DefiantEmbassy's recent activity

  1. Comment on Building the perfect Linux PC with Linus Torvalds in ~tech

    DefiantEmbassy
    Link Parent
    It’s explained in the pinned comment.

    It’s explained in the pinned comment.

    1 vote

  2. Comment on The realities of being a pop star in ~music

  3. Comment on Battlefield 6 developer issues report on kernel-level anti-cheat, citing success in ~games

    DefiantEmbassy
    Link Parent
    Anti-cheats are some of the most audited software in the world. That's because they are under constant surveillance by cheat developers. 11 years ago, VAC came under scrutiny, because cheat...

    Anti-cheats are some of the most audited software in the world. That's because they are under constant surveillance by cheat developers. 11 years ago, VAC came under scrutiny, because cheat developers found that Valve was checking users' DNS cache, and spread the word around. Cheat developers actively want to sow mistrust here.

    3 votes

  4. Comment on Battlefield 6 developer issues report on kernel-level anti-cheat, citing success in ~games

    DefiantEmbassy
    Link Parent
    Because what kernel-mode gives you visibility into is other kernel-mode processes, not user-space. But you're not running any of your computing in the kernel, you're running it in user-mode. You...

    Firstly why would they even bother with kernel code if they could accomplish their spying in user mode equivalently.

    Because what kernel-mode gives you visibility into is other kernel-mode processes, not user-space. But you're not running any of your computing in the kernel, you're running it in user-mode. You can basically spy on anything else in user-mode from user-mode.

    The other benefit here is being able to attest the status of the environment.

    Secondly whilst user mode software does exist that can do those things, such programs tend not to be quasi mandatory and installed in a sidecar type way, and most software I’d install wouldn’t be specifically designed to spy on me.

    Vanguard specifically tells you what you're installing. It doesn't silently do anything.

    VAC (Valve Anti-Cheat) is far more surreptitious. It installs silently alongside Steam or a VAC-required game. It is performing signature scans on your computer for hacks, without you having any control over it. The only difference is that it is entirely in user-mode.

    Ultimately, you have to trust whatever software is running on your computer, whether it is "designed for spying" or not (I think most vendors would dispute that claim, anyway). If you do not trust a game vendor... you shouldn't be worried about the anti-cheat, you should be worried about the game itself. The game you install can steal your files, and key log you. There is no need to even go into the kernel-level there.

    2 votes

  5. Comment on Battlefield 6 developer issues report on kernel-level anti-cheat, citing success in ~games

    DefiantEmbassy
    Link Parent
    … in your hypothetical example where a three-letter agency could insert code into any software under their purview… you’d take Chrome a hundred times before exploring these relatively niche...

    … in your hypothetical example where a three-letter agency could insert code into any software under their purview… you’d take Chrome a hundred times before exploring these relatively niche clients. Probably Edge and VSCode, next.

    2 votes

  6. Comment on Battlefield 6 developer issues report on kernel-level anti-cheat, citing success in ~games

    DefiantEmbassy
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Do you separate your activity into multiple user accounts? If you don’t, then the reality is that any user mode software (on Windows) can surreptitiously key log you, or steal files on your...

    Do you separate your activity into multiple user accounts? If you don’t, then the reality is that any user mode software (on Windows) can surreptitiously key log you, or steal files on your computer not stored in an admin-only directly.

    (I do advocate for better sandboxing here, but the reality is that it isn’t currently the case.)

    The reality is that for a lot of people (including me), kernel-level ACs quite literally presents no difference in security and privacy. Not to mention the effectiveness.

    3 votes

  7. Comment on Battlefield 6 developer issues report on kernel-level anti-cheat, citing success in ~games

  8. Comment on Windows: Linux GPU gaming benchmarks on Bazzite in ~games

    DefiantEmbassy
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    I mean, I would love it if all detection was server-side and effective. I just don't think that this is at all feasible. (Also, one point I didn't mention: none of this would cover informational...

    Disclaimer, I don't have a strong opinion on where cheat detection should be done.

    I mean, I would love it if all detection was server-side and effective. I just don't think that this is at all feasible.

    (Also, one point I didn't mention: none of this would cover informational cheats, like wallhacks. Developers should do the basics here, but there is a limit, as at some point the client has to know where the enemy is. If you make that point the literal moment they are visible, the pop-in is really bad.)

    In a similar sense, expanding anti-cheat detection on the server means that you need to maintain a lot more of the game state and situation on the server. Not only that, you need to then also do a lot of extra calculations on the server as well.

    So, maintaining the game state actually provides user-value in replay solutions, something which the Counter-Strike series has had since the 90s, and VALORANT is getting soon due to user-demand.

    Like, fair, there is a cost to observing and analysing behaviour, but I'm still not convinced that cost is more than having to maintain a kernel-level solution, buying and observing cheats to develop signatures for detection, etc.

