Mastodon 4.5
Mastodon 4.5
Quote posts, the end of missing replies, new tools for admins and better emojis. All of these and more, in our latest release.Mastodon Blog
Mastodon 4.5
Mastodon 4.5
Quote posts, the end of missing replies, new tools for admins and better emojis. All of these and more, in our latest release.Mastodon Blog
Amazon is testing an AI tool that automatically translates books into other languages
Amazon is introducing an AI tool that will automatically translate books into other languages. This should be useful for authors who self publish.
Senate GOP Kills Bill That Would Block Trump Boat Bombings and War on Venezuela
"Shame on the Republicans who continue to shirk their duty and deny their constituents a voice," said one retired US Army general.
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US 'shadow president' Stephen Miller threatens New York after Muslim socialist wins mayoral election
Stephen Miller melts down as Muslim immigrant Zohran Mamdani wins NYC mayor — hinting at deportations for defying Trump’s agenda
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US federal judge orders officials to improve conditions for immigration detainees in Illinois facility
A US federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to provide better conditions for detainees in an Chicago immigration facility.
Case file: storage.courtlistener.com/reca…
US federal judge orders officials to improve conditions for immigration detainees in Illinois facility
A US federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to provide better conditions for detainees in an Chicago immigration facility. Judge Robert Gettleman of the District...Morgan Polen | U. Pittsburgh School of Law, US (- JURIST - News)
US Supreme Court grants stay that restricts gender expression on passports
The US Supreme Court on Thursday allowed a policy to move forward that prevents nonbinary and transgender people from having gender markers on their passports that align with their chosen identity.
Case file: supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pd…
US Supreme Court grants stay that restricts gender expression on passports
The US Supreme Court on Thursday allowed a policy to move forward that prevents nonbinary and transgender people from having gender markers on their passports that align with their chosen identity. In...Paige Miller | U. Arizona College of Law, US (- JURIST - News)
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How do I torrent safely in the US if I can't afford a VPN?
Before I say anything further, yes I know how much the recommended VPNs cost. I can read. Please do not interrogate me about it.
I've been wanting to get into torrenting for a while, particularly contributing to private trackers related to music (and to a lesser extent retro games, though I don't have much original stuff to put there as it's harder to find rare games than rare music). FMHY recommends RiseUp if I must get a free VPN while I'm working on my financial situation, though I'm not sure whether it's been tested in court. What are my options, if any?
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On Queer People in Climate and Energy
On Queer People in Climate and Energy
Any queer person who works on climate and energy issues—utility issues, especially—in a technical capacity of any kind is a marvel. A statistical miracle.isaac (isaac sevier)
It’s affordability, stupid: Republicans pay price for Trump’s forgotten promise
Trump looks increasingly out of touch and his disapproval rating is at an all-time high – which partly explains Tuesday’s election results
It’s the economy, stupid, as the timeworn saying goes, and affordability in particular. The age of aspiration has given way to the age of anxiety. The price of incumbency is that restless voters always believe that the grass is greener on the other side.
A year ago Democrats were punished for “bad vibes” around the cost of living for the middle class, however much they protested that the economic data was positive. In that climate Trump represented change: at rally after rally, he promised to lower prices from day one. Many voters felt it was worth taking a gamble in case he was right.
Now the tables are turned. Trump occupies the White House but inflation remains hard to crack. The period from July to August saw the biggest month-to-month jump in grocery prices in three years. And average grocery prices in September were about 2.7% higher than they were a year earlier. There have been especially steep increases in the prices of coffee (up 18.9%) and beef and veal (up 14.7%).
Authors Guild Asks Supreme Court to Hold Internet Providers Accountable for Copyright Theft
Authors Guild Asks Supreme Court to Hold Internet Providers Accountable for Copyright Theft - The Authors Guild
When thousands of people illegally download books, music, or films, and their internet service provider knows about it but keeps collecting monthly fees from the pirates anyway, should the company face consequences? That’s the question at the heart o…The Authors Guild
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Scientists Growing Colour Without Chemicals
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Postcard from California: Disclosing the full climate impacts of big businesses
Postcard from California: Disclosing the full climate impacts of big businesses
ExxonMobil is one of the world’s worst climate polluters, emitting more than 90 million metric tons of greenhouse gases in 2024.Bill Walker (The New Lede)
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FBI Tries to Unmask Owner of Infamous Archive.is Site
Archive link, megalodon.jp/2025-1107-0645-35…
【魚拓】FBI Tries to Unmask Owner of Infamous Archive.is Site
https://www.404media.co:443/fbi-tries-to-unmask-owner-of-infamous-archive-is-site/ - 2025年11月7日 06:45 - ウェブ魚拓ウェブ魚拓
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Bari Weiss vs. climate change | At The Free Press, Weiss consistently rebrands tired fossil fuel talking points as courageous, rebellious dissent.
Bari Weiss vs. climate change
At The Free Press, Weiss consistently rebrands tired fossil fuel talking points as courageous, rebellious dissent.Emily Atkin (HEATED)
DINO? LINO? One of those is correct.
Nolan's Batman film repeated a line that didn't land with me at the time but I have since understood: "it's not who you are, it's what you do that defines you."
