Julf

Julf, 9 hours ago to random

Julf, 9 hours ago to random

In 1997 the city of Amsterdam held a public referendum on whether to build the part of the city (IJburg) where we now live (by reclaiming land from the sea). The city won, narrowly, due to newly imposed strict turnout requirements. In this picture, the demonstrators against the project pose where our tram end stop is now.

Julf, 14 days ago to random

"Telegram has launched a pretty intense campaign to malign Signal as insecure, with assistance from Elon Musk. The goal seems to be to get activists to switch away from encrypted Signal to mostly-unencrypted Telegram."

https://twitter.com/matthew_d_green/status/1789687898863792453

Julf, 1 month ago to random

Another worrying example of how modern software includes way too much crap dependencies (often just to support irrelevant extra features).

In Linux, it is often systemd that is is the culprit.

"Openssh does not directly use xz-utils/liblzma. However debian and several other distributions patch openssh to support systemd notification, and libsystemd does depend o xz-utils/liblzma"

https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/alerts/2024/03/29/reported-supply-chain-compromise-affecting-xz-utils-data-compression-library-cve-2024-3094

Julf, 2 months ago to random

Interesting if verified, and would fit previous patterns:

Summary:

1. Russia was warned weeks ago
2. Such attack was a trained scenario
3. Security Services HQ only 5 min away
4. Belarus car plate was known but hidden
5. Belarus border police was informed & ready
6. Putin blames Ukraine for an escape corridor through the war zone, full with Russian troops"

https://nitter.privacydev.net/TinuFella/status/1771725054696440055

Julf, 2 months ago to random

Not in any way limited just to Africa.

"Being less and less likely to follow official media channels, the young people interviewed get their information almost exclusively from Facebook groups, TikTok, Telegram, etc., and subscribe to social media feeds whose anti-European and anti-American propaganda is their primary reason for existing."

"The wind is blowing towards the East: the vulnerability of young Africans to anti-Western propaganda" by Sergiu Mișcoiu

https://euvsdisinfo.eu/the-wind-is-blowing-towards-the-east-the-vulnerability-of-young-africans-to-anti-western-propaganda/

Julf, 2 months ago to random

"Moscow’s attempt to weaponize a diverse array of protest movements for its own propaganda purposes shouldn’t come as a surprise — this is Russia’s time-tested modus operandi. The same pattern has played out with everything from Black Lives Matter and the Jan. 6 insurrection in the U.S. to the Pegida anti-migrant movement in Germany, the Yellow Vests in France and a swath of anti-vaccine movements in between."

https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-farmer-protest-russia-war-propaganda/

Julf, 3 months ago to random

"It was remarkably easy to make Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics work in all situations"

https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/laws-2

Julf, 3 months ago to random

"Seven times as many people could have died from coronavirus in the first wave of the pandemic if the Netherlands had opted for a Swedish-style response"

"Even adopting Danish-style measures would have increased the mortality rate by a factor of 2.4, while UK-style interventions would have tripled the number of deaths."

https://www.dutchnews.nl/2024/02/dutch-coronavirus-deaths-seven-times-higher-with-swedish-rules/

Julf, 3 months ago to random

Another important piece by Ian Buruma.

"Religious politics are the greatest threat to democracy, more than social or economic inequality, lying politicians, or corruption, all of which are bad enough."

https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/religious-politics-threatens-democracies-by-ian-buruma-2024-01

Julf, 3 months ago to random

"While the details are scarce, we know that the compromised toothbrushes were running Java".

OK, but... why does a toothbrush need an internet connection? My advice about "smart" toothbrushes, dishwashers and microwave ovens is "don't!" - as in don't connect them to your WiFi network.

https://www.zdnet.com/home-and-office/smart-home/3-million-smart-toothbrushes-were-just-used-in-a-ddos-attack-really/

Julf, 3 months ago to random

"We had the luxury of deriving humor from Hitler and Nazi comparisons when doing so was almost always hyperbole. It’s not a luxury we can afford anymore."

