Notices by Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦 (rysiek@mstdn.social), page 3

:blobcatpeek:

#Signal #TheAtlantic #AYBABTU #SignalGate

I spent waaay too much time on this. :blob0w0:

@onepict oh damn. Do you have a link about these shenanigans?

I always treated OSI with... suspicion. Felt a bit corporatey.

Any people reading this who rely on Discord: this is your nudge to consider moving elsewhere.

Where? I don't know. What I do know is that whatever alternative I suggest, you will find a myriad of reasons why it just "won't cut it."

But I also know that if resources were spent on making the hard-to-enshittify decentralized platforms better, they would get better, while still remaining hard to enshittify.

So, perhaps it's worth it to trade some short-term convenience for long-term resilience. 🤷♀️

I hear people are doing a surprise-pikachu about Discord's new ad push?
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/03/discord-heightens-ad-focus-by-introducing-video-ads-to-mobile-apps-in-june/

Truly surprising that a *checks notes* proprietary, centralized, VC-funded platform started enshittifying the moment it gained enough market share to make it very difficult for people to flow elsewhere. 🤯

Nobody saw that coming! :blobcat0_0:

:blobcatcoffee:

#Discord #WalledGardens

Cruelty is the point. 🤬

Trump weighs revoking legal status of Ukrainians as US steps up deportations
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-plans-revoke-legal-status-ukrainians-who-fled-us-sources-say-2025-03-06/
12m

Holy moly, #Flow got an Oscar for best animated feature film!
https://mastodon.social/@Blender/114098097931596540

I am so happy for the crew, and so happy for @Blender.

If you have not seen Flow, go see it. It is wonderful, warm, insightful, and wise, without a single line of dialogue. It is, to me, an instant #Solarpunk classic, as well.

Edit: seems like they respond only on TCP?

It seems like nih.gov nameservers are down – unless my euro-commie IP address is being blocked (which would be weird).

Can someone from the US please check?

ns.nih.gov. 3600 IN A 128.231.128.251
ns2.nih.gov. 3600 IN A 128.231.64.1
ns3.nih.gov. 3600 IN A 165.112.4.230

#SysAdmin #InfoSec

@tadbithuman US did not start it, Russia did.

It's not a proxy war, it's a war of imperial conquest by Russia against Ukraine. With Russia being very clear they do not consider Ukraine a country, Ukrainian a language, and Ukrainians a people.

Putting it in any other terms is furthering Kremlin's propaganda. Please don't do that.

Fantastic resource for anyone who wants to understand what's going on in Ukraine, and why it is happening:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLfFmYWjHtc&list=PLh9mgdi4rNewfxO7LhBoz_1Mx1MaO6sw_

@djsundog :angry_laugh:

@loke this.

Plus, if the device has WiFi and if your neighbor has an open network, who's to say that the TV won't auto-connect?

For your convenience, of course.

I would be begrudgingly fine with a *physical* switch that would disable "smart" crap, though.

@ghostdancer @sv1 @djsundog

@villewilson ha! smart! I need to consider this.

the other option is some "professional displays" like this one:
https://iiyama.com/gl_en/products/prolite-lh5541uhs-b2/

but these tend to be more expensive than "smart" TVs 🙄

@inthehands literally next message in the thread.

This matters a lot, because – as the NEWAG DRMed trains thing in Poland clearly shows – stereotyping hackers as some nebulous cyber-criminals enables companies that do something shady to just shout "oh, hackers!" when researchers call them out on that.

And it works! It's a strategy that is being used consciously and with purpose by NEWAG, and has been used in the past by other huge companies who wanted to deflect criticism related to their own cyber-shenanigans.

@inthehands I am not complaining about the "Russia-aligned", I am complaining about the "hackers" bit. I thought the example I gave was pretty clear.

When writing about pretty much any kind of attacks, we tend to recognize that while people with certain skills were certainly involved, that is not their defining characteristic.

Would @arstechnica write a headline featuring "Russia-aligned driver groups"? 🤔

No, that would obviously sound ridiculous. "Russia-aligned mercenary groups" makes way more sense. Even though most of them likely can and do drive.

And yet over and over again: "Russia-aligned hackers". 🙄

https://mastodon.social/@arstechnica/114032647463343969

"Russia-aligned cyber-criminal groups"

"Russia-aligned malicious actors"

"Russia-aligned cyber-espionage groups"

"Russia-aligned cyber-warfare groups"

All of these are better, more clear, and more relevant to the actual attack that is being reported on.

All of these also avoid implying responsibility of some nebulous hackers and harmfully stereotyping a global creative community.

And it took me a few seconds to come up with these.

Come on, @arstechnica , you can do better.

Me:

> I am a very happy user of an old ENOX 42" TV, very much not-"smart".
>
> I am looking to replace it. Was hoping I would find some non-"smart" options from a manufacturer whose similar product I own and am happy with.

ENOX:

> It is not smart to go for a non-smart TV anymore 😊

Well, calling your customers dumb is certain *a* strategy, not sure if it's a good one. 🤷♀️

@triskelion lolwat?

Do you have a link?

@dalias @pettter

@dalias @pettter thoughts on Cwtch vs SimpleX?