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Did Twitter ignore basic security measures? A cybersecurity expert explains a whistleblower's claims

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By Richard Forno

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Well, that's it for twitter, bye.

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It wouldn't surprise me if Twitter was badly run - most tech companies are held together by hope and sticky tape. That is not an excuse for governments to take over. But the suits really do need to pay more attention to the geeks and properly finance security.

quote: ongoing struggle against online extremism and disinformation.

You mean the government/activist demands for censorship.

Web 2.0 gives all people a voice online. You won't like what some people say, but you shouldn't censor them. You need to learn to live with those voices.

And you shouldn't transfer blame to the tech. It is not a tech issue. It's a people issue.

We have had similar instances of kneejerk censorship whenever a new media appears. Manuscripts, printed books, newspapers, radio and TV have all been censored in ways that, today, we find ridiculous or shameful. Elvis gyrating his hips, music performed by black singers, dissenting political views (oppressed by McCarthy and similar).

Only allowing people to agree with a government sanctioned point of view is not free speech, but fascism.

You need to hear that people disagree with you and answer them. Silencing them with censorship empowers them as victims of oppression and makes you no better than the CCP.

As for security updates. Sometimes they can cause more problems than they fix. The worst hack ever on sensitive USG sites was recently caused by a software update with malware in it.

Source code is generally protected, but you do need a pool of staff that are au fait with it. If too few know how your software works, you may have serious problems if staff leave.

quote: the Indian government forced Twitter to hire government agents.

I'm sure US agents work with GAFA. consensually or otherwise. Twitter, like all companies, most obey the government in every location it works in. Including India and (for abortion location data) Texas.

It is depressing how many times we will now see the national security flag raised (especially by academics, who should know better), until governments go the full CCP and use it as an excuse to take control of internet services. Then they will use them to spy on all of their citizens. Personally, I don't trust my government any more than those of China and Russia, and neither should you.

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