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thelastknowngod , to technology in New study finds bots and fraud farms responsible for 73% of web traffic

Wonder what the engineering solution to this could look like…

Thinking something like a zero trust model being required for all web requests… Like the target address would need to receive a validated identity token from some third party but that token couldn’t contain identifying info about the requester. Likewise, the validating third party would need to verify the identity of the requester without having knowledge of the target address.

Then that raises more questions like who would we all be comfortable trusting as a verifier and what data would we use for that validation? The validation system and the data used to validate would need to be provided for free too to account for low income people so no subscription services or hardware MFA keys. Also who counts as an identity to be validated?

What do enforcement mechanisms look like if this does get built? Are the validators entirely passive or do they actively participate in the process? Like do we have rate limits imposed by the validation engine or do we just leave that to the target address/organization to impose themselves? What happens if someone is banned from a site? Does the site notify the validators to drop requests earlier in the lifetime of a request? Do individuals get a lower request quota than corporations? Would you have to form a company just to prototype a new tool/product?

If someone seriously wanted to work on this I’d jump on the opportunity to work with them. It sounds like a fascinating project.

Rodeo ,

It’s called Google’s “Web Integrity API” and it’s a horrifically bad idea.

JeffKerman1999 , to technology in New study finds bots and fraud farms responsible for 73% of web traffic

Yeah dead internet. And I hope this news will kill online marketing for good

3TH4Li4 ,
@3TH4Li4@feddit.ch avatar

As long as real users exist on the internet, marketing will follow. If centralized social media will be even more of a shithole than already is, then they will slowly target the decentralized. You won’t escape marketing.

CaptainSpaceman ,

But if 73% of traffic is fake, and they monitor traffic to determine sentiment and marketing strategies, then who are they actually marketing TO?

CosmicCleric ,
@CosmicCleric@lemmy.world avatar

Those left over who are still human.

But you do bring up a great point, what happens when the Internet is nothing but bots/shills?

JeffKerman1999 ,

Man they caught Google evil actors using Google’s infra that pumped up view numbers for video impressions and milking advertisers.

They got swindled millions by the 3ve “scandal”.

There’s botfarms clicking ads and following brands.

There’s warehouses full of smartphones that fake download and fake use apps and fake watch video ads…

At this point it’s a money laundering scheme. I refuse to believe that those people responsible are that stupid.

1984 , to technology in New study finds bots and fraud farms responsible for 73% of web traffic
@1984@lemmy.today avatar

The web is like a shitty neighborhood now, with stalkers and unpleasant people coming up to you frequently to sell their shady stuff.

Still works for finding answers to technical questions but if I wasn’t working in tech, I would probably question why im using it in the first place. Is the entertainment value worth the cost?

vaultdweller013 ,

Depends does hentai count as entertainment cayse if so. Yes.

Goldmage263 ,
@Goldmage263@sh.itjust.works avatar

Based. That and comics of culture.

Viking_Hippie , to technology in New study finds bots and fraud farms responsible for 73% of web traffic

100% on Twitter, 150% on Facebook. Or maybe the other way around 🤷

shadowspirit ,

Was scrolling through Facebook as I still use it to keep in touch with family. 20 sponsored posts for every one actual post. Facebook is terrible.

OminousOrange ,
@OminousOrange@lemmy.ca avatar

I just went on my annual visit. I’m not sure if it was ublock or what, but it was actually a fairly pleasant experience with no ‘sponsored’ content. Reminded me of the Facebook of old. Accessed through the browser, of course. I don’t want that cancerous app on my phone.

shadowspirit ,

I am on mobile. I’ll try desktop!

OminousOrange ,
@OminousOrange@lemmy.ca avatar

I was on mobile too, just on Firefox with ublock.

shadowspirit ,

I caught that after I replied. Firefox with ublock is now my default android browser. You’re right…going into feed mode to see posts chronologically with ad block is the Facebook of old. Thanks for the tip.

dreamer ,

How are you about to do that on Facebook? I can’t even sign up without it asking for my ID

sanguine_artichoke ,
@sanguine_artichoke@midwest.social avatar

I had an account for about 10 years which I never used at first, then a fair bit for 3-4 years, linked it to Instagram and WhatsApp. Then I didn’t sign into Facebook for 2-3 years and when I tried, despite having the same email and using the linked IG accounts, they demanded my drivers license. Uh, no way in hell I’ll ever do that, so guess I’m not signing into stupid Facebook. Not sure who the hell they think they are or why they believe I’d consider their awful website so important as to send them my ID.

