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benwest.bsky.social
Ben West 🦋
@benwest.bsky.social
2.9K followers 3K following 1.5K posts
"Seasoned" campaigner & aspiring protocol whisperer.

Anxious dog person.

Rewiring broken systems. https://BenWest.blog

Climate solutions, democratization, privacy & infosec advocate.

He/They

🍉

📍Huron-Wendat and Anishinaabek Territory
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benwest.bsky.social
Ben West 🦋 @benwest.bsky.social · Dec 22
This is more true than we realize.

#memes #power #funny #notFunny #ethics #politics #LateStageCapitalism
A meme illustration that shows a politician standing on the end of a plank over the side of a cliff. A crowd stands on the other side of the plank watching him and one person is walking away stepping off the plank. We realize if they all walked away the politicians would fall off the side of this cliff. Text at the top reads: The people don't know their true power.
Reposted by Ben West 🦋
juddlegum.bsky.social
1. EXCLUSIVE

Musk’s xAI has secretly built its AI supercomputer, Collusus, using Chinese-made transformers, a security risk that leaves it vulnerable to espionage or sabotage

The use of Chinese components was previously unreported

Collusus performs sensitive work for the U.S. military
Musk’s AI supercomputer, used by U.S. military, secretly relies on Chinese hardware
Records obtained by Oligarch Watch reveal that the facility relies on Chinese transformers, creating a major security vulnerability.
oligarchwatch.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:45 PM
benwest.bsky.social
America’s Polarization Has Become the World's Side Hustle

Interesting piece from @jasonkoebler.bsky.social @404media.co

www.404media.co/americas-pol...

#infosec #opsec #psyops #uspoli #whatAMess
America’s Polarization Has Become the World's Side Hustle
The 'psyops' revealed by X are entirely the fault of the perverse incentives created by social media monetization programs.
www.404media.co
November 25, 2025 at 4:15 PM
benwest.bsky.social
Is Your Android TV Streaming Box Part of a Botnet? – Krebs on Security

@briankrebs.infosec.exchange.ap.brid.gy 👀

krebsonsecurity.com/2025/11/is-y...

#infosec #botnet
Is Your Android TV Streaming Box Part of a Botnet?
On the surface, the Superbox media streaming devices for sale at retailers like BestBuy and Walmart may seem like a steal: They offer unlimited access to more than 2,200 pay-per-view and streaming ser...
krebsonsecurity.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:10 PM
benwest.bsky.social
CISA Warns of Active Spyware Campaigns Hijacking High-Value Signal and WhatsApp Users

thehackernews.com/2025/11/cisa...

Be careful out there.

#infosec #spyware #privacy #security
CISA Warns of Active Spyware Campaigns Hijacking High-Value Signal and WhatsApp Users
U.S. CISA exposes how commercial spyware and RATs hijack Signal, WhatsApp and Android devices to spy on high-ranking officials.
thehackernews.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:48 PM
benwest.bsky.social
Nazi resting face.
A scene from the film Killing Heydrich. The dark and brooding yet emotionless facr of a Nazi officer.
November 22, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Reposted by Ben West 🦋
mollyknight.bsky.social
Good looking, smart, charismatic as fuck.

And he won New York City’s biggest popularity contest.
mollyknight.bsky.social Molly Knight @mollyknight.bsky.social · 5d
the son he always wanted
Donald loves Zohran
November 21, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Reposted by Ben West 🦋
josephcox.bsky.social
New: cops used Flock AI-enabled cameras to monitor No Kings protests around the country. Also monitored No Hands protests and protests against DOGE.

