demi7en

@demi7en@infosec.exchange

Interests: Authoritarian regimes and their victims. Principles that should never be for sale.

Latin adage “Si vis pacem, para bellum” (updated 2023)

“If you want peace, try disempowering dictators; when others empower them nevertheless, prepare for war”

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dangoodin, to random

I so, so, so don't want to drive any new car that can do this:

A federal appeals court refused to bring back a class action lawsuit alleging four auto manufacturers had violated Washington state’s privacy laws by using vehicles’ on-board infotainment systems to record and intercept customers’ private text messages and mobile phone call logs.

The court ruled that the practice does not meet the threshold for an illegal privacy violation under state law, handing a big win to automakers Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen and General Motors, which are defendants in five related class action suits focused on the issue.

The plaintiffs had appealed a prior judge’s dismissal. But the appeals court ruled Tuesday that the interception and recording of mobile phone activity did not meet the Washington Privacy Act’s standard that a plaintiff must prove that “his or her business, his or her person, or his or her reputation” has been threatened.

A suit filed against Honda in 2021, argu[ed] that beginning in at least 2014 infotainment systems in the company’s vehicles began downloading and storing a copy of all text messages on smartphones when they were connected to the system.

An Annapolis, Maryland-based company, Berla Corporation, provides the technology to some car manufacturers but does not offer it to the general public, the lawsuit said. Once messages are downloaded, Berla’s software makes it impossible for vehicle owners to access their communications and call logs but does provide law enforcement with access, the lawsuit said.

Many car manufacturers are selling car owners’ data to advertisers as a revenue boosting tactic, according to earlier reporting by Recorded Future News. Automakers are exponentially increasing the number of sensors they place in their cars every year with little regulation of the practice.

https://therecord.media/class-action-lawsuit-cars-text-messages-privacy

demi7en,

Not to downplay the seriousness of this privacy stealing scam but to note that one should always carry and use only trusted cables with power wiring only and no data links.

I wouldn't dream of plugging any device into an untrusted datasucker — and even malicious chargers can pull or insert data — using a regular data cable.

@kgoldsholl @ssweeny @dangoodin

petergleick, to random
@petergleick@fediscience.org avatar

@GottaLaff I'm loving the blow-by-blow, but have a larger question (not sure you can answer, but maybe someone can): The court has already ruled there was fraud and this segment is just to determine the financial consequences, but I don't understand how these testimonies by the Trumplets and other witnesses play into that determination...

demi7en,

@petergleick Personal responsibility of the trump clan wrt. those financial consequences?

It's weird seeing words #consequences and #trump in the same sentence, but I like it!

briankrebs, to random

I like to announce a reboot of our home wireless network by flashing the lights and playing a pre-recorded message on the speakers throughout in the house, where a female voice calmly intones: "3 minutes until self-destruction." #BOFH

demi7en,

@briankrebs After the calm 3 minute countdown announcement you really should start playing this track which beautifully shifts into reboot phase at the 3 minute mark... 🤪

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGU1P6lBW6Q

auschwitzmuseum, to history
@auschwitzmuseum@mastodon.world avatar

‘The perpetrators were people like us’: the burden of history at Auschwitz.

An article by Kim Willscher from The Guardian who was one of the participants of our international seminar for journalists.

Read here: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/03/the-perpetrators-were-people-like-us-the-burden-of-history-at-auschwitz

demi7en,

@auschwitzmuseum ☝️ 「“Auschwitz is a human story,” he said, “but we also we need to look at the perpetrators.” By this he meant the SS men and women who ran the camp – only 10% of whom were ever prosecuted for the atrocities they committed. “They did monstrous things but they weren’t monsters. They were people like us, they did what they did then they went home to their families, had dinner … if we want to look for a warning of this, it’s not the tragedy of the victims. It’s the people who chose to do this,” he says.」

Just the other day I asked here about the first emergence of media coverage about the nazi mass extermination program — the concept was as inconceivable to the public of the 1940s as it is to many today — and noted that "people weren't entirely different 80 years ago".

Let that sink in.

We still have roughly the same proportion of psychopaths, sociopaths and 'indifferents' who would just follow orders among us.

