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Fraud and mismanagement at University College Cork Thu Aug 28, 2025 18:30 | Calli Morganite UCC has paid huge sums to a criminal professor
This story is not for republication. I bear responsibility for the things I write. I have read the guidelines and understand that I must not write anything untrue, and I won't.
This is a public interest story about a complete failure of governance and management at UCC.
Deliberate Design Flaw In ChatGPT-5 Sun Aug 17, 2025 08:04 | Mind Agent Socratic Dialog Between ChatGPT-5 and Mind Agent Reveals Fatal and Deliberate 'Design by Construction' Flaw
This design flaw in ChatGPT-5's default epistemic mode subverts what the much touted ChatGPT-5 can do... so long as the flaw is not tickled, any usage should be fine---The epistemological question is: how would anyone in the public, includes you reading this (since no one is all knowing), in an unfamiliar domain know whether or not the flaw has been tickled when seeking information or understanding of a domain without prior knowledge of that domain???!
This analysis is a pretty unique and significant contribution to the space of empirical evaluation of LLMs that exist in AI public world... at least thus far, as far as I am aware! For what it's worth--as if anyone in the ChatGPT universe cares as they pile up on using the "PhD level scholar in your pocket".
According to GPT-5, and according to my tests, this flaw exists in all LLMs... What is revealing is the deduction GPT-5 made: Why ?design choice? starts looking like ?deliberate flaw?.
People are paying $200 a month to not just ChatGPT, but all major LLMs have similar Pro pricing! I bet they, like the normal user of free ChatGPT, stay in LLM's default mode where the flaw manifests itself. As it did in this evaluation.
AI Reach: Gemini Reasoning Question of God Sat Aug 02, 2025 20:00 | Mind Agent Evaluating Semantic Reasoning Capability of AI Chatbot on Ontologically Deep Abstract (bias neutral) Thought
I have been evaluating AI Chatbot agents for their epistemic limits over the past two months, and have tested all major AI Agents, ChatGPT, Grok, Claude, Perplexity, and DeepSeek, for their epistemic limits and their negative impact as information gate-keepers.... Today I decided to test for how AI could be the boon for humanity in other positive areas, such as in completely abstract realms, such as metaphysical thought. Meaning, I wanted to test the LLMs for Positives beyond what most researchers benchmark these for, or have expressed in the approx. 2500 Turing tests in Humanity?s Last Exam.. And I chose as my first candidate, Google DeepMind's Gemini as I had not evaluated it before on anything.
Israeli Human Rights Group B'Tselem finally Admits It is Genocide releasing Our Genocide report Fri Aug 01, 2025 23:54 | 1 of indy We have all known it for over 2 years that it is a genocide in Gaza
Israeli human rights group B'Tselem has finally admitted what everyone else outside Israel has known for two years is that the Israeli state is carrying out a genocide in Gaza
Western governments like the USA are complicit in it as they have been supplying the huge bombs and missiles used by Israel and dropped on innocent civilians in Gaza. One phone call from the USA regime could have ended it at any point. However many other countries are complicity with their tacit approval and neighboring Arab countries have been pretty spinless too in their support
With the release of this report titled: Our Genocide -there is a good chance this will make it okay for more people within Israel itself to speak out and do something about it despite the fact that many there are actually in support of the Gaza
China?s CITY WIDE CASH SEIZURES Begin ? ATMs Frozen, Digital Yuan FORCED Overnight Wed Jul 30, 2025 21:40 | 1 of indy This story is unverified but it is very instructive of what will happen when cash is removed
THIS STORY IS UNVERIFIED BUT PLEASE WATCH THE VIDEO OR READ THE TRANSCRIPT AS IT GIVES AN VERY GOOD IDEA OF WHAT A CASHLESS SOCIETY WILL LOOK LIKE. And it ain't pretty
A single video report has come out of China claiming China's biggest cities are now cashless, not by choice, but by force. The report goes on to claim ATMs have gone dark, vaults are being emptied. And overnight (July 20 into 21), the digital yuan is the only currency allowed. The Saker >>
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005
RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony
Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony
Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony
RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony
Waiting for SIPO Anthony Public Inquiry >>
Parse failure for http://humanrights.ie/feed/. Last Retry Tuesday September 23, 2025 00:58
Hamas Executes ?Israeli Collaborators? in Streets of Gaza Mon Sep 22, 2025 19:30 | Will Jones Hamas?has executed three Palestinians accused of "collaborating" with Israel on the streets of Gaza, just hours after the UK, Australia and Canada announced their?recognition of a Palestinian state.
