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tired-college-student-writing · 5 years ago

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Tim’s Secret Weapon Pt.6

I’ve been slightly obsessed with @ozmav ‘s Damian Wayne/Marinette Dupain-Cheng pairing as of late, and just saw a post that has inspired me more than anything else has in months, so I felt the need to write it

Summary- Tim has always seen the numbers floating above people’s heads, been able to perceive their threat levels with a single glance. After being a hero for so long he thought he was desensitized to seeing high numbers above people’s heads until Damian brings a new friend home.

Part 1 Part 5 Part 6 (HERE) Part 7 ____________________________________________

“I’ll go find her,” Tim offered, rubbing a hand over his eyes.

“I should go,” Damian argued, only for Timto waved him off as he grabbed his costume from the wardrobe.

“You look like you just faced Sweet tooth,” He shot back as he pulled off his top. They were used to changing in front of each other by now and he was already wearing his bike shorts under his outfit, “I’m going because I can explain how better then all of you even if I can’t track her number like I would normally.”

“He’s got you there brat,” Jason huffed, “Though taking backup isn’t exactly the worst idea, replacement.”

“I can go,” Dick yawned, rolling to his feet as Tim finished pulling on his costume, “Better me then letting Jay get arrested for his guns.”

“I didn’t even bring them!”

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Red Robin was trying desperately to not to laugh as he jumped onto the rooftop.

He and Dick had split up soon after leaving the hotel, remaining in contact with the others through comms. Only after a few short minutes, Tim flew back towards the direction Dick had gone after hearing his eldest brother let out a startled yelp before the unmistakable sound of the comm flying out of his ear.

The girl with a foot on top of Dick’s back was in a black suit, dark yellow boots and gloves cutting off in sharp points at her knees and elbows, yellow strips cutting around her legs and waist, a top hanging off of a rope she had wrapped around Nightwing’s arms and torso, while translucent wings fluttered on her back. Her yellow and black hair was french braid over her right shoulder, the sharp black tip curved forward with a bee comb placed firmly at her scalp. Her eyes covered by a dark visor that reflected the light to show the compound eye design.

Even with her number gone with the magical transformation, Tim couldn’t help but feel like she looked familiar.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” She questioned, voice slow and regal.

“Well, I’m Red Robin,” Tim greeted, trying to ignore the laughter from Jason and Damian in his ear, “And under your foot is Nightwing who is never going to live this down.”

“Gotham’s heroes?” She questioned, unwrapping Nightwing with a snap of her wrist allowing him to rise, “What on earth did you get all the way to Paris?”

Tim shrugged, “We’re trying to speak to Ladybug, the League had been ignorant of the situation here until recently and we came to offer our help, miss...”

“Abeille,” She offered before scoffing, “The league was unaware about we were dealing with, really?”

Nightwing gave a sheepish smile, “Well the lack of international coverage and lasting damage, anything we found online seemed faked. As soon as we Red realized that it wasn’t we set out for France.”

Abeille gave them a considering look, “Well… while I’m not happy it took you so long to come help, better late than never I guess. I saw Ladybug out and about earlier so let me give her a call.”

She picked up her top and it split it in half, showing off a screen and keyboard.

“How the he-”

She cut Tim off, “Don’t question the magic, it will just give you a migraine if you think about it too long.”

“Abeille? I didn’t know you’d be on patrol already, usually, you don’t head out until 6,” The distinct voice of Marinette sounded through the speaker.

“Well I saw two masked weirdos that I didn’t know hopping around the rooftops, so I checked it out,” She answered dryly, “Lo and behold that is wasn’t an Akuma or Sentimonster,”

“What? Who are they then? Please tell me this isn’t an Owl situation again,” Marinette asked hastily.

Abeille smirked, “well no wannabe heroes being stupid,” She told the other hero as she turned the device around to point at the two Gothamites, “But we have two real heroes that would like to meet you,”

“Hello!” Dick greeted with a cheerful wave as Marinette’s mouth fell open.

“Nightwing and Red Robin?” She questioned, “What are you doing here?”

“They said the League finally got a clue,” Abeille relays, “Should I send them over to the normal meeting spot?”

“Well, yeah but we should probably-”

Tim listened to his comm before cutting her off, “Would it be alright if the other Bats with us too? Bats, Red Hood and Robin feel like we should talk as a group?”

Dick snickered, “Yeah Rob wanted to come originally, but he met with his girlfriend in civvies and she pumped an entire tray of eclair on him so he had to clean up.”

Ladybug visibly paled in the screen as the pieces slide into place, “Yeah, you can all come. I’ll meet them alone in 30 minutes, Abeille. You can keep patrolling. Bug Out!”

The screen cut off as Abeille hummed, “I can give you guys the coordinates if you give me the signal you’re working on.”

Tim raised an eyebrow, “It’s a secure channel, you-“

“Oh I know I shouldn’t be able to link up to it,” She cut him off with a wave of her hand, “But again magic, it can link up to anything as long as I have the necessary info and a miraculous communicator can’t be hacked, so no worries about your secrets being leaked. It’ll even wipe the memory of your signal from itself as soon as I detransform.”

“Geez,” Dick whistled as Tim related the message to her, “Are there any drawbacks to having one of these?”

She snorted as their comma both dinged with the coordinates, “Yeah, two big one, they send out butterflies and feathers on a semi-regular basis to turn our family and friends against us,”

“Mood,” Tim hummed thinking back to when he had to fight other heroes due to the villain of the week’s mind control.

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The location they were given was for an office building across from the Louvre, no windows higher than it, and a rusted shut access door. Overall not a bad meeting spot, seeing as it would be very hard to spot them up there unless they were sitting on the edge of the building.

The Bats were only partially hidden from view as they waited for Marinette to arrive, Damian pacing slightly.

There was a near-silent ‘twip’ before they saw a polka-dotted yoyo wrap around one of the many antennas next to them and a frazzled looking Ladybug appeared in front of them.

“Are you guys really…” She trailed off with a slightly panicked look on her face.

“Yes, Habibti,” Damian confirmed lightly, “I am sorry for startling you earlier, but we thought it best to inform you that we knew now and offer our support.”

“But how?” She questioned, seeming not at all concerned that her boyfriend was in fact a superhero from a superhero family as she buried her hands in her hair, “I mean I’ve always been careful around you to not let my powers slip, I used the horse miraculous to travel back to Paris is an Akuma came while I was in Gotham so I had an alibi if you ever questioned me, but that didn’t seem to matter since No one outside of Paris seemed to believe that there was anything happening anyways, heck even the tourists seemed to publicity stunt the mayor is running since there’s never any lasting damage-”

Damian stepped forward and wrapped her into a firm embrace, allowing her frantic breathing to slow as they all waited silently.

“I’m Meta,” Tim spoke after she seemed mostly calm, voice a little weak as Dick places a reassuring hand on his shoulder, “We know because I’m meta and as it turns out Miraculous users screw up my skills enough for me to take notice, I just recently put it together, Demon Spawn’s girlfriend and the hero of Paris.”

Her eyes widen over Damian’s shoulder, “Is that why you avoided me when I first came over?”

The group chuckled as he blushed slightly, but he opened his mouth to start explaining what he could do and how they could offer help before a cry sounded to their right.

Instinct pushing all of them towards the edge they rushed to see a ten-foot tall woman in a huge red ball gown, blood dripping from her hands as she screeched. Guards dressed in bright red squire outfits lined the Louvre’s courtyard.

“Great,” Ladybug mumbled as she watched Chat taunt the being, Viperion and Abeille arriving as well, “I hate Valentine season, so many love based akumas.”

“We should-”

“You should go back to your hotel,” Marinette cut off Bruce, causing all eyes to fly to her, “I have a team already who are starting to show up and introducing all five of you at once mid-battle will only serve as a distraction. I’ll come over after and we’ll talk, then we’ll discuss the next including a plan to introduce the permanent team, but for now, you need to stay out of the way until we figure out what to do.”

Damian looks like he wants to protest, but Bruce simply nods.

“It’s your city,” The patriarch, “We will defer to you, but could we stay within viewing distance of the battle? It would allow us to observe how you usually operate.”

She bit her lip but nodded, “Stay hidden please, I really mean it when I say I don’t want any distractions, Kwami knows that they get mind-controlled enough without it.”

She swan dived off the ledge with that, yoyo snapping out to catch her and launch her towards her teammates, Ryuko who had just arrived easily sidestepping to allow their leader to take point next to Chat Noir.

The Gotham Heros settled onto the rooftop to watch as Tim's eyes scanned the heroes below and mentally added them into his system.

Viperion was a mystery still, but even with the numbers he was so used to seeing missing he didn’t have a problem placing the others with what he observed earlier.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng- Cursive Soft Pink 15, Codenamed Ladybug

Chloe Bourgeois- Delicate Canary Yellow 14, Codenamed Abeille

???- Calligraphed Burgundy 13, Codenamed- Ryuko

Adrian Agreste- Bubble lettered Neon Green 15, Codenamed Chat Noir.

