Tuesday, March 03, 2026

I Verified My LinkedIn Identity. Here’s What I Actually Handed Over

Nonsense wakes up the brain cells. And it helps develop a sense of humor, which is awfully important in this day and age. Humor has a tremendous place in this sordid world. It's more than just a matter of laughing. If you can see things out of whack, then you can see how things can be in whack.
- Theodor Seuss Geisel aka Dr. Suess aka Theo LeSieg (1904~1991)



The Local Stack: “I wanted the blue checkmark on LinkedIn. The one that says “this person is real.” In a sea of fake recruiters, bot accounts, and AI-generated headshots, it seemed like a smart thing to do. So I tapped “verify.” I scanned my passport. I took a selfie. Three minutes later — done. Badge acquired. I felt a tiny dopamine hit of legitimacy. Then I did what apparently nobody does. I went and read the privacy policy and terms of service. Not LinkedIn’s. The other company’s.

Wait, What Other Company? When you click “verify” on LinkedIn, you’re not giving your passport to LinkedIn. You get redirected to a company called Persona.
Full name: Persona Identities, Inc. Based in San Francisco, California.

  • LinkedIn is their client. You are the face being scanned.
  • I had never heard of Persona before this. Most people haven’t. That’s kind of the point — they sit invisibly between you and the platforms you trust.
  • So I downloaded their privacy policy (18 pages) and their terms of service (16 pages). Here’s what I found.

Everything I Gave Them – For a three-minute identity check, this is what Persona collected:

  • My full name — first, middle, last
  • My passport photo — the full document, both sides, all data on the face of it
  • My selfie — a photo of my face taken in real-time
  • My facial geometry — biometric data extracted from both images, used to match the selfie to the passport
  • My NFC chip data — the digital info stored on the chip inside my passport
  • My national ID number
  • My nationality, sex, birthdate, age
  • My email, phone number, postal address
  • My IP address, device type, MAC address, browser, OS version, language
  • My geolocation — inferred from my IP

And then there’s the weird stuff:

  • Hesitation detection — they tracked whether I paused during the process
  • Copy and paste detection — they tracked whether I was pasting information instead of typing it

Behavioral biometrics. On top of the physical biometrics. For a LinkedIn badge.

They Also Called Their Friends – Persona didn’t just use what I gave them. They went and cross-referenced me against what they call their “global network of trusted third-party data sources”:

  • Government databases
  • National ID registries
  • Consumer credit agencies
  • Utility companies
  • Mobile network providers
  • Postal address databases

I scanned my passport for a checkmark. They ran a background check….”


Media Ratings Site NewsGuard Sues Trump FTC

Deadline: “Claims Unconstitutional Effort “To Censor Speech” – “NewsGuard, the news media rating service, filed suit against the Federal Trade Commission and its chairman Andrew Ferguson on Friday, alleging that the agency was using its regulatory authority to stifle its speech. 

The service, launched in 2018 by Steven Brill and Gordon Crovitz, employs a team of journalists to review the reliability of news sites and give them a score of 0-100, information that is used by consumers and clients including AI companies, search engines, news aggregators, brands and researchers. 

Ferguson has targeted NewsGuard, suggesting that it violated antitrust laws and that it was biased, as NewsGuard had given a low score to Newsmax, the conservative news site.

 In the lawsuit, NewsGuard claimed that Ferguson has engaged in a campaign extending almost a year “to impose their view of speech nirvana” on the service. The ratings service also claimed that, in the FTC approval of the merger of Omnicom and Interpublic Group, conditions were placed on the combined company that prohibits them from subscribing or relying on NewsGuard. 

The merger condition bars Omnicom from doing business with any entity that engages in the “veracity of news reporting or other politically or ideologically contested facts, such as their characterization as ‘misinformation,’ ‘disinformation, ‘bias’ or similar terms.” The provision was added after Newsmax urged a revision to a draft merger order, the lawsuit noted.

The FTC “is brazenly using its power not for any issue concerning trade or commerce, but rather to censor speech. And it has done so simply out of disagreement with NewsGuard’s First Amendment-protected journalistic judgments about the reliability of news sources,” NewsGuard’s attorneys, led by Robert Corn-Revere, chief counsel at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, wrote in the lawsuit…”

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How should Australia handle ‘sovereign citizens’ clogging the courts? A former magistrate explains

How should Australia handle ‘sovereign citizens’ clogging the courts? A former magistrate explains


Westpac and ANZ have reported suspected illegitimate borrowing, joining NAB and Commonwealth Bank on concerns the washing of illicit funds is systemic.

