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#tiktok app clone
gytyuiy68yi · 10 months
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 “Best tiktok clone app development company in india- Omninos Solutions”
Interested in creating a TikTok clone app? Explore Omninos Solutions, a reputable Indian app development business. They provide TikTok clone app creation services and are skilled at dev“Best tiktok clone app development company in india- Omninos Solutions”
eloping captivating social media platforms. Utilise their backend development knowledge, customisation possibilities, and UI/UX design abilities. Take advantage of tools for recording and editing videos as well as social network integration, interaction tools, and monetization possibilities. Build your own social networking app with Omninos Solutions to take advantage of the lucrative short-video market's entertainment and branding prospects. For a custom TikTok clone app solution, get in touch with them right away.
Visit Us : https://infosif.com/best-tiktok-clone-app-development-company-in-india-omninos-solutions/
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synarionitsolutions · 2 years
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fitzrove · 2 months
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I might be wrong cos idk the US context so take this w a grain of salt... but despite scores of posts about it I fail to see the plan to ban tiktok as a bad thing 😅 it's already banned for employees/official devices by governments and international organisations across the world for compromising user data and um, literally being spyware. It's not like it's the Last Bastion of Free Speech either like dude just use a different app...
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maydayprkr · 11 months
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hate it here. tried fixing the screen on this stupid new wave heat/cooling unit we had to get. Pressed partial lock thinking that would put the screen to sleep, it just locked it. Vague instructions told me the wrong thing. Aunt started yelling at me saying thats what pisses her off so much "you just do and do, you think you're so smart" when I literally had to google it, find that I have to hold down where it says locked and not just anywhere on the screen. I'm so tired bro
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turbonicflaws · 2 years
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New tiktok clone just dropped Tumblr tv is fucking lame
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fangdyk3 · 1 year
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opening this fucking app and finding out that tumblr too has succumbed to the wretched abomination that is social media livestreams is like watching one of the wonders of the world crumbling or something
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abhijeetomninos1122 · 7 months
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Tiktok Clone Short Video App Admin Panel
Are you looking to manage your short video app with ease? Omninos Solutions TikTok Clone Admin Panel is the perfect solution for you! In this blog post, we will dive into the features, benefits, and frequently asked questions about our admin panel. By the end of this article, you'll have a comprehensive understanding of how our admin panel can streamline your short video app management.
Introduction
In the fast-paced world of short video apps, efficient management is key to success. With Omninos Solutions TikTok Clone Admin Panel, you can take control of your app like never before. Our user-friendly interface and powerful features make it the ultimate tool for app administrators. Let's explore what makes our admin panel stand out from the rest.
Features of TikTok Clone Admin Panel
User Management: Easily manage user profiles, including user bans and suspensions, ensuring a safe and engaging environment for your community.
Content Moderation: Streamline content approval with AI-powered moderation tools, helping you maintain quality content.
Analytics Dashboard: Get insights into user behavior, video performance, and trends to make data-driven decisions.
Monetization Tools: Implement various monetization strategies, such as in-app ads and premium subscriptions, to maximize revenue.
Push Notifications: Keep users engaged with personalized push notifications for new content and updates.
Security Measures: Protect user data and app integrity with robust security features.
Customization Options: Tailor the app's look and feel to match your brand with customizable themes and branding elements.
Benefits of Using TikTok Clone Admin Panel
Time-Efficiency: Save time and effort by efficiently managing user activities and content.
Enhanced User Experience: Provide a safe and enjoyable experience for your users, resulting in increased user retention.
Revenue Growth: Implement monetization strategies and boost your app's revenue potential.
Data-Driven Decisions: Make informed decisions by analyzing user data and app performance.
Brand Identity: Customize the app to align with your brand, strengthening brand recognition.
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
Q1: Is the admin panel compatible with both Android and iOS apps?
A1: Yes, Omninos Solutions TikTok Clone Admin Panel is compatible with both Android and iOS apps.
Q2: Can I integrate third-party analytics tools with the admin panel?
A2: Absolutely! You can easily integrate third-party analytics tools to gain deeper insights into your app's performance.
