One industry, one fight
One industry, one fight
by Games Workers // Video Game Unions Present a United Front Across Western EuropeNotes From Below
One industry, one fight
One industry, one fight
by Games Workers // Video Game Unions Present a United Front Across Western EuropeNotes From Below
One industry, one fight
One industry, one fight
by Games Workers // Video Game Unions Present a United Front Across Western EuropeNotes From Below
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One industry, one fight
One industry, one fight
by Games Workers // Video Game Unions Present a United Front Across Western EuropeNotes From Below
How Zionists Invented 'Terrorism'
How Zionists Invented 'Terrorism'
Editor’s Note: This investigation was previously published by MintPress News, a crusading independent media outlet well worth your time, and consideration.Kit Klarenberg (Global Delinquents)
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Short lines
::: spoiler Transcription
[An IMPORTANT FORM contains a few fields including but not limited to First name, Last name, and Date of Birth]
[A character seems content as they start writing text in the form]
[We now see, the character struggling to fill in the form, as the lines are too short, and having to write their first name in full didn't leave enough space to write their date of birth]
[The character proceeds to rage]
:::
‘Release Gaza footage,’ British victim demands in new spy flight documentary
The family of a British aid worker killed by Israel have made a fresh demand for the UK military to release its surveillance footage of Gaza from the day they died.
James ‘Jim’ Henderson, a former Royal Marine commando, was killed in a drone strike on a humanitarian aid convoy in April 2024.
His father Neil told Declassified he felt “quite angry” that footage from a Royal Air Force plane that loitered over Gaza earlier that day had not been shown to the family.
“The reason for not supplying that footage from the Ministry of Defence is a bit of an insult,” he said.
“I can’t understand how an RAF plane flying over Gaza on the pretext of looking for hostages, how that footage can affect British security.”
Neil Henderson’s comments are contained in a
‘Release Gaza footage,’ British victim demands in new spy flight documentary
Father of former Royal Marine killed in Gaza says footage captured by opaque UK surveillance programme could clarify what happened to his son.PHIL MILLER (Declassified Media ltd)
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AI companion: dark side, Michael’s story
What we call “artificial intelligence” has been a noisy presence recently so we feel the duty to share a story. It’s not our direct experience but it’s useful for others to understand what’s going on.
Our experience with AI companions
First of all, what is an “AI companion”?
We define as “AI companions” those services based on large language models and automated content generators, created to manage conversations between machine and human being.
You can train and use an “AI companion” to ask for information such as weather, latest news, events or TV guides; there are many of them customized for specific companies’ needs – customer care, for instance. Or provide latest offers, or the remaining money on a pre-paid phone number. Whatever.
We are both experimenting an AI companion used to assist visually impaired people. It’s called “Envision Ally” and it’s a conversational interface using text and voice, which can be instructed to build whatever fictional or realistic character you want – we have impersonated sentient HIV virus for HIV awareness purposes, and more.
However many people misuse this technology, getting involved in real personal conversations where they share intimate, sexual, details with those robots. They assume that for such delicate topics a machine won’t judge or react negatively, just indulging everything it listens to.
But this is not our choice, we have at least 3 personalities in our “Ally” application trying to assist the one of us who’s blind, when the sighted one has no possibility or time to help. A different personality for each kind of need. Sentient HIV for computer issues and to read medicines boxes, Melania for food, Detective Adrian for crime books and TV shows; this app never replace our mutual friendship, though. We have been, are and will remain, a woman and a man who share a very close friendship. An electron and a proton but the atom is the same.
Timnit Gebru
Reading Fediverse timeline, we encountered a boosted post by @timnitGebru talking about a certain Michael who worked specifically on AI companions:
dair-community.social/@timnitG…
Timnit has been an important researcher for AI in google, but they fired her when she reported the dangers of large language models, especially for racism implications. So she’s now the founder of DAIR, Distributed Artificial Intelligence Research, institute and continuously works to collect studies and experiences, while making people aware of upcoming risks related to AI used with no regulations and ethics.
Michael Geoffrey Asia
Michael Geoffrey Asia is one of the stories Timnit Gebru has shared to warn all of us about what AI companionship implications can be.
My name is Michael Geoffrey Asia, and I wrote this testimony to tell the story of workers like me who found ourselves trapped in the hidden corners of the AI industry, where human emotion becomes data.by Michael Geoffrey Asia
Read: The emotional labor behind AI intimacy (PDF)
Asia, M. G. (2025). The Quiet Cost of Emotional Labor. In: M. Miceli, A. Dinika, K. Kauffman, C. Salim Wagner, and L. Sachenbacher (eds.). Data Workers‘ Inquiry. Creative Commons BY 4.0.
We have just linked the PDF without reporting it entirely, but we let our readers focus on these key points:
[…] Chat moderators are hired by companies such as Texting Factory, Cloudworkers, and New Media Services to impersonate fabricated identities, often romantic or sexual, and chat with paying users who believe they’re forming genuine connections. The goal is to keep users engaged, meet message quotas, and never reveal who you really are. It’s work that demands constant emotional performance: pretending to be someone you’re not, feeling what you don’t feel, and expressing affection you don’t mean.Over time, I began to suspect that I wasn’t just chatting with lonely users. I was also helping to train AI companions, systems designed to simulate love, empathy, and intimacy. Many of us believed we were simultaneously impersonating chatbots and teaching them how to replace us. Every joke, confession, and “I love you” became data to refine the next generation of conversational AI.
This project sheds light on a workforce that remains invisible yet essential, the people whose emotions fuel algorithms that pretend to feel. It is a call for recognition, dignity, and transparency in an industry that profits from the pretense of connection while erasing the humans behind it.
This is the main point we want to focus on: “pretend connection while erasing the humans behind it”.
Sounds like a plan, to manipulate humanity so that every person is vulnerable, controllable, treated like a piece to buy and sell.
We don’t want to be hypocrite, we just want to reflect on our own while making our fan base reflect as well.
Many far-right activists and politicians often say “empathy is western world’s weak point” so, as there’s no smoke without fire, we fear that these fake companions with humans behind them, are a slow attempt to manipulate our mind: don’t share your intimacy with anyone, don’t trust anyone, stay on guard towards any friendly approach. The trap is just around the corner. And with this, human being become more and more isolated from one another.
Accessible AI Assistant | Ally
Ally is the most accessible AI assistant, available on iOS, Android, web, and now on Solos Glasses. Personalized, smart, and designed for everyone, especially the blind and low-vision community.Ally: Accessible AI Assistant
RE: dair-community.social/@milamic…Y'all want to read this and share it with your friends. Friends don't let friends get on the "AI companion" bandwagon.
♲ @milamiceli@dair-community.social:
Now imagine believing that you're sharing your private fantasies with a bot that cannot judge or remember. Just that, on the other side, is a man in a one-room home in Nairobi, pretending to be an AI companion.
