Happy Thursday, TTN readers! My oh my, what a week has it been. I’m on with Mark Starling, Seth, John, and the First News 570 crew. This week: Russia dominates tech news. The Hacktivists Strike Back against Russian military targets, Amazon plans to close physical store locations, and a plethora of companies quit Russia. You can listen to Mark and I point and laugh while talking about the wild and crazy technology world every Thursday morning, LIVE at 6:43am Eastern by tuning into WWNC on the iHeartRadio app.
HACKERS TARGET RUSSIAN INFRASTRUCTURE
Three days ago, Anonymous, that Anonymous asked the hackers of the world to attack Russian infrastructure. The world responded and a number of Russian military assets were hit. Hackers heeding Anonymous’ call have attacked Russia’s satellite infrastructure, other hackers have released the personal details of Russian military soldiers, and the hits keep coming. Parties in the US and other nations were getting prepared for any Russian cyber attacks that may come. This week’s events have prompted cyber warriors to unite and Hack the Russians. The Ukrainian government has encouraged hackers to take up their cause. 500 volunteers have signed on so far.
Bonus: Who is Anonymous?
No one knows for sure. Anonymous is a group of hactivists who use their computer skills to target popularly identified individuals, organizations, and nations that do heinous things or are not considered good public citizens. Who knows how Anonymous decides to carry out campaign. The key to understanding groups like Anonymous is that you may agree with their actions today, and may disagree with their actions tomorrow.
AMAZON TO CLOSE PHYSICAL STORES
Amazon announced plans to close 68 of its Amazon Books, 4-Star, and Pop Up stores across malls and locations in America. The company wants to focus its energies on grocery stores and fashion outlets instead of other stuff. The 4-Star locations specialized in selling curated 4-star rated products from Amazon.com and we have all seen Amazon Pop Ups in the mall during Christmas. As the nation’s largest bookseller, it is interesting Amazon decided to pull out of selling books in brick and mortar.
COMPANIES UNITE WITH CITIZENS IN RUSSIA BAN
Say what you want to say, but the power of the Internet is a mighty thing. A plethora of global corporations have taken action in protest of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The list of companies is spread wide across a number of industries and seems to be growing everyday. Apple has stopped sales of its products and services in Russia. Netflix has told Russian regulators it will not comply with new rules to carry state sponsored streams. Electronic Arts has removed Russia from its FIFA22 soccer game. What company hasn’t hopped on the bandwagon, Binance. Binance has ruled out banning ordinary Russian users from using their crypto exchange platform.
Bonus: The Internet is Forever
The state-backed Russian news agency, RIA-Novosti, deleted an editorial piece praising Russia’s victory of Ukraine. The editorial appears to have been posted on February 26, and its content expressed praise for Russia’s swift victory over Ukraine. The news agency tried to remove the article, but it was cached by the Internet Archive in time for Net snoops to find it. If anything, regardless of your political stripes, if you’re in America this should make you feel more appreciation for a free press. Regardless of your leaning.
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