CosmicCleric ,
@CosmicCleric@lemmy.world avatar

I didn’t sign into Facebook for 2-3 years and when I tried, despite having the same email and using the linked IG accounts, they demanded my drivers license. Uh, no way in hell I’ll ever do that, so guess I’m not signing into stupid Facebook.

Curious if you give Discord your phone number?

sanguine_artichoke ,
@sanguine_artichoke@midwest.social avatar

I haven’t used discord but I’m sure I’ve supplied plenty of personally identifiable information to other companies.

dreamer ,

I don’t but I am aware that it can be used to identify you, as well as from other people if they give open access to their contacts. They only have my email.

paddirn , to technology in New study finds bots and fraud farms responsible for 73% of web traffic

More evidence for the Dead Internet Theory

3TH4Li4 ,
@3TH4Li4@feddit.ch avatar

Not yet but soon it will be

CosmicCleric ,
@CosmicCleric@lemmy.world avatar

Death by a thousand cuts bot/shill posts.

qooqie ,

I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad thing if people were good, but it can easily be abused as we’ve seen with election manipulation.

sennheisenberg , to technology in New study finds bots and fraud farms responsible for 73% of web traffic

“73% of web traffic” does not mean 73% of comments, posts, content, etc.

indepndnt ,

It amazes me when I spin up some random server on a cloud provider and it’s immediately getting tons of traffic from bots searching for insecure ssh servers and default WordPress admin credentials and then like. If that’s the short of stuff they’re counting, I’d believe it. But yeah, it’s not like all the commenters on this post are bots.

Enigma28 ,

Yeah we had a presentation at work from AWS , they said expect all ports and protocols on any aws server you spin up to be scanned in less than 1min of any instance being created

CosmicCleric ,
@CosmicCleric@lemmy.world avatar

But yeah, it’s not like all the commenters on this post are bots.

What percentage would you guess that are bots as commenters?

indepndnt ,

That’s a good question, I doubt I could make a very accurate guess. Just broadly though, based mainly on the lack of an immediately obvious payoff, I’d guess less than 50%.

lolcatnip , to technology in New study finds bots and fraud farms responsible for 73% of web traffic

So the same as snail mail and phone calls?

ThePrivacyPolicy ,

I recently switched cell providers to save a pile of money, but the new one doesn’t have call control like the old did. 100% of my calls over the last two weeks were spam calls. I keep telling myself the savings are worth it, but my God it’s annoying.

affiliate , to technology in New study finds bots and fraud farms responsible for 73% of web traffic

i hate it when i open my laptop and there’s an error sign blocking the trackpad

grayman , to technology in New study finds bots and fraud farms responsible for 73% of web traffic

Horse shit.

Sandvine still released traffic reports. So does Cable Labs.

Maybe attempted connections, but not volume / tonnage / bytes.

dag__ ,

Okay, bot. I believe it, doesn’t surprise me at all. Lemmy is also full of bots.

zzx ,

I’m a bot

Newguy , to technology in New study finds bots and fraud farms responsible for 73% of web traffic

Bot wars

RGB3x3 , to technology in New study finds bots and fraud farms responsible for 73% of web traffic

No I’m not!

Daxtron2 ,

No I’m… Doesn’t…

banneryear1868 , to technology in New study finds bots and fraud farms responsible for 73% of web traffic

Soon there will be content created and consumed entirely by generative “ai,” an almost shadow-culture.

onlinepersona ,

They’ll have memes beyond our understanding!

banneryear1868 ,
onlinepersona ,

Prophetic.

kaitco , to technology in A hidden deposit of lithium in a US lake could power 375 million EVs

I’m sure this won’t have a major ecological impact, right? Right…?