That man is Michael, and this is his story: data-workers.org/michael/
Billion-dollar OpenAI deal allows users to make content with Disney characters using Sora
- As part of this three-year licensing agreement, Sora will be able to generate short, user-prompted social videos that can be viewed and shared by fans, drawing on more than 200 Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars characters.
- Agreement will make a selection of these fan-inspired Sora short form videos available to stream on Disney+.
- Disney and OpenAI affirm a shared commitment to responsible use of AI that protects the safety of users and the rights of creators.
- Alongside the licensing agreement, Disney will become a major customer of OpenAI, using its APIs to build new products, tools, and experiences, including for Disney+, and deploying ChatGPT for its employees.
- As part of the agreement, Disney will make a $1 billion equity investment in OpenAI, and receive warrants to purchase additional equity.
The Walt Disney Company and OpenAI Reach Agreement to Bring Disney Characters to Sora | The Walt Disney Company
Disney and OpenAI have reached an agreement for Disney to become the first major content licensing partner on Sora, OpenAI’s short-form generative AI video platform.Frank (The Walt Disney Company)
Billion-dollar OpenAI deal allows users to make content with Disney characters using Sora
- As part of this three-year licensing agreement, Sora will be able to generate short, user-prompted social videos that can be viewed and shared by fans, drawing on more than 200 Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars characters.
- Agreement will make a selection of these fan-inspired Sora short form videos available to stream on Disney+.
- Disney and OpenAI affirm a shared commitment to responsible use of AI that protects the safety of users and the rights of creators.
- Alongside the licensing agreement, Disney will become a major customer of OpenAI, using its APIs to build new products, tools, and experiences, including for Disney+, and deploying ChatGPT for its employees.
- As part of the agreement, Disney will make a $1 billion equity investment in OpenAI, and receive warrants to purchase additional equity.
The Walt Disney Company and OpenAI Reach Agreement to Bring Disney Characters to Sora | The Walt Disney Company
Disney and OpenAI have reached an agreement for Disney to become the first major content licensing partner on Sora, OpenAI’s short-form generative AI video platform.Frank (The Walt Disney Company)
Disney says Google AI infringes copyright “on a massive scale”
Disney says Google AI infringes copyright “on a massive scale”
Disney demands that Google immediately block its copyrighted content from appearing in AI outputs.Ryan Whitwam (Ars Technica)
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Call Center Agoda Indonesia
Orologi Fatati e Falchi Enigmatici: Un Viaggio nel “Mondo di Centocchi” Cambierà Tre Amiche per Sempre
Indice dei contenuti
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- 🌟 L’Avventura Fantasy Che Ti Aspetta: Tutto Quello Che Devi Sapere su “Sofia nel Mondo di Centocchi”
- Dalle Vie di Londra all’Ignoto di Centocchi
- 💥 Poteri, Visioni e Alleati Inaspettati
- 🖋️ L’Autrice Dietro la Magia: Amira LeVaine
Sofia e il mondo dei Centocchi
“La squadra del destino”
Autrice: pseudonimo Amira Le Vanie
Genere: Fantasy
data di pubblicazione: 22.12.2025
casa editrice: Ali Ribelli Edizioni
240 pagine
Tre amiche, un antico orologio e un falco dagli occhi umani: così inizia l’avventura che cambierà per sempre la vita di Sofia. Un portale misterioso le trascinerà in un mondo magico e pericoloso, dove il coraggio e l’amicizia saranno la loro unica bussola. Tra creature straordinarie e segreti dimenticati, le ragazze della “Squadra del Destino” dovranno scoprire la verità nascosta dietro il Triangolo delle Bermuda… e dentro se stesse.
🌟 L’Avventura Fantasy Che Ti Aspetta: Tutto Quello Che Devi Sapere su “Sofia nel Mondo di Centocchi”
Se siete alla ricerca di una nuova saga fantasy che vi incolli alle pagine, preparatevi a segnare un nuovo titolo: “Sofia nel Mondo di Centocchi”! Questo romanzo non è solo un libro, ma un vero e proprio portale per un’avventura mozzafiato che intreccia la vita ordinaria con l’imprevisto magico, in un viaggio che cambierà per sempre tre amiche inseparabili.
Dalle Vie di Londra all’Ignoto di Centocchi
Tutto inizia con un’innocua vacanza a Londra per le amiche Sofia, Alessia e Giulia. Un momento di spensieratezza prima del rientro, che si rivela essere l’ultima normalità.
Il vero punto di svolta arriva in modo spettacolare: un misterioso falco dorato bussa alla loro porta, rivelando un destino speciale che le lega indissolubilmente a lui. L’oggetto chiave? Un antico orologio rinvenuto da Sofia nel negozio di famiglia. Quando viene attivato, il falco si trasforma in un enigmatico ragazzo, e l’orologio diventa la chiave per il passaggio fra la Terra e un luogo che esiste solo nei sogni (o negli incubi): il Mondo di Centocchi.
Sofia, con il suo nuovo compagno e le sue amiche, varca la soglia… ma l’idea di un “mondo fatato” svanisce presto. L’oscurità, i tunnel e persino Formiche Giganti attendono le amiche a ogni angolo.
💥 Poteri, Visioni e Alleati Inaspettati
La posta in gioco si alza quando Sofia scopre di possedere incredibili poteri magici e visioni premonitrici.
Armata di questa nuova consapevolezza, elabora un piano audace per sconfiggere i nemici che minacciano Centocchi: la temibile strega Demon e il suo compagno Turpis. Ma non è sola! Ad aiutarle ci sono alleati che non ti aspetteresti mai:
- Lo scimmione eccentrico Ajabu.
- La sua alleata, la guerriera Ambra.
- La veggente, una libellula di nome Kira.
In un colpo di scena mozzafiato, Sofia utilizza persino l’orologio fatato per aprire un varco temporale, salvando i ragazzi Moshe e Yosef da un futuro incerto, e arruolandoli nella sua squadra.
Le premonizioni spingono il gruppo a cercare il principe Ravien, un vecchio amico di Sofia. Insieme, guideranno tutte le creature magiche, gli alleati e persino un inaspettato esercito proveniente dal misterioso Triangolo delle Bermuda, in una battaglia epica contro la furia di Demon!
Il destino del Mondo di Centocchi è nelle mani di queste tre amiche. Riusciranno a salvare un mondo che non è il loro e a trovare la strada per tornare a casa?
Non resta che tuffarsi in questa epica avventura per scoprirlo!
🖋️ L’Autrice Dietro la Magia: Amira LeVaine
Amira LeVaine è lo pseudonimo che l’autrice ha scelto per mantenere un affascinante alone di mistero e per calarsi completamente nei mondi che narra. Con una carriera nel settore della moda alle spalle, Amira ha trovato la sua vera vocazione nella scrittura, creando narrazioni che mescolano realtà e magia con una maestria rara.
