Friday Squid Blogging: The Awfulness of Squid Fishing Boats
It’s a pretty awful story.
As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered.
Read my blog posting guidelines here.
Comments
&ers • April 12, 2024 5:33 PM
@ALL
Old but eye-opening. Where we are heading.
hxxps://breakingdefense.com/2023/06/dumb-and-cheap-when-facing-electronic-warfare-in-ukraine-small-drones-quantity-is-quality/
vas pup • April 12, 2024 5:51 PM
The scientists learning to speak whale
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240409-the-scientists-learning-to-speak-whale
“In a world-first, scientists had a “conversation” with a whale. Now, researchers are trying to find out what they are actually saying.
A growling “throp” noise emanates from the research vessel’s underwater speaker. A humpback breaks away from its group and approaches. The mammal circles the boat. It surfaces and then dives again, tail slipping noiselessly into the water, and echoes the call back.
Researchers who “conversed” with a humpback whale say their encounter could be the first step towards communication with non-human intelligence. It was in 2021, off the coast of south-east Alaska, that the team of six scientists played a recording of a humpback greeting call using an underwater speaker. They were stunned when one humpback whale they had named Twain responded in a conversational manner.
Brenda McCowan was broadcasting a recorded humpback contact call – a “whup” r “throp” – through an underwater speaker. When Twain finally moved away, Hubbard ran downstairs to find a hubbub of excitement. Twain had “spoken” back, engaging in a “conversation” that lasted a full 20 minutes.
Long, rhythmic and constantly evolving, whales’ haunting songs can flow across entire ocean basins. They chatter with whistles and pulses, or use echolocation to paint pictures of their underwater world.
Whales have enchanted humans for centuries. In fact, whales display a long list of behaviours similar to humans. They cooperate with one another, as well as other species. They teach each other useful skills, look after each other’s young, and play.
However, unlike humans, the dominant sense in whales is not sight, but hearing. Sink 200m (660ft) below the ocean surface, and you’ll travel beyond the reach of light. Sound, on the other hand, can move farther and faster in water than it does in the air.
Baleen whales, including humpbacks, right whales and blue whales, have evolved a unique larynx that allows them to produce super low-frequency sounds which can travel huge distances. Blue whales, for instance, emit frequencies as low as 12.5 Hz, classed as infrasound and below the threshold of human hearing. Toothed whales, meanwhile, which include sperm whales, dolphins, porpoises and orcas, are the among loudest animals on Earth and use ultra-fast clicks for echolocation, to “see” their world, as well as soft burst pulses and whistles to communicate.
Fast forward to today, and the Seti research team hopes deciphering whale communication could help us to understand aliens, should we encounter any. The group hypothesises that whale sounds contain complex, intelligent messages akin to languages used by humans or potentially extraterrestrials. However, says McCowan, our understanding of whale communication is still very much in its infancy.
More than 5,000 miles (8,000km) away, a group of artificial intelligence and natural language processing experts, cryptographers, linguists, marine biologists, robotic experts and underwater acousticians are also hoping to use AI – this time to decipher sperm whale conversation.
Launched in 2020, Ceti (Cetacean Translation Initiative), led by marine biologist David Gruber, has been continuously recording a group of whales off the coast of Dominica, an island in the Caribbean, using microphones on buoys, robotic fish and tags fitted to the whales’ backs.
Sperm whales, which have the largest brains of any animal, gather at the ocean’s surface in family groups and communicate using Morse code-like sequences of clicks known as codas. The group of sperm whales that Ceti has been working with is made up of around 400 mothers, grandmothers and calves. This pod , or two evenly spaced clicks and then three clicks in quick succession.
The data collected has been processed using machine-learning algorithms to detect and classify clicks, with results due to be published in 2024. The aim, says Gruber, is to be able to econstruct “multi-party conversations” – in other words to create a “conversation” using the sperm whales’ own vocalizations.
Gruber hopes Ceti’s work will increase humans’ connection to nature. “AI could allow us to understand the communication systems of many other life forms on a much deeper level. I think it would be a good thing for the world if we really listen – if we care deeply about what whales are saying.”
Clive Robinson • April 12, 2024 9:02 PM
@ &ers,
Re : Cheap drones and EW.
“Old but eye-opening. Where we are heading.”
As you know I’ve talked about how to use drones in the “new warfare” for more than a couple of years now.
Importantly “AI is not required”.
I’ve explained how to get useful anti-EW on the attack drone control channels that gives you a 1000:1 power advantage over the EW jammers that in effect gives you upto thirty times the range advantage.
I’ve also mentioned quite indirectly using EM signals that the EW systems can not jam via a repeater system.
To put it bluntly and somewhat over simply, if you use a laser or high power LED in a tube as a transmitter on the repeater drone you get a very tight TX cone. If you put the receive diode in a tube pointing backwards off of the attack drone then you get a tight RX cone. To jam the attack drone you have to be quite a distance behind and at the right hight to get inside the RX cone to jam it.
I’ve also mentioned using “gum stick” “Single Board Computers” for various things…
Consider that the RX LED can be attached to one of the USB ports and an SDR transmitter to another. Thus with appropriate software you can get the SBC SDR to transmit the correct signals to the drone it’s attached to at a level an EW system can not jam.
As I’ve mentioned before the GPS signal can be spoofed. A fun thought is if you set the drone to hover, and change the GPS signals then the drone will move according to the changes. I demonstrated this back last century and little has been done to stop it.
I could go on but the simple fact is the journalist has either misunderstood or been given incorrect information.
For around $100-200 you can make a very light anti-EW or more correctly “Electronic Counter Counter Measures”(ECCM) system. If as the journalist indicates you are spending $2000/drone then a low cost ECCM system will be a bit of a game changer.
One of the reasons jamming or ECM systems have died back in the Western Weapons line up is that ECCM can with careful thought, overcome ECM systems for a fraction of the hardware cost and a fraction of the EM power thus very very significantly reducing size, weight and electrical requirements.
Oh and Jamming equipment is kind of like a lighthouse on a clear dark night. You can see where it is from 20miles away and sail straight for it. Even if it is ground mobile it will not be able to out run a low cost fox with DF RX thus “fly down the beam” and drop a pound or to of HMX or equivalent on the antennas or vehicle. Get the timing right and you can then send in other drones.
I won’t go into the details of how to setup an airborne repeater but note that “hight of repeater” means that the “attack drone can fly lower” so low in fact it’s below the ground mounted jammers horizon… Add in a simple cardioid antenna to the attack drone with the null pointing at the EW source and well the advantages are significant.
Twist my arm and I can tell you how to make an electronically phased four wire antenna that can actively not just steer the null but DF signals to triangulate it’s position so GPS jamming becomes irrelevant.
Before people throw a wobbly, all this knowledge is very much in the public domain looking up the principles of Decca-Navigator, and US rip-off LoRan and the various VOR systems will tell you what you need to know.
echo • April 12, 2024 9:36 PM
If anyone wants a wild trip through the history of far right activity, shady bad actors with deep pockets, and how bad actors attempt to manufacture consent with dodgy reports and media manipulation you wouldn’t go far wrong by using the Cass review as a case study. And yes it’s not many steps onwards to expose dodgy billionaires, domestic terrorists, and nation state level bad actors. I’m sure one day it will make for a breathless narrative and earn some journo a Pulitzer for their scoop. In the meantime real people are being harmed and children are dying as a result of industrialised hatred. Only this week I saw pictures of a young transgender woman whose face looked like a road accident after she was beaten by a gang of men, and two more inquests opened this week into the deaths of transgender children bullied and abused by a system which does not care.
This is only one link of many. I picked it as it’s a fairly readable take on the situation. It leaves a lot out which conceals the horror show. I’m not linking to anything else as it’s not helpful having none subject matter experts stick their know-it-all noses in nor do I want to put individuals at risk of privacy invasion or abuse.
https://yorkshirebylines.co.uk/politics/the-cass-review/
The Cass review: trans care or trans scare?
The Cass review into NHS England’s gender identity services for children and young people lacks rigour but fits the government’s agenda
The Cass review dropped this week. The media gave people two hours to respond in some cases without even having read the report. As the review was leaked some researchers had time to rush out a preliminary analysis before the media began its cycle and had already ripped it to shreds. As more subject matter experts including PhD’s and Professors and various established NGO’s began to look at the document it was shredded on a line by line basis in real time. The report has already been rejected by established experts and authorities in the field internationally. More experts are being invited to comment and at least one working group is being put together to provide an in depth formal response.
The Cass review has a fluffy preamble which can frame uninformed views. The document itself would not pass any peer review process or ethics committee. In the words of one person the document is designed to be quoted not read.
From its inception the Cass review was rigged both by the government and bad actors in NHS England. Cass herself has been exposed as a “for hire” transphobe who was brought in to work on a policy pushed by DeSantis in Florida before being commissioned by the UK government. It is to be noted that Kemi Badenoch minister for equalities met with DeSantis in person and was caught red handed concealing information she privately met with known hate groups. Cass is known to have followed known transphobes on a Facebook account and on Twitter. She does not and has never followed any NGO representing or supporting transgender people. The specification for the governance panel was put together by a known transphobe. The governance panel itself excluded paediatricians with experience of working with transgender children because they would be “biased”. It excluded any transgender people or NGO’s representing transgender people because of “bias”. Known hate groups and individuals were given seats on the governance panel. 98% of peer reviewed papers in the world were excluded because of “bias”. All peer reviewed papers within the past two years were excluded.
The Cass review isn’t a serious document at all. It is simply a tool that bad actors wanted to create to use as an excuse to attack transgender peoples rights, feed scare stories, and dismantle access to healthcare and social support and a public life, and push “Conversion therapy”. This is genocidal and a recognised form of torture. The review itself is also counter to the view of every established women and LGBT rights NGO’s all of women support transgender people along with Amnesty International, Liberty, the United Nations, European Council of Ministers, European Union, the European Court of Human Rights, and long-term polling.
The far right view this as a mechanism by which the can then attack and remove other LGBT rights and abortion rights, and dismantle human rights legislation including privacy legislation.
Privacy has already come under attack. The government attempted to scoop up all transgender peoples medical records. Doctors refused to cooperate so they passed a law to exempt transgender peoples medical records from privacy by default. As doctors and transgender people are refusing to cooperate the government is talking about breaking the GDPR by passing a law to force access to these records.
Search Me • April 12, 2024 9:44 PM
Nationwide, more than 20,000 media jobs were slashed last year alone… the highest figure since since 2020, when news outlets laid off some 30,000 workers during the pandemic.
At least 70% of digital advertising revenue has been collected by Google and Meta, according to Insider Intelligence.
The Department of Justice has sued Google over its grip on digital advertising, with federal officials alleging it amassed such power by violating U.S. competition laws.
In California, advocates of the bill say Silicon Valley has a responsibility to pay news publishers for the astronomical profits it has reaped from serving people news articles.
https://www.npr.org/2024/04/12/1244416887/google-blocks-california-news-payments-bill
echo • April 12, 2024 10:52 PM
@Search Me
Three things are required for media/social media to improve especially in the US and UK
- Media regulation and fitness for ownership tests.
- Removal of indemnification of social media platforms and law enforcement turning blind eyes.
- Firm human rights especially hate speech law and privacy and right of redress and damages.
