Share personal experience, opinion, information regarding BOTS

[joeecho]

Greetings Avalon and visitors!

I am interested in your direct experience with bots in the digital realm (and also opinions). Do you think they are more cleverly disguised then the average internet user realizes? Cleverbot (http://www.cleverbot.com/) is a bot a number of us would spot fairly quickly 'in the wild' but do you think or have information to share that proves some of the advancements in this field are already intertwined on the internet then, again, the average internet user realizes? Perhaps steps to take if one wants to prove they have indeed encountered a bot in future encounters would also be helpful.

A little encounter I have been having:

I have read Yahoo News comment section for years and an increasingly obvious pattern has emerged. For years now, no matter the subject of the news article as the subject of comment section there is a politically charged statement injected into a comment. It could be about a puppy drowning in a pond and you still get these comments. The newest twist is injecting comments with the killing of that Australian woman in Minnesota. Again, it doesn't matter what the news article was about. Its clever too because it doesn't just interject a comment about actual news story like killing of that Australian woman in Minnesota but intertwines information about the current news story being discussed in the comment section. What do you think? Possible evidence of a bot or bots? I am convinced more and more each day it's a bot. I am surprised a tech reported has pick up on it an published an investigation of bots used at Yahoo News.


Interested in what you have to share.

-- Joe

Side note: I heard that a lot of the trading of shares of stocks on Exchanges is done now by way of algorithms, a type of bot don't you think?

[EFO]

Greetings Avalon and visitors!

I am interested in your direct experience with bots in the digital realm (and also opinions). Do you think they are more cleverly disguised then the average internet user realizes? Cleverbot (http://www.cleverbot.com/) is a bot a number of us would spot fairly quickly 'in the wild' but do you think or have information to share that proves some of the advancements in this field are already intertwined on the internet then, again, the average internet user realizes? Perhaps steps to take if one wants to prove they have indeed encountered a bot in future encounters would also be helpful.

A little encounter I have been having:

I have read Yahoo News comment section for years and an increasingly obvious pattern has emerged. For years now, no matter the subject of the news article as the subject of comment section there is a politically charged statement injected into a comment. It could be about a puppy drowning in a pond and you still get these comments. The newest twist is injecting comments with the killing of that Australian woman in Minnesota. Again, it doesn't matter what the news article was about. Its clever too because it doesn't just interject a comment about actual news story like killing of that Australian woman in Minnesota but intertwines information about the current news story being discussed in the comment section. What do you think? Possible evidence of a bot or bots? I am convinced more and more each day it's a bot. I am surprised a tech reported has pick up on it an published an investigation of bots used at Yahoo News.


Interested in what you have to share.

-- Joe

Side note: I heard that a lot of the trading of shares of stocks on Exchanges is done now by way of algorithms, a type of bot don't you think?

A warm welcome back Joe!

As I search some topics on Youtube,when I coming back,in the "recommended" section I receive suggestions based on my last search.This is happening every time when I'm signed in on youtube.Having some other browsers and even if I enter on youtube without signing in on different web browser,Lunascape for example, and on a different web engine - let's say Baidu,and searching a total different topic - let's say "folk music from Papua New Guinea" when I sign in again on youtube at least one suggestion in "recommended" is related to "folk music from Papua New Guinea".This is happening from a long time now.

Having nothing to hide,I don't care who or what is "looking" into my computer/s and/or devices,no matter who it is:windows,google,my internet provider or the "guys with pale blue eyes".And of course there are all kind of bots and/or algorithm/s.
http://www.undertheredstar.com/KGBnew/KGB%20mc%20escort.jpg

As per your side note of "trading of shares of stocks on Exchanges" is the same as any lottery,contest (fashion,sport,music you name it),casino games and so on,all are based on more or less legal scams and/or certain interest/s particular or group/s no matter if is a bot/s or algorithm/s.My sincerely advice:Don't go there under any circumstance/s.

This is my "share". :)

[joeecho]

Thanks EFO, bots take all forms and shapes on the 'net. When posting the thread I had been reflecting on what the 'Net was in the beginning and what it is now.