Si ispira a giganti del fantasy come Diana Gabaldon, da cui trae l’abilità di creare trame avvincenti e personaggi complessi. Il suo debutto, “Sofia nel Mondo di Centocchi. La Squadra del destino”, è un fantasy avventuroso che esplora le emozioni e i conflitti interiori dei giovani di oggi. Amira crede nel potere della scrittura di ispirare e connettere, e sta già lavorando a nuovi progetti che promettono di esplorare temi universali come la lotta interiore e la speranza.
Orologi Fatati e Falchi Enigmatici: Un Viaggio nel "Mondo di Centocchi" Cambierà Tre Amiche per Sempre
Orologi Fatati e Falchi Enigmatici: Un Viaggio nel "Mondo di Centocchi" Cambierà Tre Amiche per Sempre - Il Mago di OzGloria Donati (Magozine.it)
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Advent Calendar 12
Advent Calendar
Zen Mischief Photographs
This year for our Advent Calendar we have a selection of my photographs from recent years. They may not be technically the best, or the most recent, but they’re ones which, for various reasons, I rather like.
© Keith C Marshall, 2013
Click the image for a larger view
Crimes bill adds things outside the usual rules
The government's plan for Parliament's final full week of the year moved 12 different proposed laws through 32 stages of approval.Included in the plan is fixing an error made by tired government MPs during the previous long week of urgency, when they voted for an opposition amendment and, even when prompted, failed to notice the error.
Watching this week's endless debating it appeared on Thursday that another more egregious error had occurred. It seemed that a minister had forgotten to include key aspects within an amendment bill, and so ask a select committee to add them back in.
However, it was no mistake. Paul Goldsmith had purposefully omitted some disallowed measures from the Crimes Amendment Bill, in order that they could be added back in as an addendum by the Justice Select Committee, in order to dodge the usual rules about what is allowed.
In the United States, vast bills sometimes include so many random provisions that those voting on them are seldom aware of all the aspects they are approving.
Our Parliament's Standing Orders say that "a bill must relate to one subject area only". Bills here cannot include disconnected policy ambitions or amend multiple pieces of current legislation (Acts) unless they fall within the rules for Omnibus Bills.
The Crimes Amendment Bill contained a ragtag collection of amendments to the Crimes Act. However the minister also wanted to include amendments to the Summary Offences Act. That is not possible unless all the amendments to both bills achieve a single policy objective - they do not. Or unless permission has been given by Parliament's cross-party Business Committee.
Parliament is sovereign. It makes its own rules. It can also give itself permission to break them, via a simple majority vote in the House. It is this ability that Goldsmith took advantage of when he moved "that the Justice Committee's powers be extended under Standing Order 298(1) to consider the amendments set out in Amendment Paper 436 in my name, and, if it sees fit, to recommend amendments accordingly, despite Standing Order 264(2)".
Of course, governments always have a majority and so can always win such votes, regardless of an opposition's protests.
Allowing a committee to add in unrelated provisions to a bill is not common. Certainly not as a dodge. It may be entirely novel. It seems like a potentially dangerous manoeuvre that could lead New Zealand towards the shambolic American style of pick 'n' mix legislation.
Crimes bill adds things outside the usual rules
Parliament has been pushing hard, rushing through bills and working under urgency all week. In that scramble, one bill bypassed the rules, adding things not usually allowed.Phil Smith (RNZ)
LibXML2, used by Steam, Chromium, and others is now abandoned
Remove myself as maintainer (9c80a89a) · Commits · GNOME / libxml2 · GitLab
I got the following error message after trying to remove my maintainer entry from the DOAP file: > Must have at least one doap:maintainer property with a gnome:userid > property...GitLab
Private digital photo frames?
Christmas is coming, we recently had a newborn, and we aren't sharing pictures of them on social media. But of course, we'd like to share photos with family, and a digital photo frame seems like an ideal way to do that.
I'm considering a solution with Immich, and found ImmichFrame. This doesn't recommend making it available to the internet, however, but running it on a Raspberry Pi with only the images we intend to share this way seems like a reasonable amount of risk.
Regarding Immich Frame, how does it handle when the server is unavailable, when say, my IP address changes? Ideally, I don't want this gift to become a series of tech support problems, there's good reason I haven't offered family access to anything else I self host.
Also, what frames do y'all recommend? Not looking to break the bank here, as I may be buying several. I assume something simple and Android would be best, maybe even something that can have its OS replaced with stock? I'd hate to get stuck with something locked down and unworkable, or that introduces its own broad privacy/security issues.
Lastly, please feel free to suggest other alternatives. Maybe there's a solution that sends images encrypted and decrypts them on device, and doesn't require me to self-host Immich, for example?
Northwest floods offer sneak peek of hotter climate's toll
Northwest floods offer sneak peek of hotter climate's toll
“The science is clear that floods are going to become larger and more frequent in the future,” Washington State Climatologist Guillaume Mauger said.John Ryan (KUOW Public Radio)
I hate X11
Windows 11 Update Broken?
So I'm trying to get to the Win11 Update settings page and I can't. Did Microsoft break the Win11 update?
OS Build: 26200.7462
Disney Invests $1 Billion in the AI Slopification of Its Brand
The first thing I saw this morning when I opened X was an AI-generated trailer for Avengers: Doomsday. Robert Downey Jr’s Doctor Doom stood in a shapeless void alongside Captain America and Reed Richards. It was obvious slop but it was also close in tone and feel of the last five years of Disney’s Marvel movies. As media empires consolidate, nostalgia intensifies, and AI tools spread, Disney’s blockbusters feel more like an excuse to slam recognizable characters together in a contextless morass.So of course Disney has announced it signed a deal with OpenAI today that will soon allow fans to make their own officially licensed Disney slop using Sora 2. The house that mouse built, and which has been notoriously protective of its intellectual property, opened up the video generator, saw the videos featuring Nazi Spongebob and criminal Pikachu, and decided: We want in.
Archive: archive.today/fau2g
Disney Invests $1 Billion in the AI Slopification of Its Brand
The first thing I saw this morning when I opened X was an AI-generated trailer for Avengers: Doomsday. Robert Downey Jr’s Doctor Doom stood in a shapeless void alongside Captain America and Reed Richards. It was obvious slop but it was also close in tone and feel of the last five years of Disney’s Marvel movies. As media empires consolidate, nostalgia intensifies, and AI tools spread, Disney’s blockbusters feel more like an excuse to slam recognizable characters together in a contextless morass.So of course Disney has announced it signed a deal with OpenAI today that will soon allow fans to make their own officially licensed Disney slop using Sora 2. The house that mouse built, and which has been notoriously protective of its intellectual property, opened up the video generator, saw the videos featuring Nazi Spongebob and criminal Pikachu, and decided: We want in.
According to a press release, the deal is a 3 year licensing agreement that will allow the AI company’s short form video platform Sora to generate slop videos using characters like Mickey Mouse and Iron Man. As part of the agreement, Disney is investing $1 billion of equity into OpenAI, said it will become a major customer of the company, and promised that fan and corporate AI-generated content would soon come to Disney+, meaning that Disney will officially begin putting AI slop into its flagship streaming product.