The post Hamas Executes “Israeli Collaborators” in Streets of Gaza appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
The Covid Response Was Not a Mistake ? It Was Just Wrong Mon Sep 22, 2025 17:35 | Dr David Bell The Covid response was not an error, and it was not the result of rushing to counter an unknown pathogen. It was a lot of people, mostly professionals, systematically doing what they knew was wrong, says Dr David Bell.
The post The Covid Response Was Not a Mistake ? It Was Just Wrong appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
School Accused of ?Brainwashing? Children After 14 Year-Olds Told to Read Book ?Blaming Them for The... Mon Sep 22, 2025 15:11 | Will Jones A parent has accused a secondary school of "brainwashing" after?he learned that 14 year-old pupils were told to read a book that "blames them for their white skin" ? and his daughter was forced to read it out loud.
The post School Accused of “Brainwashing” Children After 14 Year-Olds Told to Read Book “Blaming Them for Their White Skin” appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
No Benefits for Foreigners Under Reform, Says Nigel Farage: Stricter Visa Tests and Deportation for ... Mon Sep 22, 2025 13:00 | Will Jones Nigel Farage?today vowed to block foreign nationals from getting benefits, slashing the welfare bill "by ?234bn", and to deport hundreds of thousands of migrants with 'settled status' by bringing in stricter visa tests.
The post No Benefits for Foreigners Under Reform, Says Nigel Farage: Stricter Visa Tests and Deportation for Those Who Fail Under Crackdown on ‘Settled Status’ Migrants appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
When it Comes to Reparations, the Church of England Doesn?t Care About Evidence or Ethics Mon Sep 22, 2025 11:00 | Nigel Biggar The Church of England has shown that it doesn't care about evidence or ethics, says Prof Nigel Biggar. Why else, when presented with proof its ?100 million reparations giveaway is groundless, would it press on regardless?
The post When it Comes to Reparations, the Church of England Doesn?t Care About Evidence or Ethics appeared first on The Daily Sceptic. Lockdown Skeptics >>
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Alex Marunchak - Presumed Innocent
international |
miscellaneous |
opinion/analysis
Saturday September 15, 2012 01:16 by xxxxx

One name has come up again and again during Hackgate is Alex Marunchak, who worked at the News of the World between 1981 and 2006, and who has yet to be arrested or charged in relation to any of the Hackgate police operations (Tuleta, Elvedon, et al). Marunchak rose through the ranks at the News of the World under editors including Piers Morgan, Phil Hall, Rebekah Brooks, and Andy Coulson.
 Alex Marunchak - Presumed Innocent Marunchak name first came up in the hacking scandal when BBC's Panorama claimed that while working as editor for the Irish edition of the News of the World in 2006 he was sent the private emails of ex-British Intelligent officer Ian Hurst , who wrote a book about the alleged spy who infiltrated the Provisional Irish Republican Army, Stakeknife, under the pseudonym Martin Ingram. The BBC programme alleged that Alex Marunchak had hired the hacker to target Hurst, and the e-mails were allegedly obtained from Ian Hurst's computer using a Trojan virus contained in an e-mail, with copies of the emails being faxed to the News of the World's Dublin office. Marunchak told the BBC he had
never met with a private investigator whom I asked to hack into computers
And
It is absolutely untrue any unlawfully obtained material was ever received by me at the News of the World's offices in Dublin
Beyond the claims of e-mail hacking at his direction the BBC also claimed they had evidence that he had paid Southern Investigations for access to stories based on confidential police materials while he was working in London for the News of the World.
