skybrian's recent activity
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Comment on Jevons Paradox: A personal perspective in ~tech
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Comment on Haiti turns to weaponized drones in fight against gangs in ~society
skybrian LinkFrom the article: … …From the article:
Since drones were first deployed in early March, they have not killed any gang leaders. But they have injured at least nine civilians, including women and children, according to a health-care worker who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals by Haitian officials. Two had such severe burns that they were transferred to specialized facilities for treatment.
Little is known about the drones. Haitians say they see them and hear the explosions. Gang leaders post videos of them in their territory and the injuries they say they have sustained from them. They appear to be commercial drones that were weaponized with improvised munitions to make them lethal, analysts say.
It’s also unclear who is in charge of the drone operations. Neither Haiti’s interim government nor its police have publicly claimed responsibility for them. But a Haitian government official said the unit is run by a task force created this year by interim prime minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé and the transitional presidential council.
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[A] Haitian official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive security issue, defended the drone operations. Haiti, he said, is “at war.” The drones have killed “many” gang members, though he did not have a number, and without them, he said, the gangs would have taken over the affluent neighborhood of Pétion-Ville.
The drones are being used to target gang strongholds that civilians have already fled, he added. But when asked about the civilian casualties — which have not been previously reported — he said they would not be a “surprise.”
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Gangs control at least 85 percent of Port-au-Prince. At least 5,600 people were killed in gang violence in 2024, according to U.N. data, up 17 percent from 2023. Roughly 1 million people, or 10 percent of the country’s population, have been displaced. The violence has worsened after warring gangs joined to form a coalition called Viv Ansanm, which has launched attacks against the capital and the countryside.
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Haiti turns to weaponized drones in fight against gangs
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Comment on ‘This unlawful impost must fall’: Conservative group sues US President Donald Trump claiming tariffs are ‘unconstitutional exercise of legislative power’ in ~society
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Comment on ‘This unlawful impost must fall’: Conservative group sues US President Donald Trump claiming tariffs are ‘unconstitutional exercise of legislative power’ in ~society
skybrian (edited )LinkA New Yorker article giving more background: The Conservative Legal Advocates Working to Kill Trump’s Tariffs - https://archive.is/QHdPtA New Yorker article giving more background:
The Conservative Legal Advocates Working to Kill Trump’s Tariffs - https://archive.is/QHdPt
There are other congressional enactments that do authorize tariffs, which Trump duly invoked during his first term without drawing a major legal challenge. N.C.L.A. points to the Trade Act of 1974, which allows the U.S. Trade Representative to “impose duties or other import restrictions,” or else to “proclaim a tariff-rate quota on the article.” When Trump relied on those and related authorities to levy tariffs on China, on steel and aluminum imports, and on washing machines and solar cells, his first Administration followed an onerous regulatory process, called for by Congress, that took the better part of a year to complete in all three instances. Not so with the China tariffs imposed in February and March, for which Trump turned to the I.E.E.P.A.
To kick that overreach into high gear, on the first day of the new Administration, the freshly inaugurated President declared a national emergency at the southern border [...]
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Comment on If it's crypto it's not money laundering in ~finance
skybrian LinkFrom the blog post: ... ... ...From the blog post:
It appears to be official now. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, when illicit activity is routed via crypto infrastructure, then it no longer qualifies as money laundering.
Earlier this week the Department of Justice's deputy attorney general Todd Blanche sent out an internal staff memo saying that the digital asset industry (read: crypto) is "critical to the nation’s economic development." (Editor's note: it's not.) As such, staff have been instructed to stop targeting crypto platforms such as exchanges, mixers like Tornado Cash and ChipMixer, and offline wallets for the "acts of their end users."
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This marks a radical departure from long-established financial law on Planet Earth, where financial institutions are generally held responsible for the "acts of their end users," and are pursued when criminals use them to "conduct their illegal activities." It's what's known in law as money laundering.
Money laundering is a two-sided crime. There's the first leg: a criminal who has dirty money. And there is the second leg: the criminal's counterparty, a financial intermediary (a bank, crypto exchange, remittance platform, money courier, or helpful individual) who processes the dirty funds. Both legs are prosecutable. That's precisely what happened to both TD Bank and its cartel-linked customers when they were charged last year. Financial providers are held liable for the crimes of their users.
