This is not a drill

This is IMPORTANT especially if you live in the USA or use the internet REGULATED by the USA!!!!

Do not scroll. Signal boost. Reblog.

Reblog WITHOUT reading if you really can't right now, I promise all the links and proof are here. People NEED to know this.

( I tried to make this accessible but you can't cater to EVERYONE so please just try your best to get through this or do your own research 🙏)

TLDR: Homeland Security has been tying our social media to our IPs, licenses, posts, emails, selfies, cloud, apps, location, etc through our phones without a warrant using Babel X and will hold that information gathered for 75 years. Certain aspects of it were hushed because law enforcement will/does/has used it and it would give away confidential information about ongoing operations.

This gets renewed in September.

Between this, Agincourt (a VR simulator for cops Directly related to this project), cop city, and widespread demonization of abortions, sex workers, & queer people mixed with qanon/Trumpism, and fascism in Florida, and the return of child labor, & removed abortion rights fresh on our tails it's time for alarms to be raised and it's time for everyone to stop calling us paranoid and start showing up to protest and mutual aid groups.

🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨

These are the same feds who want to build cop city and recreate civilian houses en masse and use facial recognition. The same feds that want cop city to also be a training ground for police across the country. Cop city where they will build civilian neighborhoods to train in.

Widespread mass surveillance against us.

Now let's cut to some parts of the article. May 17th from Vice:

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is using an invasive, AI-powered monitoring tool to screen travelers, including U.S. citizens, refugees, and people seeking asylum, which can in some cases link their social media posts to their Social Security number and location data, according to an internal CBP document obtained by Motherboard.

Called Babel X, the system lets a user input a piece of information about a target—their name, email address, or telephone number—and receive a bevy of data in return, according to the document. Results can include their social media posts, linked IP address, employment history, and unique advertising identifiers associated with their mobile phone. The monitoring can apply to U.S. persons, including citizens and permanent residents, as well as refugees and asylum seekers, according to the document.

“Babel data will be used/captured/stored in support of CBP targeting, vetting, operations and analysis,” the document reads. Babel X will be used to “identify potential derogatory and confirmatory information” associated with travelers, persons of interest, and “persons seeking benefits.” The document then says results from Babel X will be stored in other CBP operated systems for 75 years.

"The U.S. government’s ever-expanding social media dragnet is certain to chill people from engaging in protected speech and association online. And CBP’s use of this social media surveillance technology is especially concerning in connection with existing rules requiring millions of visa applicants each year to register their social media handles with the government. As we’ve argued in a related lawsuit, the government simply has no legitimate interest in collecting and retaining such sensitive information on this immense scale,” Carrie DeCell, senior staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute, told Motherboard in an email.

The full list of information that Babel X may provide to CBP analysts is a target’s name, date of birth, address, usernames, email address, phone number, social media content, images, IP address, Social Security number, driver’s license number, employment history, and location data based on geolocation tags in public posts.

Bennett Cyphers, a special advisor to activist

organization the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told Motherboard in an online chat “the data isn’t limited to public posts made under someone’s real name on Facebook or Twitter.”

The document says CBP also has access to AdID information through an add-on called Locate X, which includes smartphone location data. AdID information is data such as a device’s unique advertising ID, which can act as an useful identifier for tracking a phone and, by extension, a person’s movements. Babel Street obtains location information from a long supply chain of data. Ordinary apps installed on peoples’ smartphones provide data to a company called Gravy Analytics, which repackages that location data and sells it to law enforcement agencies via its related company Venntel. But Babel Street also repackages Venntel’s data for its own Locate X product."

The PTA obtained by Motherboard says that Locate X is covered by a separate “commercial telemetry” PTA. CBP denied Motherboard’s FOIA request for a copy of this document, claiming it “would disclose techniques and/or procedures for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions”.

A former Babel Street employee previously told Motherboard how users of Locate X can draw a shape on a map known as a geofence, see all devices Babel Street has data on for that location, and then follow a specific device to see where else it has been.

Cyphers from the EFF added “most of the people whose location data is collected in this way likely have no idea it’s happening.”

CBP has been purchasing access to location data without a warrant, a practice that critics say violates the Fourth Amendment. Under a ruling from the Supreme Court, law enforcement agencies need court approval before accessing location data generated by a cell phone tower; those critics believe this applies to location data generated by smartphone apps too.

“Homeland Security needs to come clean to the American people about how it believes it can legally purchase and use U.S. location data without any kind of court order. Americans' privacy shouldn't depend on whether the government uses a court order or credit card,” Senator Ron Wyden told Motherboard in a statement. “DHS should stop violating Americans' rights, and Congress should pass my bipartisan legislation to prohibit the government's purchase of Americans' data." CBP has refused to tell Congress what legal authority it is following when using commercially bought smartphone location data to track Americans without a warrant.

