elemental by Dirk Wüstenhagen Via Flickr: elemental prnts - dwnlds

seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from South Africa
seen from Czechia
seen from China

seen from Canada
seen from Argentina
seen from United States
seen from United States

seen from United States
seen from China

seen from United States
seen from Lebanon
seen from Uzbekistan
seen from India
seen from Czechia
seen from Saudi Arabia

seen from United States
seen from United States
elemental by Dirk Wüstenhagen Via Flickr: elemental prnts - dwnlds
"Graue" SIM Karten
Wahlen treiben die Preise hoch
Forscher der Universität Cambridge haben die Preise von "grauen" SIM Karten untersucht. Das sind Karten, die ohne Legitimierung des Nutzers verkauft werden. Bekannte Anbieter dafür sind laut Wirtschaftswoche z.B. SMSActivate, 5Sim, SMShub und SMSPVA. Solche Karten werden massenhaft verwendet, um Online-Konten bei Social-Media-Plattformen oder E-Commerce-Anbietern einzurichten. Diese werden dann entweder für Betrügereien genutzt, in dem sie z.B. Ausgangspunkt bei der Verteilung von Bots genutzt werden oder stellen nur ein Reservior für gefälschte Likes und Kommentare dar.
Jon Roozenbeek, der Co-Leiter der Studie sagte dazu laut Wirtschaftswoche: "Wir haben es mit einem florierenden Untergrundmarkt zu tun, auf dem unauthentische Inhalte, eine unechte Popularität und politische Einflusskampagnen leicht und offen zum Verkauf stehen".
SIM Karten, die eine SMS Verifikation auf so weit verbreiteten Diensten wie WhatsApp ermöglichen, stellten sich in der Studie als teuer bis zu einem US Dollar dar, während es für die Dienste Grindr und Shopify nur 8 Cent sind. Für TikTok und LinkedIn ist man mit elf Cent und bei Amazon durchschnittlich 12 Cent dabei.
"Durchschnittlich" bedeutet dabei, dass die Preise durchaus schwanken können. Deshalb haben die Wissenschaftler den "Cambridge Online Trust and Safety Index" (COTSI) aufgestellt. Darin sind die täglichen Preise für SMS-Verifizierungen für 197 Länder und mehr als 500 Plattformen aufgelistet. Und es stellte sich heraus, dass die Preise etwa 30 Tage vor nationalen Wahlen in den betroffenen Ländern anstieg, z.B. für Telegram um 12% und für WhatsApp sogar um 15%. Man erkennt daran gut diejenigen Dienste, die zur Stimmungsmache und Manipulation genutzt werden können.
Gestolpert sind wir über den letzten Absatz in dem verlinkten Artikel, der von SIM-Farmen berichtet, die neuerdings "in Großbritannien nicht mehr ohne Grund erlaubt" seien. Diese betreiben Geräte mit bis zu 100 SIM Karten. Erstens können wir uns keine legale Verwendung für so ein Gerät vorstellen und zweitens glauben wir nicht, dass bisher jemand solche Geräte legal angemeldet hat. Für die Behörden sichtbar werden sie ja höchstens durch zu viele SMS mit verschiedenen Nummern in den gleichen Funkzellen zur gleichen Zeit. Das kann ja nur durch eine unzulässige, in Deutschland sogar verfassungswidrige Vorratsdatenspeicherung auffallen ...
Mehr dazu bei https://www.wiwo.de/technologie/digitale-welt/billige-bots-wie-im-internet-gezielt-manipuliert-wird/100182900.html
Kategorie[21]: Unsere Themen in der Presse Short-Link dieser Seite: a-fsa.de/d/3LX Link zu dieser Seite: https://www.a-fsa.de/de/articles/9377-20251216-graue-sim-karten.html
[SPOTTED]: Media Manipulation in the 2022 Presidential Campaign TV Ad of the BBM Administration.
During the 2022 Philippine Presidential elections, the candidates for president created campaign advertisements to showcase who they were and what they could offer to the country. One campaign ad that quickly became controversial in social media was the paid television advertisement of Ferdinand "Bongbong" Romualdez Marcos Jr., the 17th and current president of the Republic of the Philippines. This advertisement was played during the course of the election starting from December 2021 (Guanzon, 2022). Since then, the citizen voters have seen the windmills in Ilocos Norte as Marcos' campaign materials. The advertisement aimed to touch the heart of the citizen voters (DRPS One - PH TV Ad Archive Channel, 2021). Also, it was created with the intent to introduce Bongbong Marcos and his campaign slogan: "Bangon Bayan Muli" (Guanzon, 2022).
Although this campaign advertisement was created with the sole intention of introducing Bongbong Marcos, the ad's content detrimentally affected the citizen voters, especially the supporters. The BBM Administration claims that Bongbong Marcos initiated the construction of windmills in his hometown, Ilocos Norte (Lagman & Ines, 2022). The sad truth behind this claim is that the Bangui Bay Wind Power project was built using funds from the World Bank and was initiated by a private company named NorthWind Power Development Corporation (Salazar, 2022). This propaganda of Bongbong Marcos misled the citizen voters into thinking that BBM built the windmills. This disinformation is so widespread that it became harmful to the community, especially to his supporters, because most Filipinos do not have the critical analysis skill to identify this form of media manipulation in this campaign advertisement (Spacey, 2020).
This information is one of the many fake claims of Bongbong Marcos, his use of media manipulation to spread information shows a lot about the true agenda of his administration. Now that he is in the highest position in the Republic of the Philippines, the current state of our country proves that citizen voters should do better in choosing and critically analyzing our future leaders. Marcos' tactics made him remain at the top ranking in presidential surveys, which continued as he hid from the media and the people about his platforms and say in the social issues in our country. Always remember never again to let the past go back to the present to ruin our future. All in all, Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. would not be where he is right now if it was not for his surname, "Marcos," given that to this day, he does not have many accomplishments to live up to his name.
References:
DRPS One - PH TV Ad Archive Channel. (2021). Bongbong Marcos
Paid TV Ad Q4 2021 60s. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eyLi63P4vg
Guanzon, S. (2022). Windmills in Marcos Jr.’s campaign symbolize
return to Marcosian ‘golden age’ – study. RAPPLER. https://www.rappler.com/nation/elections/windmills-marcos-jr-campaign-return-golden-age/
Lagman, M., & Ines, J. (2022). FACT CHECK: Bangui Wind Farm in
Ilocos Norte Not Bongbong Marcos’ Project. OneNetwork. https://www.onenews.ph/articles/fact-check-bangui-wind-farm-in-ilocos-norte-not-bongbong-marcos-project
Salazar, C. (2022). Inauguration 2022: Marcos repeats false claim on
Ilocos windmills. Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism. https://pcij.org/blog/3391/inauguration-2022-marcos-repeats-false-claim-on-ilocos-windmills
How to create Surreal Micro World in Photoshop | photo effects | Photoshop
This photo was taken inside of a church in Bucktown. The subject has a blank, almost dazed look on one side of a pillar, and then move to the other side and it looks like she's screaming and frightened. Originally two separate photo's but merged together, to make it manipulated and so that you could see two sides of one person. One the right side she's hiding what she feels on the inside, but on the left she's showing what she really feels. I think we all have a mask that we use to hide what we're feeling underneath, whether its fear or just a little bit of sadness, there's a part of us that sometimes stays hidden that should be able to come out.
We are a species of high intellect; if we can't comprehend, we speculate"
The Manipulation of Consequence
Walter rwey-Robert