JackA's recent activity
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Comment on US Senate Republicans furious over Donald Trump derailing FISA bill in ~misc
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Comment on US Senate Republicans furious over Donald Trump derailing FISA bill in ~misc
JackA (edited )Link ParentFor context my understanding of the compromise is that they lowered the length of their re-authorization from five years to two. Their thought process is that this will allow Trump to revisit the...For context my understanding of the compromise is that they lowered the length of their re-authorization from five years to two. Their thought process is that this will allow Trump to revisit the issue during his presidency if he gets elected.
The amendment to prevent warrantless spying on Americans failed in a 212-212 tie, the passed bill does not include those protections. It's not totally through the House however as a Republican representative filed an unexpected motion to reconsider that will require the House to vote once more before heading to the Senate, but as the compromise passed 273-147 it is expected to carry to the Senate without additional amendments.
Here is the party breakdown of the amendment vote to require warrants for American citizens ("Ayes" in this vote would increase protections for American Citizens):
Party Ayes Noes Present Not Voting Republican 128 86 0 7 Democratic 84 126 0 6 Here is the party breakdown of the final vote with the lowered authorization length ("Ayes" in this vote allow warrantless spying on American Citizens for the next two years):
Party Ayes Noes Present Not Voting Republican 126 88 0 4 Democratic 147 59 0 7 And here is the breakdown of which Representatives voted which way for the final bill if like me you wish to see who should be primaried or sent emails. Here is the breakdown for the amendment.
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Comment on I ported thousands of apps to Windows 95 in ~comp
JackA Link ParentDisabling YouTube watch history also disabling recommendations was such a huge improvement in my life, highly recommend to anyone looking to increase their intentionality around consuming media....Disabling YouTube watch history also disabling recommendations was such a huge improvement in my life, highly recommend to anyone looking to increase their intentionality around consuming media.
Crazy to think I was mad when YouTube rolled that out as a way to force people to re-enable watch history. I held firm purely out of spite and now my screen time averages multiple hours less per day. Those recommendations "that are really high quality and I love to discover" or that "I'd really hate to miss out on" turned out to just be an addiction causing more harm than good for me. I almost want to thank Google for forcing my hand lol.
This channel is absolutely one that stays for entertainment in my now heavily curated subscription list though.
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Comment on "Dune: Part Three" in the works, in addition to Denis Villeneuve adapation of "Nuclear War: A Scenario" in ~movies
JackA Link ParentAs someone who has never read the books I'll say this part seemed incredibly clear to me during the movie. The movie definitely didn't imply anything about Chani continuing to be his "concubine",...especially about the end without clarifying that Paul was marrying the princess just for politics to officially rise from Duke to Emperor
As someone who has never read the books I'll say this part seemed incredibly clear to me during the movie. The movie definitely didn't imply anything about Chani continuing to be his "concubine", but it also didn't do anything to take that off the table as she is visibly conflicted at the end of the movie. I see no reason they couldn't have Chani's story go exactly as you've described. I also didn't pick up even a hint of love towards Irulan from Paul that would make me think their marriage would be anything but political in the very brief interaction they had.
It sounds like they just left it a bit more open ended than the books may have due to runtime constraints, but that shouldn't limit the next movie at all. For all we know the next movie may briefly start prior to the timeskip just to wrap up those story beats you feel were missed.
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Comment on What email client do you use? in ~tech
JackA Link ParentTrue, but honestly the biggest risk is the aggregation of all my personal data in one place, not the less stringent security and privacy standards of every single sender and recipient that might...True, but honestly the biggest risk is the aggregation of all my personal data in one place, not the less stringent security and privacy standards of every single sender and recipient that might have bits and pieces of personal info.
The end to end encryption of mail flow itself only works if you're emailing other people using Proton or PGP yes, but the E2EE at rest alongside strictly audited data retention policies for mail processing still ensures that even Proton doesn't have access to the full contents of your mailbox where the greatest vulnerability to data analysis and theft lies. I also like that using it contributes towards expanding the network effect of encrypted email overall similarly to using Signal for messaging.
All that to say that their protection offered does absolutely "work" and still has a major positive impact on a security or privacy threat model even for general usage with non-encrypted senders and recipients.
