The podcaster who was sued by Craig Wright over the invention of bitcoin has won an order to recover millions in libel costs. CC-licensed photo by Elliott Brown on Flickr.

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A selection of 10 links for you. Let it go. I’m @charlesarthur on Twitter. On Threads: charles_arthur. On Mastodon: https://newsie.social/@charlesarthur. Observations and links welcome.

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A top Tory donor’s tangled web presence • Financial Times

Cynthia O’Murchu:

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Search engines results are the frontline in the battle for reputations. And most Google users don’t look further than the first page, so what’s on top matters.

Herrera Velutini has had a friendly web presence for many years — notably the low-key JulioMHerreravelutini.com, which for a time was registered to a reputation management company and his London-based business Britannia Financial Group. But since the indictment, there has been an apparent surge in transparently supportive content across an array of new websites.

As a result, these contrasting narratives have for months battled for the top slots in search engine results — the grandiose articles extolling Herrera Velutini’s status as a financial titan sometimes crowding out less flattering ones. An ordinary person seeking information about Herrera Velutini would have found themselves thrown into a digital hall of mirrors.

In all, FT Alphaville reviewed multiple dozen websites that had published gushing content about Herrera Velutini, with names such as arizona-republic (not to be confused with the legitimate, Gannett-owned Arizona Republic), Washington News (where “every article is a brushstroke in the canvas of truth and information”), or Philadaphia [sic] Inquirer, which, rather incongruently, mostly published stories about London.

The “Street Journal Tribune”, for example, dubbed Herrera Velutini the ‘Prince of Latam’. That site informed readers that: 

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His impeccable fashion sense and his persona as a fashionable banker harmonize with his reputation as an art enthusiast, champion of animal rights, and notably, as the financial mogul who altruistically aided the British Government throughout the Coronavirus pandemic.

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Not convinced? How about “The London Outlook”, which said:

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Julio’s profound commitment to the British monarchy and longstanding relationship with the Royal Family was evident as worked [sic] tirelessly alongside Buckingham Palace officials to craft an extravagant spectacle in commemoration of the Queen’s platinum jubilee.

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Asked about the reported aid to the British government during the Covid pandemic, Schillings referred us to the donations to the Tory party by London-based financial services company Britannia Financial Group, which was then still owned by Herrera Velutini. No word on the “aid” to the British government. And when FTAV asked Buckingham Palace which individuals the palace worked closely with on the Jubilee, Mr Herrera Velutini was not on the list.

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I did not come out of this story thinking that Velutini was being described accurately by the websites that nobody has ever heard of. As the article also points out, “The vast mesh of fake news outlets masquerading as legitimate journalism, often funded by partisan interests, has been given a suitably icky moniker: ‘pink slime’.”
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ITER fusion reactor to see further delays, with operations pushed to 2034 • Ars Technica

John Timmer:

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On Tuesday, the people managing the ITER experimental fusion reactor announced that a combination of delays and altered priorities meant that its first-of-its-kind hardware wouldn’t see plasma until 2036, with the full-energy deuterium-tritium fusion pushed back to 2039. The latter represents a four-year delay relative to the previous roadmap. While the former is also a delay, it’s due in part to changing priorities.

…The latest delays are due to more prosaic reasons. One of them is the product of the international nature of the collaboration, which sees individual components built by different partner organizations before assembly at the reactor site in France. The pandemic, unsurprisingly, severely disrupted the production of a lot of these components, and the project’s structure meant that alternate suppliers couldn’t be used (assuming alternate suppliers of one-of-a-kind hardware existed in the first place).

The second problem relates to the location of the reactor in France. The country’s nuclear safety regulator had concerns about the assembly of some of the components and halted construction on the reactor.

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Ah, fusion – always reliably late. The regulator’s concerns were more about the potential for the structure to collapse than anything about its radiation.
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The rooftop solution to keeping streets cool: white paint • The Times

Adam Vaughan:

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Painting roofs white to reflect the sun’s energy would be more effective at cooling London’s streets than covering them with plants, new research suggests.

