The Russian botnet has now created over 2,500 inauthentic accounts on 180 Mastodon servers. These accounts spam propaganda, follow each other to increase federation, connect to Bluesky via the bridge to spread their content there, and create unlimited invite links for their bots to follow. IFTAS reports each one we find, and to date roughly 60% of these accounts have been suspended. Our AUD denylist would silence or suspend the bulk of the remaining 40% of accounts. https://about.iftas.org/library/suspected-portal-kombat-accounts/

Safari and Firefox change how big sites render based on the domain. TikTok, Netflix, Instagram… even SeatGuru. Chrome doesn’t. Why is that?

A web page that tells you what your browser gave away the moment you arrived. No login, no form, no permission. Most pages do this. None of them tell you.

Privacy-focused email provider Proton Mail provided Swiss authorities with payment data that the FBI then used to determine who was allegedly behind an anonymous account affiliated with the Stop Cop City movement in Atlanta, according to a court record reviewed by 404 Media. The records provide insight into the sort of data that Proton Mail, which prides itself both on its end-to-end encryption and that it is only governed by Swiss privacy law, can and does provide to third parties. In this case, the Proton Mail account was affiliated with the Defend the Atlanta Forest (DTAF) group and Stop Cop City movement in Atlanta, which authorities were investigating for their connection to arson, vandalism and doxing. Broadly, members were protesting the building of a large police training center next to the Intrenchment Creek Park in Atlanta, and actions also included _camping in the forest and lawsuits_. Charges against more than 60 people have since been dropped. Information the FBI received showed a specific person as the payment source for a particular Proton Mail account, the record shows. “On January 25, 2024, subscriber information received from the Swiss Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty Unit, revealed full name] (SUBJECT) as the payment source for the Proton e-mail address [_defendtheatlantaforest@protonmail.com_,” it reads. 404 Media is not publishing the person’s name because they don’t appear to have been charged with a crime, according to searches of court databases. 💡 ****Do you know anything else about this case? Or what other data companies provide? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at joseph.404 or send me an email at joseph@404media.co.**** The record, written by an FBI Special Agent from the Domestic Terrorism squad, is an affidavit in support of a search warrant. It says the _defendtheatlantaforest@protonmail.com_ email address is publicly listed as the primary email address on the DTAF Facebook page. The email was also listed as the point of contact on a blog that regularly shared details about actions taken against the planned training center, including spray painting a related building with a message for executives “You will drop this contract eventually, why wait to see how far we will go?” and setting another on fire. “DTAF uses the Scenes Blog and other social media platforms to encourage followers to participate in their events, and to take independent action in furtherance of DTAF objectives, to include criminal activity,” the document says. The document says the FBI believes that whoever manages the Proton Mail account likely has administrative access to the blog. The FBI received details about that Proton Mail account from the Swiss authorities via a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, or MLAT. An MLAT is when _authorities in one country agree to provide information_ to an agency in another country. These are often used when the company or entity holding the information may only respond to local law enforcement demands for data. Edward Shone, head of communications for Proton AG, the company behind Proton Mail, told 404 Media in an email: “We want to first clarify that Proton did not provide any information to the FBI, the information was obtained from the Swiss justice department via MLAT. Proton only provides the limited information that we have when issued with a legally binding order from Swiss authorities, which can only happen after all Swiss legal checks are passed. This is an important distinction because Proton operates exclusively under Swiss law.” Functionally, though, the material was provided to the FBI. “Proton accepts payments via cryptocurrency, cash, and also credit card. If you use a credit card, we do have access to the payment identifier which can be used to identify the credit card holder from the card issuer. We check all legal orders received from Swiss authorities and we understood that a law enforcement officer was shot and explosive devices were involved, and we verified that Swiss legal requirements were met,” he added. The FBI search warrant affidavit does not mention a shooting. Police killed Manuel Paez Terán in January 2023 at a forest protest after he fired a gun at police from inside a tent injuring an officer, _records reviewed by _The Guardian_ showed_. Before the shooting, police fired pepper balls into his tent, the records showed. The document says DeKalb Police Department arrested the person believed to be behind the Proton Mail account for alleged trespass at one of the first DTAF protests in January 2022. The document also shows the authorities obtained the person’s travel plans, and planned to execute the search warrant at the Atlanta airport. Prosecutors in Georgia previously charged 61 people allegedly connected to Stop Cop City activity under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. The RICO Act is usually reserved for prosecuting mob bosses or for arguing that an organization is entirely criminal in nature. In December, _a judge threw out_ all of those RICO charges, but five defendants still faced domestic terrorism charges. Proton Mail _previously provided authorities_ with the recovery email address of someone allegedly connected to the Democratic Tsunami movement, which pushes for Catalonian independence.

It is possible for NodeBBs to talk with each other. In fact, not only can two NodeBB forums see and share conversations, you can also connect with other websites that can federate. _This article is part of theNodeBB Answers category, where you can learn more about setting up, maintaining, and using your NodeBB forum._ [...] * * * ## How does it work? Under the hood, NodeBB uses a protocol called **ActivityPub** to exchange messages and activities between different websites and apps. Each user, category, topic, and post is able to be retrieved via this protocol, and users can follow each other in order to start seeing updates from another website. ## How do I find other users and categories? You can search for them in the search bar and search pages. Users and categories are identified by their username or handle, which looks something like `@handle@website.com`. For example, I (@julian) can be found by searching for `@julian@community.nodebb.org`, and this category (@answers) can be found by searching for `@answers@community.nodebb.org`. From there, you can follow users (or watch/track categories) to start the flow of new content to you. It's like subscribing to a newsletter. You'll start getting the new stuff, but you won't be able to see the old stuff unless you already know about it. ## Okay, I started following some people, where do I see their posts? Content from outside of the forum is all found inside the "World" page, accessible via `/world`. As new content comes in, it'll be shown in the feed-style timeline. Any remote categories you've started following will also show up in the sidebar for easy access. ## How do I post to remote categories? Once you've found some categories from outside of the forum (aka "remote categories"), you can browse back to them from the `/world` page. If you've watched/tracked the category, you can access them from the sidebar. Otherwise you'll have to search for them from the remote category search bar within this page. Once you're in a remote category, you can start a new topic via the "New Topic" button just like a regular category on your forum, and your topic will be sent to the remote category for syndication. Remember to follow the rules of other communities, as they may not match rules on your forum.