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Comment on What email client do you use? in ~tech
JackA (edited )Link ParentI can't speak specifically for "Easy Switch" as I performed all the importing and forwarding manually, but the idea behind forwarding emails through from your old email is to allow you a smoother...I can't speak specifically for "Easy Switch" as I performed all the importing and forwarding manually, but the idea behind forwarding emails through from your old email is to allow you a smoother transition while maintaining one single mailbox you can check. It's unlikely you'll be able to remember every single company and person you've ever given your Gmail address too, so when the time comes to update all of your accounts and steer people towards a new email you can still continue receiving emails sent to your old address without having to monitor Gmail separately. You can also filter emails sent to your old Gmail address to go into a separate folder or have a separate label so that you are able to see exactly what account still need to have their contact info updated.
Obviously those emails being forwarded aren't subject to the same privacy protections when they're being received and forwarded by Google, but it let's you fully jump into Proton mail right away and not end up with a new mailbox that you never use because you're constantly having to log into Gmail to check for people sending to the old address. There is a minor benefit of not giving Google permissions to hold onto all of your email data for indefinite future data analysis as well if you choose to set your forwarding rule to delete the email after forwarding.
As for aliases, know that when I say "true" aliases I only mean that to differentiate them from the completely ineffective myemailaddress+alias@gmail.com type aliases. I don't believe that's a real term used. I personally still use the older separate "SimpleLogin" service that Proton acquired and bundled into the plan which offers a completely separate portal to create addresses under different domains, add notes to mark what they are used for, and see when they are receiving mail. To email people from the alias you add their email as a "contact" under the alias and you're provided a unique "reverse alias" email address that you can send to from your primary email that will direct the email to them as if it was from your alias. This is completely hands off and seamless when replying to an email sent to your alias and only takes a moment to set up for new direct contacts.
Proton has now also completely integrated Simplelogin into their password manager "Proton Pass" however with what they call "Hide-my-email aliases", which allows you to manage aliases directly within the password manager and generate aliases at the same time you're generating account passwords. I imagine sending from aliases works similarly, but I still use Bitwarden as a password manager and can't speak to whether this is better or worse than the separate SimpleLogin implementation that I use or to how good the password manager is itself.
As for Proton VPN, I'll point to the last time I was shilling it on here for details. Realistically though both it and Mullvad are great options and are both recommended by privacy guides. It really comes down to the fact that because I also use the rest of the Proton suite it doesn't make sense to pay for a separate VPN when this one is already bundled and is arguably the best at most things outside of pricing as a standalone VPN.
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Comment on What email client do you use? in ~tech
JackA Link ParentAn all around combination of being simple and cloud based while protecting your privacy, offering wide platform support, and an ecosystem similar to the Google suite. I pay a little over $8 a...An all around combination of being simple and cloud based while protecting your privacy, offering wide platform support, and an ecosystem similar to the Google suite.
I pay a little over $8 a month for peace of mind that absolutely nobody can see my emails, they're backed up better than I'd ever be able to do locally, I get access to one of the best VPN's and encrypted file storage platforms available, get native support for true email aliases so I never have to give out my real email, and it all looks nice and works intuitively.
There's some great alternatives individually, but the value of what you get with the whole Proton suite is unmatched.
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Comment on Apple's $3500 nightmare in ~tech
JackA Link ParentA wonderfully funny and insightful video. I did not expect to walk away so contemplative after laughing so much throughout, thanks for sharing.A wonderfully funny and insightful video. I did not expect to walk away so contemplative after laughing so much throughout, thanks for sharing.
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Comment on GM sued for sale of OnStar driving data in ~transport
JackA Link ParentIt's not even just EV's. I own a Mazda and recently found out they all have a designated telemetry unit phoning home as soon as they roll out of the factory. You have to call a designated number...It's not even just EV's. I own a Mazda and recently found out they all have a designated telemetry unit phoning home as soon as they roll out of the factory. You have to call a designated number to permanently disable it for your car and it stays activated between transfers of ownership.
https://www.mazdausa.com/site/privacy-connectedservices :
All of our Connected Vehicles contain an in-vehicle Telematics Control Unit (TCU), which is activated on or before the Connected Vehicle’s delivery to a Mazda Dealer, and allows us to collect and transmit certain Default Data from the Connected Vehicle. The Default Data is generated within the Connected Vehicle, collected by either the TCU or other in-vehicle system (excluding the Electronic Data Recorder (EDR)), and transmitted to us via the TCU.
