And from the WTAF dept, quite a bombshell from ProPublica today:

"Microsoft is using engineers in China to help maintain the Defense Department’s computer systems — with minimal supervision by U.S. personnel — leaving some of the nation’s most sensitive data vulnerable to hacking from its leading cyber adversary, a ProPublica investigation has found."

"The arrangement, which was critical to Microsoft winning the federal government’s cloud computing business a decade ago, relies on U.S. citizens with security clearances to oversee the work and serve as a barrier against espionage and sabotage."

"But these workers, known as “digital escorts,” often lack the technical expertise to police foreign engineers with far more advanced skills, ProPublica found. Some are former military personnel with little coding experience who are paid barely more than minimum wage for the work."

https://www.propublica.org/article/microsoft-digital-escorts-pentagon-defense-department-china-hackers?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=propublica-bsky&utm_content=7-15

Just a reminder that the fediverse doesn't bury your post if you use words like "death", "suicide", "holocaust", "nazi", and other things. So unlike commercial platforms, you really don't have to use corpo-baby-speak like "unalive" to get around that kind of censorship.

You can also curse as much as you fucking please, no need to get the asterisks out.

Well my employer has decided to partner with Palantir, which means it's time for me to find a new job. I was a lot more willing to make 40% less than market rate when I knew my employer wasn't funding concentration camps because they want AI coding tools.

Anyway of you need a UX designer/researcher who knows his way around government regulations, healthcare, enterprise software I'm looking!

'ICE Block' is an app that lets users report sightings of ICE officials in their local area. The app says it doesn't collect peoples' location data, preserves their privacy, etc. A security researcher now corroborates that.

https://www.404media.co/immigration-raid-tracking-app-ice-block-keeps-your-data-private-researcher-finds/

Jeff Bezos threats to buy Conde Nast should absolutely be taken seriously.

It would give him control over a number of media outlets that are strong voices in opposition of fascism (like Wired and Teen Vogue)

Under the oligarchs control they would be forced to become right wing propaganda.

Now more than ever we must support independent journalists… many of whom are speaking truth to power despite the personal risk.

If you can boycott Amazon, please do it. Send a strong message with your wallet that you don’t support fascism or the billionaire class.

If you can’t boycott, please don’t feel guilty. Many disabled people and those in poverty may be reliant on Amazon for supplies they can’t get elsewhere.

Trust that your community is boycotting on your behalf.

We’ve got you, and you need to take care of yourself in order to survive.

No guilt. We all resist in whatever way we can.

#uspol #bezos #amazon #fascism #authoritarianism