Until that happens all that would happen is taking money off one set of bad actors and giving money to another set of bad actors.
ResearcherZero • April 13, 2024 12:21 AM
How we filter sensory input.
“You don’t remember things as they actually happened; you only remember the bits that caught your attention.”
(the odd curse word)
The frequency illusion is the product of selective attention and confirmation bias, often with a dash of recency illusion. The frequency illusion refers to the same concept that was previously described as the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon.
Once something has grabbed your attention, you’re likely to notice. Leading you to think that the frequency has changed, as now you remember s–t that would have remained oblivious to you.
You now begin to see it everywhere.
‘https://mentalhealthathome.org/2021/12/03/what-is-frequency-illusion/
UBI • April 13, 2024 5:49 AM
@echo
The Interdependence of Independence: A Network Map of Children’s Services
https://www.childrensservices.network/
ResearcherZero • April 13, 2024 7:02 AM
Humans make social media toxic.
‘https://english.elpais.com/technology/2024-03-20/regardless-of-the-platform-or-algorithm-its-humans-that-make-social-media-toxic.html
technological, and psychological factors that contribute to the radicalization of ideological biases on social media
‘https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-52569-8_3
concrete ideas and research questions to improve algorithms
“Our brief overview of the current evidence on how algorithms affect well-being, misinformation, and polarization suggests that the role of algorithms in these phenomena is far from straightforward”
‘https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/17456916231185057
ResearcherZero • April 13, 2024 7:17 AM
designed for engagement, not information sharing
‘https://www.fastcompany.com/90943919/the-science-behind-why-social-media-algorithms-warp-our-view-of-the-world
disproportionalities
‘https://knightcolumbia.org/content/the-myth-of-the-algorithm-a-system-level-view-of-algorithmic-amplification
“the values encoded in these signals overridingly remain focused on the individual.”
‘https://hai.stanford.edu/news/tuning-our-algorithmic-amplifiers-encoding-societal-values-social-media-ais
echo • April 13, 2024 7:23 AM
University and College Union, UK trade union for academics, lecturers, trainers, researchers & academic-related staff in further and higher education Women’s Standing Committee unanimously passed an emergency motion to Congress condemning the Cass report.
Most unions and pretty much all established women’s organisations are ahead the curve. It’s green lights across the board. It still surprises me to hear about it. I’ll confess it brings a tear to my eye to read of unimpeachable women’s committees bringing unanimous emergency motions in support of transgender rights. They grasp the magnitude of the problem and they’re not assing about are they?
Trans students’ attainment ‘limited’ by discrimination.
Bullying and discrimination are leaving trans students ‘unable to concentrate’ in class and causing some to drop out of school altogether, research warns.
Given hate speech from the government which even the Home Office noted caused a rise in hate crimes as well as the NHS being stubbornly transphobic and effectively not existing as an option for most transgender children, and social media which school children may have access to is utterly flooded with organised transphobia and algorithms which concentrate hate it’s no real surprise schooling is impacted.
One trans child who had transferred from one to school to another to conceal their transgender status and lived in “stealth” mode was outed by one “evangelical Christian” school teacher who had unlawfully accessed school records to search for markers for transgender children. His abuse was so bad that neither their union or the ideologically motivated super transphobic Christian Legal Centre would touch him. That school teacher was quite rightly fired and lost their tribunal.
This will obviously have a long term impact not just on transgender children’s lives but also on their careers and lives later in life. It will reduce workplace diversity which, if this kind of thing interests you, will reduce capacity and capabilities of business, the law, public services, and even the military and intelligence services where neurodiversity and different modes of reasoning and points of view can provide a combat power edge. Me? Before transgender children were being given a hard time it was gay children and before that disabled children. I just want to see transgender children grow up and live happy and fulfilled lives and be everything they can be just like everyone else. It’s no more complicated than that.
Winter • April 13, 2024 7:44 AM
@echo
Most unions and pretty much all established women’s organisations are ahead the curve.
It is trickling down that all discrimination is linked.
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a CommunistThen they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a SocialistThen they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionistThen they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a JewThen they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
Martin Niemöller (1892–1984)
@ Researcher Zero
concrete ideas and research questions to improve algorithms
I think algorithms are already maximized to yield the results their owners pursue. “Improving” them has other connotations to their masters.
All society can do is try to defend itself from this overwhelming power. What we need is to regulate the use of algorithms [preferably by banning them from social media and software orchestrating social interactions]. I remember that for other algorithms [i.e. the algorithm for building the H bomb] there is social consensus on the need to regulate them.
ResearcherZero • April 13, 2024 8:21 AM
impact without intention
[RUN]
[I am a robot. My purpose is to classify, to sort, to order and to rank. Please proceed with input.]
Please proceed
Please proceed…………………
making many complicated processes and tasks easier, safer, more efficient……………………..
“Am I responsible for all the impacts of the algorithm I invoke, or algorithms invoked in my behalf through my choice of services?”
…Conceptual framework for the regulation of AI and algorithmic systems…
Respect for persons – This principle focuses on two main ethical convictions: the autonomy of every person and the protection of those with diminished autonomy.
Beneficence – This principle highlights the importance of treating people in an ethical manner, respecting their decisions, protecting them from any form of harm, and maximizing their well-being.
Justice – This principle is concerned with “fairness in distribution” and equality. It provides ways to distribute burdens and benefits by stating the importance of equal share, individual need, individual effort, societal contribution, and merit.
society-in-the-loop (SITL)
…Adapting the concept of human-in-the-loop (HITL) from the fields of modeling and simulation, and interactive machine learning.
‘https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10676-017-9430-8
Socially Responsible AI Algorithms
How to leverage this framework to improve societal well-being…
‘https://arxiv.org/abs/2101.02032
Please proceed…………………
[Teach me to be good robot?] 🤖
[STOP]
ResearcherZero • April 13, 2024 8:46 AM
Learning is not a passive process.
Constructivism is ‘an approach to learning that holds that people actively construct or make their own knowledge and that reality is determined by the experiences of the learner’.
“Vygotsky accepted Piaget’s claim that learners respond not to external stimuli but to their interpretation of those stimuli. However, he argued that cognitivists such as Piaget had overlooked the essentially social nature of language. As a result, he claimed they had failed to understand that learning is a collaborative process.”
…However, because knowledge is actively constructed by the learner, learning also depends to a significant extent on the learner’s internal drive to understand and promote the learning process.
‘https://gsi.berkeley.edu/gsi-guide-contents/learning-theory-research/social-constructivism/
cybershow • April 13, 2024 1:48 PM
I know that Friday Squid time is just for general jibber-jabber and
not to take the linked post too seriously. But I read it and it’s
heartbreaking. I don’t think Bruce has ever picked one like that
before.
It inspired me to formulate something that’s been on my mind about the
xz incident this week – about how security (which is a type of
quality) requires human care which cannot come out of
exploitation. In other words; exploitation of people leads to
exploitative technology.
hope you are all very well
Clive Robinson • April 13, 2024 5:53 PM
@ Bruce, Cybershow, ALL,
Re : It’s not just Berriberri.
“It’s a pretty awful story.”
It’s worse than awful, because it’s a well known disease and is fairly trivial to treat as is scurvy and other vitamin/mineral deficiencies.
The Captain’s of those ships know darn well what they are upto, and take care to see it only effects the “labour” not the ships officers and “work masters”.
They see it as the “capitalist way” as in effect taught / demanded by Western Corps.
These diseases by the way are on the rise in Western Countries in recent times where gross inflation has caused food prices of fresh food etc to rise above what families can really afford.
Apokrif • April 13, 2024 6:26 PM
@Echo: why not just remove data about people’s gender from legal documentation where it has no more use than sexual orientation?
&ers • April 13, 2024 7:23 PM
@ALL
Estonian Internal Security Service fresh Annual Review.
hxxps://kapo.ee/sites/default/files/content_page_attachments/Annual%20review%202023-2024.pdf
Older ones are here
hxxps://kapo.ee/en/content/annual-reviews/
echo • April 14, 2024 4:31 AM
why not just remove data about people’s gender from legal documentation where it has no more use than sexual orientation?
Someone’s gender status has nothing to do with their sexual orientation. It’s not even relevant to the topic.
As for the data and legal situation it’s less to do with data integrity and rights and everything to do with access and power. It’s a bit of a topic. I’m not going to comment on it specifically as it’s one of those the less you know the less you can hurt vulnerable people things.
That gets to be a very very interesting discussion and goes right back to courts so secret nobody knows the court exists or “The Hidden Case of Ewan Forbes” (by Zoe Playdon). It’s what Sherlock Holmes transgender twin sister would call a “three lunch problem”.
Winter • April 14, 2024 5:52 AM
@Apokrif
why not just remove data about people’s gender from legal documentation where it has no more use than sexual orientation?
There used to be a use as an extra ID check, does the person fit the description. That has become largely irrelevant due to biometrics.
But in reality, it is a historical relic of times when women were not free to travel or act in legal, medical , and financial matters. Nowadays, there are still many countries that limit women’s movements and actions. These need the gender marker to know whether a person is allowed to leave the country, get medical treatment, or open a bank account.
Apokrif • April 14, 2024 6:48 AM
@echo:
“Someone’s gender status has nothing to do with their sexual orientation. It’s not even relevant to the topic.”
Of course. My point is that if you don’t expect private data like sexual orientation or religion on an ID card, you don’t expect gender data there either.
Long version (in French):
http://www.madore.org/~david/weblog/d.2011-01-31.1844.html
http://www.liberation.fr/debats/2015/10/21/mettons-fin-a-la-categorie-sexe_1407885
echo • April 14, 2024 7:34 AM
@Apokrif
Of course. My point is that if you don’t expect private data like sexual orientation or religion on an ID card, you don’t expect gender data there either.
Interesting. Thanks for the link. I’m personally okay with gender markers on ID cards but I know some people aren’t. For other purposes, for example, NHS medical records have a field for 19 gender markers due to some medical conditions can’t be squeezed into a simple gender binary. The world also moved on from bioessentialism decades ago.
Just to keep one foot in the security topic this can have governance, sport and military, and counter-misinformation relevance.
On the subject of sport under the Tories a large number of sports bodies have blanket banned transgender women because of a bogus made up “advantage”. The science is there is no advantage. The law is inclusion by default and it requires rule changes to accommodate unless it’s not possible. Due to new nonsense testosterone and DNA requirements all they did was exclude women especially women of colour.
The new approach of cracking down on alleged advantages which don’t exist has had an unfortunate side effect. A new paper which just dropped says trans women are at a disadvantage to cisgender women. By that all the transphobic sports bodies have done is exclude cisgender women from women’s sports.
So as you can see if you have political clowns who have no idea what they are doing involved all you get is along with women who are transegender you get cisgender women and women of colour excluded from their own sport. In strict terms no woman is allowed to compete in women’s sport at all.
This kind of thing happens when misinformation/disinformation gets out of hand.
https://www.solicitorsjournal.com/sjarticle/on-the-treasury-committees-sexism-in-the-city-report
On the Treasury Committee’s Sexism in the City report
Charlotte Proudman
[…]
The Treasury Committee’s Sexism in the City report shows, despite years of advocacy, initiatives and promises of reform, progress towards gender equality in financial services remains distressingly unchanged.