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Taglist: @vixen-uchiha @iggy-of-fans @mewwitch @roseinbloom02 @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @mochinek0 @royalchaoticfangirl @09shell-sea09 @mystery-5-5 @derpingrainbow @aloha-posts-stuff @hauntedfreakdeputyhero @maribat-archive @blue-peach14 @kae690 @zazzlejazzle @vincentvangoose @be-happy-every-day-please @xxmadamjinxx @celestiacq @peculiarlylostdreamer @dani-ari @melicmusicmagic @themcclan @nyctamaximoff @nataladriana9 @drama-queen-supreme @miraculousbelladonna @urbanpineapplefarmer @graduatedmelon @lexysama @hecate-hallow @ki117h3dr4g0n @vinerlover @interobanginyourmom @bluefiredemon @imanerddealwith @tinybrie @clumsy-owl-4178 @shizukiryuu @whogavemeaninternet @schrodingers25 @lunar-wolf-warrior @urbanpineapplefarmer @xxmadamjinxx @crazylittlemunchkin @littleredrobinhoodlum @rougemme @dur55 @phantommeow12 @kand-roo @silvergold-swirl @officiallyathiana @completelypeccable @redhoodsdoll @nataladriana9 @mariae2900 @northernbluetongue @sturchling @thesunanditsangel @reyna-avila-ramirez-alreanaldo @bobothyross @taoiichii @magnitude101999 @magicalfirebird @nataladriana9 @panda3506 @aquariusrunes @woodland-queer @sayarock121 @mindfulmagics @magic-miraculous @my-name-is-michell

#miraculous ladybug #batman #maribat #marinette dupain cheng #tim drake #meta!tim #Damian Wayne #dick grayson #Jason Todd #bruce wayne #numbers AU #chloe bourgeois

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hallowedmuses · 5 years ago

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Discord Chat: Hydra Hunt

SUMMARY: Clint brings Scarlet’s doings as a Hydra mole to the attention of Natasha, Bucky, Steve, and Daisy who agree that the only solution is to bring Scarlet in and interrogate her to see how far the leak has gone. TRIGGERS: Hydra mentions, Assassination mentions, Angry Dads WRITTEN WITH: @ofbartons, @captsteve, @sovieticweapcn, @daisyljohnson MENTIONS OF: @littleredscarlethood

Clint walked into the safe house address that Nat had sent to him, fury still flowing through him. How could Red be HYDRA? She didn't really seem like the spy type, but then again neither did Clint or Hayden. He let out a sigh before walking up to Nat and Bucky, trying his best not to take his anger out on them "So, I don't know how to ease you into this so I'm just gonna spit it out." he pulled the tablet out of his bag and set it on the table, Red's file on display "Daisy's kid is a mole."

NATASHA: Nat had been trying, and failing, to break the news to Bucky regarding Clint's latest antics as Ronin when she'd gotten a text from the man himself. She was already annoyed but a cursory glance at the message had told her it was important. He wanted to meet with them immediately. She'd sent him the address to a safehouse she was using and less than a half hour later he was storming in, madder than hell. She'd never seen him this pissed. "Clint, breathe," she instructed as she went over to calm him. "You're gonna pop a sti--" she glanced at the tablet as he thrust it into her hands. "Holy shit." She quickly began scrolling through the information. She'd met Red a couple weeks back completely on accident. The kid was being tailed by some fishy types and Natasha had stepped in to get her out of the situation. The entire time something about the girl felt off. Natasha now realized those men following the girl were likely a Hydra ordered hit squad. "You've got to be kidding me..." she held out the tablet to James. "She was being tailed not to long ago by three thugs. She insisted we not start a fight so I helped her dodge them."

BUCKY knew Natasha had something important to say, but for some unknown reason for him, she was taking longer than usual. It was about Clint or Steve, he was sure, but what could get her that upset? He was about to ask what was the problem, when a pissed off Clint entered the room. His veins could be almost seen and his tension be sensed. “Who is Daisy’s kid?” Buck reaches for the tablet and tried to read first, but the eyes of the displayed picture got his full attention. He had seen this girl before. “I remember her.” Maybe many of his memories were still a bit blurry, but he was sure of this. This kid was part of Hydra, the base that - RJ. “How long has she been around?” Asked, his voice changing from a neutral tone to something more winter soldier-like. Something that hadn’t happened in years. Did RJ meet with her, here in New York? “She knows RJ. Think about a rational way to say this to Daisy or I’m doing this the old way.”

Clint bit back a groan, having overdone it in his anger and his side was screaming at him again. "I swear to you, I wish I was but all other info I got through the same channel has been good." He leaned over, his hands resting on his knees as he caught his breath "Well, this explains the thugs. They put a hit out on her, if it wasn't a kid and you wouldn't kill me I was gonna take them out." his eyes moved from Nat to Bucky "Fucking hell. If you know her than it's not bad intel. Shit. I let her in my house! She slept on my couch feet away from Hayden!" The blonde straightened, clenching his fists "I'm with him on this, slap some duct tape over my stitches and I'm good to go."

NATASHA: Concern flushed over her face as James mentioned he remembered the kid. Clint was right. If Buck remembered her from his Hydra days there was no denying who she was. Natasha sighed and went over to Clint, gently but firmly directing him to sit on the couch. "We are doing no such thing," she replied, giving both of them a pointed look. She could see how worked up it made Clint and she couldn't blame him. She knew how much he feared losing Hayden. Who knows what kind of info this mole might've given Hydra on his kid...on all of them. "We need to know how much she told them," she replied as she retrieved the tablet from Bucky again to take a closer look, reading through some of the details. "She's a kid. We do this clean and we do it with Daisy's input. The mole's been mascaraing as her kid for god knows who long." Natasha pulled out her phone and texted 077 along with the coordinates to the safehouse to Daisy. The old code would notify her of a suspected mole within the agency and the coordinates would tell her to come to the safehouse for further debriefing.

DAISY was at the cemetery with Steve. She hadn't wanted to mourn before then, to admit that Coulson was dead and really gone, but she'd needed to come eventually. Having Steve there was helpful and comforting. It made it easier for her to mourn and talk about how Coulson died, what he meant to her, everything he'd done to protect her through all the pain and all the deaths and all the betrayals. But then she got that text from Natasha, and she was reminded that even though Coulson was gone, the things he would've normally tried to protect her from didn't just stop coming. The betrayals just kept coming. She and Natasha had talked before about someone who seemed suspicious to her, and Daisy had to imagine that this might've been about that person. She just didn't want it to be. She hoped against everything that it wasn't the case, but she was going to meet Nat before she really assumed anything. Daisy told Steve about the situation, thinking about how it'd be better to have him there than to just go it alone. She was already broken up about Coulson, and she needed someone like Steve to lean on if this got worse than she already thought it would be. They didn't take long to get there, knowing that in these things, wasting time could mean people losing their lives, though they were careful to make sure they weren't followed. When they got there, Daisy was surprised to see Clint and Bucky too. "Okay, I'm here. What's happening?"

Steve had been hoping that after going to the cemetery he'd be able to convince Daisy to get some food with him, hoping to try and brighten her spirits some. He knew how she felt, some days it was like his mom's funeral just happened and walking into his empty apartment just gave him flashbacks. When Daisy told him the code that Nat had sent, he instantly got worried, muttering a not again under his breath. Before they walked in, he gently squeezed her shoulder "Whatever it is, we'll take care of it." He gave a nod to Clint and Bucky, instantly knowing this was serious if they were involved. Steve turned to Nat, but keeping an eye and and ear on Daisy's condition "How bad is it?"

Clint sighed from where Nat had placed him on the couch, hand on his side "A uh, A friend forwarded me a batch of HYDRA intel. I've been keeping an eye on them after what happened to Hayden... I didn't expect to see a hit out on your kid. You know, the one that stayed with me and Hayden. I let my kids worst nightmare through the front door and let her stay." The blonde glared at Daisy, teeth gritted, as he tried to keep himself seated on the couch. He pointed to the tablet Bucky had given her "It's all there."

NATASHA: Natasha was surprised to see Steve walk in with Daisy, but thankful at the same time. He'd been there with her the last time SHIELD had been infultrated by HYDRA. He knew better than most how serious this was. Nat had previously brought her concerns up to Daisy and knew Daisy likely wouldn't be surprised by the confirmation, but she also knew this betrayal would hurt nevertheless. The woman had opened not only her home to the kid, but her heart too. While she'd ensured Nat that all SHIELD information was compartmentalized, she couldn't very well guard her heart from the kid too. Natasha could see Clint getting worked up too. She put a hand on his shoulder to try to calm him down. "No one is going to let anything happen to Hayden," she reassured him. Hayden was as much a son to her as RJ. And everyone in this room knew how far she'd go for both of them. How far they'd all go for both of them. "We're going to take care of this. Daisy, I'm sorry," she sighed as she looked at her director. "I wish it wasn't true, but the pieces are all falling into place. We'll follow your lead on this one. We can keep it official or...if you don't want the rest of SHIELD to know, we keep it off the books and in this room."

