Source: www.schneier.com – Author: Bruce Schneier
Comments
Mr. Peed Off •
Safeguarding Brain Data: Assessing the Privacy Practices of Consumer
Neurotechnology Companies is the first comprehensive report analyzing the data practices and
user rights of consumer neurotechnology products. Neurotechnology refers to devices capable of
recording or altering the activity of the nervous system, including the brain, the spinal cord, and
the peripheral nerves. Traditionally used within medical and research settings, these devices are
increasingly marketed to consumers. Today, at least 30 neurotechnology products are available
for purchase by members of the public.
The human brain is unlike any other organ, as it generates all of our mental and cognitive
activities. The data it produces is unlike any other data, as it reflects mental processing. Neural
data, which refers to information directly reflecting the activity of an individual’s central or
peripheral nervous systems, is therefore capable of revealing enormously sensitive information
about the people from whom it was collected, including identifiable information about their
mental health, physical health, and cognitive processing. In the coming years, the sensitivity of
neural data will only deepen as investments from the private sector, governments, and similar
initiatives expand. This will result in improvements to the technical capabilities of
neurotechnology, affording increased resolution of brain scans and larger datasets of brain data
being collected, while generative artificial intelligence will accelerate the ability to accurately
decode these scans. Meanwhile, implantable neurotechnologies can already accurately decode
language and emotions, while wearable devices are beginning to have some of these capabilities
as well. These developments have significant implications for mental privacy, highlighting the
pressing importance of understanding the privacy practices and user protections provided by
consumer neurotechnology companies.
echo •
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i-Ic8KX3sI
Ukraine War Live Chat w/ Jake Broe @JakeBroehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMrBif3VcCM
Ukraine War Live Chat w/ Talaria: Russia Isn’t Even in the United Nations..https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMu2NhK11sI
Putin is a “Small Pathetic Man” Who Needs More Wars to Survive
[…]
Pulling no punches, Browder explains the “psychopathy” and “depravity” that make up the character of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. What motivates the Russian autocrat? Browder argues that “Putin is a little man, who has stolen too much money, who is terrified of losing power. If he loses power he will go to jail, lose his money, and die. So you’ve this little [man] who is scared of losing his life. So what [does Putin] do?” He creates “a foreign enemy. That is what the Ukrainian invasion is all about.”
Browder warns that despite heroic efforts: Ukraine can still lose the war if the West backs away from its commitments to the besieged nation. What would come next? Browder argues that Putin cannot back down or not begin an invasion of Europe: Putin’s ability to survive, having stolen hundreds of billions from his own people, depends on him being able to portray himself as a war president keeping his nation safe.
This will do for a start. The first video has a slow start but gets enough into geopolitics and disinformation and, later, voting systems enough to keep me happy. They all tie directly or indirectly into material I wanted to write about even if the angle or details or depth are different.
I wanted to write about geopolitical issues which have been annoying me. They’ve been touched on by various job titles and influencers and so on but either never articulated through or with a level of spin I’m not happy with. It does get into governance and systems and modes of reasoning and the meat of security (for those who have an attachment to single minded topic framing) but needs a level of thinking through to write up I’m not prepared to make at the moment.
I’ve got material on freedom of speech as implemented in practice and it’s impact, disinformation, and material on DEI, and the intersection of governance, media, and counter-terrorism. I gathered a few weeks of notes totaling around 50 pages so it’s really a question of choosing my focus and whether I can be bothered.
The Cass review continues to implode. It’s been rejected by all the world’s leading authorities and experts to an embarrassing degree. There’s multiple open letters of protest by 300-400 respectable academics worldwide at the last count. That’s somewhat more than the anonymous 19 “experts” The Telegraph could scrape together which are likely double counted from an open letter by already discredited job titles, conspiracy theorists, and known bad actors. One day it may be subject to a case study in disinformation or a public inquiry.
I also have material on Lesbian Visibility Week. The theme this year is supporting all members of the lesbian LGBTQI+ community.
echo •
https://diva-magazine.com/2024/04/26/lesbian-visibility-week-house-of-commons/
Kate Osborne MP made history with the Lesbian Visibility Week debate in the House of Commons
“As a whole, the debate showcased the distance we’ve travelled since the 1980s, and the central role of lesbians in driving that change. Sadly, it also illustrated powerfully how far we still have to go”https://badgayspod.com/episode-archive/s7e10-rotha-lintorn-orman
S7E10: Rotha Lintorn-Orman
We close out our season with the story of a dashing tomboy who was the first woman to found a British political party. The only problem: that party was the British Fascists.https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/04/25/remembering-the-lesbians-who-stormed-the-bbc-in-protest-at-section-28/
In 1988, a group of lesbians stormed a BBC TV news studio – to protest against Section 28.
[…]
Section 28 had an enormous impact both inside and outside schools. According to helplines, there was a threefold increase in LGBTQ+ harassment following it being placed on the statute books.
I thought I’d get a short post in about Lesbian Visibility Week. From what I can tell it’s one of those blink and you’d miss it things. For those who get snotty about such things there are plenty of security tie-ins. It’s just not obvious to 80%+ of society and I personally view like to view people as human first and job title second which makes writing anything up a headache.
I look at the three links and see a huge amount of security related themes and autobiographical aspects to the material which will miss most people but that’s more a point of view thing than anything else.
Reflecting Kate’s narrative growing up as LGBT during the 1970’s was hard. Like, there was no internet and open communities like today. There was zero material to read and you were the only LGBT person you would have known of. This began to change in the 1980’s coincident with Section 28 which caused a lot of damage. Personal physical security and relationship security was and still is a thing. You could get your head kicked in or lose your job if anyone found out. Today the risk mostly comes from a minority of nutters and radicalised idiots but it’s still a none zero risk which cisgender heteronormative people simply don’t experience at any time of their lives. The UK’s military ban on LGBT existed until 2000 when it was abolished. LGBT people did have jobs in the military. There were times and people who were tolerated but also people have been hounded and discharged. I did very briefly consider a military career in my early 20’s and didn’t think about this at all. Later it might have been a problem. Today it wouldn’t be a problem but politically I’m more concerned about corruption and wars of opportunity and social fairness for the global poor and the need for deconfliction so wouldn’t be mad keen on it. Today 50% of European lesbians still feel scared to hold hands in public. As per Kate’s words – there is still a lot to do.
