Today's links

Hackers' code-free exploit: pretend to be cops: The predictable outcome of the Emergency Data Request system.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
This day in history: 2002, 2007, 2012, 2017, 2021
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 30 Mar 2022"

Today's links

Podcasting "The Byzantine Premium": The contradiction at the heart of Bitcoin advocacy.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
This day in history: 2002, 2007, 2012, 2017
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 28 Mar 2022"

The Best Defense Against Rubber-Hose Cryptanalysis

The cypherpunks were wrong (but also right)

A medieval engraving of a prisoner being tortured on a rack; in the background is a waterfall effect from The Matrix.

Listen to those who extol the virtues of blockchain and cryptocurrency and pretty soon, you’ll hear about the power of cryptocurrency to resist tyranny.

Continue reading "The Best Defense Against Rubber-Hose Cryptanalysis"

Today's links

Amazon's relentless personal data foot-dragging: A system's purpose is what it does.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
This day in history: 2002, 2007, 2012, 2017, 2021
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 27 Mar 2022"

Today's links

Facebook's genocide filters are really, really bad: An AI that can't recognize its own training data is a very, very bad AI.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
This day in history: 2007, 2012, 2017, 2021
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 23 Mar 2022"

Today's links

Ban surveillance advertising: EFF's technological and legal proposal for a surveillance-free internet.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
This day in history: 2007, 2012, 2017, 2021
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 22 Mar 2022"

Today's links

Podcasting "What Is Peak Indifference?": A theory of change.
To make Big Tech better, make it smaller: Decreasing the salience of tech's errors is as important as reducing their prevalence.
Brazil's "Remuneration Right" will strengthen Big Tech and Big Media: Fix ads, not snippets.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
This day in history: 2002, 2007, 2012, 2017, 2021
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 21 Mar 2022"

Marc Laidlaw’s “Underneath the Oversea”

A wondrous fairytale, wondrously read, from the storyteller of Half-Life.

The cover of Skyboat Media’s audio edition of Underneath the Oversea.

I have been a Marc Laidlaw fan since his debut novel, Dad’s Nuke — an apocalyptic, madcap dark comedy/road-trip novel that anticipated Snow Crash and its motif of an America dominated by paranoid, fortresslike gated communities.

I avidly consumed all of his subsequent novels and short stories — especially “400 Boys,” his contribution to Bruce Sterling’s seminal cyberpunk anthology Mirrorshades.

Continue reading "Marc Laidlaw’s “Underneath the Oversea”"

Pluralistic: 20 Mar 2022

Today's links

Kathe Koja's Dark Factory: Taking Bohemia seriously.
Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
This day in history: 2002, 2007, 2012, 2017, 2021
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 20 Mar 2022"

Pluralistic: 18 Mar 2022

Today's links

The market for carbon credit lemons: Bad money drives out good.
This day in history: 2007, 2012, 2017, 2021
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 18 Mar 2022"