After some time without making a commentary, BUCKY looked up and reached for the tablet. Having Steve there meant he wouldn’t be able to proceed as he wanted, but maybe it was for the best. Maybe. “How long has this kid be around you?” He handed the tablet to Daisy, all the information on “Red” displayed there. “HYDRA made a move on RJ a few weeks ago. And I can’t help but think she’s involved in this.” If she tricked Daisy, he imagined RJ was tricked into the innocent act too.

DAISY: Taking the tablet that Bucky offered to her, Daisy was surprised at how much she wasn't just falling apart at this news. In all the times that things like this had happened in the past, her heart had felt like it shattered. Getting stabbed in the back metaphorically still felt like the physical action during those times, but now? As she looked over the info and heard what everyone had to say, she didn't feel angry or like she was going to start sobbing. She felt . . . hollow. She felt cold. She felt nothing. Maybe each betrayal she encountered just chipped off another piece of her soul, and now she had nothing left of it. Maybe she'd just spent all of her emotions at Coulson's grave, and all it left was this cold calm outer shell. "I didn't expect to see one either," she admitted. She didn't have to look up to feel Clint glaring at her or to know that Bucky was just as angry. They were justified in their anger, both at Scarlet and at Daisy herself. She'd fucked up majorly by letting Scarlet into her home, even after all the things she'd been through in her past. She'd looked at Scarlet and thought that she could do what Coulson did. She'd thought she could take Scarlet away from a bad situation, and in doing so, set her on the right path. Right now, it was ridiculous, but Daisy's first thought was that Scarlet was either really trying to play the long game or she just really sucked at being a hydra operative. If she'd wanted to, she had several chances to just kill S.H.I.E.L.D.'s director in her sleep. They'd need to launch a full scale investigation to make sure Scarlet didn't get any intel, but on Daisy's end at least, she'd been careful to not let the kid anywhere near S.H.I.E.L.D. things. That didn't make her feel any less betrayed though or any less empty inside.

Daisy passed the tablet on to Steve and started wringing her hands. "A few months. Early November of last year." She sighed. It didn't matter. Any amount of time was too much time to spend with a Hydra spy in their midst. "I'm so sorry guys. I should've known." And she really should've. Maybe she had known that it was always a possibility. It was easy to overlook things when you just hoped for something else so hard. She shook her head. "No, we need to figure out who all has had contact with her, figure out what kind of things she might've been reporting, so we can deal with it properly."

Steve gently squeezed Daisy's shoulder before taking the tablet, going over the information regarding the hit. He understood why Clint and Bucky were so upset about the entire situation, their kids had been hurt by HYDRA and Bucky... well, he had the biggest axe to grind with HYDRA. His lips were pursed as he read the file, trying to find something that would help them any. Letting out a sigh he looked up, tossing the tablet to Clint. "Clint, Nat, can you guys put out some feelers with your contacts? See if we can find her HYDRA file, that would tell us exactly what her mission is and let us know what's been compromised." The blonde crossed his arms over his chest "We need more information to work with than just a hit. If the kid was properly trained then she won't tell us anything."

Clint caught the tablet and pulled up the remote access for his Ronin systems to begin sifting through the HYDRA intel he had, happy for the distraction. "Sure Cap." Deep down, he knew Hayden was safe. Between his demonic family and Loki, Clint knew that his kid would be okay. He was also glad that Hayden was spending time with Loki today. The blonde let out a slow breath before looking away from the tablet, slipping into a mission focused state of mind "What we do is up to you Daisy, but we should get more information before taking this to SHIELD."

NATASHA: She nodded as she listened to Steve's request. "It's doable but it will take time. Time we might not really have," she replied. "Hydra is large and disorganized. One head often doesn't know what the other is doing. It's going to take some time for our contacts to find the right head and follow the trail." She glanced at the photo on the tablet for a moment, recalling her time with Scarlet. "If she's got a hit on her it means she's failed whatever mission they sent her out here for. I've interacted with the kid. Her trade craft skills just aren't there," Natasha admitted. "If we bring her in for interrogation we could crack her within an hour. A dark web hit is more than enough probable cause to bring her in for questioning."

BUCKY listened to everyone without stepping in, silently agreeing with it all. He wouldn’t do anything before Daisy was okay with it and Natasha knew Hydra as much as he did. “And as unorganized as they are, they wouldn’t let one of their assets free for so long. Which means she’s not one of their best ones or they don’t care about the mission, which I don’t think is the case because we are talking about S.H.I.E.L.D here.” His last mission was taking Captain America down and it was a matter of two days for the whole world to turn their heads, he would know. “I agree with the interrogation. It will be pretty easy to crack the egg. But we would need to pick carefully who goes in.”

Daisy nodded, agreeing with what everyone was saying. A small part of her, the part of her that always had hope, wanted to believe that maybe Scarlet could still be good, that she'd failed her mission intentionally because she didn't want to work with the bad guys, but the other part of Daisy, the one that had been broken down by constant betrayals, silenced everything else. That part reminded her what happened when she let people get close. Either they died too soon or betrayed her, and both things broke her just a little bit more. Even if Scarlet told them everything, Daisy doubted that she could just forgive and forget that easily. She wasn't sure what would happen to the girl, but Daisy wouldn't be able to look at her the same for a long while. The lies stung just a little too much. “I know I can't be a part of the interrogation. I'm too close to it.” She knew that she'd watch the interrogation on the cameras and listen in, but she didn't want to be in the room when it happened. She'd be too biased. Scarlet, while not the best hydra operative, could likely manipulate Daisy's emotions about the situation in either direction, and even if she didn't, Daisy was already upset on her own. “It needs to be someone more level headed, so out of us, I'd say Steve or Natasha.” Bucky and Clint had obviously been more emotional about this when she'd first come in. Now, they seemed to have cooled off a little more, but she imagined it was still a lot for them. Steve and Natasha had both dealt with the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. from Hydra the first time too, but Natasha had a little more experience when it came to things like espionage though. “I think you're our best bet, Nat.”

Steve nodded "I know it's a long shot but the more information we have the better." The blonde knew this would be tricky, HYDRA back at their old tricks... and using a kid to do it. If they put that kid through even a fraction of what they did to Bucky, well Steve didn't want to think about it. "I agree, she broke Loki in a matter of minutes you can handle a kid."

Clint kept tapping at the tablet, trying to keep his focus one one thing so he didn't lose it again. Hearing talk of an interrogation he looked up "'tasha is the best after all." a small smirk on his face "Look, I don't want to be anywhere near the kid, and I certainly don't want Hayden to know just yet. If she won't talk we can just have Bucky in the corner glaring, he's got a good scary face."

NATASHA: She nodded in agreement at the assessment. She was well trained in the art of interrogation and could keep her emotions out of this. Not to mention there wasn't much she wouldn't do for the team in this room. "I can do it," she agreed. "We'll need to pick her up on probable cause. We don't have enough evidence to get her on anything else yet. Do you happen to know where she is or do you need me to run a trace?" she asked Daisy. She then turned to Clint. "It might be best if you stay here and try to dig up more evidence. Something I can throw at her during interrogation?" she suggested. She didn't need him splitting his stitches on transport.

BUCKY huffed, knowing he wouldn't hold back in that situation. kid or not, if she had the minimum to do with hydra's little visit to his son... "Not a good idea. We can wait outside, if Natalia needs something, which I doubt, then we go in." He shrugged, trusting Nat blindly in this and everything else. "We should do that. See what else we can get. And that way, you cal tell me about what the fuck is going on with you and those stitches."

DAISY: “She should be at my place right now.” It's where she usually was anyways. Daisy did allow her to go out on her own, which she was now realizing was terrible considering the circumstances, but she'd thought she'd been in Scarlet's shoes, knowing what it was like to feel trapped in a place with a family that wasn't really her own. It meant something entirely different when you considered that Scarlet was actually working with Hydra. “I can set up an interrogation room for you.” They wanted to keep this secret until they knew more, and Daisy had the authority and the clearance to make sure they had the secrecy and privacy to conduct this in a way that it didn't spread like a wildfire.

Steve nodded "We have a hit out on a kid, we can bring her in for protection. If anyone asks we can say it's HYDRA trying to clean up their mess, you did find her in a HYDRA base after all." he knew they would need to split up, a team to get the kid and another to prepare for interrogation. Steve wished Sam was here, have another set of eyes when getting the girl. Not that bringing her in would be hard, but when it came to HYDRA Steve liked to be well prepared. "Here's my thoughts, Nat and I go get the girl. Clint, Buck, you guys work on intel, get as much as you can on her. If you don't want to be at the interrogation then stay here, otherwise go in with Daisy." He looked over to Daisy, to get her approval on the plan since she was in charge.