And:
https://www.outsports.com/2024/4/12/24091267/transgender-athletes-study-research-science-sports-governing-bodies/
Study of trans athletes concludes blanket sports bans are a mistake. The lead researcher of a landmark IOC-funded study looking at strength, power and aerobic capacity of trans athletes tells Outsports that sports federations should consider its findings carefully.
And:
https://www.sciencealert.com/study-reveals-most-valued-traits-in-a-romantic-partner-and-its-a-nice-surprise
Study Reveals Most Valued Traits in a Romantic Partner, And It’s a Nice Surprise
And:
https://neurosciencenews.com/cognitive-skills-brexit-25246/
The authors add: “This study adds to existing academic evidence showing that low cognitive ability makes people more susceptible to misinformation and disinformation. People with lower cognitive ability and analytical thinking skills find it harder to detect and discount this type of information.”
Clive Robinson • April 14, 2024 8:26 AM
@ Bruce, ALL,
This talk covers not just Seymor Cray and the Cray 1 but earlier machines designed during WWII for code breaking,
echo • April 14, 2024 10:43 AM
https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/04/06/us-army-military-robots-soldiers-technology-testing-war/
Army officials don’t think that robots will replace humans—or that they will do much to solve the problem of recruiting shortfalls—but they’re working on the math to get the ratio of humans to robots to about 2-to-1 or 3-to-1.
The point is to get the advantage before China or Russia do.
“We don’t want it to be even,” said Lt. Gen. John Morrison, the principal advisor to the Army’s chief of staff for network and cybersecurity. “We want it to be a technical overmatch.”
The monopolar security model is broken. That’s why you need a multi-domain security definition. The best defence are societies which don’t fascist/authoritarian. I’m not a peacenik or anti-shiny toy person by any means but there’s levels of silliness which are unhelpful. It’s another reason why I tend to prefer the European model.
Seriously, chuck the Kissinger and Airsoft in the bin and read some Judith Butler and take up Roller Derby.
Military recruitment is dropping worldwide. Maybe there’s a reason for that, huh?
JonKnowsNothing • April 14, 2024 10:56 AM
@Clive, All
re: H5N1 diary cow outbreak USA
From a MSM Report (1)
H5N1 the highly lethal bird flu has now zoonotic. It infects 48 species of mammals, including humans.
Generally the root cause is determined to be “visiting wild bird poop” falling on the pastures or swooping through open barns. It’s pretty hard to keep a barn sealed from outside, unless it has been specially built for that like the Pig High Rise Farm-tels. So, the cause is a random visiting swallow swooping through a barn or flying over open pasture.
For carnivores, the root cause is sleeping or rolling in an infected area or consuming an infected bird.
The outbreak in the USA covers a number of states, and the root cause is the transfer of sick cows from one location to another, where the virus infects the destination herd.
But this line is telling
- it’s still unclear how the cows got the disease [in the first place]
Another nugget in the OH HECK! Department
.. a concern that the disease was passed via infected poultry litter — a mix of poultry excreta, spilled feed, feathers, and other waste scraped from the floors of industrial chicken and turkey production plants — which, in the United States, is used in cattle feed on some farms.
…
The practice is banned in the United Kingdom, European Union and Canada, where fears of spreading bovine spongiform encephalitis — mad cow disease — made such practices seem too risky.
For the virus reservoir, since the outbreaks may have been on-going but unnoticed
… in states now known to have infected herds suggests to some it may have been around for weeks or months. And if symptoms were mild enough in cattle and humans not to warrant a vet or doctor’s visit, it could be circulating and getting even more chances to evolve,
…
[they looking for] a mammalian host with a human and avian flu, allowing an opportunity to mix and recombine.
Which is why many are now looking toward factory pigs and swine
===
1)
HAIL Warning
note: Google Search & Meta Search is no longer showing links to news sites in California. Other news agencies in other countries are also embargoed: AU, Canada, USA, Europe
ht tps:/ /w ww.latimes.com/environment/story/2024-04-14/nobody-saw-this-coming-california-dairies-scramble-to-guard-herds-against-bird-flu
- Texas, New Mexico, Idaho, Ohio, Kansas, Michigan, California
JonKnowsNothing • April 14, 2024 11:13 AM
@Clive, All
re: C19 + Respiratory Illness on the rise & Measles for Holiday
Few official reports are in for the Spring C19 Season but anecdotal reports are that lots of folks are getting sick since the Easter Holiday. In the USA, spring break from schools, family get togethers are resulting in reports of
- The worst cold we’ve ever had
- Had a cold a recently and still feeling weak and tired
So while some of us snorkel in masks hoping to avoid the uniform Dx of Cold based on symptoms, the rise of Measles infections continues to advance along the path of Holiday Travel Destinations
Los Angeles County health officials issued an exposure warning Saturday after a traveler with measles visited Universal Studios and several other locations in the county between March 30 and April 1.
===
1)
HAIL Warning
note: Google Search & Meta Search is no longer showing links to news sites in California. Other news agencies in other countries are also embargoed: AU, Canada, USA, Europe
ht tps: //w ww.latimes.com/california/story/2024-04-13/public-health-officials-measles-exposure
- Health officials warn of measles exposure in Los Angeles County
List of dates and locations of potential exposure.
echo • April 14, 2024 11:23 AM
‘Two years to save the world’: UN climate chief calls for faster action and more finance.
United Nations executive climate secretary Simon Stiell said he knows his warning may sound melodramatic but action over the next two years is “essential”.
And:
The risk of a critical AMOC transition is real and very serious, even if we cannot confidently predict when and whether this will happen. We have already left behind the stable Holocene climate in which humanity has thrived (Osman et al., 2021), and the latest IPCC report warns us that beyond 1.5°C of global warming, we move into the realm of “high risk” with respect to climate tipping points (IPCC, 2023).
[…]
A full AMOC collapse would be a massive, planetary-scale disaster. We really want to prevent this from happening.
What a time to be alive…
lurker • April 14, 2024 4:36 PM
@JonKnowsNothing
“the root cause is the transfer of sick cows from one location to another”
NZ has a National Animal Identification (NAIT) (1) scheme whereby all dairy cows are supposed to have a RFID chipped eartag that can be scanned at the farmgate, saleyards, wherever. This was introduced to assist in preventing/tracking the spread of bovine TB, and because it was obvious farmers, truckies and random stock handlers didn’t have the time or ability to accurately read tag numbers and update paper records while they were actually moving cows.
The recent outbreak of Mycoplasma bovis (2) demonstrated that farmers weren’t always uptodate with their NAIT tags, and truckies &c. weren’t always able to accurately or timely scan tags. Compliance has improved after culling of the entire herd when one infected animal was found.
Our migratory birds come from Australia or Alaska.
(1)
https://www.groundrules.mpi.govt.nz/rule/3448-nait-tagging-and-registering-animals
(2) https://www.ospri.co.nz/our-programmes/mycoplasma-bovis-disease-eradication-programme/
echo • April 14, 2024 6:12 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RA-r_h8E4U4
‘Narcisse’ is a beautiful cinematic illusion and a contemporary interpretation of a classic myth about how ego is leading humanity to drown in its own image. It is time to face our destiny, time to hold hands and wake up before the end. A collaboration between Julie Gautier and Behind the Mask
It’s a bit of a busy world at the moment isn’t it? There’s a lot of war and authoritarianism and far right bigotry happening, and a few technical matters which many are commenting on. Like many of us I have seen pictures eyes should not see. I have heard stories of things which should not happen. Speaking only for myself you need a little peace and a moment to let your emotions flow. You find these moments where you can.
This short was filmed Y-40 “The Deep Joy” in Italy which at the time of opening was the world’s deepest pool. Water temperature is 33 Celcius so crystal clear. It’s all what the camera sees. No CGI.
vas pup • April 14, 2024 6:41 PM
MIT
https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/04/09/1091004/china-tech-regulation-
harsh-zhang/
“The way Chinese policies change almost always follow a three-phase progression: a lax approach where companies are given relative flexibility to expand and compete, sudden harsh crackdowns that slash profits, and eventually a new loosening of restrictions.
Take Alibaba and Tencent as examples. Since the 2000s, the two tech giants have made hundreds of mergers and investments, as a result of which their business
empires expanded to include almost every aspect of digital life in China. This
insatiable expansion came at the expense of users, who faced higher prices and less choice, but Chinese regulators let it slide. Then, suddenly, the government started a tech crackdown in 2020. All of a sudden, past mergers and acquisitions were under investigation, and hefty fines were meted out to punish the companies for antitrust violations, including a $2.8 billion fine for Alibaba.
Loosening causes chaos; tightening up causes death),” Zhang says. The Chinese
expression perfectly captures how the regulators dramatically yet predictably
oscillate between doing too little to police the tech sector and doing too much.
In the book, Zhang argues that Chinese tech platforms have long been accused of
obstructing competition, infringing on privacy, and violating the labor rights of gig workers—but regulators accommodated them in all three areas until suddenly putting the companies under scrutiny in late 2020. And after the peak of enforcement in 2022, the regulators slowed down on all three fronts and reached a compromise with Chinese companies.
Outside the examples in the book, “I think [the pattern] fits almost every sector,” Zhang says. From financial innovations like peer-to-peer loans in the mid-2010s to online tutoring, which exploded in popularity during the pandemic, they all went through similar shifts in experience with the regulators.
For many government officials, especially at the provincial and local levels, tech companies are the most important contributors to tax revenues and employment. They are often referred to as “local champions” or “little giants,”
and their business interests are directly tied to the interests of local
governments. In turn, the governments often go to great lengths to protect these companies.
Currently, AI is making the case that the interests of the government and the Chinese companies are aligned even more closely.
That’s because the technology is seen as crucial to achieving China’s goals of
technological supremacy and self-sufficiency, Zhang says.
At China’s annual parliamentary meeting last month, President Xi Jinping coined the term “new quality productive forces,” meaning the new sectors that are expected to counter China’s current economic slowdown. And a campaign focused on AI was explicitly mentioned in this connection.
The government’s deeply embedded interest in China’s AI industry means that the
industry will stay in that initial phase of lax regulation for a while, Zhang says. And she argues that AI regulations in China today are looser than those in the US and Europe.
This claim may seem a little counterintuitive at first. While the EU has indeed led the world in passing AI regulation, China has reacted much more
swiftly than the US, including passing some sweeping regulations about generative AI, deepfakes, and recommendation algorithms in the past two years.
But Zhang believes that these regulations are strict only when it comes to freedom of speech and content control, areas in which the Chinese government has been increasingly stringent. Other than that, the recent regulations offer vague principles and few enforceable measures to prevent the AI from causing harm, including harm to Chinese people’s human rights.
Judging from Chinese AI regulations so far, the pro-growth faction has prevailed, says Zhang. “At least you [in the US] have the FTC open an investigation into OpenAI. In China, did you see the CAC open an investigation into Baidu or ByteDance? No. And I predict they are very unlikely to do that in the future, unless something really bad happens,” she says.
How bad would it have to be to trigger the switch to regulatory crackdown?
Zhang says it would take a big AI misuse that sets off wide-ranging controversies and threatens social stability. If that happens, then the Chinese regulatory pendulum will dutifully swing to the harsh side again.
