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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/40188039

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Left-wing extremists have been showing "substantial activity on Lemmygrad.ml" with an accompanying increase in toxicity, a new joint study published by Binghamton University and Cyprus University of Technology on Arxiv says.

The researchers also identified posts that support authoritarian regimes, endorse the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and feature anti-Zionist and antisemitic content.

"Overall, our findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding of political extremism within decentralized social networks and emphasize the necessity of analyzing both ends of the political spectrum in research," the researchers conclude.

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Users on Lemmygrad.ml frequently discuss [...] China and North Korea, with many posts expressing support for them.

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Discussions [on Lemmygrad.ml] on the Israel-Palestine conflict primarily criticize Israel. While many posts condemn antisemitism, [the authors] also encounter numerous posts that extend beyond criticizing Israel, displaying anti-Zionism and even antisemitism.

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[The study] results show that users of Lemmygrad.ml frequently share posts that support authoritarian regimes, as seen in their support for China, North Korea, and Russia. Moreover, their support can extend beyond backing these authoritarian regimes, even cheering on their violent actions, as evidenced by their posts on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Additionally, we observe anti-Zionist and antisemitic behaviors, which show similarities to right-wing extremism.

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Our analysis suggests a concerning endorsement of authoritarian actions and extremist rhetoric on Lemmygrad.ml, further indicating that left-wing extremist communities on decentralized platforms should receive more attention from the academic community.

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/40035733

Around the world, discussions about digital sovereignty are intensifying. Governments, institutions, companies and civil society are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of controlling their own digital infrastructure. From concerns about data protection and vendor lock-in to questions of political autonomy, the topic has moved from niche circles to mainstream policy debates. In our new Digital Sovereignty Index, we show how countries compare in digital independence!

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Nextcloud developed the Digital Sovereignty Index (DSI): a simple metric to illustrate how much self hosted collaboration applications are actively used across nearly 60 countries. It represents the relative amount of deployments of self-hosted productivity & collaboration tools per 100,000 citizens, compared to other countries.

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Here is a more detailed description: https://nextcloud.com/blog/digital-sovereignty-index-how-countries-compare-in-digital-independence/

• Rise in accessible AI tools significantly lowered the barrier to entry for cyber attackers, enabling them to create and deploy malicious bots at scale
• For the first time in a decade, automated traffic surpassed human activity, accounting for 51% of all web traffic
• API-directed attacks surged to 44% of advanced bot traffic, with the travel sector topping the list for bot attacks overall

Reddit

For decades, European firms have leaned on Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 rather than home-grown tools. Our new Europe Tech Sovereignty Watch study maps just how deep that dependency goes — and it should concern anyone focused on EU privacy, security, or innovation.

Key findings

• 74% of all publicly listed European companies run core services on Google or Microsoft. Several sectors/countries hit 100% reliance.
• Email is the gateway: pick a US mail suite and you usually adopt its entire stack (storage, IAM, security, analytics).
• Because both vendors are US entities, the CLOUD Act can compel hand-over even when the server sits in Frankfurt or Dublin.

74% of all publicly listed European companies run critical services (starting with email) on Google or Microsoft. In some sectors and countries, reliance hits 100%.

• 🇫🇷 France: 61% of companies rely on US providers. For utilities, it’s 87%.
• 🇬🇧 UK: 75% of companies depend on US tech for their email and communications.
• 🇪🇸 Spain: 65% of companies rely on US services, including five sectors at 100%.
• 🇵🇹 Portugal: 65% of businesses use US providers. In nine sectors, that figure is 100%
• 🇮🇪 Ireland: In 11 sectors, 100% of large companies use US-based tech.

Why it matters

• Company comms may feed foreign AI training sets.
• EU data is vulnerable to US surveillance and extraterritorial subpoenas.
• Critical infrastructure (utilities, transport, telecom) becomes a geopolitical pressure point.
• Dependence fuels brain drain and suppresses European innovation.

The board determined the primary contributing factors were OceanGate’s inadequate design, certification, maintenance and inspection process for the Titan. Other factors cited in the report include a toxic workplace culture at OceanGate, an inadequate domestic and international regulatory framework for submersible operations and vessels of novel design, and an ineffective whistleblower process under the Seaman’s Protection Act.

The board also found OceanGate failed to properly investigate and address known hull anomalies following its 2022 Titanic expedition. Investigators determined the Titan’s real-time monitoring system generated data that should have been analyzed and acted on during the 2022 Titanic expedition. However, OceanGate did not take any action related to the data, conduct any preventative maintenance or properly store the Titan during the extended off season before its 2023 Titanic expedition.

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Online content creators spend significant time and effort building their user base through a long, often arduous process, which requires finding the right niche'' to cater to. So, what incentive is there for an established content creator known for cat memes to completely reinvent their page channel and start promoting cryptocurrency services or cover electoral news events? And, if they do, do their existing subscribers not notice? We explore this problem of \textit{repurposed channels}, whereby a channel changes its identity and contents. We first characterize a market for second-hand'' social media accounts, which recorded sales exceeding USD~1M during our 6-month observation period. By observing YouTube channels (re)sold over these 6~months, we find that a substantial number (37%) are used to disseminate potentially harmful content, often without facing any penalty. Even more surprisingly, these channels seem to gain rather than lose subscribers. To estimate the prevalence of channel repurposing ``in the wild,'' we also collect two snapshots of 1.4M quasi-randomly sampled YouTube accounts. In a 3-month period, we estimate that $\sim$0.25% channels -- collectively holding $\sim$44M subscribers -- were repurposed. We confirm that these repurposed channels share several characteristics with sold channels -- mainly, the fact that they had a significantly high presence of potentially problematic content. Across repurposed channels, we find channels that became disinformation channels, as well as channels that link to web pages with financial scams. We reason that abusing the residual trust placed on these channels is advantageous to financially- and ideologically-motivated adversaries. This phenomenon is not exclusive to YouTube and we posit that the market for cultivating organic audiences is set to grow, particularly if it remains unchallenged by mitigations, technical or otherwise.

Reddit.

Dilemma highlights emerging problems as AI replaces human moderators, tech expert says

Extreme price swings in wholesale electricity markets and growing concerns around grid instability are opening up new markets for energy storage. Batteries are now a critical solution to drive value for both capital and consumers.