WE AUTOMATICALLY COLLECT CERTAIN DEFAULT DATA FROM THE CONNECTED VEHICLE ON AN ONGOING BASIS. ONLY WE CAN DEACTIVATE THE TCU AND DISABLE OUR COLLECTION OF ALL DEFAULT DATA. NOTE THAT THE SALE, TRANSFER, OR LEASE TERMINATION OF A CONNECTED VEHICLE WILL NOT DISABLE AUTOMATIC DEFAULT DATA COLLECTION.
“Default Data” includes the following:
“Driving Data”: driving behavior data, which includes the acceleration and speed at which your Connected Vehicle is driven and use of the steering and braking functions in your Connected Vehicle (Driving Data is collected for each driving trip and transmitted at each Ignition Off); and
“Vehicle Health Data”: includes Vehicle Identification Number (VIN); odometer, fuel level, and oil life readings; Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs); and data from the Connected Vehicle’s OBD system (“OBD Data”). OBD Data includes, but is not limited to, engine coolant temperature, fuel injection volume, engine Rotation Per Minute (RPM), and the status of doors, hood, trunk, and hazard lights (Vehicle Health Data is transmitted at each Ignition-Off).
Note: Model Year 2019 – 2021 Mazda3 and Model Year 2020 – 2021 CX-30 vehicles collect geo-location coordinates of the Connected Vehicle’s latitude and longitude each time the Connected Vehicle is turned off as Default Data.
I don't know if they're selling it (yet) like GM is here, but the amount of data collection in almost all modern cars (even in a company known for being behind the game in EV's) is insane.
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Comment on I always knew I was different. I just didn’t know I was a sociopath. in ~health.mental
JackA (edited )Link ParentI honestly think it stems from the disconnect in language between discussing people with ASPD and normal discussions of groups we're used to having online. Your presuppositions that people with...I honestly think it stems from the disconnect in language between discussing people with ASPD and normal discussions of groups we're used to having online.
Your presuppositions that people with ASPD "cannot have real relationships", the general assertions towards machiavellian tendencies, that they "don't give a fuck who they harm", or claiming that their outreaches for sympathy and acknowledgement are all manipulations, trigger all the usual detectors we use in online conversation to identify people who are dehumanizing others and acting in bad faith. That brings forth all sorts of defensive emotions inside of us even though in the specific topic of ASPD those can be much more rational positions to hold and aren't necessarily born of hate or generalizations, they're merely symptoms of the disease.
I honestly got the same sort of "bad vibes" from your comments that tripped my usual reactions like "we can't assume what's going in their head" or "every person is deserving of empathy". Your openness to share past trauma also unfortunately feeds into that as it makes your assertions seem more emotion based than logic based and leans a bit harder into the harsh language. On reflection though I don't entirely disagree with a lot of what you've said, it just requires holding ideas about people we're not usually comfortable with holding in other circumstances.
My only caveat would be that if ASPD truly is present on a spectrum, the rejection of any thought of them developing any type of relationship or holding any sort of values (even to a lesser extent), still comes across as dehumanizing a bit. Albeit not in bad faith whatsoever if the position that ASPD people do not have any inkling of those feelings is held honestly. I always try to err on the side of people being more complex than I might initially assume though.
Who knows, I hope this helps at all in explaining my perspective on any combativeness you're picking up throughout these comments. I do encourage you to step away from this thread if you feel it's reigniting any trauma however, I've been through experiences with a similar person I suspect may have had ASPD so I sympathize with your other comment quite a bit.
As always to anyone reading this as this thread is running a bit hotter, remember to assume good faith in everyone we interact with on here.
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Comment on I’m worried that the Israel-Palestine conflict is tearing Tildes apart in ~tildes
JackA (edited )Link ParentI think this really goes against the spirit of Tildes. Anyone at any time has the right to join a conversation they may not have contributed to in the past, lurking is a fundamental part of any...- Exemplary
I think this really goes against the spirit of Tildes.