When it happens, it will be quick. “It will be quite random and quite sudden,”
Zhang says, “and it will be a surprise.”
vas pup • April 14, 2024 6:52 PM
iPhones suggest Palestinian flag emoji when users type ‘Jerusalem’; Apple: It’s a bug
https://www.timesofisrael.com/apple-pledges-to-stop-suggesting-palestinian-flag-emoji-when-users-type-jerusalem/
“SAN FRANCISCO — Apple on Thursday promised it would stop a Palestinian flag emoji from being suggested to some iPhone users when they type “Jerusalem” in messages.
The Silicon Valley tech titan blamed a software bug for the prompt, which sparked accusations Apple was showing anti-Israel bias amid the ongoing conflict against Hamas in Gaza.
Apple told AFP that the predictive emoji suggestion in the iPhone keyboard was not intentional and would be fixed in the next update to its mobile operating system.”
lurker • April 14, 2024 8:23 PM
@vas pup, @All
Jerusalem flag emoji.
Jerusalem should be an international zone with a distinct flag, not Palestine, not Israel. That’s according to UN GA Resolution 181. History shows that the British, who had League of Nations mandate, and were tasked with implementing Res.181 including a two state solution, contrived to make it appear their Army was routed by a handful of Jewish terrorists.
Can we declare the British won by not playing?
Clive Robinson • April 14, 2024 10:57 PM
@ lurker, ALL,
“Can we declare the British won by not playing?”
They played on the side of the lunitc zionists and irgun.
Remember about half a million Palestinians were driven out of their homes and lands, and the British due to “senior officers” either looked the other way or actively helped, with beatings and torturing
As we now know the zionists were not just murdering Palestinians by the bus load with fake-road side bombs they were raping and murdering young Palastinian women and girls.
We now know that not only was David Ben-Gurion well aware of these atrocities he deliberately turned a blind eye and further encouraged it as part of the “political violence” campaign. A campaign that involved the murdering of british soldiers some of whom were Jewish.
You have to remember that the senior British Officers were trying the same failed tactics as the Boar War in Africa.
Much of what you hear about the bringing into being of Israel is mostly untruths as a visit to the UK Public Records Office used to get you access to much of the decade prior to 1948. Likewise the Imperial War Museum.
I’ve said this before and the usual liars and defamers trotted out their nonsense. However when faced with actual documentation they “faded away” presumably to go be keyboard warriors against what they saw as easier targets.
ResearcherZero • April 15, 2024 12:05 AM
Legitimate files in PAN-OS firewall used to extract commands then write the results.
This followed the initial exploitation and the creation of a reverse shell. A cron job that used wget was then employed to retrieve the payload.
“The commands to be executed are forged by the attacker by requesting a non-existent web page which contains the specific pattern.”
Original files have been restored shortly after execution of commands along with original timestamps and access date modifications.
“After exploitation, the threat actor established persistence by continuously fetching and executing the contents of a file named ‘patch’. When executed, this file downloads and executes a remotely hosted file named ‘policy’. By modifying the contents of the policy file, the threat actor was able to execute a variety of commands on the compromised device.”
Exploitation began in March, followed by custom Python backdoor insertion in April.
‘https://www.volexity.com/blog/2024/04/12/zero-day-exploitation-of-unauthenticated-remote-code-execution-vulnerability-in-globalprotect-cve-2024-3400/
–
Stamps are now considered to be a “secure print item” in the same way as bank notes, meaning it is a crime to knowingly reuse or sell used or fake ones. (likely traceable)
‘https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/brits-handed-fake-stamp-warning-32561482
The Royal Mail introduced barcode stamps in 2022 in an effort to put a stop to forgeries that were costing the postal service tens of millions of pounds every year.
The barcodes are scanned when post arrives at sorting offices and suspicious stamps are then inspected by staff who then declare if the stamp is genuine or fake.
‘https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/china-flooding-britain-fake-stamps-economic-warfare/
ResearcherZero • April 15, 2024 12:52 AM
Personal responsibility, such as learning first aid is just as important as self conduct.
Redit and other platforms have sections to participate in, or create entire discussions of alternatives to having any security, living without first aid, or basic survival. All such scenarios include humans-in-the-loop (HITP), and their responsibilities for outcomes.
lurker • April 15, 2024 1:11 AM
@ResearcherZero
I’m just ploughing through some early Roger Penrose, then you tell me an attacker can “request a non-existent web page which contains the specific pattern.” I’ll need to have a wee lie down to think about the error log message from the server being appended to the .css file. Like, a firewall needs a .css file?
ResearcherZero • April 15, 2024 8:01 AM
@Anonymous
Everything is blacked out and you are all going to die. I’m shredding this very moment…
“With our world resembling science fiction, we no longer endeavor to imagine the future.”
‘https://publicseminar.org/essays/how-science-fiction-can-address-the-crisis-of-political-imagination/
“I would thus suggest the assertion of the Anthropocene as a kind of neo-Romantic revival of the melancholic fascination with death, illness and morbidity, ruin, and a vanishing natural world that characterized so much Anglo-American literature (especially poetry) in the nineteenth century. Patterns of thought that have become habitual in the cultural moment of the Anthropocene, an event which we have become so habituated toward that we imagine it as a catastrophe that has already happened.”
https://epublications.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1564&context=english_fac
The handful of asteroids big enough to wipe out humans, like in the movies “Armageddon” and “Deep Impact,” have already been found, and they’re not on collision courses.
‘https://www.insidescience.org/news/apocalypse-how-better-science-fiction-stories-about-threats-humanity
In science fiction, response to a crisis doesn’t usually show up right as the crisis is happening. It’s usually something you see later on, after a period of reflection.
https://www.polygon.com/21515948/what-science-fiction-means-today
ResearcherZero • April 15, 2024 8:18 AM
Anyone who really cared about such matters would take them to the appropriate forum, where it could do some good, rather than hijack them for the purpose of obfuscation.
echo • April 15, 2024 10:43 AM
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-68814395
Bondi Junction mall attack: ‘Obvious’ killer targeted women, Sydney police say
I’ve been holding back comment until this was confirmed by police. To the ordinary persons eye it was obvious the killer was targeting women. If I had been there I would have been a target as would any woman.
Myself I think one of the causes is hard right politicians (and media and social media platforms) who have inflamed public discussions because hate easily sells. That leads to incidences like this which are then exploited by the same bad actors who caused it in a cycle of doom.
Unless you have human rights embedded in domestic policy and foreign policy and development and trade agreements it feeds the problem. $1 spent on healthcare or welfare or topping up minimum wage is $1 less anyone can spend on escalating military conflict. Happier people don’t want war. Happier people tend not to vote for extremism.
jelo 117 • April 15, 2024 11:57 AM
There is a widespread tendency to take as reality what is in the imagination, because it is vivid or emotionally forceful. Often the subjective conviction demands action, and the resulting activity is taken as evidence to validate the imaginary starting point. This is the myth of Eurynome, see Robert Graves, The Greek Myths.
All immediate judgments are absolute, insofar as they immediately grasp existence. One’s judgments are universal insofar as they express the natures of things. The one real world is the standard by which all philosophical and scientific thinking is to be assessed.
On the other hand, the philosopher is free in starting out to choose what impresses itself first, either things or thought or language, with the choice conditioned by individual personality and upbringing. In this way philosophy respects the inherent dignity of human thinking.
Nevertheless, it is absolutely wrong to place the location of the ultimate real starting point in thought or in language, which are secondaries. Those who take such as starting points have to abide by the consequences of their own procedures [departing ever more from nature and reality], and can avoid these consequences only by basic revision of their thinking.
Yet because the same content that exists in things is expressed in thought and communicated in language, possibilities of fruitful dialogue and exchange of ideas lie open to all.
Philosophy is a fact. It is something that exists in the thinking of countless individuals. In probing its nature in respect of it being knowledge, the infusion by existing things makes philosophy capable of attaining truth, even though it is rendered deeply pluralistic by the human minds in which it unfolds.
echo • April 15, 2024 1:41 PM
https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/statement-final-report-cass-review
Equality and Human Rights Commission
We welcome publication of the final Cass Review report.
Not a surprise. The EHRC is completely captured by the Tory government. Known transphobes were parachuted in at the top. The ECHRC’s own top lawyer resigned in protest at transphobic activity ordered by the Chair which was matched by mass resignations of staff. A supposedly independent inquiry into allegations against the Chair were led by a questionable barrister with known transphobic connections. The EHRC has already received a warning from the United Nations for being in breach of its function and a number of conditions it is expected to meet. Proof has been obtained the EHRC is in breach of the “Paris principles”. The Paris Principles (‘Principles Relating to the Status of National Human Rights Institutions’) set out the minimum standards that NHRIs must meet in order to be considered credible and to operate effectively. The EHRC is currently being investigated again by the United Nations and likely to lose its accreditation.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-staff-networks/seen-network
Cabinet Office
Civil Service Staff Networks
Sex Equality and Equity Network (SEEN)
Former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss (don’t laugh) was last seen peddling the idea that the wokerati and transes had taken over the civil service before taking Heritage Foundation money and sharing a podium with Steve Bannon at CPAC, and jetting off to a another far right conference in Poland.
Inconveniently for Truss in the civil service there is this officially recognised openly transphobic staff network called SEEN. They’re one court judgment away from being shut down and fired. The only reason they can exist is the dubious Forstater judgment. If they exercised those beliefs in the workplace (Macereth) they would be out the door so fast their feet wouldn’t touch the ground.
lurker • April 15, 2024 2:41 PM
@ResearcherZero, @ALL
“Political parties are democracy’s gatekeepers.”
Which must be why the Melanesian nation of Vanuatu is holding a referendum on May 29 to abolish independent members of parliament. Given the fragmented nature of their political scene it’s mind-boggling how they scraped up the necessary two-thirds majority to get the proposed laws through the House. Attempting to stuff a western style democracy into village politics has had similar results in neighbouring Solomon Is, and Papua-Nw_Guinea.
‘https://blogs.griffith.edu.au/asiainsights/some-thoughts-on-the-proposed-vanuatu-party-laws/
echo • April 15, 2024 3:51 PM
https://www.404media.co/uk-gender-affirming-care-ai-generated-children/
Review Used By UK to Limit Gender Affirming Care Uses Images of AI-Generated Kids
One image depicts a non-binary child with short pink hair, consistent with how generative AI tends to represent queer people. In another image, a child’s fingers blend together.
The quality of the Cass review is already an international laughing stock and they do this?
Earlier this month, WIRED noted that generative AI has a track record of representing queer and trans people as a collage of stereotypes. It is not clear why the Cass team used AI-generated images in this report, which, again, has been used as evidence by the NHS to stop providing gender-affirming care to trans kids.
Because sabotaging transgender healthcare was its only goal and they have to use AI because not one single transgender child or transgender adult would willingly cooperate with this hatchet job.
ResearcherZero • April 15, 2024 6:33 PM
Verify whether you have device telemetry enabled (Device > Setup > Telemetry)
Disable the device’s telemetry feature until the hotfix has been applied.
‘https://security.paloaltonetworks.com/CVE-2024-3400
–
When the message is opened, Excel downloads with the help of macros a file named “packedtpodododod[.]exe”
CVE-2017-11882 is exploited to deliver AgentTesla hiding behind an Excel icon, which uploads data to the C2 via FTP.