Big four banks find themselves embroiled in loan fraud probe


What actually stops a would-be dictator? Political science research points to a single factor above all others: whether enough people can see the threat for what it is.


€5 billion defrauded from EU pandemic recovery fund, prosecutors suspect


Ticks as biological weapons Multipolar via machine translation 


New Playbook Provides Solutions to Stop Private Equity Takeover of the Child Care Industry Open Markets Institute


Iran War Watch: Trump Dithers

Trump looks even more caught than ever on the horns of his Iran war dilemma


Japan Seeks to Counter China’s Expanding Influence in Pacific by Strengthening Ties with Island Nations Yomiuri Shimbun


Ukraine loan will happen ‘one way or the other’, von der Leyen says amid Orbán veto Euronews


Polish presidential adviser claims halting Russian oil transit to Hungary is due to Brussels-Kyiv pactDaily News Hungary


US ambassador to France defuses diplomatic squabble with Paris over killing of student AP


Hospital Ship USNS Mercy Departs Alabama as Greenland Mission Remains Unclear gCaptain


How Jeffrey Epstein Beat the Justice System

A New Miami Herald Investigation, Julie K. Brown. “Jeffrey Epstein tried, and often succeeded, in manipulating almost every level of the criminal justice system. For this story,we looked at emails that Epstein shared with people who were involved in his criminal case — and those in the justice system who were mentioned in documents and emails. The Epstein Files by Julie K. Brown is a reader-supported publication. 

To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. What we found: Some of their names are mentioned a lot. Epstein didn’t just stop at getting his sweetheart deal. In the year when he was supposed to be behind bars, he continued to cultivate people in the system to help him get work release, ease his sex offender requirements and to even get a pardon.

 Even when he was unsuccessful, the emails show how Epstein’s ability to get that 2008 sweetheart deal only emboldened him to continue his quest to conquer the very people in the criminal justice system who were supposed to hold him accountable. This is the reason I began this project eight years ago. I felt not enough light was shown on how the criminal justice system failed Epstein’s victims.

 It’s always been a mystery how and why Epstein was able to get federal immunity even though they had 40 victims. In case someone tries to tell you otherwise — they had supporting evidence like phone logs, message pads — even a report card from one of Epstein’s victims that was found in his Palm Beach home….”

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Monday, March 02, 2026

Born To Run

 50 years ago, Bruce Springsteen was terrified Columbia Records were going to drop him.  He spent six months writing one of the best rock ‘n’ roll albums of all time.

Born To Run


Legendary editor Ann Godoff, an editor and publisher for Penguin Press, has died from complications of bone cancer. She was 76. Variety’s Arushi Jacob wrote, “Godoff spent more than three decades as the head of Random House, nurturing the careers of numerous novelists and nonfiction writers. Her more celebrated authors include Salman Rushdie, Zadie Smith, Ron Chernow, E.L. Doctorow, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Thomas Pynchon, Tom Brokaw, William Styron and Alice Waters.” Be sure to check out Sam Roberts’ excellent remembrance of Godoff in The New York Times


Physics Is a Conversation


Physicist Sean Carroll leads off this video with this line:

I like to say that Einstein is, if anything, underrated as a  physicist, which is hard to imagine given how highly he is rated.

And then leads us through a history of modern physics and quantum mechanics that, Einstein and Newton aside, is much more collaborative than you often hear about.

This idea that there are many people contributing and many different parts of the pieces need to put together is actually much more characteristic of how physics is usually done than the single person inventing everything all by themselves.


“I remember walking by a former drug dealer, a former Drug Enforcement Administration agent, a former mobster and a former preacher all sitting around a table together in the prison yard. Surely this was not happening anywhere else in America.”


Token Anxiety. “This voice in my head that says ‘something could be running right now’ just doesn’t shut off. I’m not even building a company. I’m just addicted to building my random ideas.”


Ministry of Justice orders deletion of UK’s largest court reporting archive

The Times: “The Ministry of Justice (UK) is ordering the deletion of a large archive of court records, raising open justice concerns. Courtsdesk, a data analysis company that supports media and campaigners in monitoring court records, has been ordered by the government to delete its archive, which provides a crucial tool for journalists covering the justice system. The project was approved by the lord chancellor in 2021 to explore how a “national digital news feed of listings and registers can improve coverage of the courts by the news media” by opening up magistrate court records. 

