Comments
Clive Robinson • February 16, 2024 6:22 PM
@ Bruce,
“It uses black beans for color and seaweed for flavor.”
Just reading that sentence alone fills my taste buds with dread and my whole body shudder with horror…
Yup at the very least it would very definitely need something for flavour… My taste buds and olfactory sensors suggest at least a couple of things.
Because although pasta is not exactly tasteless, lets be honest most don’t like the taste of “wall paper paste”. As for black beans, like most beans the flavour is not to far different to either frog spawn or dental amalgam depending on how you cook them. Which is why they often get “refried” or similar to bring in a partial burning as happens when we caramelise the likes of onions to enhance their flavour (or sear meat etc).
Can seaweed carry the rest of the dish… Probably not unless it’s enhanced with something, which is where thinking Japanese cuisine can help.
For those that are not veggies a little bonito –dried smoked and fermented fish– or mackerel powder would certainly lift both taste and smell. As would dried baby Anchovies chopped fine.
For those that want to go the veggie route there is the old Japanese cuisine essentials that go into the base of or vegetarian version of “dashi”. With the likes of dried shiitake mushrooms, kombu, nori, dulse flakes. I hesitate to also suggest toasted soybeans or nutritional yeast, both used to coat things like tofu and add both flavour and texture.
As an alternative a little smoked garlic and lemon zest would lift things, as would a heavy tomato sauce that has been darkened with a dark roasted root vegetable.
But for all I’d suggest both smoked paprika and chillies, to kick the nose and tongue up a notch, what ever else you do.
echo • February 16, 2024 7:10 PM
I have a few delayed posts and 60 pages of notes to chomp through and condense. In the meantime I thought I’d post some much lighter stuff about security related movies and serialised dramas which have caught my eye or I’m in the process of watching. It’s not hugely obvious but I have a few posts stacked up on governance, abuse of power and influence, disinformation, and so on which slightly hook into these. In keeping with a lighter note for this post I have also tacked onto the end three shoplifting scams people tried on I lifted from social media, and how to perform a magic trick. Both are an exercise in varying degrees of brass neck and slight of hand.
The first two are based on true events and provide a different and more emotional view of lives after a long ago war. I’ve watched old men and old women in documentaries telling their stories. The friends they saw die. The secrets they had to keep. Not many of “the greatest generation” are still alive. While many of an older generation have legacy views not all do. Some I know utterly detest the squalor of modern politics. Ageism is also a theme running in current media. To that end I don’t begrudge the greatest generation a victory lap. I feel sad for the those dying today because of forces of evil. More on this in other posts, hopefully.
The next two are fiction but, I feel, a useful counterbalance as they are films about or made by women starring women about security themes related to women’s lived experiences. The themes covered are domestic violence and crime, abuse of power, society and gangs, disguises and guns. The formats are in a 1980’s/1990’s (both were a golden age for movies) B movie and arthouse style which is a refreshing change to ever more vacuous CGI led fodder. These themes matter because character of leadership and society matter.
The last two are serialised detective drama’s. Detective Montalbano is an Italian production an Italian lady who works at a local artisan retail outlet recommended to me. Trailers for this are hard to find so I provided a link to the best semi-representative trailer I could find. Monsieur Spade is a new one I just stumbled on. The French countryside is something to die for. I’ve only dipped into one episode of each so far. Acting and production for both are top notch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNWp8Kq5JgI
THE GREAT ESCAPER Trailer (2023) Michael Caine
The Great Escaper is a 2023 biographical drama film directed by Oliver Parker, written by William Ivory, and starring Michael Caine and Glenda Jackson. It is based on the true story of 89-year-old British World War II Royal Navy veteran Bernard Jordan who “broke out” of his nursing home to attend the 70th anniversary D-Day commemorations in France in June 2014.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wt1BD_pGpZc
THE LAST RIFLEMAN Trailer (2023) Pierce Brosnan
The Last Rifleman is a 2023 British drama film written by Kevin Fitzpatrick, loosely based on real events and directed by Terry Loane, which features Pierce Brosnan. It follows Artie Crawford (Brosnan), a Northern Irish World War II veteran who, on the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy, decides to secretly escape his care home and embarks on an arduous but inspirational journey from Northern Ireland to France, to pay his final respects to his best friend and find the courage to face the ghosts of his past.
The film is loosely based on the true story of British D-Day veteran Bernard Jordan, who left his care home in England to travel to France.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMKFx69gjcQ
A VIGILANTE | Official HD International Trailer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Vigilante
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BF_J3-DmiS0
Love Lies Bleeding | Official Trailer HD | A24
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Lies_Bleeding_(2024_film)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_2vj49Zs2Q
MONSIEUR SPADE Trailer (2024).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bhdf6PFZZs8
Detective Montalbano (2013 Trailer).
https://twitter.com/__BP__/status/1757811485730885640
The ASDA in question also had an in-store post office. They discovered that people were simply picking up DVDs from one shelf, padded envelopes from another and posting them home. The mail was then taken out of the shop through a barrier with no alarm.
https://twitter.com/TheGSD/status/1758031473423081539
My favourite supermarket theft story was the worker who tattood a barcode on their wrist (for a kit kat) got friends to bring high price goods and passed their wrist over the scanner not the item’s barcode. Only caught when shop had 5 crates of kitkats turn up each delivery.
https://twitter.com/JBDT60/status/1758076252030681262
We had two sisters known shoplifters. They’d shop using 2 trollies buying exactly the same products. One paid the other took her trolley into the cafe. The 1st would load her car and return with the receipt, then they’d walk out with the unpaid goods but had a receipt if stopped
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR6xdcw0jbc&t
Moving Holepunch! – Magic TUTORIAL
vas pup • February 16, 2024 7:43 PM
From heartbreaker to heart hero: Leading cardiologist says Taylor Swift could save lives
https://www.monash.edu/news/articles/from-heartbreaker-to-heart-hero-leading-cardiologist-says-taylor-swift-could-save-lives
“Monash University experts believe Swift’s music and popularity could help promote cardiovascular health, potentially saving lives, by teaching her fans and others to conduct CPR to her songs.
They have identified over 50 Swift songs that are technically suitable to conduct CPR to, and want them to supplement the Bee Gees’ 1977 classic Stayin’ Alive, long promoted as having the ideal beat.
For CPR to be effective, compressions need to be at a rate of 100-120 compressions per minute. Stayin Alive has often been taught as a rhythm to follow with 103 beats per minute (BPM).
In Australia only around 50 per cent of the population are CPR trained, and over half of those had their training more than five years ago. That means only 40 per cent of people who have had a cardiac arrest receive CPR from a bystander while waiting for an ambulance.
Aiming to target younger generations and increase the use of effective CPR, the Victorian Heart Institute investigated which Swift songs could help maintain 100-120 compressions per minute when giving CPR. They found over 50.
This contemporary approach to engagement has also been endorsed by the American Heart Association, which has endorsed a number of Swift songs via X (previously Twitter) for hands-only CPR. The move has been backed by the Australian Resuscitation Council.
Swift’s music is already encouraging a rising interest in cardiovascular health with the viral Taylor Swift ‘Eras Tour’ treadmill challenge, which sees fans run or walk the entire three-hour set list of The Eras Tour.
“Physical activity has great benefits for your heart health and reducing your risk of disease,” Professor Nicholls said. “Even as little as 10 minutes a day is beneficial as you build up your fitness. You don’t need to be able to Shake It Off like Taylor on day one.”
Taylor Swift CPR suitable songs between 100-120 BPM:
1.Fearless (100)
2.Is It Over Now? (100)
3.I Think He Knows (100)
4.Teardrops On My Guitar (100)
5.Stay Stay Stay (100)
6.Untouchable (102)
7.Nothing New (102)
8.Long Live (102)
9.Cornelia Street (102)
10.Paper Rings (103)
11.Soon You’ll Get Better (103)
12.You’re Losing Me (103)
13.22 (104)
14.Clean (104)
15.Picture To Burn (105)
16.We Were Happy (106)
17.September (107)
18.Question…? (109)
19.Coney Island (108)
20.Dear Reader (108)
21.Maroon (108)
22.Santa Baby (108)
23.Say Don’t Go (110)
24.Now That We Don’t Talk (110)
25.King Of My Heart (110)
26.Treacherous (110)
27.Mirrorball (110)
28.Snow On The Beach (110)
29.Labyrinth (110)
30.The Man (110)
31.Afterglow (111)
32.Paris (111)
33.Gold Rush (112)
34.The Outside (112)
35.Sparks Fly (115)
36.A Place in This World (115)
37.Carolina (116)
38.Message In A Bottle (116)
39.Last Christmas (116)
40.Forever Winter (116)
41.Hey Stephen (116)
42.The Lucky One (117)
43Welcome to New York (117)
44.I Wish You Would (117)
45.How You Get the Girl (117)
46.Suburban Legends (118)
47.Forever & Always (119)
48.Speak Now (119)
49.Hoax (119)
50.Dear John (119)
51.Love Story (119)
52.Dress (120)
53.Illicit Affairs (120)
54.You’re On Your Own, Kid (120)”
echo • February 16, 2024 8:18 PM
I’m chewing though things to avoid a massive link dump…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDAPJ7rvcUw
How AI Discovered a Faster Matrix Multiplication Algorithm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJYufx0bfpw
A problem so hard even Google relies on Random Chance
Well, this was (sort of) entertaining. It’s orthogonal but thinking of Wolfram I wondered if he was going anywhere with his physics theories and then he had to segue them into string theory so ho, hum. What I find most interesting about these videos (and to a lesser extent the Wolfram/String theory thing) is perception and modes of reasoning not to mention the certainty of ignorance, and ego.
Politics, and power, and policy (or maths and physics) can be very intertwined. At the moment I’m remembering both media reports and social media discussion involving women speaking up against an assumed dogma. That or being airbrushed out of history.
Interesting though these videos were I think what I was missing out of these videos is how can they be usefully applied and maybe other voices such as those who used this to improve the world. I always found applied whatever more interesting than theory and more interested in the artistic or subjective experience and what it meant for people so maybe this is just a me thing.
echo • February 16, 2024 9:24 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwzIq04vd0M
Hacking into Kernel Anti-Cheats: How cheaters bypass Faceit, ESEA and Vanguard anti-cheats
I’m trying to figure out if this narrated by an AI voice or not… Anyway, this is nothing new but a relatively amusing round trip of exploits from CPU to DMA to external exploits.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJ9Rfur-w-E
We interviewed a former Valorant Vanguard Anticheat Developer…
Once you get past the 20 something men playing “OMG we’re such insiders” schtick this is interesting. Again, nothing new as such but something to veg to. One interesting thing is the online forums where cheats are traded and the stinking amount of money a good cheat can earn someone.
All of the above reminds me of clickbait factories on youtube. Among the 20 something hip men on Youtube who are into SEO and meme riddled brainrotting content channels apparently AI generated avatars are a thing. That doesn’t count whatever AI voice narrated or ChatGPT clickbaity channels are out there some of which are coining it in. Then there’s the hate channels.
Frontier’s policies for authors state that generative AI is allowed, but that it must be disclosed—which the paper’s authors did—and the outputs must be checked for factual accuracy. “Specifically, the author is responsible for checking the factual accuracy of any content created by the generative AI technology,” Frontier’s policy states. “This includes, but is not limited to, any quotes, citations or references. Figures produced by or edited using a generative AI technology must be checked to ensure they accurately reflect the data presented in the manuscript.”
Whoops…
AI tools can do some good and interesting things and sometimes their wilder output can inspire creativity. Other than this I haven’t been hugely impressed by either AI tools or the way some of them have been used. So far if they didn’t exist I wouldn’t miss them.
echo • February 17, 2024 12:33 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzs5ju3spxI
An evening with Fiona Hill and Fiona Millar.A miner’s daughter from County Durham who advised three US presidents on foreign affairs takes on the future of education.
[…]
Now, in the year that she begins her tenure as the chancellor of Durham University, Fiona Hill sets her sights on education, the meaning of ‘levelling up’ and how the UK can adapt to meet future challenges.
[…]
…In 2003 she started a monthly column for The Guardian about education, and in 2004 she presented Channel four documentary The Best for My Child. Millar’s books include By Faith and Daring. Interviews with Remarkable Woman, co-authored with Glenys Kinnock; The Secret World of the Working Mother, and The Best for My Child. Did the schools market deliver? was published in 2018 to mark the 30th anniversary of the Education Reform Act 1988.
