The viral video of the “Mediterranean beef squid”is a hoax.
It’s not even a deep fake; it’s a plastic toy.
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.
Clive Robinson • May 6, 2023 12:26 AM
@ SpaceLifeForm, ALL,
Re : LLM’s on marching power.
From the “alledged” document,
“Notably, they were able to use data from ChatGPT while circumventing restrictions on its API – They simply sampled examples of “impressive” ChatGPT dialogue posted on sites like ShareGPT.”
“Twas’ to be expected”…
In effect it’s an serial itterative sift process that has “direction” rather than a parallel uplift process, that just builds a landscape anew each time.
The trick is that the “heavy” tectonic uplift has been done and has endogenously produced the rough surface (first order weights) from the data set. The itterative exogenetic denudation processes then selectively weather the surface and stratifies it such that the weights are aggregated by related type thus can be mined more effectively.
As such endogenous processes are intermittent high resource, whilst exogenetic processes,are continuous low resource.
The real trick will be to optomise the interleaving of the lift and weather processes to facilitate maximum extraction for mininum reseource input.
no comment • May 6, 2023 1:31 AM
Re: lift and weather
It’s more like a frozen network of snowflake crystals and subject to sudden melting and re freezing – catastrophic forgetting in the presence of new data. There is nothing that produces long term stability. This is one reason AI does mot not resemble a thinker. It’s convinced by the last thing it’s heard. Get out early before it becomes cool.
ResearcherZero • May 6, 2023 2:53 AM
Mounting concerns over young people’s mental health have prompted state legislatures across the country to propose a slew of age restrictions to protect minors online.
‘https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/30/business/aclu-free-speech-online.html
“myths and misinformation about sex trafficking have been spread for decades by both Republicans and Democrats”
‘https://reason.com/2022/08/18/the-satanic-panic-is-back-and-its-bipartisan/
“it is recommended that the government should further broaden the channels of medical and psychological assistance for the public”
“the level of psychological anxiety of the public generally increased during the SARS epidemic, and majority of the public’s psychological anxiety turned into psychological panic due to the failure to receive effective feedback”
‘https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.576301/full
“Our psychology is massively impacted by the state of the world around us. From a policy standpoint, it is clear that if a government sets rules, it is important that they are enforced and people are supported for complying. Otherwise they may feel betrayed and act erratically.”
‘https://news.yale.edu/2021/07/27/another-byproduct-pandemic-paranoia
Vigilante parents dug under a preschool, searching for secret tunnels. The police swapped tips on identifying pagan symbols. A company that sells toothpaste and soap had to deny, repeatedly, that it was acting as an agent of Satan.
‘https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/31/us/satanic-panic.html
They turn outsiders into enemies, unexplainable events into smaller pieces of a vast plot, and make their believers feel they have secret and special knowledge that separates them from the masses.
‘https://www.dailydot.com/debug/satanic-panic/
ResearcherZero • May 6, 2023 2:55 AM
The EARN IT Act of 2023 is essentially identical to the version that was introduced in the last Congress of 2022.
‘https://tutanota.com/blog/posts/earn-it-barr-encryption
ResearcherZero • May 6, 2023 2:59 AM
Cisco recommends replacing Cisco SPA112 2-Port Phone Adapters with analogue adapters, as they will not be releasing an update.
“A vulnerability in the web-based management interface of Cisco SPA112 2-Port Phone Adapters could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on an affected device.”
“This vulnerability is due to a missing authentication process within the firmware upgrade function. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by upgrading an affected device to a crafted version of firmware. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary code on the affected device with full privileges.”
‘https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-20126
EOL
‘https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/unified-communications/small-business-voice-gateways-ata/eos-eol-notice-c51-743206.html
lurker • May 6, 2023 4:23 AM
@ResearcherZero
Cisco: “A vulnerability in the web-based management interface …”
Duh! Recommendation to replace with analog is great, but, the recommended devices are out of stock from all local suppliers …
Clive Robinson • May 6, 2023 8:48 AM
@ ResearcherZero, lurker, ALL,
Re : Cisco product without update authentication.
“This vulnerability is due to a missing authentication process within the firmware upgrade function.”
It would be nice to say “this is the only one”…
It’s not. I’ve found numerous products over the years that lack “update authentication” not just of the source of the update but the update it’s self.
Worse nearly all updates are effectively “sent in the clear”… For most people’s thinking this won’t matter but all to often for overall security it does.
Also the update has to be done in an “atomic way” and many if most are not.
As an example,
1, The user receives a signed zip file by download or similar.
1.1, Sometimes the user authenticats the source, mostly not (a failing that used to hit unix systems).
2, The user runs the update process on the device, which runs like a script file (some developers have used “make” to do upgrades).
3, The device checks the code signed file as a non privileges process (sometimes by using existing system tools that do insecure checksums).
4, Then the device unzips the code file often as an non privileged process (sometimes into tmp and open to all).
5, The device then runs the install as a privileged process.
The problem is what else runs on the device. If another background process can detect the update process or the code signing checking process being done then there are problems. Because after that point there is an oportunity for the second background process to get at the files / file storage…
Thus the second process can copy, insert, delete, modify, or just touch files at that time before the actual update and before any cleanup.
As an exaple back in the 1990’s a company found that it’s product licencing for it’s server system was being abused, thus upgraded the server as part of the next major revision. The problem was “upgrading existing products and licences” especially as the products could take hours to re-install. A program was developed to do the upgrade “in place”, which was included in the “upgrade script”. It was run as the last stage of the upgrade and then deleted.
It was not long before someone in an Israeli distributor worked it out and thus extracted it by halting the upgrade process and copy the program. Then used it to make quite a bit of money on the side…
All upgrading that leaves file systems available in an upgrade process are very vulnerable in multiple ways, and depending on the level of security required you could be in for a lot of problems to solve.
All of the basic file system actions of copy, insert, delete, modify, or touch of file metadata can destroy system security by an insider or outsider attack…
SpaceLifeForm • May 6, 2023 4:09 PM
Trust old kit.
‘https://securityonline.info/intel-oem-private-key-leak-a-blow-to-uefi-secure-boot-security/
The leaked private keys affect Intel’s 11th, 12th, and 13th generation processors and were distributed to various OEMs, including Intel itself, Lenovo, and Supermicro.
Clive Robinson • May 6, 2023 5:13 PM
@ SpaceLifeForm, ALL,
Re : Intel CPU Private Key leak.
“The leaked private keys affect Intel’s 11th, 12th, and 13th generation processors…”
It was inevitably going to happen, we should all have known that. There is a history of such secrets, escaping since the early TV “Set Top Boxes” going back before most readers here can remember…
The simple fact is you just can not keep this “widely used thus not in an HSM” secret, secret.
I’ve talked about this “Off-Line -v- On-Line” security nonsense before. If there is in effect only “one key to secure them all” rather than “one key per device” then it’s value alone is going to make it vulnerable (hence the “Set top box” wars).
In fact even if this secret was in an HSM in a fully issolated environment, it would have got out anyway… Within a decaded it will be in “brut-force” range or maybe even Quantum Computing if –and I ain’t holding my breath– the old nag makes it out the unlocked stable door.
The fact is though this isn’t realy a blow to security from the users perspective. But I can hear a lot of grinding teath in the DRM and enforced upgrade –say high to Micro$haft– crowds, who think they should own the users hardware, and prevent them doing what they wish. When you dig into it further you will find there is actually no legitimate security requirment for the “Secure” Boot this master key provides.
Heck history shows that it must have “an opt out” anyway, otherwise the NSA won’t use it… Anyone ever wonder what their issue might be with it?
Clive Robinson • May 6, 2023 5:45 PM
@ SpaceLifeForm, ALL,
In the UK due to the Government “Great FireWall vy another name” the likes of Vodafone insist have to be used,
The “securityonline.info” is considered “evil” for reasons that are very probably entirely “brain dead”.
Therefor if people run into similar, Toms Hardware is an alternative,
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/msi-bootguard-keys-leaked-to-internet
Not the leak was from a publically accessable computer in MSI who are alledged to be “experts” on security…
Apparently MSI had, 1.5TB of data taken by extortionists. The ransomware group allegedly called Money Message had denanded $4million last month and the well known PC Peripheral manufacture MSI decided not to pay up…
So heed MSI’s warnings about their downloads… Though how you verify you are actually connecting to MSI is “left as an excercise for the reader” as normal…
Just goes to show, what I’ve said for years “code signing is not a good idea”, especially the way many go about it, it’s near meaningless, as well as increasingly useless.
ResearcherZero • May 6, 2023 8:41 PM
“Derkach is alleged to have been tasked with the establishment of a network of private security firms which would assist in maintaining control in a number of towns by pathfinding and assisting Russian forces upon their arrival. To prepare for these operations, the Russian special services recruited employees of nuclear facilities, including from units responsible for the physical security of the facilities.”
Derkach was being handled by Russia’s military intelligence agency, known as the GRU, and receiving millions of dollars every month to facilitate the fall of Ukraine. FSB oversaw the operations.
‘https://static.rusi.org/202303-SR-Unconventional-Operations-Russo-Ukrainian-War-web-final.pdf.pdf
ResearcherZero • May 6, 2023 11:33 PM
“It’s not great to just put text-making systems on the high-risk list: you have other general-purpose AI systems that present risks and also ought to be regulated.”
A recent investigation by transparency activist group Corporate Europe Observatory also said industry actors, including Microsoft and Google, had doggedly lobbied EU policymakers to exclude general-purpose AI like ChatGPT from the obligations imposed on high-risk AI systems.
“The EU should consider designating generative AI and large language models as ‘high risk’ technologies, given their potential to create harmful and misleading content,” the chatbot responded when questioned on whether it should fall under the AI Act’s scope.
‘https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-plan-regulate-chatgpt-openai-artificial-intelligence-act/
More than 50 individual expert and institutional signatories are urging European lawmakers to include general purpose AI in its regulations, rather than a more narrow definition of high-risk AI.
