📣 NEW w/@udbhav-tiwari.bsky.social Mapping the technical reality & privacy/security perils of pushing AI agents into our infra We offer palliatives, but the core issues are paradigmatic: 'agency' relies on pervasive data access + ability to act w/o explicit consent.

Merry Christmas! May you enjoy the cinnamon nutmeg season as much as I do, with all the peace, major chord progressions, warm drinks, butterfat and sparkling this and that, whatever you believe, however work it ❤️🎄 🎁 here's a great album to get your day going https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=oscar+peterson+live+in+tokyo+1862

📣THREAD: It’s surprising to me that so many people were surprised to learn that Signal runs partly on AWS (something we can do because we use encryption to make sure no one but you–not AWS, not Signal, not anyone–can access your comms). It’s also concerning. 1/

PSA: we're aware that Signal is down for some people. This appears to be related to a major AWS outage. Stand by.

📣 Germany's close to reversing its opposition to mass surveillance & private message scanning, & backing the Chat Control bill. This could end private comms-& Signal-in the EU. Time's short and they're counting on obscurity: please let German politicians know how horrifying their reversal would be.

New Sunday Times profile in which I succeed, like a fencer in a 2hr marathon match, in fending off Qs abt my personal life & consistently turning focus back to my work & ideas. (Contra the interviewer's claim, many ppl do know me! They're called friends, & you know who you are ❤️) https://archive.is/BtZD0

Yes, I did sound the alarm on agentic AI's privacy threat, and rightly so.

Observer

Signal Chief Meredith Whittaker Sounds Alarm On Agentic A.I.’s Privacy Threat

Signal Foundation President Meredith Whittaker warns that agentic A.I. could breach app-level security, threatening privacy for millions of users.

So happy to be joining Burda Media's board of directors! I love a steep learning curve, and this one--schooling up on media business models & opportunities to (re)shape media's relationship to tech--couldn't be more exciting & consequential. Thrilled to contribute ❤️

www.burda.com

Corporate News: Signal President Meredith Whittaker Joins Burda's Board of Directors | Burda News

The Burda Group is pleased to announce the appointment of Signal president Meredith Whittaker to its Board of Directors, the company

'Meredith,' some guys ask, 'why won't you shove AI into Signal?' Because we love privacy, and we love you, and this shit is predictable and unacceptable. Use Signal ❤️

Use Signal. We promise, no AI clutter, and no surveillance ads, whatever the rest of the industry does. <3

Happy pride month! Especially to my trans friends <3

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

Such a delight to sit down with the great @npub1fx7y...jv34 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♥️

WIRED

Under Meredith Whittaker, Signal Is Out to Prove Surveillance Capitalism Wrong

On its 10th anniversary, Signal’s president wants to remind you that the world’s most secure communications platform is a nonprofit. It’s fre...

"'I actually don’t know of a single provider of abortion services like these who has not encountered this problem [of payment platforms cancelling their accounts or holding their money].'”

The Persistent

How Online Abortion Providers Hit an Unexpected Hurdle

Frozen out of their accounts by online payment providers, some telemedicine providers are struggling to keep going.

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.

RIP Julien Terzics. Cofounder of The Red Warriors who physically defended the community against Nazis in 1980s Paris

📣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

Telegram is notoriously insecure and routinely cooperates with govs behind the scenes while talking a big game about speech and privacy. Even their limited opt-in (roll their own) encryption is sus. The more you know 🌈