The files contained aggregated credentials for every known browser, email (for example, Outlook and Thunderbird) account credentials, and remote access (VPN or RDP) credentials.
The C2 itself is a legitimate website that has been compromised.
The group created some of its SMTP domains to make its activities appear legitimate. Thus, one of the SMTP domains it used, itresinc[.]com, is apparently trying hard to look like the legitimate it-resinc[.]com.
alternate scenarios:
‘https://www.ptsecurity.com/ww-en/analytics/pt-esc-threat-intelligence/steganoamor-campaign-ta558-mass-attacking-companies-and-public-institutions-all-around-the-world/
This strategy involves the initial step of sending a spam email with an attached Excel file. When the Excel document is accessed, it exploits a vulnerability in the equation editor to kickstart the download of a VB script payload. Following execution of this payload, a PowerShell script is triggered. This PowerShell script retrieves a JPG image, within which concealed data is embedded using steganography.
Upon extracting and decoding the hidden content from the JPG image, a .NET assembly is obtained. This assembly is then loaded and invoked with the final payload URL as a parameter.
ResearcherZero • April 15, 2024 6:49 PM
Sit or lie the person down – to manage shock and prevent them from feeling dizzy and faint.
Examine the area to see if there is anything stuck in the wound – if there is do not remove it!
‘https://firstaidforlife.org.uk/knife-crime-serious-bleeding/
If blood soaks through the material, don’t remove it. Put more cloth or gauze on top of it and continue to apply pressure.
If the wound is on the arm or leg, raise limb above the heart, if possible, to help slow bleeding. Continue applying pressure until ambulance arrives.
Do not apply a tourniquet unless the bleeding is severe and not stopped with direct pressure.
‘https://www.webmd.com/first-aid/bleeding-cuts-wounds
Refrain from over exposing yourself to these events.
Your job is to assist the victim, not yourself.
They are likely in shock. Do not distress them further.
Do not apply opinions to the wound and remain calm.
Do not engage in rumor, innuendo -or agitate the victim.
ResearcherZero • April 15, 2024 7:10 PM
APT41 iOS backdoor F_Warehouse
Infection likely occurs via compromised news websites with stories related to Hong Kong.
“The reemergence of LightSpy highlights the ongoing threat of sophisticated mobile spyware used for espionage purposes. The targeting of individuals in Southern Asia, coupled with the suspected Chinese origin of the attackers, raises concerns about the potential motives and geopolitical implications of this campaign.”
Though typically deployed against a very small percentage of individuals – most usually journalists, activists, politicians and diplomats – hyper-focused spyware attacks are an ongoing and global threat. In recent months, many technology firms have cautioned about the risk of state-sponsored efforts to sway certain electoral outcomes.
‘https://blogs.blackberry.com/en/2024/04/lightspy-returns-renewed-espionage-campaign-targets-southern-asia-possibly-india
–
Riot police were called in to forcibly move the crowd on after police cars were smashed.
“They need to let police to do their jobs and let us do the investigation,” he said, promising more arrests over the public order incident.
Police said that they had arrested a 15-year-old at the scene and were forced to hold him at the church for his own safety as a large crowd of several hundred people gathered outside the church. Minns urged the community to remain calm.
“It’s important that the community remain calm and continue to listen and act to the directions of police and emergency services.”
‘https://apnews.com/article/australia-church-stabbing-0fd1e9d4ae21915d16318456d1e58bc7
ResearcherZero • April 15, 2024 10:52 PM
“Americans may soon live under a federal privacy law – a mere two decades after the US Federal Trade Commission urged Congress to regulate online data collection.”
‘https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/09/us_federal_privacy_law_apra/
American Privacy Rights Act (APRA)
A basic right to digital privacy and a national law regulating how companies collect, share and use Americans’ online data.
‘https://www.commerce.senate.gov/services/files/3F5EEA76-5B18-4B40-ABD9-F2F681AA965F
“net neutrality will allow the agency to serve once again as a strong consumer advocate of an open internet”
‘https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-401616A1.pdf
–
Of 100 hospital websites, 96 transferred user information to third parties. One name in particular stood out, in terms of who was receiving website visitors’ information.
“In every study we’ve done, in any part of the health system, Google, whose parent company is Alphabet, is on nearly every page, including hospitals,” Friedman observed.
“And two thirds of hospital websites had some kind of data transfer to a third-party domain that we couldn’t even identify,” he added.
‘https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/11/hospital_website_data_sharing/
–
Apple’s confused and hidden privacy settings.
Concerning the amount of data Safari collected, one participant remarked: “I wasn’t aware of that … if I would search for anything sensitive, then I would switch browser.”
‘https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/05/apple_apps_privacy_study/
“Users may disable default apps, only to discover later that the settings do not match their initial preference.”
Poorly documented, overly cumbersome and complex.
“Currently, default apps fail to notify users of what happens when attempting to disable certain privacy configurations. The majority of the default app configurations are found in Apple’s privacy policies.”
We found that the seamless integration of smart devices with the cloud reduces users’ privacy. …Examples of non-disclosure include ambiguous phrases such as “subsets of data stored” without indicating what is included in the subset of data, how is it processed, and for how long the data is retained.
‘https://acris.aalto.fi/ws/portalfiles/portal/141787684/Privacy_of_Default_Apps_in_Apple_s_Mobile_Ecosystem.pdf
&ers • April 16, 2024 4:04 PM
@ALL
Widely-Used PuTTY SSH Client Found Vulnerable to Key Recovery Attack
hxxps://thehackernews.com/2024/04/widely-used-putty-ssh-client-found.html?m=1
vas pup • April 16, 2024 4:40 PM
US Navy warships shot down Iranian missiles with a weapon they’ve never used in combat before
h ttps://news.yahoo.com/us-navy-warships-shot-down-165135162.html
“The SM-3 is an element of the Navy’s advanced Aegis Combat System and uses a kinetic kill vehicle to hit and destroy short- to intermediate-range ballistic missiles during the midcourse phase of flight. The SM-3 has the capacity for exo-atmospheric intercepts, meaning that it can eliminate targets beyond Earth’s atmosphere, unlike the Navy’s other air-defense capabilities.
“SM-3s are unique due to being the only Standard Missile designed to operate in the vacuum of space,” the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank notes in its Missile Defense Project.
There are multiple SM-3 variants, which can be fired from a Navy warship’s vertical launching system, and the Block I interceptors were first fielded nearly 20 years ago. Despite dozens of tests over the past two decades, the SM-3 had not been used in combat until now.”
echo • April 16, 2024 6:06 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S49Qe5-1APU
Cass’s Trans Healthcare Review Is Political | Curtis Daly Talks To Erin Reedhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B5W8BGZvfA
The Cass Report Is Pseudoscientific Trash
Now the initial rush is over and subject matter expert groups are working through the details of the Cass Review which is a 400 page report these two videos are for what they are worth a good pop overview of the disinformation network behind the Cass Review and a more detailed look at what is essentially a junk report putting an official gloss on a decade long and ongoing campaign by none state and state level bad actors with endlessly deep pockets.
Disclosure: I currently donate to Ukraine and LGBT especially transgender causes. I’ve sent Erin Reed and Transwrites and others money.
ResearcherZero • April 17, 2024 12:13 AM
re: supposition or hearsay
Nothing to suggest any “particular motivation, ideology or otherwise”
‘https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/apr/15/false-claims-started-spreading-about-the-bondi-junction-stabbing-attack-as-soon-as-it-happened
Unreliable News Content
https://www.crikey.com.au/2024/04/15/bondi-junction-stabbing-channel-7/
Unreliable Posts
‘https://www.aap.com.au/factcheck/fake-posts-allege-media-bias-in-bondi-massacre/
Unreliable Identification (falsely accused the wrong person)
–
Critical thinking and awareness of media bias…
https://ia.acs.org.au/article/2024/x-fails-to-combat-bondi-junction-attack-misinformation.html
What the public themselves are providing greatly contributes to the problem.
‘https://global.oup.com/academic/product/network-propaganda-9780190923631
Lies and more damned lies
“What’s notable about this and other fake news stories is how a single, untrustworthy webpage with a newsworthy claim can generate a massive number of shares on social networks.”
News organizations also play a major role in propagating hoaxes, false claims, questionable rumors, and dubious viral content themselves…
https://www.cjr.org/tow_center_reports/craig_silverman_lies_damn_lies_viral_content.php
…”And because people often have a deeply held desire to share what they know with others—particularly information that seems threatening or exciting—tech companies can only go so far to regulate content. There is also the challenge of volume.”
“While technology-centered, self-policing solutions—filtering software, artificial intelligence, modified algorithms, and content labeling—do have the ability to make changes quickly and at scale, they face significant ethical, financial, logistical, and legal constraints.”
“It will take all sectors of society: business, nonprofits, advocacy organizations, philanthropists, researchers, governments, and more. We also need to balance our efforts. For too long, too many resources and debates have focused on changing the technology, not educating people.”
‘https://ssir.org/articles/entry/strengthen_media_literacy_to_win_the_fight_against_misinformation
ResearcherZero • April 17, 2024 12:35 AM
Thousands of Russian soldiers are fleeing from Russia and from war but…
“There is no mechanism for Russians who do not want to fight, deserters, to get to a safe place.”
A decorated hero of Russia’s war in Ukraine told his friend and fellow soldier to please aim carefully and avoid bone.
“Many of my friends have died. And these were really good guys who didn’t want to fight,” he said. “But there was no way out for them.”
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-putin-deserter-asylum-5c7642cd14431d9af65076df2df4b861
In some places where the United States has invested the most soft power, authoritarianism has only gotten stronger—and journalists remain at risk. Why?
‘https://www.cjr.org/podcast/hearts-and-minds-media.php
–
‘https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-some-people-always-get-lost-and-others-never-do/
Clive Robinson • April 17, 2024 5:21 AM
@ ResearcherZero, ALL,
Re: Bondi supposition or hearsay
There is an old saying,
“Nature abhors a vacuum”
People forget it applies not just to the tangible physical universe, but also the intangible information universe.
The main visible difference being the “radius” of the effect and it’s propagation speed.
Thus it can be assumed and correctly historically confirmed that inventions that increased the speed and distance of communications to a point of information dissemination were to blame.
Further was a cascade effect, that was once half jokingly called,
“The speed of gossip”
Which also had the alternative of
“A lie can run half way around the world before the truth has got it’s boots on.”
But in 1710 Jonathan Swift observed,
“Besides, as the vilest Writer has his Readers, so the greatest Liar has his Believers; and it often happens, that if a Lie be believ’d only for an Hour, it has done its Work, and there is no farther occasion for it. Falsehood flies, and the Truth comes limping after it; so that when Men come to be undeceiv’d, it is too late; the Jest is over, and the Tale has had its Effect
Which encapsulates the problem but does not cover the speed of technology, or the competition for sales of news we see so blatantly today, even though it was clearly present three hundred years ago.
When I first heard about Bondi, the “all women victims” had started but was obviously not true. The thought occured to me was,
“Intent or easy target availability?”
And if “Intent why?”
We see this with attacks on schools which are predominantly girls and the reason is excused as “religious” terrorism. Which in effect hides the real reason is the deficiency in the mind of old men using
“The power to control and oppress by violence through proxy.”