‘https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/13/eu-should-make-its-ai-regulations-more-sweeping-experts.html
In the first three months of 2023, 123 companies, universities and trade associations lobbied the federal government on issues relating to artificial intelligence, an OpenSecrets analysis of federal lobbying disclosures found. They collectively spent roughly $94 million lobbying on AI and other issues from January through March 2023, though it is not possible to determine how much went to lobby issues specifically related to AI.
‘https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2023/05/big-tech-lobbying-on-ai-regulation-as-industry-races-to-harness-chatgpt-popularity
successful lobbyists “realise that it is more productive to meet with the assistant… because at the end of the day it is the assistants and the political advisors that do the drafting” …“If you’re Microsoft …you have an office that is one hundred meters from the Parliament”
‘https://corporateeurope.org/sites/default/files/2023-03/The%20Lobbying%20Ghost%20in%20the%20Machine.pdf
“We collect information that alone or in combination with other information in our possession could be used to identify you:”
Account Information, User Content, Communication Information (including content), Social Media Information, Log Data, Usage Data, Device Information, Cookies, Analytics
… may use this information to improve or analyze its services, to conduct research, to communicate with users, and to develop new programs and services, among other things.
… may provide personal information to third parties without further notice to the user, unless required by law.
‘https://openai.com/policies/privacy-policy
“Do not include info that can be used to identify you or others.”
‘https://bard.google.com/faq
‘https://policies.google.com/privacy
ResearcherZero • May 7, 2023 12:15 AM
@Clive Robinson @ALL
It has been confirmed that the private key provided by Intel to OEMs has been leaked, so everyone should indeed be careful.
–
In case anyone missed it…
“myMail app attempts to transmit passwords without the required TLS encryption, thus leaving them unprotected and posing a significant security risk. Instead of sending the usual “STARTTLS” command after establishing a connection, the app continued to transmit the user’s login details unencrypted.”
“We strongly recommend that you stop using the myMail client with our service or other email providers until the app developers have resolved these security issues.”
The current incident underscores the importance of communicating exclusively through securely configured systems that enforce encryption.
‘https://mailbox.org/en/post/mailbox-org-discovers-unencrypted-password-transmission-in-mymail
–
There is a massive disparity in the state-by-state battle over privacy legislation between well-funded, well-organized tech lobbyists and their opposition of relatively scattered consumer advocates and privacy-minded politicians.
“He said, ‘I want to make this easy so consumers can make use of their rights and the compliance is also easy for companies. He actually sent me some suggested language [for a bill] that was not very complex,” Cullimore told The Markup. “I introduced the bill as that.”
What followed over the next two years was a multipronged influence campaign straight out of a playbook Big Tech is deploying around the country in response to consumer privacy legislation.
‘https://themarkup.org/privacy/2022/05/26/tech-industry-groups-are-watering-down-attempts-at-privacy-regulation-one-state-at-a-time
Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook spent a total of more than $55 million on lobbying
‘https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-tech/2022/01/24/tech-spent-big-on-lobbying-last-year-00001144
It does not become profitable for specialty law firms to file lawsuits until the customer’s losses are $1 million or more.
‘https://www.darkreading.com/edge-articles/when-banking-laws-don-t-protect-consumers-from-cybertheft
Last year, lawmakers proposed broad data privacy legislation, but Congress didn’t pass it…
‘https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/17/health-industry-data-privacy-00092447
ResearcherZero • May 7, 2023 3:25 AM
Scott Morrison to quit for defense job.
“It’s in the AUKUS space based out of the UK.”
The report has raised renewed concerns about individuals using knowledge gained while in office for private gain.
‘https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/02/scott-morrisons-reported-links-to-uk-defence-job-shows-lobbying-reforms-needed-integrity-experts-say
Robodebt frontman Stuart Robert quits politics
‘https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/people/2023/05/06/stuart-robert-quits-politics/
Stuart Robert stood to gain financially out of a consulting company called Synergy 360, which was part-owned by his business partner and chief political fundraiser, and which helped multinational companies win millions of dollars worth of government contracts.
‘https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/stuart-robert-linked-contracts-need-closer-scrutiny-as-department-links-revealed-inquiry-20230414-p5d0f5.html
$374 million in taxpayer funds on contracts tainted by concerns over conflicts of interest, poor value for money and inadequate records…
The damning review has called for further investigation into 19 contracts because of the danger of conflicts of interest and other failures.
‘https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/contracts-linked-to-consultant-and-liberal-mp-warrant-investigation-review-finds-20230324-p5cv1p.html
vas pup • May 7, 2023 5:08 PM
Confirmation Bias in the Era of Large AI +++++
https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/a-hovercraft-full-of-
eels/202305/confirmation-bias-in-the-era-of-large-ai
“How users interface with more passive AIs, though, is different from the way they interface with LLMs. More passive AIs rely on users’ past behavior to predict how to influence those users (so the user is not interfacing directly with the AI at all), but
those AI recommendations are constrained by the availability of products, posts, or movies on the platform.
LLMs, though, rely on direct and intentional user input to predict a response that fits the specifications of that input. The only constraints surrounding the output of the LLM are (1) user-imposed constraints based on the input and (2) the breadth and scope of the data on which the LLM was trained. That means the outputs LLMs can produce are markedly more expansive than the outputs produced by more passive AIs.
…the framing of the input can predispose the AI to generate a response consistent with that framing. The example Bard provided further illustrates how the way a question is worded may alter the output produced.
For the claim that biases aid decision-making, both AIs were able to generate some benefits to biases, such as making decisions more quickly and efficiently and making decisions that align with the decision maker’s goals or values.3 But both ChatGPT and
Bard made sure to include that biases are often viewed as egative aspects of decision-making. Bard even went so far as to spend 40.3 percent of its response (205 words out of 509 total words in the response) explaining why biases are detrimental to
decision-making.
…my experience thus far suggests that user framing plays an influential role in the response that is produced. As such, users should be cognizant of the implications of their input (e.g., underlying assumptions, implied meaning, leading statements), as
these may unintentionally influence the output that is produced. But, if their intent is merely to use ChatGPT, Bard, or some other LLM to seek confirmation for an existing view, there’s an increased likelihood that LLM will oblige—as long as that input is framed accordingly.”
vas pup • May 7, 2023 5:38 PM
link was not posted properly
Mr. Peed Off • May 8, 2023 12:10 PM
One of the better op-eds on AI I have recently read.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/08/ai-machines-hallucinating-naomi-klein
Winter • May 8, 2023 2:00 PM
@Mr. Peed off
Re: Naomi Klein writes
That’s true – but why call the errors “hallucinations” at all? Why not algorithmic junk? Or glitches? Well, hallucination refers to the mysterious capacity of the human brain to perceive phenomena that are not present, at least not in conventional, materialist terms.
I do not think Ms Klein followed the literature on mind phenomenons and models of perception. The mind/brain on many levels “recognizes” things by filling in the gaps in perception.
In cases where perception is insufficient, eg, in sensory deprivation, the mind will simply fill in everything, aka, hallucinate.
The same phenomenon exists in “predictive detectors” where a a machine learning systems learns models so good it will “generates” the learned model when it lacks the input to recognize anything.
Using the term “hallucinating” has a long tradition in brain and machine learning research.
The developers can be accused of a lot of missteps, but this one is unwarranted.
JonKnowsNothing • May 8, 2023 2:17 PM
@Clive, All
2 words: Google Passkeys
Let the floods begin, California is already inundated … or we can all make popcorn.
(file under: Threaded by Default Descending Order Email UI)
===
A 4 part article extolling the virtues of Google…
ht tps://arstechnica.c o m /information-technology/2023/05/passwordless-google-accounts-are-easier-and-more-secure-than-passwords-heres-why/
(url fractured)
Google passkeys are a no-brainer. You’ve turned them on, right?
The passkey ecosystem is far from complete, but Google’s implementation is now ready to use.
Dan Goodin – May 8, 2023 1:50 pm UTC
JonKnowsNothing • May 8, 2023 2:37 PM
@Winter, All
re: hallucinations
People hallucinate.
Computers return invalid results as valid, and developers called it a hallucination.
Bankers and Governments do both. They call it Indexing. This is the result of people in governments, businesses and banking having hallucinations. The computer doesn’t return invalid data, because the people who programmed it, hard coded the the psychedelically derived values in the system. The data is valid as programmed, but the values are pulled out of the proverbial hat.
The difference is
===
See: ROBODEBT, UK POST OFFICE SCANDAL, ALGOCRACY
ht tps://en.wikipedia.o r g/wiki/Robodebt_scheme
ht tps://en.wikipedia.o r g/wiki/British_Post_Office_scandal
ht tps://en.wikipedia.o r g/wiki/Government_by_algorithm
(url fractured)
ALGOCRACY
Clive Robinson • May 8, 2023 4:13 PM
@ Mr. Peed Off, ALL,
Re : AI is next VC faux market bubble swelling and worse.
“One of the better op-eds on AI I have recently read.”
Today has been abother very busy day of a very busy long weekend for me. Even though today is a “Public Holiday” in England’s freshly green and for now slightly damp land…
So it was almost by chance I read the article earler today whilst grabbing a cup of tea and a rest from the hurly-burly of people around the world grabbing QSO’s with UK Special Events stations due to some bloke getting a new hat 😉
The Guardian article authored by Naomi Klein nicely sums up a series of Tech-Bubbles of which AI is just the latest, and follows the Crypto-Coin Web3.0 scams that have just recently been fleecing peoples pension and other funds, such as for their childrens education (as I’ve unpopularly mentioned befor).
Though she did miss out on mentioning what the “Venture Capitalists”(VCs) do what would otherwise be considered unlawful if not illegal to accomplish the fleecing.
The VC Scam / Con Game is effectively a “pump and dump” only they are not selling worthless shares, but worthless companies, not to individuals but other companies. Thus they can skate around the rim of long jail terms because they are not dealing in/with “People natural” but “People legal” and that makes a legal difference with these sorts of harms.