Neither CBP or Babel Street responded to a request for comment. Motherboard visited the Babel X section of Babel Street’s website on Tuesday. On Wednesday before publication, that product page was replaced with a message that said “page not found.”

Do you know anything else about how Babel X is being used by government or private clients? Do you work for Babel Street? We'd love to hear from you. Using a non-work phone or computer, you can contact Joseph Cox securely on Signal on +44 20 8133 5190, Wickr on josephcox, or email joseph.cox@vice.com.

Wow that sounds bad right.

Be a shame if it got worse.

.

.

It does.

The software (previously Agincourt Solutions) is sold by AI data company Babel Street, was led by Jeffrey Chapman, a former Treasury Department official,, Navy retiree & Earlier in his career a White House aide and intelligence officer at the Department of Defense, according to LinkedIn.

🙃

So what's Agincourt Solutions then right now?

SO FUCKING SUS IN RELATION TO THIS, THATS WHAT

In essence, synthetic BATTLEVR training is a mixture of all three realities – virtual, augmented and physical. It is flexible enough to allow for mission rehearsals of most types and be intuitive enough to make training effective.

Anyway the new CEO of Babel Street (Babel X) as of April is a guy named Michael Southworth and I couldn't find much more on him than that tbh, it's all very vague and missing. That's the most detail I've seen on him.

And the detail says he has a history of tech startups that scanned paperwork and sent it elsewhere, good with numbers, and has a lot of knowledge about cell networks probably.

Every inch more of this I learn as I continue to Google the names and companies popping up... It gets worse.

Monitor phone use. Quit photobombing and filming strangers and for the love of fucking God quit sending apps photos of your actual legal ID to prove your age. Just don't use that site, you'll be fine I swear. And quit posting your private info online. For activists/leftists NO personally identifiable info at least AND DEFINITELY leave your phone at home to Work™!!!

With threads now directly tying your identity and health and location and face and habits and purchases and everything else from your phone and given that meta has ALREADY said they'd work with police and give them any info they asked for...

Do not fucking download threads.

can we talk about the ups strike can we PLEASE talk about the ups strike

i know since writers and actors are already striking thats gonna take up most of the news space on social media but like. ups has until july 31st to meet the teamster's demands and if not then theyre going on the biggest strike against a single corporation since the early 1900s. the uaw (auto manufacturers union) contract is up this fall, and i believe the alu (amazon labor union) is as well. there's a huge possibility that they might strike as well, depending on how long the ups strike lasts.

im seeing a lot of talk about hollywood going down but i want to see more talk about labor rights and working class solidarity across the board... like A Lot of shit is about to go down

we're about to see a lot more propaganda by more than just hollywood, we're about to see a lot of bullshit political moves on local, state, and federal levels. dont fall for it. workers have power.

It’s already happening. Like guys I cannot emphasize this enough the studios are going to make content creators the deal of a lifetime because they have a void to fill and those content creators will then be on the do not work list for the rest of their professional lives.

I just this morning saw a tumblr post from someone saying they're excited to announce they are in takes with Netflix about remaking some niche anime.

Don't be a scab.

Do not work with any studios right now.

They aren't giving you a chance in the industry. They are tricking you into getting a lifetime blacklist so they can strikebreak.

Do. Not. Scab.

Gonna get myself a fun little surprise I guess

This is better than I'd ever hoped for, I bet a rat could kill you with that thing by firing a laser back in time and electrocuting your grandfather

Just look at this thing

The rat gun is hereeeeee!

This is getting notes again so I will admit that "rat gun" was an autocorrect error and it was supposed to be "ray gun."

But it'll always be a rat gun to me.

The most expensive thing in these pictures was the cat, and he was $60.

I'll be honest--I forgot that the pump organ desk/bar was visible in the background, and it was NOT under $60.

It was actually $75.

The chairs, however, were paid for in human life. I inherited them; they were originally my great grandmother's. But they're not particularly rare-- you can find these exact chairs without a lot of effort, in reasonable shape, for not that much money. They made a lot of them.

your gazelle has a pearl choker

That's Hadrian. He's a bush buck and he loves fashion.

what happened to the skeleton war, you guys used to love the skeleton war

(tag via clanfearrunt)

me: *writes fic*

me: great! time to post to ao3-

ao3 summary box: *exists*

me: 

ao3 summary box:

me:

ao3 summary box: 

me:

Ooh, this is actually kinda a neat thing, because you can think of it as a checklist:

• Who: Main character(s)
• Why: Character goal or desire (stated)
  
• Why: Character need (implied)
• When: Inciting Incident
• What: Means (that achieves the goal/need)
  
• Where: Place A >> Place B
• How: The Plan
• Obstacle(s): antagonist or challenge

For example:

• Who: Bilbo Baggins, a respectable hobbit of Hobbiton
• Why: Treasure, wealth (stated)
  
