Goldkin @Goldkin@awoo.space

Update: I am a terse skim and 100 pages in, and my brain has turned to powdered mush from so much dry reading.

But this is very, very thorough, and surprising in how well media reporting stood up in the fact pattern laid out by this document.

@Taylor So this is mostly me evaluating how safe it is to mingle the data, knowing that the industry I work in might still not be safe. I want to switch industries when I finally make the jump, but I’m not sure if that’ll be viable in the US for some time. So, decisions.

@Taylor B isn’t an issue at my current employer. The industry and area at large still have a long way to go in terms of inclusiveness, so it affects mobility.

C is covered by nondisparagement clauses, including one I signed (note how I never talk about my employer directly?). Other orgs have invasive data monitoring practices that they run to check for legal and flight risks from the company, but thankfully my current org does not.

Well, I guess I’m reading this thing tonight. Wish me luck?

@Lingondraken PS: I’m aware of how Telegram normally connects contacts to each other (ie, by phone number in your contacts or theirs). That interaction shouldn’t be happening here, unless they’re pulling data from a different source than phone contacts for the primary account number. Or I missed something in how they handle this integration.

@Lingondraken I went back to confirm their identity later, since I had added them to my block list immediately, and I found the names were no longer ones I recognized.

Which leads me to hypothesize either this is some data integration by Telegram gone awry, or some folks spoofing the contacts interface in some way? Not sure. (2/2)

@Lingondraken I didn’t save the exact text, but I roughly asked the following:

Over the past two weeks, I’ve had two “X has just joined Telegram” messages seemingly from folks that would have my main phone number, but not my Telegram number or contact. I’ve denied the app contacts access on my end since it was first installed and never shared my Telegram number with anyone, which makes this interaction weird — it shouldn’t be in their contacts either. (1/2)

Also relevant: https://zenpencils.com/comic/king/

On principal, this should not be a decision I need to make because a popular mobile messaging app is becoming more grabby with data. But that being the reality of it, and with the reality being that many friends use it, I might be able to tolerate this.

I’ll have to think about this more, though.

I am not out to family or out at work. My leading presumption is that (a) the Mormon branch of my family will become extremely aggressive, (b) it’s career-limiting to have a furry identity known by coworkers in my field, and (c) it makes it very difficult for me to share personal thoughts not endorsed by my employer.

Re-evaluating these, I think I might... finally be in a position in which I can weather them okay, when and if they happen?

No response from Telegram support to my question about contact permissions. Hm.

I guess I now get to decide whether I want to let it back on my phone, when I’m reasonably certain it’s scraping new data or someone is actively misusing the contact identification features of the app. I guess I need to assess whether I’m prepared for it to out my private profile to more family and coworkers before proceeding.

Not an easy decision to make, but I might just say fuck it.

@Grisser Of the set, Satisfactory might come closest, since its primary motivator is crafting sim, but it has a huge world to explore with limited numbers of baddies to zap or avoid.

@Grisser Some pretty good ones I’ve worked through (other than Stardew Valley, which is a really common recommend):

* Rune Factory Series (farming sim, cooking elements in later titles)
* My Time at Portia (deep crafting sim/time management game hybrid)
* Satisfactory (early access, exceedingly deep automation crafting sim)

If you like crafting sims with puzzle elements, pretty much everything by Zachtronics is a recommend.

I have a new 3D pen, so I made a friend today.

And support request sent.

I wonder if this is something Telegram itself was running or if someone has been using scraped data and fake contact list additions at Telegram's API. Guess I'll see what they reply back with.

So this is weird. Triaging the accounts I blocked yesterday after "X has just joined Telegram", the block rules show completely different users than the ones I added.

Telegram was definitely calling these contacts I recognized yesterday, and now they are... other people? Hmm.

I wonder if this is some kind of phishing thing being run on their platform. Dropping Telegram support a line.

@Xarph Great explanation. Thanks!

@Xarph Dumb question from a frotz and Inform 7 user, possibly to other folks reading here: how much would this differ from what exists in FOSS ZIL compilers (for community games, as opposed to Infocom games)?