Age Verification causing people to stop installing security updates on iPhone
https://alecmuffett.com/article/153062
#AgeVerification #OnlineSafety #OnlineSafetyAct #censorship #irony #surveillance
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Alec Muffett
@alecmuffett@mastodon.social
mastodon 4.8.0-nightly.2026-10-06everybody deserves good security.
https://alecmuffett.com/about
This account gets used for comments and replies and general Mastodon interaction, because WordPress ActivityPub is not quite good enough for that yet.
349 Followers
392 Following
50 Posts
Joined November 15, 2023
Attributions:
US Gov’t threatens sanctions on China for Open Source LLMs “because distillation is a cyber attack”
https://alecmuffett.com/article/162967
#OpenSourceIsCommunism #ScottBessent #TheyTookOurWeights #llm
Replying to
@joebeone@techpolicy.social …on the other hands you have to hand it to the likes of #KiwiFarms for being odious and yet learning how to survive without #CloudFlare; CDNs are great but they are not part of the end to end principle of Internet design, they are just an optional "nice to have" which has been mistaken for a "control point".
So: Italy will be applying positive evolutionary pressure for really horrible websites to evolve to survive without CDNs.
Who ever thought there might be unintended consequences?
‘Von der Leyen Announces the EU’s New Age Verification App Claiming it is “Completely Anonymous” & users “Cannot be Tracked”’ | …the EU is about to have its ‘Clipper’ moment
https://alecmuffett.com/article/156478
#AgeVerification #ZeroKnowledge #clipper #eu #oops #rofl
Seen Elsewhere: #CountBinface is our #Mamdani.
The Huggingface Dilemma
https://alecmuffett.com/article/162912
#HuggingFace #llm #openai
I have my first new laptop since 2017 and frankly I'm a bit gobsmacked; 32G MBA M5 10x10 but it's the little things like: there's a headphone jack (still?) which can drive up-to 1kOhm phones like my beloved HD600 without a DAC preamp. This is normal, now?
Replying to
@SpaceLifeForm@infosec.exchange
For any example you can give come up I will give you a counter example. It's going to be regrettably blurry - as you say - and drawing lines is not feasible.
@joebeone@techpolicy.social
This… seemed so apt this morning.
EU Mandates Driver-Facing Cameras in New Cars From Today
https://alecmuffett.com/article/162094
#europe #surveillance
I'm not a fan of iOS but in attempting to keep track of my kid's beloved plushie I'm at the cusp of buying a refurbished iPad & a batch of AirTags in order to keep track of it; unless anyone has better suggestions?
I find it bizarre that the AgeVerification (AV) industry says “platforms don’t want AV because they don’t want private data” – BUT civil society says “platforms DO want AV because they want private data”
https://alecmuffett.com/article/156094
#AgeVerification #OnlineSafety #OnlineSafetyAct
I find it disappointing that so many folk in "digital rights" today are defining themselves wholly via opposition to [phenomena & entities] rather than in pursuit & support of [liberties & capabilities]; it's tragically narrow, limiting, & strategically unwise.
I was waiting for this: House of Lords / Baroness Royall: “Algorithms Killed Ann Widdecombe”
https://alecmuffett.com/article/162636
#AnnWiddecombe #algorithms
Trump posts graphic video of slaying to argue for stricter immigration policies | BBC News
https://alecmuffett.com/article/155924
#OnlineSafety #trump
Replying to
Replying to
@Xzan there is a very real risk that it may get left in a cafe or something like that, and my understanding is that the Apple finding network is much more thorough and complete
IYKYK
Replying to
@dole@fosstodon.org similar here, I have one on 12.7 which I nuked and reinstalled last night, and basically support doesn't exist inside homebrew anymore. This is fair enough but leaves me either compiling everything from scratch under homebrew, including dependency hell, or alternately installing the handful of packages that I actually need, piecemeal
How It Started in 2018 / How It’s Going in 2026: UK Labour Government to discover “Timezones” in 3… 2…
https://alecmuffett.com/article/162506
#KeirStarmer #OnlineSafetyAct #SocialMediaBan #timezones
New Mexico’s Meta Ruling and Encryption | Schneier on Security
https://alecmuffett.com/article/154741
#EndToEndEncryption #censorship #encryption #meta
India App Censorship Leads To Own Goal, Streisand Effect, Ofcom To Take Note, Please| Rahul Matthan
https://alecmuffett.com/article/163260
#bitchat #india
Apple Defeats Liability for Not Scanning iCloud for CSAM, But the Judge Was Not Pleased-Amy v. Apple | Eric Goldman
https://alecmuffett.com/article/162856
#EndToEndEncryption #Section230 #censorship #surveillance
"House Blend" tea: 2 scoops loose-leaf Earl Grey tea, 1 scoop loose-leaf Lapsang Souchong. Shake well, use as normal. Smoky, spicy, fresh. Takes milk well if not excessively citrusy. Learnt in my teens from family friends Neal & Wanda Weigel. Comforting.