According to Courtsdesk, the platform has since been used by more than 1,500 journalists from 39 media organisations and the data provided has highlighted serious failures in the courts system. It said journalists were given no advance notice of 1.6 million criminal hearings, the number of court cases listed was accurate on just 4.2 per cent of sitting days and half a million weekend cases were heard with no notification to the press…”


Image Whisperer AI Image Detector

New Report Helps Journalists Dig Deeper Into Police Surveillance Technology

EFF – “A new report released today offers journalists tips on cutting through the sales hype about police surveillance technology and report accurately on costs, benefits, privacy, and accountability as these invasive and often ineffective tools come to communities across the nation. 

 The “Selling Safety” report is a joint project of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the Center for Just Journalism (CJJ), and IPVM.  

Police technology is often sold as a silver bullet: a way to modernize departments, make communities safer, and eliminate human bias from policing with algorithmic objectivity. Behind the slick marketing is a sprawling, under-scrutinized industry that relies on manufacturing the appearance of effectiveness, not measuring it. 

The cost of blindly deferring to advertising can be high in tax dollars, privacy, and civil liberties.  “Selling Safety” helps journalists see through the spin. It breaks down how policing technology companies market their tools, and how those sales claims — which are often misleading — get recycled into media coverage. It offers tools for asking better questions, understanding incentives, and finding local accountability stories..”

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ATO tax return data could help to alleviate mortgage fraud risk

 

ATO tax return data could help to alleviate mortgage fraud risk

As the country’s big four banks scramble to get ahead of the problem, there are solutions that can be implemented to greatly lower the risk of home loan fraud

Associate editor

Mar 1, 2026 

The financial services sector, police and policymakers should come together as soon as practicable to address the heightened threat of mortgage fraud in the nation’s $2.4 trillion home loan market.
The threat has certainly never been more real. And although the problem might at first seem difficult to combat, there are solutions that can be implemented to drastically reduce the risk of home loan fraud.
The big four banks are on the hook for more than $300 million at the latest count, as the home loan fraud unravels. David Rowe
Commonwealth Bank is grappling with potential fraud of $1 billion within its home lending portfolio, and that figure is unlikely to include an exposure to a criminal group dubbed The Penthouse Syndicate. (The $1 billion in loans are secured by property, so the bank is not facing losses of that magnitude, but its systems and processes have been found wanting).
The Penthouse Syndicate has entangled all the big banks in fraud, after the group circumvented their credit policies to acquire home and business loans, including for luxury property. ANZ, CBA, Westpac and National Australia Bank are on the hook for more than $300 million at the latest count.
The loan fraud issue is exacerbated by the use of artificial intelligence to create fake documents, and the other concerns include the use of shell companies, draft or false tax returns and large deposits from offshore jurisdictions.
FinTech Australia’s chief executive, Rehan D’Almeida, believes that if tax returns can be accessed directly by lenders and mortgage brokers through the Australian Taxation Office, it would stamp out some of the home loan fraud being perpetrated.
“The current situation … is where you download the statements and particular documents and upload it. That leads to so many opportunities for fraud, and with AI coming into the conversion as well, it just becomes easier to create inaccurate, fake documents,” he says.