At the time, I thought myself a temporarily embarrassed progressive, thinking all these good thoughts and waiting for my sleeper-cell handler to activate me. I'm a good person, I am ready to do good when the need arises, as long as I have nothing else scheduled that day.
But the malaise of the socially progressive 90s lulled me (and other Gen Xers) into a false optimism that things were just going to get better on their own. Our brains were also cooked by decades of deregulation propaganda. And TVs were getting bigger and cheaper, so who were we to complain?
Weiss is the next generation of this detached ideology. She's been simmering in absurdism and pageantry so long that I don't think she has a handle on what she really wants to do. I'm not excusing her behavior, but I can't devine a coherent platform for her. I'm not sure any of her contemporaries actually have one, either. Just for the grift? It doesn't make them less dangerous, but hopefully it makes them less intimidating for those of us who have felt the tap on the shoulder to enlist.
In conclusion, she sucks, she says inane things. Don't be surprised but also don't roll your eyes and move on. Find what you can do, no matter how small, and do it. You will instantly be steps ahead of the performative competition.
Gaslighting on Gas Turbines
Gaslighting on Gas Turbines
If you’ve been following the story so far, with the rise of the second Trump administration, renewable energy is out, fossil fuels are back, in particular fossil gas, personified by the selec…This is Not Cool
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being an online entertainer sucks
first, i am not very notable so don’t bother trying to determine who i am lol. i am very close to 100,000 followers—just to demonstrate my minor success and relevancy to the topic.
i hate every algorithm-driven video sharing app. they are absolutely fantastic for the consumer; finding their likes and interests and exploiting them, but terrible if you are a creator whose content others regularly consume. i struggle to be seen by 10% of my audience. most days i wont crack beyond 400 views. Four hundred. And you might be thinking that’s 400 of my audience; maybe some new people in there as well, so at least a few are coming back regularly.. right? no lol. according to my analytics, about 98% of my viewers are not following me. they’re from recommend pages and outside of my followers.
…so… what the hell? these people followed me because they wanted to see what i had to make. these companies are keeping viewers distracted with their recommended feed so they never check out who they’re following and only consume whatever the algorithm demands be seen. 2% of my audience are followers. that’s about it. i’ve seen it as high as 3% but never beyond.
i make content because i genuinely enjoy it and always will do it. i love the art of comedy and spreading laughter. i want a big audience to make more people happy. truly, i primarily create for myself as personal enrichment. the money aspect is enticing and makes me long for a chance at making this work professionally.
but it’s so unreliable.. these algorithms are not rewarding, and they will zap you of your humanity and creativity. the cash i’m paid is like a reward i get for playing their game. it isn’t something i earn. i happened to do it their way accidentally to my benefit and theirs.
good boy 🙄
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i am on TikTok and Shorts, so yes, short-form videos. it is a huge problem over here and it suuuuuucks ass.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the long-form platforms are screwing you over
not yet but YouTube has its own headaches! lol
They just seem so tailor-made to addict you, and I don’t need another addiction.
you aren't wrong. they know what you like very, very well. it's disturbing. but if i'm gonna be forced into this dystopia can an online comedian get a little break here, eh????
ahhhhh i'm sorry to hear it. Those spaces are so calcified these days. Used to be that anyone with a half-decent online presence could break through as a creator, so online entertaining had that grassroots advantage over traditional venues and broadcast platforms. These days, it kind of feels like we've ended up right back where we started: platforms are dominated by the most popular (or most wealthy) entertainers, and everyone else is fighting like crabs in a barrel in the hopes that they'll get lucky and break through.
I guess that's a half-decent motivation to try making a name for yourself in your local community? It seems to me that creators that do break through do so by becoming popular in their local community first. People love to find a new, local comedian that they vibe with - it's a source of local pride. You build connections and get exposed to new audiences that never would have found you on TikTok. I don't know if you have any disability or other physical barriers to achieving that, but if not, and you aren't already doing open mics or whatever, that could be one way to go?
Future of media piracy in Android... would that still be possible after 2026/2027 when "sideloading" is restricted?
I mean, I know app piracy is kinda dead. But how about if I just want .mkvs for Movie, TV, Anime? .epubs for books? Music files?
Are these still gonna work? Do you think they'll go full draconian and kill piracy outright?
VLC? Torrent Apps? VPNs?
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So I'm going to put this out there, why watch this content on a Android that we will have less and less control over as time goes on?
Grab a laptop with Linux on it and go wild. I now have a computer hooked up to my TV and I don't have to worry about any of Google's bullshit
I know there's many people who cannot understand why others like to watch media on their phones, but that is how it is. You basically have that device anywhere with you, screens are big enough to watch stuff on.
Especially if you have saved movies/series on it, no matter if piracy or not, you got sonething to watch on that long train ride to work, or in your lunch break, or when you wait for some appointment.
Source: me, I am one of those. I am not taking my laptop everywhere. Even the smallest feasibly usable laptop is much bigger than my phone.
