John Scott-Railton Profile picture
Sep 4 5 tweets 2 min read Twitter logo Read on Twitter
Vivek Ramaswamy's team is crafting absurd tweets so you can dunk on them.

Your engagement is the goal.

You are being rage farmed.

All Twitter's algorithm sees when you quote tweet is a signal to further boost the content.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.
Vivek Ramaswamy has little substance.

His team knows it.

How do they center him in the conversation?

Plagiarize the Bobert, MTG, et. al. playbook: steady stream of outlandish statements people feel an irresistible need to disagree with & call out.
Politicians crafting stunts for attention is as old as time.

But, simplifying a bit, algorithmic feeds consistently reward content that generates engagement.

Doesn't have to be positive.

So 100 times out of 100 stunts get prioritized over substance.
In our rage-farmed internet world, I'd wager many Biden supporters are more familiar with the latest outrage by Vivek than Biden's recent successes.

Like the fact that his administration presided over massive job growth in August.

Source: @BLS_gov bls.gov/news.release/e…
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Meanwhile, Vivek Ramaswamy news stories keep coming.

Some are devastating, most are trivial.

I'd wager news orgs are seeing healthy click & engagement rates by angry readers.

Also, perhaps editors felt it was time for fresh fall storylines & Ramaswamy's team is playing along.

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More from @jsrailton

Aug 26
Hmm: sanctioned spyware maker NSO Group still lobbying in🇺🇸US.

Latest target: American Bar Association (@ABAesq)

Fact: NSO's claims to help US NatSec =contradicted by US Gov.

Maybe they're hoping American lawyers have been living under a rock?

#FARA
efile.fara.gov/docs/6743-Info…



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My take: having epically struck out with the 🇺🇸US Government & gotten sanctioned...

NSO Group seeks to to discretely erode the US policy position about mercenary spyware by way of targeting conversations happening legal profession.

Why now? Well..
Governments have begun taking actions on spyware companies.

Next phase = crafting effective regulations.

Complex process with many stakeholders.

NSO wants to get in as early as possible to reduce the risk they get effectively regulated.
Read 5 tweets
Aug 22
The UK wants the ability to stop companies from patching vulnerabilities.

Catastrophically shortsighted.

Any tech product that stays will be suspect in the global marketplace.

The sector will flee.

Goodbye tech investment & jobs.

By @IoannisKouvakas
justsecurity.org/87615/changes-…
While the proposal does not specify what technical changes would require notification, these may include changes in the architecture of software that would interfere with the U.K.’s current surveillance powers. As a result, an operator of a messaging service wishing to introduce an advanced security feature would now have to first let the Home Office know in advance. Device manufacturers would likely also have to notify the government before making available important security updates that fix known vulnerabilities and keep devices secure. Accordingly, the Secretary of State, upon receiving...
You can't be globally competitive when you need a UK bureaucrat to OK emergency updates fixing an actively exploited flaw.

And you can't be trusted when the #UK Government can secretly stop you from securing your users.

Expect a #Techsit.
IPA Hypothetical:

Cybercriminals find iPhone vulnerability. Use it hack *any iphone.*

Apple discovers & fixes with a rush patch.

...but now they must ask UK!

After a bureaucratic delay UK decides patch might slow down spying.

Instructs Apple to not secure a billion users. Against this backdrop, the main issue Objectives 3 and 4 jointly pose is that the United Kingdom could breach international human rights law by, for example, preventing a communications services provider from either fixing security gaps in software through the provision of security updates or applying advanced protections such as end-to-end encryption to their services, at a global level. Specifically, these measures not only are unlikely to survive the necessity and proportionality test enshrined in Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which guarantees the right to ...
Read 4 tweets
Aug 15
Report finds Musk slows traffic to websites he dislikes.

I expect his experimentation w/soft censorship to influence US politics will accelerate as the 2024 election approaches.

By @jeremybmerrill & @drewharwell
https://t.co/i7VbQ9vP2Lwashingtonpost.com/technology/202…
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Musk has made it much harder for researchers to track manipulation *on and by Twitter*

He's even suing some.

Now, with less accountability he is, predictably, trying to manipulate user behavior through the platform.

Dangerous and outrageous. Image
53% of users abandon a site that takes >3 seconds to load.

Musk added a 5 second delay.

He knows exactly what he is doing to these news sites.

Source: https://t.co/wa9Ok78Uj2thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insig…
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Read 4 tweets
Aug 9
NEW RESEARCH: most popular Chinese keyboard app (450 million monthly users!) transmits every key typed to @TencentGlobal.

My @citizenlab colleagues found vulnerable encryption means the uploaded keystrokes could *also* be intercepted by 3rd parties. 1/

https://t.co/JyscLGmr8Lcitizenlab.ca/2023/08/vulner…



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2/@citizenlab did a responsible disclosure to @TencentGlobal.

The vulnerable encryption that could expose transmitted typing to third parties = fixed.

Sogou Keyboard users should update!

But they should also remain aware that everything you type still goes to the developer. Image
3/ Congrats to my @citizenlab colleagues Jeff Knockel, Zoë Reichert & Mona Wang.

Vulnerable encryption that affects 450 million monthly users is no joke!

Short thread 👇
Read 4 tweets
Jul 18
BREAKING: US adds 2 European mercenary spyware firms to export control list.

#Cytrox & #Intellexa = *notorious* proliferators of #Predator spyware,

Linked to abuses around globe, Greek #spywaregate, hacking of Americans...🧵1/

Rule: https://t.co/Q9W22XTUQOpublic-inspection.federalregister.gov/2023-15343.pdf



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2/ Earlier this year the @WhiteHouse issued an Executive Order on spyware.

US had concluded that unchecked proliferation of mercenary spyware (e.g. #Pegasus) wasn't just a problem for dissidents, it was a national security threat.

@WhiteHouse 3/ Previously, in 2021 US had added NSO Group, maker of #Pegasus to export control list.

Impact on NSO's fortunes was dramatic.

Chilled investor confidence & caused the value of NSO's debt to plummet.

By @ElizaHannon & @dscigliuzzo
https://t.co/s8J5nBuzeTbloomberg.com/news/articles/…
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Read 8 tweets
Jul 11
Speculation on assassination of a Russian submarine commander said to have been avid fitness tracker user.

So let me resurrect some work on what I call #Fitleaking.

Bonus: discussion of Russian #Strava use in war zones.
https://t.co/7R99WUmxMlcitizenlab.ca/2018/01/fit-le…






2/ The sheer amount of *signal* in fitness tracker data is mind blowing.

Since I originally wrote this post, the amount of location aware devices we carry... and hence data we all emit has grown exponentially.



3/ We don't yet know whether his fitness tracker use did in the Russian submarine commander.

But we've got plenty of examples of #Fitleaking that should raise alarm.

In fact, the danger is much more concrete...

By @adam_robertson9
https://t.co/8XnK50w9wxthenational.scot/news/20827234.…


Read 6 tweets

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