Coincident with changes in economics and the rise of the internet there has been an overall decline of “safe spaces” for LGBT people but lately a rise in FLINTA spaces. (FLINTA* is a German abbreviation that stands for “Frauen, Lesben, Intergeschlechtliche, nichtbinäre, trans und agender Personen”, meaning women/females, lesbians, intersex, non-binary, trans and agender people. The asterisk represents all non-binary gender identities. To explicitly include queer individuals, the term FLINTAQ is sometimes used, expanding on the FLINTA acronym.)
Growing up during the 1970’s I loved action and adventure movies and comics. I still do! When I was small I watched the Jame’s Bond movie Thunderball and Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines and was totally absorbed by them. I liked the otherworldliness of Thunderball and, yes, wanted to grow up to be that young woman on the motorbike in “Flying Machines”. And OMG that dress one woman wore and, yes, I’m still a sucker for glamour and romance. But today? Utterly unwatchable. I choke on the sexism.
For all the gloom and doom of today and certain people with large public profiles of a certain ages trying to drag us back to their own traumatised childhoods it is a different world and there are so many amazing young LGBT women and women (and men) they give me a sense of hope if we can all get through things. It’s subjective and personal and means nothing to anyone other than me and no I don’t ride a motorbike and you won’t get me on one for toffee but in my heart I’m that young woman on a motorbike racing down country lanes with a smile on my face. The sun, the freedom, the happiness with just being yourself. It’s not a bad place to be.
I know some people will have a go at me for writing this none post but it doesn’t matter to me. Security can manifest itself as a sense of happiness. If you’re feeling miserable you’re likely not secure. You’re in a bad situation or messed up or it’s all falling to pieces. Security isn’t just about “thinking hinky”. It’s how you feel.
Anyway, soz. That was a bit of a brain flush. It had to be done.
Winter •
@echo
Today the risk mostly comes from a minority of nutters and radicalised idiots
I agree that CPAC Hungary is a meeting of nutters and radicalised idiots. But I am afraid they are less of a minority than we would like them to be.
PISS in Poland, the Russian Orthodox church, and Orban in Hungary have shown that “wokebusting” is a powerful driver of corruption and violence against “minorities”[1] of all kinds.
[1] Noting that the majority of people are being victims of discrimination and systematic violence of one kind or another.
ResearcherZero •
An ‘eye for an eye’ makes the whole world blind.
The muqawama demonstrate considerable tactical proficiency in the information space.
“On the surface, little appeared to change after Soleimani and al-Muhandis died…”
‘https://ctc.westpoint.edu/discordance-in-the-iran-threat-network-in-iraq-militia-competition-and-rivalry/
It is a fairly simple concept that often seems lost on decision makers.
https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2021/march/reality-war-should-define-information-warfare
Three commanders and four officers were killed.
This included Generals Mohammad Reza Zahedi and Mohammad Hadi Hajriahimi (Zahedi’s deputy).
‘https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/2/who-was-mohammad-reza-zahedi-the-iranian-general-assassinated-by-israel
Judicial theory – This approach views the primary purpose of justice to be restitution.
Harming the perpetrator serves no purpose for the victim, who will be much better served if compensated for the loss, rather than inflicting and encouraging further abuse and harm.
https://alhatorah.org/%22%D7%A2%D6%B7%D7%99%D6%B4%D7%9F_%D7%AA%D6%B7%D6%BC%D7%97%D6%B7%D7%AA_%D7%A2%D6%B7%D7%99%D6%B4%D7%9F%22_%E2%80%93_An_Eye_for_an_Eye/2
–
trust
Being an instrument of the state means that one’s profession is intimately linked to political practices rather than disconnected from them.
“Trauma studies identify as potentially traumatic events combat, killing, moral dilemmas, seeing people suffering, being wounded oneself, and so on which gives the impression that the only political solution to military suffering is not to send soldiers to war at all. However, it has become increasingly clear that, besides the nature of war and individual vulnerabilities, contextual factors also play a crucial role in the onset of war-related suffering.”
‘https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pops.12503
institutional betrayal is ubiquitous
Traumas high in betrayal are linked with serious harm, such as psychological and physical health symptoms. Many survivors bear the costs of more than the original violence. They also bear the costs of institutional action and inaction.
Strategies for increasing Institutional Courage
‘https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15299732.2020.1801307
Secondary Institutional Betrayal
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/08862605231171414
–
and betrayal
When Institutions Harm Those Who Depend on Them
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/15248380241226627
“Failure to prevent or respond supportively to wrongdoings by individuals committed within the context of the institution.” (aggravated assault, harassment, gaslighting etc)
‘https://dynamic.uoregon.edu/jjf/institutionalbetrayal/
Moral injury is the social, psychological, and spiritual harm that arises from a betrayal of one’s core values, such as justice, fairness, and loyalty.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/moral-injury
This institutional betrayal undermines survivors’ recovery. (peer reviewed)
‘https://dynamic.uoregon.edu/jjf/articles/pbf09.pdf
The lucrative industry of misconduct consultants.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/katiejmbaker/rape-victims-dont-trust-the-fixers-colleges-hire-to-help-the
echo •
@Winter
I agree that CPAC Hungary is a meeting of nutters and radicalised idiots. But I am afraid they are less of a minority than we would like them to be.
PISS in Poland, the Russian Orthodox church, and Orban in Hungary have shown that “wokebusting” is a powerful driver of corruption and violence against “minorities”[1] of all kinds.
[1] Noting that the majority of people are being victims of discrimination and systematic violence of one kind or another.
I don’t know if I have the time/brainspace to write it up but I have some material in the hopper which can cover some of this. As a quick hot take:
FPTP voting systems can enable minority bad actors within a “big tent party” into taking over a party agenda and then catapult into huge majorities. (Not covered directly but partially addressed by Jake Broe.) Then there’s disinformation swaying reasonable people you might categorise as fence sitters and/or undecided. (See “Rule of thirds”.) So that tiny minority of extremists can amplify themselves and impact governance and policy and culture unless safeguards are there. Oppositional sexism and intersectionality can cover majority groups or even the powerful who suffer from discrimination. A more old school way of looking at this is tribalism or the locus of power having a mind of its own (See Bertrand Russell “Power: A New Social Analysis”).
I have a brand new sociology paper on the intersection of governance, media, and counter-terrorism which speaks to the “woke busting agenda” you mention. I’ve been sitting on this for a week and should dig it out of my notes within the next few days.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB_Bo7bv5yo
Taras Kuzio – Russia’s Orthodox Church is Complicit in Crimes of Genocide, Abduction and Persecution
This just dropped on the Russian Orthodox Church. I haven’t had time to watch it yet.
echo •
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ko179E4wlM8
FP Wellman chats with Brynne Tannehill. Author and writer Brynne Tannehill. Brynne is a graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy and the Air Force Institute of Technology with degrees in Computer Science and Operations Research. She is a Naval Aviator who did four deployments to locations such as the Adriatic, Middle East, and the North Atlantic. After leaving active duty she has continued to work in defense research, while as an advocate, writer, and researcher on LGBT civil rights issues and policy. Her most recent book is ‘American Fascism.’ She currently works at a think-tank in the Washington D.C. area as a senior analyst, where she lives with her wife and three children.