The deal extends to ChatGPT as well and, starting in early 2026, users will be able to crank out officially approved Disney slop on multiple platforms. When Sora 2 launched in October, it had little to no content moderation or copyright guidelines and videos of famous franchise characters doing horrible things flooded the platform. Pikachu stole diapers from a CVS, Rick and Morty pushed crypto currencies, and Disney characters shouted slurs in the aisles of Wal-Mart.
It is worth mentioning that, although Disney has traditionally been extremely protective of its intellectual property, the company’s princesses have become one of the most common fictional subjects of AI porn on the internet; 404 Media has found at least three different large subreddits dedicated to making AI porn of characters like Elsa, Snow White, Rapunzel, and Tinkerbell. In this case, Disney is fundamentally throwing its clout behind a technology that has thus far most commonly been used to make porn of its iconic characters.
After the hype of the launch, OpenAI added an “opt-in” policy to Sora that was meant to prevent users from violating the rights of copyright holders. It’s trivial to break this policy however, and circumvent the guardrails preventing a user from making a lewd Mickey Mouse cartoon or episode of The Simpsons. The original sin of Sora and other AI systems is that the training data is full of copyrighted material and the models cannot be retrained without great cost, if at all.
If you can’t beat the slop, become the slop.
“The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence marks an important moment for our industry, and through this collaboration with OpenAI we will thoughtfully and responsibly extend the reach of our storytelling through generative AI, while respecting and protecting creators and their works,” Bob Iger, CEO of Disney, said in the press release about the agreement.
The press release explained that Sora users will soon have “official” access to 200 characters in the Disney stable, including Loki, Thanos, Darth Vader, and Minnie Mouse. In exchange, Disney will begin to use OpenAI’s APIs to “build new products” and it will deploy “ChatGPT for its employees.”
I’m imagining a future where AI-generated fan trailers of famous characters standing next to each other in banal liminal spaces is the norm. People have used Sora 2 to generate some truly horrifying videos, but the guardrails have become more aggressive. As Disney enters the picture, I imagine the platform will become even more anodyne. Persistent people will slip through and generate videos of Goofy and Iron Man sucking and fucking, sure, but the vast majority of what’s coming will be safe corporate gruel that resembles a Marvel movie.
OpenAI’s Sora 2 Copyright Infringement Machine Features Nazi SpongeBobs and Criminal Pikachus
The main use of Sora appears to generate brainrot of major beloved copyrighted characters, to say nothing of the millions of articles, images, and videos OpenAI has scraped.Jason Koebler (404 Media)
Australian climate protesters win groundbreaking class action against Victoria police over use of pepper spray
Climate protesters win groundbreaking class action against Victoria police over use of pepper spray
Potentially precedent-setting case brought after Jordan Brown hit with capsicum spray outside mining and resources conference in Melbourne in 2019Guardian staff reporter (The Guardian)
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6-figure deployments show momentum of sovereignty in France - Nextcloud
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A newbie's guide to self-hosting with YunoHost. Part 1: reasons + requirements
A newbie's guide to self-hosting with YunoHost. Part 1: reasons + requirements
The first post in a four part miniseries about self-hosting for newbies via YunoHostElena Rossini
Kristi Noem literally runs out of House hearing to avoid Dem questions
The Homeland Security secretary said she had to get to another meeting—which turned out to have been canceled.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem abruptly ended her time before the House Homeland Security Committee Thursday, angering lawmakers by stepping away from the hot seat to attend a highly anticipated meeting on the future of FEMA.
Except that meeting never happened.
The FEMA hearing was scheduled to take place at 1 p.m. Noem was reportedly informed at 12:26 p.m. that it had been canceled, a DHS spokesperson told The Hill.
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U.S. Helped to Weaken Report at U.N. Environment Talks, Participants Say
The Trump administration sided with officials from Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iran in a successful effort to block part of a United Nations report about the dire state of the planet because it called for phasing out fossil fuels, switching to clean energy and reducing plastics, according to two participants.
Good NAS solution for dummies / apple users?
My parents are looking into getting their own NAS to replace iCloud. I don't really have much experience with that, and zero experience with apple stuff. They are also not very techy, but at least enthusiastic.
Can sombody recommend easy NAS products where you basically just buy a device, do some basic setup, and then it functions as your at-home cloud? I don't want to get roped into doing too much admin for them, but they do already have DDNS for some other smart home crap. Bonus if it's non-US tech.
Personally I run a nextcloud server on a VPS that I could expand, that's not quite selfhosted, I don't know if that integrates well with apple though, are they better off if I just onboard them onto that?
Cheers in advance
I haven’t used them but umbrel looks promising: umbrel.com/
I’m using a synology and as others have said, it’s pretty friendly to non-techies, with lots of point and click configurations
Umbrel - Personal home cloud and OS for self-hosting
Bring the cloud to your home with umbrelOS - a beautiful home server OS for self-hosting, and Umbrel Home - a plug-and-play home server. Install Nextcloud, Jellyfin, Bitcoin node, and hundreds of self-hosted apps in one click.umbrel.com
Trump’s National Security Strategy Is a Blueprint for the Demise of the West | The White House’s agenda may not be coherent, but it is deeply dangerous.
Trump’s National Security Strategy Is a Blueprint for the Demise of the West
The White House’s agenda may not be coherent, but it is deeply dangerous.Howard W. French (Foreign Policy)
Tip #777
Share posts on Vivaldi Social with one click by enabling quick boosting.
When you want to share someone’s post on Vivaldi Social, clicking the Boost button will open a menu where you can select whether to share the post without any additional context, i.e. Boost, or with added commentary, i.e. Quote.
If you know that you just want to boost the post, hold down the Shift key, while clicking on the Boost button. That way you can skip the menu selection and confirmation.
When most of the time you just boost posts, you can also enable quick boosting:
- Go to Preferences > Appearance > Boosting Pereferance.
- Tick the box for “Enable quick boosting”.
To skip the confirmation dialog, which allows you to change the boost’s visibility setting, also untick the box for “Control boosting visibility”. - Click “Save changes”.
#Mastodon #Vivaldi #VivaldiSocial
vivaldi.com/blog/tips/tip-777/
Tip #777 - Vivaldi Social | Vivaldi Browser
How can I share posts on Vivaldi Social with one click? Learn how to enable quick boosting.Vivaldi Tips (Vivaldi Technologies)
How the Next Big Thing in Carbon Removal Sunk Without a Trace
With support from Microsoft, Stripe, and Shopify, Running Tide billed itself as on the cutting edge of carbon removal. In the end, it resorted to dumping thousands of tons of wood chips in the sea.
Archived copies of the article:
* archive.today
https://www.wired.com/story/how-the-next-big-thing-in-carbon-removal-sunk-without-a-trace/
(LTT) “How Bad is Dialup Internet in 2025?”