New York puts accuracy minimums for age assurance into effect with SAFE for Kids Act | Biometric Update
https://alecmuffett.com/article/163296
#AgeVerification #NewYork
Replying to
So I rode a kick scooter up a disused airport runway whilst mushing a sprinting Yorkiepoo who was loving it. How was your day?
I can't shake the impression that the reason the UK is not (currently) proposing to regulate VPNs is: with cabinet reshuffles in the offing, a lot of soon-to-be-formerly-relevant MPs are eying future podcast gigs, "…sponsored by NordVPN"
EU Exempts Apple Watch and AirPods [and iPhone] From Battery Removal Requirement [due to water resistance & safety]
https://alecmuffett.com/article/162816
#OnlineSafety #RightToRepair #interoperability
![EU Exempts Apple Watch and AirPods [and iPhone] From Battery Removal Requirement [due to water resistance & safety]](https://alecmuffett.com/tti-cache/162816.png)
Replying to
@osma Estonia is only half correct, because they are still pushing for regulation of the platform as being the solution for child safety.
I asked 3 separate AIs to pretend to be Nigel Farage’s campaign manager and to propose a strategy to survive the Clacton by-election; this is what they suggested
https://alecmuffett.com/article/162149
#CountBinface #NigelFarage #clacton
Replying to
@thedarktangent "oh my god that is so irresponsible of them, they aren't proactively inserting safety mechanisms to prevent the speech of people that we don't like"
I'm amazed to learn that professional philosophers pursue their efforts out of a love of rational enquiry, whereas my work is almost wholly motivated by the Festivus dictum:"I got a lotta problems with you people & now you're going to hear about it"
Replying to
Quoth @EFFLive:
"We stay [on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook] because the people on those platforms deserve access to information, too"
But the people on X are just pond scum?
If not, why do they not deserve access to information, too, #EFF?
https://x.com/vxunderground/status/2042874708949877078
The trial lawyers come for online free speech | Blaze Media
https://alecmuffett.com/article/154743
#Section230 #censorship
From 2019: ‘If there were 5 million “bad people” on Facebook – terrorists, criminals, drug-dealers, whatever – that would be 0.2% of the userbase’
https://alecmuffett.com/article/156179
#OnlineSafety
Thank you, Bill.
I don't know how many people this will resonate with, but it's probably quite a narrow set who'll appreciate why the most revolutionary app I've adopted in the past 12 months has been #Zotero for Android. And also why I need more sleep.
A bug on the dark side of the Moon
https://alecmuffett.com/article/155136
#apollo #bugs #software
After 15+ years of solid use I'm finally giving up on #Homebrew on MacOS; it was once the first thing I installed on any new Mac but now it's hindering me running older-but-still-capable machines. The surprising thing so far has been how little I'm missing it.
RE: https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/116395778447572916
"People with money are spending it wrong."
Don’t take away our freedom to play games when we want | 38 Degrees
https://alecmuffett.com/article/157789
#GamersVoice #OnlineSafety #OnlineSafetyAct #censorship #footloose
“Social Media Curfew” is a Digital “Purity Ring”
https://alecmuffett.com/article/162522
#KeirStarmer #SocialMediaBan #censorship