The VC’s are not selling “Black Tulips” but companies that claim they will be able to “grow black Tulips” in the fullness of time… Which a little bit of rational thought will tell you is not possible… But as far as the law is concerned the VC’s are not making claims just brokering deals… So a blind eye is turned to all the money they pump in to make those “claims” look more valid than they can even remotely possibly be.
Whilst Naomi Klein mentions Micro$haft in particular playing the “Burn them out game” of dumping in capital untill all the small start-ups etc go “bankrupt” which bursts the first bubble, she does not mention this creates a second bubble with the resultant “Fire Sales” where certain assets such as patents that should not have been issued can be picked up for pennies on the dollar and then used in market protectionism and rent seeking.
If you are old enough you might want to think back a little over a quater century ago, when potential corporate byers were gulled with the VC created idea that because a company was going through money so fast it must some how be worth more because of it… This became known as “Burn Rate” and as far as I’m aware the only person to earn money honestly by it was the person who wrote a book about being inadvertantly caught in the game (Michael Wolff).
Abother fact Naomi Klein did not add is that in reality the economic activities in the West outside of highly suspect financial markets and those associated that create knew faux-financial markets. Neither create “utility or value added” or even honest “goods and services”… They just “churn” the money around and around in a spiral that leads to movment of capital that can be skimed for a percentage, but in reality creates inflation and bankruptcy. Both of which are going to hit fairly hard soon (to see just how damaging such spirals are look up “Lloyds of London” and the reinsurance “LMX spiral” from oh a little over 45 years ago).
Naomi Klein is right in the fact various people will use China as initially a scare tactic, but she does not follow it through to it’s more logical conclusions.
One of which that might supprise people is various Republican legislators trying to ram poorly written Anti-5G legislation through their State law making processes. As usual these days such legislation is written in a way to give excessive and unwarranted powers that will be later used as political ideology hatchets.
Because the “Capitalist Economy” is in fact virtually dead on it’s feet in the US and such legislation is trying to give it life-support for a little longer, so more can be skimmed, real assets ceased/stolen, and faux-force-markets created to set up for a rent seeking economy.
Naomi Klein does however mention the reason behind this “Prepping”, as a side indicator but she does not explore it further. It’s not hard to find out that nearly all the “Big Tech” billionaires are effectively “Preppers” of almost the “Doomsday Cult” vison style. Part of which is not mucking about with “Energy-Wars” but going back to something more fundemental… Look up the history of “Water-Wars” and who are buying up –where they can– all the Water-Rights not just for drinking and agriculture, but importantly for trade and navigation as well.
People who are doing this are kind of betting that human society is about to get thrown back two or three hundred years to a pre-steam age of horse and sail power… But put more simply a time before fosil fuels provided force multipliers for transportation of physical objects such as goods and people. Thus they can “tax it” via a force-market as was done for over a thousand years or so before that.
As you will find Naomi Klein does mention early on about “climate change” and “carbon in the ground” but did not follow on from it to what we know from history will be a potential alternative to “freedom of the roads” that fosil fuels alowed.
I know some will argue vehemently against both Naomi Klein’s article, and my comments. But their time would be better spent looking into the history of the things mentioned. They might then start feeling that dred akin to a trickle of icy water down the spine as the potential reality of the near future sinks in.
Clive Robinson • May 8, 2023 9:22 PM
@ JonKnowsNothing,
Re : Google passkeys security for a no-brainer, thus Fido humps your leg
“The passkey ecosystem is far from complete…”
Nor is it’s longterm security concerns assuaged…
From memory the idea became semi-formalized back around 2015 from ideas going back a decade or more before that to get rid of passwords and instead use a Public Key Cert based system…
The early systems had issues as it was possible in some cases to Man In The Middle attack them. The reason a keenness to avoid CA hierarchy issues…
But there are other issues,
Firstly, the problem with all Pub Key Certs is they can be “backdoored” by use not of “truely random primes” but one or more “chosen primes”. I won’t go into it, but those with an interest can look it up, under Cryptovirology developed by Adam Young and Moti Yung. But the reason it’s possible is the vast amount of redundancy available in PubKey Certs that’s been known to be an issue since a paper back in the early 1980’s.
Secondly, the last time I looked FIDO used as standard for it’s PubKey “asymmetric cryptography” an unfixed version of “Elliptic Curve Direct Anonymous Attestation”(ECDAA). That is the ECDAA standard used by FIDO involves signitures of a type that have been a significant problem in the past. Worse, ECDAA has not incorporated solutions to lessons that have been learned in the past decade or so of EC research, as a result the chosen curve has security deficiencies that are known to be inherent to the curve used. All of which when combined reduces the security guarantees of ECDAA by an amount that is concerning. There are other issues from memory, the FIDO people went to specification without talking to cryptographers thus dod some things such as get padding wrong.
But thirdly… Why on earth are they just rolling out a systen based on Pre-QC PubKey? I’ve talked about quater to half century “legacy issues” on numerous occasions. They would do better to “hold off” until Post-QC standards are available, and thus avoid the legacy support issues entirely (assuming NIST can avoid getting finessed by the NSA yet again).
But there is another issue…
“Convenience and Guard Labour”
What is the betting “finger swipe” will become the “access choice of convenience”?
In the US we already know Law Enforcment are alowed if not encoraged by the FBI & DoJ and courts to physically assult individuals to force finger swipes etc.
That alone makes the whole idea less secure than a good paraphrase authentication system.
So my answer to,
“Google passkeys are a no-brainer. You’ve turned them on, right?”
No, and not likely to untill they not just fix the deficiencies, but entirely remove legacy support for the deficiencies.
But then I’m by choice in a position where “on-line” is not something I do from the computer systems I own… That is I don’t do personal “Social Media”, “Collaboration”, “cloud” or even Email nor am I likely to do.
But if for some reason I have to by being say “compelled to”… Then as I’ve indicated before and advised others it will be by a stand alone system that nothing personal will get put on in any form…
For those that want to call me paranoid now, as some have in the past, just remember don’t come crying to me if you get stuffed because you went with “convenience” at some point…
As has been noted from time to time,
1, OpSec is hard and needs diligence
2, Privacy is hard very hard and needs both dikigence and abstinence
From the old,
What is not said, can not be heard
What is not written, can not be read
What is not done, can not be seen
What is not, can not betray
Winter • May 9, 2023 12:23 AM
@JonKnowsNothing
People hallucinate.
And computers have viruses.[1]
Such is language. Saying that AI hallucinates and computers have viruses tells you what to expect and how to treat it. Saying that they return “invalid results as valid” in both cases tells you neither what to expect nor how to treat it.
[1] Also do programs have bugs and computers desktops, or neither.
Federico • May 9, 2023 2:26 AM
Mass-scale known-password attack is likely ongoing at Twitter. Not sure whether it’s unusual but it has not happened to me in many years.
Someone accessed an ancient test account of mine, which had been unused for over 10 years and had just 2 followers. I received 3 emails from Twitter: confirmation code, notification of unusual access and notification of access (successful?) from “9.34.3 on iPad in Canada”. No hints that the email account itself was accessed. I reset the password within 10 minutes and nothing had been changed yet.
The attacker probably reused email and password combination from a previous leak, and managed to login without a confirmation code (or didn’t manage to actually login?). The account wasn’t worth accessing. Either Twitter is currently such an easy target that it’s being used to test email-password combinations to be used elsewhere, or the attacker is testing millions of accounts hoping some of them turn out to be valuable.
ResearcherZero • May 9, 2023 4:05 AM
All of the ships had turned off their location tracking AIS services, an act often described as “going dark” and commonly used for disguising activity.
Radio intercepts and satellite imagery confirmed the locations of the vessels…
“The first ship to have visited the area near the Nord Stream explosion site, in around June 2022, is said to have belonged to the Russian navy due to the vessel’s radio communication and the frequency used.”
“Another more noteworthy ship entered the area on a later date and was successfully identified as the Sibiryakov, a scientific research vessel that supports underwater activity.”
“A third vessel, the naval tugboat SB-123, is said to have been in the area just five days before the explosions, with the radio communication suggesting it stayed there for the whole evening before sailing back towards Russia. Germany had reported it being in the area of the explosions on 21 to 22 September.”
Last week, the Danish armed forces said they took 26 pictures of a Russian vessel near the site of the blasts on 22 September, just four days before three of the four pipelines were ruptured. The documentary does not say there is conclusive proof of what the vessels were up to or that Russia was behind the blast. But it raises questions about the unusual nature of the activity.
‘https://news.sky.com/story/russian-ghost-ships-with-underwater-capabilities-circled-nord-stream-explosion-site-documentary-claims-12871910
(english subtitles)
‘https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKqmIX3VTV9DexlNp2zaUo3xhU-5h0oWu
Unit 40056
‘https://lynceans.org/tag/military-unit-40056/
“Russia is secretly charting this infrastructure and is undertaking activities which indicate preparations for disruption and sabotage”, the agencies said.
‘https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-targets-netherlands-north-sea-infrastructure-says-dutch-intelligence-2023-02-20/
A Russian vessel, designated as a serious threat, is the Yantar. It was detected near the current site of the [Svalbard] incident back in 2016-2020, on a reconnaissance mission. There are also suggestions that Yantar’s submersibles could carry technology capable of tapping the cables.
‘https://lansinginstitute.org/2022/01/13/damage-to-svalsat-cable-proves-russia-further-upping-stakes/
–
Spoofing AIS experiments by Russian Navy and “ghost ships”
‘https://skytruth.org/2021/07/systematic-data-analysis-reveals-false-vessel-tracks/
“the Russian Federation is growing a comparative advantage in the targeted use and development of GNSS spoofing capabilities to achieve tactical and strategic objectives at home and abroad”
‘https://static1.squarespace.com/static/566ef8b4d8af107232d5358a/t/5c99488beb39314c45e782da/1553549492554/Above+Us+Only+Stars.pdf
ResearcherZero • May 9, 2023 4:26 AM
For most of human history, we have been hunter-gatherers, living in groups where individuals had established roles and lives. While sometimes dangerous, life was largely predictable. The brain evolved to be remarkably good at recognizing patterns and building habits, turning very complex sets of behaviors into something we can do on autopilot.