    It merely comments on the state back then. I am not entirely sure if Valve actually invested all that much in anti-cheat detection since then. Again, a bit cynical, but it just needs to be "good enough" for people to not walk away from the game.

    GDC talk from 2018 that goes more into depth about their solution. Data mining indicates they've even recently acquired NVIDIA H200s, which is frontier tier tech. Not to mention their active branding of the solution as VAC Live for the launch of CS2. I'd say it is pretty clear they are actively investing into it.

    Also, don't discount inertia in big companies to simply keep doing things that they are already doing. Moving everything server side requires different expertise which needs to be built up.

    But there has been a change here. For Battlefield, they used to use PunkBuster (a third-party non-kernel anti-cheat), before adding FairFight (a third party behavioural anti-cheat), before abandoning all of those to create an in-house team to develop EA AntiCheat. Similarly, CoD migrated from PunkBuster to VAC, to I think an in-house non-kernel solution, and finally to developing their own in-house solution.

    These companies historically contracted out, but are now developing internal capabilities for securing their games.

    1 vote

  9. Comment on Windows: Linux GPU gaming benchmarks on Bazzite in ~games

    DefiantEmbassy
    Link Parent
    I find this to be a particularly unconvincing argument. a) The idea that every single live service developer decided that they could do server-side detection, but instead decide to invest time,...

    I find this to be a particularly unconvincing argument.

    a) The idea that every single live service developer decided that they could do server-side detection, but instead decide to invest time, money, and serious reputational damage on creating a kernel-level anti cheat does not add up to me. I do not see why a game developer would go this route, if another route existed.

    b) Valve has, for the past 8 years attempted to do ML-based server side detection, along with ML-based user classification based on non-game activity. They also have the greatest incentive to make this work. Yet, despite this, the system is largely a failure. Cheaters are rampant at higher ranks, and the leaderboard has at many points served as a mechanism for cheaters to boast. Also, there was a point you could get banned for spinning your mouse too fast.

    c) For a Linux CS2 player, there is no viable way for them to become a professional, and qualify for a Valve-sponsored event, and get their signature into the game. Every step beyond in-game matchmaking requires a kernel-level anti cheat, whether it is for the external MM service used by pros, FACEIT (or any of their competitors like GamersClub or ESPORTAL), or to play in online competitive tournaments. Prior to Valve abandoning direct qualifiers, all qualifiers hosted for Major qualifications required a kernel-level anti cheat.

    5 votes

  10. Comment on The goon squad. Loneliness, porn’s next frontier, and the dream of endless masturbation. in ~life

    DefiantEmbassy
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    For some reason this comment reminded me of this (NSFW) work of art that feels distillation of short form social media content. The entire account is just that concept, but taken to ludicrous levels.

    For some reason this comment reminded me of this (NSFW) work of art that feels distillation of short form social media content. The entire account is just that concept, but taken to ludicrous levels.

    3 votes

  11. Comment on The goon squad. Loneliness, porn’s next frontier, and the dream of endless masturbation. in ~life

    DefiantEmbassy
    Link
    It's sometimes a controversial opinion in some spaces (pro sex-worker spaces) to say that this sort of content being actively fed to people is... problematic. There is a constant battle between...

    In this earlier stage, if you wanted to watch porn, you still had to actively seek it out. That has since changed. Right as gooners began to solidify as a social force, I could no longer open Instagram without encountering dozens of large-breasted women skipping rope, romping in tank tops, brushing their teeth while drooling erotically. It was the same story on TikTok, the little of it I watched. Twitter was the exception: there I simply encountered uncut, hardcore pornography. We make our own algorithms, I know, but I don’t think I was uniquely deviant. The situation was the same for nearly every straight man I knew. Invariably this content was intended to funnel the viewer to platforms like OnlyFans, where a paid subscription would allow them to spend even more money on special extras like personalized dick evaluations or nude kitchen-cleaning videos. It seemed increasingly plausible that, faced with this onslaught, some percentage of psychically defenseless men would simply crumple, follow the platforms’ logic, and start watching porn full-time.

    It's sometimes a controversial opinion in some spaces (pro sex-worker spaces) to say that this sort of content being actively fed to people is... problematic. There is a constant battle between how much of this is the agency of the user versus the freedom of the creators. In my opinion, we should be treating this closer to gambling & smoking, frankly.

    As much as I can manipulate the algorithm because I understand it... it makes perfect sense that people drown in sexual content. And none of this even touches on how porn stars are more of a fixture in mainstream content. Of course we can't just exclude them from society & media because they are porn stars, but the funnels feels a bit too visible at the moment.

    As a final point: Paul Graham's article on addictiveness is just... so goddamned salient.

