catileptic

rysiek, 6 days ago to CrystalsHashtags

While #Adobe is doing an absolute stupid with their new licensing terms, and (now Canva-owned) #Affinity slashes prices by half in a "flash sale", I am once again asking people to consider supporting #FLOSS tools instead.

Yes, they are far from perfect.

But with a small fraction of what these closed source vendors are raking in, these tools could be made immeasurably better.

And they won't end up bought up and enshittified, as experience with past attempts at doing that to FLOSS tools shows.

catileptic, 10 months ago to random

Can Google sink lower than this?

Google employees publishing an extremely toxic #WebDRM proposal in their own names, then raining down with "respectability politics" on the comments.

Framing centralized control of who gets to browse the Internet as "safe for users" is playing the age old card of authoritarianism being in the interest of the "weak and feeble-minded".

There will be no civil engagement with proposals of domination and coercion.

catileptic, 24 days ago to CSS

Google announced client-side scanning for Android. I don't think there's any point in calling it otherwise, or discussing the alleged "usefulness" of this technical implementation.

https://techcrunch.com/2024/05/15/googles-call-scanning-ai-could-dial-up-censorship-by-default-privacy-experts-warn/

#CSS #ClientSideScanning

@Mer__edith very aptly reminded, in her reaction, that the AI-powered scanning is proprietary and it's within Google's discretion what type of communication is flagged as problematic. Scams, today. What next? Reproductive rights? Labour organizing?

catileptic, 4 months ago to random

Amnesty (who I hope will join the Fediverse soon) published an interview where I repeat, as a little broken record, that all tech is political. There's no such thing as neutral tech.

“My approach to technology is informed by political struggles.”

It features spyware, ChatControl, and the Amnesty Digital Forensics Fellowship.

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2024/01/my-approach-to-technology-is-informed-by-political-struggles/

catileptic, 9 months ago to random

I'm reading up on the case against @internetarchive and I came across Lawrence Lessig's statement:

"We are at a critical moment in the history of culture. The lawsuit that the Internet Archive faces will determine whether the business model of culture is the commercial model alone, or whether there will continue to be a place for libraries, and therefore, continue to be a practice of assuring as much access to our past as is possible."

catileptic, 10 months ago to random

"Infosec Twitter is dead" ( https://www.cyentia.com/the-death-of-infosec-twitter/ ).

I got some new followers and I just wanna say:

• it takes a while to detox from "social media through algorithms"
• the energy invested into social media through community and solidarity is worth it!
• tech is political
• the Internet is political
• infosec, security, confidentiality, communication and content-hosting online? - they're all political

catileptic, 10 months ago to Zines

i'm bringing stickers i drew, printed and cut myself to #cccamp . they are just cute messages, they don't stand for any company or group. i'd love to trade stickers and learn how other folx print their own #stickers and #zines .

these are some of the stickers i'll have with me at #ccamp23

sticker with a picture of a car with trees and grass growing out of if
sticker with a picture of a goose flapping its wings and the text "no gods no masters"
sticker with a picture of an angry goose and the text "become ungovernable"

catileptic, 1 month ago to random

OpenAI has partnered with StackOverflow to use the content on the site to train ChatGPT. Some users who have posted highly-rated answers have tried to either delete or edit them. But they noticed that the moderators changed their edits back and their old answers re-appeared. Then the moderators banned them for 7 days.

Oh and while we're on the subject, Valve also removed the ban on AI-generated art on Steam.

Anything we put up in these walled gardens will be monetized.

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/stack-overflow-bans-users-en-masse-for-rebelling-against-openai-partnership-users-banned-for-deleting-answers-to-prevent-them-being-used-to-train-chatgpt

catileptic, 19 days ago to random

Pro-Palestinian protests in Romania have been met with hostility and control from the police forces.

From banning banners with slogans that do not infringe on rights, and neither do they incite to violence, to harassing protesters, to summoning people who intended to protest to the police station for "friendly advice", we see Ro police taking sides. The side of genocide.

ActiveWatch also condemns the silence of the press, which only covered these abuses sparingly: https://activewatch.ro/articole/fantomele-militiei-si-securitatii-bantuie-politia-si-jandarmeria/

catileptic, 5 months ago to random

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) is looking to hire a Digital Rights Research Lead!

https://birn.eu.com/vacancies/vacancy-call-digital-rights-research-lead/

Deadline: January 22.

catileptic, 2 months ago to random

I'm making a list of Mastodon and other Fediverse instances either hosted in Romania, registered on a .ro domain or with content that is mostly Romanian (regardless of where they are hosted).

The reason behind this: the Ro digital service coordinator added some extra hoops on top of what DSA requires. We're trying to figure out who will be affected.

If anyone knows such instances, please leave them in a public or private toot (or boost / tag folx who can help) <3

I already know of mstdn.ro

catileptic, 10 months ago to random

The secret services in Romania are boasting that they can and will shut down any websites that pose a "hybrid threat to the constitutional order".

I wrote a lengthy trip down memory lane to explain how we got here, for @apti: https://apti.ro/cand-poate-deveni-un-site-incomod-o-actiune-hibrida-la-ordinea-constitutionala

Shutting down websites doesn't work. Threatening doesn't work. The services act with no civil nor judicial control.

