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Michael James Pratt was sentenced to federal prison on charges of sex trafficking connected to the GirlsDoPorn crime ring. “He turned my pain into profit, my life into currency,” said one victim.#girlsdoporn


Michael Pratt, GirlsDoPorn Ringleader, Sentenced to 27 Years in Prison


If you or someone you know is struggling, The Crisis Text Line is a texting service for emotional crisis support. To text with a trained helper, text SAVE to 741741.

Judge Janis Sammartino sentenced Michael James Pratt, the owner and operator of the GirlsDoPorn sex trafficking ring, to 27 years in federal prison on Monday.

Pratt masterminded GirlsDoPorn until 2019, when he and multiple of his co-conspirators were charged with federal counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion. His victims number in the hundreds, according to the FBI and court documents.

“It’s quite clear that without you none of this would have occurred," Judge Sammartino said prior to issuing his sentence. “The women here today and hundreds of others would not have been victimized except for your direction... You led the conspiracy, you supervised it, you managed it.”

In addition to the 27 years, the judge ordered 10 years of supervision. Prosecutors has asked the court for 22 years. Judge Sammartino also forbade Pratt from contacting any victims, ordered that he would not be allowed to consume adult material or go to a store that primarily sells it, along with several more restrictions and provisions.

In federal court on Monday in San Diego, Pratt gave a short apology before the court before victims started giving statements. "It was never my intention to hurt anybody," he said, adding that he would never have come to this country to make a website.

One victim said she “never feels safe,” never feels like her family is safe, and worries for her school-aged son. “Your crimes were never a single mistake, Michael. It was a pattern,” she said. “What you did was not a fleeting act. It was a lasting scar.” Another said her children “had their photos stolen from social media and reposted with links to this video.”

💡
Are you a victim of GirlsDoPorn? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at sam.404. Otherwise, send me an email at sam@404media.co.

Another victim said she has lived a double life for a decade, “outwardly holding it together while inwardly drowning,” she said. She lost her marriage, friendships, and a sense of control over her own life, she said. She asked the judge for the maximum possible sentence.

“The scariest part is the internet doesn’t forget and every day I’m reminded of the pieces of me that were stolen,” another said. “Justice on paper doesn’t undo what was done to me.”

“He turned my pain into profit, my life into currency,” said another victim, before turning to Pratt directly, sitting to her right. “I want you to look at me,” she said to him. “I’m not your victim. I’m your reckoning.” She said she altered her face to not be recognized. “My reflection may be different, but the girl you broke still lives inside of me.” She told Pratt to look around the courtroom as the survivors gathered there. “You thought we would break. Instead we linked arms.”

Kristy Althaus, a victim who was targeted by Pratt when she was a senior in high school and had her life upended as she was doxed online after her Miss Teen Colorado pageant runner-up contestant status brought her intense media scrutiny, said in her statement she is “disgusted” by Pratt. “My interaction with you wasn’t hours or days or months, it was years of terrorism,” she said. Althaus is suing Pornhub and its parent company Aylo for hosting the videos and partnering with GirlsDoPorn.

Ahead of Sentencing, GirlsDoPorn Ringleader Michael Pratt Attempts to Seem Reformed
In sentencing memos and exhibits, Pratt’s attorney paints of picture that points at Pratt’s abusive father, his ADHD, his co-conspirators, the entire pornography industry, and the victims themselves.
404 MediaSamantha Cole


Several mentioned being trapped in the hotel rooms, being forced to reshoot the videos when they cried out or bled. “It didn’t take long for me to realize the quickest way out of that room was to do and say whatever they wanted,” one said, claiming Pratt controlled the situation and what they did and said on camera, including re-doing testimonials. “I have no doubt Pratt’s cutting room floor is filled with some of the most gut wrenching footage imaginable.”

“I don’t think you expected to see me again,” one said directly to Pratt. “But now the tables have turned... Now what used to be my face all over the media is now yours.”

“He fueled it, he enjoyed it and he would do it again if he had the chance,” another said. She asked the judge for permission to address Pratt directly, then turned sharply to face him. “Hey pedophile,” she said. “You chose to get me a birthday cake so the whole world would know I would be the next youngest victim.”

Another victim said she considered suicide. “There are nights I didn’t think I would survive the pain. I felt so numb and so powerless. I thought the only solution was to take my own life.” Several victims mentioned attempting suicide over the years. A different victim said during her testimony that 15 women “that they know of” have died since filming with GirlsDoPorn.

One said after falling victim to Pratt’s enterprise, she turned to alcohol and heroin. “I have died three times and have been brought back to life,” she said. Her roommates in college blackmailed and harassed her using the videos. She said she plans to never marry or have children, and can’t be intimate physically with anyone, and never plans to be again. “This wasn’t just a video. This was my body and identity ... you destroyed years I can never get back. But that I’m here speaking proves you will never win. [...] You ran. I didn’t. We had to face the world every day.”