When things become less predictable — and therefore less controllable — we experience a strong state of threat.
‘https://hbr.org/2021/09/our-brains-were-not-built-for-this-much-uncertainty
Certain physiological factors compel individuals to react impulsively to danger. But there are also societal factors that come into play.
Regardless, experts offer alternative, yet simple ways to respond — and not simply react — to a perceived threat without the use of violence.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-mistake-shootings-interactions-experts-20230506-uzkypxdnzbhfpd3odhxh44gkie-story.html
–
“both children and adults can intuitively and rapidly recognize quantities less than three or four”
The brain is optimized to recognize small quantities because smaller numbers are what people tend to interact with most on a daily basis.
“many people place the number 1 million halfway between 1,000 and 1 billion on a number line. In reality, a million is 1,000 times closer to 1,000 than 1 billion”
‘https://theconversation.com/brains-are-bad-at-big-numbers-making-it-impossible-to-grasp-what-a-million-covid-19-deaths-really-means-179081
Human Brain – recognition quantities
‘https://doi.org/10.1037/dec0000089
‘https://nautil.us/how-to-understand-extreme-numbers-236443/
ResearcherZero • May 9, 2023 4:43 AM
Rather than focusing effort on convincing people of a falsehood, the Russian strategy takes a tack reminiscent of a strategy long employed by the tobacco industry: to sow so much doubt about what is true that it sends people into decision paralysis. Faced with a cacophony of wild and conflicting claims, people do nothing, unsure of what is right.
We afford more weight to content that frightens or outrages us, with the ability to induce anger serving as the single greatest predictor of whether content goes viral. This propels the most visceral, divisive narratives to the forefront of discourse, creating a sound and fury of passionately debated claims and counter claims. In that atmosphere, it becomes increasingly difficult to ascertain what to believe, and easy to abandon the task of discerning the truth.
The goal, as KGB Major General Oleg Kalugin elucidated in 1998, was “not intelligence collection, but subversion: active measures to weaken the West, to drive wedges in the Western community alliances of all sorts, particularly NATO, to sow discord among allies, to weaken the United States in the eyes of the people of Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America….”.
‘https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/russian-misinformation-seeks-to-confound-not-convince/
ResearcherZero • May 9, 2023 4:50 AM
@ALL
Intel complains that the keys in question are generated by MSI, and not by Intel. I won’t discuss how MSI generates those keys, instead…
As has already been discussed.
If the keys were generated by MSI, as it is a root of trust process, Intel Boot Guard is essentially defeated when somebody swipes the keys.
“To protect against malicious firmware, Intel Boot Guard will verify if a firmware image is signed using a legitimate private signing key using an embedded public key built into the Intel hardware. “The Intel Boot Guard keys leak impacts the whole ecosystem (not only MSI) and makes this security feature useless.”
“The hash OEM Root RSA public key from the KM manager is programmed into chipset’s Field Programmable (FPFs). The main purpose of the KM is to store the hash of an RSA public key from the BPM which in turn contains the information on the Boot Policy, Initial Boot Block (IBB) description and it’s hash.”
“The leaked private parts of the mentioned keys allows a potential attacker to sign the modified firmware for this device, so it would pass Intel Boot Guard’s verification making this technology completely ineffective.”
‘https://twitter.com/binarly_io/status/1654287041339998208
UEFI Secure Boot assumes the OEM platform firmware is a Trusted Computing Base (TCB) and trusts it implicitly.
‘https://github.com/tianocore-docs/Understanding_UEFI_Secure_Boot_Chain/blob/master/secure_boot_chain_in_uefi/intel_boot_guard.md
‘https://eclypsium.com/blog/endpoint-firmware-attack-timeline-introduction/
Clive Robinson • May 9, 2023 6:52 AM
@ ResearcherZero, ALL,
Re : Ships sans AIS and other Radio systems and all to often running lights.
“All of the ships had turned off their location tracking AIS services, an act often described as “going dark” and commonly used for disguising activity.”
The term “going dark” is very generic more so than “turn to the dark side”. You hear it almost anywhere people do not want “nose prods” sticking it in, and it’s used by the nose prods to strongly imply bad, unlawfull or illegal behaviour, as well as using it to get their hands on more of the tax take…
In the case of ocean going vessels classified as “Ships” for insurance etc the AIS and other “anticollision measures are an international legal requirment. Turning off or disavling such systems and measures is all to commen with state sanctioned and protected illegal fishing vessels, those engaged in certain types of espionage, and of course smuggling and other crimes such as people trafficking. Such vessels are more correctly called “Ghost Ships” by people in the maritime industries.
However that said such ships are fairly easily tracked by radar in aircraft and satelites. Supprising to some the ships wake is very easily seen not just by radar but by the likes of passive IR systems.
Thus a clue a ship is “going ghost” is that they slow right down and run with the tide so that stearage way is minimized. They will then often also throw over a “sea anchor” or similar to do a degree of “station keeping”.
Just searching on “Ghost Ships” can pull up a lot of curious information. Some commercial organisations keep detailed records on ships AIS info thus turning it off at sea gets a vessel flagged.
no comment • May 9, 2023 8:28 AM
@ ResearcherZero
The brain is optimized to recognize small quantities because smaller numbers are what people tend to interact with most on a daily basis.
“many people place the number 1 million halfway between 1,000 and 1 billion on a number line. In reality, a million is 1,000 times closer to 1,000 than 1 billion”
The brain is optimized to be able to handle anything, but habits play a role in what they do routinely. The Doman brothers learning methods for very young children can get them to recognize much higher numbers than 3 or 4, even up to 100.
People develop an intuitive sense of the proportional or logarithmic relationship. A million is “1000 times closer” in the additive sense, but is equipoised in the proportional sense. People intuitively develop an understanding of and use those relationships that seem most meaningful in each context they have to deal with.
Winter • May 9, 2023 9:35 AM
@ResearcherZero
“many people place the number 1 million halfway between 1,000 and 1 billion on a number line. In reality, a million is 1,000 times closer to 1,000 than 1 billion”
Actually, the strategy is fairly sensible: The number of zeros in 1,000,000 is halfway between that in 1,000 and in 1,000,000,000. So, 1 million is halfway between a thousand and a billion.
If you present amounts visually as a logarithm, you should expect a logarithmic answer.
Also, all our senses work work with logarithmic intensity, from hearing (dB) to vision (e.g., star brightness) to touch (e.g., earthquakes).
All linear measures have a large range problem: At every linear resolution, you run out of decimals quick. And in every situation, the difference from 100 to 101 is much much more important than the equally large difference from 1B to 1B + 1.
Wiley • May 9, 2023 10:59 AM
When Gates points out that the so-called “bad guys” won’t stop their research, while a temporary moratorium on AI R&D would tie the “good guys'” hands, thus putting the good guys at a disadvantage, he’s right, in my opinion. I don’t recall where I picked up this particular saying, still: “black hat hackers: deplorable intentions; admirable work ethic.”
Clive Robinson • May 9, 2023 11:33 AM
@ Winter, ResearcherZero, ALL,
Re : What precision is sufficient?
A : Read Chapter 4…
“At every linear resolution, you run out of decimals quick. And in every situation, the difference from 100 to 101 is much much more important than the equally large difference from 1B to 1B + 1.”
This is the basic argument for “floating point numbers” and early audio compressors for digital telephony (see A-law and U-law curves).
It works well untill you get into certain issues the easiest to see is that of adding or subtracting a large number of very small numbers.
If you only have 20bits (~1,000,000 range) it does not take long to find that “adding 1 to a float in a loop controled by a 32bit int counter” kind of nolonger works for you after a while.
Similar issues arise when you add sinewaves…
Nearly all the orbits of celestial objects can be described sufficiently accurately by less than the first 50 harmonics… However there were back in the early 1970’s few “maths packages” that could correctly handle sinewaves as they crossed zero or approached one. The first time I realy came to understand this was when I nearly broke a very expensive “drum plotter”, and why you should always code in for not just errors and exceptions, but limits as well.
As a test I was plotting the first seven harmonics of a sinewave which went well… But I was also “adding them up in progress” to what should have been a nice aproximation of a square wave with the charecterestic ripple. What I got was the expected rising edge, but it did not stop rising untill it got to just under twice the expected hight as a very sharp spike… Narrowly missing the hard end stop. I enlisted the help of one of the computer lecturers who mainly taught maths, and we went through it value by value…
Turns out that the way they were “rounding values” in the floating point algorithm was wrong… We posted the plot, a print out of values and other evidence and sent it off to the system developers who had writen most of it in Fortran… Turns out their basic maths library was cracked… In that rounding was kind of wrong.
It’s why “scary maths formulas” aside I recomend people actually read Donald Knuth’s “The Art of Computer Programming”[1] Chapter 4 as it goes into not just how to find these sorts of bugs, but also why you can not fix them in a “general way”. Thus there are several solutions but some will always be bad for what you want to do but good for what others want to do and vice-versa.
[1] There is a true story that Bill Gates wanted people to “give him a call if they had read Knuth”… Well I had read it before he made the offer[2]… But because I’d already met him in a business meeting, well lets just say I was not impressed, I did not make the call even though I had his card.
[2] There is a difference between reading and understanding, which is why even now I still read Knuth and keep the volumes by my bedside and often re-read what I must have read a dozen times before. I mentioned the reading and rereading to somebody I had a lot of respect for decades ago, and they kindly pointed out that the first steps to understanding thus wisdom was, knowing that you neither knew or understood a problem but you worked at it untill you did.
Clive Robinson • May 9, 2023 11:51 AM
@ Wiley, ALL,
Re : Tied hands don’t even slow.
“When Gates points out that the so-called “bad guys” won’t stop their research, while a temporary moratorium on AI R&D would tie the “good guys’” hands, thus putting the good guys at a disadvantage, he’s right, in my opinion.”
It sounds like it’s true, but it’s not.
The reason is that for this type of AI a tipping point has been crossed and the open community are moving way way faster due to Meta’s model “escaping”.