The overheating of cities as a result of climate change has become a growing concern. Heathrow hit an unprecedented 40.2ºC amid a heatwave two years ago, and London authorities have even created “cool spaces” in the capital for people to escape high temperatures and overheating buildings

To find out the best way to cool temperatures at street level, researchers used a computer model to estimate the effect of nine different measures on two very hot days in London in July 2018.

They found that white roofs were the most effective method, lowering the surrounding temperature by 1.2ºC. Solar panels came next, with a 0.5ºC reduction, while street-level trees and other vegetation had a 0.3ºC cooling effect.

By contrast, “green roofs” with grass, moss and wildflowers on average had no cooling or warming effect. While they did decrease maximum temperatures, the effect was partly cancelled out because they also increase minimum temperature due to evapotranspiration — where heated water evaporates from from plants and re-enters the atmosphere.

Air conditioning would raise temperatures for pedestrians and cyclists by about 0.15ºC, as units pump out warm air, the modelling suggested.

“The main message for any of us living in London or at similar latitudes to England, is ‘why don’t we put that up [white roofs] and see?’ It’s cheap. You don’t have the problems of structural load. You can always put a green roof on afterwards,” said Dr Oscar Brousse at University College London, an author of the study.

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Indeed, why not? I think that many British town planners would have a fit if you want to them and said you intended to paint your roof white. Yet it is effective. Really it should be mandated. Though it’s odd that solar panels are effective at reducing temperatures. The full research is at Geophysical Research Letters.
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A historic heat wave is making much of the country feel like Death Valley • Frequent Business Traveler

Paul Riegler:

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The weather outside is frightening as an historic and dangerous heat wave spreads across a large swatch of the United States.

“Extremely dangerous heat continues in the Western US into next week, with heat persisting today from New York to the Gulf before gradually subsiding with time into next week,” the National Weather Service said in a midday statement on Saturday, adding that “[E]xcessive heat may bring heat-related illness.”

In California, high temperatures are predicted to reach at least 100°F (37.7°C)  to 120° F (49°C)  throughout the state, except right along the coast.

Meteorologists expect record high temperatures to be broken in multiple cities..

Las Vegas could hit or even break its all-time hottest temperature of 117°F (47°C) on Sunday and Death Valley could hit 129°F (54°C), just 5ºF shy of the all-time hottest temperature recorded on Earth.

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Though this is dry heat – survivable, even if incredibly uncomfortable. The dangerous form is “wet bulb heat”, when the air is so humid that you can’t dissipate body heat by sweat evaporation. That kills.
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Scientists claim crypto owners are likely to be narcissistic, psychopathic or sadists • The Independent

Andrew Griffin:

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Investors in digital currencies are also more likely to be men, rely on fringe social media sources, believe in conspiracy theories and feel victimised.

That is according to new research that polled 2,001 American adults on whether they owned or had owned cryptocurrency. Around 30% of them said that they had.

It then asked about important demographic information, as well as other questions aimed at revealing their political, psychological and social traits.

The researchers then took that data and attempted to work out what characteristics were the best predictors of whether someone had bought cryptocurrency.

They found that among other important characteristics, those who had bought them were more likely to report that they had personality traits aligned with the “dark tetrad”. That is made up of narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism.

The dark tetrad is a psychological theory that builds on the more famous dark triad, and adds sadism. The triad was first proposed at the beginning of the century, and researchers have said that those with the behaviour are more likely to be disruptive employees, commit crimes or cause other issues.

But the most strong predictor of whether someone had owned cryptocurrency was whether they relied on fringe social media sources for news, the researchers said.

They also pointed to other important characteristics: maleness, argumentativeness, higher income, and feelings of victimhood.