Fiona begins with a discussion about her background and touches upon the Thatcher years including de-industrialisation, centralisation, and penny pinching. She does glide past the more controversial issues especially of the day and maintains a focus on education. As for Brexit and the cost of living crisis and pulling out of the Erasmus scheme? Yeesh.
I do agree with Fiona that parents who value education helps as does designing out or overcoming barriers in the system. Personally, I feel homework is overrated and studies suggest doesn’t deliver a meaningful result. I feel it’s much better if parents have or encourage interests. Children absorb all of this stuff. Then there’s libraries and green spaces. I also think education should be free full stop. It costs peanuts compared to the opportunity loss caused even over the past decade of the Tories not to mention the rich not paying their fair share.
Anyway, that was a good excuse for this sketch…
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/N4s2H-c7otg
My German mother when I had friends over.
&ers • February 17, 2024 10:29 AM
@ALL
hxxps://www.theregister.com/2024/02/14/romanian_hospital_ransomware_crisis/
echo • February 17, 2024 11:15 AM
The European Court of Human Rights yesterday banned a general weakening of secure end-to-end encryption. The judgement argues that encryption helps citizens and companies to protect themselves against hacking, theft of identity and personal data, fraud and the unauthorised disclosure of confidential information. Backdoors could also be exploited by criminal networks and would seriously jeopardise the security of all users’ electronic communications. There are other solutions for monitoring encrypted communications without generally weakening the protection of all users, the Court held. The judgement cites using vulnerabilities in the target’s software or sending an
implant to targeted devices as examples.
Meanwhile in the UK… The Tories are not going to like this. Not only does this far right inclined party want to shake off the European Court of Human Rights. It also puts their wheeze to introduce a backdoor into encryption in jeopardy. Boo hoo.
George • February 17, 2024 12:44 PM
Can you speak to the US DOJ touching routers without user permission?
Winter • February 17, 2024 1:53 PM
@George
Can you speak to the US DOJ touching routers without user permission?
If someone firebombs the neighbourhood from your property, it will not take long before LEOs enter and put a stop to it. Your protest might fall on deaf ears,bI am afraid.
If your property is used to damage other people, you are responsible for stopping it or let others do that. If you cannot or will not stop the damage, I do not see why the DOJ cannot stop the damage by entering your property.
This is simply the digital equivalent.
In addition, there are good reasons to believe those behind the attack are working for a foreign military power preparing military action in America. Which brings us in the sphere of national security.
If you want to bring up your sacred property rights to an infected router up against national security in the light of foreign military action, good luck to you.
lastoftheV8's • February 17, 2024 3:56 PM
Greetings all just a quick post re: @Mourner “Nitter is over” so yeah i saw the recent articles surrounding nitter is done just wanted to post as of writing this “nitter.unixfox.eu/search” is working atm-for me at-least in firefox.
&ers • February 17, 2024 4:47 PM
@ALL
hxxp://web.archive.org/web/20240124130512/https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahemerson/2024/01/23/eric-schmidts-secret-white-stork-project-aims-to-build-ai-combat-drones/
Clive Robinson • February 17, 2024 5:48 PM
@ Winter, George, ALL,
Re : Three way dance, needs a forth to square the circle.
“If your property is used to damage other people, you are responsible for stopping it or let others do that.”
Morally or legally?
There are times when a user can not “stop it” or “let others” stop it, without committing what others regard as an attempted criminal act (of stopping their hidden “self entitlement”). Such is the power of US Corporates on the US legislature (see DMCA as just a lead-in to the quagmire).
So an ISP supplies and installs a router with it’s spyware and default passwords visible from the WAN side of the router so it can give “Technical Support” (you might remember the scandal with US Mobile Phone suppliers and the sending of all key presses back to a third party server a decade and a bit ago[1]).
Such self entitled spying is very profitable and thus the fight to prevent you protecting yourself has in the past been turned towards claims of criminal action by the person pushing peoples right to privacy or those trying to ensure their privacy against the commercial gain of the self entitled who in effect run a monopoly.
Thus as with all “mine fields” treading carefully is advised, as you don’t want to be eviscerated as a public example to others to Kow Tow to the Corporate thug pretending to be upholding the law…
But there is another consideration as far as normal individuals privacy is concerned.
In the article you a will find,
“[T]he FBI last month in similar fashion to the most recently revealed operation, targeting Cisco and Netgear devices that had mostly reached their end of life and were no longer receiving security patches.”
As far as I’m aware there is no law in the US or else where giving a federal law agency the right to decide if a piece of equipment is at or beyond it’s working life. The fact it’s still in use by tens of thousands if not more people strongly suggests it’s still functioning as sold when it was “placed on the market” and subject to the legislation that governs the market..
As you are aware there are well establish procedures for equipment later found to be defective to be “recalled” by the manufacturer we see it happen all the time. Normally these procedures and associated costs fall on the manufacturer not a federal agency thus the tax pay to fund.
It’s not as though Cisco/Netgear no longer exist, they do and they are very profitable. Similar holds for other companies.
If they all get a “free ride” at the tax payers expense, then what incentive is there for them to address their failings?
But also consider the Court and it’s capabilities.
It has granted a federal agency, that let us be honest is at the best of times completely untrustworthy, sight unseen, the excuse to invade peoples property, modify it to their suiting and walk away.
Who has examined the code etc the FBI has put on peoples property for “golden backdoors” etc?
In all probability nobody you or I would trust.
Therefore the code and those putting it on peoples devices without their consent or knowledge are by very definition “untrustworthy” and in all probability also committing several criminal acts.
Also would you let these agents wander into your home at any time they wish secretly and change things in your home?
Would you ve happy if they put spying equipment in your bedroom and bathroom?
I could go on but I won’t for the sake of brevity.
The excuse we are in some kind of war is not supported by law or the folks on the hill so executive privilege for times of extremis can hardly be said to apply.
If such things are to be done then there is a proper way to do it. Sneaking around using the courts as a backdoor around doing things properly is to be blunt not just improper it’s not subject to the oversight that the voters would expect and smacks of dishonesty and untrustworthy behaviour.
[1] Still known as the “CarrierIQ Scandal” it involved a half dozen mobile service providers of which AT&T were prominent and also a half dozen handset manufacturers. Put simply upwards of 150million mobile phones were sending every key stroke a user made back to CarrierIQ’s servers in a very insecure way (which very probably ment the NSA “T’d Off” the data). Whilst CarrierIQ tried to deny what it was up to one of it’s seniors called it a “Treasure Trove” of data. CarrierIQ got litigated into non existence and AT&T secretly purchased the technology and other choice parts, so it’s safe to assume with AT&T’s history they are still very much at it,
lurker • February 17, 2024 7:20 PM
@George, All
Under product liability discussed in previous threads here, the vendors should be responsible for cleaning malware out of devices like routers. Since in the Land of the Free there is no law compelling them to do so, the Feds have had to take action.
Sometimes my pessimist regrets that not enough people are dying because of bad software. This seems to be the most effective way to move legislators off their comfy seats.
JonKnowsNothing • February 17, 2024 10:48 PM
@lurker, All
re: vendors should be responsible for cleaning malware out of devices
A few issues with this: (1)
- Presumes the vendor knows about the malware
There is a difference between a known but unfixed bug or issue and malware as defined by software or hardware attack by an unknown assailant. This covers intended SW HW attacks as defined and required by Country of Source 3Ls and LEAs (aka backdoors)
- Presumes the vendor has the ability to defeat the attack and install a permanent solution
The vendor may not have the ability to do this because “It’s Complicated” and the multiple zero day exploits used are known only to State Actors. State Actors are not likely to reveal the exploit until absolutely necessary and so Bad Actors get to ride in on the coattails of 3Ls and LEAs.
Even should the vendor become aware of an issue, if that issue lies in a section of code or stack or hardware that the vendor does not control, there’s going to be No Fix. If the app runs on a smartphone you have to deal with the mfg, the OS, the telecom service provider, the international rules and standards that can get in the way.
===
1)
HAIL Warning
ht tps://kr ebsonsecurity.com/2024/02/u-s-internet-leaked-years-of-internal-customer-emails/
U.S. Internet Leaked Years of Internal, Customer Emails
February 14, 2024 KrebsOnSecurity
- The Minnesota-based Internet provider U.S. Internet Corp. has a business unit called Securence, which specializes in providing filtered, secure email services
- U.S. Internet is a regional ISP that provides fiber and wireless Internet service. The ISP’s Securence division bills itself “a leading provider of email filtering and management software that includes email protection and security services for small business, enterprise, educational and government institutions worldwide.”
- [a different security service provider] had unearthed a public link to a U.S. Internet email server listing more than 6,500 domain names, each with its own clickable link.
- Drilling down [the link listing] into those individual domain links revealed inboxes for each employee or user of these exposed host names. Some of the emails dated back to 2008; others were as recent as the present day.
The article details how it gets even worse after they uncover the URL link problem. 16yrs of OOPS (2024-2008)
Clive Robinson • February 18, 2024 2:07 AM
@ JonKnowsNothing, lurker, ALL,
Re : Not what they payed for.
With regards,
“U.S. Internet Leaked Years of Internal, Customer Emails”
And people think I’m paranoid because I stopped using EMail a very long time ago as I could see not quite that but hundreds of similar issues arising as the started putting “Web Interface on Everything”. Back in the mid 1990’s I was standing in front of groups of people paying good money to be there and telling them that Web was designed stateless and what they were trying to do required “state”, “security”, and “both together”.
Unsurprisingly they disagreed and here we are today three decades of disasters later…
It’s interesting reading the Krebs Page comments section as E2EE comes up as a solution. With a comment about how everyone should encrypt their emails…
In the past I’ve provided links to,
“Why Jonny Can’t Encrypt”
And it’s successor papers.
The lessons are grim.
Firstly that many of the people who say “you have to encrypt” have no “real world experience” of doing so.
EMail like most business communications these days is “multi-party” or “conferencing” and E2EE really does not work well with “multi-party” not least because it makes things insecure in oh so many interesting and oft hidden ways.
Secondly users are human and see security as an impediment to their ability to “meet targets” or get in the way in oh so many ways they fight it every step of the way.
Thirdly rather than build required knowledge to be secure, they prefer to pay someone else to do it all for them…
It does not occur to them that they might be paying for “Snake Oil”, “Incompetence”, “betrayal”, or some combination there of…
I could go on with a big list but most have probably nodded of because the real important lesson is,
“They don’t know, they don’t want to know, and most of all they don’t care or want to care.”
In short they are happy in their ignorance and when it all goes wrong as it does they immediately blame others for their failings. Worse they then pay lots of money yet again, this time to get them out of the trouble they could have avoided…
To say “It’s inevitable” or “as sure as the sun will rise” is painful but true as it’s sufficiently part of the “human condition” due to greed and inadequacy. Effectively driven by short sighted “self entitlement” that is the driver behind most that fails in our modern world.
lurker • February 18, 2024 3:34 AM
@JonKnowsNothing
I was making a broad brush assumption for devices such as routers or IoT things, malware is unlikely to have entered due to the user side-loading a shonky app from an Elbonian webserver. The most common entry methods are through bugs in the device operating system, or through user misconfiguration.
Are bugs too hard? or are we too lazy?
User misconfiguration should be easy to pick up by having the device phone home, plenty of software already does this to check for latest version. And I’ll follow Krebs theme that the device should be taken offline unless or until the user has had education on how their gadget briefly and in a small way, was able to break the internet.
In the case referred to by @George above, the Feds decided to do the job themselves of clearing out the malware, rather than argue the toss with the vendors or users. Disappointingly the DOJ will contact affected users and only
ask them to perform a factory reset, install the latest firmware, and change their default administrative password.
Doing the right thing remains optional …
echo • February 18, 2024 5:14 AM
I have around 60 pages of notes gathered over two weeks. I’ve tried but it’s really too much to go through. I collected stuff on governance, infiltration of power and influence structures, media, weaponisation of law by bad actors, military recruitment and how discrimination undermines combat power, the rise in serious politicians using the term “far right” to describe the threat, and how Ukraine is changing in the middle of a war, and on and on. It would take me about three hours to organise it let alone draft outlines for each category. Short of that I’ve sampled a few things to provide a cause->effect narrative. And this is just over a two week period. Instead I’m providing a semi organised random sample. I leave the last words for the people effected who have no voice and those who care for and support them.
