Latest news with #AubreyCottle
Globe and Mail
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Globe and Mail
Lately: An Anonymous hacker's regret, Canada's first AI minister and ‘lootbox' gambling
Welcome back to Lately, The Globe's weekly tech newsletter. If you have feedback or just want to say hello to a real-life human, send me an e-mail. 🥷 A Canadian hacker has some regrets 🥇 Canada's first AI minister 📚 The rising pile of AI-generated books 🎰 How teens are getting hooked on this gateway to gambling in online games More than two decades ago, a loose collective called Anonymous formed on 4chan, the controversial online message board where all users were anonymous by default, hence the moniker. The anonymity emboldened users to post offensive memes, co-ordinate pranks and orchestrate disinformation campaigns. But what began as 'fun and hijinks' kicked off what Canadian hacker and former Anonymous member Aubrey Cottle says was 'a chain reaction that resulted in the alt-right online culture wars and … essentially blossomed into the rise of Trump.' Of course, it's impossible to know how much Anonymous actually influenced the outcome of the election. But the group did end up informing the tactics of some far-right users on 4chan, such as fuelling conspiracy theories against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Last month, 4chan was hacked and taken offline, and the e-mail addresses of moderators were leaked online. Globe reporter Alexandra Posadzki recently interviewed Cottle, who says he feels culpable for the role Anonymous played in inadvertently helping Donald Trump become president. He talked to Posadzki while out on bail for criminal charges related to allegedly hacking into and defacing the Texas Republican Party's website nearly four years ago. Read the full story. This week, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced his new cabinet, which includes a role that many in the tech industry have been calling for: a minister of AI. Evan Solomon, a former journalist and first-time member of Parliament, will oversee the portfolio that will likely involve increasing AI adoption, boosting the construction of Canadian-owned and operated data centres, and figuring out exactly how to regulate AI. Canada has been at the forefront of AI research that's been critical to the development of large-language models such as ChatGPT, but some critics say the country has failed to reap the economic benefits. Many AI patents developed here are now owned by foreign corporations, and many Canadian companies rely on cloud computing that's operated by foreign multinationals. Now with a minister solely focused on AI, it suggests the industry will be a priority for the new Liberal government. Read the full story by reporter Joe Castaldo. AI slop is coming for books. Specifically, Canadian political books. As arts reporter Josh O'Kane found, books about Canadian political leaders are the latest in the growing pile of what appear to be written using generative AI and are independently published through Amazon. These kinds of books flooded search results during this spring's federal election campaign, but more still have popped up in recent weeks, with at least one already referencing the voting results. Some have been printed on demand at an Amazon facility in Ontario. 'It's bad enough for Canadian researched non-fiction as it is. If this is the beginning of something, it's the beginning of something really bad. The potential for disinformation is off the charts,' says Mark Bourrie, the author of Ripper, a genuine biography of Pierre Poilievre. I regret my Tesla (The Walrus) The professors are using chatGPT, and some students aren't happy about it (The New York Times) Airbnb is in midlife crisis mode (WIRED) Hazaki's Gyuto knife, $175 These days, our kitchens are overflowing with tech gadgets and gizmos. Do we really need smart refrigerators that come with built-in screens to stream videos, or an $800 stand mixer that adjusts speed and torque based on the mixture inside? In fact, some interior designers are predicting that WiFi enabled, voice-activated, AI-powered-everything smart homes could be on the way out as more people embrace so-called 'dumb homes.' When it comes to the kitchen, you really only need a few tools and perhaps just one is worth the splurge: a good chef's knife. Last week, The Globe rounded up the best ones, including the Gyuto knife by Montreal brand Hazaki. The high-carbon steel blade is imported from Japan, while the wood handle is made with Canadian wood. Gambling in video games doesn't just mean virtual poker any more, leading some experts to raise the alarm about the negative effects on young players. Many major video games have 'lootboxes,' (or 'gacha' in Japanese and Korean games), a system where players can spend real-world money for a mystery box that could contain a rare in-game item. Some items, such as alternate character costumes or special weapons, are highly-sought after, so they're more difficult to get. Players can either scrimp and save their in-game money, or fork over actual hard-earned cash just for the chance to potentially score big with a lootbox. Lootboxes can be a gateway to gambling addiction among teens, say experts, who compare the system to slot machines. As Amber Ranson reports, many popular mobile games found on Apple and Google's app stores contain these types of microtransactions, games that are usually rated for players aged 12 and up. These games encourage players to gamble, to gain a competitive advantage or to collect virtual characters, which experts say can lead to issues at home. – Jordyn Streisfield
