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Ben West 🦋

@benwest.bsky.social

2.9K followers 3K following 1.4K 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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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.

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Reposted by Ben West 🦋

Ryan McManus @ryantomorrow.bsky.social · 11h

Tesla pulls an Apple U2. electrek.co/2025/10/10/t...

Tesla pushes Tron: Ares ad inside its cars, upsetting owners

Tesla has partnered with its recent foe, Disney, to promote its latest movie, Tron: Ares, with an in-car update that...

electrek.co

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Ben West 🦋 @benwest.bsky.social · 1d

Honey pots and hacker bots are everywhere... Beware.

404 Media @404media.co · 1d

BREAKING: A catastrophic breach has impacted Discord user data including selfies and identity documents uploaded as part of the app’s verification process, email addresses, phone numbers, approximately where the user lives, and much more.

🔗 www.404media.co/the-discord-...

The Discord Hack is Every Users’ Worst Nightmare

A hack impacting Discord’s age verification process shows in stark terms the risk of tech companies collecting users’ ID documents. Now the hackers are posting peoples’ IDs and other sensitive informa...

www.404media.co

Ben West 🦋 @benwest.bsky.social · 3d

Its all very exhausting. Also hi.

Ben West 🦋 @benwest.bsky.social · 3d

Why does it seem appropriate that the parent company behind the New York Stock Exchange is also called 'ICE'?

Also the idea that they are investing in a recursive echo chamber of tech bros seems... Predictable.

www.bankless.com/read/news/ic...

#polyMarket #tech #uspoli #investment

ICE Invests $2B in Polymarket to Bring Prediction Markets to Wall Street on Bankless

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, announced a landmark $2B investment in prediction market Polymarket.

www.bankless.com

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Ben West 🦋 @benwest.bsky.social · 3d

Merry christmas?

Weird old traditions changing a little bit finally?

Also... God save (us from) the king.

#cdnpoli

Pwnallthethings @pwnallthethings.bsky.social · 4d

Tragic news from Canada where the Canadian Supreme Court has gone from the official dress on the left to the one on the right

Canadian Supreme court. Everyone is dressed in bright red wooly gowns, with a beige trim. It looks sort of like a Santa robe

The Canadian Supreme court. Everyone is dressed in black gowns with a bright white kravat, and two thin red vertical lines on the side of the robe

Ben West 🦋 @benwest.bsky.social · 4d

Anduril and Palantir battlefield comms system has deep flaws: Army archive.ph/xnWhH Not surprised but still horrified.

archive.ph

Ben West 🦋 @benwest.bsky.social · 6d

Google Calls ICE Agents a Vulnerable Group, Removes ICE-Spotting App ‘Red Dot’

@404media.co

Fuck ICE and fuck Google and fuck Apple too.

We are living through dark times.

www.404media.co/google-calls...

#USPoli #FuckICE #humanRights #ethics

Google Calls ICE Agents a Vulnerable Group, Removes ICE-Spotting App ‘Red Dot’

The move comes as Apple removed ICEBlock after direct pressure from U.S. Department of Justice officials and signals a broader crackdown on ICE-spotting apps.

www.404media.co

Ben West 🦋 @benwest.bsky.social · 7d

This resonated with me after a couple days of fixing things i broke 🙃

Ben West 🦋 @benwest.bsky.social · 7d

“Remember that failure is an event, not a person.” – Zig Ziglar via @momentumdash.bsky.social

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Reposted by Ben West 🦋

Kelsey Atherton @atherton.bsky.social · 13d

State Dept's revoking visa of Colombia's president because he said in Spanish

"That's why from here, from New York I ask all the soldiers of the army of the United States not to point their guns at people. Disobey the orders of Trump. Obey the orders of humanity."

www.reuters.com/world/us/us-...

www.reuters.com

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Reposted by Ben West 🦋

Ashton Pittman @ashtonpittman.bsky.social · 13d

Trump says he authorizes Hegseth to deploy the military to Portland, which he lyingly calls "war ravaged," and says he is authorizing "full force."

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
+
At the request of Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, I am directing Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to provide all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland, and any of our ICE Facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists. I am also authorizing Full Force, if necessary. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
506 ReTruths 1.62k Likes
9/27/25, 9:19

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Reposted by Ben West 🦋

404 Media @404media.co · 15d

Surveillance companies justify helping ICE and Trump with ‘democracy’

“It's not my job to play the ethics game because our elected officials will eventually figure that out. I have full faith in the American people to decide who to elect and what to vote on.”

🔗 www.404media.co/how-surveill...

How Surveillance Firms Use ‘Democracy’ As a Cover for Serving ICE and Trump

Multiple Palantir and Flock sources say the companies are spinning a commitment to "democracy" to absolve them of responsibility. "In my eyes, it is the classic double speak," one said.

www.404media.co

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Ben West 🦋 @benwest.bsky.social · 14d

Could we be living in a more dystopian timeline?

spectrum.ieee.org/unitree-robo...