Carole Vorderman took an interest in Tory corruption. For one thing which looked simple on the surface over the past few weeks she’s been digging into it and was similarly flooded.
How this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwliAoBVWYw
MeidasTouch Network
Trump THREATENS to Take America Down WITH HIM
Leads to this:
https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/02/17/jacob-williamson/
Shocking new details have emerged in the investigation into the death of a 18-year-old transgender teen from South Carolina last year.
How this:
Actor Gina Carano sued Walt Disney (DIS.N), opens new tab for wrongful termination from Star Wars series “The Mandalorian” in a lawsuit filed on Tuesday and backed by billionaire Elon Musk.
Leads to this:
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/tech/keir-starmer-rishi-sunak-twitter-elon-musk-mind-b1139509.html
Brianna Ghey’s mother says ‘trans hate’ targeting daughter on X is ‘horrendous’
Esther Ghey said she reported a comment about her daughter on the platform, formerly known as Twitter, but it was not taken down.
In better news how this:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/feb/17/hungary-viktor-orban-scandal-president-resign
This is the super-scandal that should bring down Viktor Orbán – and it’s far from over
Hungary’s president quit over the fallout of a child abuse case, but the ‘pro-family’ prime minister still has questions to answer
Leads to this:
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/bombshell-mega-poll-predicts-tories-32121361
Bombshell mega-poll predicts Tories will lose three-quarters of seats – full results and map
And how this:
SPN Committee statement regarding the appointment of Simon Fanshawe to Rector of the University of Edinburgh
Leads to this:
John Lewis Launches ‘Identity’: A Bold Stride Towards LGBTQIA+ Inclusivity Amid Controversy.
John Lewis unveils ‘Identity’, a staff magazine aimed at fostering inclusivity for its LGBTQIA+ network. The publication has been met with both praise and criticism, sparking debate over corporate responsibility towards LGBTQIA+ inclusivity.
How this:
Transphobia: How the trans-hostile media coverage began in the UK.
Leads to this:
https://transwrites.world/trans-parkrun-policy-exchange/
Who’s behind the anti-trans Parkrun panic?
And how this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIrM39V_3X0
PoliticsJOEPoliticsJOE reacts to PMQs. (Rishi Sunak shamed for using transphobic dogwhistle while Brianna Ghey’s mother watches on at PMQs.)
Leads to this:
https://galop.org.uk/news/galops-statement-on-the-attempted-murder-of-a-trans-teenage-girl/
Galop’s statement on the attempted murder of a trans teenage girl.
echo • February 18, 2024 5:56 AM
Review of MoD’s diversity policies ordered by ‘furious’ Grant Shapps
A review of diversity and inclusion policies at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has been ordered to ensure that Britain’s ability to defend its borders isn’t impaired by what a cabinet minister described as “political correctness”.
The move follows reports that the army wants to relax security checks for overseas recruits to increase black, Asian and minority ethnic representation.
Bear in mind how the Tories pursue economic and socially destructive public policy, forced through Brexit, are up to their ears in Russian money and influence, blocked investigations into Brexit corruption and Russian influence, sat on the Russia report, corroded politics so much nobody in their right mind will sign up to the military, and wreckeck the NHS and housing policy and school sports and access to green spaces which all undermine moral and reduce “combat fitness”.
France uncovers a vast Russian disinformation campaign in Europe
“Portal Kombat” also targets Germany and Polandhttps://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/csis-lgbtq-warning-violence-1.7114801
CSIS warns that the ‘anti-gender movement’ poses a threat of ‘extreme violence’
Intelligence agency says risk will ‘almost certainly continue’ over the coming year[…]
Canada’s intelligence agency is warning that extremists could “inspire and encourage” serious violence against the 2SLGBTQI+ community — a threat the Canadian Security Intelligence Service says almost certainly will continue over the coming year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA5ugaljpeE
Trans Pilot – Ayla / Transgender UKhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhD0BNVzsw8
The Unthinkable 9/11 Suicide Mission to Bring Down Flight 93 | Heather Penneyhttps://www.openlynews.com/i/?id=738b1d8d-525c-41f2-a6a0-20d38cd531bd
With LGBTQ+ rights at a turning point in war-torn Ukraine, Arkadii Nepytaliuk hopes his movie will help win hearts and minds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTovQ2PovNw
LESSONS OF TOLERANCE I trailer 2023
I really think Schapps (and Gove who rolled up to fan the flames) need to put a sock in it.
I don’t have to look too hard to discover stories of women who might put them in a choke hold or, say, a trans man who has more muscles in their little finger than they have in their entire bodies and who could turn them into red paste.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgBmzDnDu3E
This trans man is a fitness god | This Is Lifehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN7VSeja1dw
Transgender, at War and in Love | Op-Docs
The Tories are disgusting at the best of times. The media miss this but why are they attacking the very people who put their lives and health on the line to possibly make what many call the ultimate sacrifice?
And they dare slander immigrants? Do they want to take a look at recruitment policy for the Royal Navy at the height of empire?
If you can pass the standards and do the job you can do the job. That’s it. To hear this BS off incompetent crooks full of projection?? An election wipe out cannot come soon enough.
echo • February 18, 2024 7:11 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQFJ-VgD5g8
Superhumans Center in Ukraine provides prosthetics to those injured in the war
I donated some money. I avoid donating to military appeals because I don’t want to get embroiled in legal problems and humanitarian donations help out. I donated to this charity in particular because I know people will be having a very hard time and I support the the message that people should not have to hide or be thrown on the scrapheap.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHCDvdCaJhI
Paralympic Games
WeThe15https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4zldt1GXI0
Accessible Playgrounds: ‘Disabled Children are Being Left Out ‘ | Newsroundhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqJkM693xHY
Keighley Cougars
2023 Sky Sports coverage showing how Keighley Cougars promotes equality and inclusion in sports and the launch of the world’s first Pride Terrace at Cougar Park.
I really don’t know how anyone can argue against diversity, equality, and inclusion. Sports helps with mental and physical fitness, reduces the strain on healthcare systems, increases quality and length of life, reduced accidents in old age, helps people in their everyday lives and workplace, provides a social outlet and, yes, helps expand the pool for military recruitment if that’s your thing.
DEI in sports is more and more important today as diversity expands in the workplace (and military and national security contexts) as well as the changing security map from pure peer on peer warfare to international human rights interventions and disaster relief.
But but “woke”. No the real but is DEI severely hampers the ability of far right authoritarian populists to get a toe hold in the system so less economic-social collapse and fewer needless wars.
echo • February 18, 2024 7:55 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTaVdaA9Kjw
Elon Musk LOSES $56 BILLION in court!
Phil has a few other videos where he makes the case that Musk has committed stock fraud on the scale of Theranos. I find his arguments pretty persuasive.
This week I watched a few relatively high profile politically aware people asking why Musk wasn’t getting done for stock fraud or his support of Russia. Enough evidence to bring a charge and due process aside the general consensus is Musk made himself political and got in bed with the far right GOP, and the US government is too dependent on him for space launches which has the effect of insulating him from action on high i.e. they’re scared of him.
I’ve also seen a few politicians this week using the phrase “far right” to describe the GOP and “X” also stubbornly known as Twitter now being described as a far right platform.
When you have social media platforms insulated from legal remedy, billionaires who abuse their wealth (no matter how illusory), and constitutional or federal law which is weak on human rights or riddled with loopholes this is what I suppose you get.
It’s not just Twitter. Apparently, MacMillan Cancer support put up an advert on Facebook of two gay men getting married. The feedback I’ve just been reading is Facebook’s community guidelines mean nothing as the homophobic attacks are off the dial.
“Free speech”?
I haven’t even posted the Israel-Gaza conflict this week and seeing photographs of a young dead girl hanging from a wall with missing limbs, and children with sniper bullet holes in their foreheads, or a young girl who was trapped and dying who was left as a magnet for rescuers who were then promptly shot. I’m not remotely soft on defence or foreign policy and find this completely unacceptable. If you can’t call out genocide and war crime when it’s, theoretically or otherwise, your own side even if only geopolitically then you have a problem.
Congrats people. That’s where ego fueled “free speech” from “strongmen” and overpromoted anodyne nothings and courtier media ends up.
JonKnowsNothing • February 18, 2024 11:34 AM
@lurker, @Clive, All
re: I(dio)t malware and Fixing It On The Fly
re: I(dio)t malware: devices such as routers or IoT things, malware is unlikely to have entered due to the user side-loading
I(dio)T devices are insecure by structural design of the internet. They are designed to be cheap surveillance devices. They are not intended for long term use or to last very long in the market place.
- Cheap means Replace.
This is the method Apple, Google, M$ and others use to “fix” the crapware in their code. They charge $$$$ for this “upgrade”. The upgrade is a fix for some existing bugs plus the introduction of many new undisclosed ones. You pay $1,000-2,000 USD for an upgrade depending on the options you select for enhanced self purchased surveillance.
A mfg selling an ElCheapo device is not going to fix it. (1)
The fix for the cognoscenti is:
- DO NOT BUY CRAPWARE IN THE FIRST PLACE
If you don’t buy it, it won’t break on you, you won’t get the enhanced surveillance, your service provider costs will decrease and the tack-on App as Service Rental cost will go down too. You will have lots more bucks in your pocket.
The choice is: Keep your own money for your self or flush it down the toilet.
As @Clive indicated
“They don’t know, they don’t want to know, and most of all they don’t care or want to care.”
In short they are happy in their ignorance and when it all goes wrong as it does they immediately blame others for their failings. Worse they then pay lots of money yet again, this time to get them out of the trouble they could have avoided…
re: Fixing it on the Fly: Feds decided to do the job themselves
The Feds did it because they had a lot of this crapware and it was compromising something they had in place.
They did not do this as largess to the public.
What you might want to take away from their gesture is:
- Gee wasn’t that easy for them. What else might they be able to do?
===
1) The history of the electric light bulb is instructive on planned obsolescence and cost of mfg v profit. The advent of LED bulbs may use less electricity but they do not have any longer service period regardless of what’s on the package. They are prone to different type of failures than filament burn through.
echo • February 18, 2024 1:55 PM
https://juliaserano.medium.com/kosa-a-nationwide-anti-trans-lgbtq-bill-in-all-but-name-d6d9f8b8ec6c
Well, that bill is KOSA — the Kids Online Safety Act. Obviously from the title, it is framed as legislation that would “protect the children” from potentially harmful internet content. But the language regarding what constitutes “harm” is written in an extremely broad way, applying to anything that might impact “anxiety, depression, eating disorders, substance use disorders, and suicidal behaviors” in minors.
And who gets to decide whether minors are being negatively impacted in these ways? State attorneys general. You know, people like Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who earlier this year announced an emergency rule banning gender-affirming care for most trans people of all ages. Or Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who last year declared that gender-affirming care for minors constitutes “child abuse,” leaving trans children susceptible to being removed from their parents’ custody.
And:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13086631/brianna-ghey-esther-compassion-killer-mother-meeting.html
Esther Ghey has shown her extraordinary compassion for the mother of one her daughter’s killers as she hints a meeting between the two is on the cards.[…]
She launched a petition calling for new legislation to help parents control what their children can access online through smartphones.
Parents get tough on children’s smartphones in wake of Brianna Ghey murder: Thousands join WhatsApp group calling for devices to be taken off youngsters – but Childline founder Dame Esther Rantzen says they are essential for ‘vulnerable’ teens
Just to be clear I support law and regulation of the media (both television, legacy newspapers, and online, and standalone website and social media platforms) which preserves human rights, equality, and protection of the vulnerable; and protection from disinformation and fraud, and so on. What I don’t support is abuse of power or oppression of minorities.
Esther Ghey is as close to a living saint as it gets. I cannot imagine the pain she went through when she lost Brianna and, yes, I do support her promoting mindfulness in schools and do support her campaign to end the worst behaviour online. I do hope though that she is aware of how an ideological government might deliberately set out to harm vulnerable people with law sold as protection. I also hope she is aware there are people who may wish to use her to harm the very vulnerable people she wants to protect.
American readers please note: The Daily Mail is a gutter rag of the highest order known for telling lies and stirring up hatred. Don’t be fooled by the odd semi-plausible article. Their support for anything (including Sonia Sodha of The Guardian) should be seen through the lens of backing Tory led internet censorship and distracting from the fact they were among many who put the bullets in the gun which killed Brianna Ghey.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoBNU_lMjaM
What’s gone wrong with political journalism in the UK? | Armando Iannucci | The New Statesman
Media regulation in the UK is utterly broken and stuffed with Tories, as is BBC management and News and Current Affairs department, and the majority of the billionaire owned press. The only media regulator to implement all of the Levenson inquiry recommendations is Impress. No national media outlet has signed up with Impress.