Anyone at any time has the right to join a conversation they may not have contributed to in the past, lurking is a fundamental part of any forum that can allow you to gather lots of nuance on something you've never publicly commented on. This is a public space to discuss, not an exclusive club where one has to prove themselves or gain rep over time. The core foundation of assuming good faith from other commenters is to always take the most charitable interpretation of their message, consciously digging through post history is almost always in direct opposition that. I've certainly been guilty of doing it before, but if a user hasn't already been breaking the rules of tildes I don't think it should ever be called out as a means of excluding someone from a conversation.
Especially in LGBT topics I personally believe in allowing outsiders (if we can even call lurkers or people who just haven't vocalized their sexual orientation or gender identity that) into the discussion whenever possible so long as they're respectful and looking to learn. The desire to openly discuss within the rules of tildes inherently makes that a good-faith effort that shouldn't be shut down.
I've been on this website for five years, taken extended breaks from commenting during that, and I'm pretty sure I've only vaguely commented on my queerness for the first time this week. Should that disqualify me from conversations around LGBT discussions even if I've read many of them on this website during that time? Let alone that ibuprofen's comment is more of a general argument for exchange of information and debate rather than specific nuance within LGBT discussions.
I understand the feelings to protect a safer area for LGBT discussion, but I think comments from people you may not usually interact with are to be expected on this very generalized site-wide thread focused on meta discussions.
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Comment on How Google is killing independent sites like ours in ~tech
JackA Link ParentAnd I think the harm someone like Eich is capable of causing is incredibly less than the consequences of an entire culture relying on and using daily a singular search engine run by a measurably...And I think the harm someone like Eich is capable of causing is incredibly less than the consequences of an entire culture relying on and using daily a singular search engine run by a measurably evil company like Google.
Brendan Eich is an immensely tiny fish in the world of conservative activists. As a privacy and consumer rights activist, Google is my mortal enemy and is causing more utilitarian harm on an unimaginable scale. Not to mention the societal gains of growing a tool and supporting a business model that helps people actually search the internet better when that is our primary way of gaining information about the world these days.
The amount of money I've put into vending machines in the last year alone has probably led to more money in the hands of republicans than a Kagi subscription ever will. The scale is too small and indirect for me to possibly get upset about in comparison to every other purchase in my life I haven't thought twice about, and I say that as a fairly conscious spender.
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Comment on How Google is killing independent sites like ours in ~tech
JackA (edited )Link ParentAlso totally understandable and justified feelings, but just to balance out the "as a queer person" energy in the universe: As a queer person I recognize that pretty much any purchase made under...Also totally understandable and justified feelings, but just to balance out the "as a queer person" energy in the universe:
As a queer person I recognize that pretty much any purchase made under capitalism will eventually indirectly land some amount of money in the hands of someone who wants to take away my rights or who otherwise possesses moral failings that would make me not want to "fund" them in any way.
This is an unavoidable part of living in our modern society. Kagi is doing it for pragmatic reasons in order to remain competitive in a space that desperately needs competitors.
I won't sabotage good and necessary companies and force them to operate at a disadvantage by playing "six degrees of separation from bigotry" while at the same time not thinking twice about the waiter I tipped extra to that probably donated that tip to Trump's reelection campaign. Or any single public company I've ever done business with that's funneling magnitudes more directly to conservative campaigns as opposed to a single person with bad opinions.
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Comment on Capital One to buy Discover Financial in $35.3 billion all-stock deal in ~finance
JackA Link ParentRotating 5% cash back with no fees alone makes my Discover card my favorite card. The categories are generally very broad, and a 3 month period is long enough that you'll almost definitely have...Rotating 5% cash back with no fees alone makes my Discover card my favorite card.
The categories are generally very broad, and a 3 month period is long enough that you'll almost definitely have purchases you can use it for while still being short enough I can hold off on a major purchase if I see its category coming up once they announce it.
I haven't found any other accessible card nearly as good, and alongside a general 2% cash back card it's about as optimized as you can get for basic cash back without fees, churning, abnormally high spending, or direct point redemption for things like travel.
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Comment on Ethiopia becomes the first country to ban (importation of) internal combustion vehicles in ~transport
JackA Link ParentNote that while this data point can sound like "it doesn't make a difference anyway", it's actually extremely good news. When developing countries start seeing a path forwards that essentially...Note that while this data point can sound like "it doesn't make a difference anyway", it's actually extremely good news.
When developing countries start seeing a path forwards that essentially allows them to skip the heavy pollution of industrialization that almost all currently developed countries had to go through before they could start focusing on reducing emissions, it bodes incredibly well for future trends.