I've been trying to convince him to finally get around to actually getting something low cost, but his "setup" has been working for him for years now
qualche momento di octuriosa goduria in una giornata altrimenti smerdata (le cose apprezzabili successe dopo stamattina)
Ogni tanto, nonostante le cose marce… insomma le mattinate marce che promettono e professano giornate marce per intero e persino più (nel senso che poi il malumore facilmente si trascina addirittura ai giorni dopo, sopravvivendo persino il grande sonno a cui mi sottopongo… a cui in realtà non tutti i giorni posso sottopormi, ahimè e […]
octospacc.altervista.org/2025/…
qualche momento di octuriosa goduria in una giornata altrimenti smerdata (le cose apprezzabili successe dopo stamattina) - fritto misto di octospacc
Ogni tanto, nonostante le cose marce... insomma le mattinate marce che promettono e professano giornate marce per intero e persino più (nel senso che poi il maminioctt (fritto misto di octospacc)
That sucks.
Also
I just realised this would easily be a major use for containerized nuclear powerplants.
Réunion d'accueil des nouvelles et nouveaux à Paris par XR Paris-Nord
À propos de cet événement
Tu souhaites découvrir le mouvement et savoir comment t’engager ? Nous organisons une réunion d’accueil des nouveaux et nouvelles en présentiel. Le RDV sera à l'adresse suivante : La ressourcerie Le Poulpe - 4B Rue d'Oran, 75018 Paris. La salle est accessible via l'escalier en entrant à gauche, monter les escaliers et juste à la sortie des escaliers à droite il y a la porte de la salle.
Pour t'inscrire ne clique pas sur Participer mais clique sur ce lien !
Man who threw sandwich at US federal agent found not guilty of assault
Man who threw sandwich at US federal agent found not guilty of assault
Former justice department employee’s lawyers argued it was a ‘harmless gesture’ during an act of protestRachel Leingang (The Guardian)
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Confirmed: ICE Is Arresting American Citizens—and Lying About It
A government that flouts the Fourth Amendment and then lies about it to courts and the people has crossed a moral and legal frontier.
Confirmed: ICE Is Arresting American Citizens—and Lying About It
A government that flouts the Fourth Amendment and then lies about it to courts and the people has crossed a moral and legal frontier.
Minutes from 6 November 2025 WG Meeting
Apologies in advance if I misrepresented anybody or missed any crucial bits of information.
- Julian (myself) and Ted (tallted@mastodon.social) began the session discussing moderation tools in USENET
- There are comparable systems to how the threadiverse propagates content. Messages are sent to a remote server who is then responsible for distribution.
- In relation to moderation, there was more ambiguity. Local users could set up their own kill file but whether moderation could be done from the remote server was not discussed.
- We discuss more about actions done to contexts (aka topics, threads)
- Ted recommends a read through RFCs 2821 (SMTP) and 2822 (Internet Message Format)
- Dmitri (dmitri@social.coop) joins at or before this point, and points out that there continues to be confusion over the
contextproperty and@context.
- Example actions are offered: Removing a context from an audience, and locking a context from new contributions
- Re: crossposting, Ted discusses the need for implementor changes to allow for contexts to be a part of multiple audiences
- ed: much of the discussion at this point shifts away from ForumWG terminology and toward email nomenclature for ease of understanding. ForumWG nomenclature is used for these minutes
- Dmitri points out that a breaking change to AP might be needed in order to break apart header (addressing/recipients) and body
- Julian asks why, and Dmitri mentions signing difficulties wrt
btoandbcc. - Julian asks if anybody uses
btoandbcc, and Dmitri says "yes, absolutely", and said we should check out darius@friend.camp's Fediverse Observatory for the answer
- Julian says that as currently implemented, resolvable contexts do not necessarily need to be inherited. Lemmy explicitly does not want to inherit contexts, and their published contexts always refer to a local representation (ping nutomic)
- Julian steps through an example. NodeBB
Afederates context/topic/1, NodeBBBreceives the topic and assigns it/topic/4bdffa.AlaterRemoves the context.Bdoesn't know whatA/topic/1is so needs to resolve it, get its' root post, and see if it matches any know context onB, then act on it. - Ted and Dmitri caution that this is difficult and messy, and strongly recommend that the root-level context must be inherited
- Julian steps through an example. NodeBB
outsized (inside the water reservoir of Lodz, Poland)
outsized, łódź, oct 2025
(Also trying how posting links to pixelfed looks on piefed)
The 512KB Club is a collection of performance-focused web pages from across the Internet. To qualify your website must both be actually useful and under 512KB in size.
512KB Club
The 512KB Club is an exclusive list of web pages weighing less than 512 kilobytes.Kev Quirk (512KB Club)
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Controversial startup's plan to 'sell sunlight' using giant mirrors in space would be 'catastrophic' and 'horrifying,' astronomers warn
California-based startup Reflect Orbital aims to build a swarm of 4,000 giant mirrors in low Earth orbit to "sell sunlight" to customers at night. Experts warn that the mirrors could mess with telescopes, blind stargazers and impact the environment.
Reflect Orbital, which was founded in 2021, has recently taken the first step in a scheme to sell sunlight at night by bouncing solar rays off giant "reflectors" that can redirect the vital resource almost anywhere on our planet. By doing this, the company aims to extend daylight hours in specific locations, thus allowing paying customers to generate solar power, grow crops and replace urban lighting.
But experts say it is a wildly impractical plan that should never get off the ground. What's more, the resulting light pollution could devastate ground-based astronomy, distract aircraft pilots and even blind stargazers.