The same two-sidedness goes for sanctions evasion. There is the sanctioned party and there is the financial platform that facilitates their evasion. Both are indictable.
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In effect the entire technology has been handed a get-out-of-money-laundering-jail-free card. A detached observer could safely assume that crypto platforms will respond by easing up on their compliance measures—they won't be indicted, after all—which, in turn, will allow more bad actors to make use of their services.
The memo provides more details. It's quite likely that both the ongoing Tornado Cash case (which I've written about extensively) and the ChipMixer case will be dropped, as the memo explicitly states that the Department will no longer target mixing and tumbling services. Tornado Cash, a smart-contract based mixer, operates with a large proportion of its infrastructure running through automated code, whereas first-generation mixers like ChipMixer are entirely human-operated. The latter had mostly disappeared thanks to a series of successful criminal convictions, but will spring back into action as the threat of indictment recedes—leading to more anonymity for the entire system, including for criminals.
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This decriminalization of crypto money laundering is a ratification of how much of the crypto ecosystem already operates. Just last week, for example, I wrote about stablecoin issuers like Tether and Circle allowing Garantex, a sanctioned Russian exchange, to hold balances of their stablecoins. The issuers seem to believe that providing access to illicit end users like Garantex is legal. And now, it seems, the government has confirmed their view by no longer targeting unhosted wallets for the "acts of their end users."
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If it's crypto it's not money laundering
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Comment on I'm tired of dismissive anti-AI bias in ~tech
skybrian Link ParentI'm reminded of doing piano exercises. Sometimes relatively rigid training helps you learn the skills that you can later use for self-expression. The key will be putting the exercise into context,...I'm reminded of doing piano exercises. Sometimes relatively rigid training helps you learn the skills that you can later use for self-expression. The key will be putting the exercise into context, because grinding at getting good at an exercise can certainly turn people off, too.
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Comment on I'm tired of dismissive anti-AI bias in ~tech
skybrian Link ParentIt’s been a trend since the early days of the Internet that security requirements have gone up as activity by bad actors increased. Denial of service attacks aren’t new. Botnets aren’t new. A lot...It’s been a trend since the early days of the Internet that security requirements have gone up as activity by bad actors increased. Denial of service attacks aren’t new. Botnets aren’t new. A lot of websites have to hide behind Cloudflare or similar.
This is a new pattern of behavior, though. Denial of service attacks didn’t used to look like crawlers.
How much do we really know about who is behind these bots?
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ChatGPT is taking over immigrant kids’ least favorite chore: translating for their parents
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Comment on Ai 2027 in ~tech
skybrian Link ParentThere has been some progress in mechanistic interpretability, so it’s not like nobody knows anything about what goes on inside an LLM. And they do sometimes train another LLM as part of this. But...There has been some progress in mechanistic interpretability, so it’s not like nobody knows anything about what goes on inside an LLM. And they do sometimes train another LLM as part of this. But it’s not fully understood yet.
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Comment on Pressuring migrants to ‘self-deport,’ White House moves to cancel social security numbers (gifted link) in ~society
skybrian LinkFrom the article:From the article:
[T]he administration is taking drastic steps to pressure some of those immigrants and others who had legal status to “self-deport” by effectively canceling the Social Security numbers they had lawfully obtained, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times and interviews with six people familiar with the plans.
The goal is to cut those people off from using crucial financial services like bank accounts and credit cards, along with their access to government benefits.
The effort hinges on a surprising new tactic: repurposing Social Security’s “death master file,” which for years has been used to track dead people who should no longer receive benefits, to include the names of living people who the government believes should be treated as if they are dead. As a result of being added to the death database, they would be blacklisted from a coveted form of identity that allows them to make and more easily spend money.
Earlier this week, the names of more than 6,300 migrants whose legal status had just been revoked were added to the file, according to the documents.
The initial names are limited to people the administration says are convicted criminals and “suspected terrorists,” the documents show. But officials said the effort could broaden to include others in the country without authorization.