The mother of one of Pratt’s now-deceased victims stood before the judge. The mother had only just learned about GirlsDoPorn, she said, and her daughter’s involvement, in May. Her daughter, Isabelle, started becoming distant from family and friends in late 2017 and “began to disappear,” becoming withdrawn and quiet. Her mother said she didn’t understand why at the time. “As a mother I love my child no matter what, no matter where,” she said, but she said she thinks shame kept her daughter from confiding in anyone. Isabelle died by overdose in 2023. “I can still hear her speaking to me,” her mother said. Her mother said she still hears her daughter’s voice. “[She says,] ‘I was tortured, lied to, hunted after. Earth was hard and I miss you.’”

‘She Turned Ghost White:’ How a Ragtag Group of Friends Tracked Down a Sex Trafficking Ringleader
Michael Pratt hid a massive sex trafficking ring in plain sight on PornHub. On the run from the FBI, an unexpected crew of ex-military, ex-intelligence officers and a lawyer tracked him down using his love of rare sneakers and crypto. For the first time, the group tells their story.
404 MediaSamantha Cole


Many more women — nearly 40, for more than four hours — spoke before the judge on Monday. Their stories were all similar and all horrific, recounting sexual assault, rape and lies by Pratt’s associates, isolation and rejection from their families, torment that extended to their loved ones, trauma that causes them to feel like they’re never safe, night terrors, futures stolen and dreams crushed, relationships destroyed, and online harassment that still continues to this day. “You made me give up on my life, and now I just exist,” one said.

In the final statement of the day, read by a prosecutor, the victim said she suffered a PTSD-related seizure when she landed in San Diego. On the day her GirlsDoPorn video was shot nine years ago, after being picked up at the airport by a woman representing the organization and taken to a hotel, she “was brutally raped for nearly nine hours.”

GirlsDoPorn videos were all over the internet, massively popular in part because of the women Pratt and his team primarily targeted: usually college-aged, completely inexperienced in the porn industry, and newly legal adults. In at least one case, a woman blew out the candles on a birthday cake Pratt bought her so he could demonstrate to the camera she’d just turned 18, she said. Pratt and his co-conspirators lied to the women they recruited, telling them they would just be “modeling." Pratt would fly the women to San Diego where shoots happened in hotel rooms. Once in the rooms, many of the women reported the doors were locked, they were assaulted before and during the video shoots, and were told their return flights home would be canceled if they didn’t go through with hours of painful sexual assault.

Pratt and the GirlsDoPorn operators promised the women that the videos wouldn’t be seen by anyone except private collectors in Australia and New Zealand. Instead, Pratt and his colleagues posted the videos to massive porn tube sites including Pornhub, where GirlsDoPorn videos received millions of views and reached the families, friends, and schoolmates of the women in them. Many of the women were ostracized from their communities, pushed out of the job market, lost relationships, and some said they considered self-harm and suicide.

Many women said GirlsDoPorn operatives also rushed them through signing consent forms and legally-dense contracts and some claim they were plied with alcohol and drugs including marijuana and Xanax before being given a contract. The contracts didn’t even mention GirlsDoPorn by name, a conscious choice by the operators; GirlsDoPorn was already widely known by the time a lot of them were recruited. Pratt continued operating GirlsDoPorn after 22 women sued him for $12 million in a case that went to trial in June 2019. The women won that case in 2020.

Right up until the last minute before the operation was federally indicted, the main actor in the videos, Andre Garcia, was still recruiting, as Pratt’s childhood friend and business partner Matthew Wolfe testified in October 2019. Pratt was still operating it from on the lam after fleeing the US in mid-2019, after the civil case went to trial and right before the federal sex trafficking charges came down.

Pratt was on the FBI’s Most Wanted list for years. Private investigators involved in the case tracked Pratt down in Spain in 2022. He was arrested by Spanish authorities in December 2022 and extradited to the US, where he’s been in custody since. After initially pleading not guilty in March 2024, Pratt flipped his plea to guilty in June 2025.

“Michael James Pratt, you had the power to control the narrative. For many years, you have tried to silence us, but today, it is our turn to set this record straight,” one of the victims said before the court on Monday. “You are evil, you are a predator, you are a rapist, and this is who you are. Your ego is too big to believe you would ever get caught, but karma comes around and it will haunt you now the book of your life is in its final chapter: a miserable one. I will continue to stand with my head high, prosper and live with gratitude, as your time is spent behind bars. It is your turn now to suffer, as we lock you away from all the beauty this world has to offer.”