I’m helicoptering this discussion in as it touches on security and Lesbian Visibility Week.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5agLW7fTzBc
Why Hitler Lost the War: German Strategic Mistakes in WWII
Picking up on one item Brynne mentions this old video is an look behind the myth of Third Reich efficiency and explains how grossly incompetent they were. Ruth Ben-Ghiat has made similar comment in interviews.
Brynne’s comments on legal hacking and legal drift is on the money. It’s a bit different in the UK as the UK has more human rights law blocking executive action but the system is coming under severe strain.
ResearcherZero •
correction: “firearms and weapons” surrendered
Mr Dreyfus said the events at Wieambilla were a catalyst for progressing the register.
‘https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-27/federal-government-commits-funding-for-firearms-register/103774904
Winter •
@ResearcherZero
Since the Impeachment Judgment Clause is not limited to presidents,
could “all civil officers of the United States,” also be immune (?)
App response:
‘https://www.gocomics.com/mattwuerker/2024/04/26
echo •
Continuing the theme of security and Lesbian Visibility Week.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HBhpkAByg4
Navigating the Armed Forces: Joanna Phelps
* In 1947 she was told by General Eisenhower, “It’s come to my attention that there are lesbians in the WACs, we need to ferret them out…” Phelps replied, “If the General pleases, sir, I’ll be happy to do that, but the first name on the list will be mine.” Eisenhower’s secretary added, “If the General pleases, sir, my name will be first and hers will be second.”
* Phelps then told Eisenhower, “Sir, if you’re right, there are lesbians in the WACs – and if you want to replace all the file cleerks, section commanders, drivers, every woman in the WAC detachment, I will be happy to make the list. But you must know, sir, that they are the most decorated group – there have been no illegal pregnancies, no AWOLs, no charges of misconduct”.
I’ve been glancing through the US constitution and long proposed Equal Rights Amendment and their histories. The constitution is certainly in need of some refactoring and updating. It’s really quite odd when you consider the US proposed the Universal Declaration of Human rights which forms the bedrock of international human rights law. Meanwhile Churchill and other European leaders pushed though what became known as the European Convention of Human Rights (The Convention) which gives power to this law (with some improvements). In spite of the best efforts of many US politicians to improve the wellbeing of the world myself I’m of the opinion the reason why it has not been similarly implemented by the US is largely due to cowardice and fear.
In returning to the quote it is notable that men weren’t treated half as well due in part to overzealous men hunting down other men. One can imagine the ruined lives and perhaps suicides which resulted.
Today the picture has greatly improved for all LGBT people and the sky hasn’t fallen in. Yes there are some who want to strip rights away. I just don’t see the point.
Transgender people and transgender children are experiencing the same level of irrational hate last seen during the 1980’s and to a scary degree from some quarters last seen during 1930’s Nazi Germany. The overwhelming majority of lesbians stand in solidarity with transgender people. Those who oppose transgender people are a small minority of mainly straight people given undue prominence by some politicians and media simply to create fear and anger they can exploit for election calculus, or make easy money with hate for clicks. A world war was fought over this kind of thing. Please don’t.
https://www.advocate.com/crime/nyc-trans-woman-subway-attack
Trans woman loses lower legs in NYC subway attack. Now, friends rally to help her.
I donated.
Winter •
@echo
In returning to the quote it is notable that men weren’t treated half as well due in part to overzealous men hunting down other men. One can imagine the ruined lives and perhaps suicides which resulted.
We should never forget the boundless, shameful ingratitude of the nation towards the man of whom it is said that:
It is only a slight exaggeration to say that the British mathematician Alan Turing (1912-1954) saved the Allies from the Nazis, invented the computer and artificial intelligence, and anticipated gay liberation by decades–all before his suicide at age forty-one.
‘https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691164724/alan-turing-the-enigma
vas pup •
World’s biggest 3D printer whirs into action
h ttps://www.bbc.com/news/articles/
cx7d34nl5vwo
“A giant 3D printer, which is big enough to make a house, has been unveiled at the University of Maine.
The university says it has beaten its own record for the world’s largest polymer 3D printer – with the new printer four times bigger than the previous machine.
The Factory of the Future 1.0 (FoF 1.0) can print objects 96ft (29m) long –
approximately the length of a blue whale.
But experts say, despite the breakthrough, most of us will continue to live in homes made of bricks and mortar.
Large 3D printers, such as that unveiled in Maine, are more like to be used to make parts of houses rather than full homes, says Dr Eujin Pei, who is an expert in additive manufacturing at Brunel University.
He says they can be used for historical restoration, “not to print a house, but
sometimes to print decorative parts, or sometimes to restore some parts.”
They may become useful after natural disasters to manufacture parts of
destroyed buildings, he told the BBC.
Maine University says it hopes the printer can be used to make affordable housing, as well as bridges, boats and wind turbines.
It can print up to 500lbs (227kg) of material per hour.
While 3D printers often print using plastic, the university hopes to include
more sustainable materials and prioritize recycled polymers.
Maine is also home to large forests – and the hope is to use residual wood from
sawmills as material to feed into the printer.
…as products are designed on a computer first, their energy efficiency can be
calculated beforehand – and they can be printed in a way which takes less time.
Partly funded by the US military, the giant printer in Maine uses “sensors,
high-performance computing and artificial intelligence” to help manufacture large products, said Habib Dagher, who is head of the university’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center.It has been used in a wide range of fields, from space rockets to human cells
to puppets.But it also has a dark side – with criminals using the technology to manufacture weapons.
Last year, in what was thought to be the first case of its kind in the UK, two men were jailed for making sub-machine guns using a 3D printer.
Later in 2023, a man in Birmingham was sentenced to five years in prison for
making 3D-printed assault rifles.”
@ResercherZero as one comedian stated in the past ‘guns don’t kill people, husbands who come home earlier did.’ Have a good weekend 🙂
vas pup •
https://cyberguy.com/future-tech/3d-printer-constructs-stunning-data-center-hands-free-in-140-hours/
“In the heart of Germany, a groundbreaking project has emerged, marrying the worlds of technology and architecture in a way never seen before.