Clint pursed his lips, eyes shifting between Bucky and Natasha before muttering Oh, I'm in danger. He nodded "As long as I don't have to talk to her I'll go wherever you want. I've got a line to some HYDRA channels, I'll see what I can find out." the blonde began pulling up more of the data he already had on his servers "I came in my jeep if you want to use that."

NATASHA: She squeezed Bucky's hand gently. She could see he was just as worked up over this as Clint. More so, she was leaving the two of them to their own devices and Clint hadn't exactly come clean to James about Ronin. Her eyes said go easy on him as she let go of his hand. She nodded as Daisy replied that she would get an interrogation room ready. If there was anyone who could keep this under the radar it was Daisy. "Steve and I will get her. It shouldn't be a problem, she's just a kid. Let's hope someone else hasn't gotten to her first. We need to know how far this leak goes," replied Natasha, going to her weapons cache and grabbing a few hand guns as precaution. She nodded as Clint offered up his jeep for the mission. "You sure you wanna risk it?" she asked, tossing him small smile. "You yourself might want to make a quick get away," she replied, glancing at Clint, then at Bucky, then back at Clint again.

DAISY: If S.H.I.E.L.D. was like it used to be before she started leading it, they wouldn't have needed any kind of reasoning whatsoever. She couldn't help thinking of all the shady things Fury Sr. had done while being director simply because of the fact that he couldn't or wouldn't trust anyone. All of this happening had her thinking back to him convince her that he was justified in what he did because of the position he had. He might've been right about her not being able to trust anyone, but she still couldn't believe that he was just in the measures he took. They needed these kinds of things for a reason, to keep them in check just like everyone else. She nodded once Steve detailed the potential plan. "Be careful in any case. You never know, and if anything happens, let me know. I'm just gonna make a few jumps to get back to the interrogation room, but I can make it back pretty fast if I need to." She gave a short look to Steve. She had needed him with her before because she'd been experiencing so much grief that it was hard to stand let alone quake jump, but this happening gave her an odd sort of focus. Plus, she felt like jumping back to HQ would give her some time to herself to clear her head. She just wanted to make sure Steve knew she was okay to handle it now. "You all know how to contact me, I'll see you at the interrogation room," she said before heading out.

#discord chat

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neptunecreek · 6 years ago

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The Foilies 2019

Recognizing the year’s worst in government transparency

The cause of government transparency finally broke through to the popular zeitgeist this year. It wasn’t an investigative journalism exposé or a civil rights lawsuit that did it, but a light-hearted sitcom about a Taiwanese American family set in Orlando, Florida, in the late 1990s.

In a January episode of ABC’s Fresh Off the Boat, the Huang family’s two youngest children—overachievers Evan and Emery—decide if they sprint on all their homework, they’ll have time to plan their father’s birthday party.

“Like the time we knocked out two English papers, a science experiment, and built the White House out of sugar cubes,” Evan said. “It opened up our Sunday for filing Freedom of Information requests.”

“They may not have figured out who shot JFK,” Emery added. “But we will.”

The eldest child, teenage slacker Eddie, concluded with a sage nod, “You know, once in a while, it’s good to know nerds.”

Amen to that. Around the world, nerds of all ages are using laws like the United States’ Freedom of Information Act (and state-level equivalent laws) to pry free secrets and expose the inner workings of our democracy. Each year, open government advocates celebrate these heroes during Sunshine Week, an annual advocacy campaign on transparency.

But the journalists and researchers who rely on these important measures every day can’t help but smirk at the boys’ scripted innocence. Too often, government officials will devise novel and outrageous ways to reject requests for information or otherwise stymie the public’s right to know. Even today—20 years after the events set in the episode—the White House continues to withhold key documents from the Kennedy assassination files.

Since 2015, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (a nonprofit that advocates for free speech, privacy and government transparency in the digital age) has published The Foilies to recognize the bad actors who attempted to thwart the quests for truth of today’s Evans and Emerys. With these tongue-in-cheek awards, we call out attempts to block transparency, retaliation against those who exercise their rights to information, and the most ridiculous examples of incompetence by government officials who handle these public records.

The Corporate Eclipse Award - Google, Amazon, and Facebook

The Unnecessary Box Set Award - Central Intelligence Agency

The (Harlem) Shaky Grounds for Redaction Award - Federal Communications Commission

The Unreliable Narrator Award - President Donald Trump, the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. District Court Judges

The Cross-Contamination Award - Stanford Law Professor Daniel Ho

The Scanner Darkly Award - St. Joseph County Superior Court

The Cash for Crash Award - Michigan State Police

The Bartering with Extremists Award - California Highway Patrol

The Preemptive Shredding Award - Inglewood Police Department

The What the Swat? Award - Nova Scotia and Halifax Law Enforcement

The Outrageous Fee Request of the Year - City of Seattle

The Intern Art Project Award - Vermont Gov. Phil Scott

The Least Transparent Employer Award - U.S. Department of Justice

The Clawback Award - The Broward County School Board

The Wrong Way to Plug a Leak Award - City of Greenfield, California

If it Looks like a Duck Award - Brigham Young University Police

The Insecure Security Check Award - U.S. Postal Service

The Corporate Eclipse Award - Google, Amazon, and Facebook

Sunshine laws? Tech giants think they can just blot those out with secretive contracts. But two nonprofit groups—Working Partnerships and the First Amendment Coalition—are fighting this practice in California by suing the city of San Jose over an agreement with Google that prevents city officials from sharing the public impacts of development deals, circumventing the California Public Records Act.

Google’s proposed San Jose campus is poised to have a major effect on the city’s infrastructure, Bloomberg reported. Yet, according to the organization’s lawsuit, records analyzing issues of public importance such as traffic impacts and environmental compliance were among the sorts of discussions Google demanded be made private under their non-disclosure agreements.

And it’s not just Google using these tactics. An agreement between Amazon and Virginia includes a provision that the state will give the corporate giant—which is placing a major campus in the state—a heads-up when anyone files a public records request asking for information about them. The Columbia Journalism Review reported Facebook has also used this increasingly common strategy for companies to keep cities quiet and the public in the dark about major construction projects.

The Unnecessary Box Set Award - Central Intelligence Agency

Courtesy of National Security Counselors

After suing the CIA to get access to information about Trump’s classified briefings, Kel McClahanan of the National Security Law Center was expecting the agency to send over eight agreed-upon documents.

What he was not expecting was for the files—each between three and nine pages each—-to be spread out across six separate CD-ROMs, each burned within minutes of each other, making for perhaps the most unnecessary box set in the history of the compact disc.

What makes this “extra silly,” McClanahan said, is that the CIA has previously complained about how burdensome and costly fulfilling requests can be. Yet the CIA could have easily combined several requests onto the same disc and saved themselves some time and resources. After all, a a standard CD-ROM can hold 700 MB, and all of the files took only 304 MB of space.

The (Harlem) Shaky Grounds for Redaction Award - Federal Communications Commission

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Privacy info. This embed will serve content from youtube-nocookie.com

After repealing the Open Internet Order and ending net neutrality, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai doubled down on his efforts to ruin online culture. He released a cringe-inducing YouTube video titled “7 Things You Can Still Do on the Internet After Net Neutrality" that featured his own rendition of the infamous “Harlem Shake” meme. (For the uninitiated, the meme is characterized by one person subtly dancing in a room of people to Baauer’s track “Harlem Shake.” Then the bass drops and the crowd goes nuts, often with many people in costumes.)

Muckrock editor JPat Brown filed a Freedom of Information Act request for emails related to the video, but the FCC rejected the request, claiming the communications were protected “deliberative” records.

Brown appealed the decision, and the FCC responded by releasing all the email headers, while redacting the contents, claiming that anything more would cause “foreseeable harm.” Brown did not relent, and a year later the FCC capitulated and released the unredacted emails.

“So, what did these emails contain that was so potentially damaging that it was worth risking a potential FOIA lawsuit over?” Brown writes. “Pai was curious when it was going live, and the FCC wanted to maintain a veto power over the video if they didn’t like it.” The most ridiculous redaction of all was a tiny black box in an email from the FCC media director. Once removed, all that was revealed was a single word: “OK.”

The Unreliable Narrator Award - President Donald Trump, the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. District Court Judges

When President Trump tweets attacks about the intelligence community, transparency groups and journalists often file FOIA requests (and subsequently lawsuits) seeking the documents that underpin his claims. The question that often comes up: Do Trump’s smartphone rants break the seal of secrecy on confidential programs?

The answer seems to be no. Multiple judges have sided with Justice Department lawyers, concluding that his Twitter disclosures do not mean that the government has to confirm or deny whether records about those activities exist.