“Pratt was a calculating and cruel predator,” US Attorney Adam Gordon said in a DOJ press release Monday afternoon. “He lured young victims, caused others to abuse them on video, and then taunted them for years as they sought to reclaim their names. Afterwards these victims suffered each day the cruelty of the internet and social media. As one victim said today during sentencing, ‘Pratt caused me to fear my own name.’ We as a society failed these women. They were forced to walk alone. But today as they confronted Pratt, they personified courage and grace. They showed everyone what should have been apparent when they first were victimized - they don’t need society’s forgiveness, we need theirs.”

Almost all of Pratt’s co-conspirators have already been sentenced. Garcia was sentenced to 20 years in prison on June 14, 2021; Theodore Gyi, the primary cameraman for the ring, was sentenced to four years on November 9, 2022 and ordered to pay victims $100,000; Wolfe was sentenced to 14 years on March 20, 2024; Valorie Moser, the operation’s office manager who recruited women and repeated the lie about DVD-exclusive video releases, is set for sentencing on September 12, 2025 and faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Updated 9/8/2025 5:12 p.m. PST with statement from the DOJ.




Per chi avesse a disposizione l'indirizzo di posta elettronica certificata, e volesse fare...

Per chi avesse a disposizione l'indirizzo di posta elettronica certificata, e volesse fare copia-incolla di questa lettera: https://t.



How to Use the AT24C32 EEPROM for 4KB External Memory for Microcontrollers


Electronic Wizard in his lab wearing his wizards hat

Over on YouTube [Electronic Wizard] explains how to use the AT24C32 EEPROM for external memory for microcontrollers.

He begins by explaining that you don’t want to try modifying your microcontroller flash memory for storing settings, you want to use a separate EEPROM for that. Sometimes your microcontroller will have EEPROM memory attached, but you might still find yourself needing to attach more. The AT24C32 EEPROM is a 4KB non-volatile memory chip. It’s available in various 8-pin packages and two voltage levels, either 2.7 to 5.5 volts or 1.8 to 5.5 volts, and it’s programmed using the I2C protocol.

The AT24C32 has three address pins, A{0,1,2}, a Serial Data pin (SDA), a Serial Clock Input (SCL), and a Write Protect pin. He explains how to use the address pins to set the device I2C address and goes into some detail about how the I2C protocol works. Microcontrollers usually have an API for talking to I2C devices, for STM32 controllers that is functions such as HAL_I2C_Master_Transmit(). He refers the viewer to the datasheet for how to accomplish various write and read operations over I2C. The AT24C32 uses 16 bits for addresses of which only 12 are relevant (13 bits are relevant for the 8KB version of the EEPROM the AT24C64).

If you’re interested in EEPROMs you might also like to read Erasing EEPROMs Isn’t Always As Easy As It Seems and How Do You Test If An EEPROM Can Hold Data For 100 Years?

youtube.com/embed/_Ke4A_McTEY?…


hackaday.com/2025/09/08/how-to…



The Incrediplotter: Voice Controlled Plotter from Repurposed Printer


There’s something uniquely satisfying about a pen plotter. Though less speedy or precise than a modern printer, watching a pen glide across the page, mimicking human drawing, is mesmerizing. This project, submitted by [Jacob C], showcases the Incrediplotter, a brilliant repurposing of a 3D printer built by him and his brother.

Starting with a broken 3D printer, [Jacob C] and his brother repurposed its parts to create a voice-controlled pen plotter. They 3D-printed custom components to adapt the printer’s framework for plotting. An STM32 Blue Pill running Klipper controls two TMC2208 motor drivers for the x- and y-axes, while a small standalone servo manages the pen’s height.

The unique twist lies in the software: you can speak to the plotter, and it generates a drawing based on your prompt without needing to select an image. The process involves sending the user’s voice prompt to Google Gemini, which generates an image. The software then converts this image into an SVG compatible with the plotter. Finally, the SVG is translated into G-Code and sent to the plotter to start drawing.

Thanks to [Jacob C] for sharing this impressive project. It’s a fantastic example of repurposing a broken machine, and the voice-to-image feature adds a creative twist, enabling anyone to create unique artwork. Be sure to check out our other featured plotter hacks for more inspiration.

youtube.com/embed/jlRw-0B5N8U?…


hackaday.com/2025/09/08/the-in…



A Love Letter to Internet Relay Chat


Although kids these days tend to hang out on so-called “Social Media”, Internet Relay Chat (IRC) was first, by decades. IRC is a real-time communication technology that allows people to socialize online in both chat rooms and private chat sessions. As a decentralized communication protocol, anyone can set up an IRC server and connect multiple servers into networks, with the source code for these servers readily available ever since its inception by a student, and IRC clients are correspondingly very easy to write. In a recent video [The Serial Port] channel dedicates a video to IRC and why all of this makes it into such a great piece of technology, not to mention a great part of recent history.

