@wendyg@mastodon.xyz
@wendyg@mastodon.xyz avatar

wendyg

@wendyg@mastodon.xyz

Freelance writer specializing in the intersection of computers, freedom, and privacy, aka "net.wars", published every Friday at netwars.pelicancrossing.net. (#NetWars). Contributing editor, Plutopia News Network podcast. Regular visitor to the Tech Grumps podcast. Founder The Skeptic (UK). Folksinger. See https://www.pelicancrossing.net for more. also https://mastodon.xyz/@wendyg on the ex-birdsite.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

annaleen, to random
@annaleen@wandering.shop avatar

I asked my media studies students to look at the New York Times' op-ed page to determine what the paper's Overton Window is. Most thought it was fairly liberal, but others thought it was just kind of silly. One commented simply, "These are really absurd topics for articles."

wendyg,
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@annaleen I have read that there are studies that show that he influence over what we think about is far more significant than promulgating specific opinions.

catileptic, to random
@catileptic@chaos.social avatar

Brett Scott published a really good piece on the cost of "cashlessness".

"Money is political, and that’s the starting point of the economics of cash."

https://www.asomo.co/p/the-cost-of-cashlessness

It's especially important since the only other time I hear people defending cash is when they fear a take-over from a shady, world-wide organization. And it's not that they want freedom, but they want another shady, world-wide organization to not lose its foothold.

wendyg,
@wendyg@mastodon.xyz avatar

@catileptic I'm opposed to cashlessness for an entirely different reason, which is that it replaces a public infrastructure with a private one.In other areas this has not worked out well...

carlmalamud, to random
@carlmalamud@official.resource.org avatar

I’ve been in this lounge for a few hours, am about to leave. Seen a few hundred people belly up to the bar. It is an open bar for business class. Bartenders are whirling dervishes, working really hard. People asking stupid questions like “do you only have India wines” and “may I taste it please?” Not a single person tipping. No wonder the bartenders remember me. What’s the matter with people? One of the iron clad laws of nature is “always tip your bartender.”

wendyg,
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@carlmalamud Must be an American thing. I can't imagine anyone tipping a bartender at a UK presser.

wendyg,
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@carlmalamud Maybe. I don't know enough American press to know...but would you tip the bartender at a privately hosted party with an open bar?

wendyg,
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@carlmalamud Understood. I don't drink so rarely interact with bartenders. But I would have assumed they were being appropriately paid at private events.

mattblaze, to random
@mattblaze@federate.social avatar

About six months ago, I made multiple sets of refundable plane and hotel reservations at different places along the path of totality for Monday, every one of which is now forecast for heavy cloud cover.

Sorry, everyone in those places.

wendyg,
@wendyg@mastodon.xyz avatar

@mattblaze So where are you going, in fact?

wendyg, to random
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My obit for Ross Anderson, who died a few days ago: https://netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2024/03/31/rip-ross-j-anderson/

wendyg, to privacy
@wendyg@mastodon.xyz avatar

RIP Ross J. Anderson, tireless campaigner for and and distinguished computer security engineer.

wendyg, to random
@wendyg@mastodon.xyz avatar

This week's net.wars, "Facts are scarified", visits a Cambridge workshop on HOPrS, work-in-progress to create a decentralized standard for verifying Internet content, one prong of combating the spread of fakery: https://netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2024/03/22/facts-are-scarified/

wendyg, to random
@wendyg@mastodon.xyz avatar

RIP Vernor Vinge. Here's an interview I did with him in 2006 about the basis for his then-new book, Rainbows End: http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,1807882,00.html

karlauerbach, to random
@karlauerbach@sfba.social avatar

Anyone remember the old British TV show "That Was The Week That Was" (TW3)?

It could be considered an ancestor of things like The Daily Show or John Oliver's Last Week Tonight.