This is a great way to completely alienate the population - part of the reason why people get radicalized.

catileptic, 3 months ago to random

Bogdan Manolea, my awesome @apti colleague and the person who has taught me a wealth about the legal part of digital rights, is featured on a podcast created by the Center for Independent Journalism in Romania.

The discussion is in Romanian and covers #deepfakes Not the technical side, but the legal side, the societal impact, usage during elections and, most importantly, an attitude that can get very far in thinking critically about media that might be synthetic.

https://youtu.be/0MagaJQAtLg?si=a_ydaYG1vSSo4puL

catileptic, 9 months ago to random

i'm still in awe at the experience of attending #ccamp #ccamp23 - it hit a personal note, hard. i've spent years trying to bring people together in Romania for politically-involved tech activism, only to be met with the wall of "tech is apolitical, politics is corrupt, we're here for the tech". i came to camp in the middle of a deep disillusionment and wondering whether what i was craving is possible.

it is possible, turns out. one day, i hope it will be possible in my own home country.

catileptic, 8 months ago to random

The Online Safety Bill passed in the UK. Ofcom conceded that the spy clause - scanning everyone's private messages on their devices - would only be used when it is technologically feasible to not undermine encryption.

It seems to me that if #ChatControl were to eventually pass in the EU (which I hope it never will), then client-side scanning auto-magically becomes "technologically feasible".

So we're on a slippery slope that might become a landslide.

catileptic, 10 months ago to Wikipedia

Translating #Wikipedia pages into Romanian is a bug that infected me late, but hey, better late than never! I'm sticking to translations, for now, but I want to move into authoring full-fledged articles soon.

Started with my comfort zone - technology and digital rights, by writing about Internet blocking, the #Fediverse and #ActivityPub.

But my plan is to #queer the Romanian #Wikipedia up!

catileptic, 6 months ago to random

great read by Brett Scott in Aeon about the dangers of a cashless society. what a cashless system would look like is pretty interesting in itself, but i found Scott's explanation of how different narratives from the Left are re-purposed by the Right to be a very useful mapping.

also, the final metaphor in the piece, about why we use preserve and encourage the possibility to use cash is so on point!

https://aeon.co/essays/going-cashless-is-a-bad-idea-but-its-not-a-conspiracy

catileptic, 10 months ago to random

"Unlike sex work, my “good” jobs didn’t threaten to overthrow traditional power structures." (1/3)

catileptic, 3 months ago to random

all 4 rounds of elections are coming up in Romania: local, EU parliament, local parliament and the presidency.

such an excellent moment for this new trap song: https://yewtu.be/watch?v=FoQS41g6VrA calling for women to be elected to the parliament

i don't want to stop at women. i don't want to even say we need to uphold the parliament and the borders and the violence-enforced statehood.

that being said, i'm happy there's a great, catchy, hot trap song that can turn people's minds to change.

catileptic, 3 months ago to random

happy anniversary to all those struggling, resisting and fighting for equity, a decent living, a society in which they can chose freely and thrive. no flowers needed to keep that going. but perhaps what's needed it so remind all folks who feel like this struggle is "over", "not necessary" or "a war against men" that:

1. no, 2. men are welcome allies and comrades and 3. we're far from the end goal.

keep the flowers and keep the conversation going.

catileptic, 4 months ago to random

I'm going to deliver 3 free and open webinars on tech-empowered gender-based violence, in Romanian, at the end of Feb / start of March.

This is a collab between Asociația pentru Relații Comunitare (ARC) and @apti .

If you're part of an org. interested in doing work on this subject, ARC created a form to collect what your needs / plans are (deadline: 5 feb): https://bit.ly/3Hv1zBf

If you want to join the webinars, sign up here: https://bit.ly/493280Q

catileptic, 2 months ago to random

folks who maintain a #bookwyrm instance: what resources does your server / VPS have, and what's the user count that is sustained by those resources?

trying to work out what hosting a Romanian Bookwyrm could cost :)

catileptic, 2 months ago to random

I'm delivering two sessions, on March 28-29, in Romanian, on digital security for NGOs, as part of an event by TechSoup Romania.

Sign-ups are free and still open: https://activatorsecuritate.ong.techsoup.ro/

One session is on passwords (which is going to quickly dive into MFA and such), and one is on the steps an activist can take after they are hacked or part of a security incident.

My colleague, Bogdan Manolea, from @apti is delivering a session on GDPR and the safe & secure processing of personal data.

catileptic, 5 months ago to random

Reminding everyone that we have a cybersecurity law in Romania, that has been declared constitutional (ffs!), that allows a handful of gov. institutions to ask cybersecurity services providers for client data related to vulnerabilities and incidents.

The data reported back to these institutions must not include personal or content data - lol.

Otherwise, freelancers & companies risk a pretty hefty fine (5.000-50.000 RON).

catileptic, 4 months ago to random

Police in RO strip-searched and collected the fingerprints of a female activist.

She had previously posted a picture on Facebook of a police person with their gun drawn, pointing at a civilian car, during a peaceful protest.

The chief of police said they performed similar actions in the case of 24 other messages distributed in social media, that "instigated to violence" in the context of ongoing farmers' and agricultural workers' protests.

https://www.hotnews.ro/stiri-esential-26825021-24-dosare-penale-pentru-instigare-timpul-protestelor-transportatorilor-spune-seful-politiei-romane-cazul-protestatarei-ridicate-dupa-mesaj-facebook.htm