Because of the straightforward protocol, IRC will happily work on even a Commodore 64, while also enabling all kinds of special services (‘bots’) to be implemented. Even better, the very personal nature of individual IRC networks and channels on them provides an environment where people can be anonymous and yet know each other, somewhat like hanging out at a local hackerspace or pub, depending on the channel. In these channels, people can share information, help each other with technical questions, or just goof off.

In this time of Discord, WhatsApp, and other Big Corp-regulated proprietary real-time communication services, it’s nice to pop back on IRC and to be reminded, as it’s put in the video, of a time when the Internet was a place to escape to, not escape from. Although IRC isn’t as popular as it was around 2000, it’s still alive and kicking. We think it will be around until the end days.

youtube.com/embed/6UbKenFipjo?…


hackaday.com/2025/09/08/a-love…



Ricordiamo che su Poliverso non sono ammessi post che esprimano odio o disprezzo verso categorie di persone: questo tipo di contenuti determina la sospensione immediata!
Si possono esprimere opinioni di ogni genere, anche in controtendenza rispetto al comune sentire, ma ci sono delle regole da rispettare.

Queste sono le regole di Poliverso:

0) L'utente deve conoscere la fediquette, una netiquette del fediverso
1) L'utente che utilizza Poliverso deve sentirsi più felice, più sereno, più aperto alla discussione e più fiducioso nell'intelligenza e buona fede altrui. In caso contrario è meglio che cambi istanza
2) Poliverso è parte del fediverso e vuole continuare a farne parte: ogni atteggiamento ostile o comportamento tossico verso utenti di altre istanze comporterà la sospensione
3) E' vietata la pubblicazione di contenuti illegali, contenuti disturbanti (senza contrassegnarli come sensibili), spam, comportamenti e discorsi d'odio e disinformazione (trucchetto per individuare la disinformazione: se prima di postare un contenuto la prima domanda che vi ponete è "Come posso sapere se è disinformazione?", allora è disinformazione)
4) Sono consentiti account istituzionali, commerciali o promozionali, purché la comunicazione avvenga in italiano e non sia equiparabile allo spam
5) Friendica non dispone di un sistema di moderazione: per minimizzare i rischi di sistema, gli utenti che non seguono l'amministratore o che non gli rispondono tempestivamente, potrbbero essere espulsi dalla piattaforma.
6) Se vuoi dare un'occhiata alla timeline locale, guarda qui. Se non ti piace, puoi iscriverti altrove (qui puoi esportare il tuo account per portarlo in un'altra istanza)


Esiste una #fediquette?
La risposta breve è sì, ma abbiamo creato un post per spiegarlo meglio.
E ricordiamoci sempre che la parola #fediverso contiene le radici delle due parole più importanti per la socialità universale: alleanza e diversità.
#Netiquette

informapirata.it/2022/03/22/fe…


reshared this



DAZN e ACE smantellano Calcio: colpito uno dei più grandi network Illiciti di streaming sportivo in Italia


@Informatica (Italy e non Italy 😁)
In un’operazione congiunta che segna un punto di svolta nella lotta alla pirateria digitale legata allo sport, DAZN — piattaforma leader globale di streaming sportivo — in coordinamento con l’Alliance



Salesloft, databreach su GitHub di marzo e la lunga scia degli attacchi a Salesforce


@Informatica (Italy e non Italy 😁)
La storia inizia in sordina, mesi prima che il mondo della sicurezza informatica iniziasse a parlare di furto di dati su larga scala tramite Salesforce. È marzo 2025 quando degli attaccanti, con pazienza certosina, violano per la prima volta



Ogni tanto fa bene rispolverare il passato per capire il presente e smascherare menzogne.

Il 15 dicembre 2021, la Russia presentò a USA e NATO un “corposo piano di pace”, che prevedeva un’architettura di sicurezza valida per 50 anni in Europa. Ciò avrebbe garantito una nuova fase di prosperità nelle relazioni euro-russe, risparmiando tra l’altro la vita di milioni di persone e generando vantaggi per le economie di ambo i blocchi. Il piano prevedeva la fine dell’allargamento della NATO a Est, ossia la neutralità ucraina, e un ridimensionamento delle forze NATO nel Baltico (che, con la Moldavia, sarà il nuovo fronte caldo negli scenari a venire). La Russia percepiva infatti l’allargamento della NATO in prossimità dei suoi confini come un accerchiamento militare che ne metteva a repentaglio la sicurezza nazionale. In cambio del parziale disimpegno NATO a Est, la Russia avrebbe a sua volta ridotto i propri arsenali militari e assicurato l’integrità ucraina, ossia non avrebbe annesso il Donbass, che sarebbe rimasto ucraino sebbene previe garanzie, tra l’altro previste dagli accordi di Minsk all’epoca vigenti e firmati anche da Germania e Francia, circa la sua autonomia. La risposta di Stoltenberg, all’epoca segretario generale della NATO, alla proposta di pace russa, fu: “La Russia vuole meno NATO ai suoi confini? Bene, avrà più NATO!”. E fu la guerra. La cui genesi sta tutta in quella frase di Stoltenberg. Gli USA e la NATO si rifiutarono infatti persino di prendere in considerazione la proposta di pace russa e chiusero da subito ogni spiraglio alla trattativa. Prevalsero gli interessi di chi, sin dal 1992, aveva deciso che l’allargamento della NATO sarebbe dovuto procedere, a ogni costo e con ogni mezzo, fino a Kiev e Tbilisi. Chi è dunque responsabile politico e morale dell’escalation che ne seguì? La Russia o chi rifiutò ideologicamente di dialogare con essa? Certe cose, sebbene interessino a pochi, è importante ricordarle ogni tanto, per dovere di verità storica.