The Big Bucks Corporates have been beaten by people at home on high end laptops…
I won’t go into the reaaons again but if you accept that to be the case and many do. Then you need to look in the statment under a different light.
Basically as we know Microsoft takes and uses information and code where it can with neither acknowledgment or payment…
That is Microsoft is one of the biggest thieves of IP in the whole world, certainly bigger than more than a few nation states.
All Microsoft will do if so handcuffed, is in the background take open source ideas and get his developers to use them…
The real reason behind his argument, is to keep politicians and regulators of what they are doing, so that they can get over a tipping point. That is their theft is so big, it has become “to big to stop”.
See my earlier reply today about Yech Corporate Lobying as it contains links that explain what is going on in more depth,
JonKnowsNothing • May 9, 2023 12:33 PM
@ALL
re: FaceID comes to roost
A MSM report that a FOIA request to the Los Angles Police Department for information on the Police Officers on the roster, returned a vetted list, cleaned of Undercover Officer information. It’s what the returned data file indicated.
It wouldn’t be news if something hadn’t burped, and 150+ Undercover Cops were on the list.
The data file had extensive information including photos of the officers and other identifying information.
The LAPD fear that with advances in FaceID, this can reveal the “true” face of the officers. The enhancements in FaceID use face and bone structure and can “see through” external aspects, like beards, hats, dark glasses.
The LAPD expect organized crime gangs will be extracting the true faces of the officers and using their own RT FaceID programs, scan crowds and gatherings hunting for a HIT.
The Officers are scared. Rightly so. However ironic. (H4H)
===
H4H = Hope 4 a Hallucination
ht tps://www.theguardian.c o m/us-news/2023/may/09/los-angeles-police-department-records-release-undercover-identities
‘A blunder that is just epic’: LAPD reels after release of undercover identities
After a records request, the LAPD released the names and photos of 9,000 cops, including undercover officers in dangerous assignments
(url fractured)
lurker • May 9, 2023 1:56 PM
@ResearcherZero
re, Intel, MSI, SecureBoot
They say two people can keep a secret if one of them is dead. So why are certain Linux distros scrabbling to get on the TCB bus while both the big players are still showing excessive signs of life?
SpaceLifeForm • May 9, 2023 7:55 PM
@ Federico
‘https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/9/23717558/plugwalkjoe-pleads-guilty-twitter-hack-other-crimes-tiktok[
In 2020, PlugwalkJoe and unnamed co-conspirators gained access to Twitter’s administrative tools. Using that access, the co-conspirators were able to tweet from several accounts belonging to major companies and celebrities.
ResearcherZero • May 10, 2023 1:13 AM
@Clive Robinson
There are more than a couple nation states that have stolen significantly more IP than Microsoft. They have been hoovering up secrets for a very long time, long before Microsoft even existed.
The volumes of information that a couple of theses actors take in are very significant and very well targeted.
ResearcherZero • May 10, 2023 1:50 AM
@Clive Robinson
A little boat tried to sail right into the main entrance of a naval base once. Not much leg room. They almost sunk themselves in their little boat. Said they had some “engine trouble”. Probably a little top heavy with antennae. The more they tried, and the closer they got to going under. Oddly the vessel seemed to try and increase speed, although it was going nowhere but further under.
Clive Robinson • May 10, 2023 2:08 AM
@ ResearcherZero, ALL,
Re : Nation state industrial espionage and IP theft.
“They have been hoovering up secrets for a very long time, long before Microsoft even existed.”
Yes “some” nation states have, but it’s important to see the diference between “Nation State Actors” and “Nation Members” doing it. Which boils down to the vexed question of,
“Just what is National Security”
The US for example now apparently regards it as anything that puts money in legislators pockets…
But a look at the history of US Patents and the law arising tells you an interesting story…
The US used to steal anything that was not nailed down, untill other nations started doing the same in return… So the US got “prissy about it”. They still steal every which way they can to support the “American Dream” but now hide behind legislators, lawyers, and judges, to give their behaviour some arms length respectavility. You only have to look at the “oh so super secret” investor state dispute resolution clauses the Obama Administration tried desperately to hide in all those “Trade Treaties” to see the US is still at it. The same thing that Australian Health Care Government policy/legislation got whacked with a decade or so back over tobacco.
We are seeing the same being tried on yet again. With this time the “Ubited Nations”(UN) and “World Health Organisation”(WHO) via the WHA, bone of whom are either ellected or subject to any kind of realistic oversight. Where the WHO which is something like 85% funded by the drugs insustry will have the authority to set not just “Drugs Policy” in the World, but have “Criminal Sanctions” rights against anyone who dares disagree with them or reveal the truth that is inconvenient to the funders… Do I need point out that of those 85% of funders the majority are US Corporations or controled by them and US legislation, who pay next to nothing in taxes, but do spend a lot on lobbying…
ResearcherZero • May 10, 2023 2:13 AM
@lurker
Dbus makes everything simpler and eliminates the need for complex, error-prone communication mechanisms such as sockets or pipes.
–
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes
‘https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0749597819301177
“From an evolutionary perspective, we were focused on the things that threatened to kill us immediately or small group interactions.”
While most of us will see a single death as a tragedy, we can struggle to have the same response to large-scale loss of life. Too often, the deaths of many simply become a statistic. The millions of lives lost in natural disasters, wars or to famine, for example, grow too large to fathom.
“Now we’re trying to figure out very complex risk scenarios where there’s a lot of statistics available. But the average human who’s not a statistical analyst or epidemiologist, doesn’t have the tools you need at their fingertips to make judgements about something as vast and complex as the global pandemic.”
‘https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200630-what-makes-people-stop-caring
ResearcherZero • May 10, 2023 6:14 AM
“This is how large masses of people are indoctrinated.”
The Golden Billion
Kuzmich argued Western elites looked hungrily to the Soviet Union’s vast natural resources in particular — its gas, oil and forests — amid projections of dwindling global supplies and the USSR’s decline. Yeltsin’s then prime minister, a 48-year-old former KGB officer named Vladimir Putin, assumed the presidency upon Yeltsin’s resignation later that same year.
An idea that first emerged in the twilight years of the Soviet Union, the golden billion is a conspiracy theory that posits a cabal of 1 billion global elites seeks to hoard the world’s wealth and resources, leaving the rest of the planet to suffer and starve.
In a speech at an Asia-Pacific economic summit in 2000, just months into his first term, Putin argued that global development was “roughly divided into North and South, between the so-called golden billion and the rest of humanity.”
Over two decades later, Putin has deepened his embrace of the theory to stoke anger over hot-button issues like access to vaccines and cultural policies.
‘https://www.npr.org/2022/11/21/1134445639/russia-putin-conspiracy-theory-golden-billion
The Eternal Call
The fictional story originates from a novel written by Anatoly Ivanov, which was made into a TV series. The conspiracy theory claims there was a “document” outlining a strategy for undermining Russian power by sowing “chaos and confusion”, in order to defeat Russia by destroying its people from the inside.
The entire plan (without any references to Dulles or the CIA) is voiced almost word-for-word by a villain character in the first edition of the novel The Eternal Call by Anatoly Ivanov. The second edition, published in 1981, still contains most of the plan, which is now broken into short phrases and scattered around the second book.
‘https://web.archive.org/web/20041204191242/http://eairc.boom.ru/icon/battle_for_russia.html
The story itself is not highly original and contains significant similarities to the statements of Pyotr Verhovensky, a character from the novel The Possessed by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. An earlier version of the plan can also be found in a 1965 novel by Soviet writer Yuri Dol’d-Mikhaylik.
‘https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dulles%27_Plan
The power of the Dulles Plan comes from its worth as a catch-all explanation for any changes in Russia that are perceived as negative: If the culture is falling apart, don’t look at anyone in power in Russia. It’s obviously a CIA plot to rot the heart of Russia’s power.
‘https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/dulles-plan-conspiracy-theory-russian-election-trolls
ResearcherZero • May 10, 2023 6:21 AM
misinformation
“We see [misinformation] continuing, if not gaining momentum,” Castrucci told ABC News.
According to the poll, 44% of physicians estimate that more than half the COVID-19 information they see, read, and hear from patients is misinformation.
‘https://abcnews.go.com/US/experts-fear-rise-medical-misinformation-rfk-jrs-presidential/story?id=98506164
‘Education Is Key’
The time is past due to make media literacy, and, with it, critical thought, a cornerstone of education.
‘https://www.infotoday.com/it/jan17/Padgett–Filtering-Out-Fake-News.shtml
“Our findings show that there are countries with relatively high prevalence of misinformation but low concern about it, suggesting that public awareness campaigns are required. Low concern also means that people are less motivated to adopt preventative actions against misinformation, such as triangulating information sources. This should be taken into account when prioritizing or targeting policy interventions.”
‘https://misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu/article/who-is-afraid-of-fake-news-modeling-risk-perceptions-of-misinformation-in-142-countries/#0
The Fake News Spreading Plague: Was it Preventable?
‘https://arxiv.org/pdf/1703.06988.pdf
The primary generator of traffic for most of the misinformation websites is Facebook where these websites’ community appears to remain stable, the Facebook page helping maintain their traffic to the newly emerged URLs.
‘https://cmds.ceu.edu/sites/cmcs.ceu.hu/files/attachment/basicpage/1830/bomfinalreport_0.pdf
–
disinformation
Estonia ranks high in media freedom and education, which “provide solid preconditions to deal with disinformation”, says Marin Lessenski, program director at Open Society Institute, based in Sofia, Bulgaria, which publishes an annual Media Literacy Index. “Better education provides for stronger critical thinking or better fact checking skills.”
‘https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220128-the-country-inoculating-against-disinformation
Most of the measures we cataloged were vaguely worded. And even where lawmakers have good intentions, many information laws target individuals as opposed to trying to shape the ecosystem itself. In some places civil society and opposition groups mobilized to prevent new laws regulating freedom of speech and fake news.
‘https://thebulletin.org/premium/2021-05/countries-have-more-than-100-laws-on-the-books-to-combat-misinformation-how-well-do-they-work/
‘https://www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2019/07/31/combating-disinformation-and-foreign-interference-in-democracies-lessons-from-europe/
Twitter can now algorithmically promote state-affiliated media outlets.