Globe and Mail
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Globe and Mail
Canadian hacker feels remorse for role Anonymous members played in rise of Trump
More than two decades ago, a group of young, predominantly male internet users started congregating on an online forum called 4chan, where they circulated memes, co-ordinated pranks and orchestrated disinformation campaigns. A subset of them formed a loose collective that called itself Anonymous. But what began as 'fun and high jinks' kicked off what Canadian hacker Aubrey Cottle characterizes as 'a chain reaction that resulted in the alt-right online culture wars and … essentially blossomed into the rise of Trump.' Today, the 38-year-old resident of Oshawa, Ont., feels culpable for the role he believes that he and other members of Anonymous played in inadvertently helping Donald Trump become the President of the United States. 'It's hard not to beat yourself up constantly,' said Mr. Cottle, who describes himself as an 'anarchist anti-fascist' and is known online by the alias Kirtaner. Mr. Cottle was arrested and charged earlier this year for allegedly hacking into and defacing the Texas Republican Party's website nearly four years ago, according to a U.S. criminal complaint unsealed in March. His lawyers have called the timing of the charges 'peculiar,' noting in a statement that Canadian law enforcement's decision to co-operate with U.S. authorities came in the wake of Mr. Trump's return to office. The extent to which members of Anonymous may have influenced the course of U.S. politics or benefited Mr. Trump is difficult to ascertain. Many of the causes that the hacktivists have taken on over the years have fallen on the left side of the political spectrum. But the collective's tactics wound up informing a contingent of far-right users on the platform, according to author Dale Beran, who penned a book about Anonymous called It Came From Something Awful: How a Toxic Troll Army Accidentally Memed Donald Trump into Office. Those alt-right users would go on to launch viral disinformation campaigns such as 'Pizzagate,' Mr. Beran said. The conspiracy theory falsely claimed that Mr. Trump's rival Hillary Clinton and other Democrats were running a child-trafficking ring out of a Washington pizza parlour. 'There are many, many reasons why Donald Trump got elected to office,' Mr. Beran said. The internet culture spawned on 4chan wasn't the main one, he said, but 'it was a contributing factor.' Mr. Cottle, who is currently out on bail, declined to comment on the criminal charges he's facing on both sides of the border. But during a wide-ranging, two-hour-long interview, he expressed remorse for how his early involvement with Anonymous may have contributed to what he considers to be 'many of the world's problems.' 'There's a lot of guilt, and I just had a drive to personally atone for quite a lot of mistakes and damage that I ended up doing to modern society,' he said. Aubrey Cottle grew up in Toronto to the whirring of computer fans and the screeching of dial-up modems. He had a Commodore 64, a wildly popular eight-bit home computer, in his childhood bedroom. His father, a technophile who worked at a dial-up internet service provider, installed a modem next to Mr. Cottle's bed when he was seven years old. 'I literally grew up just completely immersed in the internet from the very, very, very early years of the internet,' he said. At school, Mr. Cottle was the 'nerdy outcast,' he recalled. After years of bullying, he snapped at his tormentors during the seventh grade, threatening to kill the students who had broken into his locker and ripped up his Pokémon and Magic: The Gathering trading cards. Mr. Cottle said he was arrested, then spent two years at a children's mental-health treatment facility located on a farm near Blue Mountain, on a cocktail of medications. Uninterested in socializing with the other kids, whom he described as 'really troubled,' he passed most of his time camping on the property with the youth workers and learning skills such as woodworking. He was eventually transferred to a Toronto facility, he said. There, he met a fellow patient whose older brother belonged to a software-piracy group and taught him some basic hacking tricks. Mr. Cottle met Christopher Poole, who would go on to create 4chan and was known as 'moot,' on an internet forum called Something Awful. 'A lot of internet culture came from that community,' Mr. Cottle said. 'It was a lot of really, really edgy people – people being edgy, but funny. Internet humour came from Something Awful.' The moniker Anonymous came from the fact that users posting on 4chan were anonymous by default. That anonymity emboldened the site's users, and the platform was rife with controversial content, including pornography and gore. The collective undertook its first full-blown hacking and harassment campaign in 2007. The target was Hal Turner, a neo-Nazi radio host. In addition to taking down his website, the group clogged his phone lines with prank calls and ordered dozens of pizzas to his home. 