For what is “self entitled” gratification, and is also supprisingly to many a fundamental hallmark of capitalism and it’s many acolytes.
But also is the issue that it was not gender. That is shopping malls are promoted as safe havens, thus attract people who want to avoid what is increasingly seen as the harshness and dangers of the streets. The everyday demographics of shopping malls is a much higher concentration of women and children. But they are seen as “soft targets” in that they can not in general robustly defend themselves nor can they on average as easily escape.
Because the attacker was killed at the scene we will now not know their motivation, so anything said by anyone on motivation will be at best assumptive guess work.
Which also gives free reign to others to bring out their favourite prejudices causing further disinformation…
And so it goes on, so is it surprising that many are trying to turn information dissemination into a long range high velocity weapon of near zero cost to the finger on the trigger?
echo • April 17, 2024 5:56 AM
“A lie can run half way around the world before the truth has got it’s boots on.
Well, yes and in many cases that is engineered deliberately.
https://www.them.us/story/vast-majority-mass-shooters-cis-men-far-right-misinformation-trans
The Vast Majority of Mass Shooters Are Cis Men. Why Does the Right Keep Saying They’re Trans? Experts explain what right-wing actors stand to gain by insisting that trans people are a threat.
Tum, te, tum.
We see this with attacks on schools which are predominantly girls and the reason is excused as “religious” terrorism. Which in effect hides the real reason is the deficiency in the mind of old men using
“The power to control and oppress by violence through proxy.”
For what is “self entitled” gratification, and is also supprisingly to many a fundamental hallmark of capitalism and it’s many acolytes.
But also is the issue that it was not gender. That is shopping malls are promoted as safe havens, thus attract people who want to avoid what is increasingly seen as the harshness and dangers of the streets. The everyday demographics of shopping malls is a much higher concentration of women and children. But they are seen as “soft targets” in that they can not in general robustly defend themselves nor can they on average as easily escape.
Because the attacker was killed at the scene we will now not know their motivation, so anything said by anyone on motivation will be at best assumptive guess work.
Which also gives free reign to others to bring out their favourite prejudices causing further disinformation…
Maybe if you began paying attention discussion would move past the “sounds important but means nothing” and get to the solutions part a bit faster.
The attacker is known to have been radicalised by the “manosphere” and had mental health and relationship with women issues. He was already known to the police. He also targeted women. That wasn’t just a statistical anomaly.
I keep bringing up discussion areas directly relevant to security which address these problems but because you have certain worldviews and are at the thinning end of the demographic in all honesty you’ve written yourself out. You have no idea what you are talking about and say it with such certainty so are part of the loop reinforcing the problems.
Living in the UK I’ve never seen a “shopping mall” (that’s an American term) promoted as a “safe haven”. Women’s security model is different and I can’t be bothered to explain it to someone who doesn’t pay attention. Your mind has been wired so hard by a lifetime of “male privilege” beginning in a bygone age which was horrendously systemically misogynistic you can’t see it.
So can you stop wading in like you’re the expert on everything like you own the topic? You’re not the one effected by it and don’t listen to those who are.
echo • April 17, 2024 7:40 AM
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/breaking-police-order-shut-down-32598446
Police order shut down of right-wing NatCon conference – during Nigel Farage’s speech
Nigel Farage was addressing the audience when police issued a formal warning for it to be shut down after the mayor of Brussels said ‘the far right is not welcome’
And:
https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/jay-elwes-russian-money-in-westminster-kremlin-conservative-party/
Big rouble in little Britain.
A flood of Russian money has undeniably corrupted British politics – but to what extent? It is now time for an inquiry to find out.
The far right have been a problem in the UK for some years. The impulse was always there and turbocharged by US Christian Nationalism and the Kremlin in recent years. The Conservative party are now utterly corrupted by it and they’ve got their hooks in all the main parties to varying degrees. There’s some pushback by the Greens and Liberals. Starmer’s Labour is fiscally misogynist and smoking the transphobia crack pipe as the right wing client media and billionaire owned media dictate the agenda and write their manifesto for them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RnJP7K3gLw
Why British Journalism is the WORST in the World
I’ve been saying for over a decade that UK media is the worst in the Western world. The BBC is utterly compromised. Regulators turn a blind eye. Journalism has largely disappeared and given way to opinion columns. Complacency and hate define too much of the agenda. Needs Levenson 2. Dropped by Hancock.
Clive Robinson • April 17, 2024 7:59 AM
@ echo, ALL,
Re : Another unreasoned attack.
“Maybe if you began paying attention discussion would move past the “sounds important but means nothing” and get to the solutions part a bit faster.”
Actually if you stopped leaping before looking you would realise that two wrongs do not in reality make a right.
Because you have an inbuilt hate of certain people you “pigeon hole” it significantly and detrimentally colours not just your view point but your ability to reason and learn. You clearly espouse to the notion of,
“I know what the world needs, so why do you not do it!”
If you had actually learned any history sociology or anthropology you would know that is “authoritarian behaviour” of the worst form and leads to failure often violently so that creates not just oppression but harm to thousands if not millions.
You are however not charismatic, so are consigned to one of the self promoting “vigilantly mob”
Characterised by unthinking, uninformed, and unreasoned behaviour, driven ever on by increasing bile, invective and hate of your own self failings.
Screaming to “hang them high” or equivalent is no solution to anything, it never has been and never will be.
Your behaviours are such that when clear to others they would have to be mad to think you were offering solutions, just promoting another form of “hate speech”, with faux-religious zeal of “eye for an eye” “might is right”, “moral high ground” nonsense you try to hide as “for the common good”.
But your own limitations prevent you seeing the foolishness you present yourself as how obvious and in other ways gauche.
Your past half dozen posts alone shows your very distinct failings, spite, bile, invective and failure to be reasoned or even artful.
You are incapable of logic, reason, and observation, thus establishing that finding truth or fact is so far beyond you, it’s clear you do not live in any kind of reasoned normality you function by rote from others equally as incapacitated.
Your spite for some self imagined slight from so long ago has become so obvious to so many they repeatedly ask you to stop.
That along with the falsity of your claims, pretence that you were trying to be funny etc when called on your spite and falsities you appear to be not just irrational but delusional.
Thus the question arises as to how you got into such a state, what was the events leading up to the tipping point?
But also the genuine question as to when you go over the next tipping point and so downward towards violence or worse against yourself or others.
Long before you turned up on this blog people assumed I was paranoid because I did not make myself available for personal / private communications via the likes of email, social media or god forbid my own web site etc. They wanted me to be what they wanted and I most certainly did not want to be, and still do not want to be. I keep my life strongly segregated a lesson few learn and mostly always to late. A subject the late Ross Anderson used to point out succinctly when explaining the two types of trust.
But you have become a shining example of why I was not paranoid and the very real dangers of the wrong form of trust.
If you were just a six year old “Violet Elizabeth Bott”,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXiZHXkG-ac
Then it might be amusing, but as you are old enough to be a typical knife or worse wielding narcissistic, sociopath with sadistic intent hell bent on self justification for self delusional imaginings. Then I suspect increasing numbers will see why I was not being paranoid just cautious about the long tail of the normal distribution curve.
A little surprised that this subject is not being discussed in this space.
If the bill becomes law, any company or individual that provides ANY service whatsoever may be forced to assist in NSA surveillance, as long as they have access to equipment on which communications are transmitted or stored—such as routers, servers, cell towers, etc.
‘https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1779885123363635572.html
echo • April 17, 2024 12:04 PM
@Clive
Another unreasoned attack.
More like bang to rights. As for the rest of your comment I don’t expect better of you. It’s just a laundry list of ad hominem and cherry-picking refusal to listen to anything.
I was clear I waited on more evidence before commenting and evidence you ignored. Unlike you I could have been a target if I was there. Unlike you I have lived experience of having to put up with male toxicity including but not limited to being cat-called, stared at, felt up, hit on, treated as a man’s personal therapist, followed when it was obvious I wanted to be left alone, had rapey comments shouted at me by a passing car driver, and the list goes on. I also have to plan routes and take into account foot traffic and time of day and where I am on the offchance I may be assaulted or raped, or cross the road or take a different route to avoid men who give me a bad vibe. That’s just for starters and before we get into structural or systemic discrimination and violence whatever form that might take.
You’ve never given any indication whatsoever you take the related public policy, or geopolitical, or security issues seriously even when I have directly linked to women who know what they are talking about. You’ve never engaged with any material or comment about reform or education or public health measures to improve wellbeing for women or men even when both are interlinked. So when you arrive with another one of your know-it-all comments excuse me when my eyes roll upwards and point towards the back of my head.
It’s very big of you to find a way to distract and ramble and twist the subject into blaming a woman for male violence.
lurker • April 17, 2024 2:45 PM
@echo, @Clive
Pleae, both of you, sit down in your own quiet corners with a nice hot cup of STFU.
Clive Robinson • April 17, 2024 3:44 PM
@ echo,
So now “bo ho whataboutory?”
“I was clear I waited on more evidence before commenting and evidence you ignored. Unlike you I could have been a target if I was there. Unlike you I have lived experience…”
Your imagination running wild again to go this time after the sympathy vote, to excuse your continued attacks on not just me but others.
Sorry you know not what you speak of. And I guess your what-aboutary is just another attempt to force your way unwanted into another group, to steal what is not yours.
“You’ve never given any indication whatsoever you take the related public policy, or geopolitical, or security issues seriously even when I…”
Nor do the other seven billion or so others in the world. It’s not a requirement anyone does. What was it you said above it,
Unlike you I have lived experience of having to put up with male toxicity including but not limited to being cat-called, stared at, felt up, hit on, treated as a man’s personal therapist,
What about your equivalent “gender toxicity” behaviour? I suspect from you previous gauche comments and insinuations if you knowingly got within my physical range then you would inflict “stared at, felt up, hit on” to “the list of your crimes” I certainly have good reason to think my life would be at danger.
But more dispassionately “do the math”, many people comment here only some I respond to, So why “your” stalkery fixation on me? Why do you think I should treat you any differently?
Then your answer is written there with your “when I” narcissistic focus.
All you ever do is disparage and insult find excuse to find fault.
Sorry that you force me to state the obvious by your behaviour, but what ever you are, just about everyone finds out you are just trouble and only comment to ask you to cease and desist. So
“What is the maths telling you?”
Oh as for,
“You’ve never engaged with any material or comment about reform or education or public health measures”
Not true I have in the past on this blog, and got attacked for doing so, so I learnt from my mistakes. For instance of presenting “inconvenient truths” about amongst other things the dangers to women and their babies in US health care clearly shown in world comparative tables. Well prior to C19 I pointed out the dangers of the US Health Care system and as others came to realise even pre C19 what I was saying was true. Others got up the courage to talk little by little and when C19 came much of what we said was not just shown as justified but how things played out. But we are still sensitive that what is an “inconvenient truth” still gets attacked by some. Just count yourself as lucky you have not been given as much bile and invective or hate here as others that have proceeded you have been recipients of. Just remember George Santayana philosopher, and novelist most well known advice…
Oh and to finish off,
“It’s very big of you to find a way to distract and ramble and twist the subject into blaming a woman for male violence.”
Again not true, not true at all. You make attacks you sometimes get “warned off” but often just ignored.