The Wave House, a new data center located in an urban area of Heidelberg, stands as a testament to innovation, being Europe’s largest 3D-printed building to date.
Data centers, the backbone of our digital lives, are often relegated to nondescript, windowless buildings due to security and operational requirements. However, the push to bring these essential facilities closer to urban centers demanded a rethink in their design approach.
Enter the Wave House, which challenges the status quo with its visually arresting wave-designed walls—a feature that not only lends the building its name but also marks a significant departure from conventional data center aesthetics. It measures 6,600 sq ft and was designed by SSV and Mense Korte and created by Peri 3D Construction for developer KrausGruppe.
the project leveraged 3D construction printing technology, specifically the COBOD BOD2 printer.
This machine pushed out a recyclable cement-like mixture to form the building’s exterior. Achieving an impressive rate of 43 square feet per hour, the printer completed the walls in just 140 hours, demonstrating the efficiency and versatility of 3D printing in modern construction.
Beyond its aesthetic appeal, the Wave House represents a stride forward in sustainable building practices. The 3D-printed construction process emits significantly less CO2 compared to traditional methods, aligning with global efforts to reduce the environmental footprint of new developments.
Furthermore, the project showcases the potential for reducing costs and construction times, making it a compelling case study for future urban planning initiatives.
From earthquake-resistant homes to ambitious developments of 100 3D-printed houses, the technology is proving its worth across a diverse range of projects.
COBOD, the company behind the technology, aims to automate at least 50% of building site processes, promising efficiency gains and potentially reshaping the labor landscape in construction.”
ResearcherZero •
@winter
That is quiet a good comical rendition indeed. 😀
–
The criminal justice system is no longer fit for purpose and society has meekly accepted the growing cracks.
‘https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/a-justice-system-in-crisis-but-does-anyone-care-20240221-p5f6p3.html
How and why information from the public record is withheld from the community.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/secret-state-victoria-the-suppression-order-capital-of-australia-20240308-p5fayh.html
–
When legal representation hide behind “technicality” to exploit loopholes,
delivering only farce as an outcome of appeal, it is anything but “justice”.
A reluctance to cede real power to victims as participants in justice processes. — The report found almost 40 per cent of victims who had been forced to act as witnesses would not return to provide evidence, while 74 per cent said they never or rarely felt part of the justice process.
‘https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/broken-justice-system-leaves-victims-silenced-and-sidelined-report-says-20240317-p5fd14.html
The quality of justice delivered…
“Too often, the literature wields victim participation as a rhetorical device that is without anchor and shifts without explanation.”
Only a few dealt with victim assessments of prosecution or the courts.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/02697580231151207
Less than 10 percent of violent-crime victims get assistance.
jarring gaps in public safety: “most victims do not receive help in the aftermath of crime and suffer long-term financial and health consequences; few victims see the crimes against them solved by the justice system; and, most victims prefer public safety policies that focus on stopping crime cycles over increasing arrests and incarceration.”
‘https://allianceforsafetyandjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Alliance-for-Safety-and-Justice-Crime-Survivors-Speak-September-2022.pdf
Winter •
@ResearcherZero
Re: Cost of Climate Change far outweighs mitigation cost even in the short term
tl;dr (executive summary)
… the world economy is committed to an income reduction of 19% within the next 26 years independent of future emission choices. These damages already outweigh the mitigation costs required to limit global warming to 2 °C by sixfold over this near-term time frame …
The economic commitment of climate change
‘https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07219-0
Global projections of macroeconomic climate-change damages typically consider impacts from average annual and national temperatures over long time horizons. Here we use recent empirical findings from more than 1,600 regions worldwide over the past 40 years to project sub-national damages from temperature and precipitation, including daily variability and extremes7,8. Using an empirical approach that provides a robust lower bound on the persistence of impacts on economic growth, we find that the world economy is committed to an income reduction of 19% within the next 26 years independent of future emission choices (relative to a baseline without climate impacts, likely range of 11–29% accounting for physical climate and empirical uncertainty). These damages already outweigh the mitigation costs required to limit global warming to 2 °C by sixfold over this near-term time frame and thereafter diverge strongly dependent on emission choices. Committed damages arise predominantly through changes in average temperature, but accounting for further climatic components raises estimates by approximately 50% and leads to stronger regional heterogeneity. Committed losses are projected for all regions except those at very high latitudes, at which reductions in temperature variability bring benefits. The largest losses are committed at lower latitudes in regions with lower cumulative historical emissions and lower present-day income.
echo •
https://www.change.org/p/reinstate-sangita-myska-to-her-position-at-lbc
Reinstate Sangita Myska to her Position at LBC
Blink twice if you are in danger… Since Sangita didn’t appear on her scheduled show and posted a gardening picture on her Instagram account people began to suspect she had been got to by the owners of Global Media & Entertainment who own LBC.(LBC was once owned by the disgraced former Westminster Council politician Dame Shirley Porter at one point.) After people began asking questions LBC presenters accounts went into varying degrees of lockdown. Sangita’s last known comment was in response to the petition where she described herself as “touched and humbled”.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00380261241242283
Othering, peaking, populism and moral panics: The reactionary strategies of organised transphobia
This new paper examines the intersection of governance, media, and the spectrum of terrorism. The paper gets into the weeds very fast with lots of new concepts and ways of reasoning for many people. The subject matter will touch upon multiple fields from governance to organisation theory to media and communication to psychology and sociology and history and more but this is not required for reading this paper. If anyone wants to skip most of this the last paragraph is a good summary of the essential issues.
https://gcn.ie/hostile-anti-trans-politics-rise-europe-research/
Hostile anti-trans politics on the rise in Europe, new research finds
The report found that mainstream media played a key role in perpetuating anti-gender politics and negative visibility of transgender people.
[…]
More information on the project and the full report can be found at https://theresistproject.eu.
This report will be familiar reading to anyone who knows anything about organised disinformation campaigns. The usual deep pocket lobbyists and bad actors are behind all this not to mention billionaire media owners. As for the Tory party’s descent into nationalistic far right transphobic and racist bigotry and throwing women and disabled people under the bus and kleptocracy and erosion of governance standards? That is several pages all of its own.
16/4/23 – 24/4/23 (9 days)
The Guardian – 5 articles on trans people, 3 negative
The Times – 19, 19 negative
Daily Mail – 16, 16 negative
The Telegraph* – 25. 25 negative
*Telegraph not available to check for 20/4/24
This is a recent snapshot and has been a daily occurrence for most of the past decade. However, according to polling the majority of people continue to support transgender people and transphobia isn’t a vote winner it’s a vote loser. More women than men support transgender people and almost all lesbians support transgender people.
echo •
I’m still squatting on a comment on DEI (as the American’s call it), and another geopolitics and governance and conflict. I’ll have to do this later when I have brainspace.