All of us here are users of the 'Net but how often do we consider that the 'Net may be using us? Are we forming our opinion of the world via, at least in part, the 'Net or is the 'Net forming our opinion of the world? It's a subtle distinction but one worth considering.

Are we as humans in the driver's seat or is a bunch of 'code' driving the general populous?

Wasn't this suggested in the Matrix?

https://hsto.org/getpro/geektimes/comment_images/ffc/8e2/6a8/ffc8e26a857e7675704285f06d1bdb2a.jpg


P.s. I had just finished writing this post and went to publish @ 1200 PST and recieving the message copied and pasted below:

...................................................................................................

Forbidden

You don't have permission to access / on this server.
Server unable to read htaccess file, denying access to be safe

Additionally, a 403 Forbidden error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

...................................................................................................

Interesting coincidence.....

..................................................................................................

Update: Forum again accessible for me 10-15 minutes later. Now posting.

[EFO]

In the beginning Net was supposed to be free for everyone.Why now we all are paying for this?This is a long story...I also remember the '97 when for the first time I accessed the Net from an internet cafe.In those days you received what you looked,today you receive suggestions and well indexed web pages based on mostly one human decision.I don't need to be redirected to certain web pages.I want to find what I looked for and not wasting my time.But the bots/algorithms don't know that I have plenty of time. :)


Are we forming our opinion of the world via, at least in part, the 'Net or is the 'Net forming our opinion of the world? It's a subtle distinction but one worth considering.

The subtle distinction is everyone's capacity to sieve the information.


Are we as humans in the driver's seat or is a bunch of 'code' driving the general populous?
Both,but the majority is in the last category from your question.

As per your P.s. is a proof that the Net take care about your safety.How sweet from them...and they waited 10-15 minutes hoping got you to give up. :)

[joeecho]

The subtle distinction is everyone's capacity to sieve the information.


That is one hell of a capacity.

http://img07.deviantart.net/34b2/i/2010/020/d/2/__stay_frosty___by_rub_a_duckie.jpg

[GoingOn]

The similar nature of comments that change the course of online discussions about news items, this is something that looks like pattern-based bot behaviour to me.

A pattern-based behaviour I am less sure about is my ID frequently "liking" comments/posts on a couple of forums where I am registered and read posts but don't often write comments. In particular, "liking" posts that I don't like. :confused:

[joeecho]

Bots are the illusion of many when it may only be one.

Puts a whole new meaning to "yeah, but that is just one person's opinion".

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/33/4d/38/334d382aa3bb2d62f9ee3c9b1744b8b2--so-true-favorite-quotes.jpg

[Noelle]

Late last summer, I decided to start my own website on astral travel/OBEs. All content was my own. I used WordPress, and even invested money in the perfect WP theme. About two weeks after launching, I was slammed by what seemed to be an automated attempt to log in to my administrator account. A new attempt was made like every 5 seconds. And it went on all day and all night. I could see these attempts as they happened via WordFence, which would block the attempts after the second try. Because of the blocking, the IP addresses and city/country of origin of whoever was trying to log in to my account would change. My email box had thousands of notifications of the attempts from WordFence. I was so annoyed, I ended up scrapping the site. I'm not sure if they were bots. I assumed my site was being used in some kind of hacker training program.

[ThePythonicCow]

A new attempt was made like every 5 seconds. And it went on all day and all night.
Welcome to the Wild Wild West Web :).

Within minutes of Singlehop first turning Avalon's current server on, a couple of months ago now, before I had even started moving anything over from the previous server, it was under attack ... any web server is.

For example, so far today, over 1000 IP's have attacked us, averaging 5 probes each trying to login to potentially insecure accounts before that IP triggers some firewall rule and gets blocked. It's like that, 24 hours a day, non-stop.

It takes multiple firewall layers, each fairly sophisticated and continuously adapting, to keep the attacks at bay.

[joeecho]

Personal experience always has more of impact for me then news articles of the same nature and for that I thank those who share.



A new attempt was made like every 5 seconds. And it went on all day and all night.
Welcome to the Wild Wild West Web :).

That brings up an intriguing dichotomy, Paul. The dichotomy being: 1) Observing the Wild Wild West Web but not actually IN it, and, 2) If one is ON the mentioned Wild they are IN the Wild. Take mental precautions accordingly.