Underwhelming take-up of the data right

If his suggestion is introduced, it would require the individual to give the ATO consent to make the source information available, as part of the Consumer Data Right. This right allows consumers to safely share the data that banks, other lenders and energy companies hold about them.
It has not extended to ATO data so far, and overall take-up of the data right, as it stands, has been underwhelming. A banker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the inability to verify an individual’s notice of assessment with the ATO was an issue for the industry. It used to be allowed, but was stopped as concerns, including around privacy, came into play.
Several banks want the data right to include information from government agencies. In a submission to the Productivity Commission last year, CBA advocated for change, including expanding the data right to government datasets. In Westpac’s submission, it said that including ATO data made sense, but it focused on the inclusion of the data, making the lending process more efficient and increasing the take-up of the Consumer Data Right.
Either way, the $1 billion in potential mortgage fraud at CBA raises serious questions about the bank’s home loan systems and processes, and its ability to verify documents and information provided by applicants or brokers.
And every bank in Australia is now on notice to ensure that staff, and credit and compliance teams, are aware of risks and the potential for fraudulent and AI-generated documents to be submitted.
“We have unfortunately seen examples of phoenix-ing, lazy compliance practices and brokers cutting corners.”
— Finsure chief executive Simon Bednar
For CBA, the vulnerabilities of those systems and processes will be the subject of close attention from the NSW Police, financial crimes regulator AUSTRAC and the prudential and corporate regulators.
Remember, it wasn’t that long ago that deficiencies across CBA’s intelligent deposit machines led to them being exploited by criminals and terrorists, who were stuffing large sums of money through them.
At one stage, deposits going through those so-called intelligent ATMs amounted to $1.7 billion a month. And in 2015, a customer entangled in the scandal deposited $670,420 in just one day.
CBA chief executive Matt Comyn was head of the retail bank during that tumultuous era, making him acutely aware that criminals seek to exploit any vulnerability within banks’ systems and processes.
CBA’s issues with that channel and other failures around its transaction reporting led to it paying a $700 million penalty in 2018.
The bank is reviewing loans across its own lending channels, including bankers and branches, but also focusing on mortgage brokers and loan referral partners such as real estate agents and accountants.
Interestingly, before the CBA revelations, mortgage broking group Finsure had already moved to raise entry standards for brokers joining its network.
Trade publication The Adviser covered the change last week, and Finsure chief executive Simon Bednar warned of increased levels of misconduct within the industry.
“We have unfortunately seen examples of phoenix-ing, lazy compliance practices and brokers cutting corners. It is a minority, but it is a pattern we cannot ignore,” he said at the time.
Kudos to Finsure for seeking to raise standards within the mortgage broking industry. Protections were put in place following the Hayne royal commission, when regulators introduced new rules for mortgage brokers, including a duty to act in the best interests of customers. As the industry works through its issues, lenders and policymakers should urgently act to close any gaps that allow criminals to fraudulently obtain home loans.

Make AFR.com your preferred news source on Google

 is an associate editor writing across company news, policy issues, investment banking, private equity and financial services. Connect with Joyce on Twitter. Email Joyce at joyce.moullakis@nine.com.au
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How to Stop a Dictator

 What actually stops a would-be dictator? Political science research points to a single factor above all others: whether enough people can see the threat for what it is.


How to Stop a Dictator. “Democracy is in fact a powerful motivating factor: When people are convinced that there’s a threat to their political freedoms, they can be motivated to go to extraordinary lengths to defend them.”


A visual archive of Jan. 6, 2021 through the lenses of those who were there

“In the immediate aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, American political leaders almost universally condemned the riot as an act of domestic terrorism that threatened democracy. Now, President Trump calls Jan. 6 a “day of love” and the rioters “great patriots.” And since he issued mass pardons to the rioters, his administration has been trying to rewrite history. NPR has tracked every Jan. 6prosecution in a public database, and, drawing on thousands of hours of footage and years of reporting, created a front-line account of the riot. 

The evidence vividly shows the planning for “revolution” and the brutality of violence on a day that continues to shape American politics.

  • Explore the database and coverage, or scroll to read the full narrative.
  • This material includes profanity, violence and references to suicide.


Judge: IRS broke law ‘approximately 42,695 times’ in giving DHS data

Washington Post: “A federal judge has found that the Internal Revenue Service violated federal law “approximately 42,695 times” when it shared confidential taxpayer addresses. The judge wrote that the vast majority of the nearly 47,300 taxpayer addresses the IRS shared with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in August were disclosed without the IRS confirming that ICE provided a valid address for the person whose records it was seeking…”



Trump’s properties remain an epicenter of his conflicts and corruption in second term

CREW: “In the year since Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office, he has already racked up an astonishing number of conflicts of interest from the businesses that he owns and profits from as president. 

While everyday Americans continue to struggle to cover the rising costs of housing, groceries, utilities and other regular expenses, Trump’s profiteering has led to what Forbes magazine described as “the most lucrative year of [Donald Trump’s] life.” In his first 365 days back in office, Trump visited his properties 198 times, and visited his golf courses 116 times, sending a message to those looking to influence his administration that his properties are open for business. 

Foreign government officials visited his properties 55 times, pouring money into Trump’s pockets, and special interest groups held 57 events at them. Trump and his family profit financially. Special interests benefit. Foreign governments benefit. And everyday Americans come last. This corruption is not new. Trump’s first term in office was marred by egregious conflicts of interest arising from his decision not to divest from his real estate empire. 

CREW spent those four years meticulously tracking interactions between the Trump Organization and the presidency, totaling more than 3,700 conflicts of interest. CREW has continued tracking Trump’s conflicts in his second term, and the level of corruption and profiteering have already far surpassed the already ignominious standard he set in his first term…”

FBI raids of LAUSD Supt. Alberto Carvalho’s home and office appear tied to AI chatbot probe Los Angeles Times. AI fraud and corruption at nation’s second-largest school system.



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