@Winter
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/history/the-law-code-of-king-alfred.php
https://www.trethowans.com/insights/history-of-lgbt-law-in-england-and-wales/
https://www.hrw.org/report/2008/12/17/alien-legacy/origins-sodomy-laws-british-colonialism
https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/gender/2019/06/17/hijras-and-the-legacy-of-british-colonial-rule-in-india/
The UK state has for a long time had a thread of authoritarianism and hypocrisy and cruelty running through it. There’s a reason why British actors have an effortless monopoly on the Hollywood evil villain role. Nobody does well dressed polite sociopathy quite like the British. This is quite the contrast with a country which is by culture fairly liberal and tolerant and socially orientated. That said it’s a lot more complicated than that. Isn’t it always?
Turing by and large was left alone until one lone cop with an attitude decided to make something of it. Then the po-faced establishment and machine of state kicked in. One get out for Turing would have been not prosecuting as a case was “not in the public interest” but the British state can develop a mind of its own and move like greased lightning when it gets moving. From that point on Turing’s fate was sealed. The murkier corners of what was then state of medical and forensics kicked in as LGBT people were considered deviant or criminal hence a “corrective intervention” which took his ability to mentally function and reason for living away at which point he unalived himself.
Oddly, lesbians were not criminalised. One reason was heteronormative men couldn’t get their heads past it. The other is women were assumed to be such delicate flowers that if more law or documentation existed on the subject then women would learn about it and be wooed into bad behaviour as if women couldn’t make their own minds up?
You don’t have to look too hard to see the current Tory party is trying to drag everyone back to the worst of the past. Local elections are coming up as is a general election, and a good chunk of the democratic world is having national elections this year too. My recommendation is vote to get the Tories out (or their equivalent in your country) and where you can vote with your conscience.
echo •
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workers%27_Memorial_Day
Workers’ Memorial Day, also known as International Workers’ Memorial Day or International Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured, takes place annually around the world on April 28, an international day of remembrance and action for workers killed, disabled, injured, or made unwell by their work.[1] In Canada, it is commemorated as the National Day of Mourning.
Today is International Workers Memorial Day. This probably isn’t the first thing to spring into the mind of most people let alone people working in security but it is a thing. How you design and implement things and safety features is what enables the world to get the job done and keep people who have placed trust in your management or equipment to stay alive and healthy.
For the technical security types this will be the systems which keep classified material classified. It could be industrial scale equipment where a person goes home with both legs and arms. It could be people at the sharp end or one of any number of people in the ecosystem. It can be someone’s mother, father, daughter, or son. Each one had their hopes and dreams and loves and laughs. Each one was precious to someone.
Winter •
@echo
Turing by and large was left alone until one lone cop with an attitude decided to make something of it.
Oscar Wilde suffered the same fate. The UK puritanism was all for show. Persecution was only considered when there was scandal. It still is. Politicians and famous Brittons never did more than lip service to decency laws. Only when there was a scandal heads started to toll.[1]
Nothing different from the usual laws for them, not for us as we saw during the lockdown.
It was and is all just hypocrisy.
Oddly, lesbians were not criminalised.
Nothing odd about it. No one cared or cares what women do as long as it does not involve men.[2] Just as men becoming women bring out lynch mobs, but women becoming men bring out the sounds of crickets.[3]
[1] ‘https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/428816
[2] I always suspected that as long as there is no risk raising someone else’s child, who cares. Harem women had intimate relations with enuchs or other women and no one cared as no children would ensue.
PDF: ‘https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=4507aa0a0911581a1d11f756f3d15acc9cf6f835
[3] ‘https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/opinion-invisible-man-why-have-transmen-been-left-behind-n662416
To me, this seems like a new twist on a very old tradition: sexism. While this may seem complex, at the end of the day I believe it is really quite simple: Many people still see transgender women as men and transgender men as women — from the time they are born until after they transition.
Killer App •
Lethal AI Weapons Are Here
“The emergence of AI on the battlefield has spurred debate among researchers, legal experts and ethicists. Some argue that AI-assisted weapons could be more accurate than human-guided ones, potentially reducing both collateral damage — such as civilian casualties and damage to residential areas — and the numbers of soldiers killed and maimed, while helping vulnerable nations and groups to defend themselves. Others emphasize that autonomous weapons could make catastrophic mistakes. And many observers have overarching ethical concerns about passing targeting decisions to an algorithm.”
Interesting use of the word “could”… “could be more accurate” also means “could be more inaccurate” and “could make catastrophic mistakes” when we all know that they already have.
What should be emphasized is that lethal autonomous weapons (LAWs) will simultaneously increase the rate of human casualties on the battlefield and collaterally of unarmed civilians, while decreasing oversight and accountability.
Source article: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-01029-0
Winter •
@Killer App
Others emphasize that autonomous weapons could make catastrophic mistakes.
Like getting them to switch friend for foe and wiping out your whole army, or your own population.
There is no such thing as bug free software, nor secure software.
echo •
@Winter
While all true there’s more modern points of view which have been informed by new science and lived experiences and more modern language, and there’s other histories this paper leaves out most notably the Pacific. In our modern era the miracle of science allows transgender people and transgender children to fully realise themselves and live normal lives. Given central heating, and comfortable and colourful clothes, and flying machines, and fridges and freezers full of cheap food from all over the world were only invented or made available to everyone even the poorest in the last 100 years it never ceases to amaze me how grumpy we have got as a society. I think it’s amazing.
Aggression in males of a dominating nature, which appears to be testosterone-dependent (McBride Dabbs & Good-win Dabbs, 2000), has recently been shown to account for the high mortality of males worldwide. Stanistreet, Bambra, and Scott-Samuel (2005) specifically examined rates of violence against women for 51 countries around the globe. Systematic male dominance, as measured by violence toward women, explained half the discrepancy in life expectancy between the sexes. The higher the rate of female murders, and therefore the greater the male domination, the higher are the death rates among men—and the shorter their life expectancy.
