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Personally, I'm in favor of sites blocking ALL external AI agents. Period. Starve these Big Tech monsters to financial death. It's already happening.
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Lauren Weinstein
@lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org
mastodon 4.7.2< Tech Systems & Policy Analysis: Internet, Privacy, plus his other sundry topics >
Los Angeles - lauren.vortex.com
Signal: By request on need to know basis
10633 Followers
295 Following
50 Posts
Joined November 17, 2022
Lauren's Blog:
When you hear Big Tech CEOs pronounce the future of AI with authority, keep in mind that Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs thought the Segway scooter was going to revolutionize the world. Jobs said it would be as big as the PC. Now you can go look it up to find out what it was.
Boosted by @trending@homestead.social
I don't ride in robotaxis. Period. I don't care who makes them. The more you know about the failure modes, the more they should scare the hell out of you. The companies endlessly quote statistics claiming they are safer than human drivers, using the classic techniques described in Darrell Huff's "How to Lie with Statistics" -- first printed in 1954, still in print, and still a classic.
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BREAKING: Man shot by ICE and removed from hospital despite bullet still in back is now partially paralyzed and back in hospital
Boosted by @trending@homestead.social
Jimmy Kimmel's interview with James Talarico that Trump's fascist FCC didn't want you to see:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLDE9LrGpNk
Jimmy Kimmel’s Interview with James Talarico That the FCC Doesn’t Want You To See
A major utility I deal with recently changed their website and phone customer services ops to an obviously AI-based system that is a serious cluster f*ck. I mean, stuff like claiming phone numbers aren't in the system that have been there for decades, and showing an online DUE amount along with "No payment due". Still possible to reach a human, but it required third-level magic to do so.
Google's kowtowing to fascist madman Trump -- a man literally trying to steal the next election by preventing millions of people from voting -- is rapidly pushing the firm and by extension Alphabet into the unenviable historical position of IBM's servicing of the Third Reich.
#google
Replying to
At this stage of the game, it seems incredibly stupid for #Signal to require people to set up a payment method with #Google to permit people to sign up for Signal without using a phone number. Better not to even offer that option than to force that behavior given that Google has gone full MAGA and really can't be trusted anymore.
Boosted by @trending@homestead.social
BREAKING: Hackers say they have [personal] data on all FBI employees
https://www.404media.co/we-hacked-the-fbi-hackers-say-they-have-data-on-all-fbi-employees/
BREAKING: Idiot Trump says he's creating "#AI Force" like "Space Force" with an "AI Czar" -- "only High I.Q. individuals need apply"
Replying to
@marsroverdriver@deepspace.social Only once in a lifetime does one get the experience of watching shows like that for the first time. During the original airing of the original series, we had a Star Trek club at my Junior High. (Why did I keep getting accused of thinking like Spock?)
There was a lot of media confusion in the early days. He often got called "Dr. Spock" because his name would be conflated with the actual "Dr. Benjamin Spock" who was a famous child development expert at the time.
Personally I like TOS best. Granted, "Turnabout Intruder" really sucks.
Replying to
@seanm@infosec.exchange @ohir@social.vivaldi.net I didn't say anything about profit. I said forcing people to establish a payment method with Google to use this option given Google's behavior these days is stupid. And it is stupid.
WARNING: MAJOR new WordPress vulnerability!!!
A very new major vulnerability affecting recent versions of WordPress, likely millions of running instances, is currently being massively exploited in the wild.
The exploit permits unauthenticated users to gain administrative access and control.
The typical pattern is that the exploit gains control, changes the administrator password, creates a number of additional administrators and attempts to access "xmlrpc.php" to morph the site into a malware, etc. distribution site.
If the xmlrpc.php is already blocked on the site, the exploit possibly may not proceed further immediately, but would still leave the additional new administrative users behind.
There are several mitigation techniques even if you are running a vulnerable site and cannot upgrade. The key points are to block the main exploit entry point, remove the additional administrative user entries, and ideally block remote access to the main WordPress login page itself.
More info including a test for vulnerability is at:
https://wp2shell.com/
L
#Flock cameras are riddled with security vulnerabilities and hard-coded credentials
https://micahflee.com/flock-cameras-are-riddled-with-security-vulnerabilities-and-hard-coded-credentials/
Madman Trump says he'll rip down Kennedy Center if he can't get his name on it
The fundamental problem is that the techies who invent and.push stuff like passkeys generally don't have a damned clue of how little most people understand about these systems, nor do the techies care to have anyone in the loop that might point this out. In general, the disdain with which the tech community views their "LUSERS" (a long-standing obnoxious tech slang for "users") hasn't changed since the earliest days of computing, and it permeates virtually every aspect of the Internet.