In a FOIA case seeking documents that would show whether Trump is under investigation, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said that the President’s tweets to that effect are “speculation.” Similarly, in a FOIA suit to get more information about the widely publicized dossier of potential ties between Trump and Russia, U.S. District Judge Amir Mehta said that the President’s statements are political rather than “assertions of pure fact.”

And so, whether Trump actually knows what he’s talking about remains an open question.

The Cross-Contamination Award - Stanford Law Professor Daniel Ho

One of the benefits of public records laws is they allow almost anyone—regardless of legal acumen—to force government agencies to be more transparent, usually without having to file a lawsuit.

But in Washington State, filing a public records request can put the requester at legal risk of being named in a lawsuit should someone else not want the records to be made public.

This is what happened to Sarah Schacht, a Seattle-based open government advocate and consultant. For years Schacht has used public records to advocate for better food safety rules in King County, an effort that led to the adoption of food safety placards found in restaurants in the region.

After Schacht filed another round of requests with the county health department, she received a legal threat in November 2018 from Stanford Law School professor Daniel Ho’s attorney threatening to sue her unless she abandoned her request. Apparently, Ho has been working with the health department to study the new food safety and placard regulations. He had written draft studies that he shared with the health department, making them public records.

Ho’s threat amounted to an effort to intimidate Schacht from receiving public records, probably because he had not formally published his studies first. Regardless of motive, the threat was an awful look. But even when faced with the threat, Schacht refused to abandon her request.

Fortunately, the lawsuit never materialized, and Schacht was able to receive the records. Although Ho’s threats made him look like a bully, the real bad actor in this scenario is Washington State’s public records law. The state’s top court has interpreted the law to require parties seeking to stop agencies from releasing records (sometimes called reverse-FOIA suits) to also sue the original requester along with the government agency.

The Scanner Darkly Award - St. Joseph County Superior Court

Courtesy of Jessica Huseman

ProPublica reporter Jessica Huseman has been digging deep into the child welfare system and what happens when child abuse results in death. While following up on a series of strangulations, she requested a copy of a case file from the St. Joseph County Superior Court in Indiana. Apparently, the clerk on the other end simply took the entire file and ran everything through a scanner. The problem was that the file contained a CD-ROM, and that’s not how CD-ROMs work. “Well this is the first time this had happened,” Huseman posted to Twitter, along with the blotchy black-and-white image of the top of the disc. “They scanned a CD as part of my FOI and didn’t give me its contents. Cool cool.”

The Cash for Crash Award - Michigan State Police

As tech companies experiment with autonomous vehicles on public roadways, reporters are keeping tabs on how often these cars are involved in collisions. That’s why The Information’s Matt Drange has been filing records requests for the crash data held by state agencies. Some government departments have started claiming that every line of the dataset is its own, individual record and subject to a copy fee. Our winner, the Michigan State Police, proposed to charge Drange a 25-cent fee for each of a 1.9 million-line dataset, plus $20 for a thumbdrive, for a grand total of $485,645.24, with half of it due up front. Runners-up that quoted similar line-by-line charges include the Indiana State Police ($346,000) and the North Carolina Department of Transportation ($82,000). Meanwhile, Florida’s government released its detailed dataset at no charge at all.

The Bartering with Extremists Award - California Highway Patrol

In 2016, the Traditionalist Worker Party (TWP), an infamous neo-Nazi group, staged a demonstration at the California State Capitol. Counter-protesters fiercely opposed the demonstration, and the scene soon descended into chaos, leaving multiple people injured. When the dust settled, a member of the public (disclosure: also a co-author of this piece) filed a California Public Records Act request to obtain a copy of the permit the white nationalist group filed for its rally. The California Highway Patrol rejected the request for this normally available document, claiming it was related to a criminal investigation.

Two years later, evidence emerged during criminal proceedings that a CHP detective used the public records request as a bargaining chip in a phone call with the TWP protest leader, who was initially reluctant to provide information. The officer told him how the request might reveal his name. “We don’t have a reason to...uh...deny [the request],” the officer said according a transcript of the call. But once the organizer decided to cooperate, the officer responded, “I’m gonna suggest that we hold that or redact your name or something...uh...until this thing gets resolved.” In light of these new facts, the First Amendment Coalition filed a new request for the same document. It too was denied.

The Preemptive Shredding Award - Inglewood Police Department

In defiance of the law enforcement lobby, California legislators passed a law (SB 1421) requiring police and sheriffs to disclose officer misconduct records in response to California Public Records Act requests. These documents, often contained in personnel files, had historically been untouchable by members of the public and the press.

Almost immediately, police unions across the Golden State began to launch lawsuits to undermine these new transparency measures. But the Inglewood Police Department takes the prize for its efforts to evade scrutiny. Mere weeks before the law took effect on Jan. 1, 2019, the agency began destroying records that were set to become publicly available.

“This premise that there was an intent to beat the clock is ridiculous,” Inglewood Mayor James T Butts Jr. told the LA Times in defending the purge. We imagine Butts would find it equally ridiculous to suggest that the fact he had also been a cop for more than 30 years, including serving in Inglewood and later as police chief of Santa Monica, may have factored into his support for the destruction of records.

The What the Swat? Award - Nova Scotia and Halifax Law Enforcement

One Wednesday morning in April, 15 Halifax police officers raided the home of a teenage boy and his family. “They read us our rights and told us not to talk," his mother would later tell CBC. “They rifled through everything. They turned over mattresses, they took drawers and emptied out drawers, they went through personal papers, pictures. It was totally devastating and traumatic."

You might well wonder, what was the Jack Bauer-class threat to geo-political stability? Nothing at all: The Canadian teen had just downloaded a host of public records from openly available URLs on a government website.

At the heart of the ordeal was some seriously terrible security practices by Nova Scotia officials. The website created to host the province’s public records was designed in such a way that every request and response had a nearly identical URL and placed no technical restrictions on the public’s ability to access any of the requests. This meant that regular public records requests and individuals’ requests to access government files about them, which included private information, were all stored together and available on the internet for anyone, including Google’s webcrawler, to access. All that was necessary was changing a number identifying the request at the end of the URL.

What Nova Scotian officials should have done upon learning about leaks in their own public records website’s problems was apologize to the public, thank the teen who found these gaping holes in their digital security practices, and implement proper restrictions to protect people’s private information. They didn’t do any of that, and instead sought to improperly bring the force of Canada’s criminal hacking law down on the very person who brought the problem to light.

The whole episode—which thankfully ended with the government dropping the charges—was a chilling example of how officials will often overreact and blame innocent third parties when trying to cover up for their own failings. This horror show just happened to involve public records. Do better, Canada.

The Outrageous Fee Request of the Year - City of Seattle

When self-described transparency advocate and civic hacker Matt Chapman sent his request to Seattle seeking the email metadata from all city email addresses (from/to/BCC addresses, time, date, etc), he expected some pushback, because it does sound like an incredible amount of data to wrangle.

Seattle’s response: All the data can be yours for a measly $33 million. Officials estimated that it would take 320 years worth of staff time to review the roughly 32 million emails responsive to Chapman’s request. Oh, and they estimated charging an additional $21,600 for storage costs associated with the records. The fee request is the second highest in the history of The Foilies (the Department of Defense won in 2016 for estimating it would take $660 million to produce records on a particular computer forensic tool).

Then the city did something entirely unexpected: It revisited the fee estimate and determined that the first batch of records would cost only $1.25 to process. We get it, math is hard.

But wait—that’s not all. After paying for the batches of records with a series of $1.25 checks, Chapman received more than he ever bargained for. Rather than disclosing just the metadata for all 32 million emails, Seattle had given him the first 256 characters of every email. Those snippets included passwords, credit card numbers, and other personally identifying information.

What followed was a series of conversations between Chapman, Seattle’s lawyers, and the city’s IT folks to ensure he’d deleted the records and that the city hadn’t just breached its own data via a public records request.

Ultimately, Seattle officials in January 2018 began sending the data to Chapman once more, this time without the actual content of email messages. The whole episode doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in Seattle officials’ ability to do basic math, comply with the public records law or protect sensitive information.

The Intern Art Project Award - Vermont Gov. Phil Scott

Seattle isn’t the only city to stumble in response to Matt Chapman’s public records requests for email metadata. The Vermont governor’s office also wins for its scissor-and-glue approach to releasing electronic information.

Rather than export the email information as a spreadsheet, the Vermont governor’s office told Chapman it had five interns (three of whom were unpaid) working six hours each, literally “cutting and pasting the emails from paper copies.” Next thing Chapman knew, he had a 43-page hodgepodge collage of email headers correlating with one day’s worth of messages. The governor’s attorney told Chapman it would cost $1,200 to process three more days’ worth of emails.

Chapman pushed back and provided his own instructions on exporting the data using a computer and not, you know, scissors and glue. Sure enough, he received a 5,500-line spreadsheet a couple weeks later at no charge.