Marunchak is alleged to have had a long relationship with Southern Investigations, and it's owner Jonathan Rees, which included using photographers and vans leased to the paper to run surveillance on behalf of Jonathan Rees and his partner, Sid Fillery, on Detective Chief Superintendent David Cook. The Guardian investigation suggested that the surveillance included, among other things, the alleged use of Trojan viruses attached to emails in an attempt to steal information from his computer. What triggered this was Cook's appearance on BBC Crimewatch, where he appealed for information to help solve the murder of Daniel Morgan, a crime for which both Jonathan Rees and Sid Fillery were among the suspects. Cook was warned by Scotland Yard that they had picked up intelligence that Marunchak had been contacted by Fillery, and had promised to "sort Cook out".
The relationship between Marunchak and Southern Investigations goes way back, far enough for some of the conversations between Marunchak and Rees to be picked up by police bugs as part of Operation Nigeria in 1999, including these snippets reported in the Guardian in 2002
Alex Marunchak, of the News of the World, is identified by the transcripts as a lucrative customer of the agency. In a bugged telephone call in July 1999, Rees said Mr Marunchak owed the agency £7,555. The transcript says that the money would be paid in the name Media Investigations. Rees added that the account would be "back within the agreed limit" by the following week.
The transcripts also contain details of a call Rees made to Mr Marunchak the same month in which they discuss information about Kenneth Noye, the notorious criminal later convicted of the M25 road rage murder.
Rees asked: "You know the information I gave you about Noye?" He then explained that his contact had come up with something else and went on to talk about a minor royal couple who, he claimed, were suffering marriage and financial difficulties.
Asked to comment on the transcripts, Mr Marunchak said: "Are you recording this call?" Asked if he disputed that he bought material from Rees, he said: "You haven't heard me admit it."
It's unclear when the relationship between Marunchak and Jonathan Rees began, but in a strange co-incidence the BBC reported that they had seen a witness report that claimed that Daniel Morgan had said one week before his murder that he was taking a story to a newspaper exposing police corruption, and the witness believed his contact at the News of the World was Alex Marunchak. Sadly for Daniel Morgan the only story that made it to the papers was the one of his brutal murder in the car park of the Golden Lion pub, shortly after meeting Jonathan Rees.
In July 2011 it came to light that Alex Marunchak had found time in between working for the News of the World and setting up businesses with his friends to work as a Ukranian translator for the Metropolitan Police
Between 1980 and 2000 Alex Marunchak was on the Metropolitan Police list of interpreters who provide interpretation and translation services for victims,witnesses and suspects of crime who do not speak English.
Since the records system became electronic in 1996 we know that he undertook work as a Ukrainian language interpreter on one occasion in 1997 and six in 1999 as well as two translation assignments, totaling around 27 hours of work. It is likely he undertook work prior to 1996 as well. We recognise that this may cause concern and that some professions may be incompatible with the role of an interpreter.
It may have been after one of these grueling translation sessions, while relaxing in a bar near the police station, that a Metropolitan Police offices alleges he heard Marunchak boast that he had relatives of the officers from the Soham murders police investigation on his payroll, a claim repeated by Tom Watson MP in Parliament
I believe the Metropolitan Police are sitting on an intelligence report from late 2002 that claims a police contact overheard Marunchak claim he was paying the relatives of police officers in Cambridgeshire for information about the Soham murders. These are allegations that as far as we know have not been investigated. I don't whether these intelligence reports are accurate, but I do know Alex Marunchak was involved in writing stories about how the Manchester United shirts of those young girls were found.
This wouldn't be the only time Marunchak was brought up by Tom Watson in Parliament, who made a series of serious allegations about Alex Marunchak and others about the murder of Daniel Morgan under parliamentary privilege, to which Marunchak responded to by denying all the allegations made.
So the question remains, if all these allegations are true, if there's so much money being put into the police investigations into computer hacking through Operation Tuleta, why has Marunchak not been arrested?
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