Q3: Is customer support included with the admin panel purchase?
A3: Yes, we provide excellent customer support to assist you with any queries or issues you may encounter.
Q4: Can I customize the admin panel's appearance to match my app's branding?
A4: Yes, our admin panel offers extensive customization options, allowing you to align it with your brand identity.
Conclusion
Omninos Solutions TikTok Clone  Admin Panel is your comprehensive solution for efficient short video app management. With its robust features, user-friendly interface, and customization options, you can take your app to the next level. Don't miss out on the opportunity to streamline your app's operations and boost your revenue. Get started with our admin panel today and witness the difference it can make in the success of your short video app!
Visit on: https://www.omninos.in/tiktok-dubsmash-app-script-clone-development.php 
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chrisgaffany · 8 months
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Why Every Entrepreneur Should Consider Investing in a TikTok Clone Script
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In the ever-evolving landscape of entrepreneurship, innovation is the name of the game. It's about identifying trends, seizing opportunities, and taking calculated risks. One such opportunity that has been turning heads in recent years is the concept of a TikTok clone script. In this blog, we'll dive into why every entrepreneur should seriously contemplate investing in a TikTok clone script.
1. Riding the TikTok Wave
TikTok, with its bite-sized video content and a massive user base, has become a global sensation. By investing in a TikTok clone script, entrepreneurs can ride the wave of TikTok's popularity. The demand for short-form video content is booming, and a clone script provides a shortcut to tap into this trend.
2. Cost-Effective Development
Creating a social media app from scratch can be a daunting and costly endeavour. A TikTok clone script offers a cost-effective alternative. These scripts come preloaded with essential features, cutting down development time and costs significantly. Entrepreneurs can save resources while still creating a platform that emulates TikTok's success.
3. Speed to Market
In the fast-paced tech world, speed is often a determinant of success. Developing an app from the ground up can take months or even years. A TikTok clone app allows entrepreneurs to get their platform up and running much faster. This rapid time to market is a crucial advantage that can help you seize opportunities before others do.
4. Customization Possibilities
While a TikTok clone script provides a foundation, it doesn't mean you're stuck with a carbon copy of TikTok. Entrepreneurs can customise their clone app to align with their unique vision and target audience. This flexibility enables differentiation from TikTok while still benefiting from its successful features.
5. Monetization Potential
TikTok has demonstrated various monetization strategies, such as in-app advertising, sponsored content, and premium features. Investing in a TikTok clone app allows entrepreneurs to leverage these proven methods. Furthermore, they can explore new revenue streams that suit their niche and audience.
6. Global Reach
TikTok boasts a global user base, transcending geographical boundaries. Investing in a TikTok clone provides entrepreneurs with the opportunity to reach a diverse and widespread audience. This global reach can result in higher user acquisition rates and increased engagement.
7. Adaptability and Innovation
TikTok clone scripts are not mere replicas; they are adaptable platforms. Entrepreneurs can use them as a canvas for innovation. By identifying gaps in the market or responding to user feedback, entrepreneurs can continually improve and adapt their platform to stay relevant.
8. Competitive Edge
In the competitive world of entrepreneurship, differentiation is key. A TikTok clone app serves as a starting point for entrepreneurs to create a unique platform. By identifying unmet user needs or introducing innovative features, entrepreneurs can gain a competitive edge.
Conclusion
Investing in a TikTok clone  is a strategic move for entrepreneurs looking to capitalise on the growing trend of short-form video content and the success of TikTok. It offers a cost-effective, customizable, and quick way to enter the market while leaving room for innovation and monetization. Entrepreneurs, seize the opportunity to surf the TikTok wave and consider investing in a TikTok clone script today. It might just be your ticket to entrepreneurial success in the dynamic world of social media and content creation.
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kapiljetawat · 1 year
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How to Build A Social Media App Like TikTok?
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Do you know about the most downloaded application in the social world?
Surprisingly, it was TikTok with a count of 656 million downloads annually in 2021. The application has been in trend for three years, with over three billion TikTok downloads worldwide. This number is even more startling when you consider how quickly the number went from two to three billion.