Heeding calls from investors, Trump admin rushing to replace doctors with unproven AI systems that could harm patients
Gift Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/14/health/ai-doctors-medicare-fda.html?unlocked_article_code=1.BFE.q7GH._r33D0XHeLXN&smid=url-share
AI almost sent hazmat train barreling toward 'catastrophe' in Eastern WA
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2026/aug/28/ai-almost-sent-hazmat-train-barreling-toward-catas/
ChatGPT-using lawyer punished for citing fake testimony from made-up witnesses
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/09/chatgpt-using-lawyer-punished-for-citing-fake-testimony-from-made-up-witnesses/
BREAKING: No long gashes found in reflecting pool -- speculation increases that Trump motorcade driving in pool was the actual cause of delamination
Senile Trump threatens to cut off trade with countries having trade deficit with U.S. unless Fed cuts interest rates (in fact, they are considering a rate increase)
Technology journalist and more John C. Dvorak dies at 80. Peace.
I object to how most traditional cartoons portray mice as the good guys and cats as the bad guys. Misinformation.
BREAKING: Madman Trump now says his massive arch will be a military complex full of snipers, drones, and ammunition
Something is beeping at intervals of some number of minutes. Low volume. Not smoke detectors. "Poltergeist" started this way.
Replying to
@Defaulty@mastodon.world The user enables it. The problem is that anyone around them sucked into it has no choice at all and no notification from the watch.
Replying to
@gedeonm@mastodon.social My favorite Spock line is when asked for his first name by the girl he fell for while under the influence of the spores, and he touches her cheek and says, "You'd never be able to pronounce it." Interestingly, a couple of years earlier on "Bewitched", Endora replied the same way when Darren asked her last name, and then told him just to call her Endora.
Whether you talk to people on the Left or the Right or Independents in the Middle -- young or old, all races, all religions, urban or rural: AI HATE is very, very real.
[!!!] Closed since 2020 and threatened with demolition, Sony says it will reopen iconic L.A. Cinerama Dome and theaters complex in 2028
The amount of video copying on #YouTube is extraordinary. Much of it is in the short videos. One example: I was looking for comparisons of airport jet bridges vs. air stairs. I quickly was offered a seemingly endless number of apparently AI-generated short videos each with different images but identical script AI-generated voice overs. Somewhere the original video by the original creator likely exists, but it's buried under all the copied AI-slop. Why should creators even bother when Google lets this sort of rampant view-stealing take place? Of course Google doesn't care since to them a click is a click. Awful.
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BREAKING: New UK PM Burnham cancels highly criticized UK "digital ID" plans
BREAKING: Senile Trump declares he will impose 50% tariff on some Canadian goods
Palm Beach rejects data center near Mar-a-Lago
William Shatner and his daughter are both fighting Stage 4 cancer.
Boosted by @MaryAustinBooks@mstdn.social
Replying to
@MaryAustinBooks@mstdn.social Yeah, that gamma ray burst finally got here and
BREAKING: Oil hits $100 for first time in months
Replying to
@grumpydad@infosec.exchange Nothing happens.
Here is the "official" ADVENTURE/Colossal Cave page. My contribution is noted down where the UNIX/C port is mentioned: https://rickadams.org/adventure/a_history.html
GOP Senator explains in detail why it would be impossible to implement Trump's SAVE voting act in time for the upcoming election, quite a presentation! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B26DaJ-_7vc
GOP Senator Gives Trump BAD NEWS On The SAVE Act
Pushing for a "secret military" -- Trump orders info on sailors
hidden, info long available to the public.
Disgusting Trump posts comparison of deaths for various U.S. wars, suggesting 14 dead doesn't matter
Replying to
@grumpydad@infosec.exchange You are trapped in a twisty maze of passages, which all suck.
Irrespective of how awful and criminal a person Netanyahu is, Mamdani is spouting nothing but pandering nonsense about wanting to arrest him. The International Criminal Court warrant has no power here since the U.S. is not a signatory, and Netanyahu has diplomatic immunity. So even though Netnayahu is a horrible person, Mamdani is just playing to the crowd in a deeply disingenuous manner.
Fun Fact: While there were frequently games in progress at the UCLA Computer Club in my presence, I never have played Dungeons & Dragons.
Replying to
@grumpydad@infosec.exchange Nothing happens.
BREAKING: Remains of possible 4th dead U.S. service person found in Iran
Replying to
@rrb@infosec.exchange @klausfiend@mstdn.ca YOU MAY RELY ON IT
Replying to
@clankgy1@infosec.exchange Bishop by the way has said how much he hated that hair style. Since they didn't have other facilities, he had to have it done and touched up in a conventional beauty parlor, as the only male there. He was very unhappy.