The key is not allowing any misanthropic demagogues to gain power over our democracies because of manufactured hatred or fear.

thejapantimes, to worldnews
@thejapantimes@mastodon.social avatar

Researchers have observed chimpanzees displaying "sophisticated cognitive and cooperative skills" in the tactical use of elevated terrain in warfare situations for the first time. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/11/03/world/science-health/chimpanzees-human-warfare-study/?utm_content=bufferf06db&utm_medium=social&utm_source=mastodon&utm_campaign=bffmstdn

demi7en,

Oh great.


@thejapantimes

coreyspowell, to science
@coreyspowell@mastodon.social avatar

Have you ever wondered what "Mercury in retrograde" really means?
An astronomer walked into a (coffee) bar, met an astrology buff, and ended up digging into the deep history and science behind these three little words. The result is a beautiful new essay by Trisha Muro in my magazine OpenMind.
https://www.openmindmag.org/articles/the-same-sky-differently

demi7en,

@coreyspowell Fantastic(al).

petergleick, to random
@petergleick@fediscience.org avatar

Why yes, this is a real article...

"What a third world war would mean for investors"

https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2023/10/30/what-a-third-world-war-would-mean-for-investors

Actual headline from an Economist article: What a third world war would mean for investors, with a photo of missiles being launched from a field.

demi7en,

@petergleick It's pretty much the worst of all worlds we've ended up with, but after watching democracies empower hostile dictatorships since the 1990s (even 1989) kinetic (read: military) deterrance is the best we can somewhat agree upon in 2023. 👀

Over the last three decades we had the option of investing only on non-hostile developing democracies and preventing the deterioration of the ecosystem we and all life depend upon. Instead the globalists and despots reaped the benefits so here we are. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

demi7en, to sweden

❔️ When did the media first begin reporting about the existence of mass extermination camps?

managed to remain non-aligned throughout WWII and traded with both the allies and the axis powers, but obviously wished not to invite aggression from the Third Reich already on its borders so a great deal of caution would be understandable.

Genuine question. I recently watched a Hannah Arendt interview (she had escaped into France in 1940 and then USA in 1941) and she mentioned first hearing about them in 1943 and initially refusing to believe such news could be true.

⚠️ What had in fact happened was that the nazis built some smaller concentration camps soon after seizing power in 1933 to incarcerate or dispose of German "undesirables".

After the invasion of Poland in late 1939, jointly with Stalin as agreed in the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, first 'proto-type' camps purposely designed for mass extermination were built on Polish soil.

After Hitler's June 1941 betrayal of Stalin (Operation Barbarossa) the nazis quickly advanced to Ukraine and Belarus, and behind the frontline the nazis began building the mass extermination camps we all should know about from documentaries in late 1941 and early 1942 in occupied Poland. That is when the full scale and the mass transport of Jews and other "untermensch" from across nazi-occupied territories became an industrial scale effort...

demi7en,

@denspier Thank you for the interesting details and there would seem to be more intrigue involved. The Swedish gov't were certainly in a pickle, esp. in January 1943, but to not share the information immediately must've been a difficult choice but made to ensure Sweden kept out of it all.

Wikipedia does not mention media coverage, but notes that solid evidence emerged in April 1943.

「The prevalence of antisemitism in German society was widely known by the 1930s,[12] but citizens of the United States were unaware that the Holocaust was taking place for the first year.[13] Several individuals attempted to contact the government of the United States and other governments to inform them of the Holocaust after it began in 1941. In August 1942, Gerhart M. Riegner sent the Riegner Telegram to the United States and the United Kingdom, indicating a suspicion that Nazi Germany may attempt to kill the Jewish people of Europe.[14] Suspicions of Nazi atrocities against the Jews were given credibility after Raczyński's Note was published in December 1942 and Witold's Report offered the first detailed report of the Holocaust in April 1943. The extent of the Holocaust was not known until after it concluded at the end of World War II.」

Curiosity about Sweden's role and attitudes may seem trivial, but I find understanding the causes and reactions to the greatest crime against humanity — committed in the heart of Europe — to be endlessly informative. People weren't entirerly different 80 years ago.

