Adam Karkowski @adz@mastodon.technology

So I've been thinking about my ideal version of a social network...
1. It should be built on encrypted chat systems. So all DMs should be E2E encrypted. Public messages should be signed (to prevent spoofing) but not encrypted. Importantly, it should be a federated system, like Mastodon or email. This is definitely possible since Signal (TextSecure, at the time) used to federate with WhisperPush by CyanogenMod.

Here's something I've been thinking about for a while.

If an ultra secure messaging system were to be subverted by the developer(s) compromising the app by adding a silent/invisible extra party to all conversations (i.e. all 1-on-1 chats become, in effect, group chats), would there be any way to know? That is, this silent/invisible extra party would get all messages and replies for anyone the developers wanted to spy on (if, for example, they were served with a warrant or any other reason).

This snippet of a podcast contains the most honest and brutal accounts of the war in Iraq I've ever heard. I recommend it to anyone who's interested in this, or related, topics.

https://soundcloud.com/eyesleft/iraqwarhistory#t=52:30

The liberal establishment in the US has, and largely still continues to, twist itself into knots regarding Russian hacking, spying and general influence. But back in 2001, 200 Russian spies were expelled from the US. Which set off this whole chain of events. Oh wait, no, the spies were Israeli. That's why you likely never heard about it.

https://m.soundcloud.com/media-roots/ecstasy-israeli-art-students-the-mossad

So, I don't know what to make of this story. It's by Wired magazine from about 10 years ago. It's a about corpse-eating battle robots. Yes you read that correctly.

https://www.wired.com/2009/07/military-researchers-develop-corpse-eating-robots/

Obligatory video.

https://hooktube.com/watch?v=hBA0AH-LSbo

The rich are literally vampires.

https://jacobinmag.com/2019/02/ambrosia-blood-capitalists-vampires-medicare-for-all

I missed this previously. It appears FaceBook is launching its own cryptocurrency. They may become the largest central bank in the world.

https://medium.com/@lancengym/facebook-plans-to-become-worlds-biggest-central-bank-7d99d967b73c

So one of my main reservations about the story is that even the toned-down version appears, at first blush, a bit cartoonish. Like Saddam Hussein being the next Hitler or whatever.

Another reservation I have is, if these women were so poorly treated, why did none of them defect? Or attempt to? There's lots of them, out in public frequently. How do you watch all of them all the time?

Also, NK would have to be stupid. Why send your most desperate, abused people as ambassadors? You would keep them close.

That one was highly over-the-top, but here's the same story from the Independent. Much more measured but essentially the same.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/north-korea-cheerleaders-sex-slaves-kim-jong-un-parties-politicians-a8226646.html

I can't help but be sceptical of stories like this. Anyone know if it's actually true, or can point to something debunking this?

https://nypost.com/2018/02/23/defector-claims-north-koreas-cheerleaders-are-actually-sex-slaves/

I found that video through this article. It's honestly terrifying. Even if only half of it ends up being true.

https://www.resilience.org/stories/2019-01-31/collapse-is-already-here/

Videos like this make me honestly afraid for our future. It scares me more than war, since wars end eventually. The toll may be great but recovery is possible even if people were being completely irresponsible in the lead-up and the worst happens. Not so with this. The only way to deal with the situation is to pre-emptively avoid it. Recovery simply may not be possible.

https://hooktube.com/watch?v=yluAudzTp1Y

The following video talks about exploitative videos depicting children on youtube and how, in the creepy comments section, there appear to be links to actual child porn.

https://hooktube.com/watch?v=O13G5A5w5P0

Anyone who thought that Tucker Carlson had integrity or was on their side should have a look at this.

https://mobile.twitter.com/nowthisnews/status/1098282209834950657

And before you ask, I totally meant Bach to Firefox. I went all renaissance on its arse. Yep.

So after some recent discussions around here, I gave up on #Brave and went Bach to #Firefox. I have to say it's improved considerably since I last used it on #Android. I remember it being a bit slow and crashy. They seem to have fixed that. But mostly, my favourite feature is that now you can install most extensions on it. Before it was some tiny fraction or none at all. Helloooooo #UblockOrigin. There goes the main reason I ever bothered with Brave to begin with.