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Library IT vs. the AI bots – June 9, 2025

Left to right: David Romani, Tim Shearer and Jason Casden worked with the Library’s IT team and campus colleagues to thwart bots attacking the online library catalog.

An unprecedented attack tests the ingenuity of the University Libraries’ IT department and reveals a dark side of artificial intelligence.

by Judy Panitch

The first sign of something amiss was a cry for help.

 “I’m getting reports from staff of a catalog error: ‘This website is under heavy load (queue full).’ I saw it myself once. Seems to be intermittent.”

Translation: On Dec. 2, 2024, the University Libraries’ online catalog was receiving so much traffic that it was periodically shutting out students, faculty and staff, including the head of User Experience. Could the Library’s IT experts take action?

Heavy use of the catalog during finals week is typical as students look up books and articles for term papers and projects. This was different. 

“It was just a boatload of traffic, more than we had any reasonable expectation of getting,” recalls David Romani, a system administrator and the Library’s security liaison. Normal heavy use might involve 100 simultaneous searches. Now, internal logs showed 500 or more searches at a time, overloading the system and triggering glitches.

In many computer attacks, related internet (IP) addresses or a single internet service provider (ISP) might behave suspiciously. Administrators stop the attack by blocking those computers. The Library permanently bans more than 4 million IP addresses—most of them overseas—because of prior bad behavior. The University blocks millions more at the campus level.

What Romani found surprised him. The searches were coming from addresses spread broadly across the United States using reputable ISPs such as AT&T, Spectrum and Verizon. Each interaction looked exactly like something that happens thousands of times a day at a research library like Carolina’s.

Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Library IT vs. the AI bots

#2025 #AIBots #Books #History #InformationTechnology #Libraries #Library #LibraryIT #Reading #Science #Technology #TheUniversityOfNorthCarolinaAtChapelHill #UNC #UNCLibraries #UnitedStates

Here's a new blog post about some of the best #writing I've ever encountered. I can be glad I've lived this long and didn't miss it. It also features a lovely #Seattle park and a poor dog. See how it all hangs together? Let me know what you think and, even better, check out Marlen Haushofer's work. I can't vouch for translations, but they're bound to carry some of her essence across.
Read the post at storiestravelsvisions.com/2025.

Tall trees and shrubs provide shade and coolness as the summer day heats up.
storiestravelsvisions · An afternoon in the park with a luminous novelIn the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, Salmon Bay Park extends to the equivalent of four small blocks of rolling landscape with tall evergreen and deciduous trees and grassy areas. It has a playgr…

In his day job as a video game writer, Jakub Szamalek spends his time in fantastic realms. Which may be why his new novel, the technothriller "Inner Space," is decidedly grounded in reality. To find out what else it is, check out this exclusive interview.
paulsemel.com/exclusive-interv
📖🛰️
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
#JakubSzamalek #JakubSzamalekInterview #JakubSzamalekInnerSpace #JakubSzamalekInnerSpaceInterview #Books #Reading #AuthorInterview #AuthorInterviews #BookTok #Technothriller #Thriller

In his day job as a video game writer, Jakub Szamalek spends his time in fantastic realms. Which may be why his new novel, the technothriller "Inner Space," is decidedly grounded in reality. To find out what else it is, check out this exclusive interview.
https://paulsemel.com/exclusive-interview-inner-space-author-jakub-szamalek/
📖🛰️
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
#JakubSzamalek #JakubSzamalekInterview #JakubSzamalekInnerSpace #JakubSzamalekInnerSpaceInterview #Books #Reading #AuthorInterview #AuthorInterviews #BookTok #Technothriller #Thriller

#bloomscrolling #flowerphotography #photography #nature #naturephotography #peace

In the same spirit, if you are interested in #reading #positive #stories, please see #solarpunk #novel at tinjar.ghost.io/a-new-faith

"A New Faith" is like a 7-layer #burrito that has #climatechange #adaptation #migration #geopolitics #bigotry #trauma #sacrifice all wrapped tightly into a #tortilla of #murder #mystery that is being solved by a dashing #detective who doesn't mind getting into #action

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗥𝗼𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹: A Novel by: Connie Willis

When level-headed Francie arrives in Roswell, New Mexico, for her college roommate’s UFO-themed wedding—complete with a true-believer bridegroom—she can’t help but roll her eyes at all the wide-eyed talk of aliens, which obviously don’t exist. Imagine her surprise, then, when she is abducted by one.

bookblabla.com/book/the-road-t

#author #reading #library #books #scifi
@bookstodon

I finished Atmosphere on Saturday and, after sitting with it for a few days, I think it might be one of my favourite books ever.

I thought Taylor Jenkins Reid would struggle to surpass Seven Husbands but man, this does.

I really really hope this gets adapted (properly) for the big screen because the narrative deserves it.

Read it!

9/10*

*Marks removed for emotional devastation