Twitter users no longer must actively seek out state-sponsored content in order to see it on the platform; it can just be served to them. Many state-affiliated media outlets, particularly in authoritarian countries, publish content to exert influence, sometimes leveraging disinformation and propaganda in their articles to achieve these aims.
‘https://dfrlab.org/2023/04/21/state-controlled-media-experience-sudden-twitter-gains-after-unannounced-platform-policy-change/
ResearcherZero • May 10, 2023 7:21 AM
“Most misinformation is spread by people — not by bots, foreign actors or troll accounts.”
Social media companies have put into place an incentives structure that rewards habitual users for sharing sensational stories.
“Once habits form, information sharing is automatically activated by cues on the platform without users considering critical response outcomes, such as spreading misinformation.”
‘https://news.usc.edu/204782/usc-study-reveals-the-key-reason-why-fake-news-spreads-on-social-media/
Social media platforms have helped fuel political polarization and incitements to violence across the globe… This is because algorithms consistently select content that evokes anger and outrage from its users to maximize engagement. And sometimes, those extreme emotions turn into extreme actions.
‘https://www.npr.org/2019/10/09/768489375/how-outrage-is-hijacking-our-culture-and-our-minds
By studying what types of content you have clicked on in the past, by understanding what types of content generate certain types of emotions, and by analyzing what content gets shared and passed around, these algorithms can ensure that they fill your news feeds with sensationalized, over-the-top headlines that grab your attention and lure you into clicking on content.
‘https://socialmediahq.com/how-social-media-sells-your-fear-and-outrage-for-profit/
“our algorithms exploit the human brain’s attraction to divisiveness”, leveraging that flaw to “gain user attention and increase time on the platform” – Facebook researchers
Winter • May 10, 2023 7:29 AM
@ResearcherZero
The conspiracy theory claims there was a “document” outlining a strategy for undermining Russian power by sowing “chaos and confusion”, in order to defeat Russia by destroying its people from the inside.
This is a new version of the protocols. That (too) was written by the Russian secret service as preparation and propaganda for extensive pogroms that happened a little later. Jews then, Ukrainians now.
‘https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Protocols_of_the_Elders_of_Zion
The Golden Billion latches into resentment against the unfair postwar economic system that structurally disadvantages developing economies.
Where this propaganda is derailing is that China and India are growing out of that mold. They do not want to pose as the underdog anymore. And the “Golden 3.5 billion” does not sound tha enticing anymore.
Anyhow, this whole Golden Billion is simply trying to blame the plight of the Russians on foreigners again, to distract from their own kleptocrats that stole everything Russia produced.
modem phonemes • May 10, 2023 8:29 AM
@ ResearcherZero
Re: misinformation disinformation education public awareness …
The power to tax is the power to destroy. The same principle applies even more fundamentally to “education”. So who will guard i.e. educate the guardians ?
“A small error in the beginning of something is a great one at the end,”
The modern “information” context is shaped by an agenda going back to the inception of the Enlightenment. The ideal sought is “mastery in our own house”, rather than truth. It is not unexpected that politics and ethics have become battles of wills to power.
The last 150 or so years of this program are discussed in [1].
Winter • May 10, 2023 11:04 AM
@PaulBart
As opposed to how nothing has been stolen from the American middle class?
If you consider Putin’s reign to be equivalent to the US under GOP or Dems, you have lost connection to reality. As any Russian can tell you.
That there is no war currently on them?
As compared to Ukraine, no.
Or, maybe, this is yet another example of whatsaboutism.
Winter • May 10, 2023 12:49 PM
@modem
The ideal sought is “mastery in our own house”, rather than truth.
That depends on how you define truth. The prevailing definition at the time was religious dogma as clergy was willing to derive from sacred Latin texts. Humanists et al. Switched to demonstrable truths, first using new, philological informed, translations of scriptures, then based on empirical observations.
As a result the truths purportedly descended from God himself (any of the many gods of man) lost standing as there were, and are, serious questions of what the words transmitted through time actually mean, how they were formulated initially, and why God wrote so many conflicting texts that were incommensurable, and why so many people were convinced their God(s) and scriptures were the one and only true ones.
As all true believers have the same, indisputable evidence that the other gods are false, the only sane position is that they are all right about each other. So we must conclude that all religions are equally false.
The only thing all reasonable persons can agree upon are observations, so the only truths reasonable people can all agree on are empirical truths.
And that was the outcome of the enlightenment. And it works. As all denominations of Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindu’s, Buddhists, and all the others are still fighting each other about every aspect of the true message of God, they all agree about electricity, nuclear physics, and the true nature of the solar and vascular systems.
modem phonemes • May 10, 2023 3:01 PM
@ Winter
That depends on how you define truth.
The definition referred to is truth knowable by natural reason.
Winter • May 10, 2023 3:56 PM
@modem
The definition referred to is truth knowable by natural reason.
Natural reason is little more than divine revelations. Natural reason does not exist outside those who already believe in a God and then try to use that assumption to “reason” that God must exist.
The question is, is there any fact about the observable world that has ever, in the whole of human history, been proven by pure natural reason?
If there is, I have not seen it.
modem phonemes • May 10, 2023 4:48 PM
@ Winter
… Natural reason does not exist outside those who already believe in a God …
I have never seen this characterization of natural reason.
The term as far as I have seen always seems to refer to what begins in the sense organs, progresses through the higher sensory and neural functions, eventually terminating in the mind as knowledge, i.e. the normal process of everyday knowing, technology, sciences, politics, ethics, philosophy, etc.
vas pup • May 10, 2023 5:37 PM
US chip giant Qualcomm to buy Israeli road safety tech startup Autotalks
“US chipmaker Qualcomm announced on Monday that it is buying Israeli startup Autotalks, a developer of smart vehicle communication systems designed to improve road safety and
help prevent car collisions.
!!!The Kfar Netter-based startup develops chipsets based on sensor technology, which allows vehicles to communicate or “talk” with one another and connect to road infrastructure. The sensor can “see” around corners and through any obstacle or obstruction within a radius of up to one mile for the early detection of hazards, the startup says.
The vehicle-to-everything (V2X) system developed by Autotalks uses connected car technology to warn other vehicles and their drivers of hazards before they can be seen with the aim of increasing road safety.
Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death for children and young adults aged 5-29 years, according to the World Health Organization. About 1.3 million people die each year as a result of road traffic crashes.
V2X-powered smart traffic control systems work in all environments and weather conditions. In manned vehicles, V2X systems provide the driver with alerts and notifications and can also take over operation of the vehicle in dangerous situations.
In autonomous vehicles, V2X complements existing sensors.
Cars equipped with V2X systems, like Volkswagen Golf, ID.3, and ID.4, displays the alert on their infotainment screen. Toyota also is integrating V2X technology into its vehicles.”
Winter • May 10, 2023 6:05 PM
@modem
the normal process of everyday knowing, technology, sciences, politics, ethics, philosophy, etc.
But, apparently, not empirical observations or science. Whatever I have seen about natural reasoning is what is impolitely called armchair reasoning.
Given that the most famous examples of natural reasoning claimed to have proven the existence of God as an unobservable entity (eg, Thomas Aquinas), I tend to agree with classifying it under armchair reasoning of the theistic kind.
modem phonemes • May 10, 2023 7:26 PM
@ Winter
But, apparently, not empirical observations or science.
Empirical observations are just sensory knowledge and thinking – field research, controlled experiment, mathematical reasoning – etc. They fit under natural reasoning in the sense specified here.
As for armchair Aquinas et al. One has to ask oneself how far knowledge starting with the physical world in all its aspects can go by unaided human reasoning. It turns out it seems to get somewhat beyond physical, enmattered beings. The reasoning is scientific in character and as rigorous as the difficulty of the area allows. The basic seriousness of the effort is beyond question. It is an attempt to grasp the realities of life and existence on the deepest level accessible to human reason on the strength of its own resources.
ResearcherZero • May 10, 2023 11:42 PM
@modem phonemes
Natural reason does not exist. Humans are educated on how to communicate, how to make fire, and how to find water that is not stagnant. An infected wound can kill you in a remarkably short period of time.
Until the 20th century, infections that we now consider straightforward to treat – such as pneumonia and diarrhoea – that are caused by bacteria, were the number one cause of human death.
–
“A report into the WA Department of Justice’s performance has found custodial staff are not properly trained and clinical staff are under significant pressure.”
The Coroner’s Court made 35 formal recommendations to the department between 2017 and 2021 following 13 inquests into the deaths of 17 prisoners in custody.
‘https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/little-evidence-of-any-meaningful-change-wa-prisons-fail-to-fix-inadequate-mental-health-care-20230417-p5d145.html
“The suspension of this [OPCAT] visit was highly regrettable, and we would urge the Australian Government to assure this Committee that these issues can be resolved so that the visit may be recommenced.”
“Refusing access to U.N. inspectors sets a dangerous precedent for other countries to follow. It is easy to imagine a situation where a country like Russia or China receives criticism from the West for refusing access to U.N. inspectors, and then points to the NSW government’s actions as an example of Western hypocrisy.”
‘https://thediplomat.com/2022/11/2-state-governments-in-australia-block-un-visits-to-prisons/
“incredible and deeply concerning”
The treaty also requires all ratified countries to establish an independent body to prevent torture, which was originally due in January 2022. Australia lagged behind and was granted a one-year extension.
In its visit to Australia, the subcommittee planned to check its progress on creating this mechanism, as well as check the conditions of its prisons.
Queensland Health also confirmed it would not allow the UN officials to enter its mental health wards in detention facilities and remand centres due to restrictions in its Mental Health legislation.
“It’s not to allow people just to wander through at their leisure. [The United Nations] should be off to Iran looking for human rights violations there.”
It is not clear if the minister was aware that Iran is not a signatory of OPCAT.