The Least Transparent Employer Award - U.S. Department of Justice

In the last few years, we’ve seen some great resignation letters from public servants, ranging from Defense Secretary James Mattis telling President Trump “It’s not me, it’s you” to former Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ forced resignation.

But the Trump DOJ seems to have had enough of the tradition and has now determined that U.S. Attorney resignation letters are private in their entirety and cannot be released under the Freedom of Information Act. Of course, civil servants should have their private information protected by their employer, but that’s precisely what redactions should be used to protect.

Past administrations have released resignation letters that are critical of executive branch leaders. The change in policy raises the question: What are departing U.S. Attorneys now saying that the government wants to hide?

The Clawback Award - The Broward County School Board

After the tragic Parkland shooting, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel went to court to force the Broward County School Board to hand over documents detailing the shooter’s education and disciplinary record. A judge agreed and ordered the release, as long as sensitive information was redacted.

But when reporters copied and pasted the file into another document, they found that the content under the redactions was still there and readable. They broke the story of how the school denied the shooter therapeutic services and alternative education accommodations, but then uploaded the school board’s report with working redactions.

Rather than simply do better with double-checking their redactions next time, the school board struck back at the newspaper. They petitioned the court to hold the newspaper in contempt and to prevent anyone from reporting on the legally obtained information. Although the local judge didn’t issue a fine, she lambasted the paper and threatened to dictate exactly what the paper could report about the case in the future (which is itself an unconstitutional prior restraint).

The Wrong Way to Plug a Leak Award - City of Greenfield, California

The Monterey County Weekly unexpectedly found itself in court after the city of Greenfield, California sued to keep the newspaper from publishing documents about the surprising termination of its city manager.

When Editor Sara Rubin asked the interim city manager for the complaint the outgoing city manager filed after his termination, she got nothing but crickets. But then, an envelope containing details of a potential city political scandal appeared on the doorstep of one of the paper’s columnists.

The weekly reached out to the city for comment and began preparing for its normal Wednesday print deadline. Then, the morning of publication, the paper got a call saying that they were due in court. The city sued to block publication of the documents, to have the documents returned and to have the paper reveal the identity of the leaker.

Attorney Kelly Aviles of the First Amendment Coalition gave everyone a fast lesson in the First Amendment, pointing out that the paper had every right to publish. The judge ruled in the paper’s favor, and the city ended up paying all of the Monterey County Weekly’s attorney fees.

If it Looks like a Duck Award - Brigham Young University Police

Brigham Young University’s Police Department is certified by the state,* has the powers of the state, but says that they’re not actually a part of government for purposes of the Utah transparency law.

After the Salt Lake Tribune exposed that the University punished survivors of sexual assault for coming forward and reporting, the paper tried to get records of communications between the police department and the school’s federally required sexual assault coordinator. BYU pushed back, saying that the police department is not subject to Utah’s Government Records Access and Management Act because the police department is privately funded.

This actually turns out to be a trickier legal question than you’d expect. Brigham Young University itself isn’t covered by the state law because it is a private school. But the university police force was created by an act of the Utah legislature, and the law covers entities “established by the government to carry out the public’s business.” Investigating crime and arresting people seems like the public’s business.

Last summer, a judge ruled that the police department is clearly a state agency, but the issue is now on appeal at the Utah Supreme Court. Sometime this year we should learn if the police are a part of the government or not.

*Because BYU police failed to comply with state law, and was not responsive to an internal investigation, the Utah Office of Public Safety notified the department on February 20th that the BYU police department will be stripped of its certification on September 1, 2019. The University police also plan to appeal this decision.

The Insecure Security Check Award - U.S. Postal Service

Congressional elections can turn ugly, but the opponent of newly elected U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger got a boost when the U.S. Postal Service released Spanberger’s entire personnel file, including her security clearance application, without redaction of highly sensitive personal information.

When a third party requests a person’s federal employment file without the employee’s permission, the government agency normally releases only a bare-bones record of employment dates, according to a Postal Service spokesperson. But somehow Rep. Spanberger wasn’t afforded these protections, and the Postal Service has potentially made this mistake in a “small number” of other cases this year. Security clearance applications (Form SF-86) are supposed to be analyzed and investigated by the FBI, raising questions about how the FOIA officer got the information in the first place. The Postal Service has apologized for the mistake, which they say is human error, but maybe security clearance applications should be kept just as secure as the state secrets the clearance is meant to protect.

The Foilies were compiled by Electronic Frontier Foundation Senior Investigative Researcher Dave Maass, Staff Attorney Aaron Mackey, Frank Stanton Fellow Camille Fischer, and Activist Hayley Tsukayama. Illustrations by EFF Art Director Hugh D'Andrade. For more on our work visit eff.org.

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sheminecrafts · 7 years ago

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The real threat to Facebook is the Kool-Aid turning sour

These kinds of leaks didn’t happen when I started reporting on Facebook eight years ago. It was a tight-knit cult convinced of its mission to connect everyone, but with the discipline of a military unit where everyone knew loose lips sink ships. Motivational posters with bold corporate slogans dotted its offices, rallying the troops. Employees were happy to be evangelists.

But then came the fake news, News Feed addiction, violence on Facebook Live, cyberbullying, abusive ad targeting, election interference and, most recently, the Cambridge Analytica app data privacy scandals. All the while, Facebook either willfully believed the worst case scenarios could never come true, was naive to their existence or calculated the benefits and growth outweighed the risks. And when finally confronted, Facebook often dragged its feet before admitting the extent of the issues.

Inside the social network’s offices, the bonds began to fray. An ethics problem metastisized into a morale problem. Slogans took on sinister second meanings. The Kool-Aid tasted different.

Some hoped they could right the ship but couldn’t. Some craved the influence and intellectual thrill of running one of humanity’s most popular inventions, but now question if that influence and their work is positive. Others surely just wanted to collect salaries, stock and resumé highlights, but lost the stomach for it.

Now the convergence of scandals has come to a head in the form of constant leaks.

The trouble tipping point

The more benign leaks merely cost Facebook a bit of competitive advantage. We’ve learned it’s building a smart speaker, a standalone VR headset and a Houseparty split-screen video chat clone.

Yet policy-focused leaks have exacerbated the backlash against Facebook, putting more pressure on the conscience of employees. As blame fell to Facebook for Trump’s election, word of Facebook prototyping a censorship tool for operating in China escaped, triggering questions about its respect for human rights and free speech. Facebook’s content rulebook got out alongside disturbing tales of the filth the company’s contracted moderators have to sift through. Its ad targeting was revealed to be able to pinpoint emotionally vulnerable teens.

In recent weeks, the leaks have accelerated to a maddening pace in the wake of Facebook’s soggy apologies regarding the Cambridge Analytica debacle. Its weak policy enforcement left the door open to exploitation of data users gave third-party apps, deepening the perception that Facebook doesn’t care about privacy.

And it all culminated with BuzzFeed publishing a leaked “growth at all costs” internal post from Facebook VP Andrew “Boz” Bosworth that substantiated people’s worst fears about the company’s disregard for user safety in pursuit of world domination. Even the ensuing internal discussion about the damage caused by leaks and how to prevent them…leaked.

But the leaks are not the disease, just the symptom. Sunken morale is the cause, and it’s dragging down the company. Former Facebook employee and Wired writer Antonio Garcia Martinez sums it up, saying this kind of vindictive, intentionally destructive leak fills Facebook’s leadership with “horror”:

The fact that some Facebooker would place their personal grudge and views above the interests of the company fills anyone on the home team with horror (in the same way that the current administration colluding with foreigners to secure a domestic victory does Americans).

— Antonio García Martínez (@antoniogm) March 30, 2018

And that sentiment was confirmed by Facebook’s VP of News Feed Adam Mosseri, who tweeted that leaks “create strong incentives to be less transparent internally and they certainly slow us down,” and will make it tougher to deal with the big problems.

I’m really worried about this. I worry it’ll make it much more difficult to step up to the challenges we face.

— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) March 30, 2018

Those thoughts weigh heavy on Facebook’s team. A source close to several Facebook executives tells us they feel “embarrassed to work there” and are increasingly open to other job opportunities. One current employee told us to assume anything certain execs tell the media is “100% false.”

If Facebook can’t internally discuss the problems it faces without being exposed, how can it solve them?

Implosion

The consequences of Facebook’s failures are typically pegged as external hazards.

You might assume the government will finally step in and regulate Facebook. But the Honest Ads Act and other rules about ads transparency and data privacy could end up protecting Facebook by being simply a paperwork speed bump for it while making it tough for competitors to build a rival database of personal info. In our corporation-loving society, it seems unlikely that the administration would go so far as to split up Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp — one of the few feasible ways to limit the company’s power.