It is also quite shocking to realize that outside the Western world very few even know what happened under nazism, and certain populations seem to celebrate its objectives. Also, after communism failed its former main adherents seem to have seamlessly latched onto fascism and "national socialism" as the preferred replacement, complete with antisemitism no less... 🤐️

demi7en, to Palestine

📜 The Chinese diaspora ‘needs to rise up’ about atrocities against Uyghurs — Q&A with human rights lawyer Rayhan Asat
Politics & Current Affairs

Rayhan Asat comments on China’s stance on the Israel-Hamas conflict, the Muslim world’s silence on ongoing rights abuses against Uyghurs in China, and the responsibility of the Chinese diaspora in advocating for human rights.

By Jonathan Landreth
Published October 30, 2023

「Rayhan Asat is one of the most vocal advocates today for the Uyghur people, her people, whose homeland in northwestern China is the scene of the Communist Party’s ongoing commission of what the United Nations says may be “crimes against humanity,” and what U.S. President Joseph Biden called a “genocide.” Among the roughly 1 million Turkic peoples detained, imprisoned, and forced into labor there — most of them Muslims — is Asat’s younger brother. Ekpar Asat was picked up by Chinese authorities and sentenced to 15 years in prison after returning from an educational exchange program in the U.S. sponsored by the Department of State. Speaking from London, Asat called for stronger human rights allies and reflected on the news of the growing conflict in the Middle East and the hypocrisy she sees in China and among global activists who are unwilling to confront China.

This is an edited transcript of our conversation.」

「In any sort of crisis, historically, it ends with the people rising up against the totalitarian government. But I just don’t see how Chinese people would. Chinese people wouldn’t do that out of fear, ignorance and lack of solidarity. They wouldn’t. There is less sense of civic duty.」

(The entire exchange is worth reading...👇️)

https://thechinaproject.com/2023/10/30/the-chinese-diaspora-needs-to-rise-up-about-atrocities-against-uyghurs-qa-with-human-rights-lawyer-rayhan-asat/

#TheChinaProject #RayhanAsat #Uyghurs '#xinjiang' #Palestine #CCP #china #chinese #chinesediaspora #colonialism #slavery #genocide #authoritarianism #humanrights

glynmoody, to hongkong
@glynmoody@mastodon.social avatar

leader defends elections after largest pro-democracy party shut out - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/31/hong-kong-leader-defends-elections-after-largest-pro-democracy-party-shut-out yeah, sure, definitely how the system was meant to work...

demi7en,

Unfortunately this short piece gives the impression that there is at least some kind of political process still taking place in CCP's , .

"The lack of participation from pro-democracy parties reflects the dwindling space for the movement in the city [...]"

'Dwindling'? After pro-democracy candidates won majority of the vote in every single district in the last partially free District Council elections in 2019, there is now zero space for anyone advocating for democratic rights. Zero.

Democracy is #1 "national security" threat to the never-elected .

Now the "election candidates" are all pro-CCP; either members of CCP front groups or certified loyal sycophants from tightly aligned interest groups. Almost entirely the former.

Fun tidbit: Out of the 171 'candidates' running for 88 'closed-circuit' seats, 121 were members of three committees responsible for deciding who could participate... (Courtesy of Deäthmüffin)

It's a gravy train with blindly loyal passengers fighting over who gets just the regular gravy and who also gets all the extra helpings and countless other murky perks.

?
@glynmoody

peterdutoit, (edited ) to Mexico
@peterdutoit@mastodon.green avatar

deleted_by_author

    •
    demi7en,

    Yet the increasingly destructive hurricanes and typhoons are among the least of the problems caused by climate heating.

    It's the over the eons intricably networked eco-systems supporting plant and animal life that will be disrupted far quicker than they can hope to re-adapt.

    Humans as a somewhat adaptable species might not face a quick and complete #extinction due to man-made #climatechange, but when key #environmental building blocks supporting life as we know it start dying out — as they have been for some time already — ever faster and in greater numbers... 🤷‍♂️🤷

    #humanrights #animalrights
    @peterdutoit

    patrickcmiller, to random

    New Rule of Law Index: Spread of Authoritarianism Slows But Justice Systems Are Failing https://www.justsecurity.org/89720/new-rule-of-law-index-spread-of-authoritarianism-slows-but-justice-systems-are-failing/?utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=new-rule-of-law-index-spread-of-authoritarianism-slows-but-justice-systems-are-failing

    demi7en,

    ☝️ "global state of the rule of law"


    @patrickcmiller

    gcluley, to random
    @gcluley@mastodon.green avatar

    I'm thinking of blocking access to content on my site to anyone not running an ad blocker.