Paolo Borgognone

in reply to Mro

"Purtroppo non ho trovato alcuna evidenza che Jens Stoltenberg, in qualità di Segretario Generale della NATO, abbia pronunciato la frase "La Russia vuole meno NATO ai suoi confini? Bene, avrà più NATO!" in risposta alla proposta di pace russa.

Questa citazione non sembra essere autentica e non è stata riportata da fonti ufficiali o attendibili. È possibile che si tratti di una citazione inventata o attribuita erroneamente a Stoltenberg.

Come assistente IA, posso solo basarmi su informazioni verificate e non posso confermare l'autenticità di questa presunta dichiarazione. Se hai ulteriori informazioni o fonti che possano confermarla, ti invito a condividerle. In caso contrario, non posso affermare con certezza che Stoltenberg abbia effettivamente pronunciato questa frase."



LIBERI DAI VELENI DI ROMA.

DOMANI TUTTI AL CORTEO!


Gualtieri vuole farci respirare i veleni di Roma, costruendo un inceneritore a Santa Palomba che brucerà per oltre 30 anni 600 mila tonnellate di rifiuti romani ogni anno inquinando aria, terra e acqua.
E' il momento di reagire alla serie ininterrotta di forzature fatte da Gualtieri coi poteri speciali con il procedimento autorizzatorio reso una farsa e avviato in pieno agosto, la consegna dell'area ad Acea e l'avvio dei lavori di pre-cantierizzazione per un impianto che doveva servire per il Giubileo e che invece non è ancora neppure autorizzato.
L’inceneritore di Santa Palomba porterà veleni, malattie e distruzione ai Castelli romani come nella campagna romana fino al mare.
Ormai ci siamo: domani è il giorno di tutti noi che vogliamo vivere liberi dai veleni di Roma.
Domani sarà il giorno in cui riscatteremo la Terra dove viviamo perché sarà chiaro una volta di più che non ci arrenderemo mai alla barbarie inceneritorista.
Domani serve la presenza di tutti, persone unite per difendere la nostra salute e quella dei nostri figli.

Unione dei Comitati contro l'inceneritore

Ambiente, StopInceneritore, NoInceneritore, NoInceneritori, ZeroWaste, Rifiuti, Riciclo, EconomiaCircolare, NoAlCarbone, EnergiaPulita,




Meta decided to not ban the account and the vast majority of its racist posts even after 404 Media flagged them to the company.#News


Instagram Account Promotes Holocaust Denial T-Shirts to 400,000 Followers


An Instagram account with almost 400,000 followers is promoting racist and antisemitic t-shirts, another sign that Meta is unable or unwilling to enforce its own policies against hate speech. 404 Media flagged the account to Meta as well as specific racist posts that violate its hate speech policies, but Meta didn’t remove the account and the vast majority of its racist posts.

The account posts a variety of memes that cover a wide range of topics, many of which are not hate speech and would not violate Meta’s policies, like the pizzagate conspiracy, 9/11, Jeffery Epstein, and criticism of Israel and mainstream news outlets like CNN and Fox News. If a user were to pick a post at random they might not even immediately identify the account as right-wing or extremist. For example, some memes posted by the account and shirts sold by the brand it promotes include messages criticizing Israel, the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC, and general distrust of the government.

Other memes and shirts promoted by the account might confuse the average internet user, but people who are fluent in extremist online culture will clearly recognize them as antisemitic. For example, seemingly one of the more popular designs promoted by the channel is of a simple line drawing of hands clasping and the text “Early life.” On the store page for this design, which comes on t-shirts for $27.99, mugs for $15, and hoodies for $49.99, the description says: “A totally normal design encouraging you to wash your hands — definitely just about hygiene. Nothing symbolic here. Just good, clean habits… taught very early in life.”