Users have watched Facebook make misstep after misstep over the years, but can’t help but stay glued to its feed. Even those who don’t scroll rely on it as a fundamental utility for messaging and login on other sites. Privacy and transparency are too abstract for most people to care about. Hence, first-time Facebook downloads held steady and its App Store rank actually rose in the week after the Cambridge Analytica fiasco broke. In regards to the #DeleteFacebook movement, Mark Zuckerberg himself said “I don’t think we’ve seen a meaningful number of people act on that.” And as long as they’re browsing, advertisers will keep paying Facebook to reach them.

That’s why the greatest threat of the scandal convergence comes from inside. The leaks are the canary in the noxious blue coal mine.

Can Facebook survive slowing down?

If employees wake up each day unsure whether Facebook’s mission is actually harming the world, they won’t stay. Facebook doesn’t have the same internal work culture problems as some giants like Uber. But there are plenty of other tech companies with less questionable impacts. Some are still private and offer the chance to win big on an IPO or acquisition. At the very least, those in the Bay could find somewhere to work without a spending hours a day on the traffic-snarled 101 freeway.

If they do stay, they won’t work as hard. It’s tough to build if you think you’re building a weapon. Especially if you thought you were going to be making helpful tools. The melancholy and malaise set in. People go into rest-and-vest mode, living out their days at Facebook as a sentence not an opportunity. The next killer product Facebook needs a year or two from now might never coalesce.

And if they do work hard, a culture of anxiety and paralysis will work against them. No one wants to code with their hands tied, and some would prefer a less scrutinized environment. Every decision will require endless philosophizing and risk-reduction. Product changes will be reduced to the lowest common denominator, designed not to offend or appear too tyrannical.

Source: Volkan Furuncu/Anadolu Agency + David Ramos/Getty Images

In fact, that’s partly how Facebook got into this whole mess. A leak by an anonymous former contractor led Gizmodo to report Facebook was suppressing conservative news in its Trending section. Terrified of appearing liberally biased, Facebook reportedly hesitated to take decisive action against fake news. That hands-off approach led to the post-election criticism that degraded morale and pushed the growing snowball of leaks down the mountain.

It’s still rolling.

How to stop morale’s downward momentum will be one of Facebook’s greatest tests of leadership. This isn’t a bug to be squashed. It can’t just roll back a feature update. And an apology won’t suffice. It will have to expel or reeducate the leakers and those disloyal without instilling a witch hunt’s sense of dread. Compensation may have to jump upwards to keep talent aboard like Twitter did when it was floundering. Its top brass will need to show candor and accountability without fueling more indiscretion. And it may need to make a shocking, landmark act of contrition to convince employees its capable of change.

When asked how Facebook could address the morale problem, Mosseri told me “it starts with owning our mistakes and being very clear about what we’re doing now” and noted that “it took a while to get into this place and I think it’ll take a while to work our way out.”

I think it starts with owning our mistakes and being very clear about what we’re doing now. For much of the company November 2016 was their first negative cycle, so it’s also good to share old stories. And then you have to deliver, you have to make real progress on the issues.

— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) March 30, 2018

This isn’t about whether Facebook will disappear tomorrow, but whether it will remain unconquerable for the forseeable future.

Growth has been the driving mantra for Facebook since its inception. No matter how employees are evaluated, it’s still the underlying ethos. Facebook has poised itself as a mission-driven company. The implication was always that connecting people is good so connecting more people is better. The only question was how to grow faster.

Now Zuckerberg will have to figure out how to get Facebook to cautiously foresee the consequences of what it says and does while remaining an appealing place to work. “Move slow and think things through” just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

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technicalsolutions88 · 7 years ago

Link

But then came the fake news, News Feed addiction, violence on Facebook Live, cyberbullying, abusive ad targeting, election interference, and most recently the Cambridge Analytica app data privacy scandals. All the while, Facebook either willfully believed the worst case scenarios could never come true, was naive to their existence, or calculated the benefits and growth outweighed the risks. And when finally confronted, Facebook often dragged its feet before admitting the extent of the problems.

Inside the social network’s offices, the bonds began to fray. Slogans took on sinister second meanings. The kool-aid tasted different.

Some hoped they could right the ship but couldn’t. Some craved the influence and intellectual thrill of running one of humanity’s most popular inventions, but now question if that influence and their work is positive. Others surely just wanted to collect salaries, stock, and resume highlights but lost the stomach for it.

Now the convergence of scandals has come to a head in the form of constant leaks.

The Trouble Tipping Point

The more benign leaks merely cost Facebook a bit of competitive advantage. We’ve learned it’s building a smart speaker, a standalone VR headset, and a Houseparty split-screen video chat clone.

— Antonio García Martínez (@antoniogm) March 30, 2018

And that sentiment was confirmed by Facebook’s VP of News Feed Adam Mosseri, who tweeted that leaks “create strong incentives to be less transparent internally and they certainly slow us down”, and will make it tougher to deal with the big problems.

I’m really worried about this. I worry it’ll make it much more difficult to step up to the challenges we face.

— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) March 30, 2018

If Facebook can’t internally discuss the problems it faces without being exposed, how can it solve them?

Implosion

The consequences of Facebook’s failures are typically pegged as external hazards.

You might assume the government will finally step in and regulate Facebook. But the Honest Ads Act and other rules about ads transparency and data privacy could end up protecting Facebook by being simply a paperwork speed bump for it while making it tough for competitors to build a rival database of personal info. In our corporation-loving society, it seems unlikely that the administration would go so far as to split up Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp — one of the few feasible ways to limit the company’s power.

Users have watched Facebook go make misstep after misstep over the years, but can’t help but stay glued to its feed. Even those who don’t scroll rely on it as fundamental utility for messaging and login on other sites. Privacy and transparency are too abstract for most people to care about. Hence, first-time Facebook downloads held steady and its App Store rank actually rose in the week after the Cambridge Analytica fiasco broke. In regards to the #DeleteFacebook movement, Mark Zuckerberg himself said “I don’t think we’ve seen a meaningful number of people act on that.” And as long as they’re browsing, advertisers will keep paying Facebook to reach them.

That’s why the greatest threat of the scandal convergence comes from inside. The leaks are the canary in the noxious blue coal mine.

Can Facebook Survive Slowing Down?

Source: Volkan Furuncu/Anadolu Agency + David Ramos/Getty Images

It’s still rolling.

How to stop morale’s downward momentum will be one of Facebook’s greatest tests of leadership. This isn’t a bug to be squashed. It can’t just roll back a feature update. And an apology won’t suffice. It will have to expel or reeducate the leakers and disloyal without instilling a witchunt’s sense of dread. Compensation may have to jump upwards to keep talent aboard like Twitter did when it was floundering. Its top brass will need to show candor and accountability without fueling more indiscretion. And it may need to make a shocking, landmark act of humility to convince employees its capable of change.

This isn’t about whether Facebook will disappear tomorrow, but whether it will remain unconquerable for the forseeable future.

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abckidstvyara · 7 years ago

Link

These kinds of leaks didn’t happen when I started reporting on Facebook eight years ago. It was a kool-aid cult convinced of its mission to connect everyone, but with the discipline of a military unit where everyone knew loose lips sink ships. Motivational posters with bold corporate slogans dotted its offices, rallying the troops. Employees were happy to be evangelists.

Inside the social network’s offices, the bonds began to fray. Slogans took on sinister second meanings. The kool-aid tasted different.

Some hoped they could right the ship but couldn’t. Some craved the influence and intellectual thrill of running one of humanity’s most popular inventions, but now question if that influence and their work is positive. Others surely just wanted to collect salaries, stock, and resume highlights but lost the stomach for it.

Now the convergence of scandals has come to a head in the form of constant leaks.

The Trouble Tipping Point

The more benign leaks merely cost Facebook a bit of competitive advantage. We’ve learned it’s building a smart speaker, a standalone VR headset, and a Houseparty split-screen video chat clone.

— Antonio García Martínez (@antoniogm) March 30, 2018

And that sentiment was confirmed by Facebook’s VP of News Feed Adam Mosseri, who tweeted that leaks “create strong incentives to be less transparent internally and they certainly slow us down”, and will make it tougher to deal with the big problems.

I’m really worried about this. I worry it’ll make it much more difficult to step up to the challenges we face.

— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) March 30, 2018

If Facebook can’t internally discuss the problems it faces without being exposed, how can it solve them?

Implosion

The consequences of Facebook’s failures are typically pegged as external hazards.

You might assume the government will finally step in and regulate Facebook. But the Honest Ads Act and other rules about ads transparency and data privacy could end up protecting Facebook by being simply a paperwork speed bump for it while making it tough for competitors to build a rival database of personal info. In our corporation-loving society, it seems unlikely that the administration would go so far as to split up Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp — one of the few feasible ways to limit the company’s power.

That’s why the greatest threat of the scandal convergence comes from inside. The leaks are the canary in the noxious blue coal mine.

Can Facebook Survive Slowing Down?