You use your personal failings as weapons so I simply “high light your weapons of choice”. You thrust I simply parry. What you chose to use in your apparently becoming perpetual attacks, I simply deflect back at you.
So, “Your poor choices”,
1, Your choice to attack
2, Your choice of weapons
3, Your choice your failings
4, Your choice fails
So, all of your choices end up in you choosing to have your failings held up to the light of day for all to see, yet you chose to blame others with your falsities etc.
There is a lesson there others might see and recognise, thus it raises a question,
“Which of your personal failings is stopping you recognising and learning?”
Clive Robinson • April 17, 2024 5:23 PM
@ fib,
Re : US legislative changes.
“A little surprised that this subject is not being discussed in this space.”
The simple answer,
“It’s the first I’ve heard about it.”
Though I do look around I’ve not seen it mentioned in MSM, Trade, or even domain specific news sources.
And I suspect that may be true for others.
As you know it’s a personal choice of mine for personal privacy if not sanity, to stay out of the toxic effluent filled main platform “social media” sewers. So yes I do miss stuff.
The answer is of course it’s another attempt by those free from meaningful repercussions to gain ground on their “power grabs”.
The obvious solution would be “meaningful repercussions” be inflicted on them. But it won’t work because history shows they will hide behind others, so the others take the fall not them.
I’ve mentioned this before when cautioning about the Machiavellian parasitic behaviour behind the “your humble servant” they oft pretend to be.
Thus sanctions on the organisation or entity come next, but will killing the host kill the parasite?
No not in many cases…
Jerom • April 17, 2024 8:10 PM
echo
RE: Bondi Junction.
‘If I had been there I would have been a target’
Are you trying to prove or demonstrate something, here?
Also, speaking as a local, who was there.
Kindly refrain from using atrocious events as a fodder for your view-bleating. It’s vulgar and self centered.
echo • April 17, 2024 8:57 PM
@Clive
You know my stuff is solid enough. As for calling me a liar? That’s a classic case of misogynistic denial or the misogynistic thinking you know more about what happened when you weren’t there when it happened and I was. As for the rest of your comment that’s just you playing games in your own head with stuff you made up so you can knock it off with trying to guilt me out. I’m not buying that one.
Clive Robinson • April 18, 2024 2:12 AM
@ Jerom,
Re : Bondi Junction tragedy.
“speaking as a local, who was there.
I hope you and all your loved ones, family, friends, acquaintances are unharmed, and the community heals.
It’s difficult to find words to say to a stranger when tragedy strikes.
So I’ll simply say as with all tragedy, it makes us more aware of how precious life is, and that my thoughts are with you all.
ResearcherZero • April 18, 2024 3:10 AM
Mostly I ignore people when they whistle at me and pinch me on the bum.
Sometimes I turn, give them a grin and wave. They get quite a shock.
It’s my beauty. Quite literally bone shattering and heart stopping.
I rarely have to employ it. I can conduct myself appropriately.
Avoiding unnecessary social confrontations, and fostering effective communication.
‘https://www.shinesheets.com/social-etiquette-rules-and-manners/
–
“Russia Law” violates international standards, including freedom of association and the EU’s principle of free movement of capital.
“Court proceedings and investigations against opposition media owners have become frequent…”
‘https://europa.eu/newsroom/ecpc-failover/pdf/qanda-23-5626_en.pdf
What’s new about this draft law? Nothing.
The only difference in the current draft law is the change of the term used – CSOs receiving funding are called “implementing organisation of foreign power interests”, instead of “foreign agent” although the meaning is the same. This term still labels CSOs, advocacy groups, and independent media outlets, making them vulnerable to targeting, thus weakening democratic safeguards and accountability mechanisms.
https://csometer.info/updates/georgia-reintroduction-foreign-agents-law-threatens-civic-space-and-eu-integration
The Draft Law imposes limitations on the activities of NNLEs protected by the ECHR and the ICCPR by requiring them to label themselves as FAs (foreign agents), therefore stigmatizing them; limiting their access to funding support; imposing burdensome registration and reporting requirements; exposing them to unlimited government inspections, when such limitations do not meet the only permissible limitations established by the ECHR and the ICCPR; and establishing harsh penalties for violations of the Draft Law, which violates the freedom of association. (but not on other entities or individuals that also receive foreign funding)
The Draft Law requires public access to personal data of NNLEs and mass media, as well as authorizes the MoJ to search for any necessary (as determined by the MoJ) information, including personal data, which may be exposed to the public. MoJ implementing regulations would establish the rules for such procedure.
“the Draft Law introduces several new burdensome obligations on NNLEs and mass media receiving foreign support, expands the supervisory powers of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) over all NNLEs and mass media, and introduces harsh penalties for violation of the Law’s requirements.”
‘https://ecnl.org/sites/default/files/2023-02/EWMI%20CSEP_ICNL%20Review%20of%20the%20Georgian%20Draft%20Law%20on%20Transparency%20of%20Foreign%20Influence_ENG_0.pdf
The adoption of the new Draft Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence might derail the process of becoming a member of the EU.
(The draft law’s adoption would be inconsistent with these aspirations and with EU norms and values.)
https://ecnl.org/news/depth-analysis-transparency-draft-law-georgia
–
Plot to import 20t of coke washes up to shore all over the place.
‘https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-18/afp-cocaine-drug-plot-charges/103739792
Much of it is transported via bulk carriers and then dropped overboard.
‘https://www.tradewindsnews.com/bulkers/nearly-a-tonne-of-cocaine-seized-on-supramax-bulk-carrier-in-australia/2-1-1459261
ResearcherZero • April 18, 2024 3:51 AM
Could you be impartial? Would you measure the actions of a few against the many?
‘https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-white-house-drugs-speed-xanax-1234979503/
–
developer nabbed by UK police lead operation
Personal details of 94,000 Australians have been stolen through LabHost.
‘https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2024/04/18/australians-arrested-global-phishing-sting
40,000 hosted phishing websites that replicate 170 legitimate sites, including those of banks, government bodies and other “major organisations”.
‘https://www.itnews.com.au/news/five-australians-arrested-in-global-raid-on-phishing-kit-seller-labhost-607190
echo • April 18, 2024 4:52 AM
‘If I had been there I would have been a target’
Are you trying to prove or demonstrate something, here?
And
Mostly I ignore people when they whistle at me and pinch me on the bum.
Sometimes I turn, give them a grin and wave. They get quite a shock.It’s my beauty. Quite literally bone shattering and heart stopping.
I rarely have to employ it. I can conduct myself appropriately.Avoiding unnecessary social confrontations, and fostering effective communication.
‘https://www.shinesheets.com/social-etiquette-rules-and-manners/
I’ve never not once treated the topic with anything other than seriousness. It’s not just Clive. Some of you need to step away from the keyboard. And “Jerom” or “Jerome” if it’s a typo is a bad actor. It’s obvious none of you have had to deal with police misogyny and violence either which is a real and not unrelated problem either. Do you have any clue how difficult it is to get any institution to admit there is even a problem let alone fix it without a public scandal?
I hope you and all your loved ones, family, friends, acquaintances are unharmed, and the community heals.
It’s difficult to find words to say to a stranger when tragedy strikes.
So I’ll simply say as with all tragedy, it makes us more aware of how precious life is, and that my thoughts are with you all.
I’ve never seen you give a hoot for organised targeted discrimination and dead transgender people which includes dead trans children. Not once not ever. In fact worse than that as you completely dismissed how upset I was at the time. Nor did you care when it was mentioned the mothers of dead transgender children were targeted with utterly vile attacks. The science backs up that possibly all are preventable deaths caused by discrimination.
fib • April 18, 2024 9:46 AM
@ Clive
Re : US legislative changes.
I saw it by accident, through a Hacker News reference to a Snowden’s twitter post [which I didn’t link to avoid being too obvious]. Elizabeth Goitein to whom I linked in my post above, seems very concerned with the news indeed, which caught my attention, although it’s no surprise. With the total apathy of the masses, lost in the slipstream of social media [collectively, The Mule — kw = Asimov], I do not have any hope for the situation concerning LEA’s to improve.
I’ve mentioned this before when cautioning about the Machiavellian parasitic behaviour behind the “your humble servant” they oft pretend to be
Where I live The “Humble Servant” is represented by the left, which abandoned the proletariat and now embraces the [minor] causes of the middle class, such as diversity and identity. Pressing problems regarding the division of global labor, the climate and the stability of societies in the face of the challenges posed by technology and large algorithmic conglomerates, are relegated to the background of the discussion, when they are discussed at all. The new technologies — which are concentrated like never before – provide this strange new left with a tempting ease of speaking to the indoctrinated. You no longer need to go to the factory door [are there still factories?], get beaten… Just use the network of any Bigtech baron – thus compromising your ability to effectively oppose them.
Winter • April 18, 2024 10:37 AM
@fib
now embraces the [minor] causes of the middle class, such as diversity and identity.
You mean discrimination and exclusion of women and “minorities”, that is, everyone who is not an educated white male with a wife? I would think that equal pay and equal opportunities for well over half the population would not be classified as “minor causes”.
Pressing problems regarding the division of global labor, the climate and the stability of societies in the face of the challenges posed by technology and large algorithmic conglomerates
Not sure where you live, but I am surprised to find representatives of “the left” who do ignore Climate Change, the rise of far-right groups, and oligopolistic conglomerates.
JonKnowsNothing • April 18, 2024 12:10 PM
@Clive, All
re: H5N1 WHO global zoonotic animal pandemic
MSM Report (1) that the WHO has declared the A(H5N1) variant to be a global zoonotic (animal) pandemic.
There is crossover from birds to mammals, recently goats which do not normally get avian flu, and there is potential for spillover to humans.
Previous variants of avian flu spillovers to humans had high mortality rates. The current variant A(H5N1) has not had this profile. The WHO concern is that a A(H5N1) spillover to humans, followed by human-to-human transmission would drive a human pandemic.
- humans have no natural immunity to the virus
The WHO are prepping plans for a human pandemic. We, on the outside, have our experience with SARS-CoV-2 to know how those plans will work out.
- No cure, no vax, no treatment
There are quite a few pandemics and outbreaks of different diseases, but for the most part and for the majority of us, these do not impact our lives. Mostly these outbreaks are “somewhere else”.
- New York City has an outbreak of leptospirosis (2) which is vectored by rat urine.
Leptospira bacteria are “fragile,” as the NYC health department puts it. They die quickly in the freezing temperatures of winter and the dry heat of summer. Their main time to thrive is in warm, moist conditions.
Last year, the months with the most cases were June and October.
The health department noted that climate change, which is causing excessive rain and unseasonably warm temperatures, may be partly driving the uptick in cases.
===
1)
HAIL Warning
ht tps: //w ww.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/18/risk-bird-flu-spreading-humans-enormous-concern-who
- Risk of bird flu spreading to humans is ‘enormous concern’, says WHO
2)
HAIL Warning
h ttp s://a rstechnica.com/science/2024/04/life-threatening-rat-pee-infections-reach-record-levels-in-nyc/
- Between 2001 and 2020, there was an average of 3 cases per year. Last year’s tally was 24
- NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
- leptospirosis, which can cause a range of symptoms, including non-specific ones like fever, headache, chills, muscle aches, vomiting, diarrhea, and cough. But, if left untreated, can become severe, causing kidney failure, liver damage, jaundice, hemorrhage, bloody eyes (conjunctival suffusion), respiratory distress, and potentially death
- infected rats shed the bacteria in their urine. The germs jump to people through direct contact with open wounds or mucous membranes.