The numbers quite sum up that the appeal of TikTok is undeniable. The platform’s user base includes users from all corners of the globe, spending hours interacting with the material. However, you need a top-notch development team if you plan to create your own social media app with a video hosting platform. So, do you want to learn how to create a platform for short videos similar to TikTok?
Well, this blog covers every aspect of developing a TikTok-like app, including the features that must be included, the technology needed, and the potential development costs to get started!
Do you know about TikTok App?
TikTok is a social network for sharing videos. Users of TikTok stream live events, produce short videos with lip sync, gags, memes, performances, and other material, add music, and share them with others all over the world. TikTok’s original concept was integrating music, video, and social media.
An individual user uses TikTok for more than 45 minutes daily. A few key factors explain why TikTok has gained popularity:
Brief video length: The initial time restriction for video content was simply 15 seconds. Given how little attention individuals have these days, that is incredibly helpful.
Young target market: Nearly fifty percent of users are under 25. This age group is more dependent on social media and smartphones.
Monetization: On live broadcasts, video makers may give away prizes, sell their commercials, and run contests.
Presence of celebrities: The younger generation’s favorite celebrities frequently have TikTok profiles where they post exclusive video material, launch challenges, and interact with followers.
Now that you know the prospects of owning a TikTok Clone app, it is time to start app development.
Develop a social media app like TikTok
Let us provide you with some key ideas to keep in mind when you develop your TikTok clone to assist you in making your app like TikTok a success.
Step 1: Conduct Market Research
If you want to construct any social media app, but are unsure where to start, start by analyzing your audience. You will then understand the market dynamics, competitors, marketing tactics, and trends to watch out for.
Try to offer concise answers to all of these questions since they can point you in the right way as you work toward creating an app similar to TikTok.
Step 2: Choose a Monetization Model
While social media app development cost is pretty high, it is crucial to choose a future business plan for one of the best TikTok alternatives once you’ve identified your target users. To assist you in creating an app similar to TikTok, consider the following revenue options:
In-app purchases
Advertisements
Cost per Click/ Mile/ Action
Fundraising
Step 3: Connect with your Audience
It’s time to get to know the users of your software. For instance, TikTok presently has users from over 150 nations who speak over 75 other languages. To cover such a broad audience at the beginning of your app development, though, is a bit unrealistic.
We advise starting with that group of folks after segregating your target audience. For instance, TikTok began by only being available in China before reaching a wider audience.
Step 4: Work on the Design
The user interface of the program is what draws and hooks people. How new customers are enrolled is one of the elements that determine how popular the app will become. TikTok’s viewers won’t be distracted by its simple UX/UI. It makes it simple to sign up, complete the required profile information, and get started.
It is recommended to use the same golden rule while developing the UI/UX of your application. For the simple promotion of their work, you may also incorporate features like an unlimited playback feed and user profiles integrated with other social media.
Step 5: Hire a professional development team
Without a group of qualified professionals, creating an app is virtually difficult. Hire professionals that are knowledgeable about market strategies and have a clear understanding of the user’s journey. They are excellent at putting the finest design principles into practice and will ensure the success of your application.
To create an app like TikTok, a qualified team must consist of the following:
Front-end Developer
Back-end Developers
UI/UX Designer
QA Engineer
Depending on your time and financial constraints, you may either engage an internal team of developers or outsource the development team. Since social media app like TikTok does not require the retention of full-time personnel, we advise you to outsource it to save time and money.
Step 6: Work on the MVP
A minimal viable product (MVP) is a product’s initial, fully operational iteration. It enables numerous entrepreneurs to test the concept, get feedback from actual customers, and ascertain whether their project aligns with the market’s demands.
MVP prevents business owners from spending their whole startup money on a product that may never reach the market and won’t be known to users. Instead, if you have a minimum viable product, you can test your idea faster, cheaper, and with less risk.
Step 7: Release the App
You should create your app in advance as part of a dynamic marketing strategy so that your target market is aware of it. Using a standard advertising strategy or engaging a marketing expert is a good idea. Running sponsored advertisements, working with bloggers and social media influencers, advertising your social media app through Google Play and Apple Store, etc., are a few typical strategies to advertise your mobile app.
