This is by far and away the craziest story I have ever reported. The lede probably doesn't do it justice, but I promise this will be a fascinating (if not also entertaining) read. I'd frankly be amazed if some version of this story isn't made into a documentary or drama series:
A California man accused of failing to pay taxes on tens of millions of dollars allegedly earned from cybercrime also paid local police officers hundreds of thousands of dollars to help him extort, intimidate and silence rivals and former business partners, a new indictment charges. KrebsOnSecurity has learned that many of the man’s alleged targets were members of UGNazi, a hacker group behind multiple high-profile breaches and cyberattacks back in 2012.
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/09/crooked-cops-stolen-laptops-the-ghost-of-ugnazi/
I've been running mail servers and writing email software since the dialup days of 1995. I guess by today's trends, that could brand me a holdout.
But we're still hosting mail for hundreds of company domains across dozens of mail servers, all in a nicely packaged system that's always just an "apt install" away.
The landscape has changed over time, and, yes, it is annoying dealing with the imbalance that the behemoth mail providers represent these days.
But there's a lot to be said for not bargaining away your digital autonomy.
I saw @mwl selling his "Run Your Own Mail Server" book and jumped to pick up a copy. Not so much because I had a need for it (though it'll be interesting to compare notes!), but because I strongly support the idea that email is still a shared ecosystem and love that Michael is sharing the knowledge to encourage folks to continue to participate.
Long live the open Internet.
Why I self host my servers and what I've recently learned: https://chollinger.com/blog/2024/08/why-i-still-self-host-my-servers-and-what-ive-recently-learned/
Discussion: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41440855
Equating surveillance with safety considers only a fraction of what “safety” for everyone looks like. You cannot protect people from harm if part of what you offer them is a different kind of harm, writes EFF's Matthew Guariglia for Slate. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/08/police-surveillance-wont-make-us-safer-broken-windows-on-steroids.html
I worked for the burningman project as Department of Public Works for 16 or so years. I have been programming since I was 12 and this is my 1st forray into social media. Here's hoping federation lives up to its promises!