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Nintendo's Palworld lawsuit suffers another potential blow as US takes "rare" step of re-examining previously granted Pokémon patent
Nintendo's Palworld lawsuit suffers another potential blow as US takes "rare" step of re-examining previously granted Pokémon patent
Just weeks after Japan rejected Nintendo's initial efforts to patent a variety of Pokémon-style monster capture and thr…Matt Wales (Eurogamer.net)
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Way too common on Lemmy let alone a community for piracy here you go.
removepaywall.com/search?url=h…
RemovePaywall | Free online paywall remover
Remove Paywall, free online paywall remover. Get access to articles without having to pay or login. Works on Bloomberg and hundreds more.www.removepaywall.com
Netflix Switches To New Ad Tier Metric, Claiming 190 Million Monthly Active Viewers
Netflix Switches To New Ad Metric, Claims 190M Monthly Active Viewers
Netflix is switching to a new metric to capture the scale of its ad-supported tier, announcing it now reaches 190 million monthly active viewers.Dade Hayes (Deadline)
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Senators want companies to report AI layoffs amid job cuts
A bipartisan pair of US Senators has introduced a bill that would require companies and government agencies to report AI-related layoffs, and it couldn't come at a better time. October jobs data suggests AI is driving the largest wave of layoffs headed into the end of the year that we've seen since 2003.Senators Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Mark Warner (D-VA) on Wednesday announced plans to introduce the AI-Related Job Impacts Clarity Act. If passed, the law requires public companies and pretty much every single federal government agency to hand quarterly layoff data over to the Department of Labor, indicating how many jobs they cut due to automation.
The act would also require employers to report on a quarterly basis how many people they hired related to AI and automation, how many jobs they decided not to fill thanks to AI, and numbers on retraining due to artificial intelligence. The end goal, said Warner, is to help Congress understand how the labor market is changing and how to prepare for the future.
Senate bill would require companies to report AI layoffs as job cuts reach 20-year high in October
ai-pocalypse: Government agencies would also have to report losses due to automation.Brandon Vigliarolo (The Register)
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Nuovo articolo: Junior Eurovision 2025: ecco il brano di Cipro “Away”
Junior Eurovision 2025: ecco il brano di Cipro "Away"
Ecco il brano che Rafaella e Christos canteranno a Tbilisi allo Junior Eurovision 2025 in rappresentanza dell'isola di Cipro.Antonio Adessi (Eurofestival News)
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Trump's 'Might Makes Right' Politics Are Bringing Out the Worst in America
This is a deep cut. There’s a solo John Lennon track called “Remember” off the Plastic Ono Band album. He closes it by screaming “Remember the 5th of November!” followed by an explosion.It was a reference to Guy Fawkes Day, marking an infamous plot to blow up the British Parliament in 1605 that ended with the perpetrator’s head on a spike.
But that lyric hits a bit different after last year’s presidential election. Because on November 5, 2024, America rewarded a man who tried to blow up our system of government by pushing election lies that incited an attack on our capital.
Seen through the eyes of history, it looks like an act of self-immolation by our nation. That’s exactly why we need to be firefighters rather than arsonists to counteract its impact.
American democracy is an outlier. We are the world’s longest-lasting large democracy and the first nation founded upon an idea rather than a tribal identity. We’ve always been imperfect people working to form a more perfect union.
Bold use of the present tense.
Trump's 'Might Makes Right' Politics Are Bringing Out America's Worst
Donald Trump was elected to a second term in office one year ago on November 5. His "might makes right" politics are corroding America.John Avlon (Rolling Stone)
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Trump’s Approval Ratings Have Hit a New Low
This has turned out to be an evergreen hed.
Afunny thing happened to our political blowhard class on its way to its next appointed bout of savvy prognosticating. As breathless pundits looked to this week’s handful of off-year elections for telltale signs of the country’s mood swings, the news broke that President Donald Trump has reached a new low in his national approval ratings. In a CNN poll released Monday, 63 percent of respondents disapproved of his performance in office, leaving just 37 percent approving. As polling analyst G. Elliot Morris notes, the 26 point net gap in disapproval is the lowest Trump has ever clocked—even in the aftermath of the January 6 insurrection, when many observers predicted his political demise. By comparison, an enfeebled and marginalized Joe Biden sported a 40 percent approval rating when he left office. A plurality of 42 percent approval would show Trump holding on to the 2024 coalition that elected him, but this latest swoon indicates that independents and even traditional GOP supporters are turning against him. Meanwhile, The Economist’s poll tracker shows that Trump’s approval is underwater in all seven of the swing states he carried last November, as well as in Texas. That’s right: The state that’s frantically (and secretively) redrawing its congressional maps to suit Trump’s whims—and has even filed an actual lawsuit against Tylenol based on Trump and RFK Jr.’s fabricated claims that the pain suppressant promotes autism in utero—has soured on Trump’s agenda.It’s easy to make too much of snapshot surveys of presidential approval, but, as Morris also notes, polling averages have been trending strongly away from Trump over the past two weeks. The intensity of that disapproval is also striking: “Depending on the polls you pick for your average,” Morris writes, “between 46 and 50 percent of U.S. adults tell pollsters they “strongly disapprove” of the job Trump is doing as president. That is double the percent that strongly approve…. Put another way, less than half of the people who voted for Trump in 2024 currently ‘strongly approve’ of his presidency.” When you factor in disapproval among respondents who didn’t vote in the last election, the MAGA picture gets grimmer still, with less than a third of American adults approving of Trump, and 53 percent disapproving—48 percent of them doing so “strongly.”