    Thoughts?

    demi7en,

    I get the point, but would like to add that if I actually need something I will find ways to look for it.

    99.99% of advertisements are merely trying to create wants and impulse buys. I'm not sure our"pale blue dot" has ever really needed that "consumerist" behaviour.

    Then there's the #tracking. That "industry" isn't aligned with my perception of human decency at the best of times, but they're also likely to sell that tracking data to organizations with even more nefarious intentions, or at least make my "tracks", and me, vulnerable.

    Now, if come across "BestPracticesTech.com" and see locally served banners of that site I'm visiting... 👍
    #privacy #consumerism #sustainability
    @briankrebs @gcluley

    LukaszOlejnik, to random
    @LukaszOlejnik@mastodon.social avatar

    Concerns about the impact of generative AI on disinformation are overblown. I argue this for a long time now, the issue is not in the easy generation, but propagation. But prophesying the "end of times", and other doomsday scenarios etc. sells better. https://misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu/article/misinformation-reloaded-fears-about-the-impact-of-generative-ai-on-misinformation-are-overblown/

    demi7en,

    @LukaszOlejnik 🧐

    petergleick, to random
    @petergleick@fediscience.org avatar

    You know, the scenario that eventually the GOP nominate EACH Republican House member to be speaker and then fail to elect ANY of them no longer seems crazy.

    What then?

    demi7en,

    @petergleick It's still totally bonkers, and slightly scary, that the frigging party controls over half of the US house of representatives. In 2023 🤮 🤯

    And if having domestic billionaires and their sycophant beneficiaries wanting to overthrow the democratic system wasn't enough, practically all foreign dictatorships are doing what they can to aid the process.

    ''

    jerry, to random

    Did you ever wake up at 2:30am knowing that it’s going to be a shite day and can’t get back to sleep because of it?

    demi7en,

    @jerry No.

    Not yet... 🤐️

    LukaszOlejnik, to random
    @LukaszOlejnik@mastodon.social avatar

    During crisis, be careful for misinformation and 'fog of war': "it was impossible to tell who had caused the explosion or how many people had died ... most reputable names in news media sent push alerts that broadcast Hamas’s claims far and wide".

    Zero analysis. Zero criticism. But pushing it to hundreds of thousands of readers who get the message instantly. The effect of the news has tangible political consequences and contributed to destabilisation. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/10/gaza-hospital-explosion-misinformation-reporting/675719/

    image/png

    demi7en,

    To complete the clusterfuck, the Israeli establishment royally fucked up their response to the hamas insta-accusations making rounds around the world as well. Some netanyahu associate's account boasted a "we dunnit!" before deleting and at least one OSINT source analysing the hamas admission audio grab claims it involved two separate audios joined together (could still be genuine but the joining looks dodgy).

    This is the one key event that lit fires across the "Arab world" so getting any disinfo corrected matters. Massively.

    The usual authoritarian suspects (through their state media) want things inflamed in the Middle-East, but I'd be looking at the regional state-controlled Arab medias to revisit and and possibly walk back their initial hamas propaganda promotion. 👀

    And yes, all facts on the ground and air during that fateful minute point towards a not unusual mid-air failure of a hamas rocket hitting the hospital car park killing internally displaced Palestinians who had no agency in any of this.


    @LukaszOlejnik

    arstechnica, to random
    @arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar

    Hugo winner reminds us all about that beetle that escapes out of a frog’s anus

    Ursula Vernon, aka T. Kingfisher, won for her dark fairy tale, Nettle and Bone .

    https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/10/hugo-winner-reminds-us-all-about-that-beetle-that-escapes-out-of-a-frogs-anus/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

    demi7en,

    @arstechnica Right. Today's physical world reality check: ✔

    jerry, to random

    And thus concludes the infosec.exchange gen7 migration. This is by far, the fastest the site has ever been, and candidly, I am not sure it could get a lot faster without code tweaks.

    demi7en,

    @jerry Patience is my sole superpower (and my greatest weakness), yet I wonder if there's any way of knowing when one's account/timeline has been rebuilt?