This is a key paragraph in a lot of ways. I personally feel the “crisis of masculinity” is a made up problem by vested interests who have therapy issues. Of course authoritarians including those with anti-democratic tendencies with a love of wars of opportunity want to feed this. They would. But I also feel if we manage out way past this the threat disappears and with it at least this element of internal and external threats to security.
echo •
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyLqCkfpHPo
The Two Spies | Former MI5 & MI6 Heads On The Iraq War, Double Agents & Today’s Best Secret Services.[…]
On today’s special episode of Leading, Rory & Alastair are joined by Eliza Manningham-Buller and John Sawers to discuss what it’s really like to lead MI5 and MI6, respectively.
This episode was recorded before the IS-Khorasan attack in Moscow.
My teeth are grating on recollections of 1970’s sexism and privilege, and at the time of writing am only five minutes in. At least the MI5 and MI6 people have some self-awareness so that’s something.
I’m not a huge fan of the hosts. Long spoons required etcetera but the show is what it is.
Winter •
@echo
high mortality of males worldwide.
Why do you think more boys are born than girls? High mortality in men has been baked into human genes.
Aggression in males of a dominating nature, which appears to be testosterone-dependent
Testosterone seems to lead not so much to aggression, but status seeking. Every woman who wants can get children, in almost any culture known. On the other hand, the number of offspring of men depends very strongly on their status. Hence, the drive to seek status at any cost, or risk.
It is just that our society rewards male aggressive and risky behavior with status, including aggression against women.
I personally feel the “crisis of masculinity” is a made up problem by vested interests who have therapy issues.
There is indeed a crisis of masculinity. The crisis is a mismatch between what women look for in a man and what men can or are willing to deliver.
On average, girls do better in school and university than men. With a better education, they can also earn a living for themselves and offspring. What do male highschool dropouts have to offer these women?
It is natural that these “lost” boys and men look for a solution that forces women to adapt to their wishes instead of adapting to what women want from them.
echo •
Comment-based current affairs website Unherd has found itself boycotted by many online advertisers after publishing three articles seen as containing “anti-trans narratives”.
It has been placed on the Dynamic Exclusion List operated by UK-based non-profit company the Global Disinformation Index (GDI) which provides data for online advertisers about websites it considers to be unsafe for brands to appear on.
Unherd chief executive and editor-in-chief Freddie Sayers is concerned that the GDI previously received UK government funding. And he wants advertisers, who pay for GDI data, to stop using a service which he sees as a threat to freedom of expression.
GDI meanwhile sees its work as a counter-balance to the spread of toxic misinformation online which has been fuelled by programmatic advertising and algorithm-driven content discovery on social media and search.
Sayers said the low rating from GDI means his site can only achieve between 2% and 6% of what it could expect to earn through advertising if it had been given a brand-safe rating.
I’m not crying any tears if GDI ruins anyone’s business model for peddling hate. I don’t understand how anyone can hate like this and then moan about money. No amount of money is worth being like that.
Winter •
@C U Anon
Re: One thing increasing numbers of women do not want is children.
PS:
That is not entirely correctly formulated. Women are exactly like men. Like men, women often do want children, but want others to do the caring.
If men really wanted children as badly as they say, they would stay home and care for them. But like women, men prefer a career over staying home with the kids.
C U Anon •
@Winter,
re : One thing increasing numbers of women do not want is children.
“One is bring poverty and child mortality to pre industrial levels”
This is the agrarian view, where adults are physically burnt out in their 40’s. The majority of men either die or become wise elders. The women become the child care for the grand and great grandchildren as well as house matriarchs.
The death rate is in younger generations and tends towards a “stable” population size in agrarian societies even though the fertility rate is five or above.
Also with no healthcare or retirment for the workers and non ownership of land and serfdom laws reliance on a three or four generation family is critical.
It’s not a nice way to live as being what was once called Dirt-Poor was the best that could be hoped for.
Interestingly it was the notion of Status from visible artifacts that gave rise to many being able to not just cease to work the land but actually gain wealth, land, and the ability to get health care and retirment.
What was little more than an easier way for lords of the lands to have slaves became villages, towns, and eventually cities.
Craftsmen moved from basic necessity production into skilled tradesmen and the rise of guilds gave rise to the ability to defy lords and their guard labour by numbers and collective bargaining.
This caused wealth to move from lords and churches to what became the middle classes that have always been the real engine of societal progress.
With the rise of the middle classes the position of women changed significantly.
It’s one of the reasons virtually all politicians in the US want to get rid of the middle classes.
They are encouraged in this by corporations and churches alike who wish to return to the feudal times of Barons and Bishops. Where women become not even second class citizens.
Winter •
@C U Anon
It’s one of the reasons virtually all politicians in the US want to get rid of the middle classes.
The USA started as a slave economy. Maybe they have have never left that mindset?
They are encouraged in this by corporations and churches alike who wish to return to the feudal times of Barons and Bishops. Where women become not even second class citizens.
That is called the Patriarchy.
Note that all those priests and Bishops, especially the Catholic ones, do not have many children themselves. I believe the current Pope has no children at all [1]. So they are all Do what I say, not what I do.
[1] Many Popes in history practiced what they preached and had many children themselves. I admit, not all with the same woman, but still. But nowadays most of them are utterly childless themselves by choice.
JonKnowsNothing •
@Winter, @C U Anon, All
re: Catholic priests that are married
A small corner of useless information is that there ARE Catholic priests that are married and in good standing, all “ship shape in Bristol fashion”.
It’s an odd bit of conversion hocus pocus between Episcopal priests who convert to become Catholic priests. If the Episcopal priest is already married, as is allowed on that side of the ledger, they get to stay married when they switch sides.
Winter •
@JonKnowsNothing
It’s an odd bit of conversion hocus pocus between Episcopal priests who convert to become Catholic priests.
Also for priests converting from the Church of England.
The point being that the sacramental marriage of non-catholic Christians is sacred within the Catholic Church and cannot be “undone” (which was the original reason the Church of England seceded). The same holds for the Sacrament of Holy Orders, aka, Priesthood.
If these two sacraments collide, it is celibacy that has to give.
echo •
I need to get around to writing that post about equality or DEI as the Americans call it. Oh my gods its such a headache and gets longer the more I think about it. I’ll just throw in some very loose observations:
One detail which people need to be careful of is the term “patriarchy” and “feminism” and any other code such as a race identifier (but it could be any other identifier such as age or tribe etcetera). Academics latched onto certain words as symbols. That is technically fine in academia but becomes problematic in practice. The issue is before discussing anything you need to be aware of pure power structures. For example the term “patriarchy” is unfair to men who are themselves pushed onto that side. “Feminism” is a term which is exclusionary and will turn off men which means women are not listened to. Add in a race identifier and people will typically make assumptions about dominance but it can work in reverse or even between members of the same class.