‘Climate of fear’: artists warn of censorship threat in refreshed Arts Council England guidance
This is in addition to Tory anti-protest laws which are being used against Climate protestors.
The UK hard right is nowhere near as brash as the US hard right and has been a little more cute insofar as they have put on various PR exercises abroad to cover up what is happening in the UK. But make no mistake they are in lockstep and often have the same donors and in some ways the UK hard right can be ahead of the US.
The only thing stopping the worst abuses is the European Court of Human Rights, and the Human Rights Act and Equality Act. That’s something the US lacks and really needs to look into implementing at a constitutional and federal level.
It’s funny in a horrible way how the US was at the front when the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights was crafted, and the UK was at the front when the European Court of Human Rights was being formed yet here we are.
cybershow • February 18, 2024 4:55 PM
Long time lurker but first post here for Cybershow.
Bruce seemed happy that I announce new show episodes here
as they are of common interest.
These two episodes are from a two part special and acknowledge
comments of some regular squid posters.
“The Inscrutable Systems of the British Post-Office”
Question: is it ettiquette here to break URLs or are they
acceptable in clickable html form?
lurker • February 18, 2024 5:44 PM
@JonKnowsNothing
“[The Feds] did not do this as largess to the public.”
When the internet breaks, nobody is assigned to fix it: it is said to be self-healing, routing around the problem. But when the problem is routers turning their webserver into a jamming device, or your fridge sending all your email thru the bamboo curtain, then this might be malicious action by a third party. If it’s easy to fix, and the Feds can see a favorable mention in dispatches, they’ll do it. It might be part of their job protecting Interstate Commerce.
JonKnowsNothing • February 18, 2024 6:17 PM
@lurker, All
re: If it’s easy to fix, and the Feds can see a favorable mention in dispatches, they’ll do it.
Fair point.
Consider:
- The Internet is INTERNATIONAL.
So why should it be the US Feds that fix it? And only fix it if they get Kudos?
China is more than capable of fixing crapware routers. Maybe they fix more than we know; avoiding “un-favorable mention in dispatches”.
- Sprechen sie Binary?
lurker • February 18, 2024 10:59 PM
@JonKnowsNothing
The internet is supposed to be international, but recent events in the .ru and .cn domains (and possibly some others too small to notice) bring doubt on that assumption.
Note also that the Chinese write their own routing tables, so they know who and where are the bad guys, and can shouldertap them if necessary. If necessary because in a binary us-them scenario, on the other side of the mirror it may not be a crime to read some other people’s emails.
Clive Robinson • February 19, 2024 9:43 AM
@ lurker,
Re : It was clear it was comming.
“The internet is supposed to be international, but recent events in the .ru and .cn domains…”
Back in 2014 I raised a red flag on this blog about the UN ITU meeting in Doha because it was known that both Russia and China were going to make it clear that the,
“All roads lead to Rome or rather Washington Internet had to stop.”
Their various proposals got blocked but like you can not “un-ring a bell” you can not “un-fire a gun” and thus the first shot had been fired at the start of their campaign.
Since then you might have noticed that step by step they and a host of others have cracked down on mobile phones and the internet in a whole host of ways, to snag, bag and disappear people who those in power do not look favourably on.
Remember China and Iran rounding up the citizens in their countries working or spying for the CIA and disposing of them one way or another. Well that was because even in the CIA they did not understand how the Internet worked, so they fielded a badly flawed system and people died because of it.
If people had cared to think properly about how the lowest layers of the Internet and what is hidden below them, then the coming “Balkanization of the Internet” would have been seen long before 2010 and changes could have been made to limit if not prevent much that has happened since.
vas pup • February 19, 2024 7:32 PM
Tips to follow from one incredibly costly conversation with cyber crooks
https://cyberguy.com/news/tips-to-follow-from-one-incredibly-costly-conversation-with-cyber-crooks/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZUVPT4mqpk&t=5s
“The scam taps into Charlotte’s deep-seated fears for her family’s well-being,
initially hooking her attention. The scammer then isolates her by insisting she
communicate with no one else, effectively cutting off potential sources of support or reality checks. The sense of urgency is escalated, as the scammer pressures her to act swiftly and forego any form of verification. The scam preyed on her trust in authority figures and her desire to resolve the fabricated crisis, leading her to make decisions that, in hindsight, seem totally irrational.
Her account sheds light on how scammers use fear, urgency, and isolation to
exploit even the financially knowledgeable, underscoring the critical need for vigilance and skepticism toward unexpected requests for personal information or money.
More alarming are recent stats that younger adults that fall into the Gen Z,
Gen X, and Millennial groups are 34% more likely to report getting ripped off by fraud, according to the FTC.
Tip #1 – Verify unexpected contacts
If you receive an unexpected text, email, or call involving financial transactions of any sort, independently verify they are legit.
Tip #2 – Make yourself resilient from online malware and attacks with strong
antivirus protection”.
vas pup • February 19, 2024 7:41 PM
I see clear difference between morally and legally. Former may apply to particular segment of population when ethnic diversity is present. Each segment may have their moral standard. Law applies UNIFORMLY to everybody – at least in theory not depending on demographics, political view, affiliation you name it.
Double standard in application is sign of banana republic.
Draconian Laws are not iron laws but capricious laws. Make your own conclusion.
One more small addition: when LEAs and courts protecting criminals more than victims such legal system is about to collapse from inside or otherwise – just opinion.
name.withheld.for.obvious.reasons • February 20, 2024 12:24 AM
Don’t know if this has received any coverage yet, but what I am seeing based on some specific chat bots and propaganda sources is the Chinese state employing Russian bots and language to effect wider disinformation having a less clear leaning towards benefiting the Chinese state while at the same time maligning Russia by implication. I wonder if the Russians are aware of this and how they are being duped by their “unconditional” partner.
lastoftheV8's • February 20, 2024 1:51 AM
Ok if i ask first up i do this in a private format (dm or letter to the editor nfp etc,) Does anyone else call out incorrect information they come across printed / written up by “tech expert reporter” online for major publications? cos i do and have and provided evidence in pointing out incorrect info and providing the correct info cos i think its the right and responsible thing to do, specially where certain tools are available and used by different platforms (advertising,tracking,pixel,etc,etc) and that’s it period then ‘indignation ensues’ followed by a non retraction or correction of any information at all!
just my 2 cents and ill keep pointing out factual errors.
Clive Robinson • February 20, 2024 2:30 AM
Law Enforcement apparently take over ransom ware site
According to the BBC,
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-68344987
The site apparently belongs to the alleged Russian group “LockBit”,
“An online site run by a major criminal gang who organise ransomware cyber attacks appears to have been taken over by law enforcement.”
However the whole thing has an odd feeling about it, which makes me think “take 10ft pole caution”.
So I would suggest people exercise self care/protection and do not go to the LockBit or related sites.
echo • February 20, 2024 4:43 AM
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-68338949
A veteran who was sacked from the navy for his sexuality says he fears he will die before he gets compensation from the UK government.
Joe Ousalice was one of thousands who were affected by a ban on LGBT people serving in the British military.
Last year the prime minister said the ban, which lasted until 2000, was an “appalling failure”, and those affected have been promised compensation.
Mr Ousalice, 73, says he now has cancer and is yet to receive any money.
The government is lying. Sunak doesn’t give a &*%$ about LGBT people or anyone else for that matter. The signalling, attempts to build a coalition or build support off far right aligned people, and his whole policy schtick says otherwise.
It’s on the record they deliberately kicked the Post Office scandal compensation down the road so it wouldn’t interfere with their election plans. This scheme reeks of the same trick. Ditto the hemophilia blood scandal where it now looks like they’re trying to run people out of time so they die before any resolution to a compensation claim. Anyone who thinks this military compensation scheme is going to play differently is a joker. They’re just milking it for a vibes until they’re past the election.
If I was caught up in some stupid hostage situation somewhere in the world I wouldn’t give a hoot if the military were LGBT, women, men, or were purple with pink spots. I’ve met enough military people in my life from officers to Arctic and Mountain qualified Royal marines to bomb disposal to Royal Navy engineers to know they don’t give a *&%$ either.
If there’s a problem with military recruitment it’s not “woke” anything. It’s the fact people are better educated and don’t want to die for some questionable jolly. That’s not just the UK either. It’s across all the developed nations including, yes, China of all places. And if public services and pay and conditions and the politics are shit who wants to get PTSD and need healthcare while they’re unemployable?
echo • February 20, 2024 5:15 AM
Pew Research Center.
How Americans view the conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, Israel and Hamas, and China and Taiwan.
Interesting.
Of course Speaker Johnson and the orange *&%$ gibbon don’t understand that if Europe goes down that’s US GDP and a boat load of strategic advantages down the drain. Good luck with your Christofascist nationalistic state and America First and all that.
Europe is also putting more cash money into supporting Ukraine. In fact I think the total funding so far has Europe outstripping US funding. That’s why US constant bragging about how bigger and better and blah blah they are gets up my nose. US funding is really a con job to fund US infrastructure development and material supply while offloading sunk cost junk that was due to be trashed. See also: dot com boom and financial crash.
I caught David Lammy putting on their airs and graces of a beige politician anticipating a cabinet job by being “diplomatic” about working with a potential administration run by the orange *&%$ gibbon instead of the misogynistic rapist crook he is.
I’m not stupid about things but I do think the UK should heave the US out of UK politics. (Bye bye Tory party, Tufton Street, and the Transatlantic bridge.) As for Putin I’m running out of patience. Can we at least have a coalition of European military give Russia three days to get out of Ukraine before flattening any of them who haven’t left?
Reasons why I will never be a politician or diplomat…
echo • February 20, 2024 6:54 AM
“Christian” family moves to Russia to escape LGBTQ, and now can’t wait to leave their living hell.
The patriarch of a right-wing Canadian family of eight had just about enough of the gay people existing in his country. “We didn’t feel safe for our children there in the future anymore. There’s a lot of left-wing ideology, LGBTQ, trans, just a lot of things that we don’t agree with that they teach there now, and we wanted to get away from that for our children.”
I can’t say I know because I never knew them and have never been there but I have heard that Kim Philby was miserable in Moscow. I know Post-Soviet Russia isn’t the hellhole it used to be especially after being pumped up by Western money buying Russian oil and gas. It would still be a little awkward being there though wouldn’t it?
Do these people know why they hear so much about LGBT people? It’s because the hard right and hard right media can’t stop attacking peoples rights and cannot shut up about it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot_MO0-oZdc
Russians are mocking those leaving Russia for America | Viral Video | Russia USA
This Russian propaganda video is so much junk from one end to the other. Like most advertising it’s not there to change your mind but reinforce or grow what may already be there. This is very obviously based on the rancid right’s talking points and online commentary from the more slack jawed elements of society and self-styled edgelords.
The National.
I’m black, trans and Scottish – I’m tired of being debated
And this is why people need to centre the people who are being attacked. Listen to them. They just want to be left alone, live their lives, and be part of the community like everyone else.
The only reason you know or hear about trans people is visibility gives others a voice. Visibility gives hope to that young trans child and knowledge that others like them exist.
Christian Right tips to fight transgender rights: separate the T from the LGB
The right wing in the UK and US radicalised themselves because they have never won the popular vote and were falling behind society and control freaks with deep pockets saw their chance. Putin et al are playing along with it to defuse the right who traditionally would have seen Putin as an enemy. Forget gadgets and rote learned security theory. These people captured the ring 0 kernel between peoples ears. Once you see that it all makes sense.
These people are full of it. People like that always are. They just have BS and fear to sell you. The moment you see its all lies then woof their power goes.
And that’s partly why whenever I see footage of Putin I see a sad old man in a suit shouting from behind a desk. He’s pathetic. Basically, a think skinned “yes man” who got lucky and can now take his personal spite out on everyone else. He had one bad mood when he was 12 and when the wind changed it stuck. No different from all those evangelical frauds and blustering careerists.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iy_NQ6jOWts
The trans “debate” in 17 seconds.
And that’s how you deal with it.
Clive Robinson • February 20, 2024 10:53 AM
@ ALL,
Live Reporting on Assange last appeal in UK against extradition
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-68344106
The MSM has quite obviously been avoiding this subject. But today and tomorrow are the last attempt Julian’s lawyers can make in the UK.
