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Bobbie

@bobbie.net

116 followers 67 following 63 posts

Gadabout, troublemaker, cyborg

Posts Replies Media

Bobbie @bobbie.net · 05/06/2026

Late to it, but Anna pointed out this quote from Steve Rosenbaum, the author of a book on AI destroying truth that contained half a dozen made up quotes. “It’s like saying, do you beat your wife? It’s one of those accusations that there’s no response to.” Sorry, WHAT?? www.wired.com/story/future...

Quote from Wired magazine in which Steve Rosenbaum. "Rosenbaum would not weigh in on the accuracy of Pangram's results. In fact, he didn't want to talk about them at all. "I don't participate in that conversation," he said. "It's like saying 'do you beat your wife?' It's one of those accusations that there's no response to."

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Bobbie @bobbie.net · 09/02/2026

Most concerning part of the case of Seamus Culleton, an Irish man on a green card path and legally able to work, but imprisoned by ICE for 5 months? He says agents presented docs agreeing to deportation that were "signed" by him that he'd never actually signed. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Screenshot of text saying "When his attorney appealed to a federal court, two ICE agents said that in Buffalo, Culleton had signed documents agreeing to be deported. Culleton said he did not agree and that the signatures were not his. "My whole lfie is here. I worked so hard to build my business. My wife is here."

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Bobbie @bobbie.net · 27/06/2025

Had a great conversation with @karenhao.bsky.social about her book EMPIRE OF AI, OpenAI, its true costs, and end-of-the-world thinking for this month's @readcurious.xyz live Q&A. I'll be sharing our chat soon in our free email newsletter. Sign up if you're interested! newsletter.readcurious.xyz

Author Karen Hao, wearing a camel jacket and black top, talks animatedly via video call with Curious Reading Club host Bobbie Johnson.

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Bobbie @bobbie.net · 01/05/2025

It sounds bananas, but these "pretender" incidents are happening all over. There are potentially thousands of companies being hit by this scam and several major cases making their way through the US courts.

Photograph of a stack of pairs of glasses, each one showing the reflection of an AI program in their lenses.

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Bobbie @bobbie.net · 01/05/2025

These conspirators host "laptop farms" that let North Korean agents dial in to their job from overseas while looking like they're actually in the US. It's like a mundane version of the Matrix. Mostly the gangs do the bare minimum in their job to earn cash; sometimes they steal data or plant malware.

Screengrab of text from the linked story: As the “facilitator” for hundreds of North Korea–linked jobs, Chapman signed fraudulent documents and handled some of the fake workers’ salaries. She would often receive their paychecks in one of her bank accounts, take a cut, and wire the rest overseas: Federal prosecutors say Chapman was promised as much as 30 percent of the money that passed through her hands.

Her most important job, though, was tending the “laptop farm.” After being hired, a fake worker will typically ask for their company computer to be sent to a different address than the one on record—usually with some tale about a last-minute move or needing to stay with a sick relative. The new address, of course, belongs to the facilitator, in this case Chapman. Sometimes the facilitator forwards the laptop to an address overseas, but more commonly that person holds onto it and installs software that allows it to be controlled remotely. Then the fake employee can connect to their machine from anywhere in the world while appearing to be in the US. (“You know how to install Anydesk?” one North Korean operative asked Chapman in 2022. “I do it practically EVERYDAY!” she replied.)

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Bobbie @bobbie.net · 01/05/2025

Pretenders rely on tech: AI to cheat on coding tests; LLMs to fake the answers to interview questions; deepfake tech to get past ID verification; VPNs to dial in to work from overseas. But they also use old-fashioned tactics too, not least accomplices in the US who run the ground game.

A photograph of a laptop covered in sticky notes featuring people's names

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Bobbie @bobbie.net · 01/05/2025

Last year I met a young CEO who was suspicious of folks interviewing for coding jobs at his company. It turned out they were North Korean cybercriminals who steal people's identities and score high-paying remote IT jobs in the West. And the more I dug, the more I discovered.

Simon Wijckmans, CEO of c.side, is a young white man in a black baseball cap photographed in moody, shadowy lighting.

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Bobbie @bobbie.net · 18/03/2025

Some people have an exceedingly different understanding of the word “ceasefire” than I do

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