'I was vicious to that man, absolutely and utterly vicious,' Mr. Cottle said. 'I basically treated him like a plaything for months.' According to Mr. Cottle, his campaign against Mr. Turner caught the attention of Canada's intelligence agency. An agent from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service paid Mr. Cottle a visit one day and tried to recruit him, he said. Mr. Cottle, who'd been playing video games with a friend and was decked out in neon-green raver pants and candy bracelets, ushered the suited visitor to his room, but never took him up on the offer. CSIS said in a statement that the agency 'does not confirm or deny such claims in order to protect the sensitive activities, techniques, methods, and sources of intelligence that we rely on to ensure the safety, security, and prosperity of Canada.' That year, Fox News aired a segment portraying Anonymous as a powerful cabal of domestic terrorists that had threatened to bomb sports stadiums. It included footage of an exploding van that, according to Mr. Cottle, had nothing to do with Anonymous. Still, 4chan's traffic spiked after the broadcast. The site's moderators were unable to keep up, and its culture of playful misanthropy began to erode. 'That's when 4chan started truly turning into a cesspool,' Mr. Cottle said. Years later, users on 4chan's far-right politics board started workshopping viral disinformation campaigns, according to Mr. Beran. One of the outcomes of that process was QAnon, a conspiracy theory put forward by someone known as 'Q' that falsely claimed that Mr. Trump was waging a secret battle against a clan of Satan-worshipping pedophiles. QAnon supporters were among the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. 'QAnon came off of 4chan, like Anonymous did,' said Mr. Beran, who described the movement as 'a reconfigured, Anonymous-style misinformation campaign … with some more right-wing derangement in it.' U.S. authorities allege that on Sept. 11, 2021, the 20th anniversary of the the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Anonymous hackers infiltrated Epik, a web-hosting company once known as a haven for deplatformed members of the far right. (The company has since changed ownership and announced early last year that it had cut ties with 'far-right bad actors.') Gaining access to Epik allowed the hackers to deface the Texas Republican Party's website, replacing its banner with pornography, cartoon characters and a music video. They also obtained personal information from the site and made it available for download, according to the U.S. criminal complaint. Authorities allege that Mr. Cottle bragged in Discord messages about being responsible for the attack, taunting law enforcement by directly addressing 'the fbi agents reading my discord logs.' The stolen Texas GOP data were later found on his computer, they allege. In recent years, Mr. Cottle has participated in a number of online activities with political overtones. In 2021, he and several friends created fake accounts for Mr. Trump and other political figures on a not-yet-released version of the then-former president's social-media site, Truth Social, he said. They used the fake accounts to post what Mr. Cottle described as 'absolute nonsense,' including an image of a defecating pig. Mr. Cottle has previously taken credit on TikTok for the 2022 hack targeting GiveSendGo, the crowdfunding platform that was used to finance the truck convoy protests that clogged Ottawa streets that winter. However, he declined to comment on that incident during this interview. Some time after the Epik intrusion, police raided Mr. Cottle's home and seized his computers. Deprived of his usual means of earning income, Mr. Cottle said he wound up living out of his car with his dog, Mabari. Eventually, someone lent him a Winnebago motorhome, which housed him for a year and a half, he said. It was poorly insulated, and during the colder months he could see his breath and feel his toes going numb. The computer he'd acquired sucked up all of the power from the single extension cord he had access to. But gradually, he began to rebuild his life, finding work in the cryptocurrency space. For years, nothing seemed to come from the police raid, according to Mr. Cottle's lawyers. By the time he was arrested, Mr. Cottle was living on the ground floor of a small house in Oshawa, outfitting it with colourful LED lights and a 100-inch television. Mr. Cottle's next court appearance is slated for July 31. He's been charged in both Canada and the United States, and it's unclear whether U.S. authorities will seek to extradite him. In the meantime, Mr. Cottle is watching what he characterizes as a full-fledged descent into fascism south of the border. 'I can't say that if my situation was not as it were right now, if I didn't currently have legal problems, that I would be able to just sit back right now and watch,' Mr. Cottle said. But, he added, 'I'm not going to be hacking anything any time soon.'