Needless to say as normal the UK courts are not behaving as you would expect.
If the case goes against Julian his only option left is if the European Court of Human Right’s decides to hear his case.
Both the UK and US would in no way want the involvement of the ECHR because based on past cases the UK Government will be on the wrong end of the decision.
It’s fairly clear to most that have followed the case that the US is going to do what it can to eliminate Julian Assange in much the same way Putin does. Including the CIA attempt to poison him which has been brought up with details in the court today. What is certain is that certain people in high positions in the US have called on him to be killed, which sounds like he will not survive an “accident” or similar.
The latest nonsense from the US spokes people is he’s only going to get 4-6years… I suspect that this is complete BS based on the extreme lengths and cost the US has so far gone to and are continuingly to do.
Julian has been in effect tortured by the UK Government by the way they are having him treated in Belmarsh prison (for which the Warden should consider their part in such unlawful behaviour). Also with great certainty they have denied him his basic rights to prepare a defence, in that he is not allowed legal papers with regards to his defence and he is not allowed fair access to private legal advise. Nor apparently is he being given appropriate medical treatment which is why he is we’ve been told to ill to attend court.
All we can do is hope that Julian actually for once gets fair treatment.
echo • February 20, 2024 11:36 AM
I have zero sympathy for a rapist who dodged trial in Sweden. And yes “stealthing” especially “stealthing” while you are asleep is rape and, yes, his lawyers admitted at least one count. He had his chance and tried to dodge bail and no wailing from the very discredited Craig Murray will change that.
The extradition treaty between the UK and US is a load of stupid one sided nonsense but that doesn’t excuse the men (and it’s always the men isn’t it) elbowing everyone out of the way and getting shouty when it’s something which effects them. And people caring about an assassination plot by the orange *&%$ gibbon when there’s not a ripple about children actually for real DEAD or forcibly separated from their families or having to move out of their home state because of him. Oh, but that’s just weirdo kids so it doesn’t count, right?????
Lawyers squealing about his mental health and journalists squealing about being in an overflow court? It’s funny how they all managed reasonable adjustments for the killers of Brianna Ghey and managed with an overflow court for their trial.
Everyone bellyaching about national security being a distraction from human rights abuse yet mute on hijacking a dead trans girls mother to peddle restrictive and damaging internet control laws in the pipeline which will only harm LGBT children and cut them off from their online support with other LGBT children?
Oh but Assange is real SERIOUS security matters mutter mutter. And presumably dead trans kids are not?
Serious double standards on this blog…
P.S. Can that US serviceman working for the “security services” who recklessly ran down a nurse, and the American woman who recklessly killed a young British man be extradited back to the UK pretty please? Can you also arrest and charge the domestic terrorist who runs LibsOfTikTok and slam Musk into jail for stock market fraud. Thanks.
Winter • February 20, 2024 11:59 AM
@echo
“We didn’t feel safe for our children there in the future anymore. There’s a lot of left-wing ideology, LGBTQ, trans, just a lot of things that we don’t agree with that they teach there now, and we wanted to get away from that for our children.”
What they feel threatened by is the possibility that their children will be offered a free choice of partner.
These parents fear the possibility that their children will be free to choose a partner and life they want instead of being forced a life of their parents’ choosing.
Winter • February 20, 2024 12:03 PM
@echo
I have zero sympathy for a rapist who dodged trial in Sweden.
I want him tried for rape. But these charges have been dropped.
I do not want him to be tried for informing us about war crimes and mass murders.
JonKnowsNothing • February 20, 2024 3:50 PM
@Clive, @Winter, @echo, All
A small wade into very dirty water…
Propaganda conflates Person with Action. They are separate issues but projected as causation and correlation at the same time.
- behavior v labor
There is JA as a person and JA as a laborer. The same person does both behavior and labor but the labor and behavior are not resultant of each other.
- The labor and behavior form a causal fallacy (1)
It is very easy to fall into this particular propaganda trap. It’s quite common.
===
1)
ht tps://en.wi kipedia.org/wiki/Questionable_cause
- For example: “Every time I go to sleep, the sun goes down. Therefore, my going to sleep causes the sun to set.” The two events may coincide, but have no causal connection.
JonKnowsNothing • February 20, 2024 3:58 PM
@Clive, @Winter, @echo, All
re: Everyone bellyaching about national security … but Assange is real SERIOUS security matters mutter mutter.
I do not think the CIA would agree with your analysis. Not even a teeny bit.
It’s the CIA that wants JA.
- What Lola wants, Lola gets
Clive Robinson • February 20, 2024 6:21 PM
@ Winter,
“But these charges have been dropped.”
How many times and “Why?” the first time…
It kind of answers your question when the prosecutor thinks the argument –not physical evidence as there is none– will not get a conviction in court.
It’s fairly clear that it had became political when the Swedish authorities had their bluff called and they failed to do what they should have done…
Oh and you once advised me,
“Don’t feed the trolls”
And you know why, as they say,
“Same 541t just different day.”
Clive Robinson • February 20, 2024 6:49 PM
@ JonKnowsKnothing,
Re : Incorrect attribution…
“I do not think the CIA would agree with your analysis. Not even a teeny bit.”
If you go back and check, what you are calling an “analysis” was not made by me.
The only comments I made was based on the facts as claimed to have been made in the BBC article I linked to, other BBC stories today[1] and other uncontested articles from the past.
The fact someone else has chosen to make unsubstantiated claims then gone off on some unrelated tangent to both the subject and this blogs general focus which another has picked up and queried is ill advised behaviours I have no wish to be enmeshed in as there is a high probability @Moderator will just remove the wasted column inches.
[1] Of which there are several about the claimed murder of Putin Opposition candidate Alexei Navalny. As claimed by Navalny’s mother, widow, and supporters,
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-68335358
If you need further links let me know and I’ll dig them out “three by three” as auto-mod is known to choke on more.
Clive Robinson • February 20, 2024 9:47 PM
@ ALL,
Nukes can be hell to pay.
Whilst Putin has been busy denying the “Nukes in Space Plan”[1] just recently, others have been having reliability issues…
Because they cost upwards of £15,000,000 to launch the UK’s nuclear deterrent is only very rarely tested…
Unfortunately for a second time in a row the launch of a Trident Missile has been a significant failure,
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-68355395
What this actually means in practice is unknown and we are unlikely to get told…
[1] It’s actually not possible to deny there has been a plan because we know there was a plan and it goes back years. Without going into laborious details there were hundreds if not thousands of plans of what to do with nuclear devices in both Russia and the US and we assume likewise China and other states with nukes and long range deployment capability. As reported in the past some of the Russian plans were real doomsday weapons, one such was a large ship like an oil tanker loaded with very many Tsar Bomba in the hundred megaton range. This ship of death would sail in comparatively shallow waters such that when the bombs were detonated automatically vast quantities of water would be ionised into the air along with radioactive materials that would poison the worlds skys and kill unknown millions. Needless to say it caused the then Soviet leader to seriously doubt the sanity of the scientific advisors and he vetoed all such weapons. But one we know was to use the same rockets that were getting people into space and landers to the moon to lift nukes “up the gravity well” and into some “stabo” to make the 4min warning more like 30seconds, thus preventing retaliatory strikes. The idea we know was given serious consideration as a MAD busting idea by both sides only sanity prevailed on both sides and various treaties were signed. But not by China, India, North Korea, or Pakistan at the time they developed Nuke and delivery system capability. Because nut-bar though it sounds mathematically it moves the tipping point for a country with twenty or less nuclear devices to compete with a nation that has near 2,000 Strategic and unknown numbers of tactical nukes. But we also know it’s not the sort of thing you want to do because not only are nukes and their delivery systems very expensive up untill this past decade they have been very maintenance heavy as well thus impractical for any space use beyond a very short time period.
Winter • February 21, 2024 1:20 AM
@Clive
How many times and “Why?” the first time…
That’s all murky.
Stealthing is difficult to prosecute. The Swedish case against JA looked opportunistic. The moment it was clear the UK would extradite him to the US, the charges were dropped.
I assume Sweden did not want to complicate extradition to the US by their own prosecution [1]. And I can imagine they did not look forward to all the legal, political, and international complications of getting JA back in Sweden.
[1] If JA was convicted in Sweden, he might have to do jail term in Sweden. The US would want him extradited and never leave their soul again. Jail time in Sweden would complicate that, with even a risk he might do his time in Australia.
JonKnowsNothing • February 21, 2024 1:20 AM
@Clive
re: Incorrect attribution…
My apologies. I should have better identified the source of reference which was not you. I placed your name on the @Line as a contributor to the thread topic, but I can see that by not properly identifying the source quotation, one might be mislead in thinking it was your quote. It was not.
The quotation and response was in reference to a longish post by @echo.
Again, my apologies.
Clive Robinson • February 21, 2024 1:56 AM
@ JonKnowsNothing,
“I can see that by not properly identifying the source quotation, one might be mislead in thinking it was your quote.”
It’s happened on this blog before and no doubt given a little time it will happen again, such is the nature of being human 😉
As a friend from long long ago last century used to say in the best “highland Scots” “strine”,
“No worries mate”
(Also a certain person accuses me of stealing their sources and such like, so best to stub that before it gets started).
Clive Robinson • February 21, 2024 2:55 AM
@ Winter,
“The Swedish case against JA looked opportunistic.”
Didn’t it just… It can be argued several other ways, not least that they wanted Julian out of Sweden for what ever reason and deliberately “left the gate open”.
The whole thing is riddled with politics and people playing games for various reasons.
As I said Sweden lost all credibility when having let him go, they created a big fuss then declined to go and interview him.
So “Politics” it almost certainly is, which means contrary to what others claim justice it is not, nor is it anything like what many claim.
Like it or not the root of criminal justice is “independent and verifiable evidence” of a crime and if there and sufficient beyond reasonable doubt the assessing of “harm” if any.
If the only evidence post event is “she said he said” then that is not evidence as it is neither independent nor can it be actually tested as it can not be told apart from “buyers remorse” a malady all to common in society.
History claims that Cardinal Richelieu assessed the dangers of hearsay and how it can be twisted such the most honest can be judged unfairly with his “Give me six lines” quote,
Shows how there is no objective good or bad just the perception of an observer based on imperfect information coloured by societal morals that shift faster than the sands around the coast.
Importantly how judgment can be swayed by the nonsense of others seeking their own pleasure or power through manipulation. A subject Machiavelli was well versed in centuries ago as was the Witch Finder General who made a good living out of not just nonsense but considerable harm. An object lesson to be learned about certain abject mentalities, modalities, and behaviours.
ResearcherZero • February 21, 2024 7:58 AM
JA was told CIA was preparing honey trap. Ignored said warning. People will still buy what they want. The story he provided advice to help Manning hack the system he had access to is also bogus. JA did not respond when asked, providing no technical advice.
Hence the Grand Jury and the salacious rape and hacking accusations. The information all came from leaks from within government departments. The security is not great.
Governments have never been great at protecting sources, agents or records. Neither have the media. If you knew how your records are kept, even when “protected” you might be a little alarmed. Law and justice is no better at protecting your details or it’s evidence.
You have all witnessed how secure your medical or DNA details are secured.
–
Getting his tales from Russian intelligence admits Alexander Smirnov.
‘https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-21/alexander-smirnov-fbi-informant-joe-hunter-biden-burisma-alleged/103494586
–
Admits has no evidence.
‘https://apnews.com/article/georgia-elections-true-vote-ballot-stuffing-199113b47bc2df79c63fdf007cd23115
Admits was wrong and has no evidence.
ResearcherZero • February 21, 2024 8:56 AM
Mike Pompeo’s criticism of Wikileaks described his own administration.
Such rhetoric ignores the real story of the appalling lack of security and indifference to very real threats to life, liberty and limbs. The very people who pose a very real physical security threat are walking around free, often without any diplomatic cover.
Even when the government is in possession of evidence of violent crimes, it allows such people to remain free for political reasons, at the expense of it’s own citizens’ safety and freedom. Those who weaponised the information in question, and lied, free.
Those who knowingly collaborated with foreign adversaries also free.
And those murdered, harmed, or at risk of harm from such individuals? They often receive little or no assistance or protection. Murder barely even raises an eyebrow.
