[liberationtech] Twitter Underground Market Research - pdf

[Andrea St]

Dear friends,

About Bernard: Yes i think there are connections between these merchants
and botnets. And yes, if you follow a fake account (you know this is fake)
probably if you see his followers you can find the "botnet" but is not easy
;-)


About Mark: There are many tools but they don't work ( 90% of journalists
think yes, we demostrate not). We find a good way how to find fake
followers but there is a cost and we have no funds.


Sorry for my english! :(


2013/6/4 Mark Nelson <markmnelson at gmail.com>

> Thank you for this, Andrea.
>
> I have rather the opposite question. Is there any way for an account
> holder to verify that their followers are real humans, who are following
> them with intent rather than because they own a bot-net compromised
> computer?
>
> I smell the opportunity for a follower auditing business.
>
> Best,
>
> Mark
>
>
> On Tuesday, June 4, 2013, Bernard Tyers - ei8fdb wrote:
>
>> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>> Hash: SHA1
>>
>> Thanks Andrea for answering my questions.
>>
>> So regarding the cost its due to the extra PVA bypass, which the
>> "follower merchants" charge for..I wonder if there is any connection
>> between these  merchants and botnets? Botnet owners or spammers would seem
>> like a great source of "valid" IDs.
>>
>> I wonder if "limit" in tracing fake followers is useful for something
>> else other than zombie accounts...
>>
>> thanks again.
>>
>>
>> On 3 Jun 2013, at 21:11, Andrea St wrote:
>>
>> > Hi all,
>> > and thank for the questions.
>> >
>> > On twitter you need to bypass captcha, buy a "black software"
>> > (botnets), buy premium proxy address.
>> >
>> > On facebook you need to bypass captcha, buy a "black software", buy
>> > premium proxy address , pva bypasser (phone verification code) and
>> > verified email.
>> >
>> > --
>> >
>> > About Mercedes Benz and others brand i don't know what people think
>> > about but this is a good question and if there are any sociologists
>> > here, please ping us!
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> >
>> > Impossible to prove if X bought fake followers and this is the main
>> > reason because people do it.
>> >
>> > 2013/6/3 Bernard Tyers <ei8fdb at ei8fdb.org>:
>> >> Hello Andrea,
>> >>
>> >> Thanks for sending the presentation. Very interesting.
>> >>
>> >> I have a few questions:
>> >>
>> >> - how did you calculate the "variable cost" for creating a Twitter
>> account
>> >> and a Facebook account?
>> >> - why the difference in cost of creation of each? (Maybe I am missing
>> >> something obvious...)
>> >> - is it possible to quantify the negative effect of a popular twitter
>> >> account (ending Mercedes Benz, or some celebrity) being exposed as
>> buying
>> >> followers? (i.e.: does anyone care?)
>> >> - what do you think it the affect is on the reputation of the account
>> owner?
>> >> Is it possible to prove a user did not buy followers? As in, is it
>> possible
>> >> to prove someone else bought the followers for another account?
>> >>
>> >> Thanks very much!
>> >>
>> >> Bernard
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Andrea St <andst7 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>> Dear friends,
>> >>>
>> >>> Two weeks ago we presented at Nexa For Internet & Society our Research
>> >>> about Twitter and underground market.
>> >>> Now you can download here:
>> >>> http://nexa.polito.it/nexacenterfiles/lunch-11-de_micheli-stroppa.pdf
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> Our research on Nyt part1:
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/05/fake-twitter-followers-becomes-multimillion-dollar-business/
>> >>> Our research on Nyt part2 :
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/25/researchers-call-out-twitter-celebrities-with-suspicious-followings/
>> >>>
>> >>> Now we're working on Facebook. If you have any idea or you would like
>> >>> to get in touch my
>> >>> email is: andst7 at gmail.com
>> >>>
>> >>> Best,
>> >>> A
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Sent from my tiny electronic gadget. Please excuse my brevity and
>> (probable)
>> >> spelling mistakes.
>> >>
>> >> --
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>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > Andrea Stroppa
>> > http://huffingtonpost.com/andrea-stroppa
>> > @andst7
>> > --
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>>
>> - --------------------------------------
>> Bernard / bluboxthief / ei8fdb
>>
>> IO91XM / www.ei8fdb.org
>>
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-- 
Andrea Stroppa
http://huffingtonpost.com/andrea-stroppa
@andst7
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