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Pressuring migrants to ‘self-deport,’ White House moves to cancel social security numbers (gifted link)
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Apple airlifts 600 tons of iPhones from India 'to beat' Donald Trump tariffs, sources say
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Comment on Help me understand the phrase, "Elbows up" in ~society
skybrian (edited )Link ParentRather than a myth, it would be better to say that rhetoric like the "brotherhood of man" was aspirational. It's not the sort of rhetoric you see in reporting. (Or much at all anymore since it's...Rather than a myth, it would be better to say that rhetoric like the "brotherhood of man" was aspirational. It's not the sort of rhetoric you see in reporting. (Or much at all anymore since it's rather sexist )
There are statistics showing that violence is trending down in the US, but violent rhetoric and art are not, based on movies, video games, and music.
There are also lots of violent metaphors like "war on X" that are simply used as metaphors. Many people have become more aware of them, but they haven't become taboo.
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Comment on I'm tired of dismissive anti-AI bias in ~tech
skybrian Link ParentI’m not sure it ever was enforced very well? Anyone who has looked at http server logs knows that there have been weird user agents all along, though at a lower rate. Enforcement across...I’m not sure it ever was enforced very well? Anyone who has looked at http server logs knows that there have been weird user agents all along, though at a lower rate.
Enforcement across international borders is non-trivial.
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Comment on I'm tired of dismissive anti-AI bias in ~tech
skybrian Link ParentOn social media, people post hot takes that could be interpreted that way. Adding caveats to turn it into a reasonable opinion would spoil the joke.On social media, people post hot takes that could be interpreted that way. Adding caveats to turn it into a reasonable opinion would spoil the joke.
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Comment on I'm tired of dismissive anti-AI bias in ~tech
skybrian Link ParentLike with combatting spam, there are multiple ways to go about it that are partially effective. Sometimes the cost of serving the data can be made very low via caching and content networks....Like with combatting spam, there are multiple ways to go about it that are partially effective. Sometimes the cost of serving the data can be made very low via caching and content networks. Sometimes crawlers can be blocked.
It's hard to say which way it will go, but I think it's reasonable to believe that, like spam, it will always be with us, but might be suppressed enough that it's not a big problem day-to-day.
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Comment on I'm tired of dismissive anti-AI bias in ~tech
skybrian Link ParentFor controversial issues, there is an endless stream of hot takes that don't really deserve a full response, or maybe any response. Disagreeing with hot takes can be done endlessly. People will...For controversial issues, there is an endless stream of hot takes that don't really deserve a full response, or maybe any response. Disagreeing with hot takes can be done endlessly. People will keep posting hot takes regardless of what you say.
So why do it? For some of us, disagreeing is addictive.
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Comment on Where do you all get your news from? How do you work to avoid echo chambers and propaganda? in ~life
skybrian (edited )LinkI don’t think it’s necessary to avoid ideological publications altogether if they sometimes post good links. But you do want to get more perspective. One thing I recommend is, rather than sharing...I don’t think it’s necessary to avoid ideological publications altogether if they sometimes post good links. But you do want to get more perspective.
One thing I recommend is, rather than sharing the first article you find about some event, doing a Google News search to see what else has been written about the same subject. There are some stories that mainstream news won’t touch, and others that every news publication covers. It’s useful to think about why that’s the case. If it would be big news and only disreputable news publications are picking it up, that’s a bit suspicious to me. It’s often useful to pick a better article than the one you saw originally, and it might be worth waiting a bit to see if any more news comes out.
Another thing to be wary of is the difference between sharing evidence and telling the reader what to think. What sources are they using? Evidence has to come from somewhere. On social media, people usually skip telling you what happened and go directly to reacting to it, so you need to do a news search to find out what happened.
As far as academic writers are concerned, one thing I like to see is that they should tell you what the consensus among scholars is, how it’s changed over time, and when they are disagreeing with it.
Money isn’t explicitly mentioned, but costs are typically measured using money and an “opportunity cost” is usually an opportunity to make money that you’re forgoing.
So to be crass about it, it sounds like they’re making so much money, and have the opportunity to make so much more, that they don’t think they can afford to take time off? The solution is that they should adjust to being rich and take time off anyway. There is always more work you could be doing.