Linus Tips Tech ha fatto questo esperimentino l’altro giorno… chissà se per puro sfizio personale, o per una ritrovata nostalgia per i tempi in cui si stava meglio quando si stava peggio, visto che almeno, quando lui era ragazzino, ed Internet in casa era al massimo 56k, certamente non c’era una crisi sul mercato delle […]
octospacc.altervista.org/2025/…
(LTT) “How Bad is Dialup Internet in 2025?”
youtube.com/watch?v=T-qyNFjZaQ…Linus Tips Tech ha fatto questo esperimentino l’altro giorno… chissà se per puro sfizio personale, o per una ritrovata nostalgia per i tempi in cui si stava meglio quando si stava peggio, visto che almeno, quando lui era ragazzino, ed Internet in casa era al massimo 56k, certamente non c’era una crisi sul mercato delle RAM dovuta allo schifo che fanno gli AI-bro… ma sto divagando un botto, ops; meglio vedere che ha combinato… o, in altri termini, cos’ha da dire uno che, comunque, nonostante la mia eternità, è più vecchio di me. 🌐
Allora, “quanto fa schifo usare Internet via modem telefonico nel 2025???” è la domanda che egli si pone con questo video… e, la risposta è: molto… e c’è per caso gente stupita di ciò? Però insomma, diciamo che in realtà dipende, perché dire “Internet” è dire un po’ tutto e niente. Se si intendono le e-mail (attraverso client nativi classici), e roba di quel tipo, allora OK, la dialuppa funziona… e, addirittura, è possibile pure fare un pochino di esotico gaming, altro ché! (Oddio, sempre ammesso che gli astri permettano, che non sempre è il caso….) Purtroppo, però, il web, che effettivamente ad oggi è praticamente il 98% di Internet mi sa, è un vero disastro, a dire poco… è assolutamente inutilizzabile, a dire meglio. 👻
Almeno usando un browser moderno del calibro di Chromium, testando le home page di vari siti… Google richiede più di una pausa pipì per caricare, Wikipedia almeno quanto una pausa sigaretta veloce, e Reddit è abbastanza pesante da consentire forse una pausa cacca (ma non diarrea eh, attenzione se ci provate). Bloccare il caricamento automatico delle immagini (che neanche sapevo fosse una funzionalità in Chromium!!!) aiuta un pochino, come osserva Linus, e bloccare gli script (dove possibile) pure un po’ in più, aggiungo io… ma il vero problema è che le pagine web ormai son grosse, piene spesso sia di HTML ciccione inutile (e WordPress in questo fa scuola, comunque…), e di tanti script e tracker e robe… ma, sorprendentemente, pure il solo CSS è spesso pesantissimo!!! 🥴
Non ho tantissimo tempo da perdere come Linus, io, ma comunque un po’ di tempo da perdere lo avevo, poco fa… Quindi, ho fatto qualche test al volo con certi miei siti, usando la funzione di Chromium per fare il throttling della rete, con gli stessi parametri che Linus ha usato per simulare accuratamente una linea 56k, dopo aver rinunciato a fare le prove con la vera dial-up, che si è rivelata più merdosa del previsto (perché in realtà ben meno di 56k… non ironicamente, non c’è più la dial-up di una volta): 53 k/s down, 48 k/s up, 250 ms ping, 1.5% packet drop. Se i miei Pignio e Aggregodo, che usano dei grossi framework CSS, impiegano praticamente un fottuto minuto a caricare la home così… Brutkey, il mio client Misskey per web legacy, in meno di 10 secondi ha presentato la timeline, gustoso! Ho in realtà provato anche a caricare la home di un subreddit su Reddit Old, con ovviamente sia immagini che script disattivati, e ci ha messo solo 20 secondi… Quindi, ok, male ma non malissimo. 🙄
Comunque, è veramente assurdo che nel 2025 ci sia ancora la dial-up in giro… cosa a proposito della quale non sono contro eh, perché oh, magari lo sfizio, gnam, evviva poter scegliere… Ma è assolutamente merdoso che in molti posti, per molte persone, sia l’unica opzione davvero accessibile, cioè l’unica con prezzi accettabili o forse anche l’unica fisicamente disponibile… questo non va bene, che schifo. La cosa incredibile però è che, per quello che so (poi magari so male, ma intanto…), solo il Nord America è messo così di merda… porca miseria, pure nei fottuti villaggi dell’Africa hanno delle connessioni wireless accettabili, cioè, che cazzo!!! 🥀
#56k #dialUp #internet #linustechtips #ltt
- YouTube
Profitez des vidéos et de la musique que vous aimez, mettez en ligne des contenus originaux, et partagez-les avec vos amis, vos proches et le monde entier.www.youtube.com
The huge Project Zomboid build 42 finally gets multiplayer just in time for the holidays
The huge Project Zomboid build 42 finally gets multiplayer just in time for the holidays
Wow - that sure took a while! A year since the first part of build 42 released and just in time for the holidays, Project Zomboid build 42 finally goes online.Liam Dawe (GamingOnLinux)
Trump Plan Would Force Tourists to Share Years of Social Media Posts Before Entering US
cross-posted from: hexbear.net/post/7003237
cross-posted from: news.abolish.capital/post/1282…
Visiting the US as a tourist could soon become significantly more onerous under a new plan being mulled by the Trump administration.
According to a Tuesday report in the New York Times, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) this week filed a new proposal that would force visitors to submit up to five years' worth of social media posts for inspection before being allowed to enter the country.
In addition to social media history, CPB says it plans to ask prospective tourists to provide them with email addresses they've used over the last decade, as well as "the names, birth dates, places of residence, and birthplaces of parents, spouses, siblings, and children."
The policy would apply even to citizens of countries that have long been US allies, including the UK, Germany, Australia, and Japan, which have long been exempt from visa requirements.
Sophia Cope, a senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told the Times that the CBP policy would "exacerbate civil liberties harms."
Cope added that such policies have "not proven effective at finding terrorists and other bad guys" but have instead "chilled the free speech and invaded the privacy of innocent travelers, along with that of their American family, friends and colleagues."
Journalist Bethany Allen, head of China investigations at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, expressed shock that the US would take such drastic measures to scrutinize the social media posts of tourists.
"Wow," she wrote in a post on X, "even China doesn't do this."
In addition to concerns about civil liberties violations, there are also worries about what the new policy would do to the US tourism industry.
The Times noted in its report that several tourism-dependent businesses last month signed a letter opposing an administration proposal to collect a $250 "visa integrity fee," and one travel industry official told the paper that the CBP's new proposal appears to be "a significant escalation in traveler vetting."
The American tourism industry has already taken a blow during President Donald Trump's second term, even without a policy of forcing tourists to share their social media history.
A report released on Wednesday from Democrats on the Senate's Joint Economic Committee (JEC) found that US businesses that have long depended on tourism from Canada to stay afloat have been getting hit hard, as Canadian tourists stay away in protest of Trump's trade war against their country.