"Should serve as a warning of how it may be used in the future to suppress dissent."

www.404media.co/cops-used-fl...
Cops Used Flock to Monitor No Kings Protests Around the Country
A massive cache of Flock lookups collated by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) shows as many as 50 federal, state, and local agencies used Flock during protests over the last year.
www.404media.co
November 21, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Reposted by Ben West 🦋
montezumachavez.bsky.social
The Digital Omnibus Proposal allows biometric data processing exceptions for identity verification, provided individuals solely control their data. This Norwegian DPA report will examine the legal challenges of "SALT" and biometric verification via Mobai's technology.
November 20, 2025 at 11:03 PM
Reposted by Ben West 🦋
patrickcmiller.bsky.social
Critics scoff after Microsoft warns AI feature can infect machines and pilfer data arstechnica.com/security/202...
Critics scoff after Microsoft warns AI feature can infect machines and pilfer data
Integration of Copilot Actions into Windows is off by default, but for how long?
arstechnica.com
November 20, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Reposted by Ben West 🦋
justinhendrix.bsky.social
This is really important. The tech firms' apparent capitulation to administration demands over what should be protected activity appears to be a grave violation of First Amendment rights. We need to see these records.
November 20, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Reposted by Ben West 🦋
agreenberg.bsky.social
Researchers tried plugging every possible phone number into WhatsApp's web app. They found they could collect 3.5 billion users' phone numbers, plus photos for half and profile text for more than a third, the biggest personal data exposure ever by some measures. www.wired.com/story/a-simp...
A Simple WhatsApp Security Flaw Exposed 3.5 Billion Phone Numbers
By plugging tens of billions of phone numbers into WhatsApp’s contact discovery tool, researchers found “the most extensive exposure of phone numbers” ever—along with profile photos and more.
www.wired.com
November 18, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Reposted by Ben West 🦋
karlbode.com
Democrat support of the TikTok ban (during an election season when they were trying to court young voters) was one of the biggest tech policy turds I think I can remember in 20+ years of writing about tech policy
TikTok To Be Sold To Trump’s Right Wing Billionaire Buddies And Converted Into A Propaganda Mill
Donald Trump has successfully used xenophobia and fake concerns about propaganda and national security to get what he’s long wanted: TikTok (and its fat ad revenues) are poised to be sold off…
www.techdirt.com
November 17, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Reposted by Ben West 🦋
samleecole.bsky.social
license plate data merged with credit header data, marriage records, vehicle ownership, and voter registrations, in one app for ICE agents. oh and it sends push notifications when someone they're seeking is nearby.
🆒: www.404media.co/this-app-let...
This App Lets ICE Track Vehicles and Owners Across the Country
Material viewed by 404 Media shows data giant Thomson Reuters enriches license plate data with marriage, voter, and ownership records. The tool can predict where a car may be in the future.
www.404media.co
November 17, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Reposted by Ben West 🦋
newsjennifer.bsky.social
This photo was taken by @chicagotribune.com photog @mandophotos.bsky.social this past Saturday in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood. Chicago's local news journalists are doing a helluva job capturing the aggressive tactics CPB & ICE are using here.
bsky.app/profile/mand...
junlper.beer onion person @junlper.beer · 16d
a new genre of photo in the last year is federal agents working for ICE pointing guns directly at photographers
November 11, 2025 at 3:21 PM
benwest.bsky.social
In case you thought these lunatics were only in the US.

Thank you to the @antihate.ca for your important work.

youtube.com/watch?v=xTfm...

#Canada #ManAgainstTime #Nazi
Exposing MMA coaches at a secretive neo-Nazi gathering | Visual investigations
YouTube video by CBC News
youtube.com
November 11, 2025 at 4:06 PM
benwest.bsky.social
Drilling Down on Uncle Sam’s Proposed TP-Link Ban – Krebs on Security @briankrebs.infosec.exchange.ap.brid.gy

At this point the US gov not liking something makes me trust it more. Perhaps they lack wide open back doors provided by the company to Americans?

