No, it is bad.

Suppose it’s used to verify your age when visiting Pornhub. How is Pornhub going to trust the user’s computer didn’t lie about the user’s age? A “just trust me bro” sent by the browser isn’t going to suffice; teenagers would find a way around that.

Thr attestation will have to be cryptographically signed by some trusted party—and that’s either going to be the government, or the operating system vendor.

If it’s the government holding the signing keys: the website can now verify that you’re a resident of $state in $country and use that for fingerprinting and targeted advertising. And what if your country doesn’t participate, or if Pornhub doesn’t trust the signing keys used by the government of Estonia? Tough shit, no porn for you! It would be impractical to manage all those keys, though, so why not instead leave it up to the operating system vendor?

If it is left the operating system vendor, it’s going to end up being exactly the same as Google Play Service’s SafetyNet “feature”. If you’re not using an approved operating system (a.k.a. Windows, MacOS, stock Android, iOS) you’re not visiting Pornhub. Or a banking app. Or applying for jobs. Etc.

This bill is a poison pill for device ownership and FOSS operating systems being handed to corporations on a silver platter.

I disagree. This is a first step towards something far worse.

It sets up the infrastructure for getting user ages and allowing services and websites to get an attestation from the operating system. Once that system is widely used and becomes ingrained, they can create a follow-up bill that demands the attestation be cryptographically verifiable by a trusted party.

In that scenario, the only way the operating system’s promise that you’re not a minor would be trusted is if it was signed by whoever holds the private keys—and that’s definitely not going to be you, the device owner.

It would either be the government, or more likely, the operating system vendor. In the former case, now services can cryptographically prove that you’re a resident of $state in $country, which is amazing for fingerprinting and terrible for anonymity. In the latter case, you can guarantee that only the corporations will be holding the key (like with Microsoft and secure boot), and you can kiss goodbye to your ability to access services on FOSS operating systems like Linux or custom Android ROMs.

This proposal is just a way to get their foot in the door with something palatable. If you’ve ever come across banking apps on Android using Google Play Services’ SafetyNet feature to restrict access to only “secure” devices, you’ll know exactly how this turns out: either you use the phone you own the “approved” way with a stock ROM where Google has more permissions than you do, or you’re not doing your banking on your phone.

It’s like Secure Boot but actually, 100% useless.

And the client, too.

Translation:

We’re getting rid of r/all. We’re not sorry. Reddit is leaning towards changing your experience to make it more algorithmic and beneficial to advertisers targeting your interests. I know some of you have pretty strong feelings about this and I don’t care! Feel free to leave comments on this post. I will continue to laugh at them with the rest of the team.

Apparently they don’t store contact info.

https://signal.org/blog/looking-back-as-the-world-moves-forward/

It’s a good thing that I work for Dick’s Fish & Chips located on the main street of a bustling city in Antarctica. I wouldn’t want the LLM to get it wrong.

“Conservatism has exactly one proposition, to wit: there is an in-group group in which the law protects but does not bind, and there is an out-group in which the law binds but does not protect.”

I’m sure I didn’t quote that properly, but you get the point.

When viewing reality through the lens of life being zero-sum, if one is not policing others, they are being policed. Add xenophobia and fear of others who are noncomforming and you end up with someone who feels the need to judge everyone around them.

I get what you’re saying, but I think that’s giving them too much credit.

The logic is obvious that “AI not trained on thing is not good at doing thing.” The people who care more about feelings than facts would see it as “AI works fine for everyone else but not for me” and react emotionally instead.

Maliciously complying to sabotage a tool that will be used for military purposes and an overly zealous admin that loves to accuse people of treason. A bold strategy.

“Toxic relationship with father” and “dislikes God / Jesus”.

Gee, I wonder why this combination would appear anywhere.

If Valve fails, we’ll have so many great alternatives, though!

• Epic Games Store, with it’s… uh… better fee structure that benefits the publishers.
• EA’s Origin, with direct access to the exact same Origin website but instead presented through an Electron app.
• Ubisoft Connect, with the latest access to Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed games and related reskins sold under different IP.
• Battle.net, with the feature to run partially-downloaded games and stream missing assets in on demand.
• GOG, with real installers for its games that you can hoard to a hard drive sitting in your closet. (No sarcism. This one isn’t terrible)
• The Microsoft Store, with its incredible ability to revoke your license for the Notepad.exe program that comes installed with Windows.

Who needs a forum, mod portal, user reviews, or Linux support anyways?

I can’t remember if I was wearing it before, but I’m not wearing it now. It’s probably fine. I think. Maybe.

I didn’t even need to click on the link to know it pointed to civil forfeiture. The fact that they’re not required to destroy whatever they steal creates one hell of a perverse incentive to keep doing it.

Their what now? That’s ICE’s money. After the pulled the immigrant out of his bed, that money was just laying there. Nobody owns it, so it’s finders keepers. /s

Hey now, it’s not just a scheme to deport legal immigrants—That second arrest also inflates their numbers to look successful.

Shh. Don’t give them old ideas.

I can’t wait for the Criminal Repercussions In Manipulating Electees act.

Agreed. That retort was spot on.

• No attacking his personality.
• No attacking his physical characteristics.
• No strawmen.
• No name-calling.
• Just a direct cut at his oxymoronic qualifications and lack of care for the working class.

But, I think a capability that hasn’t been fully revealed to us yet is the ability for manufacturers and (presumably intelligence/law enforcement agencies) full remote takeover of some of these vehicles.

Assuming it is a Tesla, if they do, it’s likely only implemented in a targeted OTA update package. Tesla’s regular firmware packages are heavily scrutinized by white-hats for datamining and jailbreaking purposes, and it would be far too risky to leave something like that accessible to people with reverse engineering experience.