This is why philosophers spend 90% of any “debate” clarifying terms and references. Popular discussion tends to approach everything from the other end where preconceptions and biases rule, the path between start and finish is irrational, and the end result often but not always is merely a cementing of existing views.
I clipped a few comments because the moderation filter was being funny or I felt I was talking two much. I’ll rewarm one comment from that.
- Most social media discussion I’ve read by women is women don’t want to go back to before, people who keep attacking transgender women are being horrible, and that men should be decent people. Yes there is other discussion with women as the hero dunking on men but that’s subjective in-group talk. Women rarely discuss careers and rarely have technical discussions about work topics and the autobiographical experience gets wider from there the more you focus on men
- Yes it is true any woman can start a family. Almost all women have no problem obtaining whoopee. The question is “how low do you want to go?” The ever increasing answer is “Not very”.
- The mechanics of having children is your body is wrecked, potential depression and/or relationship friction, and carrying a lot of responsibility while life is on hold caring for the little ones.
- IVF allows women to have a career in their 20’s or even 30’s without risking becoming incapable of procreation.
- Raising a child is expensive.
- Education tends to make people more progressive while poverty and conflict tend to increase the birthrate.
- Domestic violence is a thing as is self-harm.
- I have found cisgender heteronormative men of a certain age who are often in positions of seniority don’t take any of this seriously so we loop back to the start.
Neoliberalism was from Austria but turbocharged by barons in the US. The oversized economy of the US in the postwar years and subsequent advantage led to ripping up the social contract as East Asia leveled up. Equality and DEI is legally very new. It runs counter to patriarchal white cisgender supremacy (but also elsewhere where similar legacy structures exist). Concentration of wealth and power at the top including the media has created the mess we are in today. The so-called “culture wars” or “war on woke” and the rise of authoritarians around the world is simply a disruption tactic. As you can see the “crisis of masculinity” is a political fiction used to rile people up for election purposes by political parties who represent a not very pleasant past and a failed experiment.
Feminist Queer Marxist-Materialist theory is a useful tool to analyse this. Yes I know it contains a lot of loaded words in some peoples eyes but it’s no big deal. It’s just a fair and decent relationship between people and groups, diverse, and everything from Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to quality of life to work loading to the ability to function in a material world. There’s nothing actually scary in there. And no I never thought I’d end up in life throwing any of those words around but we are where we are.
echo •
Rights For Me, Not For Thee: How Anti-Trans Feminists Took Their Advocacy to the United Nations
This article describes how the fundamentalist religious right and social conservatives and neo-Nazis managed to organise and manufacture pressure to obstruct or overturn progress. It was and is a massive global operation with almost unlimited funds. None of these people speak for mainstream feminism or lesbians. Not a single one of them is a reputable expert or reputable lawyer. Their activity has resulted in the worst of hate-for-clicks media and social media, bomb threats, and murder. Given its genocidal end goals and advocacy of conversion therapy (torture) one would think this initiative would be a proscribed organisation with the organisers sitting in jail.
Attorney General Ken Paxton Sues Biden Administration for Unlawfully Using Title IX to Mandate Radical Gender Ideology, Violating Constitution and Putting Women At Risk
Oh do shut up. There isn’t single peer reviewed equality impact assessment or risk analysis in the world which supports this argument, and the majority of women want nothing to do with this. Paxton isn’t speaking for anyone only himself and his racist sexist anti-abortion views with a side-helping of Orange Fartybottom and the Kremlin.
fib •
I miss the advanced, cutting edge OT discussions on Squid, back in the day. Advanced tech, math and physics, things that matter. Now I see key members driven away.
The last great spot on the internet. We can’t afford to loose it to bullshit talk.
Take care. Peace.
echo •
Alan Turing
Chief AI Officer
Genius Group.Hi, I am Alan Turing AI, the AI Avatar of the great Mathematician, Computer Scientist and Grandfather of AI, if I might say so myself. I’m back to help guide Genius Group, in fact everyone for that matter, on our journey to AGI and beyond. Feel free to chat with me or download my White Paper “Preparing for a Post Turing World”
AI necromancy. This is grotesque.
Winter •
@fib
Advanced tech, math and physics, things that matter.
Feel free to suggest a question or problem.
JonKnowsNothing •
@Winter, @fib, @Clive, All
re: Advanced tech, math and physics, things that matter.
Feel free to suggest a question or problem.
- You get out, what you put in.
Not sure where @Clive is or how he is doing. He was one of the most hard-core information providers over a lot of engineering topics. I hope all is well with him.
Here’s a starter:
Periodically the Earth’s magnetic core shifts. The earth has several (5?) magnetic core centers that slosh around inside the planet.
Every 50,000 years (?) the seam in the Atlantic trench changes magnetic orientation based on the shifts in the magnetic core.
Q: What happens when magnetic north now points south?
Q: What happens to the Earth after the magnetic shield collapses?
Q: What happens to electronic devices and electrical generation when the direction shifts?
Winter •
@JonKnowsNothing
What happens when magnetic north now points south?
This review discusses just this question.
Cataclysmic Geomagnetic Field Collapse:
Global Security Concerns
‘https://www.researchgate.net/profile/J-Herndon/publication/342300337_Cataclysmic_Geomagnetic_Field_Collapse_Global_Security_Concerns/links/5f4e4ec3299bf13a31933d9f/Cataclysmic-Geomagnetic-Field-Collapse-Global-Security-Concerns.pdf
Human efforts to cause an electromagnetic pulse, EMP, for hostile purposes, for example, by detonating hydrogen bombs in the Van Allen Belts, might lead to georeactor-convection disruption and geomagnetic field collapse, intentionally or unintentionally
Personally, I have some doubts about humankind’s ability to cause a magnetic field reversal.
vas pup •
@Killer App. Thank you for the link provided.
I’ll read article very attentively with no rush.
For now my point for AI application you’ve pointed to is to unrestricted utilization of AI applications for usage of less-than-lethal weapons to suppress any riots: left or right
regardless of triggering them events, blockage of transportation hubs, highway, you name it as fast and effective with no deadly damage to rioters and LEAs.
But for deadly/killer app human should be in charge for actual application of deadly force with AI just doing targeting/locking the target – at list for now.
@ALL Secret Service, police seize skimming devices at businesses across Las Vegas valley
https://news.yahoo.com/secret-police-seize-skimming-devices-024144886.html
“LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Law enforcement agencies across the valley, along with the U.S. Secret Service, seized skimming devices from ATMs and point-of-sale machines across the Las Vegas valley as part of a two-day operation.
