cfarivar

cfarivar, 23 days ago to random

20 years ago last month (April 2004, I published my undergraduate academic thesis at UC Berkeley, on the history of the Internet in Senegal, which became the basis of part of my first book (2011): THE INTERNET OF ELSEWHERE.

https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~cfarivar/senegal/thesis_final.html

cfarivar, 24 days ago to random

You’re Buying So Much From Temu And Shein The Air Cargo Industry Can’t Keep Up (by @cfarivar)

https://www.forbes.com/sites/cyrusfarivar/2024/05/21/youre-buying-so-much-from-temu-and-shein-the-air-cargo-industry-cant-keep-up/?sh=3abbf93643ef

cfarivar, 30 days ago to random

This piece by my good friend Richard Morgan, a Palestinian-British journalist, is gut-wrenching.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/05/nakba-day-israel-palestine-gaza-war-displacement.html?via=rss

cfarivar, 1 month ago to random

A Victoria’s Secret Underwear Brand’s AI Tool Designed Swastika Panties (by @cfarivar and @ebakerwhite )

https://www.forbes.com/sites/cyrusfarivar/2024/05/10/a-victorias-secret-underwear-brands-ai-tool-designed-swastika-panties/?sh=4f230ba0323b

cfarivar, 1 month ago to random

Why Baltimore And 2 Other Cities Sued America’s Largest Body Camera Maker (by @cfarivar)

https://www.forbes.com/sites/cyrusfarivar/2024/04/22/why-baltimore-and-2-other-cities-sued-americas-largest-body-camera-maker/?sh=6bbf3baed5a7

cfarivar, 2 months ago to random

"His unwillingness, or inability, to name one of his own players is perhaps understandable. This is a man who, for the past year, has created such a toxic environment in Oakland that he can't attend even a single one of his team's games."

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39908731/oakland-sacramento-meetings-moves-john-fisher

cfarivar, 2 months ago to random

This month is Ride 4 a Reason, the annual bike ride from Oak-Sac, a fundraiser for Oakland public schools! I’ll be riding 110 miles in 10 days to support our students. Please consider donating, if you are so moved, even $5-10:

https://www.bikesignup.com/cfarivar/Donate

cfarivar, 2 months ago to random

Oooof, what a kicker by @ChaseWithorn.

"[Truth Social] lost $40 million over the past four quarters while generating a paltry $4.6 million in revenue—less than half that of an average Cheesecake Factory restaurant."

https://www.forbes.com/sites/chasewithorn/2024/03/26/donald-trumps-net-worth-more-than-doubles-in-a-day/?sh=9afa82c139d5

cfarivar, 2 months ago to random

Last year, @stanfordio warned of "repercussions" of Stable Diffusion 1.5's training process, which was partly trained on CSAM.

A Wisconsin man said he used Stable Diffusion 1.5 to create deepfake CSAM. He's now being prosecuted.

My latest for @forbes:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/cyrusfarivar/2024/03/26/stable-diffusion-15-cited-in-case-involving-ai-generated-child-sexual-abuse-images/?sh=7f38e1a1dc57

cfarivar, 2 months ago to random

TIL: the Québecois French word for "deepfake" is "l'hypertrucage." ("hyper-tricking")

AJA: le mot québecois pour "deepfake," c'est "l'hypertrucage."

https://blogue.soquij.qc.ca/2023/05/17/r-c-larouche-sommes-nous-dans-une-nouvelle-ere-de-cybercriminalite-hypertrucage/

cfarivar, 2 months ago to random

Pretty wild that a project to restore the bridge of the Enterprise-D that was first announced back in 2012 is actually happening. (It's now called the Sci-Fi World Museum.)

@arstechnica / @drgitlin reports: https://arstechnica.com/culture/2024/03/a-museum-built-around-the-restored-star-trek-1701-d-bridge-opens-in-may/

My 2012 story: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/08/make-it-so-how-three-guys-got-most-of-the-enterprise-d-bridge/

cfarivar, 2 months ago to random

Last night was #Nowruz, Persian New Year.

I've been recalling @firoozehdumas' line: "Every immigrant group has given something to this country, and we Iranians are here to present you, dear America, with Nowruz. Here is a holiday that asks only one thing of you — to have hope."

