Notices by Brad Rubenstein “:verified:” [OLD ACCOUNT] (bradrubenstein@infosec.exchange)

@Strit @libreoffice

Curious: In moving a government workforce toward LibreOffice, Is there discussion for what the support model should be?

Currently, the entire Professional Support list looks like it might support a few dozen companies totaling say 10k seats. Denmark has something like 800k bureaucrats (over a quarter of the national workforce).

Clearly not just an exercise in installing and using FOSS software, but massively scaling up the ability to support and fix and develop it for a huge (and consequential) workforce.

@dangoodin

Just to check, do you already have marketing "Disable all notifications" set on your substack account?

I didn't realize you also did non-fiction.

@cstross

AI system resorts to blackmail if told it will be removed

Alternate headline:

LLM developers design AI to blackmail

@patrickcmiller

Whatever happened to Fay Wray?

Amusement Español: On the left is an erizo. On the right is an erizo de mar.

@skinnylatte

@dalias

I show linode with 2gb 1cpu 50gb at $12/mo, and vultr with 2gb 1cpu 55gb at $10/mo (but I couldn't get reliable networking).

Am I missing something? Did I miss the special coupon? 😃

Good experiences here with Linode/Akamai (US) for years at 1 vcpu, 2gb ram, 50gb ssd for $12/mo.

But I see Ionos (DE, used to be 1&1) is offering a similar sized VPS (2 vcpu, 2gb RAM, 80Gb ssd) for $4/mo (1yr commit). I'm inclined to check it out.

They both have data centers around europe (UK, DE, ES, etc).

@dalias

So that means there's an independent endpoint with a copy of all those messages, on a computer that is surely connected to the open internet (required for Signal Desktop to work) and is surely backed up by IT (along with plaintext copies of all the messages).

Oh well.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/04/23/hegseth-signal-pentagon-computer/

Obligatory:

Chat Systems
https://xkcd.com/1810/

#WhatsApp #Signal #GlobalSwitchDay

The fact is, we usually have different threat models for different parts of our lives, and different levels of control in how we approach them.

If your work or medical system or whatever requires you to use WhatsApp, use WhatsApp.

If you also want to keep your personal data more private (e.g. who your friends/contacts are, what groups you belong to), you can use Signal for those conversations if you like — you might be interested in persuading your friends to message you there. I also think it is more enshittification resistant; YMMV.

Point is, you don't have to boil the ocean in order to improve your privacy and security, and things will likely shift over time. Pick your battles, and keep it moving.

#WhatsApp #Signal #GlobalSwitchDay

Now that Zuckerberg has blown the Trumpet, @sylv_a has suggested date to tell our friends to switch from WhatsApp to Signal. With cool graphics.

(thanks @sylv_a)

One need not even set "money-making grifts aside".

@cstross

Hmm... What would a "book without meaning" even mean?

@cstross

Here @forrestbrazeal as the reincarnation of Tom Lehrer (who to be clear is not dead yet).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrfEUZ0UvRo

So today I learned that having an empire over which the sun never sets creates a lot of problems after the sun sets.

@tess

I swear that airport is cursed.

@emilygorcenski

That response was waiting years for you to come along and say exactly the right thing. Saint.

@emilygorcenski

Wouldn't that make libertarians fascists with mannerisms?

@aral

half-broken, biased large statistical models...

... trained on stolen property and surveillance without consent.

@thomasfuchs