Once your mobile app is available on the market, you can start collecting user reviews. By doing this, you can produce the most remarkable final product to meet the demands of your intended market. Additionally, this survey might show you where you fall short and what needs to be changed.
Read Also – Planning To Build A Social Media App In 2022?
Wrapping Up!
Due to the industry’s level of competitiveness and saturation, creating a social networking app may be challenging. However, you can ensure your app has the sustainability to maintain a competitive advantage by emphasizing content and attracting devoted users.
Developing, adapting, and adhering to your project’s roadmap can be difficult. Even it might not be easy to describe the project’s goals and functional and non-functional needs. Therefore, it is advised to work with a skilled and trustworthy app development company that can help you put everything together in a complex program like TikTok.
Article Resource - https://zimblecode.com/how-to-build-a-social-media-app-like-tiktok/
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qualilogic1 · 2 years
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How Much Does it Cost to Develop a Video Editing App Like Tiktok or Dubsmash?
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Currently, Video Editing apps like tiktok or dubsmash are in trend. In the field of entertainment, Video editing apps like tiktok and dubsmash brings a new trend in the market or we can say they came with a new concept and this is the reason behind their success.
Video Editing apps like tiktok and dubsmash are trending because there is no restriction, any age group can easily use this kind of app and make their 15 seconds videos by lip-synching and dancing along with the music which is embedded in-app. After creating the video, the User can easily upload it in-app and also share it on social media.
Video Editing Platforms like Tiktok and Dubsmash provides the platform to millions of users to show their skill and talent. And after watching the popularity of tiktok and Dubsmash video editing app, many people are thinking of initiating a startup by launching a similar app like tiktok and dubsmash, as this kind of apps also helps in generating maximum revenue.
Facts and figures about Video Editing apps
Tiktok is the 6th most downloaded app in the World,2018.
There are more than 500 million users are active in video editing apps like tiktok.
Tiktok has more than 500 million installations.
Tiktok has nearly $1.4 million estimated monthly earnings.
More than 20 million people are using dubsmash across 192 countries.
Many celebrities have also used Dubsmash and they are loving it because of its features.
Is it beneficial to launch video editing apps like tiktok and Dubsmash?
As per the survey and from the facts and figures, we can easily conclude that these kinds of apps are in high demand and due to popularity, they are generating a high amount of revenue.
So if you are thinking of launching a video editing app like tiktok and Dubsmash then this is one of the great startup ideas as still these kinds of apps are in high demand and the user always looks for something unique, which is different from another app.
Let’s Know, How apps like tiktok or dubsmash make money?
Fundraising:-For fundraising, you have to connect with some investors by explaining your ideas to them.
By introducing premium and subscription models.
Once your app becomes successful and popular, then you can sell your app by contracting with entrepreneurs or businesses.
Advertising:-By displaying the advertisement for other businesses on your platform. This also helps you in earning a good amount of money.
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How do Video editing apps like Tiktok or Dubsmash work?
An app like tiktok and Dubsmash is used for making 15-30 seconds videos. Users can easily set up and manage their profiles. After creating an account, the user gets the various options from which he/she can select any video of popular movie dialogue or songs. After selection, the user can easily make their video by doing lip-synching or dance steps.
Users can also edit the video by adding filters and effects after recording. User can easily upload their video to their specific account and also be able to share it on social media.
What are the Key features of Video editing apps like Tiktok or Dubsmash?
Here I am listing some of the basic or main features of Video editing apps like Tiktok and Dubsmash:
User Panel
Splash Screen
Login page
New users can easily register themselves in the app and set up their accounts.
Users can easily search for other people profiles or videos
View other user-profiles and check their videos.
Videos Feed Screen
Users can check the video list and make their own videos.
Users can edit the video by adding various filters and effects.
Users can upload the video and also be able to share the video.
Users can also follow each other, like each other videos and have access to share each other videos.
Get notified of any new updates.
Security and privacy settings.
Admin Panel
Admin Login page
Users profile management.