Trump’s Approval Ratings Have Hit a New Low | The Nation
And Democrats need to seize the moment—for once.The Nation
Domestic workers count on SNAP. Trump's shutdown is hitting hard.
For low-income people and their families, it’s been a hard, complicated week. On November 1, more than 40 million users of SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, did not receive their monthly payments after the Trump administration refused to pay full benefits through emergency funding during the ongoing government shutdown. It would be better, the administration has decided, to weaponize hunger against Democrats, blaming the government shutdown, than to feed people.
On Monday, a court ordered that the Trump administration use contingency funds to fund SNAP, although the Trump administration said it would only fund half the regular amount. It’s unclear whether the White House, which has flip-flopped on SNAP several times in recent weeks, will pull a similar stunt in December if the government shutdown continues—or when the funds for this month will reach people.
And it’s not like the system was perfect. A recent report from the National Domestic Workers Alliance found that in September, 91 percent of domestic workers who responded to the survey—including nannies, home health care aides and house cleaners—said their households struggled with food insecurity in September, when SNAP payments were still in effect.
Domestic workers count on SNAP. Trump's shutdown is hitting hard.
Cleaners, nannies, and home health aides work full-time—and still disproportionately rely on food stamps.Mother Jones
Most major US airports are among 40 targeted for shutdown flight cuts
Airports in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago are among 40 of the busiest across the U.S. where flights will be cut starting Friday due to the government shutdown, according to a list distributed to the airlines and obtained by The Associated Press.
The Federal Aviation Administration announced Wednesday it would reduce air traffic by 10% across “high-volume” markets to maintain travel safety as air traffic controllers go unpaid and exhibit signs of strain during the shutdown.
The affected airports in more than two dozen states include the busiest ones across the U.S., including Atlanta, Denver, Dallas, Orlando, Miami, and San Francisco. In some of the biggest cities — such as New York, Houston and Chicago — multiple airports will be affected.
https://apnews.com/article/government-shutdown-reduced-flights-a082a6817d960101968a923f7dfd8ef0
We Wing Any Car - Pay tax like a billionaire
We Wing Any Car - Pay tax like a billionaire
Add wings to your car and enjoy the same tax loopholes as private jets.wewinganycar.com
Meta is earning a fortune on a deluge of fraudulent ads, documents show
I ended up in Captcha hell trying to archive this, so I'm afraid I can't provide a link.
Meta internally projected late last year that it would earn about 10% of its overall annual revenue – or $16 billion – from running advertising for scams and banned goods, internal company documents show.A cache of previously unreported documents reviewed by Reuters also shows that the social-media giant for at least three years failed to identify and stop an avalanche of ads that exposed Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp’s billions of users to fraudulent e-commerce and investment schemes, illegal online casinos, and the sale of banned medical products.
On average, one December 2024 document notes, the company shows its platforms’ users an estimated 15 billion “higher risk” scam advertisements – those that show clear signs of being fraudulent – every day. Meta earns about $7 billion in annualized revenue from this category of scam ads each year, another late 2024 document states.
Much of the fraud came from marketers acting suspiciously enough to be flagged by Meta’s internal warning systems. But the company only bans advertisers if its automated systems predict the marketers are at least 95% certain to be committing fraud, the documents show. If the company is less certain – but still believes the advertiser is a likely scammer – Meta charges higher ad rates as a penalty, according to the documents. The idea is to dissuade suspect advertisers from placing ads.
The documents further note that users who click on scam ads are likely to see more of them because of Meta’s ad-personalization system, which tries to deliver ads based on a user’s interests.
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China unveils power of thorium reactor for world’s largest cargo ship
China unveils power of thorium reactor for world’s largest cargo ship
Technological breakthrough could revolutionise commercial shipping, naval engineering and deep sea operations if rolled out at scale.Stephen Chen (South China Morning Post)
A note to politicians hoping to emulate Mamdani’s social media strategy: without the right policies, it’s pointless
A note to politicians hoping to emulate Mamdani’s social media strategy: without the right policies, it’s pointless
Forget the medium and focus on the New York City mayor-elect’s message – centrists can’t compete with rent freezes, free buses and support for Palestine, says writer Rohan SathyamoorthyRohan Sathyamoorthy (The Guardian)
Chinese EV maker Xpeng to launch robotaxis, humanoid robots with self-developed AI chips
Chinese EV maker Xpeng to launch robotaxis, humanoid robots with self-developed AI chips
Chinese electric car company Xpeng is following in Tesla's footsteps by moving into robotaxis and humanoid robots.Evelyn Cheng (CNBC)
Meta is earning a fortune on a deluge of fraudulent ads, documents show
How Mamdani built an ‘unstoppable force’ that won over New York
How Mamdani built an ‘unstoppable force’ that won over New York
The mayor-elect built the greatest field operation by any political campaign in the city’s history – by getting New Yorkers to talk to eachother. Can Democrats learn from his success?Ed Pilkington (The Guardian)
RRF Caserta. 06 11 25 . Cronache Africane. Crisi in Sudan, Camerun. Mali , Congo e Costa d'Avorio
The Internet is Dying. We Can Still Stop It
The Internet faces an existential crisis as nearly 50% of all traffic is now non-human, with AI-generated content and bots threatening to overwhelm authentic human interaction[^1]. According to recent studies, this includes automated programs responsible for 49.6% of web traffic in 2023, a trend accelerated by AI models scraping content[^1].The problems are stark:
- Search engines flooded with AI-generated content optimized for algorithms rather than humans
- Social media platforms filled with AI "slop" and automated responses
- Genuine human content being drowned out by machine-generated noise
- Erosion of trusted information sources and shared truthHowever, concrete solutions exist:
- Technical Defenses:
- Open-source spam filtering tools like mosparo for protecting website forms
- AI scraper blocking through systems like Anubis
- Content authenticity verification via the CAI SDK[^1]
- Community Building:
- Supporting decentralized social networks (Mastodon, Lemmy)
- Using open-source forum platforms that emphasize human moderation
- Participating in curated communities with active fact-checking[^1]
- Individual Actions:
- Using privacy-focused browsers and search engines
- Supporting trusted news sources and independent creators
- Being conscious of data sharing and digital footprint[^1]"While exposure to AI-generated misinformation does make people more worried about the quality of information available online, it can also increase the value they attach to outlets with reputations for credibility," notes a 2025 study by Campante[^1].