Mike Godwin on Godwin’s Law.

https://web.archive.org/web/20231221184102/https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/12/20/godwins-law-trump-hitler-comparisons/

Julf, 3 months ago to random

Another excellent paper from a great team.

"CSS [Client side scanning] by its nature creates serious security and privacy risks for all society, while the assistance it can provide for law enforcement is at best problematic. There are multiple ways in which CSS can fail, can be evaded, and can be abused."

"Bugs in our pockets: the risks of client-side scanning"

https://academic.oup.com/cybersecurity/article/10/1/tyad020/7590463

Julf, 3 months ago to random

"Well done, republicans! Kremlin propagandists celebrate the Republican move to block funding and predict President Trump will totally cut off Ukraine and Israel."

https://www.thedailybeast.com/putins-pals-think-the-gop-just-won-them-the-war-in-ukraine

Julf, 4 months ago to random

"Many times when I identified as Libertarian, people said to me, “It’s just rich white guys that don’t want to be told what to do,” and I had a zillion answers to that — and now that seems 100 percent accurate.

I’m going to vote Democrat, maybe that’s all you need to know. I will not vote for a third-party candidate."

https://www.cracked.com/article_40871_penn-jillette-wants-to-talk-it-all-out.htm

Julf, 4 months ago to random

Due to the heavy rains in both The Netherlands and Germany (where many Dutch rivers start out from) the water levels are extremely high. Pumping stations are running at full steam.

At the measurement stations nearest to us, the water levels are at +27 cm above NAP, when the usual level is -25 cm below.

Julf, 4 months ago to random

"This seems to be the future A.I. promises. Endless content generated by robots, enjoyed by no one, clogging up everything, and wasting everyone’s time. "

https://newrepublic.com/article/177197/year-ai-came-culture

Julf, 4 months ago to random

Julf, 5 months ago to random

Interesting point of view from Lawrence Lessig:

"No doubt, and again, electing Trump would be the worst political decision of the nation since the Civil War. But excluding him, wrongfully, by a close vote of the Supreme Court could well trigger the next Civil War. We must defeat him politically—not through clever lawyer interpretations of ambiguous constitutional texts."

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/12/supreme-court-trump-ballot-removal-colorado-wrong.html

Julf, 5 months ago to random

"This isn’t an isolated issue. New research shared exclusively with WIRED alleges that Copilot’s election misinformation is systemic. "

https://www.wired.com/story/microsoft-ai-copilot-chatbot-election-conspiracy/

Julf, 5 months ago to random

Another good one from @cstross

"Speaking as a science fiction writer, I'd like to offer a heartfelt apology for my part in the silicon valley oligarchy's rise to power. And I'd like to examine the toxic role of science fiction in providing justifications for the craziness."

https://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2023/11/dont-create-the-torment-nexus.html

Julf, 5 months ago to random

Can't believe this presentation (the keynote of the 2017 Chaos Communication Congress) was 5 years ago. Charles Stross, known for his dystropian science fiction with a scary tendency to turn out to hit all too close to reality, on how the future has become harder to predict:

https://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2018/01/dude-you-broke-the-future.html

Julf, 5 months ago to random

"You will want to trust it. It will use your mannerisms and cultural references. It will have a convincing voice, a confident tone, and an authoritative manner. Its personality will be optimized to exactly what you like and respond to.

It will act trustworthy, but it will not be trustworthy. We won’t know how they are trained. We won’t know their secret instructions. We won’t know their biases, either accidental or deliberate."

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2023/12/ai-and-trust.html

Julf, 5 months ago to random

“Honesty, integrity, facts — these are all part of the slippery slope that leads directly to a woke liberal democracy. It’s a truly horrifying thought.”

(Disclaimer: yes, this is satire)

https://newsthump.com/2023/12/01/expulsion-of-george-santos-simply-for-being-a-fraudulent-bullshitter-risks-dangerous-precedent-insist-republicans/