Content management
Ads management
Flagged Videos management
Push notification
Report generation and management
How Much Does it Cost to Develop a Video editing App Like Tiktok or Dubsmash?
The Video editing app cost depends on some of the factors like features or functionality, app designing and development, Technology(Android, IOS or both), Developers experience and many more.
QualiLogic is a leading software development company that offers the best Website and Mobile app development services at the best rates. QualiLogic IT service provider industry is located in USA.
Would you like to execute a video editing app like Tiktok or Dubsmash?
If yes, then feel free to contact us.
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apptunixapp-blog · 2 years
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One thing that Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat have in common since the advent of TikTok is that they have begun to lose active users. Yes, this is entirely correct. TikTok has become unavoidable and has launched a massive change in the entertainment business. Do you know how much it costs to develop a TikTok-like app? Contact us if you want to create an app similar to TikTok. Let's take a look at how much it costs to create a TikTok app and get started.
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This is your brain on fraud apologetics
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In 1998, two Stanford students published a paper in Computer Networks entitled “The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine,” in which they wrote, “Advertising funded search engines will be inherently biased towards the advertisers and away from the needs of consumers.”
https://research.google/pubs/pub334/
If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/24/passive-income/#swiss-cheese-security
The co-authors were Lawrence Page and Sergey Brin, and the “large-scale hypertextual web search-engine” they were describing was their new project, which they called “Google.” They were 100% correct — prescient, even!
On Wednesday night, a friend came over to watch some TV with us. We ordered out. We got scammed. We searched for a great local Thai place we like called Kiin and clicked a sponsored link for a Wix site called “Kiinthaila.com.” We should have clicked the third link down (kiinthaiburbank.com).
We got scammed. The Wix site was a lookalike for Kiin Thai, which marked up their prices by 15% and relayed the order to our local, mom-and-pop, one-branch restaurant. The restaurant knew it, too — they called us and told us they were canceling the order, and said we could still come get our food, but we’d have to call Amex to reverse the charge.
As it turned out, the scammers double-billed us for our order. I called Amex, who advised us to call back in a couple days when the charge posted to cancel it — in other words, they were treating it as a regular customer dispute, and not a systemic, widespread fraud (there’s no way this scammer is just doing this for one restaurant).
In the grand scheme of things, this is a minor hassle, but boy, it’s haunting to watch the quarter-century old prophecy of Brin and Page coming true. Search Google for carpenters, plumbers, gas-stations, locksmiths, concert tickets, entry visas, jobs at the US Post Office or (not making this up) tech support for Google products, and the top result will be a paid ad for a scam. Sometimes it’s several of the top ads.
This kind of “intermediation” business is actually revered in business-schools. As Douglas Rushkoff has written, the modern business wisdom reveres “going meta” — not doing anything useful, but rather, creating a chokepoint between people who do useful things and people who want to pay for those things, and squatting there, collecting rent:
https://rushkoff.medium.com/going-meta-d42c6a09225e
It’s the ultimate passive income/rise and grind side-hustle: It wouldn’t surprise me in the least to discover a whole festering nest of creeps on Tiktok talking about how they pay Mechanical Turks to produce these lookalike sites at scale.
This mindset is so pervasive that people running companies with billions in revenue and massive hoards of venture capital run exactly the same scam. During lockdown, companies like Doordash, Grubhub and Uber Eats stood up predatory lookalike websites for local restaurants, without their consent, and played monster-in-the-middle, tricking diners into ordering through them:
https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/19/we-are-beautiful/#man-in-the-middle
These delivery app companies were playing a classic enshittification game: first they directed surpluses to customers to lock them in (heavily discounting food), then they directed surplus to restaurants (preferential search results, free delivery, low commissions) — then, having locked in both consumers and producers, they harvested the surplus for themselves.
Today, delivery apps charge massive premiums to both eaters and restaurants, load up every order with junk fees, and clone the most successful restaurants out of ghost kitchens — shipping containers in parking lots crammed with low-waged workers cranking out orders for 15 different fake “virtual restaurants”:
https://pluralistic.net/2020/12/01/autophagic-buckeyes/#subsidized-autophagia
Delivery apps speedran the enshittification cycle, but Google took a slower path to get there. The company has locked in billions of users (e.g. by paying billions to be the default search on Safari and Firefox and using legal bullying to block third party Android device-makers from pre-installing browsers other than Chrome). For years, it’s been leveraging our lock-in to prey on small businesses, getting them to set up Google Business Profiles.