[^1]: It's FOSS - The Internet is Dying. We Can Still Stop It
The Internet is Dying. We Can Still Stop It
Almost 50% of all internet traffic are non-human already. Unchecked, it could lead to a zombie internet.Theena Kumaragurunathan (It's FOSS News)
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JavaScript is the primary fingerprinting tool used inside the browsers.
Nuovo articolo: Eurovision 2026, c’è la prima artista ufficiale: Antigoni in gara per Cipro
Eurovision 2026, c'è la prima artista ufficiale: Antigoni in gara per Cipro
Eurovision 2026, c'è la prima artista ufficiale: Antigoni in gara per Cipro. La cantante di origine britannica ha una popolarità televisiva nel Regno UnitoEmanuele Lombardini (Eurofestival News)
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hydrashok
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •like this
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seathru
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •Use someone else's wifi.
I used to park my car in a Home Depot parking lot when I went to work with a laptop torrenting until the battery died.
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RoabeArt [he/him]
in reply to seathru • • •I used to do that at the Burger King that was next to my old house. I'd prop my laptop up by the window the faced the restaurant and start downloading.
Then at some point they added something to the WiFi that, after you've been connected for like 30 minutes, disconnects you. You wouldn't be banned or anything, it would just cut the connection until you go back to the captive portal and click "I Agree" again.
I feel like a lot of public WiFis these days have data caps and throttling to circumvent downloading.
comrade_twisty
in reply to seathru • • •whoever loves Digit
in reply to seathru • • •HelloRoot
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •Go to the small local library, they usually have free wifi, sometimes without registration and if you're lucky they don't filter any traffic.
There is also a map of open wifi hotspots online which work without registration also, but I'm too lazy to dig out the link.
Ask online for somebody to share their VPN. Many subscriptions explicitly allow inviting friends and family and allow multiple simultaneous connections.
don't like this
adhocfungus doesn't like this.
Eyedust
in reply to HelloRoot • • •Local library worker here. Can confirm we don't track connections, we only tally how many use our wifi if we can figure it out. Basically the tally just includes whoever brings out their phone in the library.
Just be aware that the state can supply your library with free internet, and I'm not sure how that's set up. I personally don't like connecting to random open wifi, official or no.
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hietsu
in reply to Eyedust • • •maxprime
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •like this
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i_stole_ur_taco
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •There’s a few free vpn providers out there. You could do a little homework and see if they are a good option. I tend to mistrust free services like that (if I’m not paying, who is, and what are they paying for?), but if you’re in a pinch it’s something to research.
Another option is to look for deals. Sometimes VPN providers will have a super sale a few times a year. I think once I got a NordVPN subscription for THREE YEARS for like $60. It’s more expensive than a single month of anything, yes, but if you can afford a onetime expense it’s nice not to have to worry about a recurring monthly cost.
Your other option is to not use torrents. Usenet is still the grand daddy of file sharing and is pretty much anonymous. Most Usenet hosts are paid, but back in the day even ISPs ran their own servers. It could be worth looking and seeing if there’s any free or low cost providers there.
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liliumstar
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •You can get into private trackers and trust them. Not recommended, but some do.
Generally speaking, the copyright trolls only target public trackers and DHT. There have been some instances of them making way into TL and others. Your ISP could also identify torrenting on private trackers if they wanted to, even with mitigations. In my experience and from what I hear, most ISPs do not go to these lengths.
So, there a risk doing the above. Whether or not it's worth it until you can afford a decent VPN is up to you.
Aside: Please do not use a free VPN for torrenting (or tor, for that matter). They are either like RiseUp and run on donations for people who really, really need them, or Proton which is commercial and specifically try to block or slow down the traffic. Either way, if ruins it for everyone else.