    Meaning 'any way' other than reloading the site and hitting End to do a shallow eyeball test...

    demi7en,

    @jerry Ay caramba!

    It was a genuine general interest question and not a snowflake request, but I'll take it! 🙏

    Everything loads near damn instantaneously so, good job, Jerry. Good job...

    w7voa, to random
    @w7voa@journa.host avatar

    Sidney Powell, who has pleaded guilty to election subversion, “was not my attorney and never was.” - Donald Trump, Oct. 22, 2023

    Attorneys Giuliani, diGenova, Toensing, Powell and Ellis “a truly great team, added to our other wonderful lawyers and representatives!” - President Donald Trump, Nov. 14, 2020

    demi7en,

    To find out how the is actually released, follow .

    For the followers released everything that they deserved, a damp queef. And in true maga fashion, the releaser was the only beneficiary.


    @w7voa

    demi7en, to Russia

    「TheFP: Help us understand the seriousness of the situation. You published a piece the other day in The Times of London asking: will there be a World War III?

    Niall Ferguson: Well, we’re already in a cold war with China. The thing about cold wars is that they’re not entirely cold. In the first Cold War, it became clear that the stakes were high when a hot war broke out in Korea. A hot war broke out in Ukraine that I think played the same role in Cold War II. Cold wars are global. You have to contend with multiple regional crises. We’ve got one in Ukraine. Now, we’ve got one in the Middle East. It’s conceivable we could have a third in Taiwan if China made some move taking advantage of the fact that the U.S. and its allies look increasingly overstretched.

    If you find the terminology of World War III alarmist, as some people do, I would merely point out that the objective of Russia is to wipe Ukraine from the map, the objective of Iran and Hamas is to wipe Israel from the map, and the objective of China is to end Taiwan’s democracy and autonomy. And if the United States fails to prevent those things from happening, we will be in as dark a situation as the world was in in the late 1930s when the totalitarian regimes were able to change borders with an utter disregard for international law. So it’s a bad situation.」

    https://www.thefp.com/p/niall-ferguson-vinay-prasad-jihad-day

    #authoritarianism #authaxis #warondemocracy #coldwar WWIII #russia #china #iran #Ukraine #Israel #Taiwan

    FAIR, to humanrights
    @FAIR@mastodon.world avatar

    Unconfirmed ‘Beheaded Babies’ Report Helped Justify Israeli Slaughter

    There’s perhaps no more serious a time for journalists to do their jobs responsibly than during a war.

    But corporate media have not been, as evidenced by their repetition of the shocking, unsubstantiated claim that Hamas had beheaded 40 babies in its violent attack on

    https://fair.org/home/unconfirmed-beheaded-babies-report-helped-justify-israeli-slaughter/

    #HumanRights #IsraelPalestine #Terrorism

    demi7en,

    @FAIR Fascinating 'flip' in the narrative.

    “Unconfirmed ‘Beheaded Babies’ Report Helped Justify Israeli Slaughter” 👀

    #Israel #hamas #humanrights

    fulelo, to Israel
    @fulelo@journa.host avatar

    Meanwhile #Israel's defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has said Israel will sever all ties with the #Gaza Strip once its war with #Hamas is over -- it would, as he put it, end its "responsibility" for life there.

    The #Hamas authorities say #Israeli attacks have now killed more than 4100 people.

    Over 1400 Israelis were killed in Hamas' unprecedented extremist attacks within Israel earlier this month

    demi7en,

    Mahmoud Abbas: "We will never accept relocation, we will remain on our land whatever the challenges."

    Is that a 20th or 21st century dogma? Arabs used to 'relocate' quite eagerly after the emergence of their religion in the 7th century.

    The natives in those lands where Arabs did 'relocate' en masse didn't always fare too well and some were wiped out completely.

    Surely a mutually agreeable and peaceful relocation of both Arabs and Israelis into a more sustainable land arrangement, with all the incentives imaginable, should be at least theoretically possible?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Muslim_conquests

    #Israel #Palestine #TwoStateSolution
    @fulelo

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