Happy New Year, my friends! May we all have a healthy and prosperous year ahead!

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/18/opinion/sunday/an-iranian-holiday-thats-perfect-for-americans.html

cfarivar, 3 months ago to random

Remember the NJ teen whose classmates made deepfake porn of her, and other girls?

In new Congressional testimony, her mom says the boys who made and shared those images still attend classes with her and have gone unpunished.

My latest for @forbes:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/cyrusfarivar/2024/03/13/teen-boys-deepfaked-her-daughter-then-the-school-made-it-worse-one-mom-says/?sh=555fdbfc3118

cfarivar, 3 months ago to random

Southern California Edison has just agreed to settle claims with the federal government brought in the wake of the 2017 Thomas Fire, which burned over 440 sq miles.

SCE will pay $80M -- its 2023 profits were $1.2B.

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24441482-thomas-fire-settlement-agreement

cfarivar, 3 months ago to random

Crypto Miners Fight Federal Agencies’ Demands To Reveal Energy Use (by @cfarivar)

https://www.forbes.com/sites/cyrusfarivar/2024/02/23/crypto-miners-fight-federal-agencies-demands-to-reveal-energy-use/?sh=93871054c93c

cfarivar, 3 months ago to random

Dozens Of KFC, Taco Bell And Dairy Queen Franchises Are Using AI To Track Workers via @forbes

https://www.forbes.com/sites/rashishrivastava/2024/02/23/dozens-of-kfc-taco-bell-and-dairy-queen-franchises-are-using-ai-to-track-workers/

cfarivar, 3 months ago to random

There's a man in Colorado who has amassed quite a following by posting harassing drone videos of homeless people.

When we told TikTok and YouTube about the accounts, they were removed. The Instagram account remains live for now.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/cyrusfarivar/2024/02/15/tiktok-and-youtube-remove-videos-of-drones-harassing-homeless-people/?sh=31dae67648fc

cfarivar, 4 months ago to random

My friends at @arstechnica covered my libel case today.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/02/cryptocurrency-maker-sues-former-ars-reporter-for-writing-about-fraud-lawsuit/

cfarivar, 4 months ago to random

Ya boi got sued for libel, got a writeup by @mmasnick

https://www.techdirt.com/2024/02/12/would-you-trust-a-cryptocurrency-whose-operator-sues-journalists-for-reporting-on-lawsuits-calling-you-a-scam/

cfarivar, 4 months ago to random

Meta made $14B in profit in Q4 2023.

Put another way, that's over $155M per day, or ~$6.5M per hour, or ~$108,000 per minute during that period.

cfarivar, 4 months ago to random

Foreign National Charged for International Money Laundering Conspiracy and Role in Operation of Unlicensed Digital Currency Exchange BTC-e

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/foreign-national-charged-international-money-laundering-conspiracy-and-role-operation

cfarivar, 4 months ago to random

In the 2 years that I've been with Forbes, the @forbesunion hasn't had a contract. That needs to change. That's why I'm walking out. #fedupwithforbes

Support us here: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/settle-a-fair-contract-with-the-forbes-union-now

cfarivar, 5 months ago to random

US Air Force Cyber Analyst Arrested And Accused Of Running NFT Scam (by @cfarivar)

Our first collab with @SeamusHughes !

https://www.forbes.com/sites/cyrusfarivar/2024/01/12/us-air-force-cyber-analyst-arrested-and-accused-of-running-nft-scam/?sh=212d63a5353d

cfarivar, 5 months ago to random

I recently discovered that Etsy has been hosting deepfake porn of celebrities.

We pointed it out to them, and got 16 accounts taken down.

But, Etsy -- a company worth nearly $10B -- is still full of a ton of AI-generated porn.

My latest for @forbes.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/cyrusfarivar/2023/12/20/etsy-has-been-hosting-deepfake-porn-of-celebrities/?sh=353f60125927

cfarivar, 5 months ago to random

I'll be talking geofence warrants on @CBSNews streaming at about 625am PT / 925am ET today!

https://www.cbsnews.com/live/

to talk about my story with @iblametom for @Forbes that we published last week on the end of geofence warrants :

https://www.forbes.com/sites/cyrusfarivar/2023/12/14/google-just-killed-geofence-warrants-police-location-data/?sh=6cc803732c86