• Why: Adventure, self-respect (implied)
• When: After supper
• What: Quest
• Where: Hobbiton >> The Lonely Mountain
• How: A company of dwarves, a wizard, and an ancient map and key
  
• Main antagonist(s): a dragon

Thus, in less than 100 words:

• Bilbo Baggins is a respectable hobbit in Hobbiton, never making any trouble or having any adventures. But when a wizard and a company of dwarves invite themselves to dinner, Bilbo finds himself joining their quest from the shires of Hobbiton to the legendary Lonely Mountain, the home of a long lost treasure, and quite, possibly, a dragon.  

~~~~

The Anatomy of Story by John Truby is a really good book by the by, if anyone’s interested in this sort of thing.

This is super helpful!’

We’ve been shouting at the anti ai people for months if not a year or two at this point that the end goal is for Adobe to have their perfectly functional “ethically copyrighted” AI, all other big companies get theirs, and then they use the copyright system to delete the idea of fanart and transformative works from society. They never needed your art! They had their own in great big vaults all legally bought and owned.

I fucking told you guys. If this passes and you act surprised and were also anti ai art I’m hitting you with a brick. This is the entirely foreseeable outcome of the company you keep and the policies you espoused. Now that Adobe is saying we need to copyright art styles maybe you should step back and take a look at what side you’re on, since every big company seems to be chomping at the bit to enshrine your stated ideology into law. Do you really think this is a broken clock right twice a day moment? It’s ADOBE “we will make you pay for photoshop five times a month” the company.

Fuck. God damnit. Fuck. I’m so mad. WE TOLD YOU THIS WOULD HAPPEN. SEVERAL TIMES.

Fuck.

“What are you talking about, I never asked for this” over five thousand artists donated over 270,000 United States dollars specifically for this

P.S. just because I’ve seen some of it in the reblogs, I don’t want to take up too much space, so, respectfully as possible - if your idea of how AI works is something along the lines of “it chops up pieces of art and mashes it together” I implore you to do more research. Even if you are anti-ai, consider joining the AWAY discord for ethical AI use, where you can ask for nonjudgmental clarification as long as you’re not gonna pick fights about it.

Gonna be real, I don't think that ethical AI is even relevant anymore.
Unethical versions are already rampant, it's almost too late to come along with this now.

AI specifically geared towards making images is also basically useless if you ask me. Yes it can give you composition and color ideas, but so can going outside and actually being creative.
If you struggle with these things, an actually helpful tool is other artists tutorials, which there are many of, artists who put time and effort into making stuff so they could teach others what they learned.

That, or the play of art itself. Learning by simply doing.
People who want "shortcuts" to art, aren't having fun with the craft but are trying to achieve with it.

That said, an ethical AI is still better than the current systems.
It's a step.
But it's also likely not a step towards helping artists on adobes side, but a step towards not getting sued back and forth for giving people an AI "tool" that can generate Mickey Mouse on a whim.
That or some other reason that benefits Adobe, not its users.

Maybe users brought it up enough that they won't support Adobe if it has unethical AI. Maybe they want to be seen as "the good guys" to get their name in a better light.

At this point I simply don't trust that companies have the best things in mind when it comes to their customers.
This may be a goal that Adobe has, that aligns with that of artists, but I don't think the reason why both parties wants it is the same.

I still think AI "Art" has no place as a tool, ethical or not. Others are allowed to fully disagree with this of course, some might find their benefits with it even. That's just not me.

hi, i don't care about the rest of the stuff you said, i just want to point something out real quick

ALT

i know actually trying to consider that not everyone has the same experiences as you is really hard because it's easier to assume everyone doing things you don't like is just lazy but

i cannot physically perform the act of drawing no matter how much i'm taught or how many youtube art tutorials you show me! so your advice is as good as dogshit.

CH

Okay two things

1) every time I see something like this, or photos of wild unrealistic landscapes that really exist, or spectacular architecture, whatever it is, I think again that when we write fantasy, we NERF REALITY. That is, here’s some dude with a special interest and a brain that somehow lacks basic self preservation mechanisms, and he’s out here looking like a super hero. Regular humans are capable of things we seem super human. Real landscapes are more fantastical than our fantasies. Reality is more fantastical than our fantasies.

2) how the fuck did he not kick out any windows that’s the most impressive part of the whole video.

this man is his own zombie apocalypse team, adding anyone else would just slow him down

So as someone who used to teach parkour back in the day, this dude isn’t just talented. His technique is amazing.

It’s not just about not kicking out windows. Controlling how you land is about shock absorption, about minimizing the strain on your joints. It also makes you quieter when you move. A good landing should be as silent as possible, because loud landings hurt. That’s the foundation of everything else you do in parkour. So by the time you’re climbing buildings, if you’re breaking windows it means you don’t have enough control to land safely and it’s time to go back to your ground basics.

😶

A real Spider-Man lol