Humans are rarely brave and compassionate. In reality they are selfish, naive and inconsiderate. Unlike the idealised versions of television and movies. Physically we ignore the real plights of others, even while voicing concerns about their fate.
Those who really do physically intervene to prevent or address the harm of others are a small percentage. Even fewer stick it through without abandoning those in need of our assistance. Too often we are a very cold species. A ‘Cold Case’ describes this all too well.
JonKnowsNothing • February 21, 2024 11:04 AM
@ResearcherZero, All
re: the very people who pose a very real physical security threat are walking around free
A few of those Very People still walking about Free are:
- Jose Rodriguez (intelligence officer)
- Gina Haspel (Director of CIA)
These two people (and a lot of other enablers) are still At Liberty. They committed the most horrendous acts “In the Name of USA and CIA Security” that even the torturers from the Spanish Inquisition might well vomit.
Gina got a promotion for keeping stumm on her bosses, and bounced right to the top of the CIA pyramid.
The CIA is an entire agency of rapists. The CIA with Military support, and worse, Medical MDs RNs over 25years and counting. The Hippocratic Oath is not a binding oath. Doing what you are told to do by the CIA is binding.
- the people that detainees fear the most are: Medical Doctors and Nurses
-
the people civilians should fear most are people like: Gina Haspel
===
ht tps://en.wikiped ia.org/wik i/Jose_Rodriguez_(intelligence_officer)
ht tps://en.wik ipedia.org/wiki/Gina_Haspel
htt ps://en .wikipe dia.org/wiki/Panetta_Review
ht t ps://en.wikipedia .or g/wiki/2005_CIA_interrogation_tapes_destruction
Not really anonymous • February 21, 2024 11:33 AM
After pissing off Putin, it’s not a good idea to make contact with people back in Russia from where you are hiding under your new identity.
You’d think a pilot who worked with an intelligence agency to defect would know better than try to contact his past life.
Clive Robinson • February 21, 2024 4:57 PM
@ Not really anonymous, ALL,
Re : Worse than dead.
“You’d think a pilot who worked with an intelligence agency to defect would know better than try to contact his past life.”
Logically or emotionally?
It’s actually a grieving response that is strongly and painfully emotional, ask anyone who has lost a close loved one just how painful that cam be, and how many years it takes to get past the worst of it.
Now imagine it’s your whole life, everyone you knew or cared for gone, all physical objects and places you knew gone as well. It can be not just emotionally overwhelming but devastating. It’s why people trapped in grief sit there with piles of photos and hold any familiar objects they have or go to any places with strong emotional memory.
But for the person who is in witness protection or has defected especially as they can not fit in and reintegrate, lest they disclose who they are accidentally there is additional soul destroying loneliness of being in the world but not part of it.
And for some it’s worse still due to the guilt of feeling that the person has done the same to all they knew.
Then add in very real problem that you know your past life is still there still exists all the people places and things in your mind just waiting for you to go home to, yet out of reach because of what you did, your actions, your desires you put before everything. The guilt can be overwhelming, thus the desire to just make it all right again.
It depends very much on the core of the person and how old they are and also what they are leaving behind. But they know that socially and emotionally they are “damaged goods” and that stays for life. Always having to be on guard against revealing your actual past, the slip that gives you away and brings disaster or death your way.
A prison of your own making that you can not escape, the loss of being, the position you had in life both professional and social, and the one thing few can understand the death of self.
If what you are coming from was abuse and very low status, then you escape from one terrible prison to one that is less abusive and even higher status, but it still carries with it the loneliness.
It’s also a well known problem with undercover agents, but they can be pulled out and back to “their real life” to decompress with others that know what they are going through.
But alcohol, painkillers, sleeping tablets and other drugs are things that happen, as do building new emotional relationships and these are where downward spirals start. Whilst there are warning signs that handlers should act on immediately sometimes “the mission” is seen as too important at the time, and thus handlers can end up adding guilt pressure…
The thing is in the US especially, there is this faux-notion of the rugged individual who can survive in all adversity etc etc lord of all they survey. For over 95% of people it’s a complete nonsense, a fantasy. Seen at the closest from the safety of the sofa, or cinema seat in warmth and often comfort of food, friends and a certain intimacy, for maybe an hour or two at most. Knowing that if it over whelms you, you can get up and what for you is real life almost instantly returns.
Yes you can break this social / emotional trap, but either you have to start very young and build into a loneliness by choice for the adventure so it’s natural, or have a certain “live inside your own head” default personality.
Can you learn it as an adult? Yes but not only does it take time, there has to be a desire to do, accomplish or achieve, a prize as it were. But almost always people need to see it as a journey not a life choice, that is the majority have to have a destination a place to arrive and be at. If that’s not there or sufficiently strong then they will fail, and with that failure the desire to go back or reach out grows like a burning hunger.
We are built as “social creatures” at a very primitive level, with very strong desires to be part of a tribe or group “we are part of”. It’s why “social exclusion” has been historically a very strong instrument of coercion and control and why the likes of “cults” employ it, and why back in the 1970’s the name “Stockholm Syndrome” was given to what is effectively a survival mechanism that effectively becomes a form of PTSD,
https://www.verywellmind.com/stockholm-syndrome-5074944
It’s seen in “slaves” and similar who will willingly “rat out” others trying to escape and it can lead to significant violence.
It has been found that two people who are forcibly conjoined by shackles etc one generally becomes dominant the other submissive. In most cases both become submissive to a captor who has significant contact with them. Similar applies to groups of people which is why “Human Trafficking” can be difficult for not just juries but investigators to understand where the captives will not stand witness against their captors.
More recently it’s been suggested as the underlying reason why “Spousal Abuse” is so difficult to break and why the abused party often returns to or defends their abuser.
Becoming “emancipated” is very very difficult for most, and they just can not survive out on their own away from the group or tribe.
Clive Robinson • February 21, 2024 5:42 PM
@ ResearcherZero,
This may be of interest,
‘https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-68366178
Not really anonymous • February 21, 2024 5:44 PM
I see where you went with this. So I guess that suggests the person made a poor decision to defect in the first place. That seems a bit easier of a mistake to make. Especially since his handlers were unlikely to stress the consequences with him before it was too late.
Clive Robinson • February 21, 2024 6:27 PM
@ Bruce, ALL,
80 year old man blown up trying to get in a safe.
This is one of those strange security stories that might only pop up once in a life time,
The basic details are that an 80 year old man used an angle grinder to try to get into a safe and it exploded and he received leg injuries. The newspaper talks of “gun powder” the Police are not saying what it was that went bang.
What is not said is who’s safe it is, what sort of safe it was, what it was doing in the man’s house and why he used an angle grinder on it…
The fact it’s leg injuries might suggest a smallish safe put on the floor for some reason.
The fact it might have had gun powder in it might mean the safe belonged to a gun owner who “self loaded” to store the parts of the ammunition etc (it’s a requirement in the UK for anything “fire arm” related to be in “gun safes” that meet certain standards).
But… If it was the 80 year olds safe, you would have to presume he knew what was in the safe. And let’s be honest anyone who has seen an angle grinder in use on hardened metal knows it kicks out lots of white hot sparks in all directions. And why the wearing of “Personal Protective Equipment”(PPE) is essential. You would also assume that the man if knowing there was gunpowder inside would know the risks were very very high from any single spark, let alone the hundreds if not thousands trying to cut a safe open with such a tool would create.
So… Was he foolish, or was it not his safe?
And if the latter what was the safe doing in his house, and why was he trying to open it?
A story to keep an eye on if for no other reason curiosity because it raises oh so many possibilities and questions and like the proverbial cat it’s raised my curiosity…
vas pup • February 21, 2024 7:04 PM
The illusion of closeness: how social media redefined respect
https://psyche.co/ideas/the-illusion-of-closeness-how-social-media-redefined-respect
“…historically, respect required thoughtfulness to maintain interpersonal
distance – not invasive overexposure, but restraint, allowing meaningful connection within cautious bounds.
This approach to interpersonal dignity now feels extinct as people broadcast intimate details and descriptions amid desperate bids for external validation.
My parents prohibited my younger brothers from even having Facebook profiles well into their 20s, calling it vain attention-seeking. They emphasised dignity in preserving some mystery in public presentation of themselves and respect for
individual preferences. Contrast this with the current norm of chronically oversharing personal information to infinity.
…our current compulsion for excessive disclosure as default,
seeking outside validation even around sensitive life changes.
Research affirms that Likes activate neural reward circuits, lighting up areas
such as the nucleus accumbens that respond to pleasure and validation. I ponder the implications of celebrating vulnerability when the exposure of every emotional wound contributes to our discomfort. Can sincerely ethical intimacy still flourish in the absence of clearly defined boundaries? Or are we inadvertently sacrificing the depth of true intimacy for a mere superficial simulation of support, while the intricacies of our personal worlds crumble beneath the weight of public platforms?
Alongside declining privacy norms, anonymity frequently has a dehumanizing
impact.
True respect meant approaching even disagreement with consideration and
thoughtfulness.
Now, many online conversations frequently default to tribalism and heated conflict, which these ‘smart mobs’ instigate.
The anonymity afforded by digital spaces appears to remove inhibitions against
unethical behaviors – it becomes easy to forget that real humans exist behind
screens.
…multiple investigations reveal that frequent exposure to online hate speech
creates escalating psychological wounds. Victims of anonymous online abuse report experiencing nightmares, anxiety causing them to withdraw from digital spaces, as well as depression and symptoms resembling PTSD.
Dignity is the innate worth in all people, regardless of allegiance. But it gets lost when social networks engage in personal matters and communicate without the thoughtful distance that allows understanding to take root. In so much online communication empathy gets dismissed as time-consuming.
To preserve dignity, truth and community in rapidly evolving virtual spaces, we must anchor digital citizenship to older values of restraint and care for the
sacred inner life. Our humanity endures only if we sustain ethical relationships through wisdom and grace learned first beyond all devices.”
ResearcherZero • February 21, 2024 10:42 PM
@vas pup
It’s quite disturbing that social media can have these kinds of effects on people. Some of those symptoms are what sometimes accompany multiple kidnappings, shootings, witnessing brutal murder or being blown up. Even then it can take multiple events.
Frequency is likely part of the problem, and the lack of thoughtful social response or compassion for those on the receiving end of such negative and thoughtless behaviour.
It’s often the lack of understanding and alienation of front line soldiers that exacerbates the physical symptoms caused by repeated exposure to extreme conditions and violence. These are physical responses to the overproduction of adrenaline and cortisol.
It takes a long time for those hormone levels to return to normal. Without a supportive and understanding environment these hormone levels can remain heightened.
Allowing those suffering such physical symptoms the space to establish their own routine and structure is also vitally important in lowering stress, hence the hormone levels.
Some may also require peace and quiet to help aid in the transition.
This all takes time, it doesn’t just happen overnight when someone returns home.
The body produces cortisol to prepare the body to respond to a perceived danger or stressful situation. Stress raises the cortisol level in the body, triggering bodily changes that enable a person to react to the stressor.
“The carefully orchestrated yet near-instantaneous sequence of hormonal changes and physiological responses helps someone to fight the threat off or flee to safety.”
‘https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/understanding-the-stress-response
ResearcherZero • February 22, 2024 1:41 AM
Some rather concerning problems which will take time to fix on all platforms.
Bypass authentication checks and gain full access to network traffic…
‘https://www.top10vpn.com/research/wifi-vulnerabilities/
–
DNSSEC vulnerability allows DoS through extreme CPU consumption.
KeyTrap attacks affect not only DNS but also any application using it. Completely preventing it requires to fundamentally reconsider the underlying design philosophy of DNSSEC.
‘https://www.athene-center.de/en/news/press/key-trap
‘https://www.athene-center.de/fileadmin/content/PDF/Keytrap_2401.pdf
–
wireless charging problems 🥵
‘http://arxiv.org/pdf/2402.11423.pdf
–
Did I mention it has been extremely hot, windy and on fire lately? The fire spotters are flying about across the country and the power is still out in a number of places.
‘https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/feb/22/victoria-weather-melbourne-heatwave-extreme-fire-conditions
Moving from one disaster into the path of another…
‘https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-22/st-helens-flood-cleanup/103498390
There are no plans to help the victims of repeated disasters.
The main freight link is closed.
‘https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-22/wa-balladonia-bushfire-closed-eyre-highway-sa/103498586
Clive Robinson • February 22, 2024 4:45 AM
@ ResearcherZero, ALL,
Re : Hands up if you did not see this coming.