These profiles are supposed to help Google distinguish between real sellers and scammers. But Kiin Thai has a Google Business Profile, and searching for “kiin thai burbank” brings up a “Knowledge Panel” with the correct website address — on a page that is headed with a link to a scam website for the same business. Google, in other words, has everything it needs to flag lookalike sites and confirm them with their registered owners. It would cost Google money to do this — engineer-time to build and maintain the system, content moderator time to manually check flagged listings, and lost ad-revenue from scammers — but letting the scams flourish makes Google money, at the expense of Google users and Google business customers.
Now, Google has an answer for this: they tell merchants who are being impersonated by ad-buying scammers that all they need to do is outbid them for the top ad-spot. This is a common approach — Amazon has a $31b/year “ad business” that’s mostly its own platform sellers bidding against each other to show you fake results for your query. The first five screens of Amazon search results are 50% ads:
https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/28/enshittification/#relentless-payola
This is “going meta,” so naturally, Meta is doing it too: Facebook and Instagram have announced a $12/month “verification” badge that will let you report impersonation and tweak the algorithm to make it more likely that the posts you make are shown to the people who explicitly asked to see them:
https://www.vox.com/recode/2023/2/21/23609375/meta-verified-twitter-blue-checkmark-badge-instagram-facebook
The corollary of this, of course, is that if you don’t pay, they won’t police your impersonators, and they won’t show your posts to the people who asked to see them. This is pure enshittification — the surplus from users and business customers is harvested for the benefit of the platform owners:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guys
The idea that merchants should master the platforms as a means of keeping us safe from their impersonators is a hollow joke. For one thing, the rules change all the time, as the platforms endlessly twiddle the knobs that determine what gets shown to whom:
https://doctorow.medium.com/twiddler-1b5c9690cce6
And they refuse to tell anyone what the rules are, because if they told you what the rules were, you’d be able to bypass them. Content moderation is the only infosec domain where “security through obscurity” doesn’t get laughed out of the room:
https://doctorow.medium.com/como-is-infosec-307f87004563
Worse: the one thing the platforms do hunt down and exterminate with extreme prejudice is anything that users or business-customers use to twiddle back — add-ons and plugins and jailbreaks that override their poor choices with better ones:
https://www.theverge.com/2022/9/29/23378541/the-og-app-instagram-clone-pulled-from-app-store
As I was submitting complaints about the fake Kiin scam-site (and Amex’s handling of my fraud call) to the FTC, the California Attorney General, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau and Wix, I wrote a little Twitter thread about what a gross scam this is:
https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1628948906657878016
The thread got more than two million reads and got picked up by Hacker News and other sites. While most of the responses evinced solidarity and frustration and recounted similar incidents in other domains, a significant plurality of the replies were scam apologetics — messages from people who wanted to explain why this wasn’t a problem after all.
The most common of these was victim-blaming: “you should have used an adblocker” or “never click the sponsored link.” Of course, I do use an ad-blocker — but this order was placed with a mobile browser, after an absentminded query into the Google search-box permanently placed on the home screen, which opens results in Chrome (where I don’t have an ad-blocker, so I can see material behind an ad-blocker-blocker), not Firefox (which does have an ad-blocker).
Now, I also have a PiHole on my home LAN, which blocks most ads even in a default browser — but earlier this day, I’d been on a public wifi network that was erroneously blocking a website (the always excellent superpunch.net) so I’d turned my wifi off, which meant the connection came over my phone’s 5G connection, bypassing the PiHole:
https://pluralistic.net/2022/04/28/shut-yer-pi-hole/
“Don’t click a sponsored link” — well, the irony here is that if you habitually use a browser with an ad-blocker, and you backstop it with a PiHole, you never see sponsored links, so it’s easy to miss the tiny “Sponsored” notification beside the search result. That goes double if you’re relaxing with a dinner guest on the sofa and ordering dinner while chatting.