Source: Volkan Furuncu/Anadolu Agency + David Ramos/Getty Images

It’s still rolling.

How to stop morale’s downward momentum will be one of Facebook’s greatest tests of leadership. This isn’t a bug to be squashed. It can’t just roll back a feature update. And an apology won’t suffice. It will have to expel or reeducate the leakers and disloyal without instilling a witchunt’s sense of dread. Compensation may have to jump upwards to keep talent aboard like Twitter did when it was floundering. Its top brass will need to show candor and accountability without fueling more indiscretion. And it may need to make a shocking, landmark act of humility to convince employees its capable of change.

This isn’t about whether Facebook will disappear tomorrow, but whether it will remain unconquerable for the forseeable future.

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armorroofing · 7 years ago

Text

Wow! Armor Roofing - Gladstone MO Roofing Company

The article Wow! Armor Roofing - Gladstone MO Roofing Company originally appeared on Armor Roofing Kansas City.

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Must I Require Fresh New Gladstone Roof?

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All Beneficial Properties

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Some Of The Problems

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Armor Roofing LLC - Kansas City 6600 NW Tower Dr #104 Kansas City, MO 64151 (816) 935-9312 http://kansascity.roofsareus.com

The post Wow! Armor Roofing - Gladstone MO Roofing Company appeared first on Armor Roofing Kansas City.

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deliciousparadiseglitter-blog · 7 years ago

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Roofing Guidelines That Can Conserve You Tons Of Cash'

If you want to make a greater selection with regards to a new roof for your family's property, then you have made the correct choice. There is no justification for not receiving the details you need to have just before such a sizeable expense. Preserve in thoughts the subsequent info so that you can select what is very best for your household. Green Home Refurbishment When restoring your roof, ensure you keep security in brain. You can get harm if you consider to resolve a leak for the duration of a storm. Stick a bucket beneath your leak whilst you wait around for the climate to return to regular. Later on, you can examine out your roof and see what it'll get to correct issues. When fixing roof leaks, make sure the total issue is fixed. If you find one undesirable location, there could be a lot more, so maintain looking for them. Look over all of your roof there may possibly be more problem locations than you 1st suspected. If you have a leaky roof, make certain that your gutters are distinct. If there is no way for water to drain, then the gutters can accumulate rainwater and trigger leaks in the roof. Set up ridge and soffit vents so you can prevent any dry rot from establishing on your roof. Mow your garden ahead of the contractor arrives to get rid of your roof. Getting minimize grass will assist the two you and the contractor locate any nails that have fallen on the ground. If the contractor uses a magnetized nail finder, cut grass can also aid. When hunting for a roofing contractor to hire, the Greater Enterprise Bureau can be an invaluable source. What you want to seem for are contractors that keep an "A+" rating. The Much better Company Bureau can be searched on the internet, or you can get in touch with a nearby place of work. You are going to also be in a position to see any problems submitted, and how the contractor solved people problems. 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Buy equipment to make cleaning the gutters more rapidly and simpler on you. If you're hunting into acquiring insurance coverage on your roof, make certain substitute is lined together with repairs. You do not want to be trapped having to pay for a new roof out of pocket. Mend protection is a great issue to have, but you also want to be covered for the worst circumstance situation. Do you have free shingles. If you do, it is essential that you repair them. The fix is typically rather easy. You want to elevate the shingle carefully. Next, you utilize ample plastic roofing cement beneath the shingle to maintain it in place. Failing to repair a unfastened shingle can lead to a whole lot of injury in the long term. Make confident you install a ridge vent into your roof so as to avert dry rot from taking place. Contrary to common perception, dry rot is not brought on by water harm, but instead a deficiency of ventilation. Setting up a ridge vent will make certain that your roof is correctly ventilated through the year. Speak to anyone you know and see if they have a recommendation for a roofer. Although online research is great, it will only get you so significantly. Knowing a person who has utilised a roofer and listening to what they have to say about that person is the greatest reference you could get. You are significantly far more most likely to uncover a good quality specialist that way. If you recognize roof damage towards the center of your roof, then it is most likely you do not have drinking water harm. Rather, you most likely have dry rot, which happens each time the plywood is deteriorating. You can prevent this difficulty by placing in a ridge vent. However, in get to put in this variety of vent, you must have a effectively managing soffit vent. Drill holes by means of the soffit vent so amazing air arrives from the bottom and warm air is pushed out the top. Specified states call for roofing contractors to have particular licenses. If your point out requires licenses for contractors, check with your contractor to see if he or she has the essential license. If you are employing a roofing firm, they must have a normal operating license consequently, you want to examine to guarantee they have it. You can confirm a license via your condition office. When in search of a reputable roofing contractor, usually make certain to solicit suggestions from individuals you believe in who might have employed these kinds of pros in the earlier. By performing so, you can rest confident that you are engaging the companies of a company capable to offer you with the sort of service you should have. Getting go through the guidelines that ended up offered to you, you now are geared up to take care of the circumstance at hand. It normally takes the right understanding and putting it into action as you appropriately program for your new roof. Generating the right selections and ending up with the proper end result is the aim.

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sheminecrafts · 7 years ago

Text

The real threat to Facebook is the Kool-Aid turning sour

Inside the social network’s offices, the bonds began to fray. An ethics problem metastisized into a morale problem. Slogans took on sinister second meanings. The Kool-Aid tasted different.

Now the convergence of scandals has come to a head in the form of constant leaks.

The trouble tipping point

The more benign leaks merely cost Facebook a bit of competitive advantage. We’ve learned it’s building a smart speaker, a standalone VR headset and a Houseparty split-screen video chat clone.

— Antonio García Martínez (@antoniogm) March 30, 2018

I’m really worried about this. I worry it’ll make it much more difficult to step up to the challenges we face.

— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) March 30, 2018

If Facebook can’t internally discuss the problems it faces without being exposed, how can it solve them?

Implosion

The consequences of Facebook’s failures are typically pegged as external hazards.

That’s why the greatest threat of the scandal convergence comes from inside. The leaks are the canary in the noxious blue coal mine.

Can Facebook survive slowing down?

Source: Volkan Furuncu/Anadolu Agency + David Ramos/Getty Images

It’s still rolling.

— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) March 30, 2018

This isn’t about whether Facebook will disappear tomorrow, but whether it will remain unconquerable for the forseeable future.

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technicalsolutions88 · 7 years ago

Link

Inside the social network’s offices, the bonds began to fray. Slogans took on sinister second meanings. The kool-aid tasted different.

Some hoped they could right the ship but couldn’t. Some craved the influence and intellectual thrill of running one of humanity’s most popular inventions, but now question if that influence and their work is positive. Others surely just wanted to collect salaries, stock, and resume highlights but lost the stomach for it.

Now the convergence of scandals has come to a head in the form of constant leaks.

The Trouble Tipping Point

The more benign leaks merely cost Facebook a bit of competitive advantage. We’ve learned it’s building a smart speaker, a standalone VR headset, and a Houseparty split-screen video chat clone.

— Antonio García Martínez (@antoniogm) March 30, 2018

And that sentiment was confirmed by Facebook’s VP of News Feed Adam Mosseri, who tweeted that leaks “create strong incentives to be less transparent internally and they certainly slow us down”, and will make it tougher to deal with the big problems.

I’m really worried about this. I worry it’ll make it much more difficult to step up to the challenges we face.

— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) March 30, 2018

If Facebook can’t internally discuss the problems it faces without being exposed, how can it solve them?

Implosion

The consequences of Facebook’s failures are typically pegged as external hazards.

You might assume the government will finally step in and regulate Facebook. But the Honest Ads Act and other rules about ads transparency and data privacy could end up protecting Facebook by being simply a paperwork speed bump for it while making it tough for competitors to build a rival database of personal info. In our corporation-loving society, it seems unlikely that the administration would go so far as to split up Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp — one of the few feasible ways to limit the company’s power.

That’s why the greatest threat of the scandal convergence comes from inside. The leaks are the canary in the noxious blue coal mine.

Can Facebook Survive Slowing Down?

Source: Volkan Furuncu/Anadolu Agency + David Ramos/Getty Images

It’s still rolling.

How to stop morale’s downward momentum will be one of Facebook’s greatest tests of leadership. This isn’t a bug to be squashed. It can’t just roll back a feature update. And an apology won’t suffice. It will have to expel or reeducate the leakers and disloyal without instilling a witchunt’s sense of dread. Compensation may have to jump upwards to keep talent aboard like Twitter did when it was floundering. Its top brass will need to show candor and accountability without fueling more indiscretion. And it may need to make a shocking, landmark act of humility to convince employees its capable of change.

This isn’t about whether Facebook will disappear tomorrow, but whether it will remain unconquerable for the forseeable future.

from Mobile – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/2J9fTjg ORIGINAL CONTENT FROM: https://techcrunch.com/

#Technical Solutions #SEO #Online Earning #Youtube Marketing #Android Developer

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