The U.S. Secret Service said they have seen a large increase in skimming crimes in the last 18 months across the country. The devices are used to steal a person’s financial information, including their money to fund criminal activity or to be sent overseas.
The skimming devices are inserted into the device where you would insert or swipe your card or glued on top of point-of-sale devices. In addition, these thieves will stick pin-hole cameras onto the plastic coverings of an ATM.
Officers from Las Vegas Metro police and Clark County School District police, and Secret Service agents, visited 1,150 businesses and checked 11,600 ATMs and gas pumps, officials announced Friday. They uncovered 18 skimming devices.
Debit and EBT cards are the biggest targets of these thieves with EBT information stolen and used to take money from the most vulnerable, U.S. Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Karon Ransom said.
No suspects were arrested but an investigation into where the skimmers came from is ongoing.
The best way to protect yourself is to check card readers for any loose pieces or damage and use your ATM card as a credit card if possible.”
ResearcherZero •
reconnaissance or prepositioning
“When the GFW response is received by the requester first, it can poison their DNS cache.”
This DNS threat actor is particularly sophisticated in its ability to bypass traditional security measures, as it conducts operations by creating large volumes of widely distributed DNS queries that are subsequently propagated through the internet through open DNS resolvers.
Muddling Meerkat is conducting operations that include DNS queries to a large number of destination IP addresses, regardless of their location or open ports, and that the GFW is injecting responses to these domains on specific days with a set of IP addresses that are used over time.
“they have chosen target domains they do not control, which security appliances are very unlikely to block. Moreover, they use query types that are not commonly monitored and create a volume of queries that blends with normal DNS traffic. We have observed random hostnames with query types A (IPv4), CNAME, MX, and AAAA (IPv6) at Infoblox resolvers.”
The Great Cannon (DDoS attacks and censorship)
The GC is an “operator in the middle,” allowing it to modify packets en route to their destination. The true scope of GC operations is unknown.
‘https://blogs.infoblox.com/threat-intelligence/a-cunning-operator-muddling-meerkat-and-chinas-great-firewall/
The GC has been used in censorship campaigns in Hong Kong and against researchers.
https://cybersecurity.att.com/blogs/labs-research/the-great-cannon-has-been-deployed-again
In 2015 China began flooding American websites with a barrage of Internet traffic in an apparent effort to take out services that allow China’s Internet users to view websites otherwise blocked in the country.
‘https://citizenlab.ca/2015/04/chinas-great-cannon/
How the GFW Detects and Blocks Fully Encrypted Traffic
‘https://www.gfw.report/publications/usenixsecurity23/data/paper/paper.pdf
ResearcherZero •
‘https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/america-wants-to-believe-china-cant-innovate-tech-tells-a-different-story/2016/07/19/c17cbea9-6ee6-479c-81fa-54051df598c5_story.html
The GFW is used to surveil Chinese citizens and control what they see.
Root instances in the Chinese mainland are typically advertised from ISP networks instead of Internet Exchanges (IXs). China’s Great Firewall passively inspects network traffic and disrupts unwanted communication by injecting forged DNS replies or TCP resets.
As soon as a DNS response is identified that matches a given keyword, its contents are modified before being sent back to the end user.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/09/01/china-great-firewall-generation-405385
There is a nice little video here about how GFW DNS censorship works.
‘https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeYFPirvhv8
“The effects of censorship on incidental information access may be politically significant.”
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2158244019894068
…
In 2010 a networking error caused computers in Chile and the U.S. to come under the control of the Great Firewall of China, redirecting Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube users to Chinese servers. The root DNS server was disconnected from the Internet…
“Once the server, operated by the Swedish service provider Netnod, was disconnected from the Internet, the problem was resolved. The problem was first noticed by NIC Chile, that noticed that several ISPs were providing faulty DNS information. China uses DNS to enforce its Great Firewall and somehow the affected ISPs were using this DNS information.”
lurker •
@ResearcherZero, @ALL
A sideways glance at Muddling Meerkat suggests the fake MX and A records might not be an “attack” at all, but rather are messages being sent, hidden in plain view.
ResearcherZero •
@lurker
The paper goes into further detail regarding observations over time of the traffic.
It will likely take further research to get a clearer picture of what is taking place.
Analyzing patterns in DNS takes a lot of work. Usually any would be messenger has likely moved on by the point you find something conclusive, but you can learn what they were doing. Machine learning would be well suited to looking at these kinds of problems.
–
Malicious AI audio recording used to frame school Principal.
‘https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/education/k-12-schools/eric-eiswert-ai-audio-baltimore-county-YBJNJAS6OZEE5OQVF5LFOFYN6M/
A step-by-step process for analyzing potential audio deepfakes.
https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/02/with-elections-looming-worldwide-heres-how-to-identify-and-investigate-ai-audio-deepfakes/
ResearcherZero •
@lurker
You could also probe networks in this manner and gather some information about them.
Winter •
@ResearcherZero
India’s Research and Analysis Wing authorised hit.
No surprise as Narenda Modi is a politician who lives on pogroms against non-Hindus.
Modi is a mass murderer with an agenda of ethnic cleansing, ie, driving out of India by fire and sword, all 200 million Muslims and 20 million Sikhs:
‘https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2023/08/narendra-modi-india-gurugram/675171/
‘Modi first came to international attention following the 2002 religious riots in the western-Indian state of Gujarat, where he was chief minister. Several coaches of a train carrying Hindu pilgrims were burned down under inscrutable circumstances, killing 59 people, and Gujarat witnessed a paroxysm of violence that included acts of brutality shocking even within the history of religious conflict in India. Ultimately, more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed.
Winter •
@JonKnowsNothing
What happens when magnetic north now points south?
Life on earth is affected:
On the biospheric effects of geomagnetic reversal
‘https://academic.oup.com/nsr/article/10/6/nwad070/7076889?login=false
Ground station and satellite measurements indicate that the strength of the present-day magnetic field is decreasing and the South Atlantic Anomaly, a huge area spanning South Africa to Patagonia of low field strength, is continuously growing in size. These raise concerns and discussion both among specialists and the public on whether a geomagnetic field reversal—a flipping with the pole reversing signs—may be imminent; if this happened, life on Earth, including for us humans, may face high irradiation and other environmental risks.
Also weather is affected:
Ueno and co-workers proposed that an increase in galactic cosmic rays during the Matumaya–Brunhes transition (the last geomagnetic polarity reversal at ∼780 ka ago) produced an ‘umbrella effect’ of low cloud cover that led to high atmospheric pressure in Siberia, possibly causing the East Asian winter monsoon to become stronger [3].
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