Bobbie

@bobbie.net

110 Followers 62 Following

Gadabout, troublemaker, cyborg

Quote from Wired magazine in which Steve Rosenbaum. "Rosenbaum would not weigh in on the accuracy of Pangram's results. In fact, he didn't want to talk about them at all. "I don't participate in that conversation," he said. "It's like saying 'do you beat your wife?' It's one of those accusations that there's no response to."
Screenshot of text saying "When his attorney appealed to a federal court, two ICE agents said that in Buffalo, Culleton had signed documents agreeing to be deported. Culleton said he did not agree and that the signatures were not his. "My whole lfie is here. I worked so hard to build my business. My wife is here."
Author Karen Hao, wearing a camel jacket and black top, talks animatedly via video call with Curious Reading Club host Bobbie Johnson.
Photograph of a stack of pairs of glasses, each one showing the reflection of an AI program in their lenses.
Screengrab of text from the linked story: As the “facilitator” for hundreds of North Korea–linked jobs, Chapman signed fraudulent documents and handled some of the fake workers’ salaries. She would often receive their paychecks in one of her bank accounts, take a cut, and wire the rest overseas: Federal prosecutors say Chapman was promised as much as 30 percent of the money that passed through her hands. Her most important job, though, was tending the “laptop farm.” After being hired, a fake worker will typically ask for their company computer to be sent to a different address than the one on record—usually with some tale about a last-minute move or needing to stay with a sick relative. The new address, of course, belongs to the facilitator, in this case Chapman. Sometimes the facilitator forwards the laptop to an address overseas, but more commonly that person holds onto it and installs software that allows it to be controlled remotely. Then the fake employee can connect to their machine from anywhere in the world while appearing to be in the US. (“You know how to install Anydesk?” one North Korean operative asked Chapman in 2022. “I do it practically EVERYDAY!” she replied.)
A photograph of a laptop covered in sticky notes featuring people's names
Simon Wijckmans, CEO of c.side, is a young white man in a black baseball cap photographed in moody, shadowy lighting.