@adalah

I just went to the web site and took "Browse Verified Journalists"

There's (allegedly) 64 screens-full

I went to the last screen for some reason, and saw Jay Rosen -- who I know for a fact is 1) a journalist and 2) is on Mastodon

The screen-shot of his entry is ... interesting

Note the "Individual" "Claim Profile"

So they have a profile for Jay Rosen all laid out, and they're waiting for [someone] to claim it?

Really?

Sketch as all hell

I'd stay 10,000 miles away from that -- whatever it is

#VerifiedJournalist #VerifiedJournalistOrg

cc @fencepost
@zekuzelalem

@zekuzelalem @fencepost

Don’t take my word for anything I’m gonna write regarding this issue (first time I hear of this site), and in any case, please do remain on the safe side, i.e. don’t enter your data, unless you’re absolutely sure that everything there is legit! #BetterSafeThanSorry 🎗️

Two remarks:

1. If this is indeed a scam / #phishing attempt there’s a good chance that the list of previous participants is fake, too, meaning not every one on the list has necessarily fallen for any of this. If you know any of the people listed you might be able to check with them directly. You’re a journalist, after all (I suppose). 😉

2. I can think of a somehow possible scenario that indeed doesn’t aim to grab your instance #credentials and really “only” starts some sort of verification process (whether this is a good way to do it would still remain to be a valid question to be asked). However, I don’t know enough about #Mastodon or #ActivityPub, for that matter, in order to be sure about my vague ideas.
One might run some tests and see where from and where to the data stream goes but that’s for the truly tech savvy to be done, I guess. Opening a case with one of the (information) #security experts out there (press, academics, state, corporate, …) couldn’t hurt, though.

#VerifiedJournalist #VerifiedJournalistOrg