Tag: facebook

Thomas Holbrook II | The *Nixed Report

As opposed to writing something every day I’ll be doing a weekly wrap up every Saturday night. This week’s report comes courtesy of my Librebooted ThinkPad T500. The keyboard is a dream to type on and this system actually has 8 GB of DDR2 memory.

This fine machine can still hold up to this day and is currently running Linux Mint 20.

Each section will follow the flow of the magazine itself. The Unix section covering Unix-like operating systems and related technology will be followed by the Overlooked Pop Culture section, which covers a variety of popular things that are often overlooked, misunderstood, or both.

Unix

Even though Apple’s OS X is based on BSD, it still has security vulnerabilities. It turns out the T2 Chip is vulnerable to exploits that would let someone take control of a user’s Mac. This would require physical access to a Mac, so it won’t impact most users.

Maybe Louis Rossman can utilize this exploit for data recovery purposes.

Even with newer hardware, Apple will likely face skepticism regarding its branded silicone, Apple Silicone. At least they still have a foothold in the mobile arena. Their next iPhone is expected to be announced this Tuesday.

In Linux news, Sparky Linux 4.13 was recently released. Based on Debian, they updated the “stable” package repositories, the kernel, Firefox ESR, and more. Speaking of cool Linux news, System76 recently interviewed two individuals from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) about the use of a Lemur Pro for archiving satellite imagery for NASA.

In cloud computing news, Nextcloud’s capabilities are increasing as well. Not only can you collaborate with their tools, you can integrate Microsoft Teams, Slack, Github, and more. It’s a good thing that software is updated from time to time, because legacy software has its limits, which can become dangerous depending on the situation.

The legacy version of Excel has a limit of 65,000 rows, which caused the loss of information pertaining to nearly 16,000 positive COVID-19 tests in the UK.

Overlooked Pop Culture

Pro Wrestling fans may be excited about Halloween Havoc making a comeback this year. The classic WCW Pay Per View event is being adopted by NXT. It has been years since the Halloween themed event has aired, so having spookiness galore may ignite fan enthusiasm.

It isn’t all pumpkins and candy corn.

What may also be scary, albeit to Vince McMahon, is this piece from What Culture about Paige learning about Unionism. This comes in the wake of WWE wanting to take more control over performers’ use of social media platforms, even though said performers are “independent contractors.”

Though the WWE has become creative in offering a form of entertainment to the world in the midst of COVID-19, they aren’t the only option.

The Anime News Network has their Fall 2020 Preview Guide, so anime fans who want more than people in spandex in a squared circle wearing night goggles may be happy. Video games, whether it’s on a console or PC, are among a plethora of entertainment options as well.

Those who prefer building their own gaming PC may want to take note of Patrick Lathan’s article reviewing the Lian Li Lancool 215 Airflow Case. As for console gamers, William D’Angelo of VGChartz has an interesting piece regarding the Xbox Series X and PS5.

On a mental health note, it’s important to understand one thing: Even if one is “being edgy,” it’s never a good idea to show up at someone’s house uninvited and unwelcome.

In conspiracy theory news, QAnon, a joke on 4Chan that got way out of hand, has now caused Facebook to change their policies regarding groups mentioning theories peddled by the fake entity.

The removal of said groups will impact the spreading of certain theories.

John McAfee has been arrested in Spain and faces extradition to the US over tax evasion. Topping off the craziness is the story of a group who got caught attempting to place under citizens’ arrest kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes; that’s all for this week.

While you’re here, would you be willing to become one of our Patrons on Patreon? Doing so will get you access to the magazine for much cheaper than purchasing from the website while allowing us to grow. With enough resources, we’ll be able to have more content available throughout the week. Thank you so much in advance for your time.

WTF Magazine has been rebuilding their presence on Facebook after their old fan page was deleted.  On Tuesday, Jason Fyk and his admin team have had to ban several fans.

It turns out they aren’t who they say they are.

“They tried adding 400 fake accounts to my personal page and are currently adding a flood of fake accounts to WTF Magazine.” Fyk said.

This isn’t the first time he’s dealt with this group.  Business Insider has details on a group dedicated to hijacking fan pages for fun and profit.

Hijackers send a flood of fake likes to a fan page so they can report content that is posted.  “Jack Evans along with Austin Harrig, Anthony Machia (Ortiz), Ken Ballou, George Portillo, Dexter Hyman and others have attacked us without cause for years.” Fyk said.

Pages that reach 100,000 likes are a prime target for the group lead by Evans.

In some cases, duplicate accounts are created.  They can be used to evade banning while continually harassing the intended target.