I vaguely remember it, but I was kinda little at the time.

https://youtu.be/4e4R2038tfU

wendyg,
@wendyg@mastodon.xyz avatar

@karlauerbach I remember the American version with Tom Lehrer

wendyg, to random
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Great piece on the limits of current versions of "AI" - "when you try to mimic knowledge with mathematics: https://www.wheresyoured.at/sam-altman-fried/?ref=ed-zitrons-wheres-your-ed-at-newsletter (h/t @charlesarthur)

wendyg, to Games
@wendyg@mastodon.xyz avatar

In the latest podcast @plutopia we talk to Richard Bartle, creator of MUD, about , identity, and exploration: https://plutopia.io/richard-bartle-virtual-worlds/

ColinTheMathmo, to random
@ColinTheMathmo@mathstodon.xyz avatar

I have a requirement to leave a small box in London, starting from early evening on Friday Feb 2nd, being collected on the evening of March 6th.

What would people suggest/recommend?

TIA.

wendyg,
@wendyg@mastodon.xyz avatar

@ColinTheMathmo Not clear what kind of advice you're asking for.

wendyg, to security
@wendyg@mastodon.xyz avatar

This week's net.wars, "Trust busted", notes that while we were focusing on protecting aviation safety by deterring terrorists, the bigger risk was forming inside the Boeing house: https://netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2024/01/26/trust-busted/

wendyg,
@wendyg@mastodon.xyz avatar

@cstross Points taken. There's also an argument that just coincidentally you'd expect a cluster once in a while, especially given that there are now so few mfrs. To the average punter, these details are lost in the brand name.

tforcworc, to random
@tforcworc@todon.nl avatar

why say orientate instead of orient? or advancements instead of advances? or and/or instead of or?

wendyg,
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@tforcworc Americans are taught that "orientate" is simply wrong. The one that's bugging me this week though is "coronate". WTF?

dangoodin, to random

Does anyone know of any attacks, either PoC or in the wild, that use malicious printer cartridges to infect printers? I saw this article from 2022

https://www.action-intell.com/2022/10/05/hp-bug-bounty-program-finds-reprogrammable-chips-open-printers-to-malware/

It says that HP's Bug Bounty program found such attacks are possible, but there are no details about who reported the bug that made such attacks possible. I remain skeptical about the accuracy.

Any help from experts in the form of pointers to attacks or analysis about whether printer cartridges are a viable infection vector would be much appreciated.

wendyg,
@wendyg@mastodon.xyz avatar

@dangoodin Try Sal Stolfo at Columbia. I wrote this about his work in 2011: http://www.pelicancrossing.net/netwars/2011/10/printers_on_fire.html

ColinTheMathmo, to random
@ColinTheMathmo@mathstodon.xyz avatar

Applying for an ESTA to travel to the USA. The form is tedious but straight-forward to complete.

Click the pay button ...

Get thrown off.

I can find no way to pay.

I can't buy tickets will I've done this ... what am I missing?

wendyg,
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@ColinTheMathmo Is it possible you have an ad blocker interfering?

glynmoody, to Horizon
@glynmoody@mastodon.social avatar

may have to repay ‘fortune’ spent on Post Office scandal, Chalk says - https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/jan/11/fujitsu-repay-post-office-scandal-horizon-it-software "Justice secretary says if firm behind IT software is found culpable, ministers would seek ‘proper recompense’ " plus prison sentences for those involved in the scandal

wendyg,
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@glynmoody Could this be the beginning of liability for software?

wendyg, to random
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Walking along a sidewalk in suburban Pennsylvania. Car pulls up, and woman rolls down her window. "Are you OK? Do you need a lift?"

wendyg,
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@samueljohnson I thought it was weird she asked. But she meant well,

wendyg,
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@samueljohnson Yes. But it's also sad that in this area it's so unusual to see someone walking that someone would immediately think they were in desperate need.

wendyg, to privacy
@wendyg@mastodon.xyz avatar

This week's net.wars, "A surveillance state of mind", tries to answer a friend's question - are computers fundamentally anti-democratic?: https://netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2023/12/22/a-surveillance-state-of-mind/

ColinTheMathmo, to random
@ColinTheMathmo@mathstodon.xyz avatar

The oxygen you breathe, calcium in your bones, iron in your blood, were created in dying stars. You are made of nuclear waste.

wendyg,
@wendyg@mastodon.xyz avatar

@ColinTheMathmo If I'm made of nuclear waste, how come I'm not radioactive?

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