George Mari @GeorgeMari@qoto.org

Did you that there's a thing called the "Automatic Billing Update" program (ABU), that enables merchants to get notified of your replacement payment card number before it even shows up in your mailbox?

https://globalnews.ca/news/9763295/little-known-credit-card-program-companies-information/

Yep, you can guess what the bad guys are doing. They're registering as a merchant and then involuntarily signing people up for nonexistent "subscriptions" ... that their support path mysteriously refuses to let you unsubscribe from:

https://malwaretips.com/blogs/vigor-vita-cbd-gummies/

But if you naively report these to your issuer as simply 'fraud', they will just ... issue you a new card. And then the "subscription" will be charged again. Many issuer support teams seem be totally unaware of this fraud type.

You have to explicitly tell the issuer that it appears to be a subscription scam, and that they should block that merchant from getting your new card number. (That card is lost, but at least the evil merchant won't get the next one).

(I found this out the hard way, helping some elderly friends, whose cards kept getting mysteriously "compromised". When I realized that the unexpecetd charge happened before they had even received the card ... I knew it wasn't just ordinary skimming or phishing.

tl;dr When you detect unauthorized charges, ask your issuer to check for ABU and block the entire merchant. Otherwise, you'll be caught in an unending cycle of useless reissuance!

#ABU #fraud

The trend of building surveillance into all new smart TVs is "incredibly invasive and little understood,” EFF’s Jacob Hoffman-Andrews told @arstechnica. "Nobody wants a snooping and snitching television, but lately that's all you can buy.” https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/08/tv-industrys-ads-tracking-obsession-is-turning-your-living-room-into-a-store/

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Hey #fediverse, I want to connect to more people here.

I am a #MachineLearning engineer who has experience with #python, #golang, some #rust, #php and #JavaScript. I also love research and have a paper published in #CVPR. Currently, I am using #AI for improving the safety on the roads. I've worked as full-stack engineer in the past.

I find this platform and people here awesome. I've had amazing interactions and want to grow them.

#introduction #intro #tech #mastodon #activitypub

I’m receiving 2 kinds of sentiment to recent posts about Mastodon. I’ll crudely characterise them as:

1. Mastodon is a refuge I like and I don’t want the masses here
2. We should (with suitable safeguards) welcome a mass exodus from Twitter

So here’s a poll…

I've been enjoying Mastadon but have missed the academic side of things--I used to find so many resources for students and faculty on Twitter. I realized that I need to start doing them myself and maybe we'll build a community. So, here I go:
New book for grad students found on JSTOR: Grad School Life: Surviving and Thriving Beyond Coursework and Research, Kory-Westlund, Columbia University Press, https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.lib.vt.edu/stable/10.7312/kory20784

#academicchatter #gradschool #gradstudents #academiclife

if you want new ideas, read old code.

Hackers are so bored. According to one hacker kid, they've already stolen all your data, and nothing is left to steal from anyone. One important elderly hacker said there is so much data stolen that we don't even know what to do with it. Another hacker who goes by 'K!tt�K4t' nickname confirmed that most of the average public citizens are so poor we can't get anything from them using that stolen data. So now hackers are resorting to hacking each other just for fun. #Satire #shitpost

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https://ko-fi.com/s/4662b19f61

Tired of using your own tongue to test 9V batteries???
👅👅👅🔋🔋🔋 ouch!

Honored and humbled to announce my latest product:

Friendly reminder I'm on here, blsky, and twitter. Not on FB or Insta or Threads. Anyone there doing this is not part of my schtick. All power to 'em, no hate, just wanted everyone to know in case they ever say crazy shit or something. Ok, good talk. #StarTrek

Excellent piece on #Harris and this press corps. Props to #JohnStoehr for calling out #ChrisCillizza's mediocrity and bad faith: "But after this press corps made a fetish of Biden’s age, I don’t see any more room for the benefit of the doubt – and there’s no going back. This press corps made the election about vibes and it’s going to remain an election about vibes, and if those vibes now grind against the instincts of this press corps, tough shit. You reap what you sow."

https://www.editorialboard.com/kamala-harris-is-taking-power-back-from-the-press-corps/

On today's show, we recommend an EV for a family tired of the laggy transmission in their Ford Edge, a couple frustrated by their 2021 Tesla Model 3, and an EV for a viewer with a crazy commute.
Tune in, and come buy with us!
https://youtu.be/6NGrxOD5LTE

If the headline says that something or other “Draws Scrutiny,” just walk away. There’s no news here, or it would have said so. Could be a reporter pushing some right-wing agitprop, but anyway your “scrutiny” is not needed.

Here’s to making a world we don’t need to escape from

Whoa! It seems like Trump may have messed up by lying about the crowd size at last week's #Detroit rally, where #UAW members were out in force. Their president, Shawn Fain, just dropped a scorching ad going after him and his billionaire overlords. Never in my life have I seen anything like this before. #HarrisWalz2024 #Solidarity #UnionStrong

Do Americans realise how absolutely insane the very concept of “purging a voter registration list” is? You have to *register to vote*? What are you even talking about?

Are you a citizen? Then you should automatically get a vote. There isn’t anything to administer. You live there. The government serves you; not you it. Voting isn’t supposed to be a privilege, or reward.

The obvious abuse vector that any system other than “all citizens vote” becomes is astounding.

Via Kenny Akers:

If anyone paying attention, Trump/Vance camp. currently at standstill. While no one has offered definitive explanation, I would wager it’s connected to Trump’s outstanding debts to several cities from past campaign rallies. These unpaid balances cd have funded vital services for blue-collar workers & city employees, incl police, firefighters, & med personnel for overtime. Per data compiled in 2019 by Centers for Pub Integr, 12+ cities still waiting to receive $ from Trump Camp.

Every single Republican voted against the Inflation Reduction Act.

Despite this, 18 House Republicans just wrote to Speaker Mike Johnson asking him NOT to axe the law's clean energy tax credits, because they have been so beneficial to their districts.

Democrats deliver.

Energy tax credits save Floridians more than $845 million:
https://environmentamerica.org/florida/center/articles/energy-tax-credits-save-floridians-more-than-845-million/

It's beyond comprehension that, less than two weeks after a blockbuster Washington Post report -- which strongly suggests Trump took a $10 million bribe from a foreign government during the 2016 election -- other Big Journalism organizations have made clear their indifference, by not following up.

No, sorry, it's not beyond comprehension at all. It's just what you'd expect from journalists at this point.