Notices by Paul Chambers🚧 (paul@oldfriends.live)

God help us all with this AI crap. It should be beta, even alpha, software for most uses and not put out in production.

True story: What happens with AI news when used by inept journalists, esp national newsdesks of major corp media, already lax and lazy, and search engine AI search result summaries, when someone kills a deputy then, then a few weeks later, and unrelated, and in a different part of the state, another deputy is killed but the sheriff's name is the same as the first charged suspect in the other unrelated deputy case?

You might have guessed it. The two deputy deaths get merged as the same suspect and even includes an image of the first subject during his first court appearance weeks earlier and AI hallucination (automated misinformation) is bonkers.

God help us all with this AI crap. It should be beta, even alpha, software for most uses and not put out in production.

@robbienorlyn Anyone with a hosting panel that has OSSN installable can basically enter the Fediverse now with a few clicks of the button, between WordPress and now this OSSN plugin.

I have issues with WordPress, mainly they don't have a mechanism where a domain can exit the Fediverse but it still is great.

@redegelde @evan

Congratulations on your #ActivityPub Open Source Social Network ( #OSSN )
plugin, @redegelde

It's been a pleasure watching it come together.

It's great when more platforms enter the #Fediverse, esp a project like OSSN.

Esp awesome since OSSN is installable in so many PHP hosting control panels, like CPANEL's Softaculous. It's like it is opening the Fediverse to a entirely new class of self-hosters.

cc @evan

https://github.com/compie67/ossn-Fediverse

@mastodonmigration They also are using Google Forms as their verification vehicle and linking the account via recording it.

"The name, email, and photo associated with your Google account will be recorded when you upload files and submit this form"

@batist3

Somehow, my #FediFetcher data got corrupted. When I was poking around why profiles and replies weren't being backfilled, to my surprise, the last time FediFetcher successfully ran was April 30. I've been using FediFetcher since it first came out and was released way back in the day with no issues.

It wouldn't run with the config file or by command line arguments.

The error I was getting was ""decoder.py", in raw_decode raise JSONDecodeError("Expecting value", s, err.value)....."

I decided to rename my artifacts folder and put my config.json file in a new artifacts folder and it started running normally again. #MastoAdmin

Coca-Cola suffers an alarming loss from major boycott for letting Hispanic workers go and then reporting them to ice.

Some consumers said that they would be boycotting the company

https://www.thestreet.com/retail/coca-cola-suffers-an-alarming-loss-from-major-boycott

@evan A "fee" by another name is tax. I hope they press that hard.

@politico @congress-politico

For years, I have filed a HIPPA complaint with the privacy office of every website I go to that has a Google Analytics tag that serves my protected health information, like my doctor, MyChart, labs, pharmacies, home health, case management etc. I get brushed off. It just makes me uncomfortable.

🔗 'Read the Manual': Misconfigured Google Analytics Led to a Data Breach Affecting 4.7M

Personal health information on 4.7 million Blue Shield California subscribers was unintentionally shared between Google #Analytics and Google #Ads between April 2021 and January 2025 due to a misconfiguration error.

#hippa #Privacy #GoogleAds #Google #MedMastodon

https://it.slashdot.org/story/25/04/26/2042230/read-the-manual-misconfigured-google-analytics-led-to-a-data-breach-affecting-47m

🔗 BCBS NOTICE OF DATA BREACH: https://news.blueshieldca.com/notice-of-data-breach

"On February 11, 2025, Blue Shield discovered that, between April 2021 and January 2024, Google Analytics was configured in a way that allowed certain member data to be shared with Google’s advertising product, Google Ads, that likely included protected health information. Google may have used this data to conduct focused ad campaigns back to those individual members. We want to reassure our members that no bad actor was involved, and, to our knowledge, Google has not used the information for any purpose other than these ads or shared the protected information with anyone."

Liz Truss Meets the Queen...she dies
JD Vance meets the Pope...he dies.

The lesson here is, If you are in frail health, stay the hell away from right-wing lunatics.

The eldest of the generations are:
Gen Z, 28
Millennials, 44
Gen X, 60
Boomers II (Gen. Jones), 70
Boomers I, 79
Post War Silent Generation, 93
WWII, 103

JP Morgan addressing the "doom loop" of climate change destruction. It's not an altruistic climate report, by no means, but more of a "we FAFO about climate. Now going to lose money. Now what!"

Sections like,
"Rising losses: attempting to price extreme weather and climate events as they influence the property and casualty market" and "Escaping the doom loop of rising costs and private sector exit"

🔗 "Insurance: Weathering the storm
of inflation, climate change and
market-distorting state regulation"

https://www.jpmorgan.com/content/dam/jpm/cib/documents/Weathering_the_storm.pdf

White House Correspondents’ Association cuts comedian Amber Ruffin from upcoming Correspondents dinner, doing awards only.

WHCA President Eugene Daniels wrote in a letter to members today that “the WHCA board has unanimously decided we are no longer featuring a comedic performance this year."

We know they pussyfoot around but can't have no jokes about the dear leader. #USPol

This is another disgrace.

https://deadline.com/2025/03/white-house-correspondents-dinner-scraps-plans-amber-ruffin-1236354014/

Does anyone know where to find a list of posts or conversations that you muted on #Mastodon web. This seems like it should be easy to find but I've looked extensively. #Feditips #MastoAdmin

I replied to a post re Denny's and the hours spent there in college earlier. That made me think about another restaurant in my college town. A "pay what you can" restaurant.

For decades before I went to college in the 90s, a little old lady had a restaurant that was attached to her home. She was in her 70s by the time I got to college. It was like a large cafeteria style addition to her home that seated around 75 people.

