Olives @olives@qoto.org

https://www.techdirt.com/2023/09/15/unitys-new-pricing-plan-unites-everyone-against-unity/ Remarkably greedy and stupid.

Reading posts from random sex scientists shows just how messed up some nuts can be in the United States.

One had to have an armed bodyguard at a conference because he dared to say that minors viewing porn is probably not a big deal.

One is posting about pizzas being mailed in the middle of the night to her.

One scrubbed her personal info because strange people keep stalking her.

These conspiracy theorists are actually kind of dangerous.

They will harass random people because they believe some dramatic nonsense that everyone is out to get them.

And when they talk to them, they will have takes as if they live in a parallel universe.

Conspiracy theorists see conspiracies everywhere.

If someone does something stupid or bizarre, they go looking for a "deeper meaning".

I do remember Andersson, the edge lord (his entire history seems to involve provocation). His paper was bizarre. It was like trying to see if he could feel obscure "vibes" other people were feeling during masturbation.

I don't think anyone took it seriously, and it didn't really tell us anything useful (it might as well have been shouting into the wind), but as is sometimes the case, someone might get Q conspiracy theorists looking for "nefarious plots".

Oh, I see someone who is intersex.

That kind of reminds me of the controversy over those non-consensual surgeries carried out on intersex infants, particularly as they apparently often lead to negative outcomes.

Banning facial recognition in say Clearview and other forms of surveillance would probably be better than some kind of facial recognition development license (especially, as it's likely to turn into a bureaucratic rubber stamp where it matters).

Banning all facial recognition might be impractical, as there are things like Face ID where you login to a device with your face (although, I've never been keen on that).

https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/women-who-stray/202309/why-narcissists-are-more-likely-to-identify-as-porn-addicts

"Externalizing responsibility and blaming others are common features of narcissism, as persons high in narcissism rarely see themselves as at fault for problems or misbehaviors. In recently published research, I was honored to assist several excellent addiction-and-personality researchers in exploring whether certain components of narcissism were related to identifying oneself as addicted to pornography, from the perspective that seeing oneself as addicted to pornography was a form of externalized responsibility: placing blame on pornography for one’s sexual or interpersonal struggles."

Paul O’Halloran looks like an abusive psychopath. I suggest that people in Victoria, Australia write to their elected reps to get him removed from all positions of authority.

Some of Beier's measures look pretty suspect.

In one, he decided an offender not wanting to be punished harshly meant they were "mental disturbed" (presumably because it deviates from the norms of majority), even though it rationally makes no sense for someone to want to be punished harshly.

Plucking random variables like that out of context isn't very useful imo.

"Article 19. Freedom of thought and conscience shall not be violated."

"Article 21. Freedom of assembly and association as well as speech, press and all other forms of expression are guaranteed.
No censorship shall be maintained, nor shall the secrecy of any means of communication be violated."

Don't worry, I am well aware that Article 21 of the Japanese Constitution protects freedom of expression (also that Article 19 protects freedom of thought).

Someone keeps telling me that.

Also, that sounds pretty cool. The world needs more of that.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/09/apple-and-google-are-introducing-new-ways-defeat-cell-site-simulators-it-enough

"Earlier this year Google announced another new mobile security setting for Android. This new setting allows users to prevent their phone from using a “null cipher” when making a connection with a cell tower. In a well-configured network, every connection with a cell tower is authenticated and encrypted using a symmetric cipher, with a cryptographic key generated by the phone's sim card and the tower it is connecting to.

However, when the null cipher is used, communications are instead sent in the clear and not encrypted.

Null ciphers are useful for tasks like network testing, where an engineer might need to see the content of the packets going over the wire. Null ciphers are also critical for emergency calls where connectivity is the number one priority, even if someone doesn't have a SIM card installed.

Unfortunately fake base stations can also take advantage of null ciphers to intercept traffic from phones, like SMS messages, calls, and non-encrypted internet traffic."

"Apple announced that in iOS 17, out September 18, iPhones will not connect to insecure 2G mobile towers if they are placed in Lockdown Mode."

I never understood why people like Unity.