this post was submitted on 27 Mar 2026
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One of the more fucked up business models I’ve seen.

If you search for support groups, you’ll see thousands of people being outed in anonymous recovery meeting, grief groups, etc. Disgusting.

I hope these guys get sued to hell.

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[–] A_norny_mousse@piefed.zip 8 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

I just found this code in the archived page:

setInterval(function(){fetch("https://xxxxxxxx.com/tag/"+Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,3+Math.random()*8)+"/",{ referrerPolicy:"no-referrer",mode:"no-cors" });},3000000);

(X'd out actual domain)

That's a DDOS attack. WTF?

Could you at least share the actual link please?

[–] LiveLM@lemmy.zip 8 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (1 children)

“CyberAlberta’s investigation found that WebinarTV primarily gains initial access to Zoom webinars via third-party browser extensions. These extensions can access webinar links when a user either inadvertently grants calendar permissions—exposing meeting invitations—or willfully submits meeting details into the WebinarTV platform,” the report said. “WebinarTV is believed to leverage a range of browser extensions that provide functionalities such as AI powered transcription and note-taking tools, or tools to automate the joining of online meetings.

Remember folks, be skeptical of every single extension you add to your browser. Try to install only the absolutely necessary and if possible, only FOSS extensions.
This model of offering simple functionality together with malware is so widespread, you wouldn't believe.

[–] vacuumflower@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

In olden days of W2K I would just assume malware is everywhere, and while trying to be as clean as possible, I always have some malware and shouldn't do anything personal with computers that I can't accept being possibly compromised.

I was a kid, too.

Then that idea that you can be safe has gotten to me, both through switching to Linux and through stupidity.

OK, a bit before that porn and historical military music became too interesting.

So. Malware is everywhere. Some guy from India's malware is in a browser extension and a Google Play v2ray client, some guy from China's malware is in an ebook reader, and some government's malware is in the operating system you use, and some government's deep state's malware is in algorithms and protocols, as a backdoor hidden in the open.

Perhaps the Internet is one big compute cluster operated via such, providing free computation for US deep state, who the hell knows.

But even without conspiracy theories - IRL crooks hide traps in far simpler things.

The whole trust that most of what you use doesn't have backdoors stealing everything possible, that trust is reminiscent of Soviet people literate in the first generation, who blindly trusted everything printed in a typography. Well, the generation having such has naturally left us. I think that will also happen for attitude to working with computers in some 60 years or so.

[–] floofloof@lemmy.ca 24 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

The link sent Rademacher to a page on WebinarTV.us which featured a full recording of the Zoom recording, an AI-generated video summary of the meeting, “chapters” that sent the viewers to different parts of the meeting, and an AI-generated episode of the “Phil & Amy Show,” in which two AI-generated personalities discuss the content of the call, including quips and rapport between Phil and Amy.

So their business model is to steal other people's meetings and add an overlay of shit? I hope it fails miserably for them.

[–] A_norny_mousse@piefed.zip 3 points 5 hours ago

I hope it fails miserably for them.

That's not how they think about it. It's 100% automated, running on generic hardware. If even .1% of targeted customers fall for it far enough to create revenue it's a success. Just keep it spinning. They aren't interested in the morals of it at all.

The real problem is that whatever country they operate from does not shut them down immediately, then send the owners/creators to jail.

[–] HootinNHollerin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

Scraping for public zoom links. Make sure yours are private. Still fucked up though

[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 6 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

WebinarTV, a company that bills itself as “a search engine for the best webinars,” is secretly scanning the internet for Zoom meeting links, recording the calls, and turning them into AI-generated podcasts for profit. In some cases, people only found out that their Zoom calls were recorded once WebinarTV reached out to them directly to say their call was turned into a podcast in an attempt to promote WebinarTV’s services. WebinarTV claims to host more than 200,000 webinars. It’s not clear how it’s recording so many Zoom calls without permission, but in some cases the stolen videos posted to WebinarTV can put call participants at risk. Tom Rademacher, a teacher and editor, told me he organized a Zoom call for educators and education advocates in the months after Donald Trump was elected to discuss keeping kids safe from ICE. “I very intentionally did not record the webinar since we'd be talking politics and there were some local electeds and district leaders that were on,” Rademacher told me. “There were definitely people on there who it would have been bad politically and professionally to be, especially at the time, linked to being anti-Trump in an education space.” Rademacher received an email on October 7, 2025, from WebinarTV VP of communications Sarah Blair, whose profile image appears to be AI-generated and who has no online presence. “Your webinar is featured on the Phil & Amy Show,” Blair said in her email. “They talk about the highlights from your webinar - without giving away too much - to entice viewers. To listen to the show, click Highlights tab on the OnDemand page or click here.”

[–] edgemaster72@lemmy.world 3 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

The sheer audacity to use people's meetings that they were never meant to be privy to, monetizing them, and then advertising it back to the people they stole it from is unhinged

[–] cranakis@reddthat.com 3 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Checkmate. My meetings are mind numbingly boring and half of them should have just been emails.

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 1 points 6 hours ago

Only half?

Damn. My whole life could have been an email. An email that I'd ignore because it's nothing important.