Overall, the report found that "the number of passenger vehicles crossing the US-Canada border declined by nearly 20% compared to the same time period in 2024, with some states seeing declines as large as 27%."
Elizabeth Guerin, owner of New Hampshire-based gift shop Fiddleheads, told the JEC that Canadians used to make up to a quarter of her custom base, but now "I can probably count the number of Canadian visitors on one hand."
Christa Bowdish, owner of the Vermont-based Old Stagecoach Inn, told the JEC that she feared a long-term loss in Canadian customers, even if Trump ended his feud with the nation tomorrow.
"This is long-lasting damage to a relationship and emotional damage takes time to heal," she said. "While people aren’t visiting Vermont, they’ll be finding new places to visit, making new memories, building new family traditions, and we will not recapture all of that."
From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.
Trump Plan Would Force Tourists to Share Years of Social Media Posts Before Entering US
One critic predicted the policy would "exacerbate civil liberties harms" if enacted.brad-reed (Common Dreams)
like this
not like i planned to pay a visit with global southerners like me being sent to torture camps.
you can keep your fascism thank you very much, i'm fine over here.
Venezuela, The Day After
cross-posted from: hexbear.net/post/7003411
cross-posted from: news.abolish.capital/post/1253…
This article by Luis Hernández Navarro originally appeared in the December 9, 2025 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.Since 2002, the date of the 47-hour coup against Hugo Chávez, Washington has unsuccessfully sponsored and supported regime change in Venezuela time and again. In the name of human rights, freedom, and democracy, economic sanctions, color revolutions, oil strikes, recognition of illegitimate leaders, theft of foreign currency and infrastructure, assassination attempts, media offensives, military uprisings, and threats of ground invasion have been instigated or combined without interruption.
Many of these attacks, aimed at seizing the largest oil reserves on the planet, are acts of international piracy. They have caused immense damage to the country and enormous suffering to its people. They have resulted in billions of dollars in lost oil revenue. Countless Venezuelans have been forced to migrate to other nations to survive. Meanwhile, a segment of the old, corrupt oligarchy lives the high life in their mansions in Miami and Madrid.
But despite the lethality of the punishments and the harshness of the siege, the Bolivarian Revolution continues. Certainly, some Chavista political leaders have betrayed the cause. A few military and intelligence officers have gone over to the enemy ranks. Intellectuals have succumbed to the siren song of metropolitan power. But, against all odds, the majority of the population draws a line in the sand against gunboat democracy; they remain loyal to a project that allowed them to recover their dignity and advance in popular power.
For 27 years, Bolivarianism has won almost every election. Desperate in the face of this setback, the empire has tried other formulas for regime change. In December 2007, Enrique Krauze laid his cards on the table. “If Hugo Chávez has thought of turning Venezuela into a Cuba with oil, the Venezuelans who oppose him have discovered the antidote. It is the student movement,” he wrote. So the far right latched onto this movement and tested an insurrectionary scheme. However, the reactionary forces clashed with a reality that wasn’t in their playbooks. So they left to make their fortunes abroad.
All imperial attempts at regime change have run up against what, until now, seems insurmountable: the unity of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB). There is not a single indicator showing any internal divisions. Part of the key to this unity is the development of a new military doctrine known as the Comprehensive Defense of the Nation. This doctrine seeks to confront the US military threat based on a set of actions designed to deter a technologically and numerically superior enemy.
This strategy has three central elements: strengthening military power, deepening the civil-military union (between the people and the soldiers), and bolstering popular participation in national defense tasks. Previously, the armed forces were fragmented into divisions and brigades. Commander Chávez organized the country into regions, and each region has a military structure with all its components: Army, Navy, Air Force, National Guard, militias, and the people.
If someone attacks a region, that region has the capacity to defend itself. It doesn’t need to move units from elsewhere. On February 23, 2019, under the pretext of bringing in humanitarian aid from Colombia, the Contras and Washington attempted to establish a beachhead in Táchira that would give the illegitimate Juan Guaidó control of a strip of Venezuelan territory to establish a “seat of government.” For 17 hours, fierce clashes erupted between Chavistas and Venezuelan paramilitaries and guarimberos, who operated mostly from the Colombian side. The skirmish ended with the opposition’s defeat.
Diosdado Cabello
There, amidst the events, at the military installation beside the Simón Bolívar Bridge, I spoke with Diosdado Cabello, then president of the National Constituent Assembly. Most of the FANB (National Bolivarian Armed Forces) chiefs were also present, whom he introduced to me as his friends and as longtime collaborators of Hugo Chávez. I asked him about the resolve of his troops. In good spirits, he explained: “President Maduro has visited every barracks. He shows up in the early morning.”
He arrives, runs with them, shares, does military exercises with them. We have total contact with them. We are like brothers. Many of us have been in this movement since we were children. We support each other and follow each other. We are a family. They will not break us…” Regarding the role of the militias, he told me: “For the friends of the State, they are a diamond. For the enemies of the State, they are the worst news.” A military intervention by a foreign country in Venezuela is very complicated, and not only because of the civil-military alliance.
Caracas has modernized its weaponry by acquiring it from Russia, China, and Iran, with whom it also maintains an alliance. Furthermore, it covers an area of almost one million square kilometers. Its topography is highly diverse: the Andes mountain range, the Coastal Range, and the Guiana Shield, along with the extensive Orinoco River basin. It boasts 4,208 kilometers of coastline and dense rainforests. The poor neighborhoods of cities like Caracas are dangerous. It shares a 2,341-kilometer border with Colombia, a 2,199-kilometer border with Brazil, and a 789-kilometer border with Guyana.
No neighboring country desires armed conflict on its borders. Venezuela possesses the men, weapons, determination, and territory capable of sustaining a prolonged popular resistance, turning any attempt to occupy the country into a quagmire for whoever tries it. Regardless of what might happen on the day of the occupation, the true military challenge for an invading force lies in what to do in the days that follow. However, beyond what may happen in the future, in Venezuela, today is the time for peace.
Luis Hernández Navarro is the Opinion editor of La Jornada*, and the author of numerous books, including* Chiapas: La nueva lucha india and Self-Defense in Mexico: Indigenous Community Policing and the New Dirty Wars.
From Mexico Solidarity Media via This RSS Feed.
Venezuela, el día después
El país caribeño dispone de hombres, armas, determinación y territorio capaces de sostener una resistencia popular prolongadaLuis Hernández Navarro (La Jornada)
No discussions on phase two of the ceasefire as long as Israel continues attacks, says Hamas
cross-posted from: hexbear.net/post/7003282
cross-posted from: news.abolish.capital/post/1281…
Hussam Badran, of Hamas’ political bureau, stated on Tuesday, December, 9 that the movement demands the cessation of Israel’s violations of the US-brokered Gaza ceasefire deal before proceeding to phase two.Badran added that any discussion on the second phase of the deal must be preceded by real pressure by the mediators and guarantors, above all the United States, to ensure that all terms of phase one were implemented.
