Nick has moved to Mathstodon @internic@qoto.org

Approaching tech activism without a historical foundation can lead people badly astray.

For example, many modern tech critics think that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act
(which makes internet users liable for illegal speech acts, while immunizing entities that host that speech)
is a "giveaway to Big Tech" and want to see it abolished.

👉Boy is this dangerous.

CDA 230 is necessary for anyone who wants to offer a place for people to meet and discuss anything.

Without CDA 230, no one could safely host a Mastodon server,
or set up the long-elusive federated Bluesky servers.

Hell, you couldn't even host a group-chat or message board:
-- @pluralistic
https://www.techdirt.com/2020/06/23/hello-youve-been-referred-here-because-youre-wrong-about-section-230-communications-decency-act/

My Electromagnetic Optics textbook is coming soon! Here's the link to the IOP Press page, with both hardback and e-book options: https://store.ioppublishing.org/page/detail/Electromagnetic-Optics/?K=9780750360623

going down an algorithmic rabbit hole and thinking, nothing I know is certain: https://www.quantamagazine.org/undergraduate-upends-a-40-year-old-data-science-conjecture-20250210/

The father of evolutionary biology, Charles Darwin, was born on this day in 1809.

Happy Darwin Day!
#science #history

I don't have much reach but I'll try anyways (boosts welcome)

People who use an offline password manager (keepass etc), how do you synchronize the passwords file between devices?

#infosec

I am looking for a good way to have bookmarks available from all my devices.

I was once a del.icio.us user and have tended to use services similar to that since, because they easily allowed me to have my bookmarks on all devices without worrying about compatibility with a specific #browser or OS. But I've been thinking that maybe I should use something with better #privacy guarantees, like end-to-end encryption.

Since I'm primarily a #Firefox user, I considered just using Firefox's built-in bookmarking and FF sync. But one issue I have is that it doesn't seem to autocomplete tags when you're entering bookmarks. To me this is important because a challenge with tags is consistently using the same ones and not creating a bunch of similar variants, so I want something that makes it easy for me to tell if I've used a tag before when I'm entering tags for a new bookmark.

Are there Firefox extensions or other web services for this with E2EE that I should be considering?

#web #webBrowser #webBrowsers

The result of the attack is the planting of false long-term memories that will be present in all future sessions, opening the potential for the chatbot to act on false information or instructions in perpetuity.

https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/02/new-hack-uses-prompt-injection-to-corrupt-geminis-long-term-memory/

Nine years ago we announced to the world that we have detected #GravitationalWaves we did it!

https://youtu.be/lslUF9gdYI8

Time for, well, not a distraction so much as a palate cleanser: a truly phenomenal shot from Hubble of a galaxy that is rippling like a pond that had a rock tossed in it… because that's what happened! Kinda.

And YES you want to grab the hi-res version.

https://badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/incredible-and-spectacular-hubble-image-of-a-galaxy-that-got-whacked-by-another-galaxy

In a few days we're going to be asking for your financial support to expand our work. Are you excited?

CenturyLink nightmares: Users keep asking Ars for help with multi-month outages
Three more tales of CenturyLink failing to fix outages until hearing from Ars.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/02/centurylink-nightmares-users-keep-asking-ars-for-help-with-multi-month-outages/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

Finally up and running 😅 #bofh

Another #astrophysics calculation - would it be faster to travel to the other side of the Earth by falling through a hole or by orbiting around? This is a fun #physics question with lots of parts - but the best part is the #python model at the end.

https://youtu.be/04U6wmOOwRE

What did you always wonder about #BlackHoles? Something that you always wanted to ask an astronomer working on them?

Collecting questions for a reason, maybe even answering them in the comments (or at a later point).

#VicisAstro

Every 4 years, a team of libraries & research organizations work together to preserve material from U.S. government websites during the transition of administrations. 🗳️

Get the latest on the 2024/2025 End of Term Web Archive @eotarchive ➡️ https://blog.archive.org/2025/02/06/update-on-the-2024-2025-end-of-term-web-archive/

@Flipboard and Surf.Social are excited to host the first-ever Fediverse House, March 9 & 10, 2025.

Join us while the SXSW conference is going on to learn about the world of decentralized social and why it promises a better way for consumers, creators, brands, and even democracy itself.

Our programming lineup is stacked (and still evolving), but it’s looking like the place to be for anyone interested in the future of the internet.

Details and RSVP:

https://about.flipboard.com/fediverse/fediverse-house-2025/

#fediverse #fediversehouse25 #sxsw #austin #mastodon #bluesky #flipboard #threads

HEAD’S UP: If @mastodon_notifications (or anything similar) sends you a DM, do not click on it.

This is a phishing scam.

That account is not associated with Mastodon in any official capacity and is a complete grift. Though it is aesthetically similar to a Mastodon site, it does not run Mastodon, and clicking on several links brings forth a 404.

(And yes, I accessed this site using gloves 😉)

Of course, I’ve reported this account. But where one account exists, I suspect there are others!