There’s a name for this kind of security failure: the Swiss Cheese Model. We all have multiple defenses (in my case: foreknowledge of Google’s ad-scam problem, an ad-blocker in my browser, LAN-wide ad sinkholing). We also have multiple vulnerabilities (in my case: forgetting I was on 5G, being distracted by conversation, using a mobile device with a permanent insecure search bar on the homescreen, and being so accustomed to ad-blocked results that I got out of the habit of checking whether a result was an ad).
If you think you aren’t vulnerable to scams, you’re wrong — and your confidence in your invulnerability actually increases your risk. This isn’t the first time I’ve been scammed, and it won’t be the last — and every time, it’s been a Swiss Cheese failure, where all the holes in all my defenses lined up for a brief instant and left me vulnerable:
https://locusmag.com/2010/05/cory-doctorow-persistence-pays-parasites/
Other apologetics: “just call the restaurant rather than using its website.” Look, I know the people who say this don’t think I have a time-machine I can use to travel back to the 1980s and retrieve a Yellow Pages, but it’s hard not to snark at them, just the same. Scammers don’t just set up fake websites for your local businesses — they staff them with fake call-centers, too. The same search that takes you to a fake website will also take you to a fake phone number.
Finally, there’s “What do you expect Google to do? They can’t possibly detect this kind of scam.” But they can. Indeed, they are better situated to discover these scams than anyone else, because they have their business profiles, with verified contact information for the merchants being impersonated. When they get an ad that seems to be for the same business but to a different website, they could interrupt the ad process to confirm it with their verified contact info.
Instead, they choose to avoid the expense, and pocket the ad revenue. If a company promises to “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful,” I think we have the right to demand these kinds of basic countermeasures:
https://www.google.com/search/howsearchworks/our-approach/
The same goes for Amex: when a merchant is scamming customers, they shouldn’t treat complaints as “chargebacks” — they should treat them as reports of a crime in progress. Amex has the bird’s eye view of their transaction flow and when a customer reports a scam, they can backtrack it to see if the same scammer is doing this with other merchants — but the credit card companies make money by not chasing down fraud:
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/rosalindadams/mastercard-visa-fraud
Wix also has platform-scale analytics that they could use to detect and interdict this kind of fraud — when a scammer creates a hundred lookalike websites for restaurants and uses Wix’s merchant services to process payments for them, that could trigger human review — but it didn’t.
Where do all of these apologetics come from? Why are people so eager to leap to the defense of scammers and their adtech and fintech enablers? Why is there such an impulse to victim-blame?
I think it’s fear: in their hearts, people — especially techies — know that they, too, are vulnerable to these ripoffs, but they don’t want to admit it. They want to convince themselves that the person who got scammed made an easily avoidable mistake, and that they themselves will never make a similar mistake.
This is doubly true for readerships on tech-heavy forums like Twitter or (especially) Hacker News. These readers know just how many vulnerabilities there are — how many holes are in their Swiss cheese — and they are also overexposed to rise-and-grind/passive income rhetoric.
This produces a powerful cognitive dissonance: “If all the ‘entrepreneurs’ I worship are just laying traps for the unwary, and if I am sometimes unwary, then I’m cheering on the authors of my future enduring misery.” The only way to resolve this dissonance — short of re-evaluating your view of platform capitalism or questioning your own immunity to scams — is to blame the victim.
The median Hacker News reader has to somehow resolve the tension between “just install an adblocker” and “Chrome’s extension sandbox is a dumpster fire and it’s basically impossible to know whether any add-on you install can steal every keystroke and all your other data”:
https://mattfrisbie.substack.com/p/spy-chrome-extension
In my Twitter thread, I called this “the worst of all possible timelines.” Everything we do is mediated by gigantic, surveillant monopolists that spy on us comprehensively from asshole to appetite — but none of them, not a 20th century payment giant nor a 21st century search giant — can bestir itself to use that data to keep us safe from scams.