- Netherlands reported case of leptospirosis from falling into a canal that was likely contaminated with rodent urine
ResearcherZero • April 18, 2024 10:41 PM
XakNet Team, CyberArmyofRussia_Reborn, and Solntsepek are really Sandworm.
‘https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/threat-intelligence/apt44-unearthing-sandworm
Spies planned to sabotage U.S. military installations.
https://apnews.com/article/germany-russia-spying-sabotage-ukraine-arrests-927490085e244ba72d84e4a374ee198b
(don’t use standard off-the-shelf platforms like WebEx for sensitive discussions)
‘https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/germany-russia-information-war-leak-military-call-ukraine-rcna141605
–
“indirect ownership would amount to making Gazprom the effective beneficiary”
‘https://www.barrons.com/news/france-impounds-suspected-gazprom-linked-luxury-villa-d31f4ba8
Numerous anomalies have been discovered since the beginning of the investigation.
https://www.occrp.org/en/investigations/6289-new-husband-of-putin-s-ex-wife-buys-posh-villa-in-south-of-france
ResearcherZero • April 18, 2024 11:20 PM
@echo
A range of conflicting and spurious stories and their sources were completely wrong.
The young man in question suffered from Schizophrenia. He had received no medical care for years and was not on any medication. He had also been living on the streets for 6 months.
Normally such cases are case managed, yet he received no support or assistance at all. No one who came in contact with the young man, called, contacted or referred him to mental health services. Without the help required, he was as a result struggling to function.
It is very likely that he never intended to harm anyone and was no longer at all lucid.
In such scenarios the sufferer can lose conscious control of motor function or cognition.
It’s quite likely he was experiencing an episode and suffered a psychotic break. Such illnesses scramble the sensory input from the brain. It can rapid fire a range of alternate
and conflicting information about the world, along with where and what is taking place.
Such situations should be talked about sensitively with respect for those who were there.
The only comments that should be made about the incident should be to correct misinformation, or otherwise provide suggestions for how the mental health system can be improved to prevent people from repeatedly falling through the cracks, and better support those who suffer the very real and lasting ramifications of violent and terrible incidents.
–
Millions of access tokens, email passwords, and SSH certificates potentially stolen.
Multiple third-party online services are managed by Sisense dashboard.
Terabytes of customer data were exfiltrated in a breach.
These tokens can be used to gain unauthenticated access to internal dashboards.
Rotate access tokens
Rotate credentials and keys
Log out of single sign-on (SSO) accounts
Reset user parameters.
‘https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/11/cisa-government-sisense-reset-credentials-cyberattack/
–
Chirp’s locks can be remotely controlled due to simple vulnerability.
‘https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/04/crickets-from-chirp-systems-in-smart-lock-key-leak/#more-67102
RealPage used algorithms to maximize profits — and Chirp is part of this problem.
“Antitrust enforcers have struggled to apply decades-old laws to new technologies such as RealPage’s rent-setting software, which have changed the way competitors interact with one another and with customers.” …“Automating an anticompetitive scheme does not make it less anticompetitive,” the DOJ said.
–
Suspicious calls, messages, and emails claimed to be from LastPass.
‘https://blog.lastpass.com/posts/2024/04/advanced-phishing-kit-adds-lastpass-branding-for-use-in-phishing-campaigns
ResearcherZero • April 19, 2024 12:26 AM
@echo
Quite a bold claim.
“It’s obvious none of you have had to deal with police misogyny and violence”
Spurious conjecture without any tangible evidence.
…Are you fishing? Do you want people to disclose personal details?
Try social media. There are plenty of deluded left/right combatants on those platforms.
Otherwise you should take your own advice and take sometime to detox from it’s effects.
If you are interested about doing something about bigotry, violence and racism, at least read up on how to be an effective communicator. Think about where you can have an effect.
Learn to talk to people in a normal and congenial manner as if having a real conversation.
People will ignore anything you have to say, if you effectively yell in their face. The “far-right actors” on social media behave in the same irrational manner.
–
The extent of Israel’s strikes and the weapons used are unclear.
‘https://www.npr.org/2024/04/18/1245763498/israel-iran-missile-strikes
Iran fired air defense batteries after reports of explosions near a major airbase at the city of Isfahan, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.
Several Iranian nuclear sites are located in Isfahan province, including Natanz, centerpiece of Iran’s uranium enrichment program.
State television acknowledged “loud noise” in the area.
Iran claims there was “no missile attack”.
Iran claims it gave warning before attacking Israel.
Tehran sent the United States a message only after the strikes began.
“We received a message from the Iranians as this was ongoing, through the Swiss.”
Iran’s claim of a prior warning may to compensate for the lack of effect.
“They did not give a notification, nor did they give any sense of … ‘these will be the targets, so evacuate them.'”
‘https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iranian-notice-attack-may-have-dampened-escalation-risks-2024-04-14/
The Iranian attack seriously injured a 7-year-old girl and damaged an Israeli airbase.
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2024/04/18/how-many-iran-rockets-struck-israel-fact-check/73370331007/
–
Stargate
‘https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00789r002600250001-6
Parapsychological Potential for Intelligence Collection
‘https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP96-00791R000200180005-5.pdf
ResearcherZero • April 19, 2024 12:28 AM
Travel warnings currently suggest not to travel to Iran.
ResearcherZero • April 19, 2024 12:43 AM
The Aristotelian fallacy of the negation of the consequent
Mathematically, the study or acceptance of undecidable questions, such as anomalous cognitions, “does not imply rejecting rationality” as the basis of scientific knowledge.
The sheep‐goat effect…
‘https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10275521/
ResearcherZero • April 19, 2024 1:43 AM
Or more simply put…
The more an individual harbors a reductionist view of the world, the more they will see what they expect to see.
Don’t feed the trolls.
–
Analysis of APT44 backdoor Kapeka functions…
“It is probable that Kapeka is a successor to GreyEnergy, which itself was likely a replacement for BlackEnergy in Sandworm’s arsenal.”
While the backdoor and its dropper contain capabilities to remove all traces of compromise,
WithSecure has identified several infection artifacts and developed several scripts to aid with analysis and detection, which can be found in the appendix section of this report.
‘https://labs.withsecure.com/content/dam/labs/docs/WithSecure-Research-Kapeka.pdf
Kapeka masquerades as a Microsoft Word add-in to steal creds and data. The backdoor serves as an early-stage toolkit, that provides long-term access to the victim estate.
As well as being used for destructive attacks, it can grant remote access to the device.
The backdoor is retrieved from compromised sites using the ‘certutil utility’.
“The backdoor uses WinHttp 5.1 COM interface (winhttpcom.dll) to implement its network communication component. The backdoor communicates with its C2 to poll for tasks and to send back fingerprinted information and task results. The backdoor utilizes JSON to send and receive information from its C2.”
‘https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/wdsi/threats/malware-encyclopedia-description?Name=Backdoor:Win64/KnuckleTouch.A!dha&threatId=-2147067254
lurker • April 19, 2024 2:37 PM
@ResearcherZero, @ALL
re. Sisense, definition of asking for it?
Sisense’s technology allows organizations to collect, analyze and visualize large amounts of their corporate data by tapping directly into their existing technologies and cloud systems.
From the Krebs infosec-exchange thread
‘https://infosec.exchange/@AdmSnackbar@mastodon.social/112250364199135382
It’s wild to me that we need a company whose entire purpose is to provide an overview of all the bandaids your company has, while seemingly being able to compromise every single one of these bandaids just because one dev had a bad day a few months ago.
To update a meme from the 90s:
Information just wants to be shared …
Clive Robinson • April 19, 2024 3:39 PM
@ lurker, SpaceLifeForm, ALL
Re : Oh look “Another Cloudy day for security”.
“Sisense, definition of asking for it?”
Hmmm, from,
https://blog.gitguardian.com/sisense-breach/
Early Lessons from the Sisense Breach
“While details on how the hackers obtained the data haven’t been released, KrebsonSecurity[1] cited multiple sources who said hackers accessed Sisense’s self-managed GitLab repository, leading to the compromise of sensitive customer data stored within Amazon S3.”
Oh look Amazon S3 again… And oh look how much again,
“The attackers managed to exfiltrate several terabytes of critical data, including access tokens, email passwords, and SSL certificates—a testament to the scope and severity of the breach.”
Who is going to “Pick up the tab” as it were for that lot…
But we also find,
“Encryption at rest for sensitive data is a non-negotiable security measure.”
Easy to say but,
On the cloud?
Encryption can be hard very hard on just simple Cloud storage and things can get weird real quick.
My old advice from back before it got called “cloud” was to not,
1, Process
2, Communicate
3, Store
Information on any XaaS system outside the organisational control perimeter, especially if it was in anyway sensitive…
Here we are many years later and the same sort of “dumb mistakes” are being made.
There is an old joke about “thumbs and nails” and how you use a hammer to hold the former up for public inspection. But I guess if I typed it in my post would disappear 😉
The sad thing is it’s the poor overworked under qualified schmoo[2] at the bottom who’s going to get it in the neck not the “Business Seniors” up in the C-suites…
[1] The Krebs link,
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/04/why-cisa-is-warning-cisos-about-a-breach-at-sisense/
[2] What the Schmoo plays with,
https://laurajwellner.substack.com/p/what-button-do-you-push-to-run-this
bobby • April 22, 2024 11:48 PM
Ex-White House Cyber Policy Director: Microsoft is a National Security Risk
https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/21/microsoft_national_security_risk/
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Sidebar photo of Bruce Schneier by Joe MacInnis.
vas pup • April 12, 2024 5:15 PM
Fourteen Israeli professors awarded top EU research grants
h ttps://www.timesofisrael.com/three-hebrew-university-professors-awarded-top-eu-research-grants/
“Fourteen researchers from Israeli universities have been awarded prestigious Advanced Grants by the European Research Council (ERC), it was announced Thursday.
The EU-funded research grants are each worth approximately 2.5 million euros ($2.68 million), disbursed over five years, with an additional 1 million euros ($1.07 million) available in certain cases.
The grants are “among the most prestigious and competitive research grants offered by the European Union. These grants provide seasoned researchers with the opportunity to pursue ambitious projects capable of catalyzing significant scientific breakthroughs,” the Hebrew University said in a statement announcing its three winners.
The main problem “is about coding and error correcting codes. This is a very important problem in many different ways,” he said. When computers communicate, there is “always noise,” meaning small errors or unwanted modifications, “so the receiver doesn’t always receive what the sender has sent.”
“This is called the ‘distance vs. rate problem’ in codes. As strange as it sounds, it’s a very fundamental question, and the amazing thing is, the last significant progress was made in the late 70s, so we have been stuck with this for many years,” Linial said.
The research he and his students are doing represents “some new ideas, some initial progress” on this issue, he said. “Codes are used everywhere, in every communication. Many critical technologies depend on clean codes… Error-correcting codes are all over the place. These are questions that are very fundamental and critical for a lot of technologies,” he stressed.”
Go to the link for more details.