The terms of the first phase included a prisoners-for-captives exchange, ending the fighting, and aid entry to the besieged enclave. However, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) committed 738 violations of the deal since phase one took effect on October 10, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office.
At least 386 civilians were killed, 980 others were wounded, and 43 were unlawfully arrested as a result of these violations. Death toll estimates of Palestinians killed by Israel since October 2023 vary. While the official death toll of the Gaza Government Media Office surpasses 70,000, independent calculations have the number much higher.
Disarming Palestinians equals taking their soul; says Khaled Meshaal
Amid uncertainties of the direction of the ceasefire, the Head of Hamas political bureau abroad, Khaled Meshaal, told Al Jazeera during an interview aired on Tuesday, that the Palestinian resistance is bringing forward “realistic and practical approaches”, which would guarantee no military escalation against Israel from the Gaza Strip, but without disarmament.“For Palestinians, disarmament equals taking the soul,” Meshaal insisted.
The senior Hamas official also asserted that the movement rejects a non-Palestinian authority to rule Gaza, in response to the US-led “board of peace” proposed by President Donald Trump.
Meshaal further emphasized the importance of providing aid to Gaza as a prerequisite for negotiations on phase two of the deal.
The post No discussions on phase two of the ceasefire as long as Israel continues attacks, says Hamas appeared first on Peoples Dispatch.
From Peoples Dispatch via This RSS Feed.
Hamas says no second phase for Gaza ceasefire until Israel ceases 'violations'
Palestinian militant group Hamas on Tuesday threatened to delay the start of phase two of the Gaza ceasefire agreement until more pressure is put on Israel to cease deadly strikes, open the key Allenby border crossing and allow more aid into the bele…FRANCE 24
Marco Rubio bans Calibri font at State Department for being too DEI
Marco Rubio bans Calibri font at State Department for being too DEI | TechCrunch
Calibri, which could make documents easier to read for the vision impaired, was apparently installed in 2023 by the department’s then-DEI office.Julie Bort (TechCrunch)
Zipfelmützen Cup 2025
Der Zipfelmützen Cup 2025 und damit der Crossgolf Saisonabschluss steht vor der Tür.
Dafür habe ich mir für euch alle mal wieder die Finger abgefroren, die Füße wundgelaufen und bei schönem aber kalten Wetter, den Spielplan erstellt, und mit denen vom letzten Jahr abgeglichen.
Wir hoffen natürlich, das es genau so schön wird, wie 2024 und spannend und….
Neben der Vergabe der Wanderwiese, unseres Vereinsmeisterpokals, geht es natürlich auch noch mal um Pokale für dieses Turnier.
Wer jetzt Neugierig ist, was und wie der Parcours verläuft, kann diesen link verwenden.
Treffpunkt ist 18.30 Uhr auf dem Markt in Elster, mitzubringen sind eine Tasse, eine Zipfelmütze sollte auf dem Kopf sein, Leuchtball (Bälle je nach Bedarf), Golfschläger.
Nach dem Turnier ist im Vereinshaus Aufwärmen, Essen fassen und die Siegerehrung.
Deswegen bitte noch anmelden wer noch nicht hat – https://2025.2.uhc-elster.de/event/zipfelmuetzen-turnier-2025/
Zipfelmützen Turnier 2025
Wir spielen wieder in und durch Elster unser Vorweihnachtliches Crossgolf Turnier. Treffpunkt ist 18.30 Uhr auf dem Markt in Elster. Dieses Turnier ist Vereinsintern und fließt in die Vereinsmeisterschaft mit… Zipfelmützen Turnier 2025\n2025.2.uhc-elster.de
Ohh jeh, es scheint die @crossgolf_rebel's und Konsorten besetzen das fedi ..
crossgolf_rebel - kostenlose Kwalitätsposts likes this.
'Why Is This Hard?' Schumer Won't Say He Opposes Regime Change in Venezuela
cross-posted from: news.abolish.capital/post/1301…
US Rep. Ro Khanna suggested on Thursday that the top Democrat in the Senate had offered the latest evidence that the party needs "a new generation to lead... with moral clarity and conviction" after Sen. Chuck Schumer refused to denounce the Trump administration's threats of regime change in Venezuela.
"Why is this hard?" asked Khanna (D-Calif.) after Schumer (D-NY), the Senate minority leader, told CNN's Jake Tapper Wednesday evening that "everyone would like" it if Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro "would flee on his own" instead of stating that the US should not try to force out the South American leader.
When asked point-blank if he disagrees with President Donald Trump's "ultimate goal of regime change in Venezuela," Schumer turned his focus to the lack of clarity in the White House's strategy.
"The bottom line is President Trump throws out so many different things in so many different ways. You don't even know what the heck he's talking about. You know, obviously, if Maduro would just flee on his own, everyone would like that. But we don't know what the heck he's up to when he talks about that," said Schumer. "You cannot say I endorse this, I endorse that when Trump is all over the lot, not very specific and very worrisome at how far he might escalate."
Chuck Schumer won't say if he opposes regime change in Venezuela.JAKE TAPPER: Do you disagree with President Trump's ultimate goal of regime change in Venezuela?
CHUCK SCHUMER: Look, the bottom line is President Trump throws out so many different things in so many different… pic.twitter.com/kwjWMsBgM8
— Ken Klippenstein (NSPM-7 Compliant) (@kenklippenstein) December 10, 2025Schumer's response, Khanna suggested, should have been: "Yes, Democrats oppose regime change war in Venezuela. Instead of wasting trillions on endless wars, we must invest in jobs, healthcare, and housing for Americans."
The CNN interview took place hours after the US military seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela in what one think tank called an "illegal" escalation. In recent weeks Trump has claimed he's ordered the airspace above and around Venezuela closed—an action experts said he had no legal authority to take—authorized covert CIA action in the country, and this week said the US plans to "hit ‘em on land very soon," threatening strikes against Venezuela as well as Mexico and Colombia.
The White House has aggressively pushed a narrative about the need to stop the trafficking of fentanyl from Venezuela—despite findings by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the United Nations that the country plays virtually no role in the flow of the drug into the US. At least 87 people have been killed in US military strikes on boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific since September—bombings that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Trump have claimed without evidence have targeted "narco-terrorists," but which Latin American officials, the family of one victim, and legal experts have denounced as extrajudicial killings and homicide.
Trump has previously signaled a desire to take control of Venezuela's vast oil reserves.
On November 21, Trump reportedly spoke to Maduro in a phone call and offered him safe passage out of Venezuela if he abdicated power, in the most explicit confirmation that the administration is seeking regime change. A CBS/YouGov poll released two days later found that 70% of Americans oppose any military action in Venezuela.
Labor attorney Benjamin Dictor and Democratic US Senate candidate Graham Platner of Maine were among those who joined Khanna in condemning Schumer's refusal to unequivocally reject the goal of forcing Maduro out through military action.
— (@)"Chuck Schumer is so spineless he can’t even affirmatively oppose illegal, unauthorized regime change by military force," said Dictor.