Many moons before, she started cooking meals for hungry and poor college students in Appalachia.

At some point, she made it a "Pay what you can" restaurant. It was home cooked, real food. The only drink was water, coffee and tea.

I remember eating many meals there when I was in college. Sometimes I had very little to pay, sometimes I had more and overpaid the suggested price.

There was no cashier. You went through the line, got your food, ate and on the way out there was a "Pay what you can" wooden box.

Many locals of all ages ate there because the food was so good, not just hungry college kids. It was open from like 11am to 4pm. Many students would step in the back and wash dishes, by hand, for 15 minutes or so after eating.

There was no loitering allowed, it wasn't a study hall, etc. There was no religious angle. It wasn't a "soup kitchen." After you ate and you left.

That always made an impression on me and actually was the first step into having a progressive, compassionate political stance.

17/ This is moving faster than I thought. Musk and DOGE are already doing item one on the list in the 1st post in this thread, destabilizing SSA with staff cuts and closing offices.

Now, on to item two. "Elon Musk's so-called DOGE group has been granted access to sensitive income data from the Department of Health and Human Services"

"DOGE has recently been trying to check personal tax records against federal benefits, grants and student loans, aiming to link together traditionally separated government systems" #SocialSecurity #USPol

🔗 Elon Musk's team reportedly given access to 'sensitive income data' https://www.rawstory.com/elon-musk-access-income-data/

21/ New internal Social Security Administration (SSA) memo, sent on March 13, details Trump DOGE's plan to sabotage the Social Security Administration, changes "that would debilitate the agency, cause significant processing delays, and prevent many Americans from applying for or receiving benefits" #SocialSecurity

The changes would increase field office traffic, longer call wait times, and delayed processed, as well as disproportionatly impact on vulnerable populations

A DOGE workaround of the new policy means these claims will never be approved without using ID-Proof internet or making an in-person visit.

https://popular.info/p/exclusive-memo-details-trump-plan

:webarch: https://archive.ph/PkaLZ

I hate this feck'n thread but it must continue. The policy says they fear "congressional scrutiny" so make your voices heard.

🚨 22/ Acting Social Security head consults with Justice Dept. on whether to close agency — Leland Dudek says he will ‘terminate access by all SSA employees’ to IT systems: report

Acting commissioner says it should shut down Social Security Administration.

Bloomberg News reported, “As it stands, I will follow it exactly and terminate access by all SSA employees to our IT systems,” the report quoted Dudek as saying.

“Really, I want to turn it off and let the courts figure out how they want to run a federal agency,” Dudek said, according to the report.

It's worthy to note, the entire agency runs via an "IT system" setup.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/is-the-social-security-administration-temporarily-shutting-down-acting-commissioner-says-it-should-following-doge-related-court-order-d8822dc1 #SocialSecurity

https://archive.ph/vjDkw

4/ Musk Ally At GSA Demands Admin/Root Access to System That Lets Government Text the Public

404 Media, "Notify.gov contains not just the phone numbers of everyday people but also information about whether they participate in government programs such as Medicaid, which is based on a person's financial situation. In recent days, Musk has become obsessed with the idea of "fraud" in #Medicaid, #Medicare, and #SocialSecurity, and in identifying those he suspects are committing fraud."

A worker resigned in protest rather than giving Thomas Shedd access to Notify.gov, which they said would allow him to see "all personally identifiable information moving through the Notify system, including phone numbers," 404 Media has learned.

Shedd is a former Tesla engineer who now runs Technology Transformation Services (TTS), a group of coders and software engineers within the GSA, who is closely allied with Elon #Musk and #DOGE. #USPol

https://www.404media.co/musk-ally-demands-admin-access-to-system-that-lets-government-text-the-public/

6/ Although the Social Security Admin has privacy notices posted throughout, this morning I got a pop-up when I logged in to the system. These policies aren't new. The pop-up, where I got it, and I've been into the system thousands of times both personal and as a beneficiary representative, is new, esp where it popped up at after I logged into the secure part of the website.

There may be a gut DOGE reaction when people, esp the media, starts reporting about them. They aren't new policies.

"We will disclose information under this routine use only in situations in which SSA may enter into a contractual or similar agreement with a third party to assist in accomplishing an Agency function relating to this system of records."

The full pop-up, "Sections 205 and 233 of the Social Security Act, as amended, allow us to collect this information.

Furnishing us this information is voluntary. However, failing to provide all or part of the information may affect the accuracy of your earnings record.

We will use the information you provide to correct your earnings record.

We may also share your information for the following purposes, called routine uses:

To employers or former employers, including State Social Security administrators, for correcting and reconstructing State employee earnings records and for Social security purposes; and

To contractors and other Federal agencies, as necessary, for the purpose of assisting the Social Security Administration (SSA) in the efficient administration of its programs.

We will disclose information under this routine use only in situations in which SSA may enter into a contractual or similar agreement with a third party to assist in accomplishing an Agency function relating to this system of records.

In addition, we may share this information in accordance with the Privacy Act and other Federal laws. For example, where authorized, we may use and disclose this information in computer matching programs, in which our records are compared with other records to establish or verify a person’s eligibility for Federal benefit programs and for repayment of incorrect or delinquent debts under these programs."

5/ New: DOGE cancel leases and close Columbus, #Ohio Social Security office and the bankruptcy clerks office.

#SocialSecurity
DOGE website shows two Columbus leases canceled

https://abc6onyourside.com/news/local/doge-website-shows-two-columbus-leases-canceled