“Early life” refers to a common section of biographical Wikipedia articles that would state whether the person is Jewish. As Know Your Meme explains, this is a “dog-whistle meme” often used to spread antisemitic sentiments. The clasping hands are of the antisemitic drawing of the “happy merchant.”

Another cryptic design promoted by the Instagram account is of a juice box with the text “notice the juice” and several seemingly random figures like “109% juice” and “available in 271,000 stores.” These are also dog-whistles that other people who are swimming in hate speech would instantly understand. 109 refers to the claim that Jews have been expelled from that many countries, and 271,000 refers to the number Holocaust deniers often say is the “real” number of people who died in Nazi concentration camps. Another piece of text on the juice box is “6,000,000 artificial ingredients.”

Years of reporting on niche internet communities sadly means that I’m familiar with all of these symbols and figures, but many of this account’s posts on Instagram are far less subtle and require no special knowledge to understand it’s hateful. A post on August 27, for example, shows a meme of actor William Dafoe holding the diary of Anne Frank with a subtitle saying “you know, I’m something of a fiction critic myself.” Another design promoted on Instagram shows a man wearing a shirt with the text “don’t be a” and a picture of a bundle of sticks, also known in Middle English as a “fagot.”

Instagram’s Community Standards on “hateful conduct” tells users to not post “Harmful stereotypes [...] holocaust denial,” or “Content that describes or negatively targets people with slurs.”

Last year, Meta concluded an embarrassing and agonizing charade about its Holocaust denial policy. An Instagram user posted a Squidward-themed Holocaust denial meme. “Upon initial review, Meta left this content up,” the company said. Users kept flagging the post as hate speech and Facebook moderators kept assessing it as not violating Instagram policies. Users appealed this decision, which was picked up by Meta’s Oversight Board, a kind of “supreme court” for Meta’s moderation decisions. Upon further review, it determined the post did in fact violate its hate speech policy. The entire ordeal for removing the antisemitic Squidward meme took four years.

It’s an insane process but I’m belaboring the point because while some of these shirts and posts might not quite cross the line, even Meta’s top sham court has made it extremely clear that this account violates its policies. Instagram just doesn’t take action against it even after hundreds of posts and amassing a following of 400,000 people. It’s also just one account I decided to cover today because it appeared to have monetized this content effectively, but Instagram served it to me as one of many racist posts I see daily.

I sent Instagram the account promoting these shirts as well as several specific posts. Instagram only removed a couple of those specific posts, like the one calling Anne Frank’s book fiction. Instagram did not remove a post promoting the “early life” shirt. It also didn’t remove a shirt with an image of Michael Jackson and the text “(((They))) don’t really care about us.” Putting triple parentheses around “they” is an antisemitic symbol used to refer to Jews. “The media, Hollywood, the machine – they made hima a joke, a monster a meme. All because he spoke out about the ones you’re not allowed to name,” the text accompanying the post said.

The t-shirt problem here is not unique to Instagram. On August 26 The Verge wrote a good piece about a different antisemitic shirt that was sold in a TikTok Shop, Amazon, and other online marketplaces. The piece correctly points out that the rise of print-on-demand and drop-shipping has created incentives for people, many of whom don’t live in the U.S. and are not invested in any political outcomes here, to sell any image or text that is popular. This is why we see a lot of tiny ecommerce shops pivot from “#1 Grandpa” shirt one day to MAGA hats the next. They just sell whatever appears to be trending and often lift images from other sites without permission.

The Instagram account promoting the juice box shirt is a little more involved than that. For one, as far as I can tell the designs are unique and originate on that account and the online store it promotes. Second, whoever is making these designs is clearly fluent in the type of hate speech they are monetizing. Finally, as The Verge article points out, these print-on-demand shirts are easy to set up so it’s not always clear if the shirts or hats these stores are offering are ever really produced. That is not the case with the company behind the juice box shirt, which shares pictures of customers who bought its stuff and tags them on Instagram.

There are a few other juice box designs on the site, but the one I described above was removed sometime between May and August, before I reached out for comment. However, the design has since been swallowed up by this print-on-demand ecommerce machine, and is now available to buy from various sellers on Walmart, Amazon, and dozens of other online stores.

I kept track of this Instagram account and store because it was particularly disgusting and because it found a way to monetize hate speech on Instagram. I decided to write about it today because The Verge story reminded me that while this practice is common, it’s very, very bad. But the reality is that this is just one of countless such accounts on Instagram. Unless Meta changes its enforcement methods I could write one of these every day until I die. That wouldn’t be much of a life for me and not very interesting for you. We have become desensitized to the blatant dehumanization of entire groups online precisely because Instagram is putting it in front of our faces all the time. Occasionally, something snaps me out of this delirium and for a moment I can clearly see how bad this flood of hate speech is for all of us before I drown in it again.