Many of us use the 'Net from a generally safe location which can dull our sense of awareness regarding being IN the "Wild Wild West Web". I think subject matter such as this can help sharpen our situational awareness while here in the digital realm.

For those of us who experienced the WWW from the beginning, I wonder how many envisioned the form it would take today? We did get a hint of things to come in the last word....WEB.

[Noelle]

A new attempt was made like every 5 seconds. And it went on all day and all night.
Welcome to the Wild Wild West Web :).

Within minutes of Singlehop first turning Avalon's current server on, a couple of months ago now, before I had even started moving anything over from the previous server, it was under attack ... any web server is.

For example, so far today, over 1000 IP's have attacked us, averaging 5 probes each trying to login to potentially insecure accounts before that IP triggers some firewall rule and gets blocked. It's like that, 24 hours a day, non-stop.

It takes multiple firewall layers, each fairly sophisticated and continuously adapting, to keep the attacks at bay.

That sounds like what I was experiencing. Maybe I should not have given up, but, heck, I was so irritated that I could not focus on anything else. They got me! So are they bots?

[ThePythonicCow]

So are they bots?
At the basic level ... what actually sent the bits and bytes out over the Internet, is a piece of automated software, almost always, yes.

Similarly, most nails holding together most wood frame homes built in the last decade were pounded using nail guns (http://www.homedepot.com/b/Tools-Air-Compressors-Tools-Accessories-Nail-Guns-Pneumatic-Staple-Guns/N-5yc1vZc2cd), not hammers.

What matters is who's behind the tool ... and who's behind them ...

[joeecho]

One simply hasn't been in the Wild Wild West Web long enough if they don't see the crazy wisdom of the following meme:

https://uproxx.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/internet-is-forever.gif

But I digress..........

[Noelle]

I had bots on my mind today, so I decided to see what was new in this area.

I found a July 9, 2018, article (https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/Millions-of-Phones-Hosting-Bad-Bots-Helping-Hackers-Commit-Crime-487671621.html) spotlighting a Distil Research Lab report that states: 5.8 percent of all mobile devices worldwide are infected with malicious automated software programs, known as “bots."

Some key points from the article:

Types of activities. Hackers use infected devices to perform a variety of illicit tasks, such as account takeovers; gift card fraud; manipulating ticket prices; and even posting spam on social media.

Off-loading computer power. Mobile bots are designed to operate in relative secrecy. ... billions of bots allow hackers to remotely conduct criminal acts without using any of their own bandwidth, instead stealing it from unwitting phone and tablet users.

Human-like behavior. They’re trying to appear human-like, ... if they’re on your phone, one of the behaviors of a phone is that it moves IP addresses. It moves from cell tower to cell tower, so it looks more human than other devices as well.

Bots everywhere! Citing the report, 21 percent of all internet traffic originates from bad bots. Eight percent comes from the mobile variety.

The Distil report is called The Next Evolution of Bad Bots (https://resources.distilnetworks.com/all-blog-posts/mobile-bots-the-next-evolution-of-bad-bots). You need to submit an email address to get the full report.

Report summary by Distil:

This new attack method where perpetrators connect through cellular gateways targets a large variety of websites and apps simultaneously. Cellular gateways handle a huge volume of requests per minute, many of which are legitimate, making it difficult to identify and block criminal ones. Within some cellular networks, a single IP address can cater to more than 4,000 devices per day, making cellular traffic an ideal location for bots to remain undetectable. As mobile devices move through different cellular gateways, (based on device owners changing location throughout the day,) bots effectively change identities, carrying out acts that include web scraping, brute force attacks, competitive data mining, online fraud, account hijacking, data theft, spam and digital ad fraud.

Mobile bots by the numbers:

Sample size: Over 100 million devices

Number of mobile carriers researched: 6

Percentage of mobile ISP gateways used in bad bot attacks: 44%

Percentage of total bad bot traffic deriving from mobile devices on cellular networks: 8%

Percentage of mobile devices making bad bot requests on cellular networks: 5.8%

Average number of bad bot requests by each device per day: 50