Ethiopia is home to almost 130 million people currently and is only expected to further climb the population ranks in the future. As many of them climb out of poverty over the next century, being able to skip all of those emissions in a huge developing country (and accelerate their environmental Kuznets curve) will be an enormous benefit to the world as richer countries continue to move towards renewables at the same time.
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Comment on Introducing Mozilla Monitor Plus, a new tool to automatically remove your personal information from data broker sites in ~tech
JackA LinkI'm inherently skeptical that products and companies for this sort of service are springing up left and right and starting to dominate youtube sponsor spots. I generally trust Mozilla, but the...I'm inherently skeptical that products and companies for this sort of service are springing up left and right and starting to dominate youtube sponsor spots. I generally trust Mozilla, but the idea that our privacy was stolen from us and now it's being sold back to us as a subscription is a bit sickening.
I'm still not sure I even trust the core mechanism these services use to operate, which is sending out your personal information on auto-filled forms to data brokers so they can "remove your data" or "make sure they don't have your information".
Of course they then immediately start gathering new records that need to be deleted again in the future. There's no reason to think that outting yourself to them as privacy conscious with services like this helps whatsoever. I've already read people in privacy communities saying they started receiving more spam after using one of these.
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Comment on 23andMe’s fall from $6 billion to nearly $0 in ~finance
JackA LinkAnd as they lose out on new customers what else can they turn to for profit to stay afloat except the only asset they have: existing user data. If they go under it makes you wonder who might buy...And as they lose out on new customers what else can they turn to for profit to stay afloat except the only asset they have: existing user data.
If they go under it makes you wonder who might buy up all of your DNA for a bargain to use as they please. At the current trajectory this company will dissolve with nobody to hold accountable for promises made, but that data will be out there forever to be used against you and your entire (non-consenting) family as soon as someone finds another way to profit off of it or use it for discrimination.
The fact that this entire industry isn't covered under HIPAA protections is nonsense.
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OpenAI quietly removes ban on military use of its AI tools
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Comment on How social justice activists lost the plot in ~books
JackA Link ParentYour findings and opinions may very well be valid, but please be substantive when attacking someone's character. I find myself agreeing with some of this article, and as such I'm feeling a bit...- Exemplary
Your findings and opinions may very well be valid, but please be substantive when attacking someone's character.
I find myself agreeing with some of this article, and as such I'm feeling a bit more defensive when the author is ad-hominemed. Let alone without so much as actually telling us what he has done wrong enough to invalidate his ideas.
Genuinely please do tell if it is not worth digging deeper to understand his opinion. My own quick searches on Fredrik find it very hard to differentiate between political vitriol and rational criticism.
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Comment on The “everything home server” for under $300: fanless, 8 cores, 4x 10Gbe SFP+, JBOD support in ~tech
JackA (edited )Link ParentAt that level and especially just going to access devices I wouldn't bother with SFP+ or fiber honestly. Maybe just between the actual network infrastructure if you'd like to future-proof. I'm...At that level and especially just going to access devices I wouldn't bother with SFP+ or fiber honestly. Maybe just between the actual network infrastructure if you'd like to future-proof.
I'm resisting the urge to go and find specific models for you but you'd probably do just fine with a "multi-gig" switch that allows 2.5Gbps and 5Gbps speeds through native RJ-45 ports with Cat6. They're pretty cheap these days and avoid the quite large expense of individual 10GBASE-T transceivers (that's what those adapters are) that can also be prone to other issues.
The jump from "multi-gig" (which is kinda the industry standard stopgap right now) to 10Gbps is a rather expensive one that I can't really recommend for home use unless you really like spending way too much money on barely utilized enterprise network gear like me.
Even just on the web browsing side all it takes is very well known (at least in the tech space) fingerprinting techniques to almost completely render VPN's and privacy extensions useless for preventing tracking. Websites can easily identify exactly who you are, and those common end to end encryptions (that do still help) only protect you until your traffic reaches the company providing the service. Most of those company's then just directly sell your data to corporations and state actors, and many of those that don't very likely have incredibly top-secret backdoors installed allowing government surveillance that even they may not know about. We have proof the government has been doing this in recent history, there's no reason to think they've stopped now that their tools have only gotten stronger.