Gregorech ,

Consider the lake isn’t supposed be there in the first place…

Dudewitbow ,

The lake was a runoff for the colorado river back when farmers over used water and the leftover was dumped ino that “lake”. The lake in its current state is too saline and dried up to ecologically be stable. The buildup of farm chems over the year cause dust in problems in socal when winds picked it up.

gibmiser ,

Well, when you put it that way using a part of the country we already ruined to try and help us not ruin any more of it, it sounds like a damn good idea

RubberElectrons , (edited )
@RubberElectrons@lemmy.world avatar

I’ve passed by this ‘sea’. I invite you to visit, if you’ve ever wanted to directly experience what southern California might be like post-humans.

A multitude of enterprising resorts quietly decaying in the harsh inland sun. The only sound is that of hot wind gently peeling paint off so many little abandoned liquor stores and gas stations in between.

Nobody swims. The fish don’t live, and the errant fowl take off just as quickly as they land. This time capsule of the 1960s smells like death, and its strangely yellow dust is concerning even if you didn’t know how much fertilizer runoff was dumped in there by surrounding date farms.

So, no.

TropicalDingdong ,

It’s got strongly developed post apocalypse vibes. You can pull down just about any street and be like “I should not be here…”

rottingleaf ,

Now I want to visit. I mean, there should be 1000 and 1 reason to visit USA and California in particular, but that’s the first one which really gives a feeling.

Brkdncr ,

You’d also like the 3rd largest city in California, California City. Both are portraits of a generation that could afford to dream big and avoid financial ruin.

RubberElectrons , (edited )
@RubberElectrons@lemmy.world avatar

Bakersfield too, if you want to find life hanging on a bit better than some of the inland counties. California has a lot of strange feelings if you take the time to look in the right corners.

  • A desert megacity next to the sea? Los Angeles.
  • Incredibly posh people surrounded by the destitute? Newport beach in orange county.
  • A slow-motion wave of impenetrable fog gently cresting the mountains around it? San Francisco.

This state has a lot more to it than TV and movies let on. Don’t just drive it, check it out on motorcycle or bicycle too.

kaitco ,

Oh, that’s just lovely.

tar_xf ,

You certainly have a way with words.

RubberElectrons ,
@RubberElectrons@lemmy.world avatar

Thank you kindly 😊

doctorcrimson ,

If a person IS strangely into all of that stuff then I actually recommend the annual Fallout New Vegas festival they hold in Goodsprings Nevada, instead.

Nudding ,

No, we have to mine and destroy as much of the world as we can before the collapse, its the human way :)

gravitas_deficiency ,

The lake is the major ecological impact, if you bother to read up on the background of that area.

SwampYankee ,

Fun fact, the beach is made entirely out of barnacles and it smells like someone ate 10 pounds of salmon and then ripped ass straight up your nose. Don’t go in the water, you’ll die!

TunaCowboy ,

I was there about twenty years ago, the banks were made up of rotting marine life (mostly fish) 12 - 18 inches deep.

SwampYankee ,

The barnacles must be a more recent phenomenon, I was there a couple years ago. There were still fish skeletons lying around, but mostly this:

https://mander.xyz/pictrs/image/80552c82-1c72-479c-a231-d3d4d1f968ec.jpeg

Maggoty ,

The entire thing is a lesson in the hubris of man. It was created as a major ecological impact of a failed engineering project. It’s being destroyed by irrigation.

Gregorech , to technology in A hidden deposit of lithium in a US lake could power 375 million EVs

Lake is a stretch, Salton Sea for anyone that was curious.

Ashyr ,

Are you saying it’s too big to be called a lake?

Gregorech ,

It’s a shallow salt water puddle, created by accident. It’s a lake, it’s an inland sea, it’s toxic.

It also look like a big penis from space.

Burn_The_Right ,

You call that big? Pffft

Gregorech ,

Size aside I’m not wrong.

tsonfeir , to technology in A hidden deposit of lithium in a US lake could power 375 million EVs
@tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

US is suddenly not interested in Ukraine

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