Notices by Meredith Whittaker (mer__edith@mastodon.world), page 2

Case in point: there's no way to build a backdoor that only the "good guys" can use.

When the entire technical community says that the EU's ChatControl legislation + similar pose serious cybersecurity threats, we're not exaggerating for effect.

https://www.wsj.com/tech/cybersecurity/u-s-wiretap-systems-targeted-in-china-linked-hack-327fc63b?st=byoB7m

📣NEW paper! Don’t believe the hype: bigger AI ≠ better AI. @SashaMTL, @GaelVaroquaux and me on how the race to bigger, and bigger AI has bad consequences and isn't necessary.

1. Smaller AI models often perform better than big models in context

And

2. Obsession with bigness has severe collateral consequences, from climate costs, to concentrated power, to more surveillance, to the capture of AI research.

All of this, and what we can do instead 👇

arxiv.org/abs/2409.14160

@apicultor @x_cli @briankrebs

That Flatpak package, linked above in this thread, is unofficial.

Our official download instructions for Linux tell people how to install our APT key, and every release is signed.

I'm assuming Brian Krebs' original is referring to macOS. Our releases are signed on macOS and Windows too.

💐

This is so cool/kind

(AND they're using machine learning to actually do the thing 'for humanity' that companies selling ML to the pharma industry claim it will , but that of course their version will not actually do, given the incentives♥️)

https://www.404media.co/right-to-repair-for-your-body-the-rise-of-diy-pirated-medicine/

Such a delight to sit down with the great @a_greenberg for a long engaged convo on surveillance, AI, my wild path through tech, and how by rejecting the toxic norm Signal provides a shining model for better, healthier tech futures♥️

https://www.wired.com/story/meredith-whittaker-signal/

Nice reflection on the value of private comms, and the consequences of the massive AT&T data breech.

This is why Signal bends over backward to collect as close to NO DATA as we can. Not having it is the best way to keep it safe❤️

https://blog.yaelwrites.com/insights-from-my-stolen-at-t-data-or-why-i-use-signal/

Of course, VC's require an exit, and an acquisition is the classic exit. But a healthy and competitive innovation landscape does not.

Taxing equity is also, of course, very alarming to investors.

But the argument that this hurts innovation and competition also falls flat IMO. Taxing unrealized investment value would check the overhype-to-acquisition cycle that makes VC's rich, but directs so much energy and capital into overvalued bullshit that doesn't meaningfully work/help people/etc.

Catching up on some of the "Little Tech" rhetoric from a16z. A lot more to say here.

But one thing that stands out as a rhetorical flaw in the pitch: curbing Big Tech startup acquisitions is listed as bad for little tech. Even as little tech is presented as the enabler of competition and innovation, contra Big Tech's market consolidation. Consolidation that is, of course, facilitated via acquisitions.

https://pmarca.substack.com/p/the-little-tech-agenda

2. We continue working to harden our desktop build across supported operating systems and take advantage of new platform capabilities as they emerge. Those of you following our repo can follow this work there.

3. The posters who raised this issue did so without contacting us directly. Instead, they went straight to social media, in some cases using inflammatory language. And they dropped these claims over a US holiday weekend. This is the opposite of responsible disclosure.

We ask those who are serious about security and privacy to please engage us directly in the future, instead of resorting first to online claims that can confuse non-experts and lead people to make unsafe choices and develop inaccurate mental models based on scary language. We monitor security@signal.org carefully and respond to all legitimate reports.

There’s been some chatter about Signal desktop recently, so let’s clear the air. Three points:

1. The reported issues rely on an attacker already having *full access to your device* — either physically, through a malware compromise, or via a malicious application running on the same device. This is not something that Signal, or any other app, can fully protect against. Nor do we ever claim to.

This is why we're seeing dumb AI everywhere, and self owns like MS's Recall

Recouping revenue from massively expensive AI development is urgent, market fit's unclear, so corps are shoving "AI" into everything to please investors/hope for fit/keep the bubble inflated

IMO this also explains the lockstep turn to military contracting (OAI, et al). A good way to sell tech that "doesn't actually work" via lucrative contracts whose efficacy won't be assessed w trad. metrics.

https://www.sequoiacap.com/article/ais-600b-question/

📣Official statement: the new EU chat controls proposal for mass scanning is the same old surveillance with new branding.

Whether you call it a backdoor, a front door, or “upload moderation” it undermines encryption & creates significant vulnerabilities

https://signal.org/blog/pdfs/upload-moderation.pdf

@dalias @echo_pbreyer Yes. TLDR we would not comply. Then they'd take whichever action they'd take in response to remove us from the market.

@svitvojimilioni @echo_pbreyer We would not comply. Then what would happen would happen, which per the law would amount to somehow being prevented from operating in the EU. Likely through app store deplatforming but who knows.

Signal strongly opposes the newest #ChatControl proposal in Europe.

Let there be no doubt: we will leave the EU market rather than undermine our privacy guarantees.

This proposal--if passed and enforced against us--would require us to make this choice.

It's surveillance wine in safety bottles.

See more: https://www.patrick-breyer.de/en/majority-for-chat-control-possible-users-who-refuse-scanning-to-be-prevented-from-sharing-photos-and-links/ @echo_pbreyer

IMO we need to dismantle the surveillance advertising biz model & the surveillance and centralized control at its heart.

But this doesn't do that. Instead, it advocates for 'transparency' w/o accountability + inexplicably ONLY names e2ee encryption as a "risk" to children.

What's clear here, broadly, are the sharp limits of shareholder-driven activism when it comes to curtailing a toxic-yet-profitable business model.

Ignoring expert consensus, feeling no shame following exposés showing tech lobbyists shaping these EU surveillance proposals, EU politicians are at it again

So, we'll reiterate: Signal would rather leave the EU market than subject our users to mass gov surveillance. FULL STOP

https://netzpolitik.org/2024/internes-protokoll-belgien-will-nutzer-verpflichten-chatkontrolle-zuzustimmen/

Last week I had the honor of accepting the 2024 Helmut Schmidt Future Prize

Instead of a traditional speech, I gave this talk on the history of AI, the business of surveillance, & why the use of AI "ad targeting for killing" in Gaza should be illegal👇

https://www.helmut-schmidt.de/aktuelles/detail/die-rede-der-zukunftspreistraegerin