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This is the research – which was actually carried out in 2022. Though it probably still holds true. Speaking of cryptocurrency…
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Worldwide freezing order granted over Craig Wright libel claim ‘founded on a lie’ • Law Gazette

Michael Cross:

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A podcaster who had faced a costs bill running into millions of pounds over a libel claim brought by the fraudster posing as the inventor of bitcoin today secured the court’s help to recover his own costs in the case. Mr Justice Mellor, who earlier this year declared Dr Craig Wright’s ‘Satoshi’ claim to be based on forgeries and lies granted a worldwide freezing order (WFO) against Wright, who is understood to be in East Asia. 

The order is the latest fallout from the ruling in COPA v Wright, an action brought by a group of software developers over Wright’s claims, which he enforced with litigation in at least three jurisdictions. In one case, Wright successfully sued podcaster Peter McCormack over social media posts and videos claiming Wright was a fraudster. While the damages were reduced to £1 because of Wright’s conduct, which included putting forward deliberately false evidence, McCormack was ordered to pay part of Wright’s costs. 

Ruling today in Craig Wright v Peter McCormack, Mr Justice Mellor stated that the defamation claim had been part of a ‘mendacious overall campaign’ to lay a false claim to bitcoin assets ‘worth many billions’. Wright was using the law of defamation to silence anyone who questioned his claim. ‘The power of the cause of action in defamation is exponentially increased in the hands of someone like Dr Wright… who signals his intent to spend disproportionate sums in litigation,’ the judge said. The costs budgets approved in the case added up to £3.92m, plus VAT. [About £4.7m, or $6m.]

The judge found that McCormack, who was represented by international firm Reynolds Porter Chamberlain, ‘has a good arguable case (indeed a very strong case) for recovery of costs in the sum of £1.548m’.

…Granting the freezing order – the latest of several applying to Wright – Mellor said: ‘The defamation claim should never have been threatened, commenced or pursued. In these circumstances, our law would be in a sorry and sad state if a litigant in the position of Mr McCormack is not able to recover his costs of having to fight that type of litigation.’

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If it should never have been threatened, commenced or pursued, was there no judge or similar who could have called a halt much earlier? I wonder if Wright will be labelled a vexatious litigant in future.
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Dog accidentally turns on stove and sets fire to home • BBC News

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Colorado Springs Fire Department has released video footage [included in the story] of the moment a curious dog started a house fire by accidentally switching on a stovetop.

The fire was extinguished by the homeowner before crews arrived after being alerted by their HomePod device which sent them a “High Heat” notice.

The homeowner was treated for smoke inhalation, but no other injuries to people or pets were reported.

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Naughty doggo, though the HomePod certainly earned its keep there. Though I can’t find any description of whether a “high heat” notice is automatic; all I can find is one that will send an alert to your phone if it hears a smoke or carbon monoxide alarm going off.
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For the first time in more than 150 years, Alberta’s electricity is coal free • The Globe and Mail

Chris Severson-Baker:

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The Pembina Institute, an Alberta-based clean-energy think tank [of which Severson-Baker is the executive director], first intervened in a coal plant regulatory process in the late 1990s and, in 2009, published the first major proposal that showed the province could move to an unabated coal-free grid by 2030. Our research was ahead of its time and criticized as idealistic.

Coal accounted for 80% of Alberta’s electricity grid in the early 2000s and it still amounted to 60% just 10 years ago. When phasing out coal was just an idea being batted around, many said it couldn’t be done. This is not dissimilar to the rhetoric today around decarbonizing the grid. But Alberta’s experience phasing out coal shows environmental progress of this magnitude is possible.

In 2012, then-prime minister Stephen Harper mandated a nationwide phase-out of coal by 2061. A far-off target date that, nonetheless, provided certainty to the provinces and got the ball rolling. In Alberta, the Wildrose Party, then led by now United Conservative Party Premier Danielle Smith, included a coal phase-out commitment in its 2012 election platform.

When the New Democratic Party came to power after the 2015 provincial election, they got to work delivering on a plan to accelerate the elimination of coal. This included strengthening Alberta’s industrial carbon pricing system, a commitment to 30%o renewables by 2030 and a target date for phasing out coal by 2030 – a target built through consultation with experts and industry. The current federal government made a similar national commitment in 2016.