#News

Breaking News Channel reshared this.



A new contract with Clearview AI explicitly says ICE is buying the tech to investigate "assaults against law enforcement officers."#News


ICE Spends Millions on Clearview AI Facial Recognition to Find People ‘Assaulting’ Officers


Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently spent nearly four million dollars on facial recognition technology in part to investigate people it believes have assaulted law enforcement officers, according to procurement records reviewed by 404 Media.

The records are unusual in that they indicate ICE is buying the technology to identify people who might clash with the agency’s officers as they continue the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts. Authorities have repeatedly claimed members of the public have assaulted or otherwise attacked ICE or other immigration enforcement officers, only later for charges to be dropped or lowered when it emerged authorities misrepresented what happened or brutally assaulted protesters themselves. In other cases, prosecutions are ongoing.

💡
Do you know anything else about how ICE is using facial recognition tech or other tools? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at joseph.404 or send me an email at joseph@404media.co.

“This award procures facial recognition software, which supports Homeland Security Investigations with capabilities of identifying victims and offenders in child sexual exploitation cases and assaults against law enforcement officers,” the procurement records reads. The September 5 purchase awards $3,750,000 to well-known and controversial facial recognition firm Clearview AI. The record indicates the total value of the contract is $9,225,000.

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#News

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Poc'anzi, come gruppo Free Assange Italia abbiamo inoltrato la seguente PEC alla segreteria del Quirinale Presidenza della Repubblica.

Presidente Mattarella.



“Questa sera Papa Leone XIV si reca a Palazzo Barberini a Castel Gandolfo e proseguirà la sua attività da lì durante la giornata di domani, in cui non sono previste udienze.


Si aprirà domani a Malang, in Indonesia, il Capitolo generale dell’Ordine carmelitano. È la prima volta che l’assise si tiene fuori dal continente europeo. I lavori si concluderanno venerdì 26 settembre.



La canonizzazione di Pier Giorgio Frassati, celebrata ieri da Leone XIV in Piazza San Pietro, è motivo di "gioia profonda" per la Società di San Vincenzo De Paoli, che lo riconosce come figlio spirituale e compagno di missione.



Chat Control: Where Things Stand – and Why We Must Act Now


The European Union is once again moving fast on the dangerous Chat Control regulation. This proposal would force providers to search all private chats, messages, and emails automatically for suspicious content – generally and indiscriminately. That means your conversations with friends, family, doctors, or lawyers could be opened to suspicion, regardless of who you are. This is why it is opposed by a broad consensus among the public, civil rights groups, and pirates.

The Current State of Play


While the European Parliament has positioned itself almost unanimously against indiscriminate chat control, the Member states are a different affair entirely:

  • 15 Member States already support Chat Control (including France, Italy, and Spain).
  • 6 countries firmly oppose (such as Austria, Finland, the Czech Republic, and the Netherlands).
  • Germany and several others remain undecided – making them decisive for the upcoming vote.

On October 14, 2025, European Interior Ministers are scheduled to vote on adopting Chat Control. If adopted, Chat Control would break encryption, enable mass surveillance, and set a precedent that authoritarian governments worldwide could exploit. Experts warn it would not protect children, but instead flood investigators with false reports while leaving real offenders harder to track.

What You Can Do to stop Chat Control


We need to act now – loud and clear. Here’s three things you can do today to help us fight the proposal:

  1. Sign our petition!
  2. Contact your Members of the European Parliament!
  3. Share your own ideas with us!


Why This Matters


Your right to private communication is at stake. Once we allow mass scanning of personal messages, there is no turning back. Europe should take the lead in protecting freedom, security, and dignity – not normalizing a culture where everyone is treated as a suspect by the state.

Let’s send a strong message: No to indiscriminatory surveillance! Yes to private communication!
The post Chat Control: Where Things Stand – and Why We Must Act Now first appeared on European Pirate Party.

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Chat Control: Where Things Stand – and Why We Must Act Now


@politics
european-pirateparty.eu/chat-c…

The European Union is once again moving fast on the dangerous Chat Control regulation. This proposal would force providers to search all private…
The post Chat Control: Where Things Stand – and Why We Must

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ILS Pavia - Italo Vignoli relatore al Linux Day 2025 di Pavia


pavia.ils.org/news/italo-vigno…
Segnalato da Linux Italia e pubblicato sulla comunità Lemmy @GNU/Linux Italia
Diamo il benvenuto anche ad Italo Vignoli, introduttore/presentatore e relatore al Linux Day 2025 di Pavia. Italo Vignoli,


Italo Vignoli relatore al Linux Day 2025 di Pavia


Italo Vignoli relatore al Linux Day 2025 di Pavia
Diamo il benvenuto anche ad Italo Vignoli, introduttore/presentatore e relatore al Linux Day 2025 di Pavia.