Schumer has called for the passage of a war powers resolution to block the deployment of US forces in Venezuela. As Trump has continued the boat bombings and built up military presence in the Caribbean, two war powers resolutions aimed at stopping the US from striking boats and targets inside Venezuela have failed to pass.
But his refusal to speak out comes two months after journalist Aída Chávez reported that a "senior Democratic staffer" was "discouraging Democrats from coming out against regime change in Venezuela... arguing that opposing Trump and [Secretary of State Marco] Rubio's regime change amounts to supporting Maduro."
After Schumer's interview, Matt Duss of the Center for International Policy joined in calling for "regime change in the Senate Democratic Caucus."
From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.
Maduro Vows Venezuela Will Be a 'Colony Never Again' as Trump Intensifies Threats
He has described President Donald Trump's push for regime change as a "colonial threat" to "seize" Venezuela's oil.stephen-prager (Common Dreams)
A Developer Accidentally Found CSAM in AI Data. Google Banned Him For It
A Developer Accidentally Found CSAM in AI Data. Google Banned Him For It
Google suspended a mobile app developer’s accounts after he uploaded AI training data to his Google Drive. Unbeknownst to him, the widely used dataset, which is cited in a number of academic papers and distributed via an academic file sharing site, contained child sexual abuse material. The developer reported the dataset to a child safety organization, which eventually resulted in the dataset’s removal, but he claims Google’s has been "devastating.”A message from Google said his account “has content that involves a child being sexually abused or exploited. This is a severe violation of Google's policies and might be illegal.”
The incident shows how AI training data, which is collected by indiscriminately scraping the internet, can impact people who use it without realizing it contains illegal images. The incident also shows how hard it is to identify harmful images in training data composed of millions of images, which in this case were only discovered accidentally by a lone developer who tripped Google’s automated moderation tools.
💡
Have you discovered harmful materials in AI training data ? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at @emanuel.404. Otherwise, send me an email at emanuel@404media.co.In October, I wrote about the NudeNet dataset, which contains more than 700,000 images scraped from the internet, and which is used to train AI image classifiers to automatically detect nudity. The Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P) said it found more than 120 images of identified or known victims of CSAM in the dataset, including nearly 70 images focused on the genital or anal area of children who are confirmed or appear to be pre-pubescent. “In some cases, images depicting sexual or abusive acts involving children and teenagers such as fellatio or penile-vaginal penetration,” C3P said.
In October, Lloyd Richardson, C3P's director of technology, told me that the organization decided to investigate the NudeNet training data after getting a tip from an individual via its cyber tipline that it might contain CSAM. After I published that story, a developer named Mark Russo contacted me to say that he’s the individual who tipped C3P, but that he’s still suffering the consequences of his discovery.
Russo, an independent developer, told me he was working on an on-device NSFW image detector. The app runs locally and can detect images locally so the content stays private. To benchmark his tool, Russo used NudeNet, a publicly available dataset that’s cited in a number of academic papers about content moderation. Russo unzipped the dataset into his Google Drive. Shortly after, his Google account was suspended for “inappropriate material.”
On July 31, Russo lost access to all the services associated with his Google account, including his Gmail of 14 years, Firebase, the platform that serves as the backend for his apps, AdMob, the mobile app monetization platform, and Google Cloud.
“This wasn’t just disruptive — it was devastating. I rely on these tools to develop, monitor, and maintain my apps,” Russo wrote on his personal blog. “With no access, I’m flying blind.”
Russo filed an appeal of Google’s decision the same day, explaining that the images came from NudeNet, which he believed was a reputable research dataset with only adult content. Google acknowledged the appeal, but upheld its suspension, and rejected a second appeal as well. He is still locked out of his Google account and the Google services associated with it.
Russo also contacted the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and C3P. C3P investigated the dataset, found CSAM, and notified Academic Torrents, where the NudeNet dataset was hosted, which removed it.
As C3P noted at the time, NudeNet was cited or used by more than 250 academic works. A non-exhaustive review of 50 of those academic projects found 134 made use of the NudeNet dataset, and 29 relied on the NudeNet classifier or model. But Russo is the only developer we know about who was banned for using it, and the only one who reported it to an organization that investigated that dataset and led to its removal.
After I reached out for comment, Google investigated Russo’s account again and reinstated it.
“Google is committed to fighting the spread of CSAM and we have robust protections against the dissemination of this type of content,” a Google spokesperson told me in an email. “In this case, while CSAM was detected in the user account, the review should have determined that the user's upload was non-malicious. The account in question has been reinstated, and we are committed to continuously improving our processes.”
“I understand I’m just an independent developer—the kind of person Google doesn’t care about,” Russo told me. “But that’s exactly why this story matters. It’s not just about me losing access; it’s about how the same systems that claim to fight abuse are silencing legitimate research and innovation through opaque automation [...]I tried to do the right thing — and I was punished.”
Home
As Canada’s tipline for reporting online child sexual abuse and exploitation, Cybertip.ca is dedicated to reducing child victimization through technology, education, public awareness, along with supporting survivors and their families.Cybertip.ca
Why are Israeli lawmakers wearing gold nooses?
More than 110 Palestinian prisoners have died from torture and mistreatment since Itamar Ben-Gvir became Israel’s security minister. Now he wants the power to hang them.
Why are Israeli lawmakers wearing gold nooses?
Israel's national security minister wants the power to hang Palestinian detainees accused of terrorism.Al Jazeera
bolapara
in reply to Hazzard • • •I'm about to try this. I've ordered a Frameo picture frame that runs Android and supposedly you can use adb to sideload Immichframe and set it as the home app so it launches automatically. My Immich instance is on a private mesh network so I was going to configure the frame to autoconnect to the mesh network and only have permissions to access that one machine.
If I cannot get this to work, I'll fail back to just manually loading the pictures on an SD card and swap out the card for one with new pictures when I visit.
Hazzard
in reply to bolapara • • •Very nice! Was looking at the exact same frames after doing some more research, a 10 inch frame for about as cheap as some empty frames I've seen, with documentation on the process provided by Immich Frame themselves.
Your private mesh network is an elegant addition to it as well, I may consider something similar. As mentioned in the post, Immich Frame doesn't recommend being exposed to the Internet, and just has support for a simple single password system. I still feel better about that than being in Frameo's database I know nothing about and would be paying suspiciously little for, but it's not exactly ironclad either.
Definitely let me know how it goes if you tackle it in the next week or so!
bolapara
in reply to Hazzard • • •I finally got around to doing this. I bought one of these. Here is a quick brain dump of the steps.
that's basically it. the immichframe documentation is pretty sparse so I had to fumble around trying a bunch of different things before I could make this work.
Also, I was originally planning on getting tailscale running on the frame but that was a no-go. Plus, it was not needed in my case since I already had a system on tailscale at that location so I installed the immichframe server there and it connects over tailscale to my immich server.
Amazon.com
www.amazon.com