‘https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/the-un-has-demanded-to-inspect-australias-jails-this-is-why-one-state-is-turning-officials-away/zvs5by2sg
“Reading reports by both national and also international institutions, judges and inspectors, we see the situation is not so rosy at all,” she said.
“But, at the end of the day, we don’t want the standard we’re setting to simply be that we’re not the worst in the world.”
‘https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-18/united-nations-probes-australia-on-detention-custody-deaths/101664930
Winter • May 10, 2023 11:52 PM
@modem
One has to ask oneself how far knowledge starting with the physical world in all its aspects can go by unaided human reasoning.
What aid to human reasoning are you contemplating?
It turns out it seems to get somewhat beyond physical, enmattered beings.
What unphysical, not enmattered beings are you referring to?
I always understood both questions have the answer “God” in some form or another (eg, theism). Am I wrong?
ResearcherZero • May 11, 2023 12:11 AM
@Winter
The ones who last a couple of days wandering around in the bush, after drinking stagnant water, lost?
I’ve tracked and rescued a lot of people who relied on natural reason. A few were dead by the time we found them, despite warning them what they were attempting was very, very unwise. Didn’t take long for them to die either.
One of them died at a river. Salt water.
–
Or maybe it’s something a little like this…
‘https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/10/06/unprecedented-video-leak-shows-rampant-torture-at-russian-prisons-ngo-a75218
Warning: This article contains graphic images and descriptions of sexual abuse and violence
‘https://www.the-sun.com/news/4045314/videos-putin-prisons-inmates-raped-mutilated/
1000+ videos
“The problem of torture in Russian penitentiaries is very acute and the government is not doing enough to ensure effective investigation.”
‘https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62465043
‘https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpdPxtCbiAg
ResearcherZero • May 11, 2023 12:30 AM
These jokers were on IRC at the time, desperately asking how they could make the scandal go away, what kind of evidence might exist, and could it somehow vanish…
“Piers Morgan says he is not aware of phone hacking taking place while he was editor of the Daily Mirror.”
‘https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-65531864
“systemic” use of private investigators by MGN journalists to unlawfully obtain private information was authorised by senior editors including Piers Morgan
‘https://www.itv.com/news/2023-05-10/mirror-tabloid-group-admits-it-unlawfully-gathered-info-on-prince-harry
Rebekah Brooks and Piers Morgan accused each other of hacking voicemail and email messages in front of guests
‘https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/dec/11/rebekah-brooks-piers-morgan-party-phone-hacking-trial
Piers Morgan, the former Daily Mirror editor, boasted to Rebekah Brooks that he knew what story would appear on her newspaper’s front page the following day because he had been “listening to her messages”.
‘https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/phone-hacking/10512673/Piers-Morgan-and-Rebekah-Brooks-bantered-about-phone-hackingat-party-court-hears.html
“I do not remember Piers Morgan saying he had hacked my phone,” Brooks told the trial.
‘https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/mar/11/rebekah-brooks-piers-morgan-phone-hacking-trial
Vanish from the logs?
Winter • May 11, 2023 1:14 AM
@ResearcherZero
I’ve tracked and rescued a lot of people who relied on natural reason
That is more apt called “common sense”, which we know does not work in uncommon situations. Not listening to, or not seeking, advice when exploring “the wild” or “nature” has killed many. Taking selfies with wild animals is a recent sensational example.
I think natural reason is more likely used to think about unphysical entities. Unphysical entities doe not tend to affect people’s lives beyond the consequences of thinking about them.
Re: Russia
“The problem of torture in Russian penitentiaries is very acute and the government is not doing enough to ensure effective investigation.”
The root of the “problem” is that it is not seen as a problem by the Russian government. This is obvious from how the Wagner group recruited prisoners to use them, literally, as bait for Ukrainian artillery.
Fun fact, due to the war and sanctions, the Russian economy is shrinking. As a result, there are less bribes to extract and now the agencies are fighting each other over what is left. So, you get to see the FSB raiding police stations.
‘https://www.thedailybeast.com/one-of-putins-biggest-mistakes-is-finally-catching-up-with-him
A series of raids on police stations by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) over the last week made it clear that the Kremlin has ordered a crackdown on its own police. The nation’s law enforcement and security services have been turned against each other.
The economics of this black market are changing fast. The Russian economy is shrinking, the middle class is fleeing the country in a historic exodus—more than 500,000 left during the first year of the war. Colonel Kolov says that the number of people able to pay bribes is rapidly shrinking, which leaves law enforcement agencies fighting each other over what’s left.
ResearcherZero • May 11, 2023 2:16 AM
@Winter
Apparently some Stalinist ideas may be becoming popular again in Russia…
“The Soviets wanted to sweep away old human institutions and replace them with modern, supposedly “rational” ones.”
In doing so, they even hoped to build a new type of human—the New Soviet Man, a selfless, heroic worker.
In other words, they hoped that by remaking the environment they could remake humankind.
One official was especially fanatic about stamping out genetics, Trofim Lysenko. He was soon boasting of plans to grow lemon trees in Siberia.
As Lysenko rose through the ranks, he also proved himself ruthless in stamping out opposition to his “science,” denouncing his rivals as spies and traitors. Eventually Lysenko used his influence to become the head of Soviet agriculture, at which point he pushed to outlaw genetics research and education in the Soviet Union.
Nikolai Vavilov, who had tried to end starvation, and who had created the world’s first seed bank, was starved to death in the Gulag.
‘https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/the-tragedy-of-the-worlds-first-seed-bank
Lysenko forced farmers to plant seeds very close together since, according to his “law of the life of species”, plants from the same “class” never compete with one another.
Wheat, rye, potatoes, beets—most everything grown according to Lysenko’s methods died or rotted.
‘https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/12/trofim-lysenko-soviet-union-russia/548786/
The result was catastrophic. Crops were destroyed, viable land was lost, grain was hoarded, and famine engrossed the country.
Through a series of Stalinist policies, ethnic Ukrainians were targeted to repress what Stalin described as their “nationalist deviations”.
‘https://allthatsinteresting.com/trofim-lysenko
“a hybrid…of a famine caused by calamitous social-economic policies and one aimed at a particular population for repression or punishment.”
‘https://www.history.com/news/ukrainian-famine-stalin
Exacerbating the growing famine in Ukraine, in 1932 the Soviet state ordered that grain earned by Ukrainian peasants for meeting their quotas should be reclaimed. At the same time, those who did not meet quotas began to be punished.
Finding your farm on the local ‘blacklist’ meant having your livestock and any remaining food seized by local policemen and party activists.
After Ukrainians had attempted to flee in search of food, the borders were closed off in January 1933, forcing them to remain within the barren land. Anyone found scavenging what little grain they could were faced with the death penalty.
It was only when the Soviet archives were declassified in the 1990s that the buried records of the famine came to light. As the scale of terror and starvation reached its peak, little relief was offered by Moscow. In fact, the Soviet Union still managed to export over 1 million tonnes of grain to the West during the spring of 1933.
‘https://www.historyhit.com/soviet-famine-causes/
Winter • May 11, 2023 2:36 AM
@ResearcherZero
In doing so, they even hoped to build a new type of human—the New Soviet Man, a selfless, heroic worker.
In other words, they hoped that by remaking the environment they could remake humankind.
This is actually a part of a political theory.
We, from the decadent West, subscribe to the theory that a People should chose their Government.
The Russians have long subscribed to a different theory: the Government should chose their People.
Obviously, the ultimate goal of such a government would be to produce a People according to precise specifications.
It is well known that Putin subscribes to the theory that each government should select it’s people rigorously. As was Stalin.
ResearcherZero • May 11, 2023 4:58 AM
The UK government still hopes to bend the internet to its will, but it’s constantly finding out it won’t be as easy as just declaring a bunch of stuff illegal.
“Mandates won’t force the internet to behave the way UK politicians would prefer it behaves. Instead, it will mean their constituents will lose access to services they currently use, be denied access to others, and allow child abusers and bigots to sink even further below the radar where they’re still capable of doing harm but far less likely to be detected.”
‘https://www.techdirt.com/2023/05/09/wikipedia-tells-uk-government-it-wont-comply-with-proposed-age-verification-mandates/
–
Group behind the effort to ban mifepristone views it’s opposition as: “mainstream medicine, psychology, academia, media, corporate America and nominal Christians, churches and organizations.”
A link to an unsecured Google Drive published on the group’s website contained at least 10,000 documents, including financial and tax records, membership rolls, and email exchanges over more than 10 years. The group then insisted it had been “hacked”.
‘https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/revealed-nominal-christians-a-top-threat-to-right-wing-group-behind-abortion-pill-ban/ar-AA1aNSDw
‘https://www.techrepublic.com/article/10-signs-that-you-arent-cut-out-to-be-a-systems-analyst/
ResearcherZero • May 11, 2023 5:05 AM
🐁
‘https://hms.harvard.edu/news/scientists-regenerate-hair-cells-enable-hearing
St. Paul • May 11, 2023 11:49 AM
Subject: Hacking the Constitution.
This will be a dumb question, and I hope someone will tell me why since I don’t know.
The Second Amendment protects “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms.” So there it is: arms — not firearms.
Why can’t gun control advocates push for a reinterpretation of the the term arms to exclude firearms but protect things like knives, knuckle dusters and tasers? Or even absurd things, like halberds and pikes. No one wants vulnerable citizens totally disarmed of pepper spray and police batons, but it would be infinitely better if so many didn’t own guns.
Can someone who knows the law tell me where I’ve made a mistake?
Clive Robinson • May 12, 2023 1:34 AM
@ SpaceLifeForm, ALL,
You might find this of interest,
Not just because it takes a knock at Einstein and action at a distance limited by the speed of light[1]…
But the later part goes into just how this “odd little experiment” will probably have very significant effect on the pace of development in “Quantum Computing”(QC). With it’s apparent inability to “scale up” to the required number of Qbits to raise the stakes on the urgency of Post-QC.
What it does not say is if it can also be used in “Quantum Key Distribution”(QKD) in effect replacing the current physical techniques in use.
[1] There is a reason why I say,
“Limited by the laws of nature as we currently know them.”