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
DOJ unseals charges against 'Anonymous' co-founder for 2021 Texas GOP data theft
The Department of Justice has unsealed charges against a man reported to be one of the co-founders of "hacktivist" collective Anonymous for allegedly hacking the Texas GOP website in 2021. Aubrey Cottle, 37, was arrested and charged in connection to the theft of data from the Texas Republican Party and the defacement of the party's official website on Sept. 11, 2021, according to federal court records unsealed last week. Cottle is a security researcher and co-founder of the worldwide hacking group Anonymous, according to records. The records alleged the hackers claimed to be with Anonymous and replaced the website's banner with cartoon characters, a music video and a pornographic image. The hackers also got unauthorized access to Texas GOP data, including personal identifying information that was distributed and made available online. Court records said Cottle claimed responsibility on social media and investigators found the stolen data in his possession. The FBI worked alongside the Ontario Provincial Police in Canada to execute a search warrant and gathered 20 terabytes worth of data from Cottle's home. Cottle was charged under Canadian law for "unlawfully transferring, possessing or using a means of identification with the intent to commit, or aid or abet, or in connection with, unlawful activity under state or federal law." He faces up to five years in prison This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: 'Anonymous' co-founder charged for 2021 Texas GOP data theft
Yahoo
30-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Alleged Canadian hacker behind 2021 theft of Texas GOP and GiveSendGo user data in custody: DOJ
An alleged co-founder of the online hacker movement Anonymous has been taken into custody after a 2021 data breach targeting the Texas Republican Party. Aubrey Cottle, a 37-year-old Canadian national, is known professionally as "Kirtaner." The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) charged Cottle with hacking into the Texas Republican Party's web server and stealing sensitive data in 2021. Cottle was arrested in Canada Wednesday, and authorities there are pursuing additional charges under Canadian law, the DOJ said. Canada Freedom Convoy: Givesendgo Demands Fbi Probe Hackers, Alleges 'Highly Coordinated' Political Doxing In Texas, Cottle faces charges of "unlawfully transferring, possessing or using a means of identification with the intent to commit, or aid or abet, or in connection with, unlawful activity under state or federal law," according to a press release. Read On The Fox News App Cottle uses his LinkedIn profile to describe himself as a "Filthy blackhat but good boi." The same page shows Cottle as one of the founders of Anonymous, a decentralized hacker group aiming to breach governmental institutions in protest. "Yes, that one," Cottle wrote. "Hal Turner, Scientology, Guy Fawkes masks, you got it. Really. Google it." According to a news release from acting U.S. Attorney Margaret Leachman for the Western District of Texas, Cottle gained unauthorized access to a third-party hosting company called "Epik" before defacing the Texas GOP's website. "Texas: Taking voices from women to promote theocratic erosion of church/state barriers," the Anonymous rewrite of the site's landing page said. The banner of the website was replaced with cartoon characters, a pornographic image and a music video. Hacker Group Anonymous Declares 'Total War' On Donald Trump The same release alleges Cottle stole a backup of the website's server containing personal identifying information. The stolen data was then posted online for public download. Prosecutors added Cottle even bragged about the breach on social media. Cottle's TikTok page's bio says "that Anonymous founder hacker guy you probably saw in the news or Vice or sumthn." According to the DOJ, data from the Texas Republican Party leak was discovered in a search on Cottle's personal electronic devices. The Anonymous group's breach of the website was allegedly pro-choice retaliation. In September 2021, the Lone Star State passed the Texas Heartbeat Act. Under the act, abortion is illegal past the point a fetal heartbeat can be detected, around five or six weeks of gestational age. Cottle has also been linked to a "political doxing" data breach of Christian crowdfunding site GiveSendGo in February 2022, after the platform hosted a fundraiser for the Canada Freedom Convoy. Names