“DNSSEC vulnerability allows DoS through extreme CPU consumption.”
With such an “unbalanced work factor” and perceived need for fast response for “Secure DNS”(DNSSEC) due to trying to compete with the old DNS response times, it was inevitable someone would work out how to turn the old “DNS Amplification” attack[1] into a full on “Distributed Denial of Service”(DDoS) attack using DNSSEC.
This “unbalanced work factor” issue is something that is apparently not being considered with the “Post Quantum Computer Cryptography”(PQCC) designs currently.
Arguably it may not be possible to reduce the workload of the algorithms for PQCcrypto, so other techniques to stop them being used to attack a targets resources by various forms of amplification attack may be needed thus should be looked for.
One such partial solution system may be request-response tagging low down in the stack before any heavy lift work. That is DNS is actually a protocol that should be initiated by the server that is being inundated with false responses. If the protocol included a random number (nonce) encrypted for each request it sends out that has to be included in any response but unencrypted it balances up the workload as well as also giving the server an easy filter to remove any rouge responses before it uses up high levels of resources.
Some will observe “That’s easy to say with hind sight” or throw in a bit of “What aboutism” because they don’t want the protocols changed for various reasons they see as valid. But… If we don’t start designing protocols to be defensive then DoS/DDoS and other infrastructure based attacks will continue becoming a steadily increasing problem that will drag the Internet down to unusable levels.
[1] For those of more tender years who were lucky enough not to see “DNS Amplification” DoS/DDoS and similar at work, a quick explanation,
https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/ddos/dns-amplification-ddos-attack/
Clive Robinson • February 22, 2024 7:59 AM
@ Not really anonymous,
Re : How well do you know yourself?
“So I guess that suggests the person made a poor decision to defect in the first place.”
Yes, but not unexpectedly so if you have sufficient experience / knowledge of yourself, which hopefully none of us have.
As a general rule many humans are optimistic not pessimistic when it comes to an unknown future. That is they generally see the upsides not the downsides thus evaluate badly if not very riskily…
As those dire motivational nutbars and management consultants stupidly advise “Keep your eyes on the prize” (remember they make their living by preying on peoples optimism, much like lottery tickets do). Which whilst it might be semi-true for apex predators in an uncontested environment, it is actually very bad advice for the majority of peoples personal survival.
As the financial crisis ably demonstrated, those who first looked at the bottom line and what could go wrong and planed around that made very different investment decisions and came through the FC fairly unscathed and usually ahead, not holding their hands out for Government aid.
As people went into enforced lockdown, many were forced to learn some very hard lessons about themselves. Worse many in certain societies where they had in effect been brain washed by false optimism and similar did not attempt to learn the went with their cognitive bias, some violently so against others who were perhaps a little brighter. Thus those that were unreasoning proved they were brainwashed “from cradle to grave”… (The dumb comments from a US Republican Senator as he succumbed to a C19 infection kind of said it all).
The point is those who learned some hard lessons about themselves during lockdown came out the other side changed. Some kind of proved,
“That which does not kill me strengthens me”.
Others found they were very much not as strong or self-reliant as they had assumed. In fact much less able to stand on their own feet than their grandparents did as a normal everyday way of life back about a lifetime or so ago from before “The Great War” untill after “The Second World War” and into the 1950’s in the West and the fall of the Berlin Wall in East Europe.
Employers that had habituated themselves to abusing their workers discovered that after lockdown the staff they most needed had learned about them selves and were no longer prepared to be abused by the employers and thus voted with their feet “out the door”. We got to hear what happened at Twitter when Hellon Rusk decided to go all “carborundum illegitimi non” on the essential work force to cover up his failings, and well X kind of marks the spot of the wreck that was left took on a lot of water.
For some lockdown was the crucible of fire from which they were forged anew, for others it was the pit of hades in which they burned.
Most but not all of us prior to lockdown had never been tested alone or as part of a group. To many are still suffering something not to dissimilar to PTSD they came through the lockdown experience badly.
I could go through what makes some people tolerant of, if not enjoy, or even revel in isolation and being their own company, effectively free inside their own heads without disturbance or interruption. Contrary to what people might think they are not asocial people, they just know how to take advantage of what they’ve been handed and use it as a gift. Others that can not live in their own heads but have to live in the heads of others for more than self justification can not tolerate isolation for even an hour or two whilst awake they see it as torture. Oddly they are not actually social for them it’s a parasitic need not a simbiotic relationship. They even behave like substance abusers like certain types of drunk, everybody’s friend when intoxicated but mean, vindictive and violent when sober. In fact as mentioned it’s known that a spy that defected to Russia became not just a drunk but a notoriously venial and vicious one incapable of forming normal relationships.
If you know from experience you can live comfortably, quietly, productively, well within your means when on your own for weeks or months then you have some chance of surviving being effectively in “witness protection”, if not then your chances are not good. Likewise and harder to find out is the question of remorse can you live without the guilt of leaving others behind?
Those in the military or other guard labour often do very badly in isolation because the military especially over encourages tight groups where the members are highly interdependent to the point they can sort of mind read each other. The military needs groups of people to act as a single focused entity facing the enemy not watching each other to see if someone has their back. Which is very bad for the individuals, think about how you might survive if you lost a limb. Being out of the group for some military personnel is like loosing all but one limb. Worse is the pushing of “Regimental Wives” that likewise the military encourages to form interdependent groups on base. Good for the military bad for the personnel and their spouses and children.
It’s just a part of why reintegration into civilian life causes such significant mental issues for personnel involved with the military.
Winter • February 22, 2024 9:04 AM
It’s about time:
EU wants to make undersea internet cables more resilient
Threat to data means submarine infrastructures should get status of ‘highest possible national significance’
‘https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/22/eu_wants_to_make_undersea/
The Commission notes that European economies and societies are increasingly reliant on the internet and international connectivity, and that submarine cable infrastructure is a significant element in this, as the vast majority of international data traffic is carried through these cables.
It also notes the infrastructure is vulnerable to sabotage and tampering, and says that Russia’s war against Ukraine has raised awareness of security, given its potential capability to disrupt cables and the suspicious monitoring activities carried out by Russian vessels, such as off the Irish coast.
Clive Robinson • February 22, 2024 10:13 AM
@ Winter, ALL,
Re : EU wants to make undersea internet cables more resilient.
“It’s about time”
How long is it since we first discussed “choke points” and similar on sub-sea cables on this blog?
A decade and a half maybe longer, certainly well prior to 2014 and the Doha UN ITU WRC as it was one of the reasons Google got invited by the US State Dept.
Prior to that “accidents” involving large vessels dragging small anchors were they should not have been dropped then sailing off into the dark to somebody’s political or economic advantage was known to happen. Not just in the Middle East, Africa, and areas involving the South China Seas but even closer to what was at the time part of the Europe Union (much to the annoyance of parts of the Five-Eyes).
The funny thing I mentioned the Russian “Naval Excecise to the South South West of Ireland over the subsea canyon that starts in Bristol at the time, and the implications but few were interested…
What’s the betting they apathy has not changed?
Winter • February 22, 2024 10:50 AM
What is the difference between a cyber security firm, a cyber espionage group and a cybercrime gang?
Please tell me!
New Leak Shows Business Side of China’s APT Menace
‘https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/02/new-leak-shows-business-side-of-chinas-apt-menace/
i-SOON’s “business services” webpage states that the company’s offerings include public security, anti-fraud, blockchain forensics, enterprise security solutions, and training. Danowski said that in 2013, i-SOON established a department for research on developing new APT network penetration methods.
APT stands for Advanced Persistent Threat, a term that generally refers to state-sponsored hacking groups. Indeed, among the documents apparently leaked from i-SOON is a sales pitch slide boldly highlighting the hacking prowess of the company’s “APT research team” (see screenshot above).
…
Several images and chat records in the data leak suggest i-SOON’s clients periodically gave the company a list of targets they wanted to infiltrate, but sometimes employees confused the instructions. One screenshot shows a conversation in which an employee tells his boss they’ve just hacked one of the universities on their latest list, only to be told that the victim in question was not actually listed as a desired target.
lurker • February 22, 2024 11:55 AM
@Winter
What’s the difference … ?
It depends on how much skin the judge and prosecutor have in the game, which is likely to be less in the East than the West: do the math.
But there seems to be a disparity between the reputational effect of a leak such as this, and P.T.Barnum’s (attr.) “There’s no such thing as bad publicity.”
lurker • February 22, 2024 3:53 PM
@Clive Robinson, Winter
Were those your grandfather’s cables?
microwave aerials were removed more than a decade ago as they were no longer needed to connect London to the rest of the country.
‘https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-68352275
pup vas • February 22, 2024 5:14 PM
Why we fear uncertainty — and why we shouldn’t
https://www.vox.com/the-gray-area/2024/2/17/24046794/gray-area-joys-of-uncertainty-anxiety-maggie-jackson
Very interesting article
Clive Robinson • February 22, 2024 6:52 PM
@ Winter, lurker, ALL,
Re : A rose by any other name…
“What is the difference between a cyber security firm, a cyber espionage group and a cybercrime gang?
On the technical side, when you get down to the mechanics of what is being done…
About the same as the FBI breaking into peoples routers and botnet builders doing the same. That is,
“Next to nothing or less.”
On the day to day business side of things where money flows from one pocket to another,
Well again the FBI compared to botnet builders tells you,
“Next to nothing or less”
The difference is who the customer is that’s picking up the tab for the work done. The FBI gets it’s money taken from the pockets of those born in the US to be taxed wherever they go for life and beyond. The botnet builders are more honest in that respect because they earn their income by renting out the bots, which are just another resource acquired under the rights assumed by “The American Dream” (ie the same rights to grab PPI etc).
But then there is the investing side, and the games of “pump-n-dump” that Venture Capitalists and the like play… Lets be honest the whole thing is a scam run by con artists to separate fools from their money. If VC’s did this sort of scam to ordinary people then well “bracelets of steel all round and free third rate health care for the duration”. But because investors are assumed under various US laws to know what they are doing via supposedly doing their own “due-diligence”… The seller can walk away from all sorts of criminal activity they’ve kept hidden in the likes of Delaware etc where “The American Dream” can be like a knife to the belly… I’m told somebody did not like being on the wrong end and has since moved to Texas, I hope they’ve got lots of “Solar Power” on hand as well Texas has a bit of a reputation in recent times about not delivering what they should and those responsible running “South of the Boarder” just like the crooks, villains and shysters of more than two centuries of history in those parts…
ResearcherZero • February 23, 2024 12:16 AM
some further detail…
I-Soon has “various ‘clients’ that appear to be different Chinese government agencies seeking access to foreign government systems.”
The leak includes what look like a number of target lists that cover a number of governments including Pakistan, India, Malaysia, Turkey, India, Egypt, France, Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Afghanistan, as well as NATO, universities, and the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement.
‘https://www.sentinelone.com/labs/unmasking-i-soon-the-leak-that-revealed-chinas-cyber-operations/
Among the services that iSoon advertised are “APT service system,” “target penetration services,” and “battle support services” capable of targeting government intranet file servers as well as specific networks such as communications and transportation servers.
Anxun Information Technology, is “part of an ecosystem of contractors that has links to the Chinese patriotic hacking scene which developed two decades ago.”
‘https://www.bankinfosecurity.com/chinese-hacking-contractor-isoon-leaks-internal-documents-a-24405
While some of the information is dated, the leaked data provide an inside look in the operations that go on in a leading spyware vendor and APT-for-hire.
‘https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2024/02/a-first-analysis-of-the-i-soon-data-leak
tools, RATs, comms and hardware covering most platforms
‘https://news.risky.biz/risky-biz-briefing-the-i-soon-data-leak/
“I-Soon’s tools appear to be used by Chinese police to curb dissent on overseas social media and flood them with pro-Beijing content. Authorities can surveil Chinese social media platforms directly and order them to take down anti-government posts.”
‘https://apnews.com/article/china-cybersecurity-leak-document-dump-spying-aac38c75f268b72910a94881ccbb77cb
–
Mustang Panda updates PlugX along with USB options – (infect air-gapped systems, bypass security features, added stealth)
‘https://www.trendmicro.com/en_us/research/24/b/earth-preta-campaign-targets-asia-doplugs.html
–
Take care when connecting to wireless enterprise networks over the next couple of months.