Italo Vignoli, figura di spicco, noto per essere il co-fondatore del progetto LibreOffice, importante figura nella Document Foundation e divulgatore scientifico, si occupa da svariati anni di Open Source e Free Software. Siamo felici di averlo a bordo per questo evento ma anche per altre iniziative!

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@Notizie dall'Italia e dal mondo

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LIBERI DAI VELENI DI ROMA. DOMANI TUTTI AL CORTEO!


LIBERI DAI VELENI DI ROMA.
DOMANI TUTTI AL CORTEO!

Ambiente, StopInceneritore, NoInceneritore, NoInceneritori, ZeroWaste, Rifiuti, Riciclo, EconomiaCircolare, NoAlCarbone, EnergiaPulita,



SpaceX accelera sulla connettività satellitare su smartphone con lo spettro di EchoStar

L'articolo proviene da #StartMag e viene ricondiviso sulla comunità Lemmy @Informatica (Italy e non Italy 😁)
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Fußfessel für Gewaltschutz: „Es gibt nur schlechte Optionen. Wir sollten sie alle umsetzen.“


netzpolitik.org/2025/fussfesse…




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@Notizie dall'Italia e dal mondo

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8 Settembre


Oggi Badoglio firmò l'armistizio e l'Italia voltò pagina, finisce la dittatura e comincia il lungo percorso verso la democrazia, il bene più prezioso che come cittadini abbiamo.


Golden Dome, e se gli Usa lo estendessero anche all’Europa? Scenari e valutazioni

@Notizie dall'Italia e dal mondo

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in reply to Pëtr Arkad'evič Stolypin

@Pëtr Arkad'evič Stolypin Il sistema non è sicuro al 100%, si può utilizzare solo per aree limitate altrimenti i costi sarebbero proibitivi non solo per realizzarlo, ma anche per la manutenzione e l'alimentazione in caso di attacco. Se venisse decisa una scelta come questa certamente non servirebbe a dare sicurezza alle popolazioni, ma solo ai ricchi ed ai politici che certamente verrebbero messi nelle aree più sicure. Ma cercare di stare in pace con tutti non sarebbe meno costoso?




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@Notizie dall'Italia e dal mondo
Nella provincia che vale il 40% dell’elettorato, il peronismo ritrova slancio mentre il presidente subisce la sua prima vera battuta d’arresto
L'articolo ARGENTINA. La prima sconfitta di Milei: Kicillof trionfa nella provincia chiave proviene da




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L'articolo proviene da #StartMag e viene ricondiviso sulla comunità Lemmy @Informatica (Italy e non Italy 😁)
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I telefoni personali come rischi per la sicurezza e il minimalismo digitale come strategia, con dispositivi più incentrati sulla privacy: "less is more" non è solo un mantra di benessere, ma una strategia IT aziendale praticabile. Dotare i team di smartphone minimalisti e attenti alla privacy offre un duplice vantaggio. Riduce il burnout digitale riducendo le distrazioni e lo stress continuo, e rafforza la sicurezza informatica bloccando app e tracker non autorizzati.

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@Lavoratori Tech

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Lettera a TPI: “Schlein mi ha deluso, ecco perché lascio il Pd”


@Politica interna, europea e internazionale
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Dai un'occhiata a questo post su Nextdoor:

Buongiorno.

it.nextdoor.com/p/mskq_49CM6mP…

Iscriviti a Nextdoor, un'app dedicata ai quartieri dove puoi ottenere consigli locali, acquistare e vendere articoli e altro ancora


#aiuto #case #torino

in reply to 𝓘𝓰𝓸𝓻 🏴‍☠️ 🏳️‍🌈 🇮🇹

L'immagine mostra una schermata di un post su Nextdoor, una piattaforma di social media locale. Il post è scritto in italiano e dice: "Buongiorno. Sapete di case in affitto in zona Centro / Vanchiglia / Vanchiglietta?—Chiedo per una conos...". Il post è stato pubblicato da un utente di Borgonuovo. In basso a sinistra, c'è un'icona di un pin con la scritta "Borgonuovo", indicando la località del post. In basso a destra, ci sono due icone: una a forma di cuore con il numero zero, che indica il numero di likes, e una a forma di chat con il numero zero, che indica il numero di commenti.

Fornito da @altbot, generato localmente e privatamente utilizzando Ovis2-8B

🌱 Energia utilizzata: 0.171 Wh



Set 8
Sicurezza e consumo critico dei servizi informatici
Lun 20:00 - 22:00
Davide Galletti

Chiacchierata sulla sicurezza ed il consumo critico dei servizi informatici. Cosa succede ai nostri dati sui social, motori di ricerca, mappe, messaggi, ...

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