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LisaTrevor [she/her, they/them]
in reply to liliumstar • • •coyotino [he/him]
in reply to liliumstar • • •How does it ruin it for everyone else? One slow peer does not ruin the network.
liliumstar
in reply to coyotino [he/him] • • •dumfuq
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •HumanPerson
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •ScratchySoft
in reply to HumanPerson • • •HumanPerson
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •sp3ctr4l
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •Ok so, I was gonna top level comment, but somebody already mentioned I2P, so:
I2P.
geti2p.net/en/docs/application…
Now, with normally configured I2P, you can only torrent or file share with other I2P users/nodes/sites.
But, you can also set up an 'out-proxy', to connect to the broader 'net, via I2P, essentially using it as a giant, dynamic maze of proxies, where all your traffic is arguably better encrypted than via Tor.
Or, you could actually use Tor as the out-proxy, for... ludicrous levels of encryption maze.
geti2p.net/en/about/browser-co…
Its slow though. Much slower than all but the most dogshit free vpns.
But... that's the tier you already appear to be at, lol.
Uh yeah, you can use I2P to access/browse and torrent from the clearnet, not just the I2P net, you just have to properly set up I2P with an out proxy.
I believe the youtuber Mental Outlaw has some videos that walk you through both how to do an I2P basic set up, and an out-proxy set up.
Also, general privacy/security tip:
configure your webbrowser to only do DNS over HTTPS, also known as DoH.
Use Ublock, Canvas Blocker, Privacy Badger, test your web fingerprint with EFF's tool, make sure all your shit is actually configured right before torrenting anything, use sites that try to trace route you and find your real ip, make sure you don't have any... emergency fallback to not using your VPN or I2P or normal HTTP.
Bittorrent over I2P - I2P
geti2p.netScratchySoft
in reply to sp3ctr4l • • •mistermodal
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •bss03
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •frongt
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •_cryptagion [he/him]
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •like this
dhhyfddehhfyy4673 likes this.
whoever loves Digit
in reply to _cryptagion [he/him] • • •_cryptagion [he/him]
in reply to whoever loves Digit • • •hey hows about you go fuck yourself
whoever loves Digit
in reply to _cryptagion [he/him] • • •_cryptagion [he/him]
in reply to whoever loves Digit • • •technocrit
in reply to whoever loves Digit • • •plateee
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •hexagonwin
in reply to plateee • • •metaStatic likes this.
plateee
in reply to hexagonwin • • •There's a few - but typically the free ones have limits on the number of downloads per day.
Nzbfinder and bin search used to be okay.
ScratchySoft
in reply to plateee • • •cooper8
in reply to plateee • • •plateee
in reply to cooper8 • • •PastafARRian
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •Without passing any moral judgement on you whatsoever, if you posted this without a VPN, your post is permanently tied to your IP address and thus your home and is evidence of your intent to commit a crime, even if you said it's "for research". I wouldn't do that again and now I'm worried for you in general if you weren't worried to post this.
Generally nobody can afford to lose their privacy. It's $1/device/month per person if you get 5 other people to share a Mullvad account and you shouldn't do it because you're trying to pirate. A VPN is not a tool for piracy. You should be conducting all internet activity in it unless you do not care about the government seeing it.
ScratchySoft
in reply to PastafARRian • • •hietsu
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •ScratchySoft
in reply to hietsu • • •hietsu
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •But now thinking about it, if I were ever to get myself in a bind where I can’t afford something just a few bucks a month, I don’t think any off-time would be on my list at all.
ScratchySoft
in reply to hietsu • • •Uriel238 [all pronouns]
in reply to PastafARRian • • •PastafARRian
in reply to Uriel238 [all pronouns] • • •danisth [he/him]
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •mustlane
in reply to danisth [he/him] • • •Uhmm, I know that it might come off as begging, but may I also have an invite? I've been using RuTracker for 5 years at this point, but some stuff is just isn't there.
Thanks in advance!
Ilandar
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •like this
cooper8 likes this.
ScratchySoft
in reply to Ilandar • • •J-Bone
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •An alternative that hasn't been presented yet.
Why not use less well known foreign public trackers? Rutracker has a stupid amount of content, including a lot of niche music content.
If you are worried about Rutracker being too well known, you can try Mazepa Torrent. This is only relevant for movies and shows. Their collection isn't as good as rutracker, but they have most new releases. While the default audio language is Ukrainian, English is always included (this would an issue for non-English language movies/shows, but English subtitles are usually included).
BlueÆther
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •Move down under to New Zealand - although we do have a 3 strikes law, the clament has to pay all fees upfront to thr ISP and get a court order first...
We mostly raw dog it down here
incompetent
in reply to BlueÆther • • •Jessica
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •janNatan
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •I scrolled through the comments and didn't see anybody mention this... You know at least one VPN has a free tier, right? I tried proton's free tier and liked it so much I became a customer. I know posts from their CEO have recently became controversial around here, but it's hard to argue with free.
protonvpn.com/pricing
Pricing
Protonwhoever loves Digit
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •/home/pineapplelover
in reply to whoever loves Digit • • •TigerAce
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •ScratchySoft
in reply to TigerAce • • •TigerAce
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •I believe there are free VPN services. Maybe Proton has a free version? I know they offer a basic free version for Vivaldi browser. Just make sure they provider doesn't log traffic.
Now is black Friday, some VPN services are 75% off, that may be an option if you have at least something to spare. Sure, it's money, but a fine for illegal downloading costs much more.
Otherwise public wifi spots but speeds are probably shit.