Next Thu (Mar 2) I'll be in Brussels for Antitrust, Regulation and the Political Economy, along with a who's-who of European and US trustbusters. It's livestreamed, and both in-person and virtual attendance are free:
https://www.brusselsconference.com/registration
On Fri (Mar 3), I'll be in Graz for the Elevate Festival:
https://elevate.at/diskurs/programm/event/e23doctorow/
[Image ID: A modified version of Hieronymus Bosch's painting 'The Conjurer,' which depicts a scam artist playing a shell-game for a group of gawking rubes. The image has been modified so that the scam artist's table has a Google logo and the pea he is triumphantly holding aloft bears the 'Sponsored' wordmark that appears alongside Google search results.]
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is it over now? (was it over then?)
part one
part two: if she's got blue eyes, i will surmise that you'll probably date her
Eddie had felt completely numb after leaving Steve's apartment. He wasn't really interested in doing anything with his band even though they definitely owed the studio a new album but Eddie wasn't feeling inspired after the abrupt departure of his most recent muse.
He didn't want to be that guy who wrote songs about his exes or aired dirty laundry in public through cryptic lyrics. It worked for other people but his band's vibe was a lot more fantasy and concept albumy and he couldn't quite find the energy to allegorize his current heartbreak. This is where the reality of the music industry really sucked because at some point their label didn't give a shit about Eddie's need to wallow and his manager could only negotiate so many extensions.
Thankfully, all previous qualms he had with writing about his ex and their breakup ended when he saw another fucking TMZ headline about Steve leaving a club with another model. This had to be the thirtieth person Steve had been tied to since their breakup. Eddie's best guess was that his pact with Robin to be each other's whatever to get the media off their back had ended.
Lyrics started flowing out of Eddie as he swiped out of twitter and into his notes app.
Your new girl is my clone And did you think I didn't see you? There were flashing lights At least I had the decency To keep my nights out of sight Only rumors 'bout my hips and thighs And my whispered sighs
Eddie knew it was probably a low blow to flaunt his escapades after he'd worked pretty hard to keep them under wraps. He didn't need the world to know he had pity sex with some random guy he picked up because he really got Eddie's last album. Eddie fucking hated how pretentious some fans were about his lyrics. Like sometimes a sword is just a sword, bestie. Anyways, an NDA and really shitty coffee later, Eddie pretended that mistake hadn't happened but was petty enough to make it clear to Steve that he wasn't the only one finding solace in someone else's bed.
He put together a rough melody on his acoustic and sent it over to his band to see what they thought. He wasn't sure if they'd be into it but it was fucking therapeutic to get the feelings out of his body that were festering there. Gareth was over the moon because he had been anti-Steve from the beginning and was super on board with some pretty boy actor directed snark. Ronnie, Jeff, and Freak were a little harder to bring around as they felt like they should at least sort of protect their darker brand but once Freak laid down a pretty sick base and Ronnie added some haunting piano it was undeniably a Corroded Coffin song. They packaged up a rough draft and sent it over to their producer to work his magic. Before Eddie knew it the song was approved for a sound on TikTok and Eddie and the band were thinking of video ideas to promote the single which would apparently be ready for streaming in the next month. Eddie wasn't quite ready to concede an entire angsty breakup album but it did at least feel good to get a start on producing what the studio was looking for.
Eddie sat back and scrolled through the sound on TikTok and thought about Steve's reaction to the sound or the single a perfectly healthy amount, thank you very much.
@lololol-1234 (it's not quite fixed yet but i hope you don't mind the tag)
part three
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chewing-drywall · 2 months
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Guys if a new season were ever to come out it CANNOT be set in completely modern times
Like I cannot fathom pickles using an elf bar even though WE KNOW HE WOULD
Oh my God his room would be so damp from vaping it would be it's own atmosphere
Toki with a tiktok account would be a horrific affair, Charles would need to censor soooo many company secrets holy fuck
Skiwsgaars dating profile would probably be the world's most popular one, doesn't even use them cause he doesn't need a app to get bitches
The whole reason it's as good as it is, is because the show was created in the era it was, it gives it a unrecreateble vibe and if there was a new season I worry that it'd be like the newer seasons of clone high (No hate but it's true)
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