#infosec #opsec #robotArmy

Security Flaw Turns Unitree Robots Into Botnets

Can your robot be hacked? A new vulnerability in Unitree robots could turn them into a botnet army. Are we taking robot security seriously enough?

spectrum.ieee.org

Reposted by Ben West 🦋

Jeni Tennison @jenitennison.com · 14d

Having read the Labour Together Britcard proposals, the main argument seems to be that digital IDs will tackle unscrupulous employers or landlords by making it easier for the Home Office to do data-based checks rather than spot-checks to detect non-compliance.

www.labourtogether.uk/all-reports/...

BritCard: a progressive digital identity for Britain — Labour Together

In government, Labour has committed to reducing migration. Labour Together is supporting this agenda with a series of papers looking at how to create a migration system that puts country first. In Oct...

www.labourtogether.uk

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Ben West 🦋 @benwest.bsky.social · 15d

Brilliant

404 Media @404media.co · 16d

With “Find My Parking Cops,” technologist Riley Walz reverse engineered San Francisco’s parking ticket system to place cops on a map seconds after they issue parking citations—in theory, helping people avoid spots where officers are handing out tickets.

🔗 www.404media.co/find-my-park...

‘Find My Parking Cops’ Tracks Officers Handing Out Tickets All Around San Francisco

"Find My Parking Cops" pins the near-realtime locations of parking officers all over the city, and shows what they're issuing fines for, and how much.

www.404media.co

Ben West 🦋 @benwest.bsky.social · 15d

Trump’s Border Czar Involved in Detention Contract Talks Despite Recusal
www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

#uspoli #ethics

Trump’s Border Czar Involved in Detention Contract Talks Despite Recusal

Ethics experts say Tom Homan’s participation could violate rules meant to ensure impartiality. The White House says he has not crossed that line.

www.bloomberg.com

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Ben West 🦋 @benwest.bsky.social · 17d

I'm very happy to be renewing my membership for the 3rd year in a row. @404media.co is doing essential work.

404 Media @404media.co · 18d

We just sued ICE. Support us here: 404media.co/membership/

Reposted by Ben West 🦋

Ron Deibert @rondeibert.bsky.social · Sep 8

"A tsunami of AI-enabled disinformation is already upon us, polluting the public sphere and seeping back into the language models that AI systems feed upon. What to do?"

My latest oped in @theglobeandmail.com 👇

www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

Opinion: Canada’s new Minister of AI must not be naive to its harms

AI is not just being deployed to expand human understanding, but to systematically subvert it as well

www.theglobeandmail.com

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Ben West 🦋 @benwest.bsky.social · 17d

Badass role for someone in infosec.

The Citizen Lab @citizenlab.ca · Sep 10

JOB ALERT: We are recruiting for the newly created role of Information Security Program Manager.

Apply by Sept 30.

citizenlab.ca/2025/09/job-...

Job Opportunity: Information Security Program Manager - The Citizen Lab

The Information Security Program Manager will be responsible for providing strategic leadership to develop and implement Information Security Programs for the Citizen Lab as well as other units at the...

citizenlab.ca

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Reposted by Ben West 🦋

Laura Bassett @lebassett.bsky.social · 17d

More than 1800 detainees are missing after the closure of Alligator Alcatraz. Their families and lawyers can’t find them and they’ve vanished from the ICE database. Feels like this should be a much bigger story www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...

Hundreds of Alligator Alcatraz detainees drop off the grid after leaving site

As of the end of August, the whereabouts of two-thirds of more than 1,800 men detained at Alligator Alcatraz during the month of July could not be determined by the Miami Herald.

www.miamiherald.com

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Ben West 🦋 @benwest.bsky.social · 19d

Happy birthday, hope the next trip around is filled with health and happiness.

Ben West 🦋 @benwest.bsky.social · 19d

We are getting left behind, meanwhile money and power is blowing away in the wind.

#cdnpoli #uspoli #climate #energy #tech

Kevin J. CREATURE @kevinjkircher.com · 19d

Welp, updated my "biggest wind turbine in the world" slide again. Last time I taught thermo, it was a 19 MW turbine with 128 m blades. This year, it's 26 MW with 150 m blades. Always offshore, always in China.

Context: A Boeing 747 is 71 m long. 150 m is about the height of a 50-story skyscraper.

China tests ‘world’s largest’ offshore wind turbine

With a hub height of 185 meters, the turbine will be equivalent to a 63-story skyscraper.

www.offshore-mag.com

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Ben West 🦋 @benwest.bsky.social · 21d

Oooof...

#tech #life #meme #notFunny

A six panel comic illustration grid. In the first panel a figure lies in bed, sick and old. I'm dying my life flashes before my eyes it says. The frame now is eye shaped for the next 4 panels. The character gets older in each panel and their computer monitor that they're sitting in front of gets more modern. It's a story of how their entire life was spent in front of a computer. In the last frame, we'll return to the figure in their hospital bed and it just says nice little little tear in their right eye. And the person looking over them who seemed concerned before now looks happy.

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Ben West 🦋 @benwest.bsky.social · 21d

Go @avilewis.ca go!! 🫶🏽

Avi Lewis @avilewis.ca · 21d

Canada's true crisis is the everyday emergency of just trying to get by in an impossible economy.

I’m running for NDP leader so we can transform a system rigged for the rich—together.

We need a government that serves the many, not the money.

Join in. lewisforleader.ca/

youtu.be/IVy99oiYszY

Why I’m running for NDP leader

YouTube video by Avi Lewis

youtu.be