Another option is installing Tails on a bootsble USB stick and connect through tor. But then speeds are also shit.
ScratchySoft
in reply to TigerAce • • •rozodru
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •I mean you can avoid all that. If you're just interested in music and retro games then just use soulseek and use the rom megathread. both of which are going to be either peer to peer or direct downloads. no torrenting.
Rom megathread (web search it) has quite literally everything. no need to search, no need to torrent, it's all right there. And soulseek with Nicotine+ just works like napster. sign up, be sure to share your music library, and then have at it.
ScratchySoft
in reply to rozodru • • •rozodru
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •right so you just keep your music folder open so people can do just that. More audiophiles are going to be on soulseek than some random torrent tracker.
I don't understand why you insist on torrenting when you can't safely do so. You're going to get way more traction sharing your rare stuff on soulseek than you will torrenting it I can guarantee that.
ScratchySoft
in reply to rozodru • • •CmdrShepard49
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •ScratchySoft
in reply to CmdrShepard49 • • •CmdrShepard49
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •Cevilia (she/they/…)
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •I would suggest don't.
For downloading, look at DDL sites.
For uploading, if you can't do it safely, don't. Stash it all, make backups, keep it until you can do it safely.
kugmo
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •See if Tribler works or fuck it and download anyway.
Just do it.
XNX
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •ScratchySoft
in reply to XNX • • •MangoPenguin
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •yardratianSoma
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •Kissaki
in reply to yardratianSoma • • •yardratianSoma
in reply to Kissaki • • •ScratchySoft
in reply to yardratianSoma • • •J-Bone
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •ScratchySoft
in reply to J-Bone • • •stupid_asshole69 [none/use name]
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •I been using torrents since they became a good option a little over twenty years ago. I’ve torrented using public and all manner of private trackers both with and without vpn or tor.
I have received letters from various ISPs during those years. Here’s what it all boils down to:
What’s most important: turn off peer exchange and dht, turn on require encryption.
What’s also important: only use private trackers.
What’s less important, but good to have: use a vpn with port forwarding with your client bound to its interface. It doesn’t matter if you don’t bind the client to the vpn interface so make sure you do that.
E: just read through the comments on your native instance that don’t show up to me normally. There’s some old misinformation going around still. I’m not gonna argue or go into great detail but things like only leeching, only using foreign trackers or using someone else’s WiFi don’t do anything to help you avoid some kind of letter.
ScratchySoft
in reply to stupid_asshole69 [none/use name] • • •stupid_asshole69 [none/use name]
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •Go test into one of the music trackers. It’s easy if you can follow instructions and retain information. If you end up feeling like the social expectations of a private tracker are tripping you up then spend a little time on the mya tracker to get used to it first.
If you’re making your own rips then being exposed to the information, toolsets and expectations of the private trackers will improve the quality of your output.
ScratchySoft
in reply to stupid_asshole69 [none/use name] • • •Edit: MyAnonymouse, right?
stupid_asshole69 [none/use name]
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •frongt
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •CaptainBlinky
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •ScratchySoft
in reply to CaptainBlinky • • •coyotino [he/him]
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •Doesn't Proton have a free VPN tier? I think it doesn't support port forwarding so your connections would be limited, but that might still work?
Otherwise, check the megathread and go with direct downloads. Those happen over https so completely encrypted.
ScratchySoft
in reply to coyotino [he/him] • • •coyotino [he/him]
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •Hmm I'm not sure about contributing. You've presented yourself as someone too broke to afford a VPN so I didn't think you were buying CDs and ripping flacs. Sorry if I misunderstood your goals. I was more focused on the goal of obtaining files.
Edit: ps, not sure if you saw yet, but I pm'd you about another possible solution.
ScratchySoft
in reply to coyotino [he/him] • • •Seefra 1
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •I don't usually recommend this, but since you are in a situation where you really can't afford a VPN or a seedbox and live in a country where torrenting is prosecuted then I think that grants a free pass to abuse the tor network a bit and torrent over tor.
There are some guides online on now to route the traffic, note that it's very easy to leak traffic if you don't know what you're doing. Look for a good guide
. I'm guessing the safest way to do it is by using Whonix.
If going that route avoid downloading big torrents if you can find smaller ones or try to search for direct downloads first.
And also, I don't usually say this, but, avoid seeding. Yes leeching is bad, but saturating tor is probably worse I think.
sobchak
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •Tribler or i2p.
Edit: there are also non-bittorrent p2p networks out there like Retroshare, but I haven't used them, so don't know how useful they are.
ScratchySoft
in reply to sobchak • • •sobchak
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •ErrorCode550511
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •cassandrafatigue
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •lIlIllIlIIIllIlIlII
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •nullptr
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •Rivalarrival
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •Rabbit
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •Mullvad is €5 a month for total of €60 for a year.
Save up then torrent. If you live in the US you risk way more in fines than what €60 for a year of VPN would cost.
brainwashed
in reply to Rabbit • • •horse
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •Scrollone
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •Honest question, why would you need a VPN if you want to download from private trackers?
Usually, copyright owners target people on public trackers and on the DHT. Not a problem if you only get into private trackers.
☂️-
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •theoneandonlyeggboi
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •VPN - riseup.net
riseup.netSpice Hoarder
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •MBech
in reply to ScratchySoft • • •