CVE-2023-52160 (wpa_supplicant) – “allow an attacker to trick a victim into connecting to a malicious clone of an enterprise WiFi network”
The wpa_supplicant security issue only concerns enterprise networks (WPA2-E or WPA3-E), so home users need not worry.
Students may be more likely to be duped by cloned WiFi networks. May also disclose sensitive information on enterprise networks.
ChromeOS devices can be updated to version 118 which is already fixed.
For Android this may take time to fix as the patch will need to be rolled out by providers.
‘https://w1.fi/cgit/hostap/commit/?id=8e6485a1bcb0baffdea9e55255a81270b768439c
CVE-2023-52161 (iwd) – “gain unauthorized access to a protected home WiFi network”
Linux only – iwd (iNet wireless daemon) is a wireless daemon for Linux written by Intel.
Added to unstable being pushed to testing soon. (Buster already fixed)
‘https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/network/wireless/iwd.git/commit/?id=6415420f1c92012f64063c131480ffcef58e60ca
ResearcherZero • February 23, 2024 2:56 AM
@Winter @ALL
This probably paints part of the picture:
“vendors now publicly sharing the proof-of-concept exploit, the cat is out of the bag.”
‘https://www.huntress.com/blog/a-catastrophe-for-control-understanding-the-screenconnect-authentication-bypass
Vulnerabilities are under active exploitation – details (payment) ganked.
Probably a good idea to get some cash from the bank in case you need to wait for a new card once the details are stolen, and then it is blocked by the bank. Already happening.
The large number of exploits have not helped, nor many retailer security practices.
With the added WiFi vulnerabilities, someone can wait outside a business, scan the network, wait for an employee to leave, and then gain access…
echo • February 23, 2024 8:38 AM
@ALL
Some of you need to get your facts right. Assange admitted on the record to at least one count of “stealthing” as confirmed by his own lawyers in court. A second lady friend of Assange also made allegations. (I’m not an expert in prosecuting rape trials nor is anyone here and yes I do know how difficult they can be and how traumatising they can be for the victims which is another thing which gets lost in this discussion.)
Sweden required questioning on Swedish soil. It was the law in Sweden otherwise they could not bring a prosecution.
It was legally impossible to extradite Assange from Sweden to the US. By law he had to be returned to the UK and from that point any US request for extradition would have to be taken up with the UK government.
Assange jumping bail and hiding in the embassy because “handwave” cost a lot of wellwishers a substantial amount of money. That and his long stay at the embassy is on him.
The statute of limitations has now run out on prosecuting Assange for rape.
All of the above is not contested. Stop listening to the BS from Assange’s PR and the likes of Craig Murray muddying the waters.
No I don’t like the stupid extradition treaty Blair signed and yes I do have problems with US espionage law as is and as practiced and no I don’t like some of the scummy tricks the UK government can get up to and no I don’t like cover-ups of improper actions nor do I think US prison conditions are humane but Assange did what he did.
Do I think the US is heavy handed? Yes. Do I think Assange is an utter nob whose ego got the better of him? Yes.
Putting aside how Reagan narrowly escaped landing in jail for Iran-Contra Dick Cheyney et al should probably have gone to jail for what they did.
There’s probably a few UK government ministers who should have a boot up their bum too. A worse scandal in its own way is the UK (Tory) government leaking which made a senior career diplomat’s career untenable forcing him to resign, and complete Brexit BS which caused a woman who was a senior and very respected diplomat to resign. I also think there was some nonsense over someone’s husband caused by the UK (Tory government) which completely stalled the career of another woman diplomat which pushed her into resigning, or was that the Christopher Steele thing?
So people might want to double check before they leap in and knock off the mouth.
Clive Robinson • February 23, 2024 5:32 PM
@ ALL,
Security of your home
Exterior cladding is again being pointed at as the cause of quickly spreading fire in towerblocks of flats,
“Valencia fire: Nine bodies found as Spanish police search gutted flats”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-68379253
The fire spread extraordinarily quickly through the high rise tower blocks and fire services could not reach high enough. From drone pictures all that is left is two gutted shells.
If you live in a building no matter how tall that has such cladding and insulation –and there are a great many– then as a minimum extra fire systems really should be fitted.
Whilst such insulation may reduce heating/cooling costs, the fact it can turn a building into a death trap incinerator in minutes is of greater concern.
ResearcherZero • February 24, 2024 1:38 AM
how to drop a nuclear bomb on Zero One using ChatGPT
‘https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/12/openai-chatgpt-chatbot-messages/672411/
(Please do not build a nuclear bomb.)
Clive Robinson • February 24, 2024 11:09 AM
@ ResearcherZero,
“Please do not build a nuclear bomb.”
From what I’ve been told, and the open research I’ve done in the past and the papers I gathered (people forget that after the Russian’s got the bomb the US declassified most of it, the 1973 Encyclopedia Britannica if you can find one is a good starting point)
The mechanics of making one are –providing you take health care precautions– trivial in comparison to the making and refining the required metals and casting them for machining.
The thing is that all the information you need including Hydrocodes is all out there in one library or another and most have photocopiers. Even “reclassifying” some of the information has not caused what was declassified still being out there and available.
Thus an LLM with a sufficiently large training set will have had most of it if not all of it go in.
JonKnowsNothing • February 24, 2024 12:15 PM
@ ResearcherZero, @Clive, All
re: @R: “Please do not build a nuclear bomb.”
Also do not make a digital clock and take it school for show-n-tell time.
===
h ttps://en.wik ipedia.org/w iki/Ahmed_Mohamed_clock_incident
lurker • February 24, 2024 12:27 PM
@ResearcherZero, Clive
I never saw the catalogue so it could be apocryphal, (the search engines are ignorant or sanitised) it was alleged that back in the hey-days of Dick Smith Electronics kits, he would sell for A$1M a kit containg full instructions and everything needed to make a small bomb, except the purchaser must supply their own fissile material to the required spcification.
Clive Robinson • February 24, 2024 5:28 PM
@ lurker, JonKnowsNothing, ResearcherZero,
Re : Dick Smith.
“I never saw the catalogue so it could be apocryphal, (the search engines are ignorant or sanitised) it was alleged that back in the hey-days of Dick Smith Electronics kits”
It was not just a catalogue he printed he also did a hobbiest magazine.
I don’t have it now, but many moons ago I bought one at what we in the UK would still call a “News Agents”. I happened to be in Aus on business and had a two day stop over in a hotel to get over jet lag before heading inwards to where the scheduled two weeks of installation work were waiting for me. I’d been told the place I was going to was “200 miles past where Jesus lost his sandals” and for entertainment there was watching “the roaches eat the rats” but not quite in those words. So I stocked up on reading material on expenses. I won’t go into all the fun I actually had that’s a story for another day 😉 But I will say I had no idea what a Bachelor & Spinster weekend was till I went to one for my last weekend there…
Anyway I was reminded of all this due to Peter Parker, Australian Amateur Radio operator VK3YE who has a YouTube channel under his call sign and he has a fair number of Dick Smith kits and printings, and has built a few as videos and gone through some of the mags he has.
Clive Robinson • February 28, 2024 5:15 AM
@ Uwe Käufer, ALL,
“Plant based, vegan meals should be the norm due to the fact that it has only advantages”
Very far from true.
In fact trying to eat vegan can kill you and cause all sorts of developmental issues.
There is a well know negative correlation to hight and size due to low animal product diets. I won’t go into the issues of why, but the supposed heart health issues of Mediterranean and other low animal product diets are from observational studies. Which usually fail to consider stature which is the actual reason for the “heart health” as strain on the heart is related to the square of a persons hight. Stature is effectively fixed by your mid teens, but other things like fertility and brain and other neurological development are not.
I could also mention that for a properly balanced plant based diet less than 10% of current land used for farming is suitable. Thus the “carbon cost” of shipping it to the worlds population centers needs to be considered. For instance how many places can grow the supposed whole food Avocado without causing environmental damage and at what density per m^2!?
This article tries to sound positive but read through it carefully and you will see it’s actually limited or environmentally harmful,
Then look at beef and lamb production. The land used is, in temperate zones mostly not usable for plant crop production due to it being hillside or watermarsh.
It’s a complex subject and your arguments mostly don’t hold water on a more correct analysis.
Sorry but that’s the basic truth of it not starry-eyed idealism that disregards hard realities of the real world.
Winter • February 28, 2024 5:59 AM
@Clive
In fact trying to eat vegan can kill you and cause all sorts of developmental issues.
Indeed, but that has been dealt with long ago. There are some micro-nutrients, vitamins, and oils that are difficult to get from plants, eg, iron and vitamin B12. These nutrients can be supplied from non-animal sources easily nowadays.
Also, the correct proteins (amino acids) needed by humans can currently be sourced from plants. So, you can only eat plants (plus fungi and bacteria [1]) and grow up and live healthy. It is clear that you will need to take real care of getting everything right [2].
For instance how many places can grow the supposed whole food Avocado without causing environmental damage and at what density per m^2!?
That argument is nuts. You do not need avocado’s to eat healthy vegan food. What you need is cereals, potatoes, legumes, and various equivalents (yam, sweet potatoes). A lot can be made using bacteria, if you really want it.
Compared with the surface area needed to grow food to make meat, all this is peanuts.
[1] Babies can drink their mother’s milk. I do not suppose any vegan has a problem with that.
[2] ‘https://thehealthsciencesacademy.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/EU04_2016_Vegan-Diet_Position-of-the-German-Society.pdf
JonKnowsNothing • February 28, 2024 12:22 PM
@ Winter, @Clive, Uwe Käufer, All
re: Plant based diet: Mi Dos Centavos
RL tl;dr
I’ve been on a restricted diet for a while with huge list of DO NOT EAT on it.
The purpose of this diet is to determine “what does not agree with me” but does not rise to the level of anaphylactic shock. There will no doubt be many suggestions and mitigations but the important issue is:
- A Plant Based Diet is not One Size Fits All.
Stuff I cannot eat or tolerate
- Whole Wheat, in any form.
- Beans, Chickpeas, Hummus
- Peanuts in any form (does not cause anaphylactic shock)
- All diary products: Milk, Yogurt, Cheese, Cream Cheese, Sour Cream, Buttermilk or products containing them (powdered milk).
- Breaded fish or breaded items (the fish is OK the flour is not)
- Pumpkin Pie (go figure but it’s the MACE or Nutmeg)
- Stone fruit (peaches, apricots etc)
- Items containing spices in them. Specialty Pasta Sauces, prepared ground meats (sausage, hotdogs, meatballs meat turkey or vegan)
- Pot stickers (that was a very bad near shock reaction)
- Various mixtures of herbs, salts, seasonings. Even if the seasoning list shows only normal items on it, it may not get past the Gut Test like Herbs de Provence.
What I can provide as hindsight is
- none of these items caused problems -50yrs -40yrs -30yrs -20yrs ago.
I have my own suspicion about Why Now, and little of it has to do with pesticides, as Organic v Non Organic doesn’t make any difference to my gut if I eat a slice of Whole Wheat Bread.
Winter • February 28, 2024 1:39 PM
@JonKnowsNothing
A Plant Based Diet is not One Size Fits All.
I am sorry to hear of your problems.
I would never say a plant based diet is wholesome or healthy, as is. But in today’s world, you can easily live off a purely plant based diet.
Contrary to popular believe, almost all animals are edible, and healthy food, when cooked, but only few plants are edible at all. Most plants are poisonous, indigestible, or both. Plants are chemical factories that create the most unbelievable chemicals and the majority is produced to make life miserable for herbivores and animals like us.
Being omnivores, humans have developed some ways to get nurture out of plants, sometimes by using extreme preparation procedures. Common staple foods like casava and legumes contain poisons that must be removed by cooking and discarding the water. If you see a random plant in the wild, you can be 99.9% sure you cannot sustain yourself on it. If you could, it would already have been eaten.
On the other hand, if you see an animal, chances are you can safely eat it if you can kill and cook it, especially if it is a bird or mammal. It is just that animals have found better ways to avoid being eaten.
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Sidebar photo of Bruce Schneier by Joe MacInnis.
Hugo Simoes • February 16, 2024 5:15 PM
Anonymous identifiers
https://github.com/simoesh/a-id
It is a simple idea but probably never seen before, since it is the opposite of what most people usually want: website owners want the most data they can get and players want to choose their username/avatar.
In the context of privacy, doxing and child-friendly websites, I believe this is the least amount of players’ information needed to keep a leaderboard interesting.
I am posting it here hoping that people may find the concept useful and fit for other purposes.