Just Loki Profile picture
Dec 17 6 tweets 2 min read
Alright, so this is a pretty succinct explanation of how "parallel construction" works, as taken from some explainer slides about the DEA project HEMISPHERE that collected call data records for every single phone call that touched an AT&T switch for like 30 years.
The "walling-off" of the project itself by using it to generate leads without referring to it *anywhere* in something that a defense attorney might eventually see (& challenge in court) allows it to stay "protected" from constitutional challenges.
This is especially important if the project (unlike HEMISPHERE) is classified because ... well, no one is supposed to know that it exists and a defense attorney can use discovery to reveal details about its operations and then the project is basically worthless.
Earlier I wondered if the FBI was using some kinda dragnet to identify low-visibility accounts and censor them (and I still think it's doing that because it's them), but then I remembered that one email where it was asking for location data for like 12 accounts.
Then I thought about it some more: what if that "moderation" portal was also a way for FBI (& others) to request information that it already knows, but doesn't want to say how it knows, so it "walls-off" its sources & methods by just getting Twitter to voluntarily hand it over.
Negotiating all these finer points was James Baker's like entire career. So: what was he doing on the Trust & Safety Council? Was he helping the FBI use Twitter to censor people or was he using Twitter to help the FBI spy on them? Or both? Probably both.

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More from @LokiJulianus

Dec 17
And the use of HEMISPHERE as an example is possibly quite apt because it wasn't just the DEA acting alone, but a partnership between the DEA and AT&T.
And the collaborative nature of this partnership led to some interesting exchanges, such as a lawyer from AT&T writing to some law enforcement entity saying they would prefer if all references to HEMISPHERE were dropped from an affidavit.
They had/have phenomenal "customer service" on this front: in exigent circumstances where it is impossible not to have a reference to HEMISPHERE, they offer to help coach law enforcement thru all subsequent filings in the case to "protect the program."
Read 4 tweets
Dec 16
It's interesting how liberals have no "backup plan" if they lose control of something like Twitter (other than moving to some FEDiverse server run by a Slavic German commie). The right ackshually did build their own social media sites + move2 telegram + imageboards.
Why is this? Because liberals need a "captive audience" to function—that's why they like to take-over schools & tradmedia—and they'll never be happy unless that audience follows them.
Propagandists require an audience, but not all ideas are equally amenable to propaganda: that's why they have to constantly relentlessly bombard us via every channel. The thought of losing a couple accounts sends them into an existential tailspin.
Read 4 tweets
Dec 14
Especially relevant given a possible shift from advertising-based revenue to subscription-based revenue. Always having a direct way for your users to send you $$$ is good.
Given all this: CEXs are good insofar as they give you a way to "cash out" into "central bank permission slips" when you need to, but excessive speculation makes it harder for trve mediums of exchange to operate.
I think, however, the desire of site operators to get "any hard currency at all for 'service'" will ultimately induce them to just charge flat rates in crypto and eat the volatility.
Read 4 tweets
Dec 7
Impressive. ImageImageImageImage
[NOTE for the perplexed: the second answer is derived from the context of the first. You can have it mimic basically any "genre" -- I just chose "standard Lutheran" because I figured it would have adequate training data.]
[but! even in light of that, it was able to articulate a theme that many hueman readers miss about the implied transience of the covenant in the third image, and that was what rly caught my attention.]
Read 5 tweets

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