of donors, intended to remain private and secure on the platform, were publicized across the internet. GiveSendGo founder Jacob Wells spoke with Fox News Digital at the time of the breach. "This is illegal, and these people should be going to jail. The FBI — I mean, it's surprising that we haven't heard from any investigative services. We will be reaching out ourselves to just see that there's some investigation into this. This is completely unacceptable," Wells said. GiveSendGo has a crowdfunding campaign for Luigi Mangione, who is accused of killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024. The FBI Austin Cyber Task Force is investigating Cottle's case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney G. Karthik Srinivasan is prosecuting the case. If convicted, Cottle faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for article source: Alleged Canadian hacker behind 2021 theft of Texas GOP and GiveSendGo user data in custody: DOJ
Fox News
30-03-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Alleged Canadian hacker behind 2021 theft of Texas GOP and GiveSendGo user data in custody: DOJ
An alleged co-founder of the online hacker movement Anonymous has been taken into custody after a 2021 data breach targeting the Texas Republican Party. Aubrey Cottle, a 37-year-old Canadian national, is known professionally as "Kirtaner." The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) charged Cottle with hacking into the Texas Republican Party's web server and stealing sensitive data in 2021. Cottle was arrested in Canada Wednesday, and authorities there are pursuing additional charges under Canadian law, the DOJ said. In Texas, Cottle faces charges of "unlawfully transferring, possessing or using a means of identification with the intent to commit, or aid or abet, or in connection with, unlawful activity under state or federal law," according to a press release. Cottle uses his LinkedIn profile to describe himself as a "Filthy blackhat but good boi." The same page shows Cottle as one of the founders of Anonymous, a decentralized hacker group aiming to breach governmental institutions in protest. "Yes, that one," Cottle wrote. "Hal Turner, Scientology, Guy Fawkes masks, you got it. Really. Google it." According to a news release from acting U.S. Attorney Margaret Leachman for the Western District of Texas, Cottle gained unauthorized access to a third-party hosting company called "Epik" before defacing the Texas GOP's website. "Texas: Taking voices from women to promote theocratic erosion of church/state barriers," the Anonymous rewrite of the site's landing page said. The banner of the website was replaced with cartoon characters, a pornographic image and a music video. The same release alleges Cottle stole a backup of the website's server containing personal identifying information. The stolen data was then posted online for public download. Prosecutors added Cottle even bragged about the breach on social media. Cottle's TikTok page's bio says "that Anonymous founder hacker guy you probably saw in the news or Vice or sumthn." According to the DOJ, data from the Texas Republican Party leak was discovered in a search on Cottle's personal electronic devices. The Anonymous group's breach of the website was allegedly pro-choice retaliation. In September 2021, the Lone Star State passed the Texas Heartbeat Act. Under the act, abortion is illegal past the point a fetal heartbeat can be detected, around five or six weeks of gestational age. Cottle has also been linked to a "political doxing" data breach of Christian crowdfunding site GiveSendGo in February 2022, after the platform hosted a fundraiser for the Canada Freedom Convoy. Names of donors, intended to remain private and secure on the platform, were publicized across the internet. GiveSendGo founder Jacob Wells spoke with Fox News Digital at the time of the breach. "This is illegal, and these people should be going to jail. The FBI — I mean, it's surprising that we haven't heard from any investigative services. We will be reaching out ourselves to just see that there's some investigation into this. This is completely unacceptable," Wells said. GiveSendGo has a crowdfunding campaign for Luigi Mangione, who is accused of killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024. The FBI Austin Cyber Task Force is investigating Cottle's case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney G. Karthik Srinivasan is prosecuting the case. If convicted, Cottle faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
