Tag Archives: twitter

Automating OSINT Python Course

A few months ago, a friend and co-worker asked if I had seen Automating OSINT. I hadn’t, so I went and checked it out and end up signed up for the free webinar. Turns out I had just missed the previous one by a few hours. And had some time to wait before the next one.

I’ve been wanting to expand beyond just bash scripting for most of my career. I tried learning Perl, and then I tried Python. The Google Python class, the MIT Python Class, Learn Python the Hardware, Think Python, Automate the Boring stuff with Python, and buying Python courses from Boing Boing. Problem is I never finished any of them. I think because I lose interest, and have other things to do.

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Research Project I’m trying to get off the ground

There is a project idea I’ve had for a few months now, tracking what happens to credit and debit cards that get posted to twitter. People are posting pictures of their cards to twitter. If I had to guess, because they are excited, want to show off, and think only their friends can read it.

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It’s really not hard to search the internet

Looking at twitter the other day, I’m left wondering whatever happened to people working for news agencies doing research, has researching things you see died?

A tweet came out:

Winter gales on Lake Michigan have encased the St. Joseph Lighthouse in a thick coating of ice (c. John McCormick): pic.twitter.com/PaxuxEhpqS

Embedded image permalink
c. John McCormick – http://www.michigannutphotography.com

Now, that’s an awesome looking photo. To me the ice looks a little like butter cream frosting, so I went and did a little checking, to see if it’s real. It was, and the checking took me all of 10 seconds to find a large image. Un-edited so it still contained it’s exif data. I used the reverse image search tool for Chrome. The exif data for the original photo is from Jan 23, 2013

Back to the tweet however. If you notice, in the tweet the Scott Meiklejoh said it wasn’t his photo, and gave credit to the original artist. Yet the first response to the tweet in the timeline is:

Anthony Morrison ‏@THETonyMorrison3 Jan

@ScottyTWN this is crazy!! Can we use this photo on CNN?? Tweet me!!

Looking at Mr. Morrison’s information he does work at CNN as a photographer. So you would think he’d actually be diligent enough to make sure he was asking the right person for permission to use a photo. I’m not trying to shame or insult Mr. Morrison, I’m just surprised at the instant request for usage without digging any.

So the question is, what ever happened to people researching things and doing a little leg work?