As our understanding is not fixed, compleate, or timeless, even though others might think or say so.
ResearcherZero • May 12, 2023 4:16 AM
Lampooning of trials by police and the prosecution.
By law, the prosecution has to turn over all the evidence it has, even evidence that could potentially exonerate, or convict others.
“…After the trial, it was revealed the prosecution had not disclosed crucial evidence to the defence, including police enquiries that challenged the use of a wrench in the killing. Mallard spent 12 years in prison before being exonerated when another man’s palm print was found during a cold-case review.”
‘https://theconversation.com/why-police-and-prosecutors-dont-always-disclose-evidence-in-criminal-trials-104317
“something inherently impossible about having the police investigating themselves”
Police officers’ contracts often protect them from interrogation techniques that are used on civilians.
‘https://columbialawreview.org/content/police-suspects/
In Australia, one of the chief barriers to remedying the situation is a lack of understanding of the prevalence of the problem.
‘https://theconversation.com/closing-down-foi-a-case-study-in-sneaky-government-47424
…
In the UK, a recent report by a House of Commons Select Committee found that so-called “disclosure errors” were widespread in that country, too, and the Crown Prosecution Service had yet to recognise “the extent and seriousness of [these] failures”.
‘https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmjust/859/85902.htm
1,648 cases collapsed over disclosure failures in 2020-2021
‘https://www.cps.gov.uk/publication/cps-data-summary-quarter-1-2021-2022
The Crown Prosecution Service said the justice system had “systemic” problems.
Weak leadership by the director of public prosecutions failed to tackle failings that led to innocent people being wrongly imprisoned.
‘https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-42795058
…
There are no reliable systems for holding prosecutors accountable for their misdeeds.
“In a disturbing number of cases we have found documents or notes hidden in a prosecutor’s case file containing information that would have directly supported our client’s innocence defense, but which was held back by the prosecutor at trial and kept hidden for decades. And in other cases, credible leads to suppressed evidence can’t be pursued because the original files are destroyed, or witnesses have died or gone missing.”
‘https://innocenceproject.org/why-holding-prosecutors-accountable-is-so-difficult/
Winter • May 12, 2023 4:34 AM
@Clive
You might find this of interest,
Re: Qubits 30 meters apart used to confirm Einstein was wrong about quantum
‘https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/05/qubits-used-to-confirm-that-the-universe-doesnt-keep-reality-local/
Not sure what is new here as this was already proven in 2015, but then over 1.28km:
‘https://www.science.org/content/article/more-evidence-support-quantum-theory-s-spooky-action-distance
To test Bell’s idea, physicists must make sure that no influence other than that of the measurements can travel between the electrons in the time it takes to perform the measurements. That’s a tall order, as light travels 299,792 kilometers per second. Hanson and colleagues separated the two stations with their electrons by 1.28 kilometers on the Delft campus. That gave them 4.27 microseconds to perform both measurements before a light-speed signal from one station could reach the other.
ResearcherZero • May 12, 2023 4:36 AM
“It is concerning that the ACT Government’s press release talked about several issues but did not mention the very, very serious allegation of political interference that has been raised.”
‘https://the-riotact.com/questions-raised-over-scope-of-board-of-inquiry-into-lehrmann-trial/624239
“The DPP is to remain above politics”
‘https://theconversation.com/why-is-there-an-inquiry-into-the-bruce-lehrmann-trial-legal-experts-explain-200738
…And that goes for the police too, in case you don’t catch my drift.
In fact, why not include everyone…
A psychological approach to understanding this topic is essential.
“Integrity is more than just naming our values. It’s living according to our values. Integrity is choosing courage over comfort. It’s choosing what’s right over what’s fun, fast, or easy.”
In contrast to morality and ethics, which are externally-imposed values consensually acknowledged to be for the common good of society, integrity is an internal state of being that guides us towards making wise moral choices and intelligent ethical decisions.
‘https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-workaholics/201110/the-loss-integrity
ResearcherZero • May 12, 2023 6:36 AM
‘https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/11/us/politics/trump-documents-white-house.html
Donald Trump showed off a map containing “sensitive intelligence information” to aides and visitors after he had taken it with him upon leaving the White House.
‘https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/12/us/politics/trump-map-classified-documents-justice-department.html
the court is “really concerned” about recovering potential national security information
‘https://www.rawstory.com/trump-document-case/
ResearcherZero • May 12, 2023 7:08 AM
‘https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/us-news/2023/05/12/trump-appeal-conviction/
Former President Donald Trump declined…to appeal a court order ending his lawsuit challenging the FBI’s seizure of documents from his Mar-a-Lago resort
‘https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/trump-mar-lago-suit-ends-former-president-declines-appeal-ruling-rcna59796
Asked if he showed classified documents to others, he answered, “Not really…I would have the right to,” later adding, “not that I can think of.”
In their letter last month to the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, Trump’s lawyers suggested that classified documents were sent to Mar-a-Lago unintentionally, mixed in by accident with other records.
‘https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-comments-mar-lago-docs-red-meat-prosecutor-rcna83959
Trump…sought out second opinions from lawyers and others after being told by his advisers that he could not keep the documents
‘https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/04/did-trump-search-classified-docs-for-stuff-to-take-and-hide.html
Clive Robinson • May 12, 2023 8:23 AM
@ Winter,
Re : Physics experiment.
“Not sure what is new here…”
The article it’s self noted that.
But the actual interest is in the last part of the article.
P.S. The article talks of the aluminium wire acting as a “waveguide” I suspect this is not a journalists mistake, but will confuse many people that do not know about the single wire G-Line,
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goubau_line
Which has some interesting properties, including the fact it uses a “one-dimensional” electromagnetic surface wave to transmit the energy without having issues of “ohmic losses” found in other types of transmission line. It is also of very high bandwidth and has predictable phase behaviours.
About a decade ago, somebody tried repatenting the idea by minimal modification and called it the E-Line, you can read their technical note,
‘http://www.corridor.biz/FullArticle.pdf
Clive Robinson • May 12, 2023 2:16 PM
@ SpaceLifeForm, ALL,
Re : All a Twitter on new CEO
It appears Hellon Rusk has decided to reposition himself away from being “Toy out the pram throwwr number one” to a more strategic “teething ring chew position” of being destroyer of all that is infrastructure at Twitter, so a “Colon the bare beater on” move.
Apparently he’s found his “someone “foolish enough to take the job” to make friendly with the hundred or so top advertisers that left Twitter over Hellon’s plans.
But will she survive being close to the Rusk and his abrasions, I’m sure that is a question Linda Yaccarino will be asking herself every day.
But… There is a problem… The top advertisers do not want the users to have “Free speach” especially of the sort that was on Twitter at one point prior to Dec 37th.
But now those of that ilk that have been let back, are up in arms that almost rhe first thing Linda Yaccarino will have to do is take a chain saw to their “Tree of Liberty” or “bush of burning vitriol” depending on which side of the flames you stand…
I think it’s reasonable to say that in the long run Twitter needs income not hate-n-harrisment to pay the bills, so it’s just a question of getting the “Make A merry can grumble again” mob of Z-List trailer squablers go somewhere else to play with their bison/bull horns/crap.
Any way this is the ARS Technica take on Linda Yaccarino and what lies in wait for her…,
Oh as for she is an “executive chair of the World Economic Forum” or “Davos Stale White and Male apre ski club” not sure who paid her six figure membership fee or will continue to do so. Amongst those I know on the European side of the puddle they are viewed as a front for US psychopatic corporatism and thus less favourably than the Ayan Rand try2thinkers in the GOP.
So fun times ahead, and no matter which way the wind blows I can not see it being a Zepher.
Nick Levinson • May 13, 2023 2:44 AM
@St. Paul:
In the U.S., laws have to be read as laws and not as general lay English, because courts and therefore others, including lawyers and drafters, apply the rules of legal construction (“construction” as an inflection of “construe”). In this case, “Arms” would be implicitly defined as the drafters of the Amendment would have understood the word, which would have to have been in accordance with American Constitutional law (which I think likely didn’t say much on point) and English common law (which likely said more), both as of when (not after) the U.S. Constitution (probably not the Amendment) was promulgated as law by the ratification process prescribed in the Constitution. I don’t know if the Federalist Papers said much; that book reflects the intent of the Framers (the drafters of the Constitution).
I don’t know what those bodies of law said, but that’s where you’d research the point, especially if wish to argue it in front of the Supreme Court or at least write an amicus curiae brief.
Your suggestion for a reinterpretation leads to the solution you offer, but, whether the solution is to be put into effect by courts or by legislatures, it leads to a political barrier: The National Rifle Association is popular (and unpopular) and has high and wide support that keeps many elected officials from acting against the NRA’s agenda, and your suggestion would certainly quickly be a target of the NRA’s agenda. As to the courts, this would be a Federal question, and therefore any State court ruling that is like what you suggest could expect its ruling to end up in Federal courts, where all of the judges are appointed by the U.S. President on the advice and consent of the U.S. Senate, albeit for life (as “life” is defined in law, including English common law as of 1789). I think that today’s make-up of the Supreme Court would likely lean against your reinterpretation, and it will take a while for enough new Justices to be appointed to there to constitute a more receptive Court majority.
And, to be technical about your quotation, which is a legal quotation, the period should have been outside of the closing quotation mark, but standard English writing would put it where you put it, so the error is an easy one.
Nick Levinson • May 13, 2023 10:59 AM
@St. Paul:
Correcting two errors in my post above (of 2:44a today):
— Where I wrote “albeit for life (as ‘life’ is defined in law, including English common law as of 1789)”, I meant “albeit for life during good behavior (as ‘good behavior’ is defined in law, including English common law as of 1789)”.
— Where I wrote “especially if wish to argue”, I meant “especially if you wish to argue”.
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SpaceLifeForm • May 5, 2023 5:59 PM
AI models
AI must be decentralized with specific models that look at specific subject matter. Multiple models on same subject.
No Generalized AI. Competition.
‘https://www.semianalysis.com/p/google-we-have-no-moat-and-neither