krebsonsecurity.com/2025/11/dril...
Drilling Down on Uncle Sam’s Proposed TP-Link Ban
The U.S. government is reportedly preparing to ban the sale of wireless routers and other networking gear from TP-Link Systems, a tech company that currently enjoys an estimated 50% market share among...
krebsonsecurity.com
November 11, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Reposted by Ben West 🦋
404media.co
Ypsilanti, Michigan has officially decided to fight against the construction of a 'high-performance computing facility' that would service a nuclear weapons laboratory 1,500 miles away.
A Small Town Is Fighting a $1.2 Billion AI Datacenter for America's Nuclear Weapon Scientists
Ypsilanti, Michigan has officially decided to fight against the construction of a 'high-performance computing facility' that would service a nuclear weapons laboratory 1,500 miles away.
www.404media.co
November 10, 2025 at 2:48 PM
benwest.bsky.social
Right on 💜
daira.bsky.social Daira-Emma Hopwood @daira.bsky.social · Nov 22
Trans and queer people have produced —and will produce— more enduring art, science, technology, and philosophy in 10 years than the fascists would in 10,000. Our work is the basis of everything valuable. They cannot erase us.
November 10, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Reposted by Ben West 🦋
chrisdeleon.bsky.social
"sophisticated financial engineering" oh that's not good
Here is where the bubble dynamics get complicated. Tech firms don't want to formally take on debt-that is, directly ask investors for loans-because debt looks bad on their balance sheets and could reduce shareholder returns. To get around this, some are partnering with private-equity titans to do some sophisticated financial engineering, Paul Kedrosky, an investor and a financial consultant, told us. These private-equity firms put up or raise the money to build a data center, which a tech company will repay through rent. Data-center leases from, say, Meta can then be repackaged into a financial instrument that people can buy and sell-a bond, in essence. Meta recently did just this: Blue Owl Capital raised money for a massive Meta data center in Louisiana by, in essence, issuing bonds backed by Meta's rent. And multiple data-center leases can be combined into a security and sorted into what are called "tranches" based on their risk of default. Data centers represent an $800 billion market for private-equity firms through 2028 alone. (Meta has said of its arrangement with Blue Owl that the "innovative partnership was designed to support the speed and flexibility required for Meta's data center projects. steve carrell looking angry wearing suit at nice restaurant in movie the big short.
October 30, 2025 at 11:52 PM
benwest.bsky.social
There is a reason her name is Autumn 🍂

#dogs #doggo #Dogsky #camouflage
Arguably one of the cutest dogs on earth looks back st tbe camera over her shoulder. Her Carmel colouring blends into the leaves on the ground.
November 9, 2025 at 5:00 PM
benwest.bsky.social
The fact that the US President is just publicly murdering civilians in other countries that he proclaims are criminals without any due process & we are barely talking about it.

They sure have perfected flooding the zone. Honestly how we redesign "the zone"? This can't be the norm.

#infosec #uspoli
November 8, 2025 at 11:10 PM
benwest.bsky.social
One of the Greatest Wall Street Investors of All Time Announces Retirement 👀

Perhaps one of the best pieces of witty and insightful journalism of all time via @jasonkoebler.bsky.social 🤌🏼 @404media.co

www.404media.co/nancy-pelosi...

It did pay her better than her "real job" 🤔

#uspoli #Pelosi
One of the Greatest Wall Street Investors of All Time Announces Retirement
Nancy Pelosi’s trades over the years have been so good that a startup was created to allow investors to directly mirror her portfolio.
www.404media.co
November 7, 2025 at 4:17 PM
benwest.bsky.social
"If this budget goes over like a broccoli cake at a kids birthday party... Then we will see what happens"

Has to be the best line of the day in Canadian Budget coverage.

#cdnpoli #budget2025 #Canada
A screenshot of Rosie Barton and guests on a budget 2025 broadcast. Closed captions cover Rosies face (sorry Rosie) saying the words if the budget goes over like broccoli at a... Which was a small typo he said brocolli cake.
November 4, 2025 at 10:15 PM
benwest.bsky.social
This includes possibly the most Canadian infosec "incident" (the 2nd story, 3rd is awful).

Spoiler alert it involves figure skating.

I wish we were only dealing with this sort of thing and not bill C-8 and other serious violations of our rights.

youtube.com/watch?v=dU9u...

#infosec #Canada
"The Building Has Malware." Adventures in Appsec 🕷 Darknet Diaries Ep. 165: Tanya
YouTube video by Jack Rhysider
youtube.com
November 4, 2025 at 6:35 PM
benwest.bsky.social
Sometimes you just need to tolerate your "little" sister.

#dogs #dogsky
two dogs spoon on a couch. The older one has an ear sticking up and her underbite sticking out and a funny look in her eyes. Her now much bigger younger sister, has her paw around her older sisters waist and seems very happy to be cuddling.
November 4, 2025 at 12:12 AM