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Apple’s permissions features are out of balance | Six Colors
Systems must serve, not coddle, the user. You can imagine the scenarios: A domestic abuser installs an app on their partner’s device and grants blanket permission without their knowledge, giving them access to everything they do … Asking for permission a second time is not unreasonable for the reasons I mentioned above. But at some…
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Overriding Gatekeeper Protections in MacOS 15 Sequoia Will Require Clicking Through Panels in System Settings | Daring Fireball
When your security marketing starts to become theatrical; unless macOS is intentionally starting to ape iOS settings management, perhaps? https://daringfireball.net/linked/2024/08/07/mac-os-15-sequoia-gatekeeper
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Banning X/Twitter Would Do More Harm Than Good
Hi, my name’s Alec, I’m a technologist and expert in Internet Security and Safety. Back in 1993 British Telecom released the attached advert which, more than many other things, helped shape my perspective towards the (then) still-teenage internet and questions of “freedom of speech”. The principles are not bent by time, and with respect to…
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URGENT: Call for views on the Code of Practice for Software Vendors | *BEFORE THIS FRIDAY* | GOV.UK
A friend pointed me to a LinkedIn post describing consultations on AI & Software Resilience which expire at the end of this week. I don’t have bandwidth because of current medical issues, so I would like to kick this to the community to invest some open source & infosec wisdom to the mix, just in…
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This Twitter post is a deep metaphor for online anonymity…
> Police have gone to shops to find out who bought balaclavas yesterday in the shopping precinct in Rotherham at the weekend. They’ve rounded up a fair few people as they didn’t change their clothes and apparently are the usual idiots
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Anonymity is not the problem, either…
I’ll add further to this list as and when further choice examples become available… Example 1 Example 2
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A primer on how End-to-End Encryption IS NOT PREVENTING policing, arrest, or conviction of the rioters in the UK race riots (HT @shashj @DmitryOpines @AntiRacismDay @arusbridger)
Just in case some anti-encryption, anti-privacy types decide that this is an opportunity to complain about end-to-end encryption, my name is Alec and I am a expert on these topics, and here are several ways that end-to-end encryption (E2EE) does not stand in the way of prosecution of the rioters. I may add more examples,…
Fediverse reactions
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Sen. Ron Wyden: Why I voted against the Kids Online Safety Act
Good article: https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/kids-online-safety-act-ron-wyden-rcna164576
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It was recently in vogue for academic digital-rights campaigners to demand that platforms (e.g. Facebook) NEVER update user experience without user consent; this HN article…
…this HackerNews article describes a different but not dissimilar chaos scenario that would be close to what would happen if those activists had gotten their way: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41147787
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“Pump and Trump” | The Bitcoin community goes MAGA | The Verge
Best headline of the century. https://www.theverge.com/24211345/bitcoin-conference-2024-nashville-trump-maga-crypto
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The irony is that if this actually worked as described, @Nextdoor would be the richest platform on the planet
A lot of “Techlash” Civil Society seems hung up on the idea that (a) advertising is evil and (b) targeted (i.e. “relevant”) advertising is even moreso. Hence soundbite vitriol like this:
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Meet the teens lobbying against the Kids Online Safety Act | The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/24210795/kosa-kids-online-safety-act-senate-teens-student-lobby