overtaken by her need to ascribe things power, and doesnt care what she destroys to achieve it

leshy, heket, kallamar and shamura hang around and give you weapons, curses, cards, and relics

[gunstellations]

mlem 👅

[lemonpoet]

More Eury being a dad pls (good ending au)

“you use this to protect your family”

Part 2 of this lil ole post Part 1

PART FOUR | PART FIVE

[stars-obsession-pit]

Following an accident, Danny wakes up in Gotham City in a DC universe. Lacking any forms of ID or possessions beyond the clothes on his back, he’s forced to commit some crimes to survive. Minor crimes, but still.

And then he gets caught.

During the court proceedings, they come to the mistaken conclusion that he’s a Meta suffering from some psychiatric issues such as Cotard’s Syndrome (a real rare condition where a person holds the delusional belief that they’re dead/don’t exist/etc).

Thus, between his “need for mental treatment” and the concerns about housing someone with his unique physical traits, he is sentenced to spend time in Arkham Asylum. He’s under pretty low security aside from the anti-Meta stuff and has more freedoms than some other inmates, but it’s still not a great experience. Even at the best of times, Arkham is hardly a nice place.

Some of his fellow residents are decently chill all things considered, but lots very much aren’t.

[egophiliac]

So.... what are your thoughts on Ace's UM, if you haven't been asked this already?

sneaky magic for the sneakiest boy

no but really, I think it fits him really well! I had thought his UM would probably involve something kinda sleight-of-handy or pickpockety! and I looooved that it made such a nice loop-around back to episode 1. ❤️ I was. kind of half-expecting him to just run out and punch Riddle in the nose again. but instead this time 'twas he who offed the queen's head! it was great! and he did it while stone-cold terrified out of his mind! because Ace is the only remotely normal or well-adjusted person at NRC and therefore the only one who is like "we're going to literally die, this is super effed up". but he did it anyway!!!! I AM SO PROUD

[emacrow]

Bruce only left Damian alone for 10 minutes during a short visit to the charity group called the Anti-GIW in amity park. Only damian didn't leave empty handed.

He was gifted a crapton of new information about ghosts, or infinite realm like beings whom are being hunted due to their ectoplasm/lararus power energy as battery because the GIW believes they are not sentient which they are if they can speak English.

He just holding a oversized and very full folder of info given to him as he sat back in the limo after gifting a large sum of money to support this group until he can go home and bring the Justice League in.

Damien is quiet in the limo, obviously interested in a very large book call the history of Ghost mystical creatures and you that he was reading. Bruce just sighed a bit as he goes to read folder one Called The day where it all happened.

Unknownly to Bruce, Damian is has a baby in his lap, after he has wish that he wasn't the youngest child anymore when his Father told him to not stray away when he was busy listening to the anti-GIW fanatics... only for a black hair, blue eyes diaper wearing baby to poof in his arm.

At that exact moment, When Desiree was fighting with Danny from above only to sense a wish being active did a clever idea to avoid Soup time and give Danny a vacation as Danny disappeared only to look up confused staring into the Green eyes of Damian Wayne.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

I'm not going back to Gusu with you.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[keferon]

LMAO engineers asking what’s attractive on Cybertronian frames and if Jazz is like ‘uhhh bright bio lights, and stuff’ and then mysteriously Prowls mecha frame and suit have some bright bio lights in a few days

Lol I imagine Jazz asks a lot about what is the human way of flirting but then NEVER tells ANYONE what are Cybertronian signs of flirting. He keeps that information to himself NO EXCEPTIONS because he doesn't want Prowl to know that the specific sound of fans or engine or spark means.

The thing he doesn't realize though. Prowl is smart. And also his mech can see everything. So Prowl manages to connect the dots on his own and starts implementing some Cybertronian gestures in his day-to-day life as a way to bring Jazz some comfort.

Basically. The entire base is desperate because they can't come up with a way to make Prowl into romancible character using human strategies. All while JPs are flirting in Cybertronian~