    21 votes

  12. Comment on The Oatmeal: A cartoonist's review of AI art in ~comics

    DefiantEmbassy
    Link Parent
    Don't necessarily agree with everything, but yeah. I'm not going to pretend like I don't enjoy the fruits of some AI artwork. either on or off the drugs is a song by JPEGMAFIA. I legitimately...

    Don't necessarily agree with everything, but yeah. I'm not going to pretend like I don't enjoy the fruits of some AI artwork. either on or off the drugs is a song by JPEGMAFIA. I legitimately enjoy it. But the main sample it is built around is an AI cover of a Future song. I don't know what it makes it.

    Speaking of which: when I look at a joke song like BBL Drizzy (a song made in the height of the Kendrick vs Drake beef), I don't believe it could have ever been made in real life, without someone throwing serious cash at it. You'd need session musicians that continue to play this style. You'd need to find a singer specializing in that sound. And all of them willing to record what is effectively a shit post. And like the other example, humans iterated on the song - Metro Boomin with his remix, Tim Henson doing a guitar cover of it, the various entrants to the competition, and even Drake remixing it. Ultimately all of this was disposable, and did not last past ~3 months. But it was interesting.

    It doesn't mean I'd willingly listen to 95% of the songs on, say, Suno, but there is something there, that humans can work with to produce interesting things.

    2 votes

  13. Comment on Travel essentials: eight items to pack for your next trip – and what to leave at home in ~travel

    DefiantEmbassy
    Link Parent
    Going to have to disagree on the TRTL… best sleep I’ve ever had on a plane. And no breakage at all.

    Going to have to disagree on the TRTL… best sleep I’ve ever had on a plane. And no breakage at all.

    3 votes

  14. Comment on Bluesky melts down over Jesse Singal in ~tech

    DefiantEmbassy
    Link Parent
    jay is a she (unless i’ve missed something indicating they have decided to identify otherwise)

    jay is a she (unless i’ve missed something indicating they have decided to identify otherwise)

    3 votes

  15. Comment on Bluesky melts down over Jesse Singal in ~tech

    DefiantEmbassy
    Link
    There is a good subset of Bluesky - certainly, I can see from my "Popular With Friends" feed that most people I view are actively against the insane rhetoric on the platform calling Jay a "temu...

    There is a good subset of Bluesky - certainly, I can see from my "Popular With Friends" feed that most people I view are actively against the insane rhetoric on the platform calling Jay a "temu Elon".

    But the reality is that the platform has suffered, from my perspective because of people like Rachael Maddow bringing an onslaught of people who've only ever touched Facebook before. I've had my own annoying experiences on the platform. The reality is that there is a significant portion of the left-wing who have just become a mirror image of the right, and it is just a noxious experience to be around them.

    25 votes

  16. Comment on Elon Musk plans to take on Wikipedia with 'Grokipedia' in ~tech

    DefiantEmbassy
    Link
    The depressing thing is that this won't stop them from harassing and trying to destroy Wikipedia.

    The depressing thing is that this won't stop them from harassing and trying to destroy Wikipedia.

    13 votes

  17. Comment on imgur.com geoblocks the UK in ~tech

    DefiantEmbassy
    Link Parent
    Yeah except Imgur blocks at least some VPNs (i’m on mullvad) and doesn’t tell you why (it gives a vague technical reason).

    Yeah except Imgur blocks at least some VPNs (i’m on mullvad) and doesn’t tell you why (it gives a vague technical reason).

    2 votes

  18. Comment on ‘Simpsons’ movie sequel sets summer 2027 release date in ~movies

    DefiantEmbassy
    Link
    From what I can tell about the OG movie, they were able to get a whole load of the original writers back for it. Will they do so for this one? Sounds unlikely. And with the voice actor for Marge...

    From what I can tell about the OG movie, they were able to get a whole load of the original writers back for it.

    Will they do so for this one? Sounds unlikely. And with the voice actor for Marge being quite... grating these days, I'm far more skeptical this one can live up to the heights. But who knows.

    4 votes

  19. Comment on Shopify, pulling strings at Ruby Central, forces Bundler and RubyGems takeover in ~comp

    DefiantEmbassy
    Link Parent
    Well, we don’t know for sure. But dhh is a board member at Shopify. In fact, the CEO of Shopify races cars with dhh. So, there is a relation there.

    Well, we don’t know for sure.

    But dhh is a board member at Shopify. In fact, the CEO of Shopify races cars with dhh. So, there is a relation there.

    17 votes

  20. Comment on Shopify, pulling strings at Ruby Central, forces Bundler and RubyGems takeover in ~comp

    DefiantEmbassy
    Link
    As someone who hasn't touched Ruby, a) what a complete cluster fuck, b) yeah, i think I'm staying away from Ruby, and probably trying to avoid Shopify where I can

    As someone who hasn't touched Ruby, a) what a complete cluster fuck, b) yeah, i think I'm staying away from Ruby, and probably trying to avoid Shopify where I can

    21 votes