At the time, there were concerns about the impact this would have on jobs. We learned that workers benefit from new investments in cleaner electricity – if included in strategic planning from the start. Federal and provincial programs to support workers during this transition were made available, while community economic diversification and growth in jobs in other sectors have helped to offset some of this change. Research also shows there are opportunities in clean energy, such as from increased land revenues and municipal taxes.

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Really interesting long read about how Alberta has got rid of coal. Echoes of the wailing about oil licences in Scotland.
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Pentagon says it’s impossible to ditch Huawei telecom gear — officials beg Congress for waiver from Chinese sanctions • Tom’s Hardware

Jeff Butts:

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Since 2019, the US Department of Defense has been asking for a waiver from legislation barring it from doing business with companies reliant on telecommunications equipment manufactured by Huawei. With increased tensions between the US and China and an ongoing chip war, that waiver may be harder to obtain. Still, Pentagon officials insist it would be impossible to lock Huawei out of all of the department’s operations.

The prohibition was signed into law as part of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act. Under Section 889 of that act, government agencies are barred from entering into or renewing contracts with any country or company that uses Huawei telecommunications equipment.

The problem is that Huawei is the largest telecom provider in the world. According to Fortune, the Chinese company accounts for nearly one-third of all telecommunications equipment revenue globally. Many nations cannot shy away from the Chinese firm. Huawei’s products are often much less expensive than competing ones, and gutting an entire telecoms network to switch manufacturers would be a costly undertaking.

Former Defense Department official and founder of 5M Strategies Brennan Grignon said, “There are certain parts of the world where you literally cannot get away from Huawei.” She said that while the original legislation had good intentions, she doesn’t believe it was thought through very well.

…Pentagon officials insist that granting the waiver authority is essential. They say it would enable important resupply missions in various parts of the world and maintain national security. US military personnel often depend on Huawei networks, whether they are special operators on missions in the Indo-Pacific region or senior officers representing the US at international air shows.

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The DoD has a pretty good point here: how do you avoid every company reliant on Huawei? It’s almost a physical impossibility unless you get those companies to rip out their systems. But if you suspect Huawei of Evil Deeds no matter where its kit is, then you’ll be paranoid all the way.
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Wi-Fi scam: Perth man charged over evil twin fake Wi-Fi scam • escape.com.au

Hannah Moore:

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A man has been charged over an “evil twin” scam that used fake free wi-fi networks to steal the personal data of unsuspecting users.
Police allege the man, 42, used a device in a number of locations, including airports in Perth, Melbourne and Adelaide, and on domestic flights, to create “evil twin” copies of legitimate wi-fi networks.

When users tried to connect their devices to the networks, they were allegedly taken to a fake web page and required to sign in using their email or social media logins.

Those details were then allegedly saved to the man’s devices, and could be used to access more personal information, including a victim’s online communications, stored images and videos or bank details, police said.

The alleged scam was reported to police by an airline in April, after its employees identified a suspicious wi-fi network during a domestic flight.

AFP investigators searched the man’s baggage when he returned to Perth Airport on an interstate flight on April 19, and seized a portable wireless access device, a laptop and a mobile phone from his hand luggage.

Officers also raided his home in Palmyra, near Fremantle.

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And to those saying “this is why you want a VPN!”, haveibeenpwned expert Troy Hunt points out that that wouldn’t have helped, because this gets your credentials while you’re still operating en clair. This is why I keep well clear of public Wi-Fi spots that require any ID, to be honest: this scam still works.
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• Why do social networks drive us a little mad? • Why does angry content seem to dominate what we see? • How much of a role do algorithms play in affecting what we see and do online? • What can we do about it? • Did Facebook have any inkling of what was coming in Myanmar in 2016? Read Social Warming, my latest book, and find answers – and more.

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Errata, corrigenda and ai no corrida: none notified