The group is known as “The Community,” and their profile claims to be against cyber bullying.  The group’s description is only a ruse.

The hijacking of pages began as a way of pulling pranks and was only for fun before things got serious.

Now it can be done for fun and profit.

Below are a couple of screenshots showing the impact of fake likes.

“I managed to get 99% off my personal page but that was a small page and 400 likes in 2 hours is noticeable.” Fyk said.

The lack of legal precedent has left little recourse, though Anthony Ortiz appears to admit some wrong doing in his interview with Alyson Shontell, especially when it comes to defamation.

The only current recourse is to continually ban fake accounts.  We’ll keep everyone here updated as new information becomes available.

 

Social Media has its ups and downs.  One moment, a group or a page is popular.  The next day, it’s gone.

Such was the case with WTF Magazine, an online fun publication.  For four years, Jason Fyk built an audience of 2.1 million on Facebook.  He invested approximately $100,000 USD in advertising.

Out of nowhere, the fan page was removed.

In terms of content, Fyk explained, “There are always people that do not like things we post. No one likes everything. However if you judge our content off the number of banned pictures as compared to the number we post we stay well within the guidelines of Facebook terms of service.”

In the four years of operation, 20 pictures and five links were banned.  In the previous three months, only this link was banned.  As for other content, Fyk told me, “Anything to do with [the] Muslim religion gets us being reported into the ground. People get fanatical and its a shame that a few people have a say over that of the masses.”

In response to accusations of dismembered people being posted, he told me that it simply wasn’t true.  “You need to realize we have a group of haters that are already at it trying to sabotage our page. They do what is called Social Engineering. What that is, is saying stuff like that, which people don’t know is true or false.” Fyk said.

Page admins have strict instructions to not post racial slurs, child pornography, or attacks on religion.

“We do make fun of the fanatical groups which makes fun of feminists sometimes but I’d also make fun of fat people and I am one.” Fyk said.

A picture of two turtles of all things was reported.  While the user initially messaged the page to remove it because they were in it, the admin asked where in the image they were at.  Their story changed.

They then said they simply didn’t find it funny and that one of their grandchildren’s friends shared the image.

“There is no reason two turtles are a problem for facebook. Yet it was reported by some overly sensitive individual. But again, it’s not dismembered bodies, torture, self mutilation or anything even close.” Fyk said.

The website’s primary source of revenue is advertising, which is affected by web traffic.  Thanks to the fan page, they were able to support a number of families, two of which who have members who are special needs.

“One is an adult who is mildly retarded.  The other is a downs syndrome child.” Fyk said.

Since the page was deleted, the publication has been set back four years.  Despite this, Fyk plans to support those families until they recover.

In order to rebuild, they are no longer relying on advertising alone.  “I can’t announce everything but I am bringing in the CEO of another major publication to help out.”  Fyk said.

If the original page is republished, they will emphasize the website instead of solely relying on Facebook.  “Our fans won’t like it as much but they will have to come to the site to see the crazier stuff.” Fyk said.

There are also plans of moving beyond Facebook and expanding to other social media sites.  This includes building a social media network as well.  Regarding additional frustrations, Fyk told me that, “Facebook would not give us a verified brand check mark though we were an established tax paying business.”

Their new fan page may be found here.  For those interested in checking out their website, it may be found here.

By Thomas Holbrook II

I remember the good old days of relying on Microsoft.  I used everything from Windows to Office.  I even used Visual Basic for a while.

The problem is that said software costs several hundred dollars in the U.S. alone.  Even the subscription model can get expensive after a while.

That’s why so called “software piracy” has run rampant throughout the years.  While many would love for companies and individuals to be compensated for the work done, bending them over and violating their hind quarters without so much as a happy reach around was not a good incentive to be “moral and ethical” about installing software.

Then again, this is the same organization that referred to ACTA as a treaty, when in fact it wasn’t.  Since they do tend to act like a mafia, it shouldn’t be too surprising.

So there I was on my lunch quietly scrolling through Facebook when something showed up on my feed that caused me to die a little on the inside.  The big push is for people to turn others in for cash rewards.

This reminded me of another ad that got trolled.  Instead of an actor who was blown up to look like Hercules through the magic of photo editing, we have, “Hey!  Snitch on others you know for money!  Yeah!   Money!”

Needless to say, the ad didn’t go over well.

From being called scum to being asked if they’d pay for a person’s software if they turned themselves in, is a clear demonstration that the people at the BSA are not the brightest stars in the sky.

Why in the world would they pay for an ad on Facebook?

Who knows.  Maybe